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Pandadice
Fri, 07-10-2009, 01:12 AM
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0

http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/8600/img20090318t102258289.jpg
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The premise of the story is the 70% or higher possibility that a magnitude 7.0 earthquake will occur in Tokyo in the next 30 years. The story depicts what would happen if a 8.0 earthquake tooks place.

The story will center on Mirai, a middle school freshman girl who goes to Tokyo's artificial Odaiba Island for a robot exhibition with her brother Yutaka at the start of summer vacation. A powerful tremor emanates from an ocean trench, the famed Tokyo Tower and Rainbow Bridge crumble and fall, and the landscape of Tokyo changes in an instant. With the help of a motorcycle delivery woman named Mari who they meet on Odaiba, Mirai and Yutaka strive to head back to their Setagaya home in western Tokyo.


this is definitely my most anticipated series of the summer.

episode 1 is out by [BSS]

[BSS]​_Tokyo​_Magnitude​_8.0​_-​_01​_[CE7DB547].mkv (http://tracker.minglong.org/torrents/%5BBSS%5D_Tokyo_Magnitude_8.0_-_01_%5BCE7DB547%5D.mkv.torrent)

Everon
Fri, 07-10-2009, 02:29 AM
Solid 1st episode. They did a very convincing job of teenager angst.

Kraco
Fri, 07-10-2009, 03:22 AM
Very convincing indeed. It was almost getting annoying already, but fortunately the earthquake stopped it just in time. I doubt she will now have time for any angst for a little while. Though who knows what happens after she has found her brother and found out her parents' fate. If nothing else, at least she should have learned to be careful with what she wishes for...

The earthquake was also quite nicely depicted. Although it's not like I'd have ever witnessed one.

Lucifus
Fri, 07-10-2009, 05:22 AM
Yet another excellent series. Whats with this season? I'm lovin it. =D

Opening is awesome in my book.

animus
Fri, 07-10-2009, 06:20 PM
It was oddly ordinary, yet very compelling too for some reason. Probably due to Yuuki's optimistic, happy and eager to please attitude.

Also, this series looks to be strong with a big focus on sibling bonds. Looking forward to it, it's rather unique. :>

Buffalobiian
Fri, 07-10-2009, 07:16 PM
The art style and the voices aren't entirely to my tastes, but this show does seem pretty realistic.

When they showed the girl refusing the item after someone else took it, I was thinking "that's so me". Got to love all that teenage pride.

RyougaZell
Fri, 07-10-2009, 10:46 PM
I wasn't dissapointed. It was bloody fantastic. Too bad the earthquake was cut at half to bring the cliffhanger... oh well.

TheBladeChild
Sat, 07-11-2009, 01:40 AM
Hmm..I wonder is this is the only "what if?" anime out there. I'd be interested if there were others.

Pandadice
Sat, 07-11-2009, 02:28 AM
It was oddly ordinary, yet very compelling too for some reason. Probably due to Yuuki's optimistic, happy and eager to please attitude.

Also, this series looks to be strong with a big focus on sibling bonds. Looking forward to it, it's rather unique. :>

yeah, I definitely got that feeling too. I loved how like, realistic and ordinary the family was. it did such a good job of displaying this stagnant, boring, apathetic, selfish lifestyle.

man! that episode was just as fantastic as I was expecting it to be. I really like the artwork and voices.

easily my favorite show of the summer.

Oniken
Sat, 07-11-2009, 05:17 AM
Opening is awesome in my book.

The opening art was brilliant and the episode was pretty exciting, even though we knew the earthquake was coming. Can't wait to see how things go for the brother. Maybe he's squashed like a pancake in the toilet. Also interesting how they mention the robots, that seem so familiar, and how they can traverse difficult terrain: exactly what they are going to need to clean up this mess of a city.

MFauli
Sat, 07-11-2009, 05:54 AM
This is the show to watch this season.

Really, great first episode. And i love the artstyle. Somehow reminded me a BIT of Noein.

Do we know already what genre this show is? The "i wished the workd would be destroyed" and then everything starts made it seem "Eden of East"-ish, aka fantasy. But the rest seemed very realistic. I´d like both, just interested.

Pandadice
Sat, 07-11-2009, 04:31 PM
it's a "realistic"-"what if?" scenario genre.. that's what I'm saying.

yeah, I can definitely see the Noein in the art. especially in the mom.. I thought that character seemed super familiar, and it's definitely from the chick's mom in Noein.

Noein mom (http://myanimelist.net/character/5242/Asuka_Kaminogi) - mother in TM 8.0 (http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/7791/snapshot20090711172659.png)

and I have to agree that the OP was awesome. I liked how it was just like concept art, but it was still so good. I'd like to see more anime use this approach.

samsonlonghair
Sun, 07-12-2009, 09:47 PM
I just downloaded thism and the damn thing is skipping like crazy. I've got all the latest mkv stuff installed, and all the latest ffdshow stuff, but it's still skipping. VLC skips the video; zoom player and media classic skip the audio. How frustrating.

digitalrurouni
Mon, 07-13-2009, 08:57 PM
Nothing skipping for me. I downloaded it because of you guys talking about it and boy you were right! Excellent episode! Is this a series that is coming out? Was this just a teaser first episode? Are there going to be more released?!! AAAAHH!H!!

Pandadice
Mon, 07-13-2009, 09:04 PM
Is this a series that is coming out? Was this just a teaser first episode? Are there going to be more released?!! AAAAHH!H!!

yeah, it's a series that's coming out, airing on TV weekly. expect weekly (or close to) episode releases.

Animeniax
Mon, 07-13-2009, 10:43 PM
Wow, first anime I've seen in a while, and first in a while that I plan to keep watching.

It was getting really annoying with the teenage angst thing, but that's because I'm older and forgot how life was at that age, though I was more optimistic and wide-eyed at that age than this girl seems to be. Of course, I didn't grow up in Japan as a teenager either.

digitalrurouni
Tue, 07-14-2009, 11:49 PM
I see that Anbu-Frostii have teamed up for this series. I am trying out their version to see what its like. Their encode is around 349 MB.

Buffalobiian
Thu, 07-16-2009, 10:16 PM
BSS - Episode 2 (http://tracker.minglong.org/torrents/%5BBSS%5D_Tokyo_Magnitude_8.0_-_02_%5B0E5C4A40%5D.mkv.torrent)

animus
Fri, 07-17-2009, 08:12 AM
Good episode. Enjoyed the realism of the fallout from the disaster.

