Attack On Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin)

[redmongoose]

gomenasai

[Sinitron]

so i watched this

and summed up short

they took old fairytales about monsters eating children venturing into the forest

and stuck the cast of naruto/bleach on top of it

HOLY GOD THIS IS SO ABYSMAL HOW COULD ANYONE FUCK UP SO BAD

i seriously don't get it, there's so much effort gone into a lot of the design and some of the animation isn't even half bad

but it's just so fucking cringeworthy

the characters are HORRIBLE

[rtil]

if it was an 80's cartoon you'd love it

[zwimmy]

I don't think I like this series.

The manga is just... mediocre. The design is seriously lacking in many respects and overall the art is just plain sloppy. All the elements just seem randomly thrown together. The giant walls, the towns, the uniforms... It just doesn't come together. It doesn't build an atmosphere. I don't even know what the fuck it's trying to be. Medieval? Fantasy? Steampunk? Like I said, there just doesn't seem to be a lot of thought put into the design. This is a big deal for me. I honestly don't care for intricate, complex plots. For me it's all about making the world believable and engaging. Attack on Titan just falls short.

The anime is a bit more redeeming as the animation and art is of a high caliber, but the bland designs from the manga remain. Granted, I haven't gotten very far into the story. I'll give it a bit more of a chance. Maybe we'll see some decent character development. But right off the bat, it just doesn't really do it for me.

[rtil]

i think it's pretty clearly medieval with some technological edge over historical medieval times, especially with the combat gear to fight the titans. the designs may be 'bland', but it fits with the era - everything then was quite bleak and earth-toned, bar royalty. many dyes and colors simply weren't available to common folk.

and the era fits with their situation - the people in AoT are barely surviving. everything is practical and there's no room for expenses to be spared on artful architecture and fancy clothing.

i'm not reading the manga, but what bothered me about the anime was the 2 episodes of military training. many years went by, and i did not get that feeling. it needed some sort of montage or sense of a time lapse.

[sev]

i do agree that the art in the manga isn't super solid. however

All the elements just seem randomly thrown together. The giant walls, the towns, the uniforms... It just doesn't come together. It doesn't build an atmosphere. I don't even know what the fuck it's trying to be. Medieval? Fantasy? Steampunk?

this i don't agree with as much. i feel like saying this is like watching cowboy bebop and saying "what is this trying to be, sci-fi? cowboy western? jazzy film noir?", or looking at champloo with a similar attitude. i don't think combining themes and aesthetics makes a world any less believable, if anything i think mixing things together can really enrich a world.

[Kött]

All the elements just seem randomly thrown together. The giant walls, the towns, the uniforms... It just doesn't come together. It doesn't build an atmosphere. I don't even know what the fuck it's trying to be. Medieval? Fantasy? Steampunk? Like I said, there just doesn't seem to be a lot of thought put into the design.

You shouldn't criticize something for not being able to stigmatize it with one of the major labels... in fact, I find it quite refreshing that the borders are a bit blurry on this show's genre as it creates a certain sense of unpredictability in regards to the plot... If you want a good plain medieval anime with some fantasy elements, watch Berserk.

Maybe we'll see some decent character development. But right off the bat, it just doesn't really do it for me.

The character development will be two dimensional and predictable as far as I can judge... but the Seinen elements might make up for that/justify it.
It's a shame that the manga seems far from finished... they should adapt finished works rather than those which aren't even halfway done... the more successful this anime turns out (as I'm pretty sure that it will leave room for a conclusion if not end at a point that actually demands one), the longer the author will probably milk the cash cow by dragging on the manga and shows which have too many episodes usually grow tiring at a certain point...

I'm not really sure what to think of the pacing... Until now, we have seen two double episodes with two abrupt major time skips after each set, and a battle of 3 episodes, interrupted by a flashback that almost lasted an entire episode... and we're only at episode 7. These stylistic devices can be powerful if executed correctly... but so far they didn't have a strong impression on me... all of them are quite sudden and seem to be a means to push the story forward rather than an actual stylistic choice.

Nevertheless, the animation is pretty good and the story is quite captivating.

[Flash]

i don't think combining themes and aesthetics makes a world any less believable, if anything i think mixing things together can really enrich a world.

mixing different themes up is fine, as long as it's held down by an overall aesthetic or, to put it simply, a "feel". when panty and stocking or flcl throw different animation styles together, the aesthetics are still the same, at least in my opinion - because i see the term as something more overarching than "design" or "look". if you disagree with that, just substitute that word for "feel" and you'll see what i mean. flcl and psg still feel the same no matter what they're drawn like in any given scene. i haven't watched attack on titan yet but if they managed to weird out seannyj without changing as abruptly as those shows, maybe something's wrong.
just throwing that out there, tho.

[Sinitron]

if it was an 80s cartoon it probably wouldn't have had the same aggravating and conceited backstory

and bleach wasn't made back then so maybe the other characters would be less annoying as well

[rtil]

..conceited? are you sure we're watching the same thing? what does that even mean?

[zwimmy]

i do agree that the art in the manga isn't super solid. however

All the elements just seem randomly thrown together. The giant walls, the towns, the uniforms... It just doesn't come together. It doesn't build an atmosphere. I don't even know what the fuck it's trying to be. Medieval? Fantasy? Steampunk?

this i don't agree with as much. i feel like saying this is like watching cowboy bebop and saying "what is this trying to be, sci-fi? cowboy western? jazzy film noir?", or looking at champloo with a similar attitude. i don't think combining themes and aesthetics makes a world any less believable, if anything i think mixing things together can really enrich a world.

For Cowboy Bebop, everything fits together amazingly well. The universe feels believable despite the crazy juxtaposition of so many different settings. Everything is beautifully crafted and thought out. SnK is just bland.

