Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 is an 11 episode anime that is not based on any existing property. As the title implies, they key plot point is how a magnitude 8 earthquake hits Tokyo, and the aftermath that comes from this disaster. There is a disclaimer at the start of each episode stating how a lot of care has been given to depict the events realistically although some liberties are taken. It’s done well in showing off what happens after the most devastating part of an earthquake. The earthquake itself only takes a few minutes but it focuses on the constant aftershocks and the fear of not knowing what to do now that is absent in a lot of big budget disaster films.
The first episode lets us get to know about the protagonist, a 7th grader Onozawa Mirai. She starts off by saying how she wants her life changed since she has a fairly negative outlook. Compared to her other classmates, she has to travel from afar every day to school and her family are too busy among themselves to go anywhere during the summer vacation. This is expanded upon and you do feel sympathy when she returns home and her father just brushes his children off after returning from work. While their mother isn’t paying them much attention either as she also works. To top it off, there seems to be some tension between her parents.
Mirai has a younger brother, Yuuki, and as expected of siblings,t hey argue quite a bit. Given the focus on the pair, you can predict what is going to happen and you kind of don’t want it to happen. Naturally, a devastating earthquake will happen while the siblings are out and it is pretty much a definite that Mirai will be separated from Yuuki. On that point, it does depict how desperate a person will become to find their family, and you just want the nightmare to end for Mirai as she suffers a lot emotionally.
As Mirai and Yuuki have to navigate the dangers afterwards, there are several shocking moments. The anime depicts the worst in a lot of people, who are selfish and pushes others out of their way. To help balance this aspect out, the siblings manages to also meet helpful and supportive people. After the main quake and the constant aftershocks, buildings and other structures collapses unexpectedly. Whenever this happens, you can feel the same shock and horror that the characters must be feeling to have people killed right in front of them. There are a lot of dangers and this carries the plot for most of the first half.
There are so many dangers that it is heart-wrenching to see the characters grappling with a new one each time. You have a feeling that they might not be lucky every time as there area a lot of near misses, and it suits the tone of the anime to just go ahead and kill or maim one of them. This feeling of helplessness becomes worse when Mirai and Yuuki often argue as they misunderstand each other and breakdown from the stress of the situation. Yuuki is trying to to make the best of things although he is young, but Mirai is older and therefore more realistic and pessimistic. Having so nearly lost Yuuki, you sit there while watching the events unfold and wanting Mirai to not hurt Yuuki further lest she regrets her actions.
The anime pulls off some big scenes such as iconic buildings collapsing and showing what happens to the people unfortunate enough to be nearby. Seeing the misfortune fall upon others, it can be sad and emotional. There’s so much of this that by the time the halfway mark comes, you just might start becoming accustomed to it and feel hollow inside.
The pacing slows down by the time the middle of the season comes. It starts to struggle to keep the stakes high and ends up diversifying in its attempt to show off different issues and problems that threaten the protagonists. While it doesn’t happen often, there are one or two really idiotic things done by the characters that end up causing a big problem. While this is done for dramatic purposes and they are all in a disaster zone, it doesn’t excuse their stupidity. It tries various ways to tug at your emotions to increase the drama but whether it is tasteful or is a cheap shot is up to your interpretation.
Towards the end, it hurts to watch how it took a disaster in order to allow the characters to fully appreciate what they had as a family, and how precious those times are. The ending can be gut-wrenching as the characters take in what the future is going to be like after everything that has happened.
Overall, we don’t get many anime like Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 that attempts to cover serious topics like this, and in a way that tries to be realistic and accurate. The way it initially dealt with the terror of the earthquake happening and the associated dangers afterwards was interesting. Then it moves onto the most emotional side of things that hurts just as much. The animators can be evil in building up the bonds and trust between the viewers and the characters, to the point where you’re constantly worrying about them as well. The anime can be slow paced, but it is worth it.
----------------------------------------------
For other anime reviews, have a look at this page.