Attack on Titan / Shingeki No Kyojin

[Rosstin]

Do we have a thread for talking about this here? OMG we should. This show is amazing, full of intense battles, life-or-death situations, and surprisingly enjoyable characters. Also, giant guys with no skin.

If you like any of those things, highly recommend.

[psilontech]

I gave the series an honest try, I really did, but Good God, the whining. They just can't stop whining.

Spoiler alert.

Spoiler

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First couple of episodes: Main character being a crybaby. Really, I get it, mommy is dead. I don't care enough about you, as a character, to want to listen to it. Now DO SOMETHING INTERESTING! PLEASE!

Followed by: Training! Okay, I can get into this. Kind of interesting. Introducing new characters, some of which I actually enjoy.

ANOTHER ATTACK! Main character gets EATEN AND DIES! Good, I'm glad he's dead. The previous wallflower sister has an interesting change and I'm all for her being the protagonist in this story now.

NOPE! Titan Kiddy is back, and he can turn into a Titan! ... Son of a bitch, I was very much ready for him to be out of the picture and only used as a point of character development for other, more interesting characters.

TWO FULL EPISODES OF INTROSPECTION during which exactly one minute and thirty seconds of actual THINGS happen. I enjoyed the flashback explaining how brother/sister duo met. I did. The rest of it just freaking drug on and on. More mopey mopey whine whine.

I might come back after it's finished and someone tells me which episodes I don't have to watch to cut down on the freaking angst.

[thubby]

i was expecting a pitch black story which shows the end of humanity as witnessed by a child.

what i got was a bizarre take on the mecha genre where a stupid kid falls into the super suit.

I can't say im unhappy with what it is, but unless something really changes (and the manga thus far says it won't), the anime is going to be a mediocre affair with jaw dropping visuals.

[Rosstin]

TWO FULL EPISODES OF INTROSPECTION

This is the only worry/complaint I see myself having with the series. I hope it doesn't go the way of "fighting anime" in having overly stretched-out plot, like One Piece or Naruto or something, where it takes a million episodes to resolve one silly fight.

[Admiral Squish]

I watched episode one, but I simply couldn't get into it. My friend has been talking about it for weeks, but it just looked like some stupidly uber-gory and whiny anime to me. It was just ALL HOPELESSNESS ALL THE TIME.

If someone can assure me it gets better after that, I might give it another shot.

EDIT: Also, the swords seem kinda stupid. Seems to me like fighting giants, you'd want piercing weapons, or at least something two-handed to hack or punch through all that extra flesh. And, hell, the giants don't have any ranged capacity, why not bows? High mobility means you can move around, stay out of their reach, and slowly needle them to death.

[ThePhantom]

Form what I know of the series the titans regenerate, so you can't needled them down, you need to deal a lot of damage fast to kill them.

[Admiral Squish]

Form what I know of the series the titans regenerate, so you can't needled them down, you need to deal a lot of damage fast to kill them.

Well, then, that's only more reason for them to use larger, two-handed weapons or piercing weapons, instead of a pair of light swords.

[thubby]

EDIT: Also, the swords seem kinda stupid. Seems to me like fighting giants, you'd want piercing weapons, or at least something two-handed to hack or punch through all that extra flesh. And, hell, the giants don't have any ranged capacity, why not bows? High mobility means you can move around, stay out of their reach, and slowly needle them to death.

the titans regenerate and only have 1 known weak spot deep in their flesh at the base of the neck and it needs to be excised, not merely damaged.

the manga goes more into the "science" it. the cannons you see CAN kill the titans, but the amount of power and precision required to essentially blow through the c7 vertebra makes it a highly unlikely matter of dumb luck.

[BRC]

The only way to kill the Titans is to use 3d Motion Gear, which is kind of physics-defying rule-of-cool stuff in of itself, but anyway precise balance and weight would be important.

Two swords even out weightwise, one big sword or an axe would make the user unbalanced, which would make using the Gear very, very difficult. The user would need to, while flinging themselves around with the 3d Motion gear, keep their blade perfectly centered on their body or else constantly be compensating for the shifting weight of the sword.