Pandadice
Fri, 07-17-2009, 01:56 PM
awman, that episode was so good.

Kraco
Fri, 07-17-2009, 03:48 PM
It was indeed a good episode. The earthquake still looked very good. I'm happy to went through the trouble of animating it, even though it meant much animated background. But then again, this is a show centered around a quake so of course there was no way around it. After that praise I still feel like it should have been a more disastrous event unless we yet have much and more wide-spread destruction to see.

Mirai looking for her brother and suddenly feeling all big sister like was a good watch. Yuuki of course was a saddeningly happy and agreeable fellow to begin with. He looked like such a victim with too busy a mom and a sister cursing the world already, yet he still kept going like only a small kid could.

MFauli
Fri, 07-17-2009, 04:11 PM
nice episode, but i wonder whats going to come.
from this episode, the earthquake didnt seem to be THAT big. Hm...

RyougaZell
Fri, 07-17-2009, 08:58 PM
Japan has always been a sismic area. So my guess is that is buildings are heavily reinforced to take the usual punishment of their small earthquakes. Yet they were obviously not prepared for a Richter Magnitude 8. At least that is how I feel about its current state.

A great episode. Mirai did become reckless when searching for Yuuki, but its understandable given the situation and her age.

Animeniax
Fri, 07-17-2009, 10:42 PM
Yeah it was a good episode, though I made jokes through most of the first 15 minutes.

I really should try to watch these when I'm not in a cynical mood. Or maybe since I'm a pretty level-headed person in crises, I can't get in the same panic/freak-out mindset that I see with people in disaster movies and shows.

I wonder how popular a show like this will be in Japan. It seems to hit too close to home on some sensitive subjects in Japan, like absentee parenting and the big earthquake. All they need to do is add a nuclear explosion and something about the past Japanese "untouchable" underclass of society and that would make this show completely abhorrent to your average Japanese person.

Pandadice
Sat, 07-18-2009, 01:16 AM
nice episode, but i wonder whats going to come.
from this episode, the earthquake didnt seem to be THAT big. Hm...

yeah, I thought that too. i figure massive tsunamis and junk are gonna hit next.

David75
Sat, 07-18-2009, 01:29 AM
nice episode, but i wonder whats going to come.
from this episode, the earthquake didnt seem to be THAT big. Hm...

Probably because we lack things from the soundtrack: low bass. So the impact is lowered by a great deal. I think that's a mistake here.

The other point are vibrations and so on, but it's impossible to have them in an anime/movie obviously, except in very specific theaters.

The other thing I've been struck with, is that we have to wait like 13 minutes before having a hint at someone dead, which I think might be toned down a lot for a large scale earthquake happening in an area of high population density.
That's probably for target audience reason they didn't go to far there.

Kraco
Sat, 07-18-2009, 03:50 AM
The other thing I've been struck with, is that we have to wait like 13 minutes before having a hint at someone dead, which I think might be toned down a lot for a large scale earthquake happening in an area of high population density.

We actually didn't see that much area covered in the episode. Just the few places Mirai explored, which were mostly devoid of people, also dead ones. Moreover, the superstructure of the big building seemed somewhat earthquake resistant (like all public buildings of the recent decades should be in Japan).

Buffalobiian
Mon, 07-20-2009, 11:40 PM
Japan has always been a sismic area. So my guess is that is buildings are heavily reinforced to take the usual punishment of their small earthquakes. Yet they were obviously not prepared for a Richter Magnitude 8. At least that is how I feel about its current state.

It's a mistranslation by BSS, as mentioned on their site.

According to them, the scale used in Japan isn't the Richter scale, but a different on where it ranges from 0(or 1?) -7.

Magnitude 8.0 means it was an earthquake of a power previously unrecorded, and never thought to be measured by the creators of the scale.

I liked the panicking Mirai. It portrays very well how relatives act when family members are in trouble.

Pandadice
Fri, 07-24-2009, 07:25 AM
episode 3 is out :D!

[BSS]​_Tokyo​_Magnitude​_8.0​_-​_03​_[99B988FA].mkv (http://tracker.minglong.org/torrents/%5BBSS%5D_Tokyo_Magnitude_8.0_-_03_%5B99B988FA%5D.mkv.torrent)

animus
Fri, 07-24-2009, 09:01 AM
Who knew nature could be such a bitch.

Good episode. This series is probably one of the high points of this season.

Buffalobiian
Fri, 07-24-2009, 12:00 PM
The more I watch this, the more I seem to appreciate it. The story itself isn't spectacular or anything, but my mindset is now seeing as more a recount of someone who got into such a disaster.

When I think about it like that, the focus shifts from gripping plot lines to realism. In that regard, I think this show does quite well. I can't say very well because I don't have any personal accounts to compare them to. If I did though, I'm confident it's pretty damn close.

Animeniax
Fri, 07-24-2009, 11:55 PM
I'm losing interest in watching the series. I keep expecting aliens or giant robots to appear to explain all of the destruction. The artwork has steadily degraded from the first episode. The art in episode 3 is downright bad, and might be an indicator that the series is not doing well financially or popularity-wise. I imagine it airs at 2AM in Japan.

Doesn't help that the story didn't progress much and the characters were obnoxious more than usual.

Buffalobiian
Sat, 07-25-2009, 12:03 AM
It airs Friday mornings 12:45 AM.

It's actually the opposite for me. I'm appreciating it more than before for reasons I stated above, driving by lack of knowledge of what happens (on the scene) after an earthquake.

Animeniax
Sat, 07-25-2009, 12:22 AM
Friday mornings at 12:45, not exactly prime time. I wonder how far in advance they produce the episodes. Would week to week lack of interest and viewership affect how much money they have to spend on producing the next episode?

I think I've seen enough natural disaster movies/shows to know what happens after. People run amok, loot, vandalize, scream a lot, and act like idiots. I imagine the folks in Magnitude 8.0 will not act differently, as somewhat evidenced in episode 3.

Pandadice
Sat, 07-25-2009, 10:01 PM
I'm losing interest in watching the series. I keep expecting aliens or giant robots to appear to explain all of the destruction. The artwork has steadily degraded from the first episode. The art in episode 3 is downright bad, and might be an indicator that the series is not doing well financially or popularity-wise. I imagine it airs at 2AM in Japan.

