My interest in Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 followed a fairly interesting trajectory. I swear I was the only one who was interested in it when it was first announced. After all, it’s BONES, a studio that I really like, making a show about something that’s relatively original and grounded in reality. It wasn’t until summer previews hit that more people took a look at it.

The show starts off with Mirai, a fairly irritating kid. Obviously, the story and circumstances will have her grow out of being irritating. Still, that didn’t stop the first few episodes from being excruciating because of this kid. Compounding this situation was the fact that pretty much everyone who wasn’t Mari was kind of a dick to the kids. That’s not to say that the show was terrible, but it was hard to get excited for each week.

Of course, this all changed in the second half of the show. See, I had assumed that the outcome would be Mirai and Yuuki reuniting with their parents and GOOD END ensues. The other plausible ending that others had suggested was rocks fall, everyone dies, BAD END. I hadn’t expected Yuuki to die, although in retrospect, there was no reason for me to believe that.

And that really changed the rest of the show. The initial screwing around with the audience was pretty well done. Internet arguments flared over whether he had actually died or not. Over the next few episodes, it became more and more clear and by the time the reveal came, it had already sunk in. I was pretty happy with the resultant ending, particularly with how the family handled everything.

This is one of those shows that isn’t going to make it anywhere near my list of favourites, but is definitely a quality piece of work that I enjoyed watching.

The trilogy is complete.

Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

By now, you should know if this is for you or not. If you don’t, then you probably haven’t watched the first season, in which case, do so immediately. Otherwise, you’ve already decided whether you love or hate ZETSUBOUSHITAs, the obscure and obtuse humour, and general SHAFT antics.

Spice and Wolf II

I wasn’t a fan of the Amber Melancholy OVA, so I was really happy when this episode made me smile all the way through while watching it. I’d already read the volume that this one is covering and the episode unfolded pretty perfectly. This has vaulted back up to one of the shows I’m most anticipating. I love the OP too, with the constantly shifting backgrounds, but no more apples on the witch’s tree this time around. Oh well.

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0

The first episode was a setup for the earthquake (SPOILERS) that happens near the end of the episode. The characters are all pretty realistic. The second episode should be full of wanton destruction and it’ll be interesting to see where this series ends up. It’s also kind of funny how, even though this is set about twenty to thirty years after Eden of the East, everything about it feels a lot closer to the world of today.

GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class

This is pretty much Hidamari Sketch and Sketchbook, but on crack and with actual art and design jokes. I liked the ones they had in the first episode and I’m crossing my fingers for some typography jokes. Also, this is one of many Horie Yui shows and also has Tomato Haruka.