This Earth of ours is a very big place. In the hustle and bustle of daily life, we tend to forget that within this world lies an infinite number of lives and experiences, all waiting to be discovered. But every now and then, a piece of media comes along that reminds you of this fact. It lights a fire in you to get up, get moving, to experience an untouched facet of the human experience and become the best version of you.
A Place Further Than The Universe in one such piece of media.
A Place Further than the Universe (Japanese: 宇宙よりも遠い場所, Hepburn: Sora yori mo Tōi Basho) is an animated tv series produced by Madhouse. The show revolves around a Japanese high school girl named Mari Tamaki. Mari wakes up one morning to the existential realization that her daily life is painfully boring, an emotion that I'm sure many of us can relate to. She desperately wants to step outside her comfort zone and do something, anything different. Every time she tries however, she ends up second guessing herself at the last minute. "What if it doesn't work out? What if I fail and just waste my time and energy?" These thoughts and more keep her firmly rooted in her normal, boring routine.
One day, she runs into another high schooler named Shirase Kobuchizawa, who is determined to go to Antarctica, where her mother disappeared three years ago. This fateful encounter, along with a few more that will include convenience store worker Hinata Miyake and actress Yuzuki Shiraishi become the sparks that light Mari's fire and set her life in motion.
After wading through a sea of shows that rely on drama, conflict and the suspense of the cliffhanger to engage their viewers, A Place Further Than The Universe is a very emotionally refreshing show. It aims to end each episode on a high note to match its overarching themes of motion and inspiration. Of course, each of the show's characters are still imperfect human beings with clear flaws, problems and emotional baggage. Therefore, conflict is still inevitable and present. But the show chooses to focus on the potential for change and the positive things that can be experienced in the moment.
Speaking of characters, their authenticity and development are the strongest aspects of the show, in my opinion. Each of the main cast of girls has her own specific set of believable personality quirks and personal problems, given their individual circumstances. None of them are perfect, that much is clear, but one characters' flaw is made up for by another's strength. They bond over their problems and pool their resources together to solve them, which makes it very believable how these girls would become close friends.
One of the show's more unique aspects is its exploration of the intangible concept of friendship and what that means to us. Not the usual superficial way of having characters just call each other friends, saying friendship is important and solving things through the 'power of friendship', but the true value and nature of friendship. Abstract concepts of how a friendship is formed and defined, how true communal bonds are strengthened by sharing our pain and not just our happiness, and how other people leave a permanent mark in our psyches that make up the whole that are our individual personalities.
The show is no slouch on the visual department either. The character designs are appealing and distinct. The background art depicts each of the show's global locations with their own unique, authentic atmospheres. The direction perfectly captures the feeling of movement and uplifting inspiration.
Art is defined by the creator's intent to incite a specific emotion in the viewer, and I believe A Place Further Than The Universe has succeeded in filling me with inspiration to step outside of my comfort zone and put my life into motion. You may think that it's silly that this animated series about cute girls doing cute things can affect me so much, but like the characters in the show, I urge you to try something different and give this show a chance.
