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88% Critic Match
Asahiyama Zoo Story: Penguins in the Sky
8.8 / 10• 2009• 1h 52m•NR• Japanese
Drama
Storyline
Asahiyama Zoo in Hokkaido, is the northernmost zoo in Japan. The unpopular zoo welcomes a new zoo keeper, young Yoshida (Yasuhi Nakamura), who has more affection for insects than people after years of being bullied at school when he was young. Yoshida soon realizes that Asahiyama Zoo is facing a financial crisis and the zoo director Takizawa (Toshiyuki Nishida) has been doing everything in his power to save the zoo from closing down. Moved by Takizawa's passion, Yoshida and other zoo keepers came to share the zoo director's belief that one's dreams can come true, and together they tackle this seemingly impossible task of revitalizing Asahiyama. A breakthrough arrives in the form of “Behavioral Exhibition,†a method that is pioneered by Ashiyama's zoo keepers and which eventually makes the zoo renowned throughout the world.
Cast & Crew
Toshiyuki Nishida
Kanji Takizawa
Lead
Yasuhi Nakamura
Tsuyoshi Yoshida
Ai Maeda
Makoto Ogawa
Keiko Horiuchi
Sanae Ikeuchi
Naomasa Musaka
Teruo Mitani
Sansei Shiomi
Genta Tobe
Ittoku Kishibe
Seinosuke Yanagihara
Akira Emoto
Itsuro Usui
What People Are Saying
5.0
“A staggering achievement of craft and ambition. Masahiko Tsugawa's vision lands with breathtaking precision.”
4.0
“Every frame feels alive. Asahiyama Zoo Story: Penguins in the Sky is the rare release that takes its audience seriously.”
