NHK's popular nature program "Darwin's Coming!" (NHK General) will rebroadcast the past five episodes of its popular series "The Road to Becoming a Lion King," which follows three young male lions on their journey to becoming the king of their pride, all in one go on the night of May 23rd. The series will conclude on the 24th.
The program explores how young male lions become kings. To unravel the greatest mystery of the lion species, the researchers attached GPS trackers to three young males and embarked on a four-year long-term, in-depth investigation.
The marathon rebroadcast will air on NHK General from 12:35 AM on May 23rd, featuring five episodes: "The Road to Lion King (1) Close-up Begins! Three Young Males", "The Road to Lion King (2) Hunting! Battle! Love - A Coming-of-Age Story of Young Males", "Comrades are Everything! The Road to Lion King (3)", "The Road to Lion King (4) A Miraculous Encounter! A New Friend is Born!?", and "Lion: The Road to King (5) Desperate Situation! Overcome the Crisis!".
The series finale, "The Road to Lion King: Final Chapter - Part 2," will air on the 24th at 7:30 p.m.
Director Toshio Hashiba commented, "In 'Darwin Comes!', which has been on the air for 20 years since its inception, the animal that has been featured as the main subject the most is the lion. It has appeared a remarkable 22 times. And in this 'Road to King' series, the methods of reporting have been greatly improved. Until now, we spent as much as 80% of our reporting time searching for lions, and it was not uncommon for us to not find them even after searching all day. However, thanks to advances in GPS system technology, it has become easy to find their whereabouts. It's like a dream! Thanks to this, even for me, who has been chasing lions for over 30 years, there have been many new discoveries. The most moving thing is that each lion has a completely different personality. Some are laid-back, others are bossy. Please be sure to watch and see the unknown expressions of the lions and the conclusion of 'Road to King,' which could only be captured through long-term reporting."
