Late night on November 13, 1833,
an enormous number of shooting stars were witnessed in North America.
The term “meteor shower” was not yet available at the time.
As many as 20 shooting stars appeared per second, and the incident shocked the people.
It is still remembered today as the largest meteor shower in modern history.
Norman the Snowman - On a Night of Shooting Stars -
Snow!
Snow brings a friend to the boy.
His name is Norman.
Yes, he’s a snowman.
Norman the Snowman.
He’s a friend the boy can only see in winter.
Do you think he’s an ordinary snowman?
No, he’s more than that.
Come on. My nose is pointing down.
Oh, sorry. How about this?
I can’t feel confident with my nose pointing down.
I think you’re confident enough.
What was that?
Nothing.
Good to see you again. How have you been?
Fine. My body is still a bit stiff, though.
You’ve grown a little taller.
Yeah. Just a little.
So, did anything exciting happen to you?
Let me see…
Oh, yeah. This year…
Norman told the boy about the north country.
The boy told Norman about summer.
It was exciting for each to learn what he didn’t know.
In this town where snow rarely falls,
they kept talking every night
during the few days before the snow melted.
Look. A shooting star.
You’ll get to see a lot more tomorrow.
Huh?
Tomorrow night is a meteor shower night. The sky will be full of shooting stars.
I want to see that!
Okay. We’ll watch it together.
That’s a promise!
Sure.
Celestial bodies called comets are revolving around the Sun.
When the comets pass close to the Sun, they discharge large amounts of dust.
And that creates a belt of dust like a river around the Sun, like this.
Meteor showers occur when the Earth passes through this dust.
As the Earth enters this belt of dust,
it gets hit by many dust particles in its way.
The dust hits the Earth at a great speed and makes the Earth’s atmosphere glow.
Those glows are what we see as shooting stars.
That’s the mechanism of meteor showers.
Not sleeping enough?
Oh, um...
Excuse me.
Well, over time this dust gradually disperses and gets thinner.
But just after a comet has passed,
it floats very densely, like this.
In this state, if the Earth...
...passes through here…
...what do you think will happen?
Take a look at this lithograph.
This is an illustration of the Leonid meteor shower of 1833.
There were no photo cameras back then, so we don’t know how accurate this is.
But some records say that 20 shooting stars appeared within a second.
Try to imagine 20 shooting stars per second!
Those who actually saw this must have felt the sky completely covered, like this.
Not sleeping enough, I see.
You’ve learned about meteor showers. Unfortunately it’s cloudy today.
We probably won’t be able to see it tonight.
So you should all go to bed early tonight, instead of staying up.
Especially…
...those who have been sleepy today.
What is it?
Come on.
What’s the matter? Let’s go.
Norman?
Norman!
There you were.
Well... we sure got a lot of snow.
No chance to see the meteor shower?
With those clouds…
Yeah... Too bad.
I was hoping to see it.
Yeah…
But it’s clear over there.
If we get to that break in the clouds, we might see it.
Yeah, it’s light over there. Do you think we can?
It’s a long way. Can you make it?
No problem.
You want to see it that much?
Sure! I already dreamed about it many times today.
How could you dream during the day?
Well, during class…
Never mind. Forget it.
Then shall we?
Yeah!
Wait for me! Slow down!
Norman?
Norman, I’m sorry.
I didn’t mean to hurt you. Are you all right?
Take that!
I’ll get you back!
Hey, look at this.
Look.
Foxes.
What are they doing?
Hunting practice, maybe.
Are they friends?
A family, I think.
Friends, I’m sure.
I don’t know…
Well, let’s get going.
Yeah.
It’s real quiet.
Yeah.
It’s like all sounds are gone.
It’s starting to snow again.
Should we keep going?
Huh?
With the snow, we might not see shooting stars after all.
What should we do?
Never mind should. What do you want?
What?
What matters is what you want to do.
You sound just like my mom.
What did you say?
Never mind.
Shooting stars make your wishes come true, right?
That’s just a myth.
Huh? No, it’s not.
Your wishes come true!
What wish do you want to make?
That we can see shooting stars.
Wishing that to a shooting star? That’s absurd.
Do you think so?
Yeah, I do.
