THE SKETCH OF LIFE

いのちスケッチ

By Naoki SEGI

KYUSHU ASAHI BROADCASTING CO., LTD. - as SALES All rights, World

Family - Completed 2019

Young man Ryota learns to face his life, his family, and his future by stepping into a small zoo in his hometown.

    • Year of production
    • 2019
    • Genres
    • Family, Environmental, Drama
    • Countries
    • JAPAN
    • Languages
    • JAPANESE
    • Duration
    • 100 mn
    • Director(s)
    • Naoki SEGI
    • Writer(s)
    • Yu SAKUDO
    • Synopsis
    • “We gotta be proud. This is gonna be the best animal welfare zoo in all Japan.”

      Young man Ryota learns to face his life, his family, and his future by stepping into a small zoo in his hometown.

      Ryota (Kanta Sato) is an ambitious young man who comes to Tokyo to become a manga artist, however gives up on his dream and returns to his hometown in Fukuoka. Unwelcomed by his family, crashes at his old friend’s place and he is introduced to a job at the local zoo, Enmei (‘life-prolonging’) Zoo. Ryota knows nothing about the work but he gets help by all the other zookeepers, especially by a brilliant veterinarian Aya who is constantly getting offers to be hired away from other zoos. She and the other zoo keepers explain to Ryota that this animal welfare zoo is unique in the world for its efforts toward making the health and happiness of the animals’ priority number one, and Ryota begins to fit in the zoo better. But, they were announced that the city’s budget is shrinking, and continued operation of the zoo is up in the air. Ryota steps out and draws illustrations of animals, contributes to bring more people and to cheer up the zoo. The zookeepers are spurred into action, and with their deep-seated tenacity are successful in performing the first no-anesthetic lion blood-draw in Japan.