I'm changing the format I've been doing these posts in a little. For one, I'm dispensing with episode summaries. They were really just extra work - tweaking them often ended up being an excuse to not work on my actual thoughts - and presumably anyone reading these has already seen the episode in question and is just, for whatever reason, interested in my observations, so I'll just stick to saying whatever I thought about whichever episodes I'm covering. I also won't be following any strict structure as to how many episodes I'll watch at a time or make each post include each show - if one episode happens to particularly inspire me I'll just do a post on that and catch up on the rest sometime later.
But that's enough rambling, on to the actual anime:
Attack on Titan [eps.
1-3]
How do you deal with a fifty-meter wall keeping you away
from the all-you-can eat buffet? Simple, bring in something bigger than the
wall to knock a hole in it!
What I find interesting is the way humanity is interpreting
the Titans. The priest near the beginning of episode 1 preaches about the walls
being a gift from God that protects them. But the situation seems like it would
lend itself to the Titans being interpreted as a punishment from God, given how hopeless the situation is. Granted,
since they somehow managed to build three separate walls of a circumference and
thickness that makes the Great Wall of China look like a backyard fence,
despite what’s implied so far to have been a sudden and unexpected appearance
by the Titans they had no defense against, probably it makes sense they’d call
it a miracle. I’d question how they managed to build the walls when it’s also
shown large scouting parties have trouble killing even a single Titan. But, I
have nowhere to go with that line of thought. It’s also early yet, so there
could still be an explanation, and even if there isn’t the show isn’t about how
they built those walls but how humanity faces seemingly impossible odds, so I’m
willing to suspend my disbelief and not dwell on it.
Of course, it’s also possible that the idea of the Titans as
a punishment might start gaining traction now that they’ve breached the outer
walls. That’s part of the thematic reason behind the walls. They thought they
were safe. Even the guards at one of the outermost gates, less than a hundred
feet away from man-eating giants, were drunk on duty. Suffice to say, everyone got a rude awakening by the end
of that day. It’s exactly what Eren was talking about: you can’t hide forever. The
walls gave a false sense of security and made humanity complacent. They
couldn’t make any gains outside it, but they assumed they’d still be safe as
long as they just stayed inside. Nope.
But yeah, I’m liking what I’ve seen so far. Not much
attacking on the titular Titans yet, but that’s bound to come soon. It’s still
capturing my interest thanks to the themes it looks like it’s going to explore
and because of the hints that there’s more going on than anyone (or almost anyone - *looks at Eren’s father*)
realizes. Not because of that;
hardly. Of course there’s something
potentially even more sinister happening behind the scenes. That’s central to
the plot of so many fantasy series it’s easier to name ones where it isn’t. That doesn’t mean I have a problem
with it – I’d have to all but empty my bookshelf if I did – because I don’t and
I’m curious to find out what it is. And how it’ll connect to whatever’s in the
basement of Eren’s house, and that injection his father gave him. Since the
Colossal Titan appeared following a flash of lightning – in other words, came
from the sky, as a bystander pointed out, it either is a case of divine punishment (that’s what made me think of that
idea), or they’re part of an alien invasion. Whether they’re the aliens themselves
or some sort of weird biological weapons will remain to be seen, assuming that’s
true.
Also, the opening theme is awesome.
Just sayin’.
Gargantia on the
Verdurous Planet [eps. 1-3]
The battle at the beginning of episode wasn’t very
interesting, probably owing to the fact we know nothing about any of the human
characters – all two of them unless you count the ones who have voices but are
never seen – or the conflict they’re fighting other than that it’s, presumably,
a typical Bug War. Good thing the war with the Hideauze clearly isn’t the focus
of the series. At least, it isn’t right now. Because this is so far a ‘protagonist
involved in something epic is forced into down-to-earth* circumstances and learns
to appreciate a simpler life’ story. And then he gains something truly worth
fighting for once the enemy catches up with him. Because if he can end up on Waterworld** because technobabble, so can the Hideauze.
Meanwhile, Chamber mentions that Ledo has accumulated
145,000 hours of combat, which works out to about 16 years. And since he looks like
he’s in his teens…He was grown in a test tube, wasn’t he? Also, Amy’s reaction
to finding out Chamber is an A.I. was kind of odd. Not the ‘that’s so cool!’ part, because that makes sense.
