is a Japanese

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 ...

television series produced by

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as or , is a Japanese television station that serves the Kantō region as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network System (FNS). The station is owned-and- ...

Asmik Ace , formerly , is a Japanese film production and distribution company. In the past, the company has distributed video games. It was formed in 1997 through a merger between the Asmik Corporation and Ace Entertainment, both in Japan. The name Asmi ...

Sony Music Entertainment Japan , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony, Sony Group Corporation and is ...

Dentsu , simply known as , stylized as dentsu, is a Japanese international advertising and public relations joint stock company headquartered in Tokyo. Dentsu is the largest advertising agency in Japan and the fifth largest advertising agency network in ...

Bones A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, an ...

, and

Kinema Citrus is a Japanese animation studio, founded on March 3, 2008, by former Production I.G and Bones members and based in Suginami, Tokyo. Its business directors are Muneki Ogasawara, Yuichiro Matsuka and Masaki Tachibana. Notable works include ''Tok ...

. It first aired on Fuji TV's

noitamina is a Japanese programming block on Fuji Television devoted to anime, originally broadcast every Thursday late night/Friday morning from 0:45 to 1:15 JST. It was launched with the intention of expanding the target audience beyond the typical you ...

timeslot in July 2009, running for 11 episodes until September. The anime was directed by Masaki Tachibana, with Natsuko Takahashi handling series composition, Atsuko Nozaki designing the characters and

Kow Otani is a Japanese composer. He is best known for creating the soundtracks for the Heisei ''Gamera'' trilogy, '' Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack'', ''Mobile Suit Gundam Wing'', and '' Shadow of the Colossus''. Biogr ...

composing the music. The series centers on two young siblings, Mirai and Yūki, and single mother Mari who the two meet in the aftermath of a major earthquake hitting the Japanese capital, placed in the near future. In 2009, ''Tokyo Magnitude 8.0'' won the Excellence Award at the 13th

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 ...

Plot

After a massive

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

in Tokyo 25 km under the sea at a magnitude of 8.0, two young siblings Mirai and Yūki, who were visiting a robot exhibition in

Odaiba is a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay, Japan, across the Rainbow Bridge (Tokyo), Rainbow Bridge from central Tokyo. Odaiba was initially built for defensive purposes in the 1850s. The land was dramatically expanded during the late 20th centur ...

at the beginning of their summer vacation, struggle to reach their parents in their house in

Setagaya is a special ward in the Tokyo Metropolis in Japan. It is also the name of a neighborhood and administrative district within the ward. Its official bird is the azure-winged magpie, its flower is the fringed orchid, and its tree is the '' Ze ...

, assisted by a female motorcycle courier named Mari, who is striving to reach her own daughter and mother in Sangenjaya. Together, the three of them brave the partly ruined city and try their best to make it home safely.

Characters

* is a 7th grader who attends Rika Girls Academy. At the beginning of the series, she is unsure of what she wants to become later in life, but starts to change this outlook after the earthquake. * is a 3rd grader and enthusiastic about

robot A robot is a machine—especially one Computer program, programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions Automation, automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the robot control, co ...

s. He has a somewhat distant relationship with his sister, and does not like to let others know when he is tired or ill. * is a motorcycle courier who assists Mirai and Yūki reach their parents' home after the earthquake happens. They make a promise to reach their home together. * , Mirai and Yūki's father, is injured while at work when the earthquake occurs. * is Mirai and Yūki's mother. The earthquake occurs on her birthday. * is one of Mirai's friends from school. She is seen taking care of her younger siblings while her mother is in a nearby hospital. * is Mirai's other friend from school. Because of her laziness she tends to do poorly in her studies. * another classmate of Mirai's. She comes from a rich family and owns a summer house in Canada that was built by her father. * is Yuki's best friend who is in the same class as him. Before the earthquake, he and Yuki along with their school teacher planted a tree in their school's yard. * is Mari's daughter age 3 to 5 years old. While Hina's mother was out searching for her, she was staying with her grandmother during the earthquake. * is a middle school boy who becomes friends with Mirai in episode 7. Just like Yuki he is a big fan of robots. * is Mari's co-worker at Tiger Express Delivery who helps take care of her when she arrives at the office. * is Mari Kusakabe's mother-in-law and the grandmother of Hina Kusakabe. She helps take care of Hina while Mari is at work.

