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3000 Leagues in Search of Mother (母をたずねて三千里, Haha o Tazunete Sanzenri) is a Japanese anime television series directed by Isao Takahata and aired in 1976. It is loosely based on a small part of the novel Heart (Cuore) by Edmondo De Amicis and expanded into a 52-episode epic. The series was broadcast on the World Masterpiece Theater, an animation staple that showcased each year an animated version of a different classic book or story, and was originally titled "From the Apennines to the Andes". Nippon Animation, producers of the World Masterpiece Theater, would adapt Cuore into a second TV anime series in 1981, although this second series was not part of the WMT.
A summarization movie was released in the 1980s using edited footage from the TV run. Nippon Animation also re-animated 3000 Leagues as a feature-length film in 1999, with a theme song performed by Scottish pop superstar Sheena Easton ("Carry a Dream", which was included in her 1999 album called Home that was only released in Japan).
The series was dubbed into several languages and became an instant success in some countries, such as Portugal, Brazil, Peru, Spain, Venezuela, Colombia, Germany, Chile, Turkey, Malaysia, the Arab world and Israel.