Anyway, you shouldn’t depend on a star to make it easy for you.
You make your wish come true yourself.
You’re so confident, Norman.
So, what do you want? Are we going or not?
We’re going. To see shooting stars.
Norman?
Huh?
What do you think that is?
It’s coming this way.
Let’s go and see.
Hello!
Hey! What are you doing?
I’m towing the front.
The front?
That’s right. Today…
...it’s the warm front.
The warm front is quite delicate, you see.
The warm front, he says.
I’m not very fond of the warm front.
I didn’t expect to meet a boy and a snow pile here.
What are you doing?
A snow pile? I’m a snowman.
BOY We’re looking for a break in the clouds.
We want to see the meteor shower.
Then you came to the right place.
When this front passes through you’ll soon see the stars.
Really?
Yes, really. Take a look behind you.
Wow…
He’s right.
I hope you get to see a lot of shooting stars.
Sir…
Shooting stars make your wishes come true, right?
That... is just a myth.
Huh?
I told you.
But it is true…
...that whatever wish you’re making when you see a shooting star will come true.
What do you mean?
In the first place, you can’t make a wish to a star you never know when you’ll see.
But what if you were making that wish all the time without stopping?
You would be making that wish even when a shooting star appears, right?
I guess so.
What I mean is…
..that whatever you’re always strongly wishing for is bound to come true in the end.
The shooting star myth is only a measure of how strong your wish is.
A shooting star doesn’t grant your wish.
Your wish comes true because you’re making it even when you see a shooting star.
Look. A shooting star.
Were you making a wish just now?
Just now?
Right. That’s what it means to make a wish to a shooting star.
Just now I was…
...wishing to see shooting stars.
Sorry I laughed.
I had never heard of wishing to a shooting star to see shooting stars.
See? I told you it’s absurd.
But I think that’s quite an interesting idea.
Look. This just might turn into something exciting.
Wow.
Your wish to see shooting stars is bringing shooting stars.
And those shooting stars are bringing even more shooting stars.
It’s like a snowball effect.
Shouldn’t he say snow-man effect?
I haven’t seen such a meteor shower in a while.
Not since…
...the year 1833.
I saw a picture of that. Did you really see that great meteor shower?
Yes. That was in America.
It was a truly awesome meteor shower.
How old is this man?
Thank you very much, sir.
My pleasure. I got to see something wonderful. Thank you.
So long.
Good bye!
That was awesome.
If we didn’t know it was a meteor shower, we might think the world was coming to an end.
There aren’t as many now.
It’s almost over.
Norman…
I think you’ve grown smaller.
Maybe it’s that warm front.
It’s suddenly warm, so I think I melted a bit.
Where do the winter constellations go during summer?
They’re in the sky even in summer.
It’s just that they’re up during the day, so we can’t see them.
What do you do during summer, Norman?
I stay up in the sky too.
I melt to water and sink into the ground.
Then I evaporate to become a cloud and fly across the sky back to the north country.
But I never remember much about summer.
So my wish is to see summer with my own eyes someday,
though that might be impossible.
Are you always wishing for that?
Yeah. All the time.
Then it’ll surely come true someday.
Do you think so?
You don’t sound like you.
Huh?
You sound uncertain.
That’s Mom.
I knew you would be here! Did you see the shooting stars?
Yeah.
Fantastic, wasn’t it?
Yeah.
I’ve never seen anything like it.
Oh, you made Norman again this year.
Yeah.
How are you?
His nose is pointing down. Maybe he’s melted a little.
Good. This looks more like Norman.
You’re right.
This looks more like Norman.
Mom, did you make a wish?
Huh? What?
Did you make a wish to a shooting star?
Ah.
That’s just a myth.
Huh?
A shooting star doesn’t grant your wish.
It comes true…
I know!
Because you’re wishing it even when you see a shooting star.
That hurts!
Well, shall we go home?
Yeah.
What about Norman?
Go on! I won’t melt away yet.
He wants to watch the stars.
The boy thought to himself
that he would always be with Norman,
that they would forever be friends,
even when he grows up to become an adult.
Just then,
the last shooting star that night flashed across the sky.
Producer : Masaaki Oikawa / Takanori Toyokawa
Written, Directed & Animated : Takeshi Yashiro