Haha o Tazunete Sanzenri

3000 Leagues in Search of Mother (母をたずねて三千里, Haha o Tazunete Sanzenri?) is an anime 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, i.e. the monthly tale (racconto mensile) From the Apennines to the Andes (Dagli Appennini alle Ande), widely 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 classical 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 ("Catch a Dream").

The series was dubbed into several languages and became an instant success in some countries, such as Portugal, Brazil, Spain, Venezuela, the Arab world and Israel. In Hebrew, the series is called HaLev, meaning The Heart (the name of the novel which the series is based on). In some European and in Latin American countries the series is simply known as Marco, in Arabic the series was a huge success , it was called " Wada'an Marco ","وداعاً ماركو"," Goodbye Marco".

Source: Wikipedia