This review is based on all ten half-hour episodes of Japan Sinks: 2020’s first season and contains no spoilers.
“Fingers crossed.”
Oddly enough, people seem to love the idea of the end of the world. Perhaps there’s comfort to be found in the escape to some alternate apocalypse scenario when the real world feels like it’s spinning off its axis. There’s been a growing trend in apocalypse stories where plucky survivors have to band together, form a family, and survive, whether it’s in movies, anime, or video games. Japan Sinks: 2020 strives to be different by its use of shifting perspectives and the amount of ground that it covers.
Japan Sinks: 2020 comes courtesy of the brilliant Masaaki Yuasa, who is easily one of the most exciting names in animation right now. Yuasa consistently reinvents genres and what animation can handle, so him heading into...
“Fingers crossed.”
Oddly enough, people seem to love the idea of the end of the world. Perhaps there’s comfort to be found in the escape to some alternate apocalypse scenario when the real world feels like it’s spinning off its axis. There’s been a growing trend in apocalypse stories where plucky survivors have to band together, form a family, and survive, whether it’s in movies, anime, or video games. Japan Sinks: 2020 strives to be different by its use of shifting perspectives and the amount of ground that it covers.
Japan Sinks: 2020 comes courtesy of the brilliant Masaaki Yuasa, who is easily one of the most exciting names in animation right now. Yuasa consistently reinvents genres and what animation can handle, so him heading into...
- 7/9/2020
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Japanese animators had tried to address fears of the force of nature long before last month's earthquake struck
In September 2008, Hayao Miyazaki, the author of Spirited Away, attended the Venice festival to present his most recent full-length film, Ponyo. In this city so closely connected with the sea, the Japanese director explained why he chose to end the film with a tsunami, and why the Japanese celebrate nature in spite of its destructive power.
"There are many typhoons and earthquakes in Japan," he said. "There is no point in portraying these natural disasters as evil events. They are one of the givens in the world in which we live. I am always moved when I visit Venice to see that in this city which is sinking into the sea, people carry on living regardless. It is one of the givens of their life. In the same way people in Japan...
In September 2008, Hayao Miyazaki, the author of Spirited Away, attended the Venice festival to present his most recent full-length film, Ponyo. In this city so closely connected with the sea, the Japanese director explained why he chose to end the film with a tsunami, and why the Japanese celebrate nature in spite of its destructive power.
"There are many typhoons and earthquakes in Japan," he said. "There is no point in portraying these natural disasters as evil events. They are one of the givens in the world in which we live. I am always moved when I visit Venice to see that in this city which is sinking into the sea, people carry on living regardless. It is one of the givens of their life. In the same way people in Japan...
- 3/29/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
Director: Higuchi Shinji. Review: Adam Wing. I bet you can’t guess where this one’s headed. Based on Sakyo Komatsu's best-selling novel, Sinking of Japan is Higuchi Shinji’s remake of Moritani Shiro's 1973 classic. It comes complete with a big budget, Hollywood style special effects and superstars Kusanagi Tsuyoshi and Shibasaki Kou in the leading roles. In a nutshell, this is the closest you’ll get to a Japanese disaster movie directed by Michael Bay, but with less emphasis on the words ‘fun’ and ‘cheesy’ of course. Sinking of Japan takes itself very seriously indeed but then, Japan is sinking I guess (the clue is in the title), so its probably not the best time for uplifting dance numbers and jaunty sing-a-longs in the style of Glee. First things first though, the technical bit… Due to tectonic plate collisions (that’s where it lost me too), Japan is literally sinking into the ocean.
- 3/6/2010
- 24framespersecond.net
Takumi Shibano was a leading Japanese science fiction author and translator who helped begin sci-fi fandom in Japan in the 1950s.
Shibano was born in the central Japanese prefecture of Ishikawa, on October 27, 1926. A high school mathematics teacher, he was co-founder and editor of Japan’s first science fiction fanzine Uchu-jin (Cosmic Dust) in 1957. Many of the fanzines’ contributors went on to become leading writers in the genre, including Ryu Mitsuse, Yasutaka Tastsui, Sakyo Komatsu, and Shin’ichi Hoshi.
Shibano hosted Japan’s first science fiction convention in 1962, and was a founder of the Federation of Sf Fan Groups of Japan in 1965. He also wrote three juvenile sci-fi novels under the name Rei Kozumi: Superhuman `Plus X (1969), Operation Moonjet (1969), and Revolt in North Pole City (1977).
Shibano became a full-time writer and translator in the late 1970s, bringing works by such authors as Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, E.E. ‘Doc’ Smith,...
Shibano was born in the central Japanese prefecture of Ishikawa, on October 27, 1926. A high school mathematics teacher, he was co-founder and editor of Japan’s first science fiction fanzine Uchu-jin (Cosmic Dust) in 1957. Many of the fanzines’ contributors went on to become leading writers in the genre, including Ryu Mitsuse, Yasutaka Tastsui, Sakyo Komatsu, and Shin’ichi Hoshi.
Shibano hosted Japan’s first science fiction convention in 1962, and was a founder of the Federation of Sf Fan Groups of Japan in 1965. He also wrote three juvenile sci-fi novels under the name Rei Kozumi: Superhuman `Plus X (1969), Operation Moonjet (1969), and Revolt in North Pole City (1977).
Shibano became a full-time writer and translator in the late 1970s, bringing works by such authors as Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, E.E. ‘Doc’ Smith,...
- 2/15/2010
- by Harris Lentz
- FamousMonsters of Filmland
Palisades Tartan has acquired U.S. and U.K. rights to Shinji Higuchi’s disaster epic "The Sinking of Japan," along with U.S. rights to the extreme horror title "The Butcher," as part of its bid to rebuild the 25-year-old label.
Sold by Tokyo Broadcasting System at this week's Afm, the sci-fi thriller "Sinking" made $48 million at the Japanese boxoffice when it was released by Toho in summer 2006. Based on Sakyo Komatsu's novel "Sink Japan," the film previously was adapted for the big screen by Shiro Moritani for his 1973 film of the same name.
Kim Jin-won's "Butcher," meanwhile, follows a group of filmmakers who kidnap unsuspecting individuals and force them to become stars of a torture-horror epic. The film was sold by Brian Cox's L.A.-based Friendly Planet.
Earlier in the week, Palisades Tartan acquired U.K. rights to Park Chan-wook's tentpole feature "Thirst" from Cj Entertainment.
Sold by Tokyo Broadcasting System at this week's Afm, the sci-fi thriller "Sinking" made $48 million at the Japanese boxoffice when it was released by Toho in summer 2006. Based on Sakyo Komatsu's novel "Sink Japan," the film previously was adapted for the big screen by Shiro Moritani for his 1973 film of the same name.
Kim Jin-won's "Butcher," meanwhile, follows a group of filmmakers who kidnap unsuspecting individuals and force them to become stars of a torture-horror epic. The film was sold by Brian Cox's L.A.-based Friendly Planet.
Earlier in the week, Palisades Tartan acquired U.K. rights to Park Chan-wook's tentpole feature "Thirst" from Cj Entertainment.
- 11/12/2008
- by By Liza Foreman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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