Setting Your Wheels In Motion With “A Place Further Than The Universe”

At some point in your life, you fall victim to the routine. You know, that perpetual cycle of school or work that drains the life essence out of your soul. You come back tired every night with only two days of freedom to look forward to before you inevitably end up in the cycle once more. Do you ever dream about running away for a while? To go on some crazy adventure so that you don’t feel like you’re missing out on the best years of your life? You keep telling yourself someday, someday, but that day never comes? Then you need to watch A Place Further Than The Universe. Captivating and inspirational, it instills that thirst for adventure unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. This brilliant coming-of-age story about four girls who dream about reaching the ends of the universe in Antarctica will make you laugh, cry, and most importantly, inspire you to reach your own Antarctica.

We first get introduced to Mari Tamaki, a high-school girl who feels trapped in a never-ending routine of school and worries that her youth is slipping away from her. More than anything, she desires a journey, something that will allow her to make the most of her youth. Yet every time she finds the determination to go out and try new things or visit new places, she backs out at the last second with fears of failure and disaster plaguing her. Scared of trying new things but not wanting to let her youth go to waste, Mari is perpetually stuck in a cycle of longing and fear. As fate would have it, she soon meets another girl, Shirase Kobuchizawa, who has been saving up money for a trip to Antarctica in order to search for her missing mother. Inspired by Shirase’s resolve, Mari decides to join Shirase in this adventure to a place further than the universe itself. Their efforts attract the attention of Hinata Miyake, Mari’s energetic co-worker and Yuzuki Shiraishi, a child actress who was asked to go to Antarctica as a reporter. Together, the four girls start preparing for their trip to Antarctica.

The destination is kind of far-fetched for our four teenage girls who have zero experience in expeditions and have no idea what a trip to Antarctica entails. But at the same time, that’s what makes the story so compelling. In fact, the 13 episodes are set up so that most of it takes place in the planning stages of their adventure. They don’t even manage to reach Antarctica until much further into the show. The majority of the show revolves around the four girls (who are essentially strangers to one another) getting to know each other and dealing with the problems that they encounter while planning the trip.

As the series progresses and their friendship develops, it’s easy to see how their characterizations play such a huge role in their growth. Each of them has their own separate reasons for going to Antarctica. But what they lack in order to reach that goal is covered by the other girls in the group. Mari wants to go to Antarctica because she feels trapped in a routine but needs a push from her friends to overcome her fears. Shirase wants to go to Antarctica to search for her mother but needs to learn how to open herself up to others. Hinata wants to accomplish something meaningful but needs to learn to rely on others for help and not just do everything alone. Yuzuki decides to go to Antarctica together with the other girls in order to learn what friendship means and break free of her sheltered life. Each girl holds a vitally important piece in making their goal of reaching Antarctica a reality. None of them are perfect. They’re flawed, stubborn and they will butt heads as all teenagers do. But together, they’re able to achieve something so much greater than themselves.

One of the great things about A Place Further Than The Universe is its animation. Colourful, dynamic, and fluid, the motion in the series feels like an integral component of the overall message. Mari constantly talks about “setting her youth in motion” and breaking free of the constraints that she has set up herself. There are a number of beautiful shots and sequences representing this message but none are better than the chase sequence of episode 2. As Mari, Shirase, and Hinata run away after attempting to sneak onto an expedition and getting caught, the camera follows their escape and highlights the exhilaration of finally setting the wheels in motion. The background design is beautifully done as the heavy detail of buildings and signs emphasizes the characters’ motion as they duck in and out of alleyways and city streets. Together with an incredible insert song and fantastic voice acting, the scene is triumphant and absolutely breathtaking. You can feel the pure adrenaline rushing in their veins as their rebellious act begins to set their youth in motion. You can feel your life start to move along with them as you begin to imagine the things that you could accomplish if you tried. It’s a reminder to never stay stationary, that obstacles can’t hold you back so long as you set the wheels in motion. And in this moment, you can achieve anything you wanted to.

Of course, the trip to Antarctica isn’t glamorous either. Along the way, the four girls encounter a host of problems from losing a passport to getting seasick on the ship to dealing with bullies from the past. The Mari from episode 1 would’ve probably long given up at this point. But the resilience and determination from the four girls together overcome each obstacle they face. Even the worst moments of the journey don’t seem that bad when your friends are right there with you. As the girls grow throughout the series, so does the viewer right along with them. It’s so easy to become emotionally invested in these four girls and their journey that you can feel the pain in their failures and the joy in their success. You will cry when they find heart-wrenching discoveries awaiting them in Antarctica. You will laugh when they make silly mistakes that set back their plans. And you will absolutely cheer with them when they triumphantly jump onto the icy shores for the first time. As Shirase lands on Antarctica, she finally releases all of her pent-up emotions in a satisfying yell of “In your face!”. Despite all of her classmates making fun of her and telling her that reaching Antarctica was impossible, she finally proved them wrong. Having been a part of this journey and witnessing all of the struggles to get there, you’ll find yourself yelling “In your face!” right along with her.

A Place Further Than The Universe doesn’t really break new ground. The message the show revolves around is the same old, cheesy cliches that you’ve probably heard a million times before. But the beauty of the series lies in its subtleties. Featuring a set of very relatable main characters, you find the message hitting closer to home than you’re willing to admit. Maybe you are stuck in an endless cycle of putting things off perpetually. Maybe all you really need is a push to get your life in motion. As you slowly grow together with the girls, you start to realize the potential within yourself. What could you accomplish if you simply started putting the wheels in motion? The show doesn’t ask you to go on a grand adventure to Antarctica as the girls did. Instead, it instills a sense of adventure within you so that you go out and reach your own Antarctica, whatever it may be.

A Place Further Than the Universe in some ways is a wake-up call for people who’ve become stagnant over time. As we grow up, we don’t really fear change. What we fear is the thought of leaving the comfortable routine behind. Even though the routine is a vicious cycle that makes us feel hollow, it’s still familiar. You need the resolve to break out of the routine and jump into the unknown. As Hinata says: “If you can still turn back, it’s not really a journey. When you hit the point of no return, that’s the moment it becomes a journey.” As long as you’re willing to set the wheels in motion, nothing can stop them from turning.

About the Author

Jeff

I turned my incoherent ramblings on music, anime, and video games into an entire blog.

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