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A TALE OF ULULU'S WONDERFUL FOREST

ULULU NO MORI NO MONOGATARI

By Makoto NAGANUMA

NIPPON TV (NTV / NIPPON TELEVISION NETWORK CORP.) - as PROD

Family - Completed 2009

- Year of production
- 2009
- Genres
- Family
- Countries
- JAPAN
- Languages
- JAPANESE
- Duration
- 119 mn
- Director(s)
- Makoto NAGANUMA
- Writer(s)
- Akemi MORIYAMA, Tomoko YOSHIDA
- Cast
- Eiichiro FUNAKOSHI, Kyoko FUKADA, Masaru HAMAGUCHI
- Producer(s)
- Naoto FUJIMURA, Hisashi USUI
- Synopsis
- An older brother and younger sister from Tokyo, Subaru (Takaaki Kuwashiro) and Shizuku (Sara Kitamura), must go to live in Hokkaido when their mother Natsuko (Sachiko Sakurai) is hospitalized. Their parents are divorced, and their father Daiji (Eiichiro Funakoshi) has lived in Hokkaido for five years already. He is a veterinarian who provides emergency rescue for wild animals that have been injured. He welcomes the two of them, but they have difficulty getting used to life with a father that they have barely known.
  However, their feelings of lonely isolation gradually fade as they encounter the magnificent natural splendor and wildlife of Hokkaido and the gentle humanity of Daiji's younger sister, Chie (Kyoko Fukada), who is a nature photographer, and Takuma (Masaru Hamaguchi), who works on a farm.
  Then one day, Shizuku comes upon a dog which look is like a baby wolf, and it is all on its own. Shizuku misses her mother, and identifies with the little dog that is in a similar predicament. She is allowed to adopt the dog, provided that she will care for it. She names the puppy Ululu, and their happy days together begin. She expects this to continue indefinitely...
  But at that time, a molecular biologist who is with an association for the protection of wildlife, Hasebe (Ken Mitsuishi), visits Daiji's house. He claims that there is a strong possibility that Ululu is not a dog, but a baby Ezo wolf, although they are believed to be extinct. He insists on taking い�" into the care of his facility.
  But Subaru and Shizuku realize that it will never be returned to them, and after retrieving the baby wolf they head off on an epic journey to try to return it to its mother. Their goal is the legendary "'Horokeshi," which means "Home of the Wolves" in the Ainu dialect...