shuyaakitatsuya

*This review was written on 11/30 sitting at Episode 7.

The 2021 rendition of the Japanese novel ''Nihon Chinbotsu'' (lit. Japan Sinks) is nothing like the 2006 remake ''The sinking of Japan'' and the Netflix adaptation ''Japan Sinks 2020''.

For viewers expecting something similar would be disappointed to find that the 2021 drama is closer to being a modern adaptation of the novel.

Japan Sinks: People of Hope focuses on the science behind the impending catastrophe and the political warfare that ensues.

The drama does well in capturing the social commentary in not just the Japanese Government itself, but also the modern social mentality. Denial, lies, deception, contempt, pride, conspiracy and ego. How far will you go to protect what you deem important; this is portrayed clearly in the show with it's myriad of characters.

However, not everything is black and white. Every opposing side comes with compelling arguments that makes you think. An impending disaster of this scale is something that no one can undertake lightly.

Can you really trust the science? Do you tell the nation of the coming disaster, throwing the country into a panic? Or do you keep it a secret to prevent panic and protect the economy?

Of course, as the viewer, all actions saving the people is the ''morally correct'' choice. But that is only in hindsight that we know what will happen; it's literally in the title. However, for the characters, this is an uncertain future. The show does well in creating a narrative that isn't a one-sided steamroll.

The social/political commentary also reflects the current situation we are in with covid-19. The world was warned of an impending worldwide pandemic, and there were those who panicked, those in denial and those who moved to protect the people.

Here, the government is warned of a potential disaster from a crazy Professor. The characters react realistically, all moving to protect what they hold dear, be it saving the people, protecting the economy, the culture and history, or saving the pride of the nation.

The show can seem slow and the first episode does start on low gear. However, every episode is packed. There is no filler, with every scene playing an integral part of the grander story.

However, the majority of the story is political. To some, this may be awe-inspiring enough to fall asleep. However, for those who find it interesting, the human political drama is captivating.

However, the small budget is apparent with the special effects. While it is not entirely horrible, it's nothing to talk about. Perhaps they saved the budget for bigger events in future episodes. But 7 episodes in, it does leave much to desire.

The cast also has many exceptional names. Major roles are well portrayed to their core characters by their respective actors, giving a convincing interaction.

Though, some characters do fall flat. Besides major characters, some side characters feel like paperweight cliches. Fortunately, not enough to become too jarring from the viewing experience.

I cannot say that you will enjoy this show. But, if this interests you, perhaps give it a try.

I don't normally write a negative review... as I like even the most odd B-grade movies. But this is a unique one.

Though I can't rate it a one. There is some merit to it.

The film has a nice concept. Many big ideas. Overall, on paper, it probably seemed like an amazing idea. All the basic fundamentals are there. But the production was all over the place. There was A LOT of ambition and you can kinda see that. The music and CGI are actually not that bad.

On a technically standpoint, it's not ''bad'', just missed the mark and wasn't able to fully show their cards the way they wanted to, or in someways, they didn't know how.

There were a lot of hit and misses.

For example; casting. The cast was overall, average. Some were good and some were just outright... a one foot splinter sticking out of an unfinished grand piano. There was one particular character who was obviously designed to be the posh Company Director that every syfy has, ever. And dear lord. Whenever this actor was on screen, it suddenly turned from cinema film to weekday TV Auzzy soap drama. It was just completely out of place, bringing down the production value on screen completely. I've never experienced this with a film.

The characters also had no real synergy or connection with each other. They weren't exactly bland, but we never really got to connect with them either.

The special effects on the other hand, were actually pretty good. There was a lot of potential to create a vast world within the film, but they wasted it. And the most impressive shots were only used a handful of times. They had a lot of grandeur and ambition, but I feel that it was limited by budget. The film sets up an amazing set, that is never used.

The story was also a hit and a miss. The plot twists were good, but the building blocks leading up to the climax... ultimately made no sense.

The film felt like a dream project you started. You start with this small idea, which just grew and grew over time, into this massive snowball. And you want to make it into a snowman, but it's just so big, you don't know how to actually contain all that snow. And by the time, you finish building the snowman? It's an unpolished mess with cracks and holes everywhere.

That's what this film felt like. And I just checked the wiki while I am writing this sentence. The Director came up with the idea in 2005. So I guess I'm not too far off.

Overall, I personally give this a 5/10. It was still watchable. And I still enjoyed it to a point. Will I ever watch it again? Probably not. Most likely by 2021, I'd have forgotten that I ever watched this film.

I had no idea this movie existed until I stumbled upon it on Amazon Prime Japan. I had some free time, so I decided to give it a watch.

Unfortunately the Japanese title of the film made the premise almost too obvious, unlike the original title which was vaguely big, but small at the same time.

Still, I didn't know what to expect.

At first I thought it was a Korean movie. Then a Korean kaiju movie. Then suddenly it was an American soap drama. The first portion of the film sort of sent me all sorts of places, but it did kinda make me interested in seeing more.

The film had big ideas. Huge ideas. Massive ideas... Okay I'll stop...

Unfortunately, while it was interesting, the story had a lot of holes. The big question was eventually answered, which cleared out the head of the movie. But there was just so many small, a lot of small details that was missing.

Granted, I don't always expect films to spoonfeed me all the details. Like some films can be very subtle with it's plot and messages, where the viewer has to have a keen eye to discover such details. However, even if this film was made to be like that; it's not that kind of movie. There was no real overarching message or purpose to the plot. Just a bunch of big ideas sewn together. Despite that I still enjoyed the film. It was a good watch.

The main problem that I noticed was that the characters had no... purpose? There was hardly any development. They characters were, relatively, in a way, quite well made? The main and supporting cast had clear characters. And they all had personal issues within the film. But none of it is really looked into. The film shows all these small details about the characters, of which none are actually resolved or even answered. But due to the ''bigger'' problem, this seemed like a minor missing detail while actually watching the film. But there were indeed some points where you just question ''...but why?''.

Some of the questions were answered in the end...? I think...? However, they didn't go further into the answer, which just created another question formed from the answer. Which left me scratching my head, because it just kinda glossed over what seemed like a pivotal point for the characters and the plot. It was these small, but unassumingly big points missing from the film, which made it look like a big puzzle with missing pieces. You can still see the overall image, but you are missing a lot of minute details.

Despite all of this; I still enjoyed the film. It's not colossal, but nor is it minuscule.

It's a fun watch despite it's flaws. Best to watch while eating dinner, something like that.