Media Attack on Titan (final season coming!)

Oglemi

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Haven't read any of the manga but just finished watching what there was of the anime on Netflix (which I think catches all the way up to where they left off).

Very impressed with the show overall, the pacing drags just a little bit but I don't think it's too bad. I both enjoy and detest that we never get like a really decent look at the titans, they're always in like shaky action shots or like super close-ups of their face or like fade-to-black moments. It does a lot for pumping up the action and suspense, but my curiosity of what they actually really look like and behave and shit is higher than Mange's atm.

The only thing I don't really like about the show overall is that I feel almost nothing for any of the characters apart from Eren/Mikasa/Armin and a little bit of Jean. Everyone else just gets introduced and killed, or just too little of information is given for the characters I am interested in, like Sasha and the others from their corps regiment. I feel like they want you to feel for some of the characters they introduce like Petra and the rest of Levi's squad, but you only get to know them for like 3 episodes,,, and like I totally called that Annie was the betrayer, but again, I didn't feel betrayed even though I think that's what they wanted you to feel. Like, I couldn't sympathize at all with Eren or the others during that whole thing cuz we just didn't get to know her or their relationship other than the practice fight scene in the first couple episodes.

Anyway, excited for season 2 and I'm glad I waited til now to watch it cuz I guess it's been further delayed to release in 2016 lol.
 

Catherine Walker

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And at that last sentence, yeah no. Valvrave's story and depth is no where near Code Geass', though I will say that the animation is absolutely amazing.
 

Vileman

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Holy fuck shits finnally going down in the manga, so much hype *-*
also@anime:
hype?
 
So my friend has been begging me to read the manga. Should I read it though? I'd like a larger opinion. I have a basic understanding of the story (Uh oh! Giant titan! My mom died! I'll kill it!) and read the first one but never got any farther. I don't want to watch the anime because I live in a house with a 5 year old who I don't want walking in on what I know is a very violent show. But, should I try it? It seems like a good series that has such a huge fandom I can't ignore it and say I like manga and end up not reading it. The only manga I've read is Pokemon Adventures/Special, but still. Can anyone give me some reasons to recommend this besides my friend going "IT'S THE BEST THING EVER!" trying to convince me.
 

vonFiedler

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So my friend has been begging me to read the manga. Should I read it though? I'd like a larger opinion. I have a basic understanding of the story (Uh oh! Giant titan! My mom died! I'll kill it!) and read the first one but never got any farther. I don't want to watch the anime because I live in a house with a 5 year old who I don't want walking in on what I know is a very violent show. But, should I try it? It seems like a good series that has such a huge fandom I can't ignore it and say I like manga and end up not reading it. The only manga I've read is Pokemon Adventures/Special, but still. Can anyone give me some reasons to recommend this besides my friend going "IT'S THE BEST THING EVER!" trying to convince me.
Well it's hardly the best thing ever. It got popular because it's a shounen that is "dark" and "edgy" but it's still fairly shallow, and seasonal format did not make the show feel much less thin than shounen anime usually does.

But the only thing worse than accepting that something is good because lots of people say so is accepting that it probably isn't in spite of that. So try it out. It's not the kind of question you should really need a forum to answer, esp if you have actual friends pushing you in one direction.
 

Martin

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So my friend has been begging me to read the manga. Should I read it though? I'd like a larger opinion. I have a basic understanding of the story (Uh oh! Giant titan! My mom died! I'll kill it!) and read the first one but never got any farther. I don't want to watch the anime because I live in a house with a 5 year old who I don't want walking in on what I know is a very violent show. But, should I try it? It seems like a good series that has such a huge fandom I can't ignore it and say I like manga and end up not reading it. The only manga I've read is Pokemon Adventures/Special, but still. Can anyone give me some reasons to recommend this besides my friend going "IT'S THE BEST THING EVER!" trying to convince me.
Its one of the better shounens out there and pretty good if you're starting out with anime (idk how much you've watched, so apologies if you're not just starting out), but it isn't anything spectacular. I think it is worth the time to watch, just excercise a little caution when watching it if the 5 y/o is at home. At the end of the day your friend is recommending it to you, so it'd be good to watch it if only so that you can talk to him about it.
 
Anyone thinks that a lot of named characters will die in this arc? Erwin has basically got the death flag hanging over his head. Then, we have Levi who has been asked to take down the Beast Titan (he won't succeed, previous chapters have hyped the Beast Titan so much that if it loses so early, it will be anti-climatic). So, if he loses to the Beast Titan, chances are he will die (humanity's strongest soldier dying = more despair. seems on par with SnK's theme) or be heavily injured (causing him to sit out on future arcs.

Then, think of the Golden Trio of EMA. Eren won't die since he's The Hero so he has plot armour. As for Mikasa, I think she would be the sacrificial lion for this one. She has been overshadowed by Levi and does nothing of importance for a while now. I will be very surprised if both Levi and Mikasa escape with their lives as they are both powerhouses with Levi being the leader and captain while Mikasa the one with closer relationship with Eren. Plus, last time Eren gets crazy, some poor uncle got killed off. So, Mikasa is in really big danger.

