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Disclaimer: Although this review does not have any explicit spoilers, it goes through various themes. If you like to go into an anime with a fresh mind perhaps this review is not for you.
Summary: This is an 11 episode story about a brother and sister, Mirai and Yuki, and also a single mother named Mari. They meet in the aftermath of an earthquake which is said to be 8.0 in the Richter scale.
Yuki begs to go to a Robot exhibition and Mirai being the only one available at the time reluctantly agrees. A sudden earthquake erupts which leaves the two siblings stranded and struggling to get back home. On the way they meet a motorcycle courier, Mari and together they do their best to make the long journey home.
Anime thoughts and themes: A highly moving anime, I was bawling my eyes out by the end. The characters each have their own personalities so it is very easy to get the feel of the anime right from the get go. For the majority of the anime, we are joined only by Mirai and Yuki and later Mari. This makes for brilliant storytelling since this anime is only 11 episodes long, we get a fairly detailed character arc. We spend a long time getting to know the characters, their thoughts and feelings. By the end of the anime, it hits you all at once and the pay off is great (yet very sad).
I love how the anime gives you information on scientific facts about earthquakes and tsunamis and what to vaguely do if you happen to be near one. It also explains experiencing a natural disaster through a child’s mind. So it is a brilliant anime to educate teens with. I remember a scene where they had trouble finding sanitary products, it was so honest and I am so grateful they decided to show that. Many people often forget about sanitation when thinking about natural disasters or war. The anime itself was made in 2009, and to me it’s very much a huge coincidence how the anime, made before 2011 Tōhoku earthquake is largely similar to it, if not worse than Tokyo magnitude itself.
Islamic review: Since this is an educational anime, it is clearly a great anime to watch if you are Muslim. Many countries in the Muslim world undergo a variety of natural disasters and so it is helpful on our part to learn about them and their experiences.
Even though some people can turn selfish when times are tough, it does not mean we need to be. A lot of people are shown to give charity and help the people most hit because of the earthquake.
This anime is very child friendly and does not contain any explicit scenes or language. I’d recommend this anime to children over 13, purely because the anime is highly emotional.
Anime Scores:
Animations: 7/10 Decent animations, not bright and extravagant by any means. I like it!
Voice Acting: 9/10 Great voice acting even though the anime is very emotional. When an anime is really emotional it has the possibility of sounding melodramatic, this anime isn’t like that. It’s very realistic.
Plot: 9/10 A straight one way journey plot. Simple enough to understand, great to enjoy.
Ending: 10/10 Very emotional, I cried a lot when I watched it. Even thinking and writing about makes me tear up. I found this anime very randomly in 2014, (literally I clicked on a random anime and found this one) it’s amazing how this anime is still very precious to me.
Intro: 9/10 It does an amazing job at introducing the plot and characters very quickly.
Epicness Score: 10/10
Originally published on Anime4Muslims. Source: https://anime4muslims.muslimmanga.org/2020/12/01/a-story-based-on-reality-tokyo-magnitude-8-0/.