(L) Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 (BONES)

[Guardian Enzo]

I gathered that the reason they didn't scrounge for provisions was the very real possibility that the entire building could collapse at any moment. The bodies crushed under the rubble and the alarming groaning noises coming from Big Sight, along with regular aftershocks, would have made getting outside as quickly as possible a higher priority.

On the subject of Mari's resemblance to Balsa, well - there's no bigger Moribitophile than me and the resemblance didn't strike me at first glance. TBH, it still doesn't. Ironically, I thought the character designs were more reminiscent of I.G. and Kamiyama's newer work, Eden of the East, with a soupcon of Ghibli.

[Ninjacat]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

I had a much more positive reaction to this episode, largely I suspect because Mirai wasn't able to whiine so consistently through it.

I did find the general calm of the people coming out of the building rather impalusible, though. Mirai wasn't the only person to lose track of a family member I'm sure. Where were the distraught parents, siblings and friends of those other people? I'm not looking for scenes of looting, but the surrounding populace seemed remarkably sedate. As one poster earlier suggested, isn't it a bit surprising that no one asked to share their cake? Not searching for bottled water and snack foods when they were in that store seemed a bit implausible as well. I reached the same conclusion Kaoru Chujo did about Japanese behavior, though I defer to those with empirical knowledge of the Japanese and their culture.

Still, I'm in for a few more episodes. Has the character model for Mari become something of a meme in recent anime? She certainly looks strikingly like Balsa. Is this now the "standard" 30-ish female model?

If she'S the new standard, I'm not complaining.

Actually, the behavior of the survivors is quite realistic, especially considering we're talking about Japan here. People tend to go in shock and wait for the authorities to help them out. You don't see people gathering resources because they don't believe they need them at that point.

The looting and panic comes when it becomes obvious the authorities are nowhere to be found. Think Katrina.

[Hari Michiru]

Originally Posted by orion

I didn't and I went thru puberty. Gender issues not withstanding of course.

You are a saint XD. When I was thirteen, I thought my parents were the worst in this world, and no one understood me.

[Theowne]

Originally Posted by orion

But the family is on the edge of not being a family anymore. An earthquake changing behaviour in adults is in itself cliched. They will just go back to regular behaviour after reuniting and getting settled.

Well you've clearly taken a much more negative interpretation of the family in this show than I have. What I see is a typical lower-middle class family who have some added stresses and tensions due to the needs of their life, but nowhere near not being a family anymore. I can see love there. Maybe it' not obvious, but that's how it is with families sometimes. I've heard families bicker in the way that the family in this show had, I've seen kids upset with what their parents do just like Mirai is. Just my opinion.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

As one poster earlier suggested, isn't it a bit surprising that no one asked to share their cake? Not searching for bottled water and snack foods when they were in that store seemed a bit implausible as well. I reached the same conclusion Kaoru Chujo did about Japanese behavior, though I defer to those with empirical knowledge of the Japanese and their culture.

If this were a real situation, I would be embarrassed to ask for a piece of cake when it's clearly not being offered to me — and I'm not Japanese. Given the Japanese reputation for stoicism and maintaining social graces, I'm not surprised to find no one asking to share the food.

To be sure, if people were in such desperate need for food, I don't think they'd ask nicely — they'd fight tooth and nail to stay alive.

As for the lack of looting, I do recall reading an American journalist's account of the disaster scene at the 1995 Kobe earthquake — he was amazed by how quickly the community pulled together to help each other, rescuing trapped civilians or just doing what it could to maintain law and order. He found it incredible that there were no cases of looting or mayhem — instead there were many cases of neighbours pitching in wherever they could.

So, it would appear that there is some degree of cultural differences here, with respect to how people are likely to react during a major earthquake.

(From what I remember, the writer was actually trying to make a subtle point: the apparent cohesiveness of Japanese society hides its darker aspects. The same neighbours who take such good care of each other are the same people who would pull you down viciously should you do anything they deem socially inappropriate. Japanese society, according to him, functions very much like the Stepford Wives.)

Unfortunately, I can't recall which book I read that contained these observations, so I can't provide a reference.

[Kaoru Chujo]

I read a report that there was in fact a case of looting after the Kobe earthquake -- by an American. This may be a Japanese myth, but there it is.

I'm usually over-optimistic about shows I like on first viewing, and I did get some of the feeling that others describe -- that the order and calm was unnatural -- but the Japanese factor makes it easy for me to suspend any bits of disbelief I may be inclined to feel. We'll be better able to judge how realistically they are portraying things after a couple more episodes, I expect.

[Daniel E.]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

As one poster earlier suggested, isn't it a bit surprising that no one asked to share their cake?

Quite a few years ago, me and my family went on a trip to Texas (2 day trip); On the way back, we stopped at a restaurant to buy enchiladas all so that mom didn't have to cook when we arrived.

When we finally reached home, we realized that our house had been robbed and everything inside was left a mess. We got scared, we got angry and eventually we got frustrated. The police arrived, made their usual thing and then left. Between our arrival and the police leaving, a good 6 or so hours have come and gone. We had completly forgotten about the food that was left in the car and it wasn't until we calmed ourselves that we remembered about it.

Long story short, when you are scared it's very easy to forget about certain things for several hours...... eating included.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by Slice of Life

Three rants.

About Mirai. It looks that some people here are playing the mecha pilot critique game with Mirai here. No matter what she does under normal or extraordinary circumstances, she's not nice enough, bold enough, wise enough, rational enough or whatever to find the approval of the audience who all must have been very remarkable people at the age of 13 by the standards they set.

