• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) |OT| MMA Ultra(spider)man (NO MANGA SPOILERS)

Status
Not open for further replies.
K

kirblar

Member
Hellix said:
I don't get the NGE comparisons. Is it because the main characters are kids?
Click to expand...
It turned from something truly unique to Giant Robot Show with unique setting when Eren got revived.

It's not to say it's bad now, but it's definitely more in line with genre tropes now, which is a shame.
 
Tizoc

Tizoc

Member
Finally decided to start watching this, just saw ep. 1 and a few things-
1- Why are their eyes so...big?
2- The Leader of the Recon Team has no tact whatsofucking-ever...you just up and give that old lady her son's arm? That's how respond to her question?
3- I'm not liking the father's attitude and personality, such that I can already guess his reaction in the next ep.
4- Mikasa is one boring girl....
5- WHy must blondes always be given blue eyes in Japanese anime?
 
J

JulianImp

Member
Tizoc said:
Finally decided to start watching this, just saw ep. 1 and a few things-
1- Why are their eyes so...big?
2- The Leader of the Recon Team has no tact whatsofucking-ever...you just up and give that old lady her son's arm? That's how respond to her question?
3- I'm not liking the father's attitude and personality, such that I can already guess his reaction in the next ep.
4- Mikasa is one boring girl....
5- WHy must blondes always be given blue eyes in Japanese anime?
Click to expand...

1- I don't remember too many anime shows that use realistic eye sizes (Cowboy Bebop, I guess?). Still, they're using them well to communicate the characters' expressions (or lack thereof).
2- I guess routinely going out on recon missions only to get most of your men wiped out will turn you into a tactless person. However, this interpretetion holds no ground when the guy breaks down in tears after the mother asks if his son's death wasn't in vain, so I'm not so sure.
3- He does feel a bit too detached, and kind of reminds me of Hoenheim from FMA. I hope I'm only imagining it, though.
4- She gets a bit less boring as the show goes on, not because she stops being stoic, but because character development kicks in.
5- Racial stereotypes, I guess? They're supposed to be in their world's equivalent of central Europe or something like that, if that helps. I tend to handwave this kinds of stuff, even though it'd probably be more memorable to see characters with non-stereotypical eye/hair color combinations.
 
Tizoc

Tizoc

Member
Sorry ouble post but...
Ep. 2:
Heh glad I was proven wrong on Eren's dad, I kinda expected him to be like Gendo from NGE =P
The 'dream' Eren had was interesting, wonder if Mikasa was there too? Still don't like her...

Ep. 3:
Liking Potato Girl already~

Ep. 4:
MIKASA YOU BITCH!

I lol-ed at the end of the ep. XD

eP. 5:
HOLY FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!

Ep. 6:
Alright fine I'm opening up to Mikasa now...but I still dislike her expressionless face...

Ep. 7:
Yo I don't care if it was a Deus Ex Machina, I've been waiting for one to pop up already, but damn that was awesome!

Ep. 8
Great ep., but that's it for today, need to go to sleep soon @_@

Ah and I personally found that Eren's mother dieing just felt...cliché, but the delivery was well done and is still an understandable motivation to join the military, although he had wanted to join them to begin with, so her death would be, I guess a further push to that.

Will finish up tomorrow.
 
C

CorvoSol

Member
Hellix said:
I don't get the NGE comparisons. Is it because the main characters are kids?
Click to expand...

NGE AND ATTACK ON TITAN SPOILERS BELOW.


Humanity is under attack from an incomprehensible threat that is named for a being of human legend [angels, titans]. There are different types of them with different threat levels, and if you don't go about killing them the right way, they regenerate just the same. Mankind's best weapons are not enough to deal with them, and instead require the help of one emotionally fucked up kid in his
giant biomechanical humanoid weapon
to fight back. Many of the secrets of what is going on are
locked up in the basement (of Eren's house, or NERV HQ), and are centered on the hero's bespectacled, bearded father who may or may not have been a giant asshole to his only son.

Our hero is, as previously mentioned, an emotionally fucked up kid who has a tendency to shout (Shinji, Eren.) He spends his time hanging out with an emotionally dead girl (Rei, Misaka). Shinji hangs out with a total bitch, Asuka, and Eren hangs out with a guy who totally is his bitch, Armen. Both heroes are mentored by a sexy battlefield commander (Misato, Pixis' mustache).

Humanity's fortress is behind some kinda wall, like the Geofront or just plain the Walls.

I dunno, I'm just kinda stretching this but I could see why someone might be inclined to make the comparison. I wouldn't, but it can be done.
 
J

JulianImp

Member
Tizoc said:
Ah and I personally found that Eren's mother dieing just felt...cliché, but the delivery was well done and is still an understandable motivation to join the military, although he had wanted to join them to begin with, so her death would be, I guess a further push to that.
Click to expand...