Production and release

The series was first announced at the 2009 Tokyo Anime Fair, denoting that it would replace ''

Eden of the East is a Japanese anime television series, which was broadcast on Fuji TV's Noitamina timeslot from April to June 2009. Created, directed and written by Kenji Kamiyama, it features character designs by Chica Umino and animation productio ...

'' in

well-rated anime timeblock and would be co-produced by

and

. It first aired on

timeslot on July 9, 2009, running for 11 episodes until September 17. The series' setting is based upon the

prediction A prediction (Latin ''præ-'', "before," and ''dictum'', "something said") or forecast is a statement about a future event or about future data. Predictions are often, but not always, based upon experience or knowledge of forecasters. There ...

that there is 70% or higher chance of an earthquake measuring 7.0 magnitude on the

Richter scale The Richter scale (), also called the Richter magnitude scale, Richter's magnitude scale, and the Gutenberg–Richter scale, is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Richter in collaboration with Beno Gutenberg, and pr ...

hitting Tokyo in the next 30 years, with the series illustrating the consequences of a magnitude 8.0 earthquake affecting the city. Bones stated that it would try to realistically depict the after-effects of such a situation and that it would collect and tabulate research on previous earthquakes and interview individuals who were affected by them. The series features the efforts of the

Japan Ground Self-Defense Force The , , also referred to as the Japanese Army, is the land warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces. Created on July 1, 1954, it is the largest of the three service branches. New military guidelines, announced in December 2010, direct ...

Japan Coast Guard The is the coast guard responsible for the protection of the Geography of Japan#Composition, topography and geography, coastline of Japan under the oversight of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. It consists of about ...

Tokyo Fire Department The Tokyo Fire Department (TFD) ( Japanese: 東京消防庁, ''Tōkyō Shōbōch''ō), Founded in 1948, is the fire department of Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. The TFD is the largest urban fire department in the world with a total staff of 18,408. T ...

and Tokyo Disaster Medical Assistance Team in assisting recovery efforts after the initial earthquake and its recurring

aftershock In seismology, an aftershock is a smaller earthquake that follows a larger earthquake, in Epicenter, the same area of the Mainshock, main shock, caused as the displaced Crust (geology), crust adjusts to the effects of the main shock. Large earthq ...

s. FNN

newscaster A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news broadcasting, news program on televisio ...

Christel Takigawa née Takigawa is a French Japanese television announcer and news presenter. She is married to Japanese politician Shinjirō Koizumi. Biography Takigawa Lardeux Christel Masami was born in Paris, France, to a Japanese mother and a French fath ...

also features as a guest, reporting on the earthquake and assuming the role of a "navigator" during the series.滝川クリステル：アニメに登場大地震を「まっすぐ」伝えるフジ「東京マグニチュード8．0」
, ''

MANTAN WEB The is one of the major newspapers in Japan, published by In addition to the ''Mainichi Shimbun'', which is printed twice a day in several local editions, Mainichi also operates an English-language news website called , and publishes a bilin ...

'', June 18, 2009 The series uses two pieces of theme music. by

Abingdon Boys School Abingdon Boys School (stylized as abingdon boys school and abbreviated a.b.s.) is a Japanese rock band formed in 2005. It consists of vocalist Takanori Nishikawa, guitarists Sunao and Hiroshi Shibasaki, and keyboardist Toshiyuki Kishi. They have ...

is used for the opening theme, while "M/elody" by Shion Tsuji is used for the ending. This series was broadcast only in Italy on Italian television channel Rai 4 on August 22, 2011, and ended September 5, 2011 for a time ranging from 10.45am and 11.00am.

Episode list

Reception

''Tokyo Magnitude 8.0'' won the Excellence Award in the Animation Division at the 13th

in 2009.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{Kinema Citrus 2009 anime television series debuts 2009 Japanese television series endings Anime with original screenplays Bones (studio) Drama anime and manga Fiction set in 2012 Fiction with unreliable narrators Japanese disaster films Kinema Citrus Maiden Japan Noitamina Works about earthquakes