(L) Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 (BONES)

[calorie]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

I was actually happy to see Mari start to come to grips with her fears about her child and mother. She's kept them pretty locked-up until now; it's not surprising that they'd surface eventually.

It had to come to that sooner or later. It was starting to look weird how she'd only let out a desperate sigh every once in a while when her neighborhood was mentioned. Guess she's the type to repress the sadness within.

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

I don't know what kind of distances we're talking about here, but why wouldn't it have been acceptable for Mari to ride home on the motorbike and leave the kids with Aya"-chan"? Even if it's ten miles each way, how long would it take her to ride home, check things out, then return to office to help Mirai and Yuuki with maybe a little extra help like another biker? I suppose if she comes upon a scene of fire and desolation she might not have the gumption to return to the office. On the other hand, if her mother and her child are dead, might she not return to reconnect with the children? Sometimes it just feels like the writers chose this walking-across-Tokyo approach simply for the dramatic context it offers. Wouldn't you think at least some people would be trying to use cars, motorbikes, or human-powered bikes to get around?

That does seem a bit weird; the characters we see here aren't that anxious to get to their homes fast at all. Granted, there are buildings still collapsing and it's not that safe to be on the streets or bridges but come on, if it was me out there I'd wiggle my way home ninja-style ASAP.

I thought it was very realistic how Mirai, Yuuki and Mari have cheered up a bit in the beginning of the episode; after all, humans can't grieve all the time and on a sunny morning like that it was natural to grow accustomed to the situation they are in - nothing horrible has happened to them in particular (yet) anyway.

[MeoTwister5]

I think it may be time for a more personal tragedy to befall one of them. Call me a horrible horrible sad excuse for a human being without the right to life if you must, but nothing brings out their character and personalities better than a good tragedy.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Had a few laughs.

Spoiler for Episode 7 (Raw):

While this episode arguably has the same weaknesses as the previous ones, in terms of direction and screenplay, it makes up for them with several "aww, gee" moments.

The rescue robots that Yuuki and Mirai saw at the Odaiba exhibition are back, but this time are put to work clearing rubble and searching for victims. Yuuki meets a fellow robot otaku, and Mirai was adorably jealous. She's comes off much better this episode, caring for her brother, and having some fun playing with frog dolls in a house the trio temporarily took shelter in.

I took a quick look around to see how far state-of-the-art rescue robotics have gone in Japan. So far, I've found only these two links:

1) Japanese rescue robot saves people by 'eating' them (Aug 2, 2009)

This one looks similar to the bigger of two robots featured in this episode, and it's apparently already in service with the Tokyo Fire Department.

2) Japan's earthquake rescue robot (May 27, 2009)

And over at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, we see prototypes of the more familiar snake-like search bots, along with a four-legged contraption that may well be the precursor of the robot that so enraptured Yuuki.

[blewin]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

1) Japanese rescue robot saves people by 'eating' them (Aug 2, 2009)

This one looks similar to the bigger of two robots featured in this episode, and it's apparently already in service with the Tokyo Fire Department.

2) Japan's earthquake rescue robot (May 27, 2009)

And over at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, we see prototypes of the more familiar snake-like search bots, along with a four-legged contraption that may well be the precursor of the robot that so enraptured Yuuki.

*speechless* not sure whether to take that pic as ridiculous or ingenious..
Still, I never knew portable toilet existed in the world. Thanks, Tokyo Magnitude.

[orion]

Originally Posted by blewin

*speechless* not sure whether to take that pic as ridiculous or ingenious..
Still, I never knew portable toilet existed in the world. Thanks, Tokyo Magnitude.

For transportation out of an area, it's a good thing. But there was no Cspine support, room for other rescue equipment in the first video or adequate securing of the patient inside the robot. Loads of people would sue in the US if they got injuries secondary to the robot.

[Hari Michiru]

Originally Posted by orion

Loads of people would sue in the US if they got injuries secondary to the robot.

They would sue even if they didn't get injuries from the robot. *insert American suing joke here*

[MeoTwister5]

Episode 7 BSS subs are out.

[Ascaloth]

Watched Episode 7.

Well.....that was one unnecessary episode. I'm fairly certain the director was trying to make a statement about how people retain their hopes and dreams for the future even in the midst of disaster, but the general attitude of the robo-otaku Kento was like....does that kid even seem to realize the severity of the general situation? He only came off as a Cloudcuckoolander prone to Wall Banger moments to me.

