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This Week in Anime - Is Attack on Titan Ramping Up or Just Going Off the Rails?


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Eddy564



Joined: 14 Sep 2008
Posts: 340
PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 12:07 pm Reply with quote
As a manga reader I’m inclined to say that sh*t does indeed go off the rails in the best way possible. It’s going to be great.

Anime only watchers will just have to get through a lot of upcoming padding and exposition. But they managed to adapt the Uprising arc much better than I ever thought they would.
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Animeking1108



Joined: 26 Apr 2011
Posts: 1244
PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 12:19 pm Reply with quote
If people think the show is going off the rails now, wait until Isayama goes full-Axis Powers Apologist.
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Engineering Nerd



Joined: 24 Apr 2008
Posts: 897
Location: Southern California
PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 12:24 pm Reply with quote
I respectfully disagree about Keith’s assessment, not only it adds new perspective to the season 1 story, it also heavily foreshadows the future events, by the end of this season (ep 24), I suggest to give ep 11 a rewatch, you might find Keith’s story is much much complicated than it seems and some questionable elements actually make sense. Cool
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Mhora





PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 12:36 pm Reply with quote
It does become a totally different show at some point. When most shit is revealed after the basement. Can't say I enjoyed it as a manga reader. I'm so looking forward to all the reactions from anime watcers. Xp
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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4410
PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 12:43 pm Reply with quote
I'm not normally one to jump on a show for having same faces, but that shot from the bar really does look like someone drew a waitress and then shopped Eren's face onto her. I know relatives will have strong resemblances, but I can't unsee that.
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Hansond Jaysond Lee



Joined: 08 Nov 2015
Posts: 57
PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 12:44 pm Reply with quote
Who talks like this?
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Sheriru



Joined: 27 May 2016
Posts: 120
PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 12:44 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Attack on Titan's third season took plenty of risks...

The third season doesnt take risks or anything if its just an manga adaption. I rly cant stand this look at a story because its an anime, if the story is set in stone by the manga. I cant rly express what i mean by that tho.
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MarshalBanana



Joined: 31 Aug 2014
Posts: 5294
PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 12:57 pm Reply with quote
I was talking about the recent season to a friend of mine who only reads the Manga, and he said this current arc we just had was the worst one, and it improves after this. Honestly I thought it was a good arc.
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Eddy564



Joined: 14 Sep 2008
Posts: 340
PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 2:04 pm Reply with quote
MarshalBanana wrote:
I was talking about the recent season to a friend of mine who only reads the Manga, and he said this current arc we just had was the worst one, and it improves after this. Honestly I thought it was a good arc.


Well the monthly serialization of the manga made the uprising arc stall the pace of the entire series considerably, hence why your manga-only friend said that. It’s done much more justice in the manga.
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Zin5ki



Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 6680
Location: London, UK
PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 2:05 pm Reply with quote
Congratulations on the hire! News of Andy's new deployment was deftly kept under wraps.
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Ethe





PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 2:06 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Why is it here. Why did they build it. Why did the animators draw it. Why


When will the kinkshaming stop.

Quote:
she forgot about this sister until she touched Eren, which somehow has never happened throughout all their time together?


To be fair, did they spend that much time together before getting kidnapped? Eren and Historia may have known each other since their training days, but they only started interacting at the beginning of S3, and by episode 2 they were already captured.

Quote:
the populace is finally free from living under a monarchy that controlled them based on divine right, and then Levi, the grand beacon of understanding, figures the best solution is just to give the people the girl with the correct bloodline.


I think it's important to remember this line and what it implies. (Most of) the members of the military may want what's best for the people, but they are also doing what's best for them, and the story is aware of that.

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It's a fine attempt but I'm sorry, you're never gonna make Levi an interesting character.


I've always wondered how big of a role Levi was originally going to play in this arc. After Isayama saw just how popular the character turned out to be among the fandom, I find it hard to believe that he didn't give him more time in the spotlight and create Kenny just to please fans.

Anyway, Levi is a boring character, but he gets better later on imo.

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Keith just comes off as an asshole because of one bar conversation he had in his early 20's.


Most people inside the walls had always considered the Survey Corps to be both a waste of taxes and a bunch of suicidal maniacs who accomplished nothing but failure. For someone like Keith to receive praise by someone, or rather, anyone, must have left a big impact on him, so it doesn't surprise me that he ended the way he did.

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It not only makes Keith a far less interesting character,


Was he more interesting before? He was certainly fun, but interesting?

Quote:
I'm sorry but the Snape allegory is just too much, to the point that we get retcons of him sabotaging Eren's gear to keep him out of the military


I know next to nothing about Harry Potter, but wasn't Snape an asshole to Harry because he used to have a crush on his mother, who married another man? I can see why some people draw parallels between Snape and Keith, but Keith was never really an asshole to Eren. He wanted to get him kicked out of the military so he wouldn't die outside the walls, thus respecting and fulfilling Carla's wish for her son.


Quote:
I add Levi and Mikasa to this because of the revelation this arc that they too are from a special clan, so the message of being special because of what you do not what you are is forever falling into the problem that they are only able to do anything because they are indeed special.


Fair enough. The whole Ackerman reveal adds nothing to the story and ultimately undermines its message.


Last edited by Ethe on Thu Oct 11, 2018 2:32 pm; edited 1 time in total
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jdnation



Joined: 15 May 2007
Posts: 1994
PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 2:30 pm Reply with quote
Some people always tend to be stupidly hyperbolic in terms of criticism where something is either "SO AWESOME!" or "SHIT SUCKS!"

As someone who both reads the manga and watches the anime. I felt the arc was fine.

