A Mine-Field of Violence and Fluidity

I think it’s fair to say that you don’t normally see anime get the acclaims that it normally doesn’t get but should do. Obviously in terms of the filming world, the films that Hayao Miyazaki has constructed for Studio Ghibli is the main example of how anime in the film industry has gone above and beyond in it’s expectancy of appealing to all audiences around the world. Despite this however, you never ever really hear about Japanese Animated T.V shows take the spotlight which makes everyone start talking seriously about it which is disappointing to see. However, one title, which rightfully got it’s recognition, with’s it’s narrative and thematic ideas that were executed through an animated style that very much goes back to it’s routes in the Manga art direction, is the mad but thrilling entertainment of Attack on Titan. Not only does the actual concept of the story sound immensely crazy but exciting at the same time, it certainly delivers it’s expectations of being a truly gory and tense animated feature that will leave you wanting more and will gravitate you to attach to the characters and the events that occur.

Set in a alternate fantasy world, Attack on Titan is depicted around the fact that mankind as we know it, is driven to the brink of extinction by mindless, man-eating Goliath’s known simply as Titans. In a bid for defence, all of humanity have retreated to a civilisation contained within three concentric 50-meter walls which are known as Maria, Rose ans Sina. In the year of 845, after nearly a century of relative peace within the walls, a 60-meter “Colossal” Titan materialises and destroys the outermost gate; ushering in hoards of smaller Titans. Witnessing the horrific Titan brutality first-hand, a young and tenacious Eren Jaeger vows to rid the world of all Titans and win back the freedom that mankind has been gasping for. On his journey for vengeance, Eren is joined by his adoptive sister Mikasa Ackerman and their friend Armin Arlert as they set out to fulfil their shared dream… 

Now to start with an important issue, whenever you are watching any type of anime show, there can sometimes be a tendency when anime series tend to fall flat on their own face when it comes to the progression of the story in the middle part of the season. While a large portion of anime shows tend to start off on a good note introducing the story concept and the characters, it has to be said that one of the biggest criticisms of anime in general is the middle part of the story/series in which you may see story-lines that are unnecessary to the main plot line and awkward narrative complications that make the outcome of that particular show seem really degrading and unsatisfying to watch. However with the anime series ofAttack on Titan, this is fortunately not the case due to smart writing throughout the 25 episodes in-hand. What writer Yasuko Kobayashi and the other literates go about doing, is that they cleverly stretch each independent story arc within the series to roughly around 6 episodes apart from one another creating ample opportunities to introduce/develop the vast array of characters and go into depth of the world and law of Attack on Titan which isn’t something you see that often in anime and with doing that as well, pays good homage to it’s older Manga sister. Now normally if this ‘mechanic’ of storytelling was placed in your ordinary T.V series, then rightfully so I don’t think it would work due to the fact that most T.V shows these days don’t adopt much longevity into one-single season. Granted, there are some issues in Attack on Titan when this way of story-telling can backfire when there instances when we see a certain character produce an inner-monologue which drags on for it’s own fruition. Despite this though, Attack on Titan is a premise that is swimming with narrative opportunities similar to Game of Thrones. While a certain character or story-line ends, there’s always room for more depth and perspectives. Another note that Attack on Titan weirdly links with Game of Thrones is the emotional roller-coaster effect that it has on you in terms of the characters and the episodes. Not only do the majority of the episodes end in a dramatic fashion that genuinely leaves you hooked and wanting to watch more and more, but it also has this natural thing of killing off characters that you may get attached to which is a concept that can be appreciated. The fact that ANYONE, can potentially die at any moment within the show definitely opens up new story possibilities and appearances for new characters to show up. The death count in this show is so high, that a committee comprised of Steven Moffat and George R.R Martin would tell Kobayashi and the other writers to calm the flip down.

As the aforementioned death count is so astronomically high, I will avoid talking about anyone beyond the main three characters due to the fact there’s a vast amount of characters that introduce themselves in a rather ‘bad-ass’ way and plus, I don’t want to get your hopes up in case you happen to like any of the secondary characters before their eventual demise. saving the main lead role until last, it’s important that we focus on Eren’s friends in the form of Armin and Mikasa; two friends who are completely separate from one another in terms of who they are. It’s very evident from the first episode of Attack on Titan that Armin serves to be character that is not only the single person to be constantly scared all the time when facing off against the Titans, but he is pretty much the brains behind the show; always narrating to us, the audience, what this world is and is somewhat of a strategist when the trio of friends are in a pickle. What I like about his presence within the series is how progresses as an individual in strength and that he feels as though he is an important character right to the very end and not a burden on his friends and humanity as a whole. On the other end of the friendship spectrum we have Mikasa Ackerman who is what most anime fans could term her as a femme fatale in that she is someone that overall fights better than most of the male counterparts and looks good while killing the other titans. The fact that she is portrayed as having virtually no flaws quite possibly a flaw in and of itself. Throughout however, Mikasa is shown to be a masterful fighter matching that of the other talented fighters despite only being a trainee. She never seems to get injured beyond at most a scratch and it’s very rare that she doesn’t end up killing something that threatens her or her friends. Her weakness/downfall as a character who also hardly shows any drop of emotion, is her crazy devotion to our lead character Eren which is of course the reason why she’s fighting Titans in the first place trying to convince Eren that probably was not a very good idea. Last but not least, we have Eren Jaeger who is your typical boy hero who stereo-typically perseveres through his hardships and endeavours at the beginning and lusts for revenge through his justifiable hatred towards the Titans. One criticism I have about our leading guy is that Eren’s story takes a while to develop into anything meaningful. It’s until near the ending segments of the show that he does start to care about things other than just lusting to kill the Titans as he starts to develop relationships with his team-mates… and then watches them get all horribly murdered. While this isn’t a character that we immediately don’t get to know a whole lot about and does fit into that character mould of being the ‘loner-moody-bad-ass’, one character that I should say is by far one of the coolest individuals in the series is Commander Levi. All I will say is that, he’s simply to cool for school and places the characterisation of this show well above the dirt.

