Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 09-11
So I thought I would quickly round up my thoughts on both the ending of TM8.0 and what I thought of the show in general.
Beware of spoilers in the coming paragraphs. You have been warned.
I think everyone who was watching this show knew that there were only a set number of outcomes to this story. If the initial premise is that the kids need to find their way back home, it’s likely that some of them probably won’t, just to drive the message home. And what’s the message? Earthquakes are really dangerous. So up until now, it was a question of who would survive, if anyone at all.
Would they kill the parents and finish with a “we will fight on in their honour” kind of thing? Would they kill Yuuki and/or Mirai in a sort of “your luck will eventually run out” kind of BAD END?
Well, one of the inevitable conclusions passed, but it passed in a way that I certainly wasn’t expecting for a show like this.
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 08
I’ve been avoiding /a/ more than usual these days, not only because it can sometimes be the cesspool of the internet, but because it likes to spoil anime. Especially this one. At the time of writing, raws for the last episode of TM8.0 are starting to make their way to a tracker/bot near you. Having seen episode 8, I can honestly say I have no clue what will happen, or who will survive.
I have a feeling it’s going to turn out badly for at least one of our protagonists though. Because life isn’t always smooth.
I thought this episode was really well done. If you think about the very premise of this show, it’s to show what a huge earthquake in Tokyo would look like, and what would result from it. It’s relatively easy to show chaos and destruction – that’s a given. But many are de-sensitised to that sort of thing. How do you really hit home that this is serious shit? Put your little brother, who you just started liking again, in a life-or-death situation. Then turn up the mindfuck and say he really is dead. With the body, complete with ghostly white face, there and all.
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 07
Putting the knowledge we learned back in the good old days when Tokyo was in one piece to good use now, as we’re reintroduced to the all-terrain earthquake robots who search for survivors under the rubble.
We’re also introduced to Kento, the robot nerd this episode. Mirai seems to have lots of foot in mouth moments here, especially when Kento tells her his family would be dead without them, accompanied by a token flashback. But Mirai, like you’re one to talk about nerds. I mean, frogs? Really?
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 06
The calm and collected facade that Mari held was dropped for a while this episode, prompting some frantic phone calls and a seriously different Mari to the thoughtful one we’ve seen so far. She’s obviously quite a strong-willed person, having believed that both her mother and daughter would be fine without her. Though I don’t quite understand the logic that shaking landmass and falling buildings are no worries, while fires are the end of the world. It’s certainly something Mari’s worried about anyway. Hint at some past events? Perhaps some more shoehorning of essential earthquake knowledge. Or just a tool used to badly shift gears on Mari’s character to give her some more depth.
The number of close calls in this series is quite astonishing. On this weeks near miss, Mari is nearly hit full force by a fluorescent tube light, and the building next to out protagonists falls on its side. Is there any way all of these things could happen without anyone getting seriously hurt in the process?
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 05
In this episode of Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 – the production committee decide they haven’t deflated us enough with all of the destruction of our national landmarks, and decide that we need to turn the sadness up to eleven.
It just so happens that the next stop on the way home is Mirai’s school. When she mentions how it’s not even like it’s her school anymore, it again really puts you in the shoes of the characters. Everyone subconsciously thinks about a disaster relief centre at their own school. It drives home the point.
The paced character development shows here – Mirai has started acting more like an older sister recently, and her wanting to show Yuuki something cool at her school really makes you smile – ‘they’re getting on well, aren’t they?’ You may think. Then…
Currently Watching: Bakemonogatari
We’re well into the Summer season now, so much so that Autumn is just over the horizon. But Autumn 2009 isn’t really looking all that appetising to me right now, so let’s cross that bridge when we come to it. Or not cross it at all, as the case may be.
The next few posts will really just be a sum-up of what I’ve been watching recently, but not regularly blogging about.
I’ll admit that I have a bit of a soft spot for SHAFT. They make some of my favourite anime (Hidamari Sketch and Pani Poni Dash! to name but two), and I think that their particular style of presentation is more striking than that of other studios. It doesn’t necessarily mean their animation is better, but I like the mood that their fast-paced meta-slideshows create. Now, the studio’s applied their style to Nisioisin’s Bakemonogatari. And God almighty have they cranked up the quality.
Bakemonogatari (roughly translating to Ghostory, keeping the portmanteau basically intact) is a supernatural story, which centres around Koyomi Araragi and his encounters with girls who seem to be afflicted with strange problems. Being the upstanding man that he is, Araragi gets involved somehow or another.
