The first signs of trouble come for a really poorly written opening theme by Abingdon Boys School is a strangely written and arranged song. Set against a bunch of stills of ruined cities fails to set any kind of tone or mood which is something a series does. The song feels like it would be more at home in a shounen adventure series instead of a serious drama.
The biggest pitfall with the series is the incredibly bland characters. You have the main character Mirai with a very obviously symbolic name who's going through typical adolescent angst in the start of the series when everything is fine and dandy. Apparently she's so angsty that she makes a conveniently trimmed wish for the whole world to just be destroyed right as the quake hits. Wow forced writing much? And even in the middle of the disaster she still seems to hold onto her teenage angst. One scene I recall is when she's talking to her brother who makes a comment about their mother with Mirai replying "It's her fault we're out here." Really? Your parents could be dead and you still want to be a bratty little teen?
Next is Yuki the little brother who frankly was so forgettable I don't even know what to write about him, other I remember him being surprisingly calm and chipper, something I wouldn't expect for a kid his age in a very stressful situation.
There's also the woman who's helping them get through named Mari. And what I recall of her was she was frankly a little to happy and a little too calm most of the time. Many times she references to having a little girl at home. I get she's there to keep calm and help the young children through this but really not a single discretion shot to show that she might even have the slightest bit of concern that her little daughter might be dead.
If there were any other major characters then they sure weren't memorable in the short span that I watched.
Art and animation wise the series looks good and clearly has some good production values. However I can't help but think their should be far more destruction than is depreciated. The series claims to have closely researched and worked with those who prepare Japan for earthquakes but seems like it might be sketching on some of said details. An 8.0 quake is nothing to laugh at they're destructive and deadly. We've seen what a 9.0 can do in the past year along with a destructive Tsunami which was absent in this. Of course in fairness, Japan is already a highly vulnerable country to earthquakes so maybe their infrastructure is far more resistant than I'm giving credit for.
The music by Ko Otani is also a bland and forgettable score. I don't recall a single memorable musical piece in the entire work and the ending theme is nothing special either.
TM8 is boring and overrated with a decent cast of actors but largely laughable and unbelievable characters.
