Japan Sinks: 2020

            In July of 2020, Netflix released a brand new original animated series, Japan Sinks: 2020, apparently inspired by a popular Japanese doomsday novel. The show was met with initial success, which is to be expected from a Netflix original series, so I went into watching it with high expectations. However, I found it extremely difficult to get through. The series opens strong, with a great concept, suspenseful atmosphere, and a beautiful soundtrack. As the series progressed, the dialogue seemed to become increasingly awkward. (I don’t know if the writers or the voice actors were at fault, but the quality of the character dialogue suffered.) There were also some strange narrative arcs which seemed unrelated to the story (the drug-fueled utopian commune, led by a self-proclaimed medium everyone calls “mother”, comes to mind). Overall, though the ending was satisfactory, and the soundtrack was amazing, Japan Sinks: 2020 was an underwhelming 5/10.

            After being disappointed by Japan Sinks: 2020, I decided to read the shows source material. Simply, Japan Sinks, is a 1973 disaster novel written by Japanese author Sakyo Komatsu. Grounded in reality, though exaggerated, Japan Sinks tells a story wherein, due to Japan’s location on a geological fault, the entirety of the Japanese archipelago faces risk of being swallowed whole by the sea. The chillingly realistic story is told through the eyes of several different types of characters (e.g., everyday people, Japanese officials, and geologists), offering different perspectives and points of view. The political and social dilemmas such a catastrophic event would cause are entertained, while not forgetting about the intense personal suffering among individual people. This immersive novel is as fascinating as it is terrifying. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and it was certainly more interesting than its modern-day adaptation. 


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