Tokyo Magnitude 8.0: A sheer masterpiece

Written by Little_Wolf-18 on July 14, 2013 at 2:17 PM

I’ve watched my fair share of emotional anime before. From the quietly-touching Tari Tari, over Shinkai Makoto’s movies that simply come their own atmosphere, over the melancholically-darkly hopeful Wolf’s Rain, over Ghibli’s famous tearjerker Grave of the Fireflies, to Clannad After Story which nearly had me short-circuiting my computer with tears, and a couple more that’d stretch the list to too long. I’d write excellent reviews for any of the mentioned any day; fact however is that while all of them pulled my heartstrings to some or another extent, and while some even did manage to jerk the tears awake, none grabbed me by those heartstrings and threw me around like a bouncy ball.

“Tokyo Magnitude 8.0” did.


(Review ahead is somewhat long.)

I found this anime not too long after the huge earthquake in Japan; and I’m sure that what happened there was much, much worse than what’s portrayed in this work. However, the connection was there, the heartstrings were pulled, and I got emotionally involved almost instantly. I watched this anime in a single night, and couldn’t sleep when I tried the following morning.

That for sure isn’t only the result of this anime’s connection to reality. Still, that’s most definitely a part of it, since “Tokyo Magnitude 8.0” does strive for realism. A lot of scientific research and simulations--stuff that doesn’t go without saying, after all--went into the production of this anime; and it shows. Not only are the visuals outstanding, but the story is as well. It’s not the presentation of a mere single fate; it’s a story about life during and after disaster. And that simply doesn’t come without pulling anyone’s heartstrings.

“Tokyo Magnitude 8.0”, in this sense, displays a strong message; that life is short, and we should cherish who and what we have. The plot is solid, unique, memorable, involving in all aspects, and twists things around when it’s least expected. It is based primarily on human relationships, familial as well as between strangers; and where the initial setup is nothing short of shocking, the relationships “Tokyo Magnitude 8.0” plays on are simply heartwarming.

The main character cast may be small, but they’re all the better thought-out; realistic in characteristics, reactions, and development; and most definitely relatable. I was able to feel with them, to connect with them emotionally; and that connection is one of “Tokyo Magnitude 8.0”’s strongest points.

Genre-wise, this anime may be a drama, first and foremost; however, for a drama, it comes with a wide and wild range of emotions. Confusion, pain, sorrow, despair, hope, sadness, happiness, joy, redemption; it’s all in there, it’s true to life, and it’s all the more involving for it. It shows how people change and endure in times of chaos, how they can still come out on top even in the most dangerous situations, how they can hold up hope; but also how not everything goes the way it should or is hoped to.

The dialogue’s pretty realistic and flows well; I didn’t notice any obvious flaws. Also, the voice acting is well done.

The animation is brilliant. There may be a couple technical flaws, but chance is they won’t even be noticed by most. The strong points outweigh those flaws by tons, anyways. The amount of detail is outstanding; and the realism--result of scientific research--makes for a shocking experience. Though the real thing’s probably a thousand times worse, the realism of the visuals in this anime is part of what makes it a masterpiece.

“Tokyo Magnitude 8.0” is not a fun or relaxing watch; but it’s a masterpiece nevertheless. It’s an emotional ride on the rollercoaster, and it does get sort of bittersweet many times throughout—I’ll just say, if you’re easily moved, prepare a tissue box. But where it won’t provide the sheer fun factor you get from your average shounen action/comedy/whatever mixture, “Tokyo Magnitude” is sure to pull people in; it is, in short, true to life, and where this means that it’s shocking, and perhaps not enjoyable in the strictest sense of the word, it’s mind-blowing... a.k.a. more than memorable.

I strongly recommend this if you want something different, and something with a connection to reality. Just, if you decide to watch, try to keep in mind that what happened at the Japanese Eastern Coast was much, much worse than what happens in this anime.

Thanks for the read.


// PS Archive Note: If you happen find only German-subbed files for one or two episode(s), that’s a TIN system bug. The English files are still there, they’re just keeping themselves hidden--check the comment section. Thanks. //