Anne no Nikki: Anne Frank Monogatari (lost anime film based on diary; 1979)

Still from the film

Status: Lost

Anne no Nikki: Anne Frank Monogatari (アンネの日記　アンヌフランク物語 meaning "Anne's Diary: The Story of Anne Frank") is a 1979 anime film directed by Eiji Okabe, and co-produced by Nippon Animation and TV Asahi.^[1]^[2] The film is mostly notable for being the first animated adaptation of Anne Frank's diary to commemorate Anne's 50th birthday.

The movie uses four of Anne's stories as an interlude to her confinement in her Amderstam attic. It also features an interview with Otto Frank (Anne Frank's father who outlived his daughter), real-life footage from Nazi concentration camps and Netherland landscapes. It is also considered the start of a subgenre of child-focused anime about war such as Barefoot Gen and Grave of the Fireflies.^[3]

Availability

The film aired on TV Asahini on September 28th, 1979 from 9:00 PM to 10:22 PM. It was never rebroadcasted or was released to home video after it's airing. As of 2024, only stills of the film exist and no footage has resurfaced.

This anime film must not be confused with a different Japanese animated feature also adapting Anne Frank's life that came out in 1995: Anne no Nikki (アンネの日記), localized in English as just Anne Frank's Diary.