I appreciate how unabashedly upfront this is. It's one thing to note that it initially throws us directly into the scenario following the titular event, giving immediate perspective on the tableau, before flashing back to the unfolding disaster for exposition. It's another matter to observe how very direct the writing is at large, with dialogue, scene writing, and characterizations filling a narrative that wears its heart on its sleeve, and above all with themes and messaging that are pretty much constantly at the forefront. With all the subtlety of a group of bribed judges legalizing bribery, hamstringing every possibility of oversight, and giving a free pass to criminals who have openly stated their intent to commit crimes and do harm, the picture excoriates not just racism and nationalism, but also classism, capitalism, borders and boundaries of every stripe, the police state, the human frailty by which we readily fall apart and expose our latent prejudices under extreme circumstances - and more, culminating (proverbially speaking) in a giant, glowing sign in 100 foot tall letters that says all our petty differences mean nothing when we all end up in the same place. Wherever the responsibility lies between Tsutsui Yasutaka's novel, Migita Masazaku's screenplay, and Kawasaki Minoru's direction, 'Everything but Japan sinks' makes no bones about what it is.
That flagrancy extends to how the feature presents itself, which is to say with a satirical sense of humor as absolutely wry as possible, wild and cheeky parody, some outright cartoonish tomfoolery, and every now and again, occasional flickers of earnestness. Despite what one may assume based on the premise of every landmass except Japan slipping under the ocean, leading to a humanitarian and immigration crisis, and despite the bigger ideas that this plays with, it actually does earn some laughs, and it really is entertaining. Sometimes that's because it's darkly funny, sometimes because it's wholly outrageous, and sometimes because it draws so heavily from real life that one has to laugh because the alternative is crying; some odds and ends are unexpectedly brilliant, and alternatively, in those moments of sincerity, the film drives in some measure at deeper feelings. And the brazen attitude frankly extends to everything else here, too: not just every facet of the writing, but the boisterous energy in Kawasaki's focused direction, and the gleefully charged acting; the joyfully gratuitous practical effects, and the even brassier artifice of computer-generated imagery; the costume design, hair, and makeup, sometimes even the sets, and so on down the line. 'Everything but Japan sinks' is duly well made, sometimes with deliberate falsehood recalling The Asylum and sometimes with more obvious care, and it touches on meaningful thoughts, and it also happens to be a total lark.
However, with all this having been said, I think the chief problem the movie faces is that the entirety has a hard time fitting together. The varied flavors of comedy clash to some extent, and that heterogeneity becomes more pronounced as the honest storytelling and rumination are laid on top. Love it or hate it I think everyone who contributed turned in terrific, committed work, whatever end to which their participation may have been guided. The whole needed a bit more of an even-handed approach, however, allowing one tenor to hold more sway than the others; I'm inclined to think that the ideal would have been reining in the parodying and cartoonish elements to some degree. I'm pleasantly surprised by how fun this is all told, but the viewing experience is imbalanced as some inclusions are extra bright, other inclusions don't land so well, and there is frequent push and pull in one direction or another. Still, even at that, I had a good time watching. I had mixed expectations, and I was hesitant to watch in the first place because I was in desperate need of something to boost my mood, and I'm glad that my expectations were exceeded at least a little with a title that is more enjoyable and worthwhile than it may seem from the outside looking in. It's sufficiently troubled that any recommendation is a rather soft one, and one hardly needs to go out of their way for it, yet if you're open to something a tad off the beaten path then I think 'Everything but Japan sinks' holds up fairly well and deserves a look if you have the chance on a quiet day.
