Dear Yuuki…

Miken: I’ll admit right here and right now that I was crying for a good portion of the episode…which is quite a feat given my natural leaning towards “tsun”.  From start till end, there was always something there that touched me. From Yuuki’s spirit helping Mirai return home, to Mirai’s reunion with her mother, and all the way to Mirai’s decision to move forward despite the pain she still feels in her heart. Even little things like Mirai’s mother cooking breakfast for 4 got to me. T_T

Thinking back now, Mirai and Yuuki’s names are really relevant to their personalities and actions. Yuuki was Mirai’s “courage”, though she doesn’t notice till she’s lost track of him or later, when he dies. Yuuki displayed his own courage as he continued towards home despite his own worsening condition, which he hid, just to ensure his sister made it back. Then, by the end of the final episode, Mirai’s name becomes more meaningful as she moves on despite still feeling the pain within her heart because Yuuki is watching her.

Also, though I regret not seeing Mirai and Mari remaining close, it does sound like something that would happen. Sure, they obviously still keep in contact, but they both head down their own paths with their families. Even though there was just so much bonding on the way home that made me feel like they were meant to say together, the series gives us the sad truth that we must go our own ways despite surmounting what seems like an impossible task together.

This series really couldn’t have ended without fountains of tears, now that I look back, especially on the past few episodes. I’m glad Bones pulled it off gracefully — this is definitely one of the best of the ten or so series I watched throughout the Summer season (though half were holdovers from Spring). I believe that they can continue to make such good series as this one, and they’ve already accumulated a track record worthy of praise. Speaking of Bones…now that I’ve caught up on Darker than Black and am anxiously awaiting the sequel, I think they now have a full-blown fangirl in me. Sure, I don’t like them as much as Production I.G. yet, but they’re getting there.

For all my praise, though, this series wasn’t perfect. Then again, it did do its best to convey the loss Mirai felt when Yuuki died as well as the journey home. While not as fantastical as stories of far-off lands, it did what it did well in a realistic environment. Sure, Yuuki’s ghost did feel sort of out of place in a series claiming realism, but it worked out in the end, with his continued appearance despite his passing placing even greater emphasis on Mirai’s sense of loss.

Episode Rating? 9.8/10
Final Verdict? 9.5/10
In the end, I would definitely say this is a series I’d recommend my friends…and maybe a few of the weeaboos at my school’s anime club. It takes a certain amount of openness and a soft spot in one’s heart, but it’s definitely worth it.

[Also: I am late late late. In my defense, I wrote this up right after the premiere of the final episode, but I didn't get to editing out all my typos and making myself clearer till now thanks to schoolwork and college apps]

d

Miken: Almost done with this series~ It’s been a fun ride even though it’s descended into backlog two times. It might not be the most action-filled series, but it has a strong story and wonderful animation. All that’s left is to see how Bones decides to finish this wonderful series off. Let’s all hope they don’t disappoint our high expectations~

Episode 9: Goodbye, Today

Episode 9 was a really good watch. My heartstrings were tugged every which way — I felt sadness when Mari thought Hina and her mother were dead, and I grew hopeful when Yuuki and Mirai went out looking for them despite finding two unidentified bodies at the mortuary that fit the description. Then I was happy to the point of tears when the two found Hina and reunited her with Mari and then later when Mari and Hina found Grandma Kusakabe at the hospital.

I also stand behind Mirai’s decision to head home without Mari. Sure, traveling with your (questionably alive) brother alone is a pretty bad idea even with a ride on a truck to the area where you live, but she noticed that Mari was needed with her family and decided not to be a burden that way. That doesn’t mean I didn’t want Mari to go with them though… I suppose it’s because of the hardships that they’ve went through together that I think they should be together for the entire length of the journey.

…And then they give us a cliffhanger with Yuuki trying to confess something. Luckily, I was lazy last week so I don’t have to mull over what he’s going to talk about (which is obvious anyways) and Mirai’s reaction.

