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Kyohei Shibata (柴田恭平)

Antarctica

南極大陸 　　남극대륙 　　南極大陸

  • Tearjerker
    •  

130 min x 1 ep / 90 min x 1 ep / 70 min x 4 eps / 60 min x 4 eps｜10 episodes

It is the Showa 30s - the mid-1950s to mid-1960s - and a full decade has passed since Japan’s devastating defeat in World War II. The people are hard at work rebuilding their tattered lives and country seeking to regain their confidence in the process. Meanwhile, and the victor nations from the war are all eager to explore the planet’s last frontier - Antarctica; with teams of scientists from the U.S. Soviet Union and other countries racing to divvy up the vast frozen continent of Antarctica. Japan is the only Asian nation eager to declare a desire to take part, despite global skepticism about what Japan as could possibly contribute in its current state. As a result, Japan is allotted a virtually “inaccessible region” of Antarctica to study, where temperatures plunge to minus 50 degrees centigrade and blizzard winds whip up to 100 meters an hour. Nobody expects them contingent to succeed.
“Now is precisely the time when we must show the world our true mettle and determination,” says the Japanese Antarctic exploration team. “We have to prove that we can stand on our own two feet.”
The mission soon becomes synonymous with Japan’s return to the global community. But the unforgiving continent is not about to yield its pristine, never-before-touched-by-man territory easily. With such seemingly insurmountable challenges, the wintering team draws inspiration, hope and motivation from none other than its 19 Karafuto dogs. This is a story about one young scientist who risks his life in Antarctica for his loved ones, his country’s honor and for his “comrades in arms”, the dogs with whom he forges true bonds of kinship and shared destiny.