When it comes to judging whether a anime show is deemed watch-able or not, I think the animation is one of the important factors to consider and think about since it is an anime, and typically anime productions tend to always have visuals that striking and stylised with the camera-work and the choreography. With Attack on Titan, the animation for a lot of the time, is remarkable and very distinctive. Every character you’ll see clearly is distinctly outlined in various thickness’s of black separating them from the background and each other which is actually refreshing to see considering that most of the action in Attack on Titan can go up-and-down-and-all-around and it’s very clear of when a character is swinging at high-speed in the background which isn’t something you normally see in other anime. It has to be said as well that the facial expressions and the drawn features when a character is showing emotion is again something that you can clearly tell the producer took from the Manga which was the correct choice. What I really enjoyed watching at the start of the series and got gradually upset by near towards the end of the show was the actual visual looks of each of the Titans. The reasoning behind this transforming feeling towards the looks of the Titans is because at the start of the show, they basically build up this gruesome idea that the Titans are savage beasts that simply don’t give a damn which is true. So upon seeing the Titans for the first time, I did genuinely get creeped out when the Titans were eating the poor civilians as they vaguely reminded me of the peculiar portraits that artist Francis Bacon used to construct. However when we get more deep into the narrative of the show, some of them basically look like a cute cat that has big bright eyes and is hungry and lonely. Being that Attack on Titan is an action show that consists of big Goliath’s eating ordinary people and individuals who basically swing around like Batman from rooftop-to-rooftop, you do have to expect that some of the action has to look slick and pleasing to watch when they’re all fighting against each other. I can safely say that Attack on Titan is a show that basically feels like watching The Matrix actions sequences that has Godzilla like monsters inter-weaved into a somewhat medieval setting. One of the reasons why Japanese animation stands out from animations you are used to, is simply because of it’s effort it puts in regarding the action scenes; with it’s impossible-looking camera angles and action that you wouldn’t normally see in a live-action flick. Being that the animation is under-control by the same guy who directed High-School of the Dead and Guilty Crown, I’m not surprised that Attack on Titan has such good visuals and lush fighting sequences and is the high-point of the show.

The last factor to mention and another high-point of the series is the use of the varying soundtrack that I’m sure has a little bit of everything to offer to everyone. It has this way of making scenes feel hopeful when it needs to be followed immediately by conflict and despair. If I were to compare the soundtrack to something else that I on occasion would listen to, it’s very much similar to ‘Two Steps From Hell’ and how they compose bombastic orchestrations to make you feel invincible whenever you’re tackling a hard school assignment. What is so good about the music is not only it’s different variety of genre’s like orchestra added with small vocals and little bit of Electronica and Rock, but it’s placement of the soundtrack according the what we’re seeing on screen is near enough perfect and can add to that suspense near towards the end of the episode when we see a nervy cliff-hanger. Even the openings to the show (of which there are two) can make you feel pumped up to watch the show which I think is always important to do, especially in anime.

To review all that has been said, if you’re an anime watcher, it would be a crime I think to not go ahead and watch a well stylised and in-depth show in Attack on Titan. Even if you’re someone that doesn’t watch anime but does like films like Godzilla or Pacific Rim for instance, then Attack on Titan is THE SHOW to get you into anime. Not talking about this before-hand, it does have elements of The Walking Dead with it’s humanity survival theme and definitely takes a note from Game of Thrones with it’s parading of character deaths always round the corner. What it perfect is that it’s on Netflix fully compatible for watching it in either English Sub/Dub. Attack on Titan is a stylised monster-epic that will certainly tug to your heart strings and will leave gasping and wanting more after each episode.

And on that note, it’s time to end. As always everyone, thank you for reading and enjoying my latest anime review. If you liked what you have read about this review or have an opinion on the anime series that I just talked about, feel free to drop a comment down below. Just a reminder, you can watch Attack on Titan currently on Netflix which I recommend to you all to watch. Thank you once again for those joining me on my first review on my new schedule where I post on either Friday’s/Saturday’s. As usual, I’ll be back next week with a new review/news. To sign off, down below I’ll leave you with one of my favourite sequences from the show so enjoy that. Take Care!!

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ – Alex Rabbitte