During this Pandemic I think we all can relate that 2020 is definitely the year that we thought would be 2012, THE END OF THE WORLD. I know I am completely over 2020 from the virus, to social distancing, elections, and other random events that have been happening over the last 6 months of this year. In conclusion ... I hate it here.
I am pretty sure this could have been the same feeling for the Ayumu.
The same day the that season two for Umbrella Academy released on Netflix, Japan Sinks released as well. After I binged Umbrella I binged Japan Sinks and I truly was not disappointed twice.
Japan Sinks was an adaption of a disaster novel, written by Sakyo Komatsu in 1973. There are many other adaptions, TBS and Toho broadcast had the television version from 1974-75, later a film in 2006.
The entire concept is based on the geophysical idea that because Japan is located on a tectonic plate boundary, it is hot spot to sink if there were many earthquakes to occur at once which could lead to the entire island to sink. But it will one day rise again to the surface years from then.
The anime in particular is a 10-episode series that takes place after the Tokyo Olympics 2020, a major earthquake hits Japan. During all the chaos, the Muto family begin to escape with their family and friends to get off the island. Unfortunately, there were not many survivors out of the original group. But between the Muto siblings they did retain a lot of hope until the end.
I won't go into too much detail about the series because it is very short. But I did enjoy it. I loved the art style and how it mimicked Devil Man Crybaby (2018).
Ryo also looked similar to one of the characters to me, Kite, a famous foreign youtuber who was the hero of the series.
**SPOILER**
I do find it fucked up that the father,Koichiro Muto, died literally in the second episode. He displayed amazing survival skills but it is literally the fact that he died from digging up yams that were used as land markers for landmines.
Then a family friend dies because of Ayumu (I don't care what anyone says) because she got jealous that this grown woman was helping the guy she likes, Koga. When clearly they do not have time to be establishing relations. But Ayumu got jealous, asked her to go to the bathroom with her in the woods and the invisible boundary separating the woods from the road was full of toxic gas and killed her on impact while Ayumu knew what she was doing by separating the two but was not aware of the gas.
The next fucked up moment was when the mother, Mari Muto, died. She apparently left Japan prior and flew back during the disaster. She received an operation that basically attaches a portable solar battery to the heart to keep it working. I don't know if it is a pace maker for what. But the battery is camouflaged in a fanny pack and the batteries have to be charged regularly. She died in order for her children to drive the boat and find land when they got separate at sea. She use to be a trained swimmer so she dived into the water and unhooked the anchor, but ran out of breath by the time she could surface. It also did not help that she also was low on battery life as well. But one thing that can not be argued is the example of a mother's love.
The last death that really hit home was Haruo Koga. When Koga was in high school he was a famous local track star that the entire town thought had Olympic potential. They never explain his full backstory but he is now into music and dj-ing. In episode nine, he died to do his last run, but also give Ayumu her wish. She mentioned earlier that she always wanted to watch him run. The situation called for someone to race the 10-second clock to grab a flash drive in the water before high waves and make it back safely. He was able to retrieve the drive and toss it to Ayumu but he never made it back.
I did thoroughly enjoy the series and very tempted to read the novel. I found so many deaths sad but there was a happy ending. It appeared to be a drama disaster movie or live-action series. It is definitely a good one-day watch and would watch it again.