Shingeki no Kyojin - Attack on Titan Season 1
Recently this series has gain huge popularity since the anime series started. I had no idea what it was about, but saw a lot of fanart and praise for it. The art really were mostly showing off the weird fighting gear, and uniform the characters wear. They do look bondage like which is intriguing, and it did looked good. I finally gave in and watched the anime. I was completely shocked as I was not prepared for the disturbing imagery. So I felt I was given a false impression on what the show was about since I did not see any artwork of the titans which are the enemies in the show. Despite that I did enjoy it immensely.
The story is about the last remaining humans protecting themselves in a walled area from titans. Titan are human-ish beings of varies sizes that ruthlessly devour humans. Despite having a lack of intelligence their enormous size gives Titans the upper hand against humans who are powerless against them. The show revolves around a boy name Eren who wants to destroy all the titans and wants to join the military group called chousa heidan (various translations of it such as Survey Corps, Recon corps, etc). This group of people are ones who venture outside the walls to learn about how to defeat Titans, but are often looked at as a suicidal group to the public since it results in many casualties. Eren didn't want to be the cowards that stay in the wall who think they are safe.
This series is dark but its very action packed, thrilling, mysterious, and the characters are likable. I get why this got so popular. The 3D maneuver gear is also very unique and cool looking from the usual fantasy/scifi that we see. WARNING FOR SPOILERS BELOW THIS
The first episode is just like any shounen story of a boy and people close to him with a sense of justice. Then everything just goes downhill as the boy, Eren, witnesses his home town being attacked by Titans. Keep in mind that they said there hasn't been an attack for 100 years. The attack is brutal and the show mostly focus on the weaknesses of humans. These titans are naked, creepy caricature like human that vary in height. They are stupid, have an oversized mouth and don't speak. They're only purpose and goal is to eat humans. The show and the manga is not even that graphic, but watching these titans eat people alive is very disturbing to take in at first.
After a certain episode, I had to read the manga since I wanted to know what happens next. The story has some really good moments, and there's also some really boring moments. There's lots of talking and explanation. They really prolong the story, and kind of ruins it for me. Its easier to skip them in the manga, but in the anime its a bore. There's lots of surprises, and these surprises will get people to spread unwarned spoilers around so be careful. The story sets in a sort of alternate universe where the building are old European style, and the clothing are dated like early in the early 1900s. People are living enclosed within circular walls that protect them. There are three levels of these circular walls. Along the walls are cities enclosed around it. Between the layers of walls are like rural lands for smaller settlements and farming. It's a very interesting world. They have guns and use canons so the technology is not modern. However the fighting gear, 3d gear, doesn't really fit with everything since the design looks kind of modern. They wear a full body strap that holds the two blades storage box on their thighs, the gas, the cords, and the blade handles. The gear makes no sense to me. The box thing that holds the blades is huge and they run with these things like its nothing. They use tiny grappling hooks to anchor themselves to a building or trees, and use some sort of gas to propel their body through the air. Don't really think there's any kind of control for aiming these hooks and the gas which makes no sense to me. Plus I don't think those toy gas canisters could propel a human body that easily. I'd like to see Mythbusters try to test this out. But anyways I try not to let the gear bother me.
The manga is not finished and the art style is kind of scratchy. May not be impressive at first but its good enough to enjoy the story. The anime is pretty true to the manga, but is more polished looking. The anime has a grungy look to it which fits the story well. The animation and art quality is amazing. It really shows off the fighting gear in action really well. Some talking or shouting moments are a bit exaggerated. The characters practically are shaking when they talk so it looks a bit funny. Every episode there is a 1-2 minute recap which is unnecessary. The voice cast (seiyuu) is pretty good I have no problems with anyone's voices. The music is great too, and the first opening theme was such a huge hit.
Overall, I think this series is worth a try. I would recommend the manga more than the anime. The anime is good for the action scenes. Personally I wanted to see heichou animated. He is best.There is a gag spin off of this series called Shingeki! Kyojin Chuugakkou which I recommend! Its more fun and lighthearted which is a nice.
Overall, I think this series is worth a try. I would recommend the manga more than the anime. The anime is good for the action scenes. Personally I wanted to see heichou animated. He is best.There is a gag spin off of this series called Shingeki! Kyojin Chuugakkou which I recommend! Its more fun and lighthearted which is a nice.
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