But even if an intelligent talking machine is such a novel and mind-blowing
concept, doing a happy dance still feels like a strange response.
*pun not intended
** crosses that off his ‘Obligatory Reference’ list
Flowers of Evil [eps.
1-3]
Not that it’s particularly insightful to say so, but man
this shit is messed up! I don’t foresee this ending well, and it’ll probably
involve somebody’s death. Or maybe not, because it looks like the manga is
still ongoing, but somebody finally snapping and killing someone else still
feels like the most likely outcome.
As wrong as it feels to say, though, Kasuga’s actions – or
rather, his lack of action – are kinda understandable. Not OK or excusable, no
way in hell, and it’s not like he hasn’t had several opportunities to man up
and admit what he’s done. But c’mon, would you
be willing to come forward if you did something that deviant and basically
guaranteed to turn you into a social pariah, especially at his age, when the acceptance
of one’s peers tends to be of paramount importance to one’s sense of
self-worth, and in what seems to be a small town with few, if any, ways to
distance yourself from your current friends and classmates. Honestly, I’d feel pretty
screwed too if I was in his position. On the other hand, there’s spots where
he’s less sympathetic and comes off as a hypocrite. He insists in episode 3
that his feelings for Saeki are “pure” and goes around with the attitude that
he’s better than everyone else, insisting his actions don’t actually mean what
they say about him, even though he’s so far proven to be worse than any of his friends. After all, he’s the one who went and
picked up her gym uniform right after criticizing a friend for making a lewd
comment about her. Yes, he’s a teenager still trying to sort out his feelings
on sexuality and being attracted to someone, and yeah, the actual theft wasn’t
malicious or planned, just something stupid he did without thinking in a moment
of panic. But nobody made him pick up Saeki’s uniform in the first place – that
was all him.
Then there’s Nakamura. So far she’s done some rotten things,
and acted in a way that makes it look to her peers like she just has a bad
attitude, but I have a suspicion that she’ll end up more sympathetic. We don’t
know her reasons yet, though it’s been implied she has a bad home life, but
there’s the sense that she’s lonely and perhaps feels stifled by living in a
small town. When she first confronts Kasuga she asks him to take her away
beyond the mountains. In the midst of blackmailing him, her main condition is
that he hang out with her; even her insistence that he write an essay about his
feelings, or at least tell her verbally, feels like an attempt to find a
kindred spirit after she confides to him how angry and depressed she feels. At
its core, her actions seem to say that all she really wants is for someone to
be her friend. Probably there’s going to be stuff that’ll lead to ‘can you
really blame her?’ as far as how she feels, but that’s not a licence to
blackmail someone. Or assault, strip, and force them to wear the uniform they
stole. I’m not trying to criticize Kasuaga and defend her; she calls him a
coward and a scumbag, which isn’t untrue, but she’s no better. It’s just that
both of their actions are easy to condemn, and should be condemned, but it’s
not so simple when you really ask yourself if you’d do better in their
positions.
It’s not like they’re in good company, either, especially
where Nakamura’s concerned. That’s real classy, Class 2-1, assuming she’s the
one who took that girl’s lunch money on no better basis than ‘we don’t like
her’ and one claim that someone saw her go back to the classroom, since that
could mean anything. Maybe she forgot something. Part of me wants to say ‘at
least Kasuga did the right thing for once, going against the tide to defend
her,’ but I’ve got doubts as to whether he would’ve if she wasn’t blackmailing
him and he knew she was innocent.
And yes, I’ll talk a little about the animation as well.
It’d be notable regardless, but the controversy surrounding it more or less
makes it mandatory. Sure, the rotoscoping looks weird at times, with things like
eyes and mouths popping onto characters’ faces as they get closer to the
camera, or faces left blank on characters close enough you’d expect some
detail. It has trouble with moving mouths, too; either characters’ faces are
avoided when they talk, or it looks jerky and unconvincing. It also makes it
hard to tell who’s talking sometimes, but at this point that could just be
unfamiliarity with the characters. The lack of detail also really stands out
when set against the backgrounds, which are highly detailed and look great.
It’s unconventional, sure, but in my opinion that’s exactly what makes it
interesting. Heck, personally I’m in the camp of those who probably wouldn’t
have checked it out at all if I hadn’t heard about the controversy surrounding
the animation, so that’s points in its favor as far as I’m concerned.
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