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 stud ...

, published in 1973. 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 and the Seiun Award 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 heavily 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 was a film director and screenwriter from Japan. Born in Tokyo, he debuted as an assistant director in Akira Kurosawa's 1961 film '' Yojimbo''. His film '' Mount Hakkoda'' won Mainichi Film Award for Excellence Film in 1978. Filmography As ...

, a television drama by TBS and Toho 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 series released on Netflix 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 ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

is on a

destructive plate boundary A convergent boundary (also known as a destructive boundary) is an area on Earth where two or more lithospheric plates collide. One plate eventually slides beneath the other, a process known as subduction. The subduction zone can be defined by a p ...

, where the Philippine Sea Plate

subducts Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at convergent boundaries. Where the oceanic lithosphere of a tectonic plate converges with the less dense lithosphere of a second plate, the ...

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

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region, and lasted approximately six minutes ...

, towns like Ishinomaki 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

An original net animation (ONA) anime 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 served as directors. Toshio Yoshitaka handled series composition, Naoya Wada designed the characters, and Kensuke Ushio composed the series' music. Yuko Sasaki,

Reina Ueda is a Japanese 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 series '' Hanayamata''. She ...

and Tomo Muranaka are credited with starring roles. It was released worldwide by Netflix 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 The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

, a major earthquake hits Japan. Amidst the chaos, the Mutou siblings Ayumu (a 3rd year junior high school student and track and field athlete) and her younger brother Gou (a 5th grader and 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

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 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, 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 ( , ; frp, Èneci or ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. It lies on the northern tip of Lake Annecy, south of Geneva, Switzerland. Nicknamed ...

Jury Prize for a Television Series, and the series as a whole received two nominations at the 2021 Crunchyroll Anime Awards. The compilation film version of the series was awarded a Jury Selection Prize at the 2021 Japan Media Arts Festival.

Parodies

A parody short story by Yasutaka Tsutsui, 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.

References

External links

* (anime) at Netflix *
Entry
in '' The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' {{Authority control 1973 novels 1973 science fiction novels Avex Group Japanese-language Netflix original programming Japanese novels adapted into films Netflix original anime Japanese science fiction novels Novels about disasters Novels by Sakyo Komatsu Novels set in Japan Science fiction novels adapted into films Science Saru Works about earthquakes