Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress
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Animechic420
 Posts: 1730 Location: A Cave Filled With Riches |
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You are exactly right! Eren was an angry, out for revenge jackass who had one thing on his mind: KILL TITANS. His personality does get better once he starts realizing he's not the only person fighting against the titans, that he's not alone anymore. But, yeah. So far, Ikoma's got it going on!  Can't wait to see what this series has in store for us.
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chito895
 Posts: 512 Location: Lima, Peru |
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I wasn't a fan of this exact scene. I know they tried to portrait Ikoma as the badass hero who won't fall even if he has 100 zombies on him, and they were achieving that, he's a nerd badass just like I'd like to be. But then his monologue felt like a childish rant at a society that doesn't acknowledge him as their hero. I'd love him to feel confused about why people fear him, why they don't accept him, which would better justify his reasons to cry after he saved them, not just spout words of hate, then saying he'll be laughing in the afterlife. It just feels utterly childish and stupid. Other than that, I'm really enjoying the show so far. Animation is beautiful, and although it sometimes feels weird, those ultradetailed close-ups look really great. Mumei really is a great female lead. Ikoma and Mumei seem to have lots more personality than Eren (who I can't stand a bit) and Mikasa (who is badass, just like Mumei, but in 26 episodes she didn't seem to grow as a character). Hopefully we'll have time to explore the lives of our two main leads. |
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Valhern
 Posts: 916 |
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You mean feudal lords and some kings being obsseded with bathing, I doubt that any low, common farmer or most of a ship crew would have the chance to go and bathe more than once a month, unless they're close to rivers. And that was if they had enough time for it, I suppose you've read Ginzburg's "Cheese and the Worms" with Domenico's story, or Eileen Power's Bodo, those clearly show that there was almost never enough time to take a bath for the common people. I've studied Feudal Times (I don't call it Medieval because that's exactly calling it something between Ancient and Modern, a 'dark time'). The ancien regime was obsessed with overall appearence, taking baths would just be a part of it, and I doubt they ever realised that the problem was overall hygiene in castles, towers, houses, ships, since taking a bath wouldn't stop a rat from coming to your house and infecting you, I said that the Jews took bath as an oversimplification, but that'd be the gist of it. The Jews were mostly an isolated group, social and space-wise, and it's very likely that them being deep-rooted traditionals, they kept most of their hygiene practices within their own communities, and certainly would never think that God is cursing them since their relationship with Yahve works differently, but we're taking quite the big detour, probably I chose an unclear example. |
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jroa
Posts: 537 |
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Childish, definitely. You need to be rather immature in order to come up with such a rant in the first place. Stupid, not so much. They weren't just not acknowledging him as a hero, which would already feel bad enough from the perspective of a teenager, but also throwing away their only chance to save themselves and surrendering to a fear of the unknown. In other words, it was an extension of the same kind of knee-jerk reactions and irrational behavior that Ikoma had found so disgusting during the first episode. That was going to bother him a lot. I do admit it's often easier for the audience to embrace those heroes who don't lash out or hold a grudge against those who reject them, because that's the ideal role model we should all follow. We should learn to turn the other cheek, so to speak. But I think that ideal is, oddly, kind of an unrealistic expectation. Especially when the hero in question is not supposed to be a mature and experienced adult. Children, including but not limited to teenagers, are far more likely to have corny and cheesy emotional outbursts full of rage or other basic emotions fueled by ostensibly petty reasons, only to later calm down and either cry or at least grudgingly acknowledge their previous behavior wasn't too great. Even fully grown adults can go through similar patterns from time to time. I wouldn't consider any of this to be praiseworthy, in isolation, but I think it's valid for a character to reflect some of that internal ugliness. |
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Hameyadea
 Posts: 3679 |
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I like Kaji Yūki's voice -- at times, he can deliver a quite believable dramatic performance. But I found myself thanking the production staff and casting directors that he *wasn't* the lead in this one. Hatanaka Tasuku's a good fit for the lead, and I think he has the right amounts of battle-worthy, intelligence, and down-to-earth-ness to make him a likable character. Whether or not the script writers will manage to juggle those characteristics and maintain the balance throughout the show's run (which is currently speculated to be 12 episodes), is a different question, though.
And a mandatory praise about the visuals. |
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Pipoko
Posts: 165 |
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What I love about Eren is that he's delibrately written as single-minded and childish. His typical shounen protagonist traits are just as much flaws as they are positives. I don't think you see an honest portrayal of childishness like that very often and that makes later development with him pretty satisfying. Ikoma's a little more "mature" in that aspect, I guess? He's not stuck in a black and white worldview like Eren, but he sure wishes for some acknowledgement and to be a hero - constantly rushing to defeat Kabane recklessly and wishing to basically leave a mark behind. It could lend for an interesting potential character arc. Also, make his recklessness a "real" flaw, akin to Eren's. |
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Shirohae
 Posts: 776 |
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Gawd these stupid haters need to gtfo. Ya'll can never enjoy anything. This is way better than AoT...Im loving the ED song so much..This is the best show this season!
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Merengues.Pop
Posts: 22 |
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I honestly think that the show looks great and overall is a good production, but as a long time fan of sci-fi and anime/manga, it kinda feels unnecessary and recycled.
