is a disaster novel by Japanese writer

Sakyo Komatsu was a Japanese science fiction writer and screenwriter. He was one of the most well known and highly regarded science fiction writers in Japan. Early life Born Minoru "Sakyo" Komatsu in Osaka, he was a graduate of Kyoto University where he st ...

, published in 1973.

Overview

Komatsu took nine years to complete the work. It was published in two volumes, both released at the same time. The novel received the 27th

Mystery Writers of Japan Award The are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of Japan. They honor the best in crime fiction and critical/biographical work published in the previous year. MWJ Award for Best Novel winners (1948–1951, 1976–present) MWJ Award for Be ...

and the

Seiun Award The is a Japanese speculative fiction award given each year for the best science fiction works and achievements during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by , the awards are given at the annual Nihon SF Taikai, Japan Science Fic ...

for a Japanese novel-length work. The English translation was first published in 1975. In 1995, after the Osaka-Kobe earthquake, a second English edition () was published. The English translation is abridged . In 2006, a sequel to the novel, co-authored with Kōshū Tani, was published. The novel has led to works in other media as well as a sequel: a film based on the novel made in the same year directed by Shirō Moritani, a

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

adaptation written by

Takao Saito was a Japanese manga artist, although he rejected the term and considered his work gekiga. He was best known for '' Golgo 13'', which has been serialized in '' Big Comic'' since 1968, making it the oldest manga still in publication. ''Golgo 1 ...

and published in ''

Weekly Shōnen Champion is a Japanese Shōnen manga, ''shōnen'' manga magazine published by Akita Shoten. History ''Shōnen Champion'' was first published on July 15, 1969. It has had numerous popular series by manga artists such as Osamu Tezuka, Go Nagai, Shinji Miz ...

'' in 1973–74, a television drama by TBS and

Toho is a Japanese entertainment company that primarily engages in producing and distributing films and exhibiting stage plays. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. ...

broadcast in 1974–75, a film remake in 2006 by Shinji Higuchi, a parody created in 2011 that features reverse disaster, an original net

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

series released on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

by Science Saru in July 2020, and a reboot drama, '' Japan Sinks: People of Hope'', broadcast in October 2021 on TBS.

Geophysical background

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

is on a destructive plate boundary, where the

Philippine Sea Plate The Philippine Sea plate or the Philippine plate is a tectonic plate comprising oceanic lithosphere that lies beneath the Philippine Sea, to the east of the Philippines. Most segments of the Philippines, including northern Luzon, are part of ...

subducts Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere and some continental lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at the convergent boundaries between tectonic plates. Where one tectonic plate converges with a second pla ...

the Eurasian Plate. It is a triple junction and three subduction zones are involved. After the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami On 11 March 2011, at 14:46:24 Japan Standard Time, JST (05:46:24 UTC), a 9.0–9.1 Submarine earthquake, undersea megathrust earthquake occurred in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region. It lasted approx ...

, towns like

Ishinomaki is a city located in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 138,538, and a population density of 250 persons per km2 in 61,919 households. The total area of the city is . Geography Ishinomaki is in northeastern Miya ...

subsided.

Political background

This novel is now seen as an important look into the cultural context of 1970s Japan, particularly due to its level of popularity.

Anime adaptation

original net animation An original net animation (ONA), known in Japan as , is an anime that is directly released onto the Internet. ONAs may also have been aired on television if they were first directly released on the Internet. The name mirrors original video animat ...

(ONA) series adaptation of the novel was announced on October 9, 2019. The series, titled ''Japan Sinks: 2020'', was animated by Science Saru, with Ho Pyeon-gang and

Masaaki Yuasa is a Japanese director, screenwriter, and animator affiliated with Science SARU, a Japanese animation studio which he co-founded with producer Eunyoung Choi in 2013. Yuasa previously served as president of Science SARU, but stepped down from th ...

served as directors. Toshio Yoshitaka handled series

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

, Naoya Wada designed the characters, and

Kensuke Ushio (stylized as kensuke ushio) is a Japanese composer, rock and EBM musician. He also releases work under the moniker Agraph. He is a member of Japanese rock band Lama. Together with Lama, he released two full-length studio records: ''New!'' in 2 ...