For some reason, I read the first part as "dieting", which made it infinitely better, if a bit silly. It was mostly "The call knows where you live" trope: the only person close to Eren who opposed him joining the recon corps is out of the way, and Eren got a newfound incentive that overrode his "I wanna see the outside world" mentality with "KILL 'EM ALL!".

CorvoSol said:
Our hero is, as previously mentioned, an emotionally fucked up kid who has a tendency to shout (Shinji, Eren.) He spends his time hanging out with an emotionally dead girl (Rei, Misaka). Shinji hangs out with a total bitch, Asuka, and Eren hangs out with a guy who totally is his bitch, Armen. Both heroes are mentored by a sexy battlefield commander (Misato, Pixis' mustache).
Click to expand...

First and foremost, thanks for the laugh. :D

I guess it'd be a viable comparison at first glance (note: I haven't watched NGE yet, but I know a bit about the show's theme). Still, I won't be complaining if it still is a kick-ass show by itself.

I only hope it doesn't devolve into watching titan Eren do all the heavy lifting while the other humans merely act as cannon fodder and/or cheer on Eren. As long as they limit his transformation in a way that makes sense and is consistent across episodes, it shouldn't swoop down to DBZ-like levels.

I mean, this is the kind of show that makes me think a random titan could kick a house and kill a relevant character with the resulting debris at any time; still, they've already killed the bulk of the slightly-relevant characters, so it's probably not as easy to go and kill the remaining important soldiers anymore. It just isn't the same if the only people who get killed are random grunts or people we get to meet two minutes before their death (ie: the guy who was in charge of Eren's team, I think).
 
V

vareon

Member
Tizoc said:
Ah and I personally found that Eren's mother dieing just felt...cliché, but the delivery was well done and is still an understandable motivation to join the military, although he had wanted to join them to begin with, so her death would be, I guess a further push to that.
Click to expand...

Clichés aren't inherently bad, misuse/overuse of them is.
 
T

TheBryanJZX90

Member
Yeah I don't think Eren and Shinji are really very comparable at all in terms of personality. Eren is straightforward determination fueled by a desire for revenge and a sense of justice. He knows what he wants and does what he thinks will get him there (although that dream he had at the boulder was a bit concerning). Shinji is just waffling passivity and inaction. Closer to Armin really.
 
M

M3d10n

Member
JulianImp said:
I only hope it doesn't devolve into watching titan Eren do all the heavy lifting while the other humans merely act as cannon fodder and/or cheer on Eren. As long as they limit his transformation in a way that makes sense and is consistent across episodes, it shouldn't swoop down to DBZ-like levels.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't worry about that.
 
M

meltingparappa

Member
Evangelion started subverting tropes from the very first episode, and has gone on to do the opposite of what you'd expect a robot vs monster punchin' anime to do at every step, including the most recent movie.

Titan meanwhile, started with a really unique premise that piqued in episode five, then it took a swan-dive into shounen tropes and is only getting deeper into them as time goes on.

Not that tropes are inherently baaaaaad or anything, but I can't see how anyone would compare the two. Especially in terms of how vastly different Eren and Shinji are.
 
J

JulianImp

Member
M3d10n said:
I wouldn't worry about that.
Click to expand...

I hope so. So far, we've seen Eren in berserk kill-all-titans mode (first appearance), non-regenerating regular titan mode (second appearance, before Armin intervenes) and finally self-conscious, controlled titan mode (second appearance after Armin manages to restore his conciousness). If he can stay in the latter state by training, focusing or something, it'd be kind of like your average shounen transformation, which would be quite a shame.

Then again, not giving Eren the ability to transform every now and then would make it nearly impossible for him and his friends to survive. Making it a fickle ability that only triggers whenever the plot demands it would also be a kind of anoying, but not as bad as him having full control over the transformation.

EDIT:
meltingparappa said:
Titan meanwhile, started with a really unique premise that piqued in episode five, then it took a swan-dive into shounen tropes and is only getting deeper into them as time goes on.
Click to expand...

That's what it felt like to me as well, and I'm sad to see it wasn't just me making things up. I really want this series to retain the unique elements it had. There isn't much dread to be had when titan Eren can stand against all other titans... it makes me fear that we'll start seeing stronger titans besides the armored and colossal ones, and that Eren will undergo some kind of training so he can stand a chance against them, because the regular humans are way too weak to even manage to scratch either of them.
 
A

AlimNassor

Banned
meltingparappa said:
Evangelion started subverting tropes from the very first episode, and has gone on to do the opposite of what you'd expect a robot vs monster punchin' anime to do at every step, including the most recent movie.

Titan meanwhile, started with a really unique premise that piqued in episode five, then it took a swan-dive into shounen tropes and is only getting deeper into them as time goes on.