Doesn't help that the story didn't progress much and the characters were obnoxious more than usual.

though I hate to do it, I have to agree with you. I did notice that the art seemed much weaker than in the previous two episodes. and also Mari's constant soft-spoken kindness and optimism was over done in this ep, imo. definitely not losing interest though.


Friday mornings at 12:45, not exactly prime time. I wonder how far in advance they produce the episodes. Would week to week lack of interest and viewership affect how much money they have to spend on producing the next episode?

I think I've seen enough natural disaster movies/shows to know what happens after. People run amok, loot, vandalize, scream a lot, and act like idiots. I imagine the folks in Magnitude 8.0 will not act differently, as somewhat evidenced in episode 3.

I dunno about the airing. I imagine they have a good amount of episodes already produced before they even start airing the series. maybe they just didn't have much money or budget to begin with.. I could see that as a potential.

awman, you are so right about the looting and vandalism.. it seems too downplayed and almost none-existent.. I'd hate to think that Japan's population is that much more civilized than us Americans.. >.<. There better be some looting and much more violence in the episodes to come :\.

I just can't get over the concept though.. I think this might be the first anime not to utilize any paranormal plot devices. unless of course you count the unimaginably large earthquake destroying everything...

I'm actually really interested in seeing something just like this, only with Hurricane Katrina. I think that'd be pretty interesting subject matter for the series.

Yukimura
Mon, 07-27-2009, 12:13 PM
I'm on the losing interest side, maybe I'm just to used to character or action driven series but I had a lot of trouble focusing on ep 3. The characters aren't doing much in terms of changing and the gaps between active events are becoming more realistic, which is to say, larger.

Something else that nagged me was that these two kids have seen death right in front of them repeatedly but they seem, at least on the surface to be unaffected by it beyond initial shocked expressions and a few comments. If there was some pressing survival need that was keeping them from thinking about it that would be one thing, but they spend a lot of time just walking in a group, giving them plenty of time to think, and potentially break down under the emotional strain of what they've witnessed. I find myself wondering if Japanese children really this emotionally tough or if the scenes of death and carnage are meant more for the viewers benefit than to elicit realistic emotions from the characters.

I'm hoping the characters start to blossom more otherwise I'm sure it'll be a struggle for me to sit down and watch each ep of this one.

Lucifus
Mon, 07-27-2009, 03:59 PM
I'm currently loving the series. I can't see why it isn't catching some of your guys attention, as I'm just as versed in what will probably happen and seen a bunch of disaster films.

I'm loving the character interactions. Ridiculously cute.

Pandadice
Tue, 07-28-2009, 01:26 PM
so one thing I noticed in the ep, but forgot to post about, was when Mari makes them hold her hands, and then people start rushing down the stairs or whatever, and yuuki gets pushed away, but mirai is still holding mari's hands. and then two people walk by her..

one on her left
http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/8051/snapshot20090728141839.png

then one on her right
http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/9558/snapshot20090728141920.png

but.. she's still holding Mari's hand
http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/9921/snapshot20090728141940.png

how the heck did the dude pass by her on her right, when she's still holding mari's hand? i don't get it.. no matter how much i re-watch that part, it just doesn't look natural to me..

Buffalobiian
Tue, 07-28-2009, 07:13 PM
You can hold hands with people in front or behind you.

Buffalobiian
Fri, 07-31-2009, 08:46 AM
Episode 4 - BSS (http://tracker.minglong.org/torrents/%5BBSS%5D_Tokyo_Magnitude_8.0_-_04_%5BEA20DCA5%5D.mkv.torrent)

animus
Fri, 07-31-2009, 09:13 PM
How dare Mirai make Yuuki cry! She sure is lucky to have such a good younger brother. Funny that he's the more mature one at times.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm not losing interest. Sure I guess some think it's just a disaster simulation or something, but I find it does things well enough to warrant and hold at least my interest.

RyougaZell
Fri, 07-31-2009, 10:06 PM
Aw crap. The scene with Tokyo Tower was bloody fantastic.

Buffalobiian
Sat, 08-01-2009, 12:19 AM
The Tokyo Tower falling definitely kept my interest at least.

This is just one of those shows that I sit back and let everything unfold. It's certainly more relaxing than some other shows, but by no means boring to me.


How dare Mirai make Yuuki cry! She sure is lucky to have such a good younger brother. Funny that he's the more mature one at times.

How dare she indeed, though I'm kind of happy it we got to see them break down crying. It was time for some of that, since without it they'd seem a bit too level-headed for being kids.

Yuuki's definitely the one acting more maturely. Kudos to him trying to start some normal conversation to ease the atmosphere, but that just rubbed Mirai the wrong way. You'd think he'd know his sister a bit better to know how she reacts to what though. The fact that he's trying to be "nice", but not knowing exactly how shows he's still a kid after all.

Pandadice
Sun, 08-02-2009, 09:50 PM
whoa, okay, if anything was lacking from the last episode it was definitely made up for in this one. this episode was amazing! D:

i loved how it started with like anything and everything happening to mirai being negative. like the line for the bathroom, and having to use a paper toilet, and being out of ramen, and dropping her food, and getting ramen dropped on her, and getting her foot stepped on, but then they see the corpses being loaded up and it's like daaang. that was such a powerful moment..

doesn't Mari's cell phone work? why don't they just ask to use hers and try to call their parents?

Buffalobiian
Mon, 08-03-2009, 02:24 AM
i loved how it started with like anything and everything happening to mirai being negative. like the line for the bathroom, and having to use a paper toilet, and being out of ramen, and dropping her food, and getting ramen dropped on her, and getting her foot stepped on, but then they see the corpses being loaded up and it's like daaang. that was such a powerful moment..

She was about to split when the couple stepped on her foot, but swallowed it after seeing the corpse cart.

It really drove the point home that your life might be shit right now, but at least you're alive.

Buffalobiian
Tue, 08-04-2009, 07:10 PM
[Nipponsei] Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 ED Single - Melody [Tsuji Shion].zip (http://tracker.minglong.org/torrents/%5BNipponsei%5D%20Tokyo%20Magnitude%208.0%20ED%20S ingle%20-%20Melody%20%5BTsuji%20Shion%5D.zip.torrent)

Buffalobiian
Fri, 08-07-2009, 11:55 PM
BSS - Episode 5 (http://tracker.minglong.org/torrents/%5BBSS%5D_Tokyo_Magnitude_8.0_-_05_%5BE5809098%5D.mkv.torrent)

Kraco
Sat, 08-08-2009, 02:15 AM
I'm beginning to wonder if Mari really has a child of her own. You'd think she would be in a bit more hurry if she had, despite having promised to take care of the main character kids. It's not like she couldn't have travelled faster with them.

