Review of A Place Further Than The Universe

Widely regarded as a landmark anime, one that showed that cute girls can do more than just cute things, A Place Further than the Universe feels more like a classic adventure anime than its slice-of-life predecessors, though ostensibly more realistic with its destination being Antarctica and including nods to Japan's history with the continent. Shirase, named after Japan's iconic icebreaker named after a glacier named after historic explorer Nobu Shirase, is a compelling leading lady, with her dogged determination and straight honesty being the main push for this adventure, even though she's still an impulsive teenager and thus ends up being the centre of theshow's comedy, frequently ending up in situations way over her head. Her primary motivation is to find her lost mother in Antarctica, and chances are good that viewers will have figured out early on what really happened to her (if not, you can look up Shin Fukushima, who she was inspired by). At that point, underneath the comedic hijinks of the high school explorers is a tense game of waiting for the shoe to drop, and when it does in the penultimate episode, it's a powerfully solemn, yet cathartic affair. "You give up a few things, chasing a dream."

That being said, while the cast is a likeable bunch, with charming interactions among the high school quartet and the female-dominated adult crew, Antarctica itself is kind of disappointing. While the story is indeed based on Japanese history, there's little focus on the actual scientific research being done which is the reason people in real life go there in the first place. The continent is known for its ice cores telling the story of the world's climate, icebergs and sheets serving as a canary in the coal mine for looming global warming upheaval, rich and unique ecosystems hidden beneath the ice, and so much more. Here, though, it's treated as a tourist destination with penguins, nice scenery, and auroras. Shirase's companions have interesting character arcs that would be compelling in a typical slice-of-life show, dealing with topics of social isolation and ostracism, but these could have taken place anywhere else in the world. They didn't need to go to Antarctica to resolve these problems in a way resembling the common mythical Orientalist portrayal of Tibet. You could viably replace Antarctica with some other remote destination like the Arctic, the Himalayas, Castle in the Sky, Treasure Planet, and the story wouldn't change much.

In addition, while I don't think people necessarily expect realism in a show like this, the show betrays its realistic veneer multiple times. In the end, for all of their bravado of uncompromising courage and conviction, the girls only go to Antarctica due to, essentially, getting lucky that the the planets of circumstance aligned in their favour. In an early episode, they even try going to Tokyo's red light district and hoping an adult man would pick them up, which is really a dynamic that should not be normalized. There's a scene where they are facing the dangerous, turbulent waters of the Antarctic sea, but they go outside just to admire its majesty, which I shouldn't need to tell you is a bad, unsafe idea. Like many anime and Hollywood movies (think Indiana Jones vs real archaeology), this is a typical romanticized, fantasy adventure series disguised as real world geographical exploration. It's a pretty enjoyable series viewed through that lens, and indeed, it's great to see women taking dominant, leading roles and initiative in this expedition, but in the spirit of Shirase, I do have to be honest about what this show is.

One interesting point of note is that this was written by Love Live veteran Jukki Hanada, and it bears the hallmarks of that series with Shirase coming off as a what if story where Dia Kurosawa from Sunshine was an Antarctic explorer instead. Indeed, while A Place Further than the Universe has trailblazed a path for cute anime girls to be braver and more ambitious in general in shows following it, Love Live Superstar has a direct lineage. It's interesting to watch these two series together because you can see how Love Live itself has changed with the Antarctic experience. I honestly think Superstar is the better show because Hanada and co are more in his element, having direct experience with the music production scene which makes Superstar feel more authentic and true to life compared to Antarctica, which was only a faraway place in the history books. But it's good for writers and producers to go out of their element, and making A Place Further than the Universe undoubtedly had a positive impact on their own experiences and storytelling as well as the many people watching it.