First Cry

Japan’s declining birthrate and shuttered maternity wards have pushed childbirth care to the brink. At a prestigious Tokyo hospital, a secret unit is formed—the Maternal and Neonatal Emergency Medical Unit—dedicated to saving mothers with nowhere else to turn. Leading them is Aki Mitsui, an obstetrician with partial hearing loss but an unshakable obsession: to hear every baby’s first cry. Together, they fight to be the last line of defense.