I never walked, surprise surprise, through any catastrophe areas when I was a kid, but still my gut feeling is that I disagree with what Yuki said some time ago, that the kids seem too unaffected by it. That feeling was reinforced by this episode, where Mirai suddenly became very affected by it the moment it was someone she knows and then the old man who helped them despite having gone through such a cruel fate.

If you have a pressing aim of your own (getting back home), seeing bodies of naturally died total strangers under such circumstances doesn't probably have a huge emotional impact. It only reminds you of the fact you might be the next one to die. Some people might break there, like that one crying girl in this episode (though we don't know her circumstances - she might have witnessed her family/friends die in front of her for all we know), the rest will just try to stay alive twice as much.

It should only change when you feel like you personally lost something already.

depthcharge
Sat, 08-08-2009, 05:05 AM
Maybe, her own child died before the earthquake. She is only remembering her child.

I gotta agree that the angst from the girl is very very annoying. I wish she could be turned off.

Pandadice
Sat, 08-08-2009, 10:25 AM
Maybe, her own child died before the earthquake. She is only remembering her child.


yeah, this is what i was thinking too.

Kraco
Sat, 08-08-2009, 12:08 PM
It'd be a pretty sad ending when the kids get back to their parents (now all remorseful and swearing to be better parents) and Mari returns alone to her empty home and to the altar of her dead child...

depthcharge
Sun, 08-09-2009, 09:14 AM
6.9 quake in Tokyo. Rather about 3hundred km deep

Marik
Sun, 08-09-2009, 09:24 AM
6.9 quake in Tokyo. Rather about 3hundred km deep
Someone texted me that as soon as I woke up. The USGS measured the quake at magnitude 7.1, while the Japan Meteorological Agency put it at 6.9.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iTh72t5VXaM4PvgwHgQbIgqEQUmQD99VC5G00

Pandadice
Sun, 08-09-2009, 11:58 AM
whoa, to think that the difference of 0.3 killed 4.6k people. thats ridiculous

Buffalobiian
Mon, 08-10-2009, 08:51 PM
Maybe, her own child died before the earthquake. She is only remembering her child.

She has some serious issues then, since she was buying a cake for her child's birthday.

Or maybe not. I'm just not accustomed to buying food for dead people.

Pandadice
Tue, 08-11-2009, 12:57 AM
She has some serious issues then, since she was buying a cake for her child's birthday.

Or maybe not. I'm just not accustomed to buying food for dead people.

well, i could definitely understand someone buying a cake in remembrance of their child's birthday, and then eating the cake alone or something. i can see someone doing that.

Kraco
Sat, 08-15-2009, 10:01 AM
Shaken and stirred:

Episode 6 - BSS (http://tracker.minglong.org/torrents/%5BBSS%5D_Tokyo_Magnitude_8.0_-_06_%5B34DFEC52%5D.mkv.torrent)




- - - - - -



Edit: This explained a couple of things. If Mari's mom is looking after Hina, then it's more likely she wouldn't abandon the kids just to get to her own child faster. Yet this episode showed she really is worried. Let's hope her sickness is nothing much, though... It would suck if she died before the end.

Hina's dad must have died in some motorbike accident, seeing how they were racing when they were younger.

Buffalobiian
Sun, 08-16-2009, 05:53 AM
You'd think native Japanese would know to duck under tables, door frames or any sort of supporting structure when indoors during an earthquake, but somehow it doesn't apply when it comes to aftershocks.

Mari was quite the spunky youth.

Buffalobiian
Sat, 08-22-2009, 12:28 AM
BSS - Episode 7 (http://tracker.minglong.org/torrents/%5BBSS%5D_Tokyo_Magnitude_8.0_-_07_%5B88EAF4CA%5D.mkv.torrent)

Kraco
Sat, 08-22-2009, 04:11 AM
Oh, such a dramatic ending. I wonder what's wrong with Yuuki.

Kento was a funny dude: Risking his life to save a robot that's designed to reduce the need to unnecessarily risk human lives... Quite believable, though, considering how young he was in the end and how big a robot nerd.

Pandadice
Sun, 08-23-2009, 02:09 PM
dehydration, heatstroke, hyperthermia.. or maybe it is just a cold like Mari said :\. hopefully it's nothing that serious

Buffalobiian
Tue, 08-25-2009, 06:52 PM
[Nipponsei] Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 OP Single - Kimi no Uta [abingdon boys school].zip (http://tracker.minglong.org/torrents/%5BNipponsei%5D%20Tokyo%20Magnitude%208.0%20OP%20S ingle%20-%20Kimi%20no%20Uta%20%5Babingdon%20boys%20school%5 D.zip.torrent)

Pandadice
Fri, 08-28-2009, 02:16 AM
ep 8s out

[BSS]​_Tokyo​_Magnitude​_8.0​_-​_08​_[57405AAE].mkv (http://tracker.minglong.org/torrents/%5BBSS%5D_Tokyo_Magnitude_8.0_-_08_%5B57405AAE%5D.mkv.torrent)

(lol, 80-08)

Kraco
Fri, 08-28-2009, 08:42 AM
Quite an interesting episode although I didn't believe for a second Yuuki had really died. I guess Mirai's dizzy behavior just before entering the building was a big hint anyway, even if it was necessary to spare any too serious audience members from a wtf sensation.

Mari's behavior towards the end of the episode was kind of strange. I wonder if she knows something she's not telling the kids but can't help feeling immensely down herself. It's not like the news by itself would have yet indicated something must have happened to her mom and kid. Yet there must be something since even Mirai's words could cheer her at all.

David75
Fri, 08-28-2009, 10:49 AM
Quite an interesting episode although I didn't believe for a second Yuuki had really died. I guess Mirai's dizzy behavior just before entering the building was a big hint anyway, even if it was necessary to spare any too serious audience members from a wtf sensation.

Mari's behavior towards the end of the episode was kind of strange. I wonder if she knows something she's not telling the kids but can't help feeling immensely down herself. It's not like the news by itself would have yet indicated something must have happened to her mom and kid. Yet there must be something since even Mirai's words could cheer her at all.
Regarding Mari,I wonder what were the papers she was signing/receiving. Was it to get news from her relatives?