Miken’s Enjoyment Level: 9.4/10

Episode 10: Mirai, you know…

While this episode wasn’t as good as an all-around hearstring-tugger, it did well with presenting us with what we’ve been expecting for a while now. I was expecting Yuuki to tell Mirai at the beginning of the movie, but Bones kept putting it off and off, and after a couple scenes of “Yuuki is right here!”…”Wait, where’d he go!?”, I felt like I really needed to see Mirai reacting to Yuuki being dead and the wait was killing me.

The next episode will be the final one — and it’s pretty safe to assume that it’s going to include Mirai’s reaction to Yuuki’s confession and also her reunification with her parents (and their subsequent reactions to Yuuki’s death). This series has been really solid, and I don’t doubt that Bones will be able to pull off a good ending, so I can’t wait for it~

Miken’s Enjoyment Level: 8.7/10
Miken’s Anticipation Level: 10/10

Miken: This episode was purposefully confusing on the fate of Yuuki. For one, we see him prancing around for half the episode, all fine and dandy, but at the end of the episode after a shot of him waving while at the gates through Mirai’s eyes, though we don’t see him in the overhead view of the area. It may very well be that the Yuuki we’ve been seeing is a figment of Mirai’s imagination in an effort to prevent her from just flat out breaking down. For something so big as losing her brother, it wouldn’t be a stretch at all for her to be in denial.

I really have to say that I didn’t expect Bones to take it this far when they had Yuuki collapse last week. With the past illnesses being solved relatively quickly, I thought that this would blow over too. And woooo boy was I wrong. Yuuki was pretty much my favorite character with his always-optimistic attitude and innocent smile. Now that he’s gone and Mirai’s obviously delusional, the rest of the series will most probably take a darker turn, especially while Mirai sorts things out.

While I am sad that Yuuki died, my heart really goes out to Mirai, who probably wanted to show herself as a better sister to him shortly before his collapse. The two “nightmares” she had about his death were jarring enough, but to actually insert him into the rest of the episode just made the realization for the viewer in the end harder. I both await and fear her eventual realization that Yuuki is really gone…since next episode will probably flatly tell what happened and confirm our fears.

While this episode didn’t have much other than talking and waiting in the hospital, the culmination of the episode and the viewer’s realization really make the episode stick. While I didn’t cry, I did feel my heart sink.

With just three episodes left and Mari deciding to head off to Sangenjaya before sending Mirai home anyways, Bones still has quite a bit of ground to cover. Still, I don’t doubt that they’ll be able to pull it off well anymore.

Also, for all of these on-time posts, you’ll see them becoming more and more late until I’ll probably be doing monthly stuff again. School’s starting up here soon an I’ve got a crapload of work to do — not to mention college applications. D:

Miken’s Enjoyment Level: 9.2/10
Miken’s Anticipation Level: 9/10

Summer Evening

Miken: This episode felt less of the “going home” story this series was before to an adventure for Yuuki and Mirai instead with little coming from Mari. Sure, it’s fine to stray a little bit, but since this is only an 11 episode series, I would’ve hoped that Bones would use their time in a more productive manner that would bring them closer to home rather than closer to a kid who was just introduced this episode.

As for Kento, it’s like they ditched realism for a bit just to make him a robot nerd despite his relatively young age. Sure, he had that life-changing event when his family was saved by rescuers using robots, but it just felt so…scripted and unnatural. Then there’s his insistence on saving that one robot that nearly got him killed. I don’t know about you, but most middle-school children around here would be more focused on saving their own skins rather than a robot’s.

Speaking of the robots, it seems my feeling from the first episode was right — they are back this week.

As for Yuuki, he sure picked a good time to have sunstroke /sarcasm/. I mean, we just got through Mari having anemia last week and Mirai having…bowel problems not so long before. Honestly, it’s like they’re keeping this as a cycle. Sure, it’s to be expected that people will become sick in such conditions, but the way Bones is playing it makes it seem more trite and less like an actual realistic series.

Well, they have 4 more episodes to pull this off. Let’s hope Bones can deliver with more compelling material and stop dawdling. They’ve got a wonderful setup here and it’d be a shame if they let it all go to waste by telling the stories of every other person they pass on the street. I assume we have at least one more episode of travel, possibly even two, before the kids reach home. I’m saying this because they’ll probably need time to have the kids react to meeting their parents again (or not) as well as get Mari home to her mother and daughter.