The Titans can only be killed with a deep cut to their weak spot (The back of the neck). The skill is mainly in using the 3d Motion gear to get into position to make the strike. Gross physical trauma is irrelevant unless it's in that exact place.
Also, the sword-hilts contain triggers that serve as the control mechanism for the 3d-motion gear (Firing gas-powered grappling hooks).

[Admiral Squish]

Ahh, okay, that explains a lot more. Seems kinda contrived, but at least it's an explanation.

[thubby]

Ahh, okay, that explains a lot more. Seems kinda contrived, but at least it's an explanation.

it is, a bit, but realize that the author is trying to make something big and dumb a threat to the very existence of humanity without being completely unstoppable.
if you're willing to suspend that bit of disbelief, a lot of what follows is fairly clever.

honestly, i get the impression that the author would have been a lot more comfortable with a story about a world or nation as a whole rather than a particular character.

edit: turns out he was influenced by muv-luv. it had basically the same problem. great concept with mediocre characters and used poorly.

[Kato]

There have been a few notes on it in the General Anime and Manga Discussion thread... Most recently what my (and I think others) huge problem with the show is...

I'm also not entirely happy with the structure of the story but meh... it is an okay show. As thubby just said, great concept, poor execution. (Which is the case way too often)

[Prime32]

a mediocre affair with jaw dropping visuals.

Visuals and opening song, you mean.

SIE SIND DAS ESSEN UND WIR SIND DIE JÄGER!

[nyarlathotep]

I've actually really liked the show. It's probably the only worthwhile zombie story I've read/watched in the last three years. Before that I was beginning to think that all the good anime was gone and I'd seen it all in the mid oughts.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Do we have a thread for talking about this here? OMG we should. This show is amazing, full of intense battles, life-or-death situations, and surprisingly enjoyable characters. Also, giant guys with no skin.

If you like any of those things, highly recommend.

Yes.

Also I personally couldn't get past the first episode, but it sure does look neat.

[Prime32]

Stuff
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy83pwj33i8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBrCtEdnsHE

[Kato]

I've actually really liked the show. It's probably the only worthwhile zombie story I've read/watched in the last three years. Before that I was beginning to think that all the good anime was gone and I'd seen it all in the mid oughts.

There've been a lot of good shows in the last years... And while I guess there are similarities putting Shingeki under zombie seems like a weird choice...

also: Damn you, Prime, I was about to post that 3DMG video

[AdmiralCheez]

When I first heard about this show a few weeks ago, I thought it was about an attack on Titan, the moon of Saturn. Maybe a sci-fi themed thing about defending a colony there from aliens or whatever.

The first few episodes were kind of grating, since the main character is just full of so much anger and hatred, but after they go and join the army, it becomes more enjoyable. There is a lot of whining and crying, but it doesn't bother me that much since it makes sense that a bunch of fresh-out-of-boot-camp cadets would panic and doubt themselves during a real life-or-death battle. If it goes on for too much longer though, I might change my mind.

[nyarlathotep]

There've been a lot of good shows in the last years... And while I guess there are similarities putting Shingeki under zombie seems like a weird choice...

also: Damn you, Prime, I was about to post that 3DMG video

I think I may have greatly differing tastes compared to many anime fans, and most of the shows I've been recommended were terrible enough that I stuck to watching HBO/Showtime series and later seasons of Supernatural for my television intake. Though I've recently given Madoka a second chance and enjoyed it far more than during my first attempt to watch it.

As for the latter part, the humans under siege story is only ever really shown nowadays as zombies, but I'd put it story content wise with zombie stories like dawn of the dead and non-zombie movies like Dog Soldiers. Zulu and 300 are kind of in the same boat, but it makes me feel really racist to compare them, or at least makes me think the film-makers are racist.

[Rosstin]

I don't think it's unfair to think of AOT as a type of zombie story. The parallels should be clear.

[Kato]

I don't know... while, obviously, there is the "supernatural humanlike beings that eat people" bit but most zombie stories I think of - or maybe more precise "stuff I associate with zombie stories" is survival horror, not a whole society built upon the foundation of being scared of zombies. At least in my book it very much goes against what most zombie stories are about.
(Admittedly, I am not that well versed in zombie stories but most I am aware of the zombies are a rather new, suddenly appearing force, not a threat that hunts humanity for centuries)


btw, I'm not sure if that's entirely original but I'll just throw in a WMG about Titan's plot.