[slightly OT]
There's just a little thing bugging me with the subs, Yuuki keeps calling Mirai "Oneechan" and the subs are always Mirai.
Also, last ep "robotaku" would have been perfectly acceptable :D [/slightly OT]

Kraco
Fri, 08-28-2009, 11:39 AM
Regarding Mari,I wonder what were the papers she was signing/receiving. Was it to get news from her relatives?

I was certainly also wondering about that. Especially since that scene was before the ending scenes where she seemed to be so depressed.


There's just a little thing bugging me with the subs, Yuuki keeps calling Mirai "Oneechan" and the subs are always Mirai.

That's not really so rare in subs. I guess in much of the West siblings use each other's names (though I might be wrong as well) and not "big sister" and such like they do in Japan all the time. So, unless the subber sticks to Japanese words entirely, it might look somewhat strange in English.

Pandadice
Fri, 08-28-2009, 03:00 PM
whoa, this episode (the first half at least) had a completely different atmosphere to it than the previous episodes.. it was cool.

Pandadice
Sat, 08-29-2009, 02:43 AM
okay, so someone else came up with this theory, and i thought it sounded super plausible. so i thought i'd bring it up here

so basically Yuuki died, but Mirai can't bring herself to accept it, and so she woke up in shock, and is hallucinating that he's there. which is why Mari got a weird look on her face when Mirai talked like he was right there.

that's also the papers she picked up, and the reason she was using the emergency telephones (seriously, the whole city got hit by the earthquake. using them for a little "oh hey, yeah i'm with your kids, we'll be back soon" definitely wouldn't warrant their use, but calling mirai's parents to inform them of Yuuki's death, would i guess)

also the legal papers she picked up were his death documents.

also that explains why mari started crying, and apologizing when mirai talked about how soon enough she'll be with her family and everything will be fine. how Mirai was giving her support even though she just lost Yuuki.

also mari never acknowledged yuuki, and he never held the backpack...

i think this is a super probable theory.. what do you guys think?

Kraco
Sat, 08-29-2009, 03:42 AM
Ho... That's quite a sharp theory indeed. It surely would explain everything, especially the backpack. I'd have to watch the end of the episode again with a keener eye. If it's true, and as a matter of fact I almost believe already it is, it surely would be quite a u-turn for me, considering I said earlier I didn't believe for a moment Yuuki really died. But if he did, like this theory says, I shall give the script of this anime much more credit than I did previously, although I've already liked the show from the beginning.

Pandadice
Sat, 08-29-2009, 04:04 AM
I'd have to watch the end of the episode again with a keener eye.

thats exactly what i did after i read that

David75
Sat, 08-29-2009, 06:42 AM
This is no spoiler, but if it is indeed true, it spoils some of the fun discovering it later.
Like knowing the trick in the "6th sense" for those who didn't find it till the revelation.

Kraco
Sat, 08-29-2009, 09:55 AM
I watched the last third of the ep again, and I'm all the more convinced the theory is true. All of Mari's reactions make sense if you consider it that way. Mirai must be so shocked, especially after she got so close to Yuuki due to all the difficulties, that she's escaping to delusions. Man, I wonder how long she will keep imagining Yuuki is still there.

Yukimura
Sat, 08-29-2009, 04:41 PM
ZOMG Not Yuuki!!!!!!


Right after MIrai woke up from her second 'dream' I was thinking how much I disliked the use of dream sequences meant to pull at people's heart strings by showing a character dying only to have them be alive later. The first one felt so fake it just irritated me that they'd pull something like this and effectively ruin the tension that he might actually die. Then the second one with the doctor felt like it could be real but when we see Yuuki at play it just makes it look like a cheap lazy attempt to pull the same trick twice. In a show that touts realism and seriousness I was rather disappointed in TM8 for seemingly pulling two fake death dream sequences in the same episode instead of tackling the more realistic idea that Yuuki actually might die.

When I came in here and read what Panadice was talking about and rewatched the ep again from where Mari wakes up under the tent it was like I had just stared at the sun after spending a week in a cave. Yuuki never really interacts with anyone but Mirai. The kids playing soccer don't seem to notice he exists, Mari never looks at him or acknowledges him, when MIrai wakes up there are only two bedrolls, etc. The final clue that seals it for me was the sequence starting around 20:20. Mari apologizes and Mirai immediately looks away and we see Yuuki from her perspective standing all alone in a gap between the pillars. Then a bit later at 21:04 we see the same scene but from a wider overhead angle and Yuuki is nowhere to be found. For him to not be in that shot he would have to have moved out of view of both Mari and Mirai, despite beingwell ahead of them and aware that they had stopped on the bridge.

On the flip side, Mari and Mirai were talking for almost a minute and it's possible Yuuki was just standing behind one of the pillars. Maybe Yuuki slept in the hospital and Mari and Mirai slept under the tent and held onto his bag. Maybe Mari was just feeling vulnerable after the scare with Yuuki and Mirai was trying to stay positive and strong for the sake of her companions because her dreams taught her to cherish them. If Yuuki really is alive I'll be kind of ticked off at the use of 'dream sequences' to fake us out and push our buttons. On the other hand if he really did die it's somewhat strange that Mari would let Mirai go on talking like Yuuki was right in front of them. Though I could certainly believe that she was just too overwhelmed herself to want to risk poking at a mentally unstable Mirai just then.

November 11
Sat, 08-29-2009, 06:45 PM
At the start, when Mari finds nobody is at the tent, she only calls for Mirai. Subsequently, the complete lack of direct interaction between Yuuki and Mari until the end of the episode now more apparent with the mention of Yuuki's death theory.

animus
Sun, 08-30-2009, 06:25 PM
Man I can't believe they killed off Yuuki. He was such a sweet kid. I'm glad that this show exists of a rather realistic portrayal of siblings, even more so for the fact that I grew a bit attached to Yuuki.

MFauli
Mon, 08-31-2009, 05:24 PM
WTF

I came here to write the exact first paragraph of Yukimura´s posting, how i hate such cheap dream scenes, where the makers can go all out without consequences. Then read that theory and....whoah, its not a theory any longer, of course thats what happend. FUCK!

:(

After having watched episode 2 of the show, i said to myself "ah, ok, this will be a family friendly series", because i thought that if Mirai found her brother dead in episode 2 it would be a complete different series.
But that they really killed of Yuki now,...wow. damn...

Scenes like these really get me, having 2 younger brothers myself. I wonder how long her mental disturbance goes on and what happens when she realizes he´s dead.