composed the series' music. Yuko Sasaki,

Reina Ueda is a Japanese Voice acting in Japan, voice actress and singer from Toyama Prefecture. She is affiliated with 81 Produce. Beginning her career as a voice actress in 2012, her first main role was Naru Sekiya, the protagonist of the 2014 anime ser ...

and

Tomo Muranaka is a Japanese Voice acting in Japan, voice actress from Ibaraki Prefecture. She is affiliated with Tokyo Actor's Consumer's Cooperative Society, Haikyō. Filmography Television animation ;2010 * ''Robin-kun to 100-nin Otomodachi Series 2'' as ...

are credited with starring roles. It was released worldwide by

on July 9, 2020. A film compilation version of the series was subsequently released in Japanese theaters on November 13, 2020.

Summary

Shortly after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, a major earthquake hits Japan. Amidst the chaos, the Mutou siblings Ayumu (a 14-year-old

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete) and her younger brother Gou (a 7-year-old video game enthusiast) attempt to escape the city with their family and friends. However, the sinking Japanese archipelago complicates their escape. Plunged into extreme conditions, the Mutou siblings believe in the future and acquire the strength to survive with utmost effort.

Voice cast

Episode list

Reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the series holds a 72% approval rating based on 18 reviews, with an average rating of 6.54/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "''Japan Sinks: 2020''s swell of tension and frenetic pace leave little room to breathe, but bursts of hope and interesting insights into humanity may help brave viewers weather its apocalyptic story." The series attracted criticism within Japan for its condemnation of

Japanese nationalism Japanese nationalism is a form of nationalism that asserts the belief that the Japanese people, Japanese are a monolithic nation with a single immutable culture. Over the last two centuries, it has encompassed a broad range of ideas and sentimen ...

, but also received positive attention in the West for its multiculturalism and inclusiveness, and was named as one of the best anime series of 2020. The first episode of ''Japan Sinks: 2020'' was awarded the 2021

Annecy Annecy ( , ; , also ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Haute-Savoie Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, regi ...

Jury Prize for a Television Series, and the series as a whole received two nominations at the 2021

Crunchyroll Anime Awards The Crunchyroll Anime Awards, also known simply as The Anime Awards, are awards given annually by the anime streaming service Crunchyroll to recognize the best anime of the previous year. Announced in December 2016, the awards were first prese ...

. The compilation film version of the series was awarded a Jury Selection Prize at the 2021

Japan Media Arts Festival The Japan Media Arts Festival was an annual festival held since 1997 by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs. The festival begins with an open competition and culminates with the awarding of several prizes and an exhibition. Based on judging by ...

Parodies

A parody short story by

Yasutaka Tsutsui is a Japanese novelist, science fiction author, and actor. His ''Yumenokizaka bunkiten'' won the Tanizaki Prize in 1987. He has also won the 1981 Izumi Kyoka award, the 1989 Kawabata Yasunari award, and the 1992 Nihon SF Taisho Award. Writin ...

, titled ''Nihon Igai Zenbu Chinbotsu'' (''The Whole World Sinks Except Japan'') was also released in 1973, and adapted into a film of the same name in 2006. A parody

visual novel A visual novel (VN) is a form of digital interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with static or animated illustratio ...

by Yonago Gainax, titled ''Nihon Chinbotsu Desu Yo'', is scheduled to be released in 2025.

References

External links

* (anime) at

*
Entry
in ''

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' (''SFE'') is an English language reference work on science fiction, first published in 1979. It has won the Hugo Award, Hugo, Locus Award, Locus and BSFA Award, British SF Awards. Two print editions appea ...

'' {{Authority control 1973 novels 20th-century Japanese novels 1973 science fiction novels Japanese science fiction novels Techno-thriller novels Japanese-language television shows Novels set in Japan Novels about natural disasters Works about earthquakes Japanese novels adapted into films Science fiction novels adapted into films Japanese novels adapted into television shows Novels by Sakyo Komatsu Kobunsha books Netflix original anime Science Saru Avex Group