Let's get back to the serious stuff please, Bones. -_-

[TCman]

I thought episode 7 was a quite nice episode since Mirai's character/personality does grow alittle here; because of Kento-kun ("robot otaku") Mirai also want to have a dream, target or goal in her life, and has promised Yuuki-kun that she will behave more and be good for their dad and mum (at last!); Kento-kun like robots just like Yuuki-kun, he has the dream that he later in his life will build his own rescue-robot, just like the one which has saved his parents in the past. The robots we see in this episode are the "frog" robots we have seen at the Robot convention in episode 1; they remind me of Tachikoma in the in Ghost in the Cell (SAC).

In this episode we can see that Mirai chan is more Tsundere because of Kento-kun than the Mirai we know in earlier episodes. Mirai chan is even blusing! Will they go on a date in the near future?

When everything goes well, Yuuki-kun collapses at the end of the show, because the heat stroke (maybe because the combination of stress, heat and inconsistent weather in earlier episodes).

[MeoTwister5]

Man episode 7 felt like.... filler.

I can appreciate whatever sentiment of hopes and dreams they'd want to convey but the entire thing felt really flat. I like myself some robots (especially those of the bewbz kind), but using that as a medium in this episode barely connected with me at all. It's almost entirely the fault of Kento, who probably lives either in his own sphere of joyful ignorance away from the space-time continuum or... he's just ignorant. And/or stupid. At least three times in this episode involving him managed from me only one kind of reaction:



You know you're screwed when Jesus does it too!

So much so in fact that when he was hanging on for dear life, I felt no urgency and felt like laughing instead, hell I would have cautioned Mirai against partaking in his tomassery.

As Ascaloth said, please to the serious stuff.

[typhonsentra]

Yeah this episode was just a whole lot of time wasting as an excuse to have Mirai blush towards the end. I am curious about Yuuki but I rarely am given a sense of danger in this show, at least when it comes to the main three characters.

[Theowne]

First thing is, that hip-hop beat music that opened the episode felt horribly cheesy to me, like something from a Weird Al parody.

I'm not sure I like how Yuuki is now falling ill right after Mari did last episode. It's starting to feel a little forced. Not that I think its unrealistic for people in this situation to start falling ill....just something in the way its presented here..The whole side story with the robots wasn't too bad, I guess, I just think that the anime is starting to lose a sense of urgency and tension. This episode had that scene that was bound to happen where the kids realize they should appreciate their family more, but I was kind of disappointed that this came about by talking to the robot fanatic about his past rather than a more personal moment of realization, if that makes sense.

Another thing was the acrobatics with Mirai pulling up Kento while he's hanging by one hand from the side of a smooth building. I mean, I've never exactly been in that situation, but isn't it a lot more difficult to heave yourself up like that in real life? Especially for two middle schoolers?

That being said I like the robot guy, even if he doesn't understand that risking harm to save a rescue robot is kind of pointless That was a little over the top. A better idea would have been to have him think that the robot had identified a victim, or something like that. The visual of him trying to save the robot felt a bit less dramatic than they wanted it to.

[Kaoru Chujo]

On the other hand, I liked ep7. I understand people's complaints, but less danger pleases me. The one-armed pull-ups were fairly ridiculous, but the point of the scene was good. Mirai is gradually growing. And as when Yuuki was in the mall, she rushes in to help when someone is in danger. Is this character complexity or unrealistic?

Unless you're going to have buildings fall on your main characters or hooligans knock them around, there's only so much you can do with a walk across town. Maybe that's a weakness of the set-up. We'll see what happens next week.

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

On the other hand, I liked ep7. I understand people's complaints, but less danger pleases me. The one-armed pull-ups were fairly ridiculous, but the point of the scene was good. Mirai is gradually growing. And as when Yuuki was in the mall, she rushes in to help when someone is in danger. Is this character complexity or unrealistic?

Unless you're going to have buildings fall on your main characters or hooligans knock them around, there's only so much you can do with a walk across town. Maybe that's a weakness of the set-up. We'll see what happens next week.

I pretty much agree on this. Sometimes it's the "filler" eps that can separate a pedestrian series from a great one. Episodes spent on character development are just fine with me, but there was plenty else going on here too, action-wise - I though it was pretty effective on the whole.

[SeijiSensei]

I was most interested in the casualty estimates presented in episode seven. In TM8 the estimate is about 150,000 dead (actually 180,000; see below), while figures for the 1923 Kantou quake range from 100,000 to 140,000 (the latter includes missings presumed dead). Tokyo's population today is about four times larger than it was in 1923, making the fatality rate a fourth that of 1923.

