Friday 25 April 2014

My Journey With Attack on Titan

I will admit, i'm a little worried how this will go. I'm writing this chunk before i actually start watching the show.

This show has been hyped up a lot, i know a lot of the reveals thanks to tumblr and i have been warned that one thing i tend to hold in high regard kinda gets pushed to the side near the end.

Still... i am curious.

I didn't watch Attack on Titan when it came out for a few reasons.
  1. I didn't really like the art or the basic plot i was hearing. 
  2. Crunchyroll got it fairly late (3-4 episodes in) and i was already watching a lot 
  3. the hype frightened me because i was worried that if i didn't like it people would tear me a new one. 
I figure it's been around a year since the show first started airing... it's probably safe for me to voice my opinion no matter what that opinion is. 

First and foremost i need to get biases out of the way.

I don't tend to like titles with a focus on fighting... at least not in anime... i don't know why it either gets dull cause you know the main character will survive or it becomes this bloodbath where no one is safe but you also don't get attached to anyone.
their are exceptions to this but 80% of the time i tend to not like it.

I am Easily swayed by my ears... from what i've heard this show has some impressive music and my fav voice actor (though i don't know who he is playing)

I am just as easily swayed by what i see.... and yeah the art just does not appeal to me... i get that it's supposed to look like that but it just looks.... odd.

I have been spoiled on a few key plot things thanks to people posting them on tumblr... i think i may be getting off tumblr soon.... it's annoying me more then it did at first... 

so i would say there is about an equal chance either way that i will either enjoy the show or not.... i'm really hoping i enjoy it cause... dammit i want to enjoy one thing that has a fairly large fanbase.

During the first episode.

Well within a few minutes i can tell a few things.
This has a stellar cast and even though i don't like the style of the art the animation is fantastic.
The 3D can both look flawless and yet at other times look pretty terrible.

Ok.... question, why give his mother the arm... i mean seriously that is some cruel stuff. i'm pretty sure that there is a reason why when you tell the family the bad news you don't bring back the pieces that weren't destroyed... at least not in the sense of directly handing it to the family memeber... i dunno it just feels like easy shock value which I hate... do something for a reason better then "it's shocking" or do not do it at all.

ok... point two.
this isn't shit you directly discuss infront of the masses unless you want to... um... oh i dunno... cause a massive panic. Also if you learn nothing.... why do you actually go out? instead you could just go a little outside the wall, look around and then get back in even though i'm pretty sure the wall will mean nothing soon. or hell go out and build more walls... higher walls... whatever but don't just go, walk around the forest and then come back with half your team dead... that is dumb.

oh there are multiple walls... okay goo to know... again... pretty sure they wont mean much by the end of the episode.

oh your going to show him something secret are you? i will be amazed if you survive the episode.

wow that thing is big.... but the way it appeared was suspect, somehow i figure that theres got to be some human involvement, like i dunno maybe eren's dad is at fault? I mean why did it suddenly got so big and just managed to appear out of nowhere... i mean you can't convince me that those walls don't have peoples on top posted to watch... and if they don't then thats REALLY stupid... i mean that is pretty much waiting to get attacked.

and when i shouted "why wouldn't you post guards on top of the tower to stop this from happening" my father yelled back "maybe the show is an allegory for the berlin wall!" with absolutely no context to what i was watching other then it was anime.


OK despite my criticism... the show so far is okay, i find the shock value a little excessive but hopefulyl it finds a place where it's able to keep up that energy and not be boring or dull.

I probably wont end up enjoying it as much as some of my friends but i am curious to see more, the world and the rules in place so far are very interesting and i'm curious to see how one of the spoilers i do know about comes into the plot.

but i swear if this is just 25 episodes of "oh look how creepy we can draw these things" or "look how much we can shock you" with no point i will be extremely annoyed.

Episode 2:
Are you really telling me that no one thought to put canon on top of the walls? like at least the inner ones? it would give you a height advantage and give you move time to shoot these things down... this just does not make sense!

oh well i'm not doing this episode by episode but seriously there better be a reason why not safety measures were put on top of these giant walls.

Episode 4: THERE ARE CANONS UP THERE
why didn't i see any fire in ep one... i mean i know they are useless but still!
also helo Hiroshi kamiya, took you long enough to show up and you sound so grumpy... i like it.

Episode 7:
a little on the nose there with your pomegranate....  but still very well animated.