Armin will survive, I think. Him, Erwin and Hange are the brains of the group. Since Erwin and Hange are presumably dead or going to die, I doubt the author will kill off the last brain of the group.

Finally, some of the people from Jean-Sasha-Connie trio might bite the dust too. Similar with Mikasa, they have done nothing of importance for a while. Plus, it will be unrealistic to not have casualties when they're using the Suicide Charge tactic.
 

Max. Optimizer

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I haven't read the Manga so far, but I've seen the first season of the Anime a couple of times already and I can't wait for Season 2.
For starters I'd like to state that I genuinely loved the fast pace and the musical background.
It's especially nice if you're fluent in the German language, hence being able to both understand and enjoy the the lyrics of soundtracks like "Vogel im Käfig", "So ist es immer", "Bauklötze" etc.
Reading the Manga must be a nice experience in its own way, but the music, the warm colors and the fast-paced fluent animation make the animated version really appealing as well.

I consider myself a really picky person, but this Anime's breathtaking storyline had me on the edge of my seat many times.
What fascinates me the most however is the fact that humanity has to surpass its fear (or should I say "toss aside its human aspect"?), in order to overcome the monsters.
In reality, we humans are ourselves our worst possible enemy. There is no other species that is physically taller and stronger than us, hence being able to pose a serious threat to us.
I'd also like to place the emphasis on one specific line from the Titan soundtrack, which could in my opinion lead to an interesting debate:

"Ist das der Zerstörer? Oder der Schöpfer?"
(Are the titans the destroyers or the creators of this world?)

We, as humans, normally tend to root for humanity of course, but it's also sometimes interesting to take a closer critical look at the situation from a different angle.

I personally don't know yet where the titans originally come from, but they've proven themselves already to be quite an efficient method of keeping humanity at bay.
We can all tell what humanity is capable of when it becomes too mighty after all.
What if "fear" is indeed an effective method of keeping humanity caged inside the walls, not only in order to protect them from the titans, but also from itself?
Maybe I'm just reading way too deep into it, but I'd be curious to find out if anybody else would agree or disagree with me on that matter.

Finally I'd also like to place emphasis on the recurrent leitmotiv of the "walls".
I'm personally genuinely persuaded that they can be interpreted both as literal real tangible solid walls, built to keep the titans out of the cities, but also as abstract mental walls.
The fact that books about the "outside world", like the one that Armin showed to Eren, are strongly prohibited by the government, leads me to believe that the walls were also built to cut off the population mentally from the real world out there.
For me personally, Attack on Titan is about far more than just the fight between humanity and the titans. Tearing down the walls, both physically and mentally, can also mean to become free in the sense of reaching mental enlightenment. This'd be highly consistent with a phrase coined by the thinker Immanuel Kant about how "enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed nonage".

I'll definitely stay tuned for the upcoming Season 2 to find out more.
Until then, feel free to agree or diagree with me on my previous thoughts.
This Anime provides enough food for thought after all.
 
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Haruno

Skadi :)
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And what relief did that dump bring! :)
yeah it's weird because it feels pretty natural with the narrative and hiding the basement content for 80+ chapters before we finally accessed the basement did not disappoint. I'm curious to see where AoT will go from here though and I'm curious on what this flashback is. Is this flashback part of Grisha's diary in the basement? Or is it just an actual flashback? If it's the former then I still don't see much of a way out for our heroes since it doesn't seem likely that they'd be able to reach the mainland civilization with all the titans on the loose for a multitude of reasons. The bigger issue is even if they reach the mainland I fail to see how they'd be able to return or worse yet, the mainland population not executing them outright. It also brings the ape titan's origins into question since it's clear he's a top of the pack and all the random mindless titans we see are prisoners from the mainland turned titan so yeah. I'm like 99% certain that ape titan is eren's brother btw.
 

Chou Toshio

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yeah it's weird because it feels pretty natural with the narrative and hiding the basement content for 80+ chapters before we finally accessed the basement did not disappoint. I'm curious to see where AoT will go from here though and I'm curious on what this flashback is. Is this flashback part of Grisha's diary in the basement? Or is it just an actual flashback? If it's the former then I still don't see much of a way out for our heroes since it doesn't seem likely that they'd be able to reach the mainland civilization with all the titans on the loose for a multitude of reasons. The bigger issue is even if they reach the mainland I fail to see how they'd be able to return or worse yet, the mainland population not executing them outright. It also brings the ape titan's origins into question since it's clear he's a top of the pack and all the random mindless titans we see are prisoners from the mainland turned titan so yeah. I'm like 99% certain that ape titan is eren's brother btw.
Nah, it's the book-- based on what it said at the beginning of the chapter. It's fair to assume all the knowledge disclosed here will be shared by Eren & Co
 

Chou Toshio

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There may be an "attacker titan"/"advancement titan"/"progress titan" inside Eren, but then you learn why he's so angry, because the others are--

Original Titan: The "Isolationalist Titan"
The other 8: The "racist titan", The "traditional marriage/pro-life titan", The "unregulated markets titan", "the communist titan", the "Anti-immigration titan", the "science/climate change denier titan", the "bi-partisan gridlock titan", and "the super amazing titan for the advancement of winning bigly by really big red people with surprisingly proportionally small hands" Titan
 

Martin

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Season 2 has started out really nicely imo; really solid first two episodes which are moving at a good pace whilst setting up the themes and giving us key info at a rate which leaves my mouth really watering for more. Also Shinzou wo Sasageyo! is the best AoT OP yet; I could tear this to shreds.