Miken’s Enjoyment Level: 8/10
Miken’s Anticipation Level: 9/10

Miken: Once again writing during a thunderstorm, but this time also with ice taped onto the burn on my arm. I must really really hate myself…Then again, writing under the covers isn’t that bad. *waits for thunderstorm to blow over*

Anyways, Mari really got better fast from her anemia (?). I would have assumed that something serious enough to make her faint and be unable to walk without collapsing would mean that she would need to take a while to recuperate. Then again, Bones only has 11 episodes total to get the story of this series across. Obviously, the wouldn’t want to waste time having Mari recover when they would try to focus on having the kids return home to their parents and Mari back home to Hina.

On the topic of Hina, I was kind of jarred to see Mari choose to send the kids home first. Sure, she has faith in her belief that both her daughter and mother are fine, but she must have some sort of maternal instinct telling her to get back home as fast as she can. Then again, being the overall nice person that she is, she probably can’t turn from the fact that Mirai and Yuuki are still two young children who need to get back home, and she probably wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she just abandoned them here midway into their journey.

Otherwise, this wasn’t really much of an episode…Sure, Mari’s decision was huge and will probably have serious repercussions, but it was slow overall. I can’t really say much more, so here I am ending another absurdly short post.

Miken’s Enjoyment Level: 8/10
Miken’s Anticipation Level: 9/10

You know it’s all down the hellhole when Tokyo Tower falls.

Miken: I have to say, this series is really good — the depictions of the disaster are bone-chilling to say the very least and the way Mirai, Yuuki and Mari bond as they head homeward really tugs at my heartstrings. Seeing Mirai act like the child she still in one moment and then forced to see the tragedy that the earthquake has wrought when she sees the body bags really do highlight just how much this is for someone as young as her — or anyone, really, to experience. It’s also heartwarming to see Yuuki try to cheer Mirai up with whatever means he can think of. Sure, he gets shot down 99% of the time, but his innocence really shows.

Also, even when Mirai comes off as insensitive, the the viewer still gets the feeling that she’s truly worried, especially in the case of her trying to contact her parents. Or, in other cases, that she truly doesn’t mean to hurt others’ feelings, like when she says that it’s Yuuki’s fault that they’re stuck so far from home because he wanted to see the robot exposition. Immediately after Yuuki runs off, she regrets her words and sets off to find him.

The bonding really shows in these past few episodes too. Not only do Mirai and Yuuki become closer, but through talking to Mari about her first day of school, Mirai becomes closer to her own mother. In a respect, Mari has also become a mother-figure to them, as accented when she responded to the officer guiding people onto the boat when he mistook her for Mirai and Yuuki’s mother.

As noted by the picture above, Tokyo Tower has fallen in this series. This landmark has been featured in numerous shows taking place in the world as we know it, and it has a knack for showing that the shit really has hit the fan once something happens either to it or around it.

The series also goes out of its way to point out that while there are insensitive people who’ll dump scalding hot ramen on you and not apologize, there are still people who will do their best to help others despite having heavy losses of their own. Furuichi is a perfect example of this, volunteering to hand out water to survivors while he and his wife still grieve over the loss of their grandchildren. I actually started crying alongside Mirai when he commented that he should have died since he wants the young to live.

What really makes me want to cry and hug Mirai are the scenes where she continually checks her cell phone in hopes that she’ll be able to reach her parents. Because of my own personal experience with being unable to contact family members after the Sichuan Earthquake hit last year, the scenes just hit home…

Back to the series, though — despite the perhaps too realistic start with an annoying Mirai, we’ve seen her grow and face the hardships that any disaster brings and I’ve also felt like I’ve bonded with the three of them while watching them head home. I suppose the suspense now is what they will find in their respective homes…will they find family waiting for them or dead bodies?

Miken’s Enjoyment Level: 9/10
Miken’s Anticipation Level: 9.5/10

Miken: Since I’m sick and I have nothing better to do in the intervals where I’m not confined to my bed, I’ve finally watched this…Probably much to Minnie’s pleasure. To be honest, I spent the last couple days [when I wasn't half dead] watching Sengoku Basara and having a hell of a good time watching it…so my expectations are unfairly high, though I’ve heard I won’t get my necessary dose of action for it. *sigh* I guess I’ll bank on Needless for that.

