Tokyo Magnitude 8.0

[Kraco]

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]

nice episode, but i wonder whats going to come.
from this episode, the earthquake didnt seem to be THAT big. Hm...

[RyougaZell]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

episode 3 is out !

[BSS]​_Tokyo​_Magnitude​_8.0​_-​_03​_[99B988FA].mkv

[animus]

Who knew nature could be such a bitch.

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

[Buffalobiian]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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


then one on her right


but.. she's still holding Mari's hand


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]

You can hold hands with people in front or behind you.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 4 - BSS