Friday, September 25, 2009

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 Review

Animation Production – Bones

Director - Masaki Tachibana

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 is an 11 episode drama surrounding the events of a fictional earthquake devastating modern day Tokyo. It is a much welcomed disaster drama based in reality, a departure from the usual robotic or supernatural elements of Bones’ past work (Eureka 7, Rahxephon, Full Metal Alchemist). Masaki Tachibana debuts as a director following storyboard and episode directing for such shows as Noir and Ghost in the Shell: SAC.

The show is centred around Mirai and her brother Yuuki who are caught in the midst of a strong earthquake and have to make the dangerous journey home. They immediately encounter Mari, a young single mother, who promises to guide them after a slight detour to her home where she hopes her daughter and mother are alright.

The show is an amazing piece animation held together by believable drama involving strong characters and events. The quality of animation is very high with interesting depictions of a earthquake damaged Tokyo in the opening sequence and throughout the episodes. When each episode begins we are reminded of the great care they made to depict the situation as realistically as possible as shown with the emergency response, shelters and after effect issues of fires, dangerous buildings and aftershocks. It ends very strongly with an unexpected event that elevates the greatness of the show which was already very impressive.

Rating – A

Genre - Drama, Disaster, Adventure Length – 11 Episode series Year - 2009

Currently not licensed in the US



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