Tokyo Magnitude 8.0: Episode 11 (Final)

*This entry will contain spoilers for those who haven’t seen the series yet, but if you haven’t seen it I would highly recommend it.*

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 is definitely a gem, the series thrived on good story telling and strong character development without all the flashy or ‘moe’ elements like other anime. The last episode finally shows Mirai being reunited with her parents but sadly Yuuki has passed away. When Mirai’s dreamt of Yuuki’s death it was in fact real. In the past few episodes Mirai thought he was still alive, only appearing either as a ghost or Mirai’s hallucination. It wasn’t until episode 10 that Yuuki’s death was made obvious.

Yuuki’s death was rather sad as he’d been very strong and high spirited all the way through the disaster. He was so close to seeing his parents again. Mirai also came out as a more mature person and as well as developing a caring relationship with her brother and family.  The ungrateful little girl that we saw in the first few episodes became someone who we have grown to sympathize with. Watching Mirai getting over Yuuki’s death and the reuniting with Mari was certainly heart wrenching. There are some tearjerker moments though not in a forceful kind of way.

Tokyo magnitude 8.0 is a thoughtful series even but I’m undecided to whether to consider it as one of my favourites. However it’s definately one of the best series I’ve seen this year. There’s not many anime out there that tries to deal with the sense of realism the series portray and this what makes it great. It’s more than just an anime about people are coping with natural disaster and loss but also about human relationships and how people change due to it. Sometimes it’s great to see an anime like Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 that is meaningful and not generic.

The end of full scale Gundam

Just browsed through Danny Choo’s post about the Gundam statue in Odaiba and as expected it has been taken down. It looks like it has been destroyed by an enemy, as demonstrated by the second picture in the link. However I wouldn’t think RX-78 can be taken down by a mere Zaku. Unless it’s unmanned or controlled by a crappy pilot, damn where’s Amuro when you need him!?

However that isn’t the end to the giant robot madness, in October they’ll be another life size robot of Tetsujin 28. The statue will be placed in Kobe and unlike the Gundam one it will stay there permanently. Looks like there are plenty of opportunity for future Japan travelers to see this. here’s a video:

But I still prefer to see a Gundam. Refer to previous post.