About the "educational" nature of the anime. This is an noitamina anime directed at an adult audience. Why do you expect this to be educational? Do you want to see "Don't try this at home, kids" messages flashed over the screen? Mirai's not supposed to be an emotionless cut out from the handbook for model-citizen-behavior-in-the-face-of-disasters. And I most definitely don't want to see the Divine Wrath card pulled whenever she violates that code. So congratulation for her going into the building and rescuing her brother - and be it maybe mostly out of an irrational feeling of guilt. Anime is full of examples of behavior rewarded that has killed hundreds of thousands of people in real life so I find it strange to criticize such trivialities in any case.

About the circumstance of the disaster. People's believe on how people react under any extreme situations is most likely to 99 percent a result of a diet of TV entertainment.The very minor "catastrophes" I witnessed in RL already had some surprising outcomes. I do not know how people would react in this very particular situation. More crying and chaos and looting and shooting surely makes better pictures - so I except this to be in general overstated not understated on TV. Though I'd like to know in which scene exactly I should expect to see people looting in episode 2? (And the crime rate in Japan is very low compared to the US.) The reaction of the people might be completely unrealistic. Until I get solid proof I dismiss the talk about all that research that went into the anime as a PR move to drag in more viewers anyway. Research costs money, claiming to have done it doesn't. And maybe there are some Japanese psychologists with an expertise on that field already laughing their asses of. However, most of us don't have that expertise and I've seen nothing that made me raise a brow yet.

Wow, for once I actually agree with something you've written.

[strategos]

This anime seems quite interesting.

[Slice of Life]

Originally Posted by Kaioshin Sama

Wow, for once I actually agree with something you've written.

One time out of 1,178? OK, at least there is still room for improvement ...

[wOoOzZy]

Just wondering.. For everyone who keeps saying what's happening in this show so far isn't realistic.. How many of you have actually been through a major natural disaster?

[orion]

Originally Posted by Hari Michiru

You are a saint XD. When I was thirteen, I thought my parents were the worst in this world, and no one understood me.

No, it's because of my enviroment. My sister tells me that often. She was raised in a slightly different environment and would agree with you with respects to my father.

I was raised differently and ascribe to "No matter how bad you think you have it someone else is probably worse off than you." Especially in this title where I see a teen with a cellphone when there would be no way in h*** my parents would let me have one unless I worked to pay for it.

Originally Posted by wOoOzZy

Just wondering.. For everyone who keeps saying what's happening in this show so far isn't realistic.. How many of you have actually been through a major natural disaster?

I almost got stranded by flooding last year. The city north of where I lived got damaged. No looting.

[Hari Michiru]

Originally Posted by orion

No, it's because of my enviroment. My sister tells me that often. She was raised in a slightly different environment and would agree with you with respects to my father.

Well, that could be a factor. My family situation was similar to Mirari`s; parents always working, and an annoying younger sibling.

[orion]

Originally Posted by Hari Michiru

Well, that could be a factor. My family situation was similar to Mirari`s; parents always working, and an annoying younger sibling.

That's it. Mom was at home and dad worked. Older sibling barely at home. A product of the extinct traditional family.

I can understand the round birthday cake thing. I always had birthday cakes (round), candles and birthday song for my birthday. It's a family thing. No boundaries. Those individual slices means you're not enjoying my birthday with me so to speak or I don't consider you important enough (don't care about you enough) to celebrate my birthday with in her mother's case.

So what if you're on a diet. Eat a microsliver of cake with the family and run around the block to burn it off.

[Hari Michiru]

Originally Posted by orion

I can understand the round birthday cake thing. I always had birthday cakes (round), candles and birthday song for my birthday. It's a family thing. No boundaries. Those individual slices means you're not enjoying my birthday with me so to speak or I don't consider you important enough (don't care about you enough) to celebrate my birthday with in her mother's case.

So what if you're on a diet. Eat a microsliver of cake with the family and run around the block to burn it off.

That`s true...I wouldn`t be very happy if my mom just gave me a slice of cake for my birthday XD.

[Kaoru Chujo]

I found her disappointment with the slices rather than a full cake to be perfectly understandable. Those slices were not like a real birthday cake. And yet mother was probably thinking that they were better cake and each person would have a choice of something they liked. Of course, the four pieces might also have been cheaper than buying a whole cake, too, saving money for the family. Nobody to blame, everybody's feelings valid.

[Joachim]

just saw the first episode and im hooked to this series, anyway.. the 2012 as apocalypse year is getting overused, even this series setting is in 2012

[scr]

As an earthquake survivor (derp derp), i must say that the victims in this anime act very composed. They walk out of buildings in fairly neat lines and listen to the policemen and other competent officers.

In my place, it's Free-For-All zombie-apocalypse style panicking (not to mention opportunists grabbing stuffs for themselves).

[orion]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

I found her disappointment with the slices rather than a full cake to be perfectly understandable. Those slices were not like a real birthday cake. And yet mother was probably thinking that they were better cake and each person would have a choice of something they liked. Of course, the four pieces might also have been cheaper than buying a whole cake, too, saving money for the family. Nobody to blame, everybody's feelings valid.

Actually baking a cake is cheaper than buying one.

This shop is recommended online. Then there's this list. Loads of choices apparently. Prob cheaper to buy a supermarket version than the bakery version.

[Slice of Life]

They didn't look like poor people to me. They lack time not money. Baking the cake by themselves[*] is the most expensive option in that sense.


[*] The plural is a nice euphemism because it seems Daddy couldn't be bothered.