YMMV / Japan Sinks

• Arc Fatigue: Fans really weren't fond of the random cult arc that takes up episodes 4-6.
• Awesome Music: Kensuke Ushio gives out a lot of great tracks such as the memorable "dad i".
• Ending Fatigue: The show's ending is a 10-minute clip show of all the wonderful things that Japan used to have before the earthquake. Of course, Tropes Are Tools and the series was meant to be a promotion for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics which was delayed until next year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Kite emerged as one for the series with his charming personality and heroic actions, especially during episode 10.
• He Really Can Act:
  • In a case of "They Really Can Rap", not unlike Keith Silverstein's masterful freestyle rap in DEVILMAN crybaby, the penultimate episode has some amazing freestyle rap from Faye Mata, Ryan Bartley, Billy Kametz, and Aleks Le.
  • Not to be outdone, the Japanese dub has some impressive freestyle from Reina Ueda and Kensho Ono, especially from the former. While Tomo Muranaka and Hiroyuki Yoshino's freestyle is not as polished (which was intentional according to the rap director), they both do a damn fine job of expressing their characters' frustrations.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Many Filipino viewers enjoyed the show, all thanks to one of the main characters being a Filipina and her two children being half-Filipino. Likewise, the show's message of being resilient and having hope during times of crisis really resonates with them since this is one of their most common traits due to their country being also on the Ring of Fire and on the typhoon belt. Filipino critics also appreciate the presence of more Filipino-based characters in anime.
• Memetic Mutation: 360 No Scope ^note  The scene where Kunio shoots cult members with a bow and arrow while humming and steering a golf cart with his feet became popular with viewers for its absurdity
• Narm: Daichi's Surprisingly Sudden Death, which comes out unexpectedly when he stands up from his bed and calls out for his mother until a falling brick bashes his head in. Despite being supposed to be a shocking scene, it comes off as rather slapstick instead due to the unintentionally comedic timing of the death as well as its Deranged Animation, which brought out a lot of chuckles from the viewers.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • The idea of attempting to survive a horrific earthquake would shock lots of viewers, not to mention the predictable horrors the survivors encounter.
  • The numerous encounters with animals consuming the corpses of those who either died of natural causes or as a result of the Earthquake.
  • Shan City can come off a bit like a cult to some viewers.
  • The death of Koichiro, from accidentally detonating a mine while digging.
  • The collapse of Shan City, and the deaths of everyone who remained there count as this.
  • Ayumu waking up to discover the corpse of the old man who saved her and Go being eaten by seagalls and, eventually, a shark.
  • Nanami's sudden death from poison gas.
  • The constant edge that the anime leaves the viewer on, from the continuous Earthquakes and aftershocks, and the eventual eruption fo Mt. Fuji, to the horrific revelation that Japan, is, indeed sinking.
  • Ayumu and Go being stuck on a raft tent for days with little to no food or water.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Nanami, who is the Mutohs' family friend and is shown to be quite a fighter. Viewers barely get to know about her and by the end of the third episode, she drops dead after inhaling toxic gas.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: Many viewers didn't like the show's lack of subtlety in its narrative, its perpetual melodrama and gritty tone, found the characters to be annoying at best, feel the cult arc and one-off xenophobes to be very out of place, and that the show's multiple attempts at trying to be dark and create forced drama, such as multiple Attempted Rape scenes, detriment the story as a whole.

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