Episode 14:
so thats why no canons were fired in ep 1 from the top of the wall
phew.... glad thats finally explained... sorry it REALLY bugged me.
also people in this world need to stop being so stupid...
and levi needs to talk more.

Episode 21:
i'm 99% percent sure i've been spoiled about who the female titan is... but even if i havn't i think they made her look too much like a certain character... specifically her nose. i mean theres only on character who shares all the same features as the titan.
but maybe if i hadn't been potentially spoiled i wouldn't know?
Levi still needs to talk more....

Episode 22:
well that was dumb... and you knew it was dumb... and now you deal with the consequences.... dummy 
Preview:
no no no do not do that, can't you see that she.... no!

Episode 23:
hell i'm even sure the titans voice sounds the same as [spoiler]
also, and maybe this is my own personal bias speaking... how can they possibly think the only thing that will protect them is the wall.... when in the past 5 years two different walls have been destroyed... you have irrefutable proof that the wall is not a guarantee... and you still keep saying it is.... that's not faith that is stupidity.

Episode 24:
hey Mikasa agreed with me... neat.

Episode 25:
this series is really good at conveying the feeling of "ouch"... you would think it would get tired pretty quick but here we are... final ep and it's still like "oh that would hurt" pretty much every other minute
*gets to the mid-point title card* holy crap... i'm a fast reader but not that fast....
still it's an interesting bit of backstory
though calling this the final episode... perhaps i'm getting ahead of myself.

yes i know theres a movie coming out but i do not see how it could possibly tell all the story left to be told.

the show was very good at establishing things/rules early to have them paid off but there are still thigs we do not have answers for.
what happened to armin's parents and why did they have fobidden books?
what was Eren's dad really up to, whats in the basement and how could it possibly help?
why was eren's dad going to see mikasa as a child when he is obviously a very prolific doctor.
holy shit why was that in the wall?
what/who were the collosal/armoured titans and what was their goal in destroying the wall.... the didn't seem too interested in killing anyone... just destroying the wall. 
What was [spoiler]'s end game with doing what she did. how did she find out about her ability.

i'm positive the manga answers all these things so please do not tell me... i'll wait for the next season to come out in a year or two and i'll be amazed if they try to cram all that in the movie... since each arc of the show would have easily been 3-4 hour movies.

SO after all that, what did i think?

It's good.
it's way too overhyped but it still quite good.
had i not been spoiled on the two biggest things (and possibly a 3rd that didn't show up in the show but wouldn't surprise me) the reveals probably would have hit a bit harder.
I still do not like the art but the animation is flawless and even though the style isn't my thing it works really well for this type of show.
the music is fantastic as well, i enjoyed both intros and ending songs... even though the second one barely gets any love.
so yeah i am pleasantly surprised

it's not perfect though.
there are glorious moment of "why would you do that" or "could you be any more dumb?" which took me right out since it was like "we are acting this way cause plot needs more death"... not to mention massive plot holes/conveniences that were just a little too often.
it also tried very hard to be shocking and the most it ever got from me was a "ouch that would hurt" and most of the time it just felt like it was trying way too hard.
The problem with having a massive cast like this one is simple... there cannot possibly be enough time to give everyone the proper amount of character development... when the episodes where multiple characters die happen it does feel like "oh look, here are some characters, get atatched before we kill them" but you don't get attached cause you know how thats going to end.

but still for me one thing confuses me more then anything.
I never cried while watching the show.
I never even teared up.
I cry at the drop of a hat when it comes to books/movies/anime... you can mention something and i'll get sniffly
... and it's not that i didn't get emotional... there were moments of "aww thats no fun" but for whatever reason it never struck that cord in me that makes me bawl like a baby.
and i'm completely perplexed as to why.

It could be my mood, i have been feeling a little unmotivated to do anything productive... but i was watching the end of Kaliedo Star New wings last night and it made me tear up and it's not even sad... so i just do not know.

oh well, i can figure it out later.

for now i'll just say i am really glad i waited for the hype to die down a little
i'm glad i didn't have to wait a week between episodes since cliffhangers are evil
i ended up marathoning it over 3 days, i could have finished yesterday but i figured it was better to wait and watch it on the big tv thats a glorified computer monitor at the moment.

so yeah i went in expecting something i wouldn't enjoy or understand the appeal but yeah i am happy i saw it....
even if i'm like the last person in the universe who hasn't seen it till now.

but seriously did it need to be so heavy handed with it's symbolism?
but yeah, very enjoyable... and easily the fastest 23 minute episodes ever.
Also Levi didn't talk enough.... 

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