Wow, i cant even think of a happy end now for this series...i mean, so Mirai finds her parents...what now? "Hi mom, hi dad, here i am...and Yuki is dead." UH :(

My prediction: Everyone dies, bad end.

Pandadice
Fri, 09-04-2009, 04:14 AM
ahhh ep 9 is out!!

[BSS]​_Tokyo​_Magnitude​_8.0​_-​_09​_[C6BD25BF].mkv (http://tracker.minglong.org/torrents/%5BBSS%5D_Tokyo_Magnitude_8.0_-_09_%5BC6BD25BF%5D.mkv.torrent)

downloading it now, can't wait to watch it ^^

MFauli
Fri, 09-04-2009, 05:11 AM
btw am i doing something wrong? those BSS-versions never have subtitles. Huh?

Buffalobiian
Fri, 09-04-2009, 09:25 AM
btw am i doing something wrong? those BSS-versions never have subtitles. Huh?

Turn them on. Your player isn't using them by default, from the sounds of things.

RyougaZell
Fri, 09-04-2009, 10:37 AM
okay, so someone else came up with this theory, and i thought it sounded super plausible. so i thought i'd bring it up here

so basically Yuuki died, but Mirai can't bring herself to accept it, and so she woke up in shock, and is hallucinating that he's there. which is why Mari got a weird look on her face when Mirai talked like he was right there.

that's also the papers she picked up, and the reason she was using the emergency telephones (seriously, the whole city got hit by the earthquake. using them for a little "oh hey, yeah i'm with your kids, we'll be back soon" definitely wouldn't warrant their use, but calling mirai's parents to inform them of Yuuki's death, would i guess)

also the legal papers she picked up were his death documents.

also that explains why mari started crying, and apologizing when mirai talked about how soon enough she'll be with her family and everything will be fine. how Mirai was giving her support even though she just lost Yuuki.

also mari never acknowledged yuuki, and he never held the backpack...

i think this is a super probable theory.. what do you guys think?

this is theory is...



fantastic :eek:


I really hope this happened. I don't dislike the kid. But this would be amazing.

I'll skip reading this thread until I see the next episode just in case...

Kraco
Fri, 09-04-2009, 01:25 PM
I guess at the end of the episode Yuuki was just about to tell Mirai that he's already dead and Mirai will need to let go. Mirai seems to be a bit too levelheaded to believe in delucions too long as her fabricated reality was already cracking with memories of Yuuki's death. It remains to be seen how she will actually deal with the knowledge once it hits and she can no more escapa the inevitable.

Of course the biggest question of whether her parents still live remains. But I reckon they do, seeing how Hina and the grandma were still living as well. Yuuki will likely be the only sacrifice. Although I'm fully prepared to be proven wrong as well.

I wonder if Mari will leave Hina and her mom behind to catch up with Mirai. In a certain sense it would be reasonable since there's no reason why the little girl couldn't survive in such a controlled environment and with the knowledge her mom is well. However, there's no guarantee Mirai will make it all alone out there. The soldier probably thought she knows exactly where she's going and will be well over there.

Pandadice
Fri, 09-04-2009, 02:54 PM
I guess at the end of the episode Yuuki was just about to tell Mirai that he's already dead and Mirai will need to let go. Mirai seems to be a bit too levelheaded to believe in delucions too long as her fabricated reality was already cracking with memories of Yuuki's death. It remains to be seen how she will actually deal with the knowledge once it hits and she can no more escapa the inevitable.
yeah, i got that same feeling as he started speaking and then it cut to the ED. i thought she was gonna realize it when she had the flashbacks to the hospital, and then saw Mari's face.. but i think she's trying to ignore it, and so the subconscious illusion Yuuki is gonna have to come right out and tell her.

Kraco
Fri, 09-04-2009, 03:33 PM
That's actually quite a believable way for it to happen: Normally realising Yuuki is dead is something she doesn't want to acknowledge and thus will fight against it, like happened in the hospital. However, Yuuki is a projection of a sort and while it's not the real Yuuki anymore, it still should have a degree of increased freedom compared to Mirai's normal thought processes. So, the imagined Yuuki could say things Mirai doesn't want to hear but still knows to be true. Kind of like externalising it so that she doesn't need to say it first herself.

animus
Sat, 09-05-2009, 01:22 AM
Near the end I was thinking plot hole; Yuuki's carrying a backpack! But it seems they aren't that careless. Also, I've been trying to listen to foot steps in some scenes where it's just the two of them. Sometimes I can hear just a pair, sometimes I hear two.

David75
Sat, 09-05-2009, 01:58 AM
Near the end I was thinking plot hole; Yuuki's carrying a backpack! But it seems they aren't that careless. Also, I've been trying to listen to foot steps in some scenes where it's just the two of them. Sometimes I can hear just a pair, sometimes I hear two.

Tried the same thing, regarding footsteps. I tried camera angles too.
But I guess Mari's last words of the ep are an indication Yuuki really isn't there.

Buffalobiian
Mon, 09-07-2009, 07:11 AM
I didn't pay close attention to the camera angles, but I noticed they were well done enough that when someone is talking to Mirai, Yuuki is often not visible. Of course, no one took any notice of him neither.

The Hina/Mari reunion scene made my eyes warm/hot. It was especially powerful knowing that Mirai and Yuuki will never get theirs.

They've all but established a pairing last time between Kento and Mirai, and after this episode, I'm positive it'll take place after a flashback, along with Mirai becoming a "robotaku".

Kraco
Mon, 09-07-2009, 08:50 AM
They've all but established a pairing last time between Kento and Mirai, and after this episode, I'm positive it'll take place after a flashback, along with Mirai becoming a "robotaku".

I'd definitely agree - if this series wasn't making realism its strong point. In any fancier story they would certainly meet again, but if we considered these real events, the likelyhood would speak against it, especially in a city as big as Tokyo. I wouldn't be so sure Mirai will become a robotaku either, with Yuuki dead. Had Yuuki been left alive, they might have met in the next robot exhibition.

shinta|hikari
Mon, 09-07-2009, 09:02 AM
Mirai might inherit some of her younger brother's hobbies as a reaction to his death. It can be a form of adjustment, or a way of remembering him in the future. Maybe then the robotaku Kento ending is possible.

Buffalobiian
Mon, 09-07-2009, 09:21 AM
Mirai might inherit some of her younger brother's hobbies as a reaction to his death. It can be a form of adjustment, or a way of remembering him in the future. Maybe then the robotaku Kento ending is possible.

