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In the waning days of the Second World War, young Japanese girl Chitose Chiko Kobayashi lives peacefully with her family in northern Korea, then occupied by Japanese imperial forces. When global hostilities abruptly terminate with Japan unconditional surrender, Soviet military battalions swiftly occupy the region, upending the lives of civilian colonial families. Facing violent reprisal, disease, and starvation, Chiko, her parents, and younger sister embark on a perilous nocturnal trek south toward the 38th parallel. Guided only by the constellations of the stars, the children preserve hope through harrowing frontiers to reach safety.
⚠ Background — may contain spoilers
Produced by Madhouse and directed by Toshio Hirata in 1993, this poignant historical drama adapts the autobiographical children novel by veteran actress Chitose Kobayashi. Providing a rare, sensitive Japanese cinematic perspective on the chaotic postwar repatriation of civilians from North Korea, the film balances child-centric innocence against the grim realities of wartime displacement and refugee trauma. Hirata gentle direction and expressive character animation earned critical acclaim across educational and humanitarian film circuits worldwide.
