Kawa no Hikari

A family of three rats, brothers Tata and Chichi, and their father, referred to only as "Dad", live in a tree trunk beside a river just outside Tokyo, just as their ancestors had for generations. However, sudden construction work by humans causes their home to be blocked off, forcing them to search for a new place to live upstream. Time becomes a factor as winter is fast approaching, leading the trio to venture in and around the dangerous city, encountering allies and enemies of all shapes and sizes. ==Characters==

The story primarily focuses on a family of three black rats: • : The older and more level-headed of the two brothers. He is voiced by Fumiko Orikasa in the television film. • : The younger and more energetic of the two brothers. Unlike his sibling and father, he has white fur instead of brown, a potential liability for a prey species, which he must learn to deal with and accept. He is voiced by Tomoko Kaneda in the television film. • : Father of the two boys whose wife died shortly after Chichi was born. Highly protective and knowledgeable, he leads the group through both wilderness and urban sprawl. He is voiced by Kōichi Yamadera in the television film. Other characters include characters of various species: • : A playful female Golden Retriever who lives with her masters near the same riverbank as the rats, and rescues Chichi after he gets caught in a river current on a water bottle. She is voiced by Aya Hirano in the television film. • : A kind-hearted male brown rat who lives alone in a city library. He helps Dad and his children escape a gang of his territorial kin, who he no longer wants any part of. He is voiced by Akio Ōtsuka in the television film. • : A female Russian Blue cat who "only eats fish" and lives in a quiet house with an old woman. She helps nurse the rats back to health after they nearly drown in a sewer pipe, and helps Chichi take pride in his different fur color. She is voiced by Atsuko Tanaka in the television special. • : A family of Eurasian tree sparrows the rats encounter in a park. They consist of a father (voiced by Nobuo Harada), mother (voiced by Norika Fujiwara) and a young son (voiced by Akiko Suzuki) who has trouble learning to fly. • : A family of moles who live in the same park as the sparrows. They include an unnamed mother and her children , , , , and . The moles were not featured in the animated adaptation. • : A gang of brown rats led by , who is said to be about the size of a rabbit with dark fur. They include , , and , and were not featured in the animated adaptation. ==Animated adaptation==

In March 2009, voice actress Aya Hirano revealed on her blog that she would be voicing the character Tammy in an animated adaptation of the 2007 novel. The special was directed by Tetsuo Hirakawa, and features animation by Studio Gallop, as well as the theme song "I'm Here With You" written and performed by Yusa Mimori. On June 20, the film was aired for the first time on NHK General TV as part of their "Save the Future" lineup, part of their Chikyū ECO 2009 ("Earth Ecology 2009") campaign to promote environmental awareness. It was re-broadcast on NHK on December 20, 2009, and released on region 2 DVD in Japan on June 25, 2010. ==Reception==

The Kawa no Hikari TV special was awarded first place for "Best Animated Feature" from both children's and adult's juries at the 27th annual Chicago International Children's Film Festival in 2010. It would also be named one of four Grand Prix Best of Festival winners, and receive a first-place "Golden Camera Award" in the field of animation from the US International Film & Video Festival, also in 2010. That same year, the special would receive a Silver Award for Best Foreign Animation at the 16th annual Shanghai Television Festival, as well as a Children Earth Vision Award from the Earth Vision Tokyo Environmental Film Festival. ==Sequels==

To date, two follow-up novels have been released by original author Hisaki Matsuura. The first, , is a side-story released on June 25, 2012, and tells the tale of a group of animals gathering in the forest at night. A direct sequel to the original, , released February 25, 2014, follows the further adventures of Tata and Chichi as they venture into the city to rescue their canine friend Tammy from kidnappers. ==References==