[zwimmy]

All the elements just seem randomly thrown together. The giant walls, the towns, the uniforms... It just doesn't come together. It doesn't build an atmosphere. I don't even know what the fuck it's trying to be. Medieval? Fantasy? Steampunk? Like I said, there just doesn't seem to be a lot of thought put into the design.

You shouldn't criticize something for not being able to stigmatize it with one of the major labels... in fact, I find it quite refreshing that the borders are a bit blurry on this show's genre as it creates a certain sense of unpredictability in regards to the plot... If you want a good plain medieval anime with some fantasy elements, watch Berserk.

It's not that it doesn't fit within a genre. It's that whatever setting it's trying to be just doesn't come together well. I like stuff that blends genres and blurs lines, making it difficult to fit into one category. But it's gotta fit together well and build a memorable, engaging atmosphere.

[Sinitron]

..conceited? are you sure we're watching the same thing? what does that even mean?

ya

it has this whole nihilistic story going on about how mankind is fucked etc etc and how we are our own greatest enemy and you know

shit like that

also it's not a medieval setting - they have cannons on rails on top of those walls and shit, i'd day it's closer to the 1700s or something for comparison, maybe even early 1800s but without the industrial capacity (though post-apocalyptic so it CLEARLY ripped off fallout and bethesda should SUE japan)

i mean don't get me wrong, that bit is actually pretty cool

it does have a lot going for it

but you even said yourself eren is a shithead

none of the characters have much appeal at all, "but it's okay because it's violent and they die!"

somebody even told me the whole thing just ends with everybody dying... which wouldn't surprise me (and would tie in perfectly with the bleak look on mankind etc deal)

but if none of the characters have any appeal, why should i care if they die? what impact does it have? there's no value to it, they're just annoying

which is why it's such a shame, because the premise, as i have stated before, IS COOL

it's just lacking really badly in terms of execution and writing

that's why it gets to me so much, because clearly they had the budget and will to execute it

but somewhere along the line

they just forgot

about

fucking

substance

[Gilthwixt]

Eren's kind of two-dimensional at times, he's always "I MUST KILL TITANS KILL KILL KILL"

But I think the character development was a bit better for him and Mikasa in the last two episodes. It's kind of cute how much they depend on one another, like how the scarf she's always wearing is actually one he gave her after they saved each other's lives. Idk, I guess I could see how some people find them cliche, especially his/her "motivational" speech, but I still enjoy the hell out it.

As for where the series is going, I don't consider the storyline to have properly begun until now. So far it's just been nihilistic survival horror like you said, but then they introduce this titan that kills other titans out of nowhere. Without spoiling too much, it actually becomes rare for main, named characters to die, and instead the shock comes from crazy plot twists and loyalty shifts. I really can't think of anything to compare it to other than the tv series LOST, since with every story arc more questions are raised than answered.

[sev]

somebody even told me the whole thing just ends with everybody dying... which wouldn't surprise me (and would tie in perfectly with the bleak look on mankind etc deal)

just gonna step in here and say the manga hasnt ended yet, so this can't be accurate (and thus also isnt really a spoiler)

[BluPhoenix]

somebody even told me the whole thing just ends with everybody dying... which wouldn't surprise me (and would tie in perfectly with the bleak look on mankind etc deal)

i said this jokingly

i haven't even read/watched it

[Sinitron]

yeah, it might have been a joke, but it wouldn't surprise me if that was the ending

[rtil]

it has this whole nihilistic story going on about how mankind is fucked etc etc and how we are our own greatest enemy and you know

shit like that

ok, but what does that have to do with being conceited? are you implying the author is full of himself because it has a negative message about human nature and the human condition? are people not allowed to write stories about that anymore without coming off as being vain? i don't get it.

also it's not a medieval setting - they have cannons on rails on top of those walls and shit, i'd day it's closer to the 1700s or something for comparison, maybe even early 1800s but without the industrial capacity (though post-apocalyptic so it CLEARLY ripped off fallout and bethesda should SUE japan)

i mean don't get me wrong, that bit is actually pretty cool

it does have a lot going for it

i said everything except for the military tech is medieval in nature, the cannons are not even the most highly advanced things they have - the combat gear with the pressurized air propulsion is way beyond everything else - but it makes sense that militarily they would be more advanced because they need to be in order to survive, so they've probably invested a lot more time and energy into that technology.

also, cannons are hardly 18th century technology - they have been around since the 14th century in some capacity.

but you even said yourself eren is a shithead

none of the characters have much appeal at all, "but it's okay because it's violent and they die!"

yea eren is a little shit, he thinks he can take on the world but he can't fill those shoes. he's blinded by revenge. but ultimately he suffers the consequences of that. that is his character.

nobody said anything about a show being good just because everyone dies even if it has no appeal. you said that. if you don't like it or think it doesn't have any appeal, then fine, don't watch it.

it appeals to me for a number of different reasons. i don't think it's a masterpiece, but i am enjoying it. there are things i don't like about it, sure, but i'm not so jaded and cynical that it makes me hate it. i don't even think it's that your standards are too high, so much that you've marinated in your own ignorance so long it's impossible for you to see anything new and be able to enjoy it despite its flaws.

the only reason i say that is because it is you talking about this. anyone else, i would just assume that AoT wasn't for them, and that's fine. but you seem to hate everything that isn't something of nostalgic value to you.

somewhere along the line

they just forgot

about

fucking

substance

how can you even say that when the story's pretty much just begun? there's so much we don't know about what's going on that we could potentially find out. do you know what foreshadowing is? if all the meat of the story was condensed in to the first 7 episodes of what i've been told has only scratched the surface of the story (which means there will probably be more seasons), what else would there be left to do?

[rtil]

[iinnkk]

crossovers are cool too