International Media

Anime: Attack on Titan Review
(Spoilers for Season One)

(You Won't Care)

I'm going to try and be fair to anime (namely because my brother likes anime and got mad at me for talking smack about him liking Supernatural and left a mean comment...Jerk) That being said, I don't like anime. It's just not for me! I watched Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z as a kid and also a bit of One Piece. I liked those anime because they were not too serious most of the time, not SUPER over the top when it didn't need to be, and also had characters I actually enjoyed. 

When I came home from college last summer, my brother wanted to show me the television show Attack on Titan. I told him that I didn't want to watch it because I don't like anime. To be fair, I had my brother watch The Leftovers when I came back for Christmas break, and it took him a little bit of time to get into it (but, by god, he DID get into it.) I told my brother that I didn't like many anime today because they are too serious, needlessly violent, and they yell a lot. He just looked at me and said:

JACOB: But Justice! This one is really good! 

He would deny it if I said this, but I definitely didn't try to hate it when I started it. I tried to have the openedest of open minds, and guess what? I hated it. OHHHHH Did I hate it so! It was literally everything I hated about anime!

Right off the bat, there is a little brat named Eren. He is a little kid who hates these things called Titans (think of the zombies from The Walking Dead, but really big and naked. But don't worry, they don't have genitals.) At first I thought he was only whiny because he was a kid, so I allowed it, but there is a time jump in the show and hes whiny in his late teens as well.

The supporting cast is better than the main character. There is a Mikasa, who is a friend of Eren and also has a mysterious past (until later in the season.) She's pretty much better than Eren in every way, shape, and form. I would much rather her be the lead of the show. Another character is Armin, Eren's best friend. He starts out a little bit of a coward in the beginning of the show, but, unlike Eren's character, it's not forced down your throat. Armin is the only real logical character in the series because he isn't a coward for coward's sake. He's always right! I would be scared of the Titans! I would be paralyzed by fear! There are more supporting characters, but these two are my favorites. 

Essentially, Eren and his friends join the military or police or whatever. This police force is meant to fight any and all Titans that come a knocking at their pre-Trump border walls, and it's been Eren's dream to join the force since he was a kid. (Which is only fueled more when a Titan eats his mother. I said spoilers.)

So, around episode five, the best thing happened. Essentially, it's the police cadets' first time defending against a Titan attack and they all sort of get their ass beat. Eren is mediocre at the job, Mikasa is surprisingly really good at it, and Armin is just sort of there because he is scared af. So scared in fact that, when a Titan goes up to Armin to kill him, he is paralyzed by fear and Eren comes in to save the day only to get chomped down by a Santa Claus looking mofo. Did you read that right? Eren DIES! I was mad that he died at the time only because I figured he'd stay dead and this show wasted my time trying to make me care about such an a**hole character that wasn't even going to be in the rest of the show, but the show got better with his absence! My favorite episodes are 5-8 because he isn't even there(or so you're led to believe.) He DOES come back and, even though what he turns out to be is an interesting turn for the story, the show was better balanced without his over the top whiny-ness.

To clarify: He "dies" and then magically, out of nowhere, this one Titan helps out the police force and starts fighting all the other Titans in a King Kong v.s Godzilla/Power Rangers sort of way. I liked this "Rogue Titan" because he looked sick as hell and also was a good sort of weapon the police force could use. I was getting into the show! It was great because the one character I hated was gone, the police force had a fighting chance, and the show was better balanced with it's characters. I actually CARED.

That is until the end of episode 8 when it turns out that Eren was the Rogue Titan. This made me mad. Around this time, Armin sort of starts manning up a bit. He still can't fight, but he is a great battle strategist. Mikasa was mad about Eren's death so she was killing Titans left and right. The show was just better! You understood the motivations, you could lock in with the characters. BUT THEN HE HAD TO COME BACK!? Him ending up becoming the very thing he hated and then using it to his advantage was a good thing to make me care about him a little bit, but I really didn't want him to come back. Granted, after "dying" and getting his teeth kicked in, he started to shut the eff up. He stopped screaming so much.

Speaking of screaming, I hate it in this show. There was one FULL EPISODE full of nothing but debate and screaming. The whole time it's Armin telling the rest of the police force that Eren isn't going to betray them and that he can be used to their advantage. This would have made a decent court scene or even just a talk in a room. But no, it is in some town square and the Commander and Armin are yelling at each other from like 100 feet away and they just have a 25 minute debate the whole time. That episode felt like a waste of my life force. 

I'm writing this review around the time that season 2 will come out. My brother will probably watch it (and want me to watch it with him.) I don't want to see it because I hate it, but, if my brother does have me watch it, hopefully it will get better. In the meantime, watch The Leftovers. Final season premieres Easter Sunday on HBO.