Not that tropes are inherently baaaaaad or anything, but I can't see how anyone would compare the two. Especially in terms of how vastly different Eren and Shinji are.
Click to expand...

It's shounen, but, it's at the same time not as Eren is not magical space jesus that pulls out powers as the plot demands. That Titan transformation was the BS move. I wish I could go into detail, but, anything more would be spoiling. People say SnK is like DBZ now, or generic shounen, but, it's really not,and nor will it ever become generic shounen.

SnK is more similar to Muv Luv Alt then most people realize. I say it's a tamer Muv Luv less mindless fanservice, and gore but more fighting. Anyways, part II will probably make everyone rage quit if it ends in a stupid anime only ending. S3 is as likely as JJBA getting a third season.
 
C

CorvoSol

Member
JulianImp said:
First and foremost, thanks for the laugh. :D

I guess it'd be a viable comparison at first glance (note: I haven't watched NGE yet, but I know a bit about the show's theme). Still, I won't be complaining if it still is a kick-ass show by itself.
Click to expand...

The problem is that NGE is one of those shows where any suitably crazy show can serve as an homage to it or reference to it.

Consider, for example, The Big O. As such, Big O and NGE spoilers follow:

Gordon Rosewater is Shinji Ikari, the son of the manipulative Alex Rosewater/Gendo Ikari. Gordon's father's maddening quest for "Memories" parallels Gendo's own search for Human Instrumentality. Gordon has multiple breakdowns while piloting his own giant robot to fight the foreign elements (people from the other country in TBO and Angels in NGE), as well as his human nemesis, who is more attractive than menacing and pilots a dark robot of his own: Kaoru or Roger Smith.

Rosewater's father's plan culminates in a broken down woman, Angel, connecting to a God, Big Venus, and radically destroying and recreating the world, just as Gendo uses an empty woman, Rei, to connect to a God, Adam, and radically destroys and recreates the world.

It isn't a perfect comparison, of course, but you can just keep messing with The Big O's second season until it comes out sounding a lot like NGE.
 
V

Velti

Neo Member
CorvoSol said:
The problem is that NGE is one of those shows where any suitably crazy show can serve as an homage to it or reference to it.

Consider, for example, The Big O. As such, Big O and NGE spoilers follow:

Gordon Rosewater is Shinji Ikari, the son of the manipulative Alex Rosewater/Gendo Ikari. Gordon's father's maddening quest for "Memories" parallels Gendo's own search for Human Instrumentality. Gordon has multiple breakdowns while piloting his own giant robot to fight the foreign elements (people from the other country in TBO and Angels in NGE), as well as his human nemesis, who is more attractive than menacing and pilots a dark robot of his own: Kaoru or Roger Smith.

Rosewater's father's plan culminates in a broken down woman, Angel, connecting to a God, Big Venus, and radically destroying and recreating the world, just as Gendo uses an empty woman, Rei, to connect to a God, Adam, and radically destroys and recreates the world.

It isn't a perfect comparison, of course, but you can just keep messing with The Big O's second season until it comes out sounding a lot like NGE.
Click to expand...

So is that what happened? I had no idea what the heck was going on at the end of that.
I was like... they're all in a virtual reality?! WHAT'S GOING ON-
 
A

Articalys

Member
The Blu-ray volume 2 cover has been revealed, and it's all Mikasa, all the time:
bd_02_jk.png
Click to expand...
edit: larger picture from Amazon here.
 
L

LogicStep

Member
So anime only guys!

My friend was telling me about his speculations and he totally blew my mind. I haven't read the manga so I don't know if this indeed is what is going on but... I looked online to see if anyone had similar theories and indeed some people think the same though I stopped looking because of spoilers.

He thinks Eren is from the future. Going back to the first episode with that weird name of To you after 2000 years which he thinks the story is being told from the future. You see some images flash real quick before Eren wakes up. You can see when
his mother gets picked up to be eaten by the Titan
among other things, like he is remembering these things. Then when he wakes up, he can't remember a thing. Now here's the interesting part. When he sees Mikasa he says "Are, Mikasa?" which translates to "Huh? Mikasa?" she then says a few things and he says "nande kokoni?" which was translated as "What am I doing here" but my friend says that's not what he's saying, he's pointing that remark towards Mikasa which translates to "why are you here?". Then he's crying and he doesn't know why. He didn't listen to her, he was just like Mikasa, why are you here? and with the tears and him not remembering anything, we come to the conclusion he's from the future. He was sent back, those flashes were his memories leaving him and he's in pure shock from seeing Mikasa. We assume the shock and tears are because she dies in the future and seeing her alive shocked him. Obviously that's his subconscious since he can't remember anything.