Spoiler

Show

What if the giant and/or armored Titan are (failed) results of Dr. Jaeger's research, as in also transforming humans or something like that which is why they suddenly appear and disappear without an (obvious) trace?
Of course, this is still less likely than them being like the Titans just some cosmic joke to piss of humanity.

[Tengu_temp]

Visuals and opening song, you mean.

SIE SIND DAS ESSEN UND WIR SIND DIE JÄGER!

Holy crap, how come I never realized this first line is in German?

And yes, this is a really awesome song. I have to listen to it every time I stumble upon it.

I think I may have greatly differing tastes compared to many anime fans, and most of the shows I've been recommended were terrible enough that I stuck to watching HBO/Showtime series and later seasons of Supernatural for my television intake. Though I've recently given Madoka a second chance and enjoyed it far more than during my first attempt to watch it.

I think either you were recommended some really bad choices, or you have some weird tastes. One way or the other, I disagree that there are no good recent anime. I had that complaint at the beginning of this decade, and then turned out to be so wrong I couldn't believe how foolish I was.

I don't think it's unfair to think of AOT as a type of zombie story. The parallels should be clear.

I thought it's a retelling of Roald Dahl's The BFG.

[Rising Phoenix]

I don't know... while, obviously, there is the "supernatural humanlike beings that eat people" bit but most zombie stories I think of - or maybe more precise "stuff I associate with zombie stories" is survival horror, not a whole society built upon the foundation of being scared of zombies. At least in my book it very much goes against what most zombie stories are about.
(Admittedly, I am not that well versed in zombie stories but most I am aware of the zombies are a rather new, suddenly appearing force, not a threat that hunts humanity for centuries)


btw, I'm not sure if that's entirely original but I'll just throw in a WMG about Titan's plot.

Spoiler

Show

What if the giant and/or armored Titan are (failed) results of Dr. Jaeger's research, as in also transforming humans or something like that which is why they suddenly appear and disappear without an (obvious) trace?
Of course, this is still less likely than them being like the Titans just some cosmic joke to piss of humanity.

Spoiler

Show

That's probably going to be the case, considering that it has been as cliche as can be at this stage. The culprit may not necessarily be his dad though.

Now if the main character had stayed dead. I would be certainly not calling it cliche

Also my main grip with the series is at how poorly organized the army is.

Still worth a watch out of curiosity + it's the only 'good' anime I've stumbled across this season.

[thubby]

btw, I'm not sure if that's entirely original but I'll just throw in a WMG about Titan's plot.

Spoiler

Show

What if the giant and/or armored Titan are (failed) results of Dr. Jaeger's research, as in also transforming humans or something like that which is why they suddenly appear and disappear without an (obvious) trace?
Of course, this is still less likely than them being like the Titans just some cosmic joke to piss of humanity.

manga spoilers

Spoiler

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you are, sadly, right. dr jaegar may or may not be the cause, but the armored and collosal titan are people.

[Metahuman1]

Tried it in Manga format. Couldn't get past the stupidly grimdark first few chapters.

How far in the series do I have to go before it stops being about a bunch of big dumb near unstoppable monsters running around eating everything smaller then them that moves?

[tensai_oni]

How far in the series do I have to go before it stops being about a bunch of big dumb near unstoppable monsters running around eating everything smaller then them that moves?

It never stops.

[thubby]

complaining about grimdark in a series that is in premise about the near death of humanity is rather silly.

[Metahuman1]

*Shrug.* Look, near death of humanity is all well and good as a plot device. It's the rubbing your face in massive numbers of characters and background characters dieing up down forwards backwards left right and center 24/7 that irks me. Focus more on the fight to prevail or at least survive and give the humans a fighting chance (If you wanna say them having a fighting chance would ruin the near death thing, fine, maybe the chance is like a new weapon or something that they've just now found/developed/figured out/gotten/made and it works.), and let them actually have intense battles were yeah, they could loose if there stupid, but if there not they've actually got a reasonable chance of winning. Now you've got something worth watching.

[Rosstin]

My favorite upbeat apocalypse movie:


TVTropes should have a page for "upbeat apocalypse".

[Metahuman1]

My favorite upbeat apocalypse movie:


TVTropes should have a page for "upbeat apocalypse".

Never scene it, care to give a synopsis?