Tokyo Magnitude Episode 3 entitled “Burning Bridge” continues the adventure to get across a chaotic Tokyo after a lethal earthquake (magnitude 8.0).
Yuuki, Mirai and Mari decide to make their way down to rainbow park in order to board a Sea bus ship to Chiba. On their way down there are several aftershocks (magnitude 5.0) which cause buildings to crumble and even causes a main highway/bridge to catch fire. Before they leave, Mirai and Yuuki find out that Mari’s husband died a few years ago and that she raises her daughter on her own.
With all of the people rushing down to catch the Sea bus, Mari asks Yuuki and Mirai to all hold hands in order to stay together. However, because of the rushing the people at the back knock several people in front of them over and cause a domino effect for everyone heading down the steep stair case.
Yuuki loses his grip and gets sent flying into the crowd of people. The scene almost goes into slow motion and the audio drops to display Mirai’s state of panic as she loses her little brother again. Another great scene of Mirai finding Yuuki in a disasterous situation happens and the 3 unite again. I have to say this series does a fantastic job of expressing the emotion between the sister and brother (or ototo and onesan).
The line up is so massive that Mirai wants to wait for the next ship, but Mari tells them they should still try. They get right to the front just as the last passenger gets on. But, just before the boat leaves one of the staff orders “hey you kids, get on .. and that means you too Mom!”.
Then is my favorite part of the episode .. the brief but hilarious comic relief where a man who is so intent on boarding this ship goes to leap from the dock and slam into the side of the ship before falling into the water. You’d think he would be more cautious considering the massive natural disasters that are frequently occurring. But, thanks to this mans bravery (or insanity) I got a great laugh out of it.
Back to the kids on the boat. Shortly after setting sail, the massive burning bridge actually falls and creates a huge Tsunami. The Tsunami totally wipes out the second ship (hey Mari can’t save everyone) that left shortly after the first one, and rocks the boat Mirai is on. Thankfully, the boat was not flipped and continued sailing.
Mirai is starting to catch on that she would have been dead several times now if not for Mari (3 by my count) and is starting to accept her kindness without so much resistance.
Another great episode – my favorite part (besides the idiot trying to leap onto the ship) being when Mirai is looking for Yuuki in the chaotic crowd. The realism of the earthquakes, the desperation of massive amounts of people, the perfectly matching audio all combine to create a very realistic sense of what this environment is like.
Rating: 