Sorry if it's confusing but I thought it's definitely possible and it's fun to speculate. :3 And sorry if someone already said this, I haven't read the whole thread. It might not make sense so please tell me why so we can speculate! :D
 
K

kirblar

Member
If it's over a week old on the TV show, no need to spoiler tag things. Interesting theory- not knowing the language can often lead to things like that going over our heads.
 
J

JulianImp

Member
zazrx said:
So anime only guys!

My friend was telling me about his speculations and he totally blew my mind. I haven't read the manga so I don't know if this indeed is what is going on but... I looked online to see if anyone had similar theories and indeed some people think the same though I stopped looking because of spoilers.

He thinks Eren is from the future. Going back to the first episode with that weird name of To you after 2000 years which he thinks the story is being told from the future. You see some images flash real quick before Eren wakes up. You can see when
his mother gets picked up to be eaten by the Titan
among other things, like he is remembering these things. Then when he wakes up, he can't remember a thing. Now here's the interesting part. When he sees Mikasa he says "Are, Mikasa?" which translates to "Huh? Mikasa?" she then says a few things and he says "nande kokoni?" which was translated as "What am I doing here" but my friend says that's not what he's saying, he's pointing that remark towards Mikasa which translates to "why are you here?". Then he's crying and he doesn't know why. He didn't listen to her, he was just like Mikasa, why are you here? and with the tears and him not remembering anything, we come to the conclusion he's from the future. He was sent back, those flashes were his memories leaving him and he's in pure shock from seeing Mikasa. We assume the shock and tears are because she dies in the future and seeing her alive shocked him. Obviously that's his subconscious since he can't remember anything.

Sorry if it's confusing but I thought it's definitely possible and it's fun to speculate. :3 And sorry if someone already said this, I haven't read the whole thread. It might not make sense so please tell me why so we can speculate! :D
Click to expand...

Tacit subject in Japanese is one of the reasons I sometimes end up mistranslating stuff, and it could mean something like that. I don't remember the scene that well, but I don't think he said or did anything else that supports that theory. A 2000 year-span makes it very unlikely that Eren'd be alive by then, and if he did go 2000 years into the past, he should also be puzzled at his and Mikasa's younger looks, possibly spouting more lines about remembering people and places he hadn't seen for so long, or subconciously knowing about things that are going to happen (ie: not a dream sequence he never references again).

Eren's mom scolded him after she realized Mikasa had helped him collect firewood, so I'd say the most likely course of action would be that Eren went by himself to gather firewood, fell asleep, had those premonitory visions for some reason and woke up to find Mikasa next to him, helping him out. That'd make translating "Nande koko ni" to "Why are you here?" make sense. Still, this speculation is grounded within reality, so crazy plot shenanigans could throw it off pretty easily (and given Eren's premonitory visions, it's somewhat likely).

I'm also puzzled by the scene where his dad injects him the titan serum or whatever that was and gives him the key to their house's basement, since it made no sense for him to suddenly be with Mikasa and Armin one moment, then alone with his dad in a forest, and finally wake up next to Mikasa in some building, with the key hanging from his neck, and his only response to all that crazyness was look at the key for a little while and then putting it underneath his shirt.

I mean, Mikasa's character makes it possible that she could actually be helping Eren's dad out by carrying Eren to a different place after he's knocked out and pretend nothing happened. I think all it'd take would be stuff like "For his own good, he shouldn't know anything" for her to keep a secret from Eren, and her stoic personality makes it unlikely that she'll slip up or otherwise make it obvious that she's hiding something.
 
D

duckroll

Member
Both the new OP and the new ED have really nice animation and direction. The ED in particular matches the song and pace really well. Unfortunately, both OP and ED songs are fucking awful. The OP in particular is so bad that it was clearly impossible to "match" the visuals to the song in any creative way so it just looks really pretty on its own. What terrible musical selections, especially after the first OP/ED themes. :(

The OP is directed and storyboarded by Masashi Ishihama who directed From the New World. He's also the animation director for the OP. The ED is directed and storyboarded by Yuzuru Tachikawa who directed Death Billiards. He also directed episode 7 of Shingeki.
 
N

Nibel

Member
Where did you guys see the new OP? Ah, don't tell me, I'll watch the next episode and see it there

I don't know why they've changed the epic song tho
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Attack on Titan - Season 4 Part 3 Part 1 - ANIME ONLY Discussion Thread, no manga hints/impressions
30
3K
Edge Lord replied
Chainsaw Man |OT| True Best Friends Kick Devil Balls Together
2
84
9K
Doom85 replied
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury |OT| This witch rides a Gundam (Up: Season 2 now airing!)
|OT| 2 3 4
150
14K
The Sum of Zero replied
Lara Croft Crowned Most Iconic Video Games Character of All Time, According to BAFTA Poll
2 3 4 5
208
14K
ResurrectedContrarian replied
Spider-Man 2 Prequel Comic Spoilers
Spoilers
3
1K
LordCBH replied
Top Bottom