*spoiler free!*
The story follows two siblings and a bike rider making their way through the shattered remains of Japan back home, the people they meet and stories they learn. It is truly about the journey than the end.
+ The show is rather "unique". No kawaii brain dead cheer leading cardboard cut-out of a character will be found here. In fact the producers have attempted to make the show as realistic as they can. The realism does work in delivering the drama and emphasizing how bad the situation is, but many doubt whether an earthquake to that scale would cause such destruction. Especially in Japan where earthquakes are very common and methods are in place to prevent too much damage.
+ The visuals in TM8.0 are quite decent with a lot of attention to detail on destruction. The characters do look a bit bland but that’s just nit-picking. The animation of the earthquake looks fluid and realistic; to be fair I’ve never actually seen an earthquake. Some episodes have a dip in animation however it isn't very noticeable. Some I’m starting to see more and more in anime are awkward CGI people in backgrounds, it feels wrong but those scenes are very short. Overall good stuff.
+Drama. I honestly did not expect to get so engrossed in this series; more often than not I would shed a few tears. I often found myself getting attached to the characters and worrying about their wellbeing. Many cliff hangers involved the characters in threat, this got me addicted to the show.
+Ending Song: Good stuff, a really sweet song which sounds like it’s being sang by the main character c:. The guitar is appropriate and just adds to the "feels".
+Pace. With this series only having 11 episodes there wasn’t much the producers could have really fitted, in my opinion the pace of the show is excellent, there wasn’t any time where I was bored.
- Opening song. I quite simply can’t get into it; it’s not very catchy or memorable. The illustrations shown in the opening are pretty good but I doubt you will be even be watching them. I’m sure the lyrics have some deep provoking message but I skipped the OP to get straight into the episode.
-The ending. Without revealing too much, *something* happens in about episode 8 or 9 and afterwards the show gives us an abundance amount of hints of what has happened to the point where it's so obvious you must be mentally retarded not to get. What's annoying is that these hint scenes go on for quite some time as the main character ("mentally retarded") needs some time to figure out what is going on.
-Mirai and Yukki. uhh i mean Yuuki. (YUKKI YUKKI YUKKI YUKKI!!!!) First; Mirai. She gives off a really bad impression at the start. A young ungrateful teenage brat and to be fair that is exactly what she is. I would have ranted about her but then I reminded myself I was a lot worse in my early teenage years when compared to Mirai. That isn't really an excuse but her character develops as the series goes on, we get a completely different person at the end and she becomes more likable as we forget her past and give her our bag full of sympathy. The same almost goes for Yuuki, annoying asf but can be forgiven as the series progresses. The supporting characters range from stupid to remarkably kind.
-Story. Not the most original or interesting story, (I mean earth quakes happen all the time everywhere) but the producers do a great job of telling their story. It doesn’t really go far from the characters’ journey from point A to B but on a positive note the show ends with a solid conclusion which will make you smile.
Overall I really enjoyed this show, I watched it in the span of two days and enjoy ever last bit of it. It’s a good show to reflect on afterwards and I’m glad I’ve experienced it. What stops this show from getting a higher score is the lack of a stimulating story. As far as I know there isn’t any other anime series about an earthquake and it’s disappointing how they didn’t adventure much outside from the trip home. With that in mind I would still strongly recommend this
Story: 7
Art: 8
Sound: 8
Character: 7
Enjoyment: 9
Overall: 8
