“Nihon Chinbotsu 2020”, aka “Japan Sinks” is a Netflix/Science Saru adaptation of a 50 year old Japanese disaster novel. The story follows the efforts of a Japanese family to try to escape from and survive a series of giant earthquakes that are
causing the Japanese islands to sink into the ocean.

Ah, disaster novels and films from the 60s and 70s. The Brits were particularly prolific with sci-fi disaster novels in those days. Of course, every Japanese monster film had some level of disaster striking Japan. This new ten-part series sort of blends
the best excesses of both while maintaining a pastoral look, feel and sound.

I’m not a fan of the Disaster genre. The first two episodes of “Japan Sinks” didn’t do anything to change that. I couldn’t get involved in the plight of the main characters and the writing was too paint-by-number for me. The general scenery
looked nice and the animation was acceptable in a slice-of-life sort of way, but there was nothing there to engage me and make me want to keep on watching. So I didn’t bother with the rest of the series and my final rating is C+.

Your mileage may vary, particularly if you enjoy the guess-who-is-going-to-die-next school of storytelling.

Dave Baranyi

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