April 8th, 2019 
Charles Solomon 
A gentle melancholy hangs over the anime feature Penguin Highway (2018), setting it apart from similar fantasy-adventures. Fourth-grader Aoyama (voice by Kana Kita) is almost too precocious and self-possessed. Never at a loss for a reply to a bully or an interfering adult, he says what viewers may wish they’d thought to say in school.
Aoyama regards the world around him as an ongoing science project and keeps detailed notes on everything that interests him. A sign reading “research lab” hangs from his bedroom door. He’s literally counting the days until he grows up to be an exceptional, super-cool adult. In the meantime, he nurtures a crush on the Lady (Yuu Aoi), a buxom dental assistant who teaches him chess in her spare time.
One morning, Aoyama is surprised to see penguins playing in an empty lot near his house. He identifies them as Adèlie penguins, but can’t understand what they’re doing in suburban Japan, rather than Antarctica. To aid in his investigation of this puzzling phenomenon, he drags along his timid, bespectacled friend Uchida (Rie Kugimiya). The penguins seem to be tied to the Lady, and Aoyama formulates hypotheses about a mysterious “penguin energy.”
The mystery grows even more puzzling when Aoyama and Uchida join forces with Hamamoto (Megumi Han)—the only girl in the class who’s beaten Aoyama at chess. The penguins are also linked to a mysterious sphere they discover in a nearby meadow. With the self-conscious dignity that characterizes intelligent children weary of being patronized by adults, the three kids study the sphere over their summer break. It varies in size from day to day and appears to contain water.
When Hamamoto’s father and other scientists from the nearby university come across the enormous orb, they send the kids away. As the adults conduct their own studies, the sphere grows until it threatens to flood the nearby town. After eluding policemen attempting to enforce an evacuation order, Aoyama and the Lady use penguin energy to destroy the sphere and save people’s homes. The wonderfully silly visuals of herds of penguins attacking an amorphous enemy leaven the sense of danger.
But it’s a bittersweet victory: The Lady reveals that she is not really human and must return to her own space and time. Aoyama vows to continue his research until he finds a way to bring her back.
Makoto Ueda’s script is adapted from a book by Tomohiko Morimi; Ueda also wrote the screenplay for Masaaki Yuasa’s Night Is Short, Walk on Girl—which is also based on one of Morimi’s stories. (Both novels are being published in English for the first time this month.) Although he’s anything but an ordinary fourth grader, Aoyama is an engaging hero. Kita walks a fine line in her vocal performance, never allowing the boy to become bratty or unpleasant.
Penguin Highway is director Hiroyasu Ichida’s first feature. He attracted critical praise for his short film Fumiko’s Confession in 2009, and he skillfully makes the leap to the longer form. Although at just under two hours, the film feels a bit long and would have benefited from a more tightly focused ending. Former Ghibli artist Yojiro Arai’s fresh, appealing character designs support the story visually. He and Ishida founded Studio Colorido: Penguin Highway is also the studio’s first release. It’s an impressive debut, and audiences will be waiting eagerly to see what they do next.
Penguin Highway will be screening in various Southern California theaters in Japanese with English subtitles; animation fans should keep an eye peeled for local listings.
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