That's the ending I envisioned. They spent quite some time establishing Yuuki's love for robots, why he loves them, how they can save people and all right before he died. At the same time, they showed how Mirai had no future aspirations whatsoever. Only now has she decided to play her "sister" role properly, albeit too late.

Taking on Yuuki's dream as her own is like living her brother's life for him, fulfilling the dream that he couldn't.

MFauli
Mon, 09-07-2009, 09:28 AM
Taking on Yuuki's dream as her own is like living her brother's life for him, fulfilling the dream that he couldn't.

Yeah, and by pairing Mirai with Kento they let Mirai live her brother´s yaoi-dreams....eh, wut :/

Buffalobiian
Mon, 09-07-2009, 09:37 AM
Yeah, and by pairing Mirai with Kento they let Mirai live her brother´s yaoi-dreams....eh, wut :/

Her brother's dream of building robots. From Mirai's personal experiences, it would become her own goal to develop machines to lessen casualties in disasters even if robots couldn't have directly saved Yuuki in his case.

By the way, what on earth killed Yuuki? The only thing I can think of that would kill him so quickly is acute meningitis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meningitis#Clinical_features). That can kill in a matter of hours if left untreated for long enough.

shinta|hikari
Mon, 09-07-2009, 09:52 AM
Didn't the preview mention something about Crash Syndrome?

Pandadice
Mon, 09-07-2009, 11:17 PM
i just thought it was his dehydration/heatstroke.

awman, i can definitely see what you guys are talking about for an ending. we've only got 2 more episodes D:

Buffalobiian
Tue, 09-08-2009, 01:30 AM
Didn't the preview mention something about Crash Syndrome?

Crash Syndrome makes no sense.

Crush Syndrome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crush_syndrome) does, but it didn't look like what Yuuki had.

Edit: Oh, and BSS addresses this issue with their .ass file: here (http://bssubs.net/ass/tm8/tm8_09_final.ass)

shinta|hikari
Tue, 09-08-2009, 01:41 AM
Oh, they sound the same in Japanese so I thought it was Crash.

Kraco
Tue, 09-08-2009, 02:43 AM
Crush Syndrome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crush_syndrome) does, but it didn't look like what Yuuki had.

Yeah, it would seem somewhat strange seeing how Yuuki had been travelling and running around several kilometers per day. If he had had severe skeletal muscle damage, I doubt he could have performed as well as he did.

Kraco
Fri, 09-11-2009, 04:17 AM
Impending aftershocks:

Episode 10 - BSS (http://tracker.minglong.org/torrents/%5BBSS%5D_Tokyo_Magnitude_8.0_-_10_%5B252592DA%5D.mkv.torrent)




Edit: Hmm... While I can understand why they would spend a whole episode to make Mirai understand Yuuki has boarded Charon's ferry already, but it felt a bit stretched. I reckon mainly because it was so blatantly obvious already way before this episode he is indeed dead.

On the other hand, with the end approaching and families more or less getting reconnected, it was to be expected no other adventures would anymore take undue screentime.

MFauli
Sat, 09-12-2009, 09:03 AM
Poor Itsuki has to be there when Mirai´s break down will happen :(

I seriously cannot see this series ending with a happy end.

Buffalobiian
Sun, 09-13-2009, 09:45 AM
I'm still waiting for Mari to come with the explanation. They hinted Crush Syndrome before, but Yuuki had nothing like it, so I'm expecting something else. The writer even said themselves that they're aiming for realism after all.

Pandadice
Tue, 09-15-2009, 01:57 AM
just watched it.

yeha, it did seems like a lot after already knwoing he was dead.. but i still liked the episode. man, at the end when he's like "I'm dead", i was expecting him to say it that bluntly at the beginning, but he avoided it, so i was like "well thats dumb" but then he said it and i was like daang.

it really does suck for Itsuki.. sitting there picking up on her insanity, and seeing her talk like that.. i think its esspecially hard now that she told him he was alive, and they looked for him, only for her to be like "oh yeah, i guess he did die"..

man i loved the animation in this episode. maybe it's been this good all along and i just hadn't really been paying attention. or maybe it's cause i just watched a 2003 series that was 640x480 and looked pretty bad on my monitor.. i think after watching that, and then opening up this episode in 720p.. it just looked amazing.

Kraco
Fri, 09-18-2009, 02:01 AM
The truth will set you sad:

Episode 11 Final - BSS (http://tracker.minglong.org/torrents/%5BBSS%5D_Tokyo_Magnitude_8.0_-_11_%5BA04F36BE%5D.mkv.torrent)

Pandadice
Fri, 09-18-2009, 05:15 AM
well, it was okay.

i don't think it went far enough, and developed their post-earthquake outlook/lifestyle enough :\

it was an acceptable ending to a good series.

Kraco
Fri, 09-18-2009, 09:19 AM
Quite a moving last episode, at least for me. Much sadder moments than in the previous episodes where Mirai hadn't yet realised Yuuki has died. But sad in a good way (not bitter), which is exactly like I prefer it. Happy endings and endings like this are my favorites.

I think this series succeeded finely. This episode left me under an impression Yuuki might have died due to a head trauma, which would make sense to me. That being more or less the only open question all in all I don't feel like anything crucial was left unexplained (that required to be explained in the first place in a realistic series like this, where you can't expect the characters to know everything).

RyougaZell
Fri, 09-18-2009, 10:43 AM
Since they never came out and said it plainly... I think Kraco's suggestion is the correct one. Head trauma. Probably ever since the earthquake he had internal bleeding or something. Which would explain how fast he died after collapsing.

animus
Fri, 09-18-2009, 11:45 AM
Man, I cried during that hospital scene. I have an older sister, so it kinda pains me if I was the one in that position.

This was a good series. I was fully expecting a standard ending with everyone arriving home with everyone intact. The childhood snaps of Yuuki and Mirai over the years were pretty heart wrenching.

MFauli
Fri, 09-18-2009, 12:13 PM
A disappointing ending. They went with a forced "happy" ending.
Maybe its because of my own feelings, but if i imagine one of my two younger brothers died...i couldnt shake it off as easily as both Mirai and her parents. I´d had a complete break down.

The way they reacted in the series was strange. Mirai´s mom didnt know that Yuuki died, but wasnt shocked when she found only Mirai in their apartment. And later on it all had gone into everyday-life already. And then the final scene, where Mirai seemed artificially naive, spouting the clichee "he´s watching from above, so i have to keep going"-blablabla.