Because I’m too tired to be bothered with my regular posting style, I’m going to forgo my summary completely. I suppose that I am correct in assuming that a great number of people (or the 3 of you) who read this post will have already watched the first episode or so. Summaries are a pain in the ass because I can’t summarize for my life. Hell, if this goes well…I’ll probably start completely omitting summaries from future posts.

The OP has a nice sound to it, but the pace of the song really doesn’t fit the slow montage of images…not that I have a problem with the art — it’s extremely well done — it’s just that the two don’t seem to mesh. As usual, though, abingdon boys school does a great job with the music~

This is all she ever really does

Onozawa Mirai is our protagonist, and a dull one she is at that. Still, I guess that’s the type of character the creators were aiming for when they said they wanted this to be realistic. She isn’t particularly satisfied with her circumstances and doesn’t really care about accepting them or getting along with others. She’s lazy and uncaring…and she doesn’t like being treated like a kid — but even Yuuki can see through that logic, pointing out that Mirai’s still a kid anyways. She also checks her cell phone incessantly throughout the night and bitches when she has to take Yuuki to a robot expo. I guess that’s the generalization for what middle school was like for a bunch of people…you weren’t as happy as when you were a kid and you didn’t have as much freedom as a high-schooler, and the raging hormones just kicked in and you find yourself hating the world, your parents and your siblings.

The crawl robots featured in the robot expo with their whole supposed use for disaster areas makes me think that they might show up later on. They look something vaguely reminiscent of the Tachikoma from Ghost in the Shell…though I can’t be sure, since I only watched a few episodes of that series in passing. [note to self: watch that one too]

In the middle of her self-pity party, the titular earthquake hits. I suppose this is Mirai’s “life changing event”, seeing as she goes past what she’s shown during most of the episode, crying when she sees that the building her brother is still in collapsing. Hopefully, she’ll be less antagonistic to everyone else in the world. Somehow, I found it quite amusing that her comment about wanting the world to break just barely preceded the earthquake. Gotta love irony…

The ED has a nice song that probably won’t get stuck in your head soon, but the visual accompaniment — just like the OP, doesn’t seem to mesh. The picture above also notes that the woman with the motorcycle will become some sort of mother-figure. Also, the numerous shots of Yuuta probably means he’s not actually dead.

Continuing to the second episode, “Breaking World”, the Earthquake dissipates and Mirai sees a glimpse of the damage. I’m starting to like her a lot more this episode — due to the dire circumstances and her need to find her brother, she’s shown more courage and sympathy. I also have to say the woman with the tiger jacket (and motorcycle) is pretty cool too, and comes off as a sorta big-sister/mother type.

As expected, Yuuki’s still alive and they huddle around the tiger-jacked woman, who introduces herself as Kusakabe Mari. Also, everyone’s checking their phones…*sigh* Run around and look for some survivors, you lazy bums.

No shit there’s no service. What else did you expect? >:C

For something so big happening in one day, though, Mirai sure snaps back to her old self really quickly. Shouldn’t she be worrying about the safety of her parents rather than complaining about them? No matter how disillusioned you are with your folks, that should be a natural human reaction.

It also turns out that Mari is in sort of the same position as Mirai’s mother — she finds herself working long hours and feels as if she’s losing touch with her own daughter, Hina. It just so happens that Hina’s birthday is today…and so she brings over some cake for them to eat…and it’s ROUND! (Which is the only type of cake Mirai deems right for birthdays) I suppose bonding with Mari will somehow make Mirai closer to her mother in the end…that is, if her parents are still alive.

All in all…this series is okay. Animation looks fine, though the first episode was quite dull (disregarding the end). I suppose I’ll continue watching and blogging it…The whole atmosphere of urgency in the second episode was nice too — you could really feel Mirai’s guilt and fear as she continues searching for Yuuki wherever mentions of a small child are made. I hope she’ll continue developping as a protagonist too…I really can’t stand her apathetic side.

Miken’s 1st Episode Rating: 6.5/10
Miken’s 2nd Episode Rating: 7.9/10
Miken’s Anticipation Level: 6/10