 
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I personally didnt like 2 Season OP of Shingeki No Kyogin,the OP's in the 1 Season were much better.Then to when i listened the new OP of Shingeki No Kyogin repeatedly i found it somewhat good,but the most weird part was the one where the Beast Titan was running with his fellow Titans such as a Whale,Aligator,Dinosaur,and a Giraffe etc,i find that part the most funniest.
http://i.imgur.com/9iHm6cI.jpg
 

xzern

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This chapter was huge.. literally what we have been waiting months for. isayama is a goat. Good luck to mappa animating the last few panels of this chapter. if you for some reason have not seen it yet, give a look at the incredible season 4 trailer, but it contains some minor spoilers for anime-onlys.
We will go to paradis and kill eren's mom. what could go wrong?
 

Chou Toshio

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This chapter was huge.. literally what we have been waiting months for. isayama is a goat. Good luck to mappa animating the last few panels of this chapter. if you for some reason have not seen it yet, give a look at the incredible season 4 trailer, but it contains some minor spoilers for anime-onlys.
We will go to paradis and kill eren's mom. what could go wrong?
Maybe its just me but I think the story jumped the shark some time ago. Maybe I'll give it a reread and see.
I’m in the Isayama is a genius camp. I also feel like the resistance-to-rumbling arch has gotten boring and kind of silly (none of these character’s motivations/wills feel real/strong enough).
But it has made the flip back to Eren even more epic— especially watching Annie’s will fail.
 

Max. Optimizer

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Anime-only Attack on Titan fan reporting in.

As tempting as reading the manga is, a notable part of me wants to wait to see it animated and with backing music.
I think that it's safe for me to assume that I speak for all of us when I say that WIT Studio and Hiroyuki Sawano have done a tremendous job of making this amazing show come to life, let alone the fitting cast of voice actors that clearly put their heart and soul into their performances during every occasion.

Judging by the trailer we got for Season 4, I'd say that the show remains in good hands.
There was one shot of Levi that looked a bit "off", but maybe that's because, according to friends of mine that do read the manga, MAPPA sticks closer to Isayama's now-iconic style in the manga than WIT does.

I have no context for what happened in the trailer, but it looks like Eren does the same thing Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie did a few years back.
One thing about the show I specifically like is the fact that you slowly grow to realize that there are no real "good guys", and that in fact everybody is a victim to their own belligerent human nature. Both Eldia and Marley have commited atrocities throughout history and it really reminds me of the real world where, during war, it's not about who's right or wrong, it's about who lives to tell the tale (and (re)write history from their perspective).

If you want peace for your people, you have to wage war against others that seek for the same peace for their own people.

I initially made a post in this thread around 4 years ago when I had only seen Season 1, and, much like our main cast, I've had to re-adjust my view world with every new season, and this is where I'm currently at with my impressions and theories. The childish naïveté of an easy world view that is simply divided into "black and white" eventually wears off and you realize that the ocean is in fact not freedom at all. The proverbial Vogelkäfig they tried to escape from only got bigger. The basement twist is hands down the twist in fiction par excellence that has impressed me the most. I'm willing to say that the "Red Swan" opening for the first part of Season 3 was already the first shift into this direction. Up until now, our main cast had only fought titans, but then they also had to cover their wings of liberty in the blood of human enemies, just to realize later that even the titans they had killed prior were in fact literally their own people the entire time.

Honestly? I don't even know if I should root for Eldia at this point.

Anybody can become a god or a devil. All it takes is enough people to believe it.
This gets to show you how easiy it is to paint someone as "the bad guy", a dangerous leitmotif that also runs rampant in IRL politics.

Even though the Paradis Island Eldians had no say in the matters of generations long gone, they do deserve to defend themselves.
War crimes and guilt are not hereditary and current generations are free to choose to distance themselves from the past generations.
History is important in the sense where new generations learn to avoid the mistakes from the past.
Censorship and the erasure of history are a dangerous thing.

Hence why I would like to welcome the opportunity to say that I'm joining Chou Toshio in the "Isyama is a genius" camp.
Considering the fact that propaganda, child soldiers, segregation in internment zones like Liberio still exist in some parts of our world, I'm willing to say that this commentary only solidifies Attack on Titan's raison d'être even further.

I'm looking forward to discussing things further with all of you in the future, there's still a lot to unpack.
Attack on Titan will write history after the final season, mark my words.

To all of you, (what feels like) 2000 years from now.
 
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