Imagine my shock when Japan Sinks 2020 goes from an incredibly poignant opener [8/10], to an unintentional comedy [6/10].

To be fair, how could you blame me for getting invested, I don't have 2020 vision.This show started off as depressing to watch, then went to depressing to watch.

~~If you just yelled at me from behind your screen, all i have to say to that is ''fair''.~~

To start off the list of things that turned my off from this show⁠—I find the character designs to be generally ugly. As much as I am a Yuasa fan, that's one of my reoccurring gripes with his catalog of work. The facial features in this show tend to look very weird.

The designs are incredibly simplistic and yet instead of being more fluid and expressive, they look wonky. The animation itself isn't much better, with numerous occasions where characters move in clunky ways.

I get that this is a show about disaster, and plenty of other dark subjects, but the characters are just straight up unappealing to look at the majority of the time.

The fact that the characters usually aren't shaded also contributes to my distaste for the dull visual aesthetic. I also find it sad that the backgrounds left next to zero impact on me (excluding episode 1). The overall production value of this series leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

One of the few redeeming qualities I did find from this show is the OP, which has gorgeous storyboards, and a theme that might be intentionally far too delicate for it's subject matter.

Contrary to what you'd expect, Japan Sinks is actually pretty funny, and that's part of the problem.

While the show initially nailed the sense of dread and tragedy, since as early as episode five the show's tone completely disintegrates. I'm not supposed to burst out laughing when a child gets smashed in the head by a piece of the ceiling, while his mother grieves his death.

This started off as a poignant, hard hitting disaster story of a Family surviving Japan's largest earthquake. And now I just watched a wheelchair bound Grandpa 360 no scope an armed gunman with a bow and arrow.

No I am not making this up.

The cult arc is hands down the worst stretch of episodes in the show, and after that point I stopped caring about whatever story the show was trying to convey. To add insult to injury, Daniel joins the cast.

All that was left is baffling plot points, poorly handled character drama and an attempt to make a point about Japanese nationalism. More-so then perseverance, I'd posit that the main theme in Japan sinks is the dangers of bathos.

When the boat full of racists sank thirty seconds after Gou hoped that very thing would happen, I snapped and just started laughing

I'm not the type of person to complain much about perceived plot holes, but Ayumu failing to get treatment for her leg, ending with it getting amputated is exactly the kind of nonsense I was hoping I wouldn't see.

When it eventually happened in the final episode I groaned, not just because it was contrived, but because it was such a transparently lazy way to have an inspiring visual that did not feel earned. As a whole the climax failed to evoke anything in me.

Generally I find the cast flaccid, with the exception of racist grandpa and the e-boy Youtuber, but I've rambled about this show enough. Kite is a bad-ass, that has access to every kind of transportation on the planet, and every other member of the cast is less obnoxious than Ayumu is. Nuff said.

Could I honestly recommend this show? No.

You'd probably be better off watching the rest of Science Saru's catalog or an ad for Japanese tourism.

Viva the Olympics.