We don't need a revenge-of-the-nerds kinda show; we already had Steins;Gate which threw at us not one, but five different kinds of nerds and a nice story about time travel, not just throwing time travel at it like americans do with ketchup. We also had Oregairu for those who're also social rejects, Madoka for unlikely saviours, Elfen Lied for weird female assasins and sorry-not-sorry to say so, but we also had Attack on Titan already. I just can't watch the show without thinking "That's so Snowpiercer" or "I already saw that on Metro 2033", or "The MC is like a lame Hikigaya," and "Viral infections don't work like that you imbecile"... This is not like Expendables 2 which was overall lousy, and stupid but mixed the ingredients into a fun ode to action movies from the 90's; Kabaneri as I pointed earlier, just feels unnecessary. If I was a complete virgin to sci-fi or anime, I would likely be amazed just like the first time I saw Robocop or Dragon Ball back in my childhood, but now it's just a pretty show with a meh story unless it comes with a completely original ingredient for the post-apocalyptic-military-dystopia formula |
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Paul D. Atreides
 Posts: 128 |
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This has become my top priority watch of the season. The second episode mad me so excited it had me yelling at me screen. Ikoma is a great protagonist and all, but Mumei is freaking awesome so I'm calling her best girl (of this season at least).
I wish I could see it all right now as opposed to wait for every new episode each week, I might just buy it when it comes out on blu-ray. That being said, it does make me worried that Ichiro Okouchi is handling the writing on this one. It's not that I hate him, but he's not exactly known for his quality writing. I just have this feeling of dread that at some point the whole thing will fall off a cliff and Araki won't see it, unless the failures of his past shows weren't in his control since they were adaptive works, Guilty Crown was Okouchi's idea after all. Hopefully he'll hold the reins steady enough. Now, people have drawn comparisons to this and Attack on Titan as well as other works in Araki's resumé. But am I the only one picking up a Gundam/Macross vibe here? Judging by the second episode it looks like the story is going in a similar direction: the main characters are fighting to defend a traveling vessel housing civilians, only this time it's a giant train as opposed to a spaceship. Araki is a Gundam fan, and since this show is his brainchild I wouldn't put it above him to include that influence. Any thoughts? |
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xyz
Posts: 243 |
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Ep 1 caught by surprise and I was impressed with the pretty look but after ep 2, that feeling is gone and I'm already bored with how they tried so hard to be baddass. I like it as much as I liked AoT which is not too much. I followed AoT for Levi but for this I think the Samurai and Hime ship will keep me for a bit. I know I'm supposed to be awestruck with the main badass two boy and girl and all but for some reasons, I much prefer seeing the other characters doing something instead.
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Jayhosh
 Posts: 972 Location: Millmont, Pennsylvania |
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I'm quite enjoying this show so far. It's pretty good. And not just by anime's lowered standards, just in a general quality sense.
Although I really hate that anime cliche where character's are constantly pointing out plain [expletive] obvious shit that we already knew long before they felt the need to play the exposition game, and that no people in real life would ever actually talk to themselves like that. But hey, that's how most anime are now that I'm really thinking about it. I guess it's just a necessary evil. Along with those token "weird anime grunts." "Ueh??" You guys know what I'm talking about.  Alright, I'm done rambling now.
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kevinx59
 Posts: 959 Location: In sunny California |
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I'm loving this series so far. The art is gorgeous and the action scenes have that cinematic punch. Gives me the same rush i get watching Araki's Highschool of the Dead which, having never watched AOT (shocking, I know) is my closest equivalent. The characters are a bit too over the top with all their yelling and rage, but ehh, at least its entertaining. Ikoma's episode 2 speech did give me a chuckle with how "edgy" it sounded. I hope someone releases this on home video and if they do, I pray for a miracle that it won't be Aniplex. noitamina stuff goes either way, so hopefully I luck out with this.
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P(mv)rick
Posts: 9 |
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You're missing the point of the scene. There's no reason for him to be confused because he's definitely more than aware of why he's feared. He already knows that he's infected and won't be accepted if he ever got back on the train. So he stays put, but not without his pride of having the moral superiority by saving the people who shunned him and left him to die. He's not ranting against not being acknowledged as a hero, because he did what he did to spite them for what they did to him. Those are all reasons enough to him being driven to tears, because he's not a stoical character. He doesn't try to catch the rope his friend was offering him because he knows he'll just either be captured or killed, which was the original intent of why he was shot and fell off the train in the first place. What would've been the more 'childish and stupid' reaction is if he had a positive outlook, thinking that he'll be looked at differently after he saves them. Your argument is not without merit, but don't pretend as if his behaviour and thought process wasn't justified by the situation. |
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chito895
Posts: 512 Location: Lima, Peru |
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^ I get your point. It's a scene that would've worked better for me if there wasn't dialogue at all, only him walking, beating kabane, saving the train while people looking at him in awe and terrified by the situation, but still taking advantage of the situation and going away. His tears would've had more effect on me if hadn't said such lines a minute before, who felt really weird to me.
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Hameyadea
Posts: 3679 |
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I liked that bit; I viewed it as a sort of self-motivation so he won't just lay on the ground, doing nothing. |
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