It´s as i said before. This series couldn´t have a good ending once we knew that Yuuki died. Though, i´d have prefered a "bad ending", especially when considering that the creators mentioned how realistic their scenario was.

Oh well, overall an interesting series, but the ending ruined it a bit.

RyougaZell
Fri, 09-18-2009, 12:25 PM
I think Mari had told Mirai's mother about Yuuki. Remember the scene at the hospital? When she was at the phone? She was saying 'sorry'. I believe she was telling the Mother about Yuuki. Don't ask me where she got the telephone number though.

David75
Fri, 09-18-2009, 01:00 PM
I only fully acknoledged, felt in my flesh and then accepted the death of the grandfather I cherished after 15 years. Everyone has their pace and there are many steps too.

Kraco
Fri, 09-18-2009, 02:07 PM
And later on it all had gone into everyday-life already. And then the final scene, where Mirai seemed artificially naive, spouting the clichee "he´s watching from above, so i have to keep going"-blablabla.

That's how it should be. There's no doubt Mirai's parents were suffering tremendously, but for Mirai's sake they can't become all emo. That would encourage Mirai to blame herself all the more. Mirai isn't old enough yet to overcome something like that all on her own, so no matter how painful it is, her parents must make sure she will continue her own life. Even that cliche comment might be something some counsellor and her parents have told her to believe. She's young enough to be susceptible to things like that.

Other than that, it's not fair to say that people who can cope with the death of a family member aren't realistic. I'd say those who can't are more rare. Of course there're huge individual differences, but since we only had one episode left, there wasn't really time to make more detailed depictions of how one can get over it.

Pandadice
Fri, 09-18-2009, 02:23 PM
i really was hoping for the meeting up with the robot nerd/"her living yuuki's dream" elaborated ending :\

but i guess her watering the plant, and displaying her motivation to live is good enough.. we all know Japanese kids can use (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3919775.stm) a message (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/4071805.stm) like that these days.

MFauli
Fri, 09-18-2009, 04:47 PM
That's how it should be. There's no doubt Mirai's parents were suffering tremendously, but for Mirai's sake they can't become all emo. That would encourage Mirai to blame herself all the more. Mirai isn't old enough yet to overcome something like that all on her own, so no matter how painful it is, her parents must make sure she will continue her own life. Even that cliche comment might be something some counsellor and her parents have told her to believe. She's young enough to be susceptible to things like that.

Other than that, it's not fair to say that people who can cope with the death of a family member aren't realistic. I'd say those who can't are more rare. Of course there're huge individual differences, but since we only had one episode left, there wasn't really time to make more detailed depictions of how one can get over it.

Well, they even skipped the moment of her realization of Yuuki´s death, We didnt see that, you know, where she was in the house with Itsuki...we only saw her when she was already outside.
I simply think that there should have been a stronger initial break-down, like her rolling on the ground, shivering, crying loudly etc.. It all went too smoothly imo, and her mental crazyness was too positive...for a series that made so many claims of being realistic, a hallucination that only supports you (and thats what Yuuki´s "ghost" was) isnt realistic at all. Normal, hallucinations cause even more problems, mostly because of losing touch with reality.

Oh well, its over now, but i just didnt like this...smooth...ending.

Buffalobiian
Fri, 09-18-2009, 10:30 PM
The music was perfect. It wasn't over-dramatic, but enough to convey the sadness through to you. The ending wasn't as elaborate as I expected, and I thought Mari would become closer to the family than it was portrayed, but I wasn't disappointed.

I got over my grandfather's death in a day or two when I was 6 yrs old, but that was because I never remembered living with him, and probably saw him once every 2 years. I can imagine losing my own brother to be pretty traumatic, but I can't say how distraught I would be. I'm sure no one could say unless they've experienced something similar.

Mum hugging Mirai as soon as she saw her and not inquiring about Yuuki immediately is actually understandable. Seeing Mirai was a surprise to her, and the only emotion: "She's safe" rushed to her head and overrided everything else. Only after she calmed down, or at least released her embrace, would she ask about Yuuki.

On the contrary, if she saw Mirai and asked about Yuuki quick enough to be shown in that scene, it would indicate she wasn't as emotional as she appeared, or that she was more worried about him than Mirai.

The entire story started out with Yuuki trying to pull a fragmenting family together with all his effort. He never got to walk the bridge with everyone again, but I'm sure they would have gone again with Yuuki in their hearts.

It was a nice relaxing anime with a bit of a twist towards the end. I would recommend it for people who aren't all action and were looking for something different.

Kraco
Sat, 09-19-2009, 12:26 AM
for a series that made so many claims of being realistic, a hallucination that only supports you (and thats what Yuuki´s "ghost" was) isnt realistic at all. Normal, hallucinations cause even more problems, mostly because of losing touch with reality.


How strongly she believed Yuuki was still there was a stretch of realism in my opinion as well, but on the other hand it might have been the only way to depict her denial of the truth in an anime format. Aside from making her run around looking for Yuuki as if he was just lost and not dead. I do consider the path they took with the hallucination to be far more stylish.

KitKat
Wed, 10-14-2009, 12:47 AM
Well, I just watched the last few episodes of this one. I had the same reaction as Yukimura when they showed the hospital episode and I was like, "Pffft, a dream sequence, what a lame waste of an episode" but then they started dropping hints, and you realize he really is dead, and your heart aches for Mirai.

I don't usually cry when I watch movies or anime. Maybe I got a bit teary when I was watching Grave of the Fireflies. Or the first time I watched the Lion King when I was young. This one I think I would have been fine if Yuuki had actually died for me in that hospital. But he didn't die for us or for Mirai, and so the writers sneakily catch their viewers off-guard, unprepared for the raw grief they manage to convey. Part of it too is that it's such an unassuming series. They temper the story with bits of heartache and disaster, but for the most part it's a sunny and positive tale of sibling bonding and restoration of family relationships. They lull us into a false sense of security, and make us worry about the parents/Hina, and when we're not looking they hammer us with Yuuki's death.

Honestly, I thought it was brilliant. They did a superb job really connecting me with the characters so that by the end I had to make sure I had a box of tissues handy. I had no problems with the ending. I'm glad to have some closure and know that Mirai and her family are moving on, and dealing with their grief together as a family. Good resolution to a very touching and powerful series.