alright, some final thoughts on AoT and Bleach.
Attack on Titan - This show is directed by Tetsuro Araki. As the guy behind the anime versions of Death Note and Highschool of the Dead, his style is very....over-the-top. And it's over-the-top whether that's appropriate or not. The first half of Attack on Titan is rather rough because of this. It's a series that's grim and post-apocalyptic, but it's also hot-blooded shonen. The "grim and post-apocalyptic" part clashes with Araki's style, and this was first noticeable with the severed hand scene in the first episode. While it's very melodramatic on its own, it might be acceptable if the execution did not accentuate that a hundred times over, with speed lines everywhere and the actors screaming their lungs out to accompanying dramatic sound effects. He gets a bit of a better handle on it as the show moves along, but there are definitely frequent issues with the emotional reactions being incongruous with what actually happened. And as problematic as this is, Araki definitely gets the battle scenes right. The camera flies in and out like Sam Raimi directing the original Spider-Man movies, while all the big moments feel intense and satisfying as stuff like the Titan punches are accentuated for impact.
I believe there's a legitimately good story here; while I sympathize with the people who are unhappy that Titan Eren became a thing, it doesn't really bother me. I think the development of the plot is engaging, and quite a few of the plans are clever and fun to see executed. However, the show has definite issues with its characters. Eren feels borderline useless and obnoxious to the point where it seems kind of intentional, and he's incredibly one-note as he seems to run on seething rage and not much else. He's far and away the least interesting character in the show, with his only real redeeming quality being his pivotal role in the plot. I'd rather follow anyone else, but even then Armin and Jean are the only ones who feel particularly fleshed-out. Several of the others can be fun to watch, but they feel equally one-note. There simply needed to be more time spent developing the cast, especially when we''re expected to be impacted by the deaths of characters like Marco, who I literally did not even remember when the time came for him to kick the bucket. Again, the second half improves a bit; while Levi's squad doesn't have a ton of depth or anything, they feel more distinctive and developed than most of the people from that first bunch; outside of the main trio we only really get to know Jean and Potato Girl.
I'm not a fan of the dub, either, which is surprising. Mike McFarland is Funimation's big gun as far as ADR directors go, and J. Michael Tatum is one of their best scriptwriters since the guy worked on the dubs for Steins;Gate and Deadman Wonderland (Patrick Seitz worked on both of those as well and Tatum did AoT solo, so I have to wonder if there's a connection there.) The casting seems generally fine with one exception: Bryce Papenbrook. And Papenbrook isn't a bad actor. He did well in Sword Art Online and Blue Exorcist. But here he has to pull off Eren's rage, and his method for doing so is this incredibly forced growl. He almost sounds like he's trying to play a monster or an alien in another show, which seems like it'd be a conscious choice to play off the idea of Eren being able to transform into a Titan. It's also the wrong choice, because it sounds fucking ridiculous. Honestly, everyone else sounds fine more or less outside of a couple of Armin's line deliveries. Meanwhile, Tatum's script often feels verbose and overwritten to the point of parody. His flowery language works for Steins;Gate, and while it pops up elsewhere it's a little more restrained. My guess would be that he thought he could go overboard with it here because of the period setting.
Overall, it's a series where a lot of the things that bug me feel like they're anime-specific: the added melodrama, the bad pacing in the middle, the random pop songs. The plot interests me enough to not let the thin characters sink the whole thing, and normally I'd be tempted to read the manga if the art wasn't comically bad. Did it live up to the hype? Not even a little bit, but I think it's a decent series that deserves something like a 7/10.
Bleach - I've only watched about half of Bleach. And while I don't feel like I've missed much, I don't really feel comfortable talking about the series as a whole so I'll focus on the Fullbring arc. Long story short, it sucks. It feels simultaneously like an arc that the animation studio rushed because they wanted the series to be over with and an arc that Kubo rushed because either he got bored or it was falling in the popularity rankings. There's training, training, training, and then a rush to the finish line as the Soul Reapers show up to pretty much one-shot everyone and hand Ichigo his powers on a silver platter. The training would have been borderline acceptable if it felt like it built to something, but it doesn't really build to anything here. The fights that play out are quick and uninspired, while backstories are rushed and the final twist feels utterly pointless.
We've made a lot of jokes about Jojo's Bizarre Adventure while this arc was on, but the key difference with Jojo is that it does interesting things with its insane powers. When it has a training arc, that training arc is completely absurd. And this isn't Ichigo's Bizarre Adventure, it's Ichigo's Mildly Strange Adventure. There's so much ridiculous stuff that can be pulled with powers as off-the-wall as these, but Kubo fails to capitalize on any of it and the new characters feel boring as a result. Furthermore, this could be a filler arc for all the implications it seems like it has for the overall plot. Ginjo dies, Tsukishima walks away "redeemed", and Ichigo's just a Soul Reaper again. What a waste of time.
