Attack on Titan

[Kiriska]

Everyone go watch it now. This show is fabulous.

If you live in the US, Crunchyroll has it streaming.

If you don't, half the active subgroups are subbing it anyway (mostly under the untranslated title, Shingeki no Kyojin).

Go watch it and then come back and talk to me about giants eating people.

[SuperV]

D-* you Kiri! You *, you know just how to play my heart's strings. As a Tokusatsu and Kaiju fetishist, how could this NOT interest me? I've only watched 4 episodes so far, but I'll sum up my reactions thus far.

The Good;
-DEVELOPMENT. It takes 4 episodes of development of character. Oh lord how I miss character development like this. Usually, stories offer two routes of development. 1- Characters are who they are, face a different struggle, then laugh it off at the end of the episode never to offer any real growth. 2- Characters continue to struggle throughout the series, and once the development FINALLY happens at the end... it's a real let down. And this is all starting from episode 1. With this show, 4 episodes in and you Still don't feel like you've reached a state of character homeostasis.

-Going along with the development, the MOOD. This is a real, living world they created. Some people (like Sasha) seem to be one-dimensional, but their actions and feelings are genuine. The story takes time to develop the world properly, and it's completely welcomed. Too many stories try to capture you at episode one and 'hook' you with whatever gimmick they've got. This show seems to focus on storytelling, and not in the "We're gonna mind-* you so bad you'll need to re-watch the show!" way.

-The ART. Now, this is a main reason I stopped watching a lot of newer anime. Back in the early 2000's, computers were just starting to replace true hand-drawings, and it was very gimmicky. Nothing will ever truly replace the beauty of 100% hand drawn art, but this show proves to me that computer art isn't all bad. They aren't using all the gimmicky shortcuts, they really are drawing every single frame. I love seeing differences in thicknesses in character lines from frame to frame, and I've seen that here. I don't know why, but it's just one of those signs that someone went frame-by-frame crafting the art, not just using the same brush size for every outline over every object.

The Bad;
-The story certainly isn't without it's tropes. Erin, while being a needed step above the rest, is the typical Protagonist. Hot-headed, made to seem overly 'normal' through character flaws, unrelenting sense of determination, you name it. *, the majority of his traits could be used to describe Naruto... but the writing is an example of how to put it off. The other two main characters are pretty standard too. The Flawlessly perfect female who's too attached to the hero, and the side-kick who is more average than the hero but is more down-to-earth making him the voice of reason. But again, Good writing trumps Tropes.

-Everyone knows humans are powerless against giant monsters, even with massive amounts of artillery. When does the team Henshin and summon their Mecha?

-But seriously, The Titans are ridiculous looking. They're all the anime stereotypes of ugly people, just with larger mouths. Then again, should I be the one complaining? At least they're not in a foam suit with a zipper sticking out. The colossals and armored Titans are a bit more terrifying, but it's a bit unnerving to see people eaten by, what most anime/manga fans have been trained to identify someone as, a pervert.


All in all, I wanted to say I hated it before I watched it. I wanted to write that a snob for childish giant-monster shows disliked something like this... but I can't. I've been tainted by too many things and am waiting for the 'twist' in the story when I just shake my head and stop caring. Please, for the love of Kami and all that is good, please tell me that doesn't happen. I'm also hoping this doesn't turn into one of those money-grubbing success driven shows that lasts for hundreds of episodes. I'm a bit of an artsy-snob like that, but just hope the show has a story to tell, and it doesn't compromise it's morals because they can milk a few more seasons out of it. Slice-of-life shows can go on as long as they want, as long as they have great characters to put in good situations. But this is different, there's a clear story and I want to follow it. If that takes more than 26 episodes, that's fine, but stick true to the story... not the cash.

I feel like a bad Romance movie right now. I'm the girl who's scared to love again because she's been hurt and jaded, and this show is the guy who seems too good to be true. I don't want to trust it, but there seems to be something different about this one. Will it smash my concepts of anime like Bebop did, or have the personal connection to me that seems to strengthen every time I read/watch it that BECK does? Probably not. But it could be the anime that shows me that all the good artful anime ISN'T all the older stuff, and people these days are just in it for the fame and cash.

[SuperV]

.... ok. I just watched up to episode 8. You know, I put that comment in my last post as a JOKE. I, honestly, don't know how to feel. Since I don't see a spoiler code here, I'm not going to post the outcome, but SERIOUSLY?!?!?!?!?! Ok. I'm done for now. I have to let this one stew in my brain for awhile. All I can say is that I HOPE TO GOD they have a good explanation for this, or I'm gonna be real *.

[Kiriska]

HAHAHA if I had seen the first comment before you posted the second, I would have just said "WATCH EPISODE FIVE AT LEAST GODDAMMIT," but now I can only say HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

I don't know if I can promise a "good explanation," but I totally think it's worth it to keep going. (; Things get more intriguing though, for sure. The anime is set to wrap up with this season (so 26 eps), but the manga is ongoing, so it's likely it'll get another season eventually. I've not read the manga yet (waiting until the anime's done), but from what I hear, it's not anywhere near being done but has been interesting every step of the way thus far.

For my part, watching this weekly has been kind of painful with the wait game, but man, it is nice having things to look forward to, too.

[SuperV]

I watched the rest of the episodes the next day. I've specifically spaced out the episodes after Trost to confine to a more weekly-schedule, but I'm current (minus the episodes you can only get through paid memberships).

I looked into the manga briefly, and they took some interesting steps. They started with the original attack, and more or less skipped right to Trost. They then did flashbacks to their training camp, which I thought was an odd approach. I just skimmed over a chapter or two, but the artwork seems to stand up. It's more of the sketchy, hand-drawn style rather than the thick bold lined mass produced variety. It suits the atmosphere.

And while we're on the topic of Episode 5, I found this gem a few days ago.


And this is glorious. Simply glorious.

[Kiriska]

Haha, yeah, the SnK/AoT fandom has been producing some top notch hilarity.

The wait remains arduous. I kind of can't believe we're on 18 already though. Only 8 more episodes until the season's over...somehow I feel like we're gonna get to the basement in the last episode and then HAHAHA CLIFFHANGER UNTIL THE INEVITABLE SECOND SEASON.

[SuperV]

Yeah, I can't see them NOT renewing this series. With the popularity it has at least state-side, I can only imagine it's as popular in it's native country. I just hope we aren't treated to Naruto level filler episodes with Arin going Super-titan (why don't we have a Super Saiyan transformation smiley?) Seriously, take a few months/year off from pumping out episodes. If the show is good enough to stand on it's own as entertainment, the fans will return.

And Spoiler below, I'm going to try to white it out so if you don't want it don't read.

But as far as the basement is concerned, I have heard that the manga has yet to reveal the contents of the basement. Not that animes haven't written checks that the manga is yet to cash, but I hope this series isn't one of them. Nothing earth-shattering, no, but some people want NO knowledge past what they have physically seen.

[Trunks3DX]

I've been thinking I should get caught up on this series. I had a friend basically force me to watch the first few episodes and I thought it was a nifty concept. I made it to episode 8 or 9, you know, when things start getting especially dumb, and lost interest.

[Link]

I just started this and watched 8 episodes last night (once in a lifetime type free night ;()

First reaction: 'Holy * this is pretty'

[SuperV]

Trunks: I initially had the same reaction at the same moment you did. But I will say that they handled the strange events better than some show would have. They're able to keep a level of humanity in the series despite the obvious lack of it. I'm what, almost 18 or 19 episodes in, and it's still every human-oriented. My guess is they had to force the first event into what it was to facilitate the story, but I think it's handled really well throughout the series.