Still, after reading the description of the Kantou quake on Wikipedia, I'm surprised the TM8 death toll isn't much lower. Many people died in 1923 from the firestorms in the aftermath of the quake. The article attributes these firestorms to the fact that the quake hit while people were using open flames to cook midday meals combined with high winds from a typhoon in the area. That confluence of events isn't replicated in the TM8 scenario. In addition, some 90% of the structures in 1923 Tokyo were made of wood. One would expect that buildings today are less earthquake- and fire-prone than they were in 1923.

One other area where TM8 differs sharply from the experience of 1923 is in the reactions of the populace. In 1923 the government was forced to call out the Army to protect Koreans who were rumored to be taking advantage of the quake to commit robbery and arson. Deaths from mob violence are officially placed in the range of 2,500 to 6,600. Other reports describe widespread panic with thousands of people flooding the streets. The contrast between these events and the rather placid reaction of the Japanese portrayed in TM8 is quite striking.

This article links to a collection of photos taken just after the 1923 quake. The extent of the devastation is frightening. Many of the photos depict areas before and after the quake; here, for example, is the Kyobashi district:



Over half a million homes were destroyed, leaving about two million Japanese homeless. In Yokohama, it was estimated that 10,000 buildings collapsed immediately, or about 10% of all the buildings in the city.

[Greenish Growth]

Did they say there were 150,000 dead or 150,000 casualties? I can't remember.

[SeijiSensei]

Actually I was wrong. They said 180,000 deaths (at timestamp 6:10) and compared it to the 140,000 from 1923. The report then suggests that the status of another 150,000 people was yet unknown, and another 200,000 were injured. Having nearly as many people dead as wounded seems somewhat implausible to me; I would have expected something more like 1:2 or perhaps even 1:4. You'd think there would be many more people with problems like lacerations, concussions, and broken bones than people who died outright.

[drobertbaker]

After a little research I have to conclude that you're right.

The accepted estimate of deaths of the 8.4 in 1923 is 105,000 and 40,000 missing. Of these, 38,000 were killed in the firestorm in the park which would be very unlikely to happen today.

The injury to death ratio and the number of deaths depend heavily on the state of preparedness, public health infrastructure, and successful seismic design and construction practices.

6.9 in Armenia 1988 - 0.6:1 - 25,000 deaths
6.9 in Kobe (city only) 1995 - 3.2:1 - 4,571 deaths
6.9 in Kobe (metro area) 1995 - 17.3:1 - 5,480 deaths
8.2 in Chile 1985 - 13:1 - 177 deaths
7.1 in San Francisco 1989 - 29:1 (or maybe 56.1:1) - 67 deaths (most in the one freeway collapse)

Apparently Kobe was a wakeup call to the Japanese. They felt that the low ratio in Kobe city was due to poor health sector emergency management and they have been struggling to improve this to first world standards for a high risk area. I don't know what success they have had.

The Tokyo area does have about 4 times as many people now as 1923, but the 8.4 of 1923 was 2.5 times the energy of an 8.0. With modern construction and emergency management technology, I'm guessing that the number of deaths in an 8.0 would be a fraction of the 105,00 figure of 1923.

The "tremendous amounts of research and verification" of the producers seems widely at variance with the results of my one hour of research.

[MeoTwister5]

Originally Posted by typhonsentra

Yeah this episode was just a whole lot of time wasting as an excuse to have Mirai blush towards the end. I am curious about Yuuki but I rarely am given a sense of danger in this show, at least when it comes to the main three characters.

In contrast Yuuki collapsing and Mirai blushing are what made this episode passable for me. Go figure.

[orion]

It was a nice episode. The robot otaku's actions got rationalized but he was still an idiot. The rescue worker gave them a nice lecture. And robot otaku's dad showed up to take him home. Wow, a happy ending...

"But wait we're in the middle of an earthquake and it's only episode 7.", says the director. "Okay, we got those family death flags waving proudly. Poor mom. She's toast.", says animation team member. "And let's give Yuuki Norovirus since it's in the news.".

So,Yuuki's caught a virus. (I'm betting on Norovirus.) I was hoping for symptoms from a head injury but that would cause their little travel thru Tokyo to come to a screeching halt. Rats! Oh yeah, they made an appearance too in this episode but they haven't been shown feasting on any bodies yet.

Hopefully, next episode is a visit to the emergency clinic set up for earthquake survivors. Not too many people would let Mirai walk around with a leg wound like that or Yuuki with his illness after a head injury imo. It's going to be an expensive trip for Mari now imo.