I've finished Japan Sinks, but while watching the series, I did some research. In particular, I noticed that Japan Sinks (or Japan Sinks 2020) is an adaptation of an older work from the 1970s, and I wondered how much of the problems his version of the work stems from the attempt to take a work whose original setting was the 1970s and change the time frame so that the movie takes place in 2020 instead.
Have you found Japan Sinks? by Naho Sakemi it's less so than I thought as the 2020 version isn't a direct adaption and instead features a completely new plotline.
For example, Onedera is an actual canon character in all versions.
In the 2020 version, he becomes a quadriplegic, but the paper indicates he fares much better in the original. But in effect, it appears that they sidelined canon characters from the original series for new characters they created, which I'm honestly not fond of. As such I've mixed feelings as often this is done for the wrong reasons, yet despite playing a background character, he still manages to play a significant contribution to the overall plot. His predicting when eruptions will occur felt outside of the science that the original series was based on, one of those plot points felt far fetched.
Regarding a group they encountered in forth or fifth,
I'd thought the cult was an actual element from the original because dooms day cults were a major thing back in the 70s, but perhaps that's more of an American thing, with it becoming more of something happening in later series. It's unique to the Anime, and it feels more like something that hits the cliques.
The stapler thing, definitely not in the original - wish it was. Some of the elements, such as the level of destruction may have been in the original novel, but the part regarding Onedera's theories and how they've been debunked, from what the paper says, in the original
it wasn't about a theory being debunked so much as advances in sciences not being accepted at the time, being that Japan was still not sold on plate tectonics and instead relied on an antiquated theory with Japan Sinks presenting what wasn't scientifically accepted at the time to public attention, but I think shifting it to a "debunked theory" in the Anime is one of the pitfalls, a place where the Anime tried hitting the nuances of the original without actually understanding some of the nuance.
Regarding some of the political issues that crop up,
the themes of nationalism and racial integration are there in the original, with the original creator asking sound questions about not accepting others while in the Anime it feels more of a drama thing, something that fifty years later you'd think would have become a non-issue.
Then there's the whole thing about fake news, how there is a lack of coordination in the evacuation, which
is a stark contrast to the original, according to the paper, where evacuation plans were put into place in a timely manner.
Tech is never treated as being as advanced as it us, such as cellphones and other tech measures helping out unless they're taking pictures as if they were on a family trip, while in the end (final episodes)
they're able to retrieve their mom's data from the cloud, as if all of the servers for Google's cloud are in the US, that they wouldn't have lost the ones in Japan, and yet there's also the one time taking photos work, the uploading of the birthday video, done in case certain people couldn't be there to wish her happy birthday. And video games being a part of the Olympics felt awkward, like having chess as an Olympic sport. Olympics are about games that test ones physical ability, while e-sports and chess test ones mental aptitude.
That said, the paper I found also brings up that part of the purpose behind making Japan Sinks -- framing it around the Fukushima earthquake.
Yemi_Hikari said: I'd thought the cult was an actual element from the original because dooms day cults were a major thing back in the 70s, but perhaps that's more of an American thing, with it becoming more of something happening in later series. It's unique to the Anime, and it feels more like something that hits the cliques.
Japan had the Aum Shinrikyo weirdos but they came to mainstream attention for their terrorist attacks 20 years after the original was written.
Great analysis on this. My opinion has always been the same with this show. It was hit or miss. You could have a 3/10 moment or you get a 10/10 moment. The plot was all over the place, and most of the characters were shallow. Overall though, I think it was a decent enough watch.
Yemi_Hikari said: I'd thought the cult was an actual element from the original because dooms day cults were a major thing back in the 70s, but perhaps that's more of an American thing, with it becoming more of something happening in later series. It's unique to the Anime, and it feels more like something that hits the cliques.
Japan had the Aum Shinrikyo weirdos but they came to mainstream attention for their terrorist attacks 20 years after the original was written.
@Theo1899 - That was the cult I was thinking of for Japan, but looking at the dates, Japan Sinks was 1973 and Aum Shinrikyo was founded in 1987.
@Kaze1214 - I enjoyed the Anime, but I enjoyed it because I like to laugh at those 3/10 moments as much as I like the 10/10 moments for what they are in b-level disaster movies - that's not for everyone, and I think for some would be frustrating.