I suppose the disappointment people feel with where Attack on Titan is going is because it takes a left turn from what seemed like a typical shonen adventure show where expectations were that Eren and Friends would explore a larger more magical world, but as it turns out, there will be a lot closer to the real world set in a land of man-eating giants.

Also I don't get the criticisms on the coup and the decision of maintenance of a military and monarchy structure. What exactly is the problem and how is it at all a step back?

Because the people didn't start begging for democracy and start waving American Flags???

And even if corruption was shown to be prevalent, why exactly would the people suddenly flip on a dime and change the hierarchial political order? Are the critics suggesting that if corruption someday (bwahaha) manifested in Washington DC, that suddenly the American people would say "To Hell with Democracy!" and start calling for Communism in order to Progress?

Especially considering that the kingdom within those walls is the only thing they've ever known and believing themselves to be the last of humanity, and keeping in mind the fact that they are pretty much in a state of constant warfare and defence against man-eating giants, in what magical world would they suddenly decide, "You know what? We don't need these military guys in charge, or even a King, we need to start voting and dividing ourselves into left and right parties and then proceed to attack and kill each other within our own walls whenever someone we don't like becomes President or Supreme Court Judge. Because that's precisely what we need! More division amongst the masses! Rather than contained to just some portion of the upper classes, or the above-ground middle class/underground poor which is already bad enough."

Sounds like a good plan from Nick and Andy... What is the alternative to making Historia Queen and having a section of the military that actually gives a damn about keeping humanity safe versus the parts that just want to selfishly self-preserve themselves? Although (future manga spoiler) spoiler[they themselves might know already that the whole being the last of humanity thing is a ruse.] At theend of the day it's all about maintaining order. Something the military does well particularly by its hierarchial chain of command. Especially when there's Giant-Ass Titans barrelling down towards your city block! I think the people would be concerned and rightly desiring safety, over the illusion of paper ballots. The people needed a face to associate with leadership, and Historia was the best bet, and someone who'd been on the front lines putting up with the hard shit and therefore was the best merge of being from both royal bloodline-born / military-trained / & commoner-raised. What was not to like?

As for the whole critique about Attack on Titan being unable to decide on whether people are 'special' or not being of significance, I think Nick and Andy missed the point gloriously. Attack on Titan isn't spoon feeding you to give you a moral message that there are no special people or that being special doesn't matter. It is merely contrasting views of various people that is the same as in reality.

- There are special people with talents.
- There are special people privileged by bloodline.
- There are not-special people envious of all the special people.
- There are not-special people who are happy enough as they are.

As Eren has come to understand, any chump could've been made into a Titan. He's personally not destined for something. However, just because you may not be remarkable as some 'chosen one' or some shit, doesn't mean you don't have a role to play or aren't special to the people around you or that your life has no significance.

Attack on Titan isn't telling you the correct way about how to feel over the way things are. It is merely offering a variety of contrasting views and commentary on something that is very true to life. If you want to think Eren's mom's words make no sense, then that's fine, because Eren's mom doesn't give a damn if Eren's not 'special' or won't grow up to be Captain America. She loves him.

This is where Keith's story comes in. He tried very hard to be remarkable, but failed miserably. Realizing he wasn't talented enough, or just bent out of shape that things didn't happen to work out for him, he stepped aside and simply wallowed away in a smaller position. Although maybe he found contentment there, and made it his personal job to weed out the special from the un-special through the cadet corps. That's part of life too.

That he'd snap at Eren's mom is also a perfectly human reaction. These are real people with real emotions and real problems. And Keith was at his lowest point. All of this works perfectly fine in the story and thematic points. None of these people are perfect. Including the 'special.' They can screw up and be not-so-nice-people too.


Ethe wrote:
The whole Ackerman reveal adds nothing to the story and ultimately undermines its message.


Well, actually as the manga goes along, it does become very relevant, but for the time being it's just a detail here that won't go anywhere this season.


Last edited by jdnation on Thu Oct 11, 2018 2:34 pm; edited 1 time in total
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JacobC
ANN Contributor


Joined: 15 Jan 2008
Posts: 3728
Location: SoCal
PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 2:31 pm Reply with quote
Hansond Jaysond Lee wrote:
Who talks like this?


This column is created live without any rehearsal and minimal editing, so those two are literally talking like that, and you're getting a real transcript. I mean, they are "performing" to some extent, but it's all unscripted.
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getumbuck



Joined: 15 Feb 2008
Posts: 197
PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 3:01 pm Reply with quote
I love the part where he mentions about "wanting to know what's in the basement". Part of me just feels like screaming "just read the f#$king manga", that mystery got solved ages ago.

I know it's not for everyone, but part of me really does feel not enough people read any more.
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Ethe





PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 3:08 pm Reply with quote
jdnation wrote:

Ethe wrote:
The whole Ackerman reveal adds nothing to the story and ultimately undermines its message.


Well, actually as the manga goes along, it does become very relevant, but for the time being it's just a detail here that won't go anywhere this season.


I am up to date with the manga and I still don't see how it becomes relevant. You could take that detail about spoiler[the Ackermans being a byproduct of titan science] out of the story and nothing would really change. That said, I do hope Isayama manages to tie it in to the plot or themes of the story later down the line.

Also, I totally agree with you on this:

Quote:
Attack on Titan isn't spoon feeding you to give you a moral message that there are no special people or that being special doesn't matter. It is merely contrasting views of various people that is the same as in reality.

Attack on Titan isn't telling you the correct way about how to feel over the way things are. It is merely offering a variety of contrasting views and commentary on something that is very true to life. If you want to think Eren's mom's words make no sense, then that's fine, because Eren's mom doesn't give a damn if Eren's not 'special' or won't grow up to be Captain America. She loves him.
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