Tokyo Magnitude 8.0



One: There is an estimated 70% chance that an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 or higher will hit Tokyo within the next three decades.

Two: Mirai Onozawa is your typical rebellious thirteen-year-old -- bored with school, frustrated with her distant-seeming parents, and annoyed by her cheerful younger brother Yuuki. Her single point of solace at home is her cell phone, with which she texts her friends and organizes her thoughts.

On the first day of summer break in 2012, Mirai takes Yuuki to a robotics exhibition on the artificial island of Odaiba in Tokyo Bay, upon the insistence of her mother. Feeling humiliated and alienated by this and a couple of encounters during the trip, she quietly wishes to herself that the world would break.

The next moment, the world does. An earthquake of the title-giving magnitude 8.0 erupts from northern Tokyo Bay, causing buildings to come crashing down, iconic landmarks to crumble, and fires to erupt in the city center. In the chaos surrounding the initial tremor, Mirai and Yuuki meet Mari, a motorcycle delivery woman and single mother. Together, the three of them set out on the long journey to the Onozawa home in western Tokyo.

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 started running in July 2009, with direction by Masaki Tachibana (Seirei no Moribito) and music from Kou Ootani (Shadow of the Colossus and Haibane Renmei). It succeeded Eden of the East in Fuji Television's NoitaminA late-night timeslot.

Beware: most spoilers present in this page will ruin your experience of the series if you haven't seen it yet.

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 contains examples of:

 * All Just a Dream:
 * Mari has a vivid nightmare of her family trapped in a fire in episode 6.
 * In episode 8,
 * Annoying Younger Sibling: Yuuki's persistent optimism frustrates his sister, who takes a much more cynical view of their situation.
 * Be Careful What You Wish For: Mirai's wish for the world's destruction.
 * Bittersweet Ending:
 * Chekhov's Gun: The rescue-bots from episode 1, predictably.
 * Coming of Age Story: For Mirai.
 * Conspicuous CG: The rescue-bots. Also some of the people walking by in the backgrounds, if you look carefully.
 * Disaster Series
 * Emo Teen: Mirai has this in spades.
 * Empathic Environment: Sunny day before the quake, rainstorms and gray clouds after.
 * Fan Nickname:.
 * Guardian Entity:
 * Kikuko Inoue: As Mirai and Yuuki's mother, in one of her Playing Against Type roles.
 * Limited Wardrobe: Mari's daughter Hina is always shown in photos wearing pink hair ties.
 * Meaningful Name: "Mirai" means "future;" "Yuuki" means "courage."
 * Mood Whiplash: The latter half of the series.
 * Next Sunday AD: Takes place in 2012.
 * One-Dimensional Thinking:
 * "On the Next...": The brief newscaster blurbs after the credits hint at upcoming events.
 * Otaku: Mirai calls Kento a "robotaku."
 * Product Placement: Sort of -- Fuji Television seem to enjoy dropping references to themselves during the series. Among them:
 * Mirai and company, as well as a couple of hundred other survivors, take shelter from the post-quake storms on the steps of Fuji Television's Odaiba headquarters. In fairness, it's a newer building and presumably more strongly retrofitted than the ones that we do see collapsing.
 * The news broadcasts seen on various cell phones in episode two are labeled "8ch", channel 8 being Fuji TV in and around Tokyo (on analog dials, at least).
 * Yuuki's backpack has a "Fuji Staff" sticker on it.
 * Scenery Gorn: Sequences of the earthquake's effects on the city, done in high detail.
 * Scenery Porn: Establishing shots in the first episode. Even normally-aloof Mirai is awestruck by the sight of the Rainbow Bridge overhead.
 * Shown Their Work: Possibly the entire point of the series, as indicated by the opening disclaimer of each episode.
 * Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: The series falls mostly on the idealistic side, with a couple of exceptions -- Mirai constantly runs into criminally-insensitive strangers in early episodes, for instance.
 * Soundtrack Dissonance: Several cliffhangers segue directly into the upbeat ED "M/elody", accompanied by pictures of the main cast happily walking through an intact city.
 * Special Edition Title: The final episode has different pictures in the ending credits of everyone moving on after the quake, mixed with.
 * Spoiler Ending:
 * Survivor Guilt: Mirai is wracked with this, between seeing a classmate mourn her mother, listening to kindly old man Furuichi talk about his dead grandchildren, and . At the end of episode 11,.
 * Take My Hand: In episode 7.
 * The Tokyo Fireball: Much of the city is on fire after the quake; episode two has a distant shot of the downtown skyline in flames.
 * Time Skip: One month in the second half of episode 11.
 * Tokyo Tower: Actually stays up during the earthquake, though askew..
 * : From episode 8 on.
 * Wham! Episode: In episode 8, following an episode of lighter robot-oriented fare, . This is followed up in episode 10 when.
 * Where Are They Now? Epilogue: The credits for episode 11, showing life going on for all the minor characters seen in the series.
 * : From episode 8 on.
 * Wham! Episode: In episode 8, following an episode of lighter robot-oriented fare, . This is followed up in episode 10 when.
 * Where Are They Now? Epilogue: The credits for episode 11, showing life going on for all the minor characters seen in the series.