Oh hey, an Attack on Titan thread. I better post my thoughts on every episode now...
[h=2]Episode 1[/h]
That was the best first episode of a new anime series I've seen since... I don't even know. At least a couple of years.
Obviously the source material has some very interesting concepts and a fantastically realized setting. That should help it avoid the problems of Guilty Crown and let Araki show off just how amazing a director he can be. This is definitely a great display of that. His presentation style is always incredibly epic, and the music Sawano uses for this increases that effect exponentially. I've never heard of Linked Horizon, but they sure made a strong first impression, and the visuals that accompany the opening theme certainly don't hurt in that regard. This is Wit Studio's first series, but I.G is clearly giving them the budget they need to bring this to its full potential. Everything looks absolutely gorgeous, occasionally going above and beyond as per Araki's usual style, and even the few minor uses of CG are done so well that they don't pose a problem whatsoever.
Even in just this first episode, the skill at conveying powerful emotions, especially fear, is displayed very prominently, better than most series manage. This is first apparent when the soldiers return from outside the wall, but the best moment is when Hannes goes to kill the Titan and immediately realizes that they're all going to die unless he runs away with the children, and proceeds to do so. Giving up the hope of saving all those who deserve to live and the chance for heroism isn't something that we see a lot, but it feels so real.
[h=2]Episode 2[/h]
So good. Mikasa is already proving to be an amazing character, and the boys are looking to be improving significantly as they grow up and train with some real drive. I'm very excited to watch this each week.
[h=2]Episode 3[/h]
Wow, I wasn't expecting real comic relief at this point, nor for it to work so well, especially when much of the content is as serious as ever. Potato-chan was hilarious for every second she was on-screen, but I'm sure she'll get to be a very strong character to be taken seriously in the future. I see all these new characters being introduced as having the potential for many dimensions. Jean wiping away his trust was another hilarious scene as well.
Also, Mikasa continues to be an amazing character all-around. Eren is getting much more likeable as I had hoped for as well. It's good to see that he's far from overpowered, but it's also invigorating to see him beat his odds even with defective equipment.
Still very strong in every way.
[h=2]Episode 4[/h]
How is this show so good at being deadly serious and absolutely hilarious within seconds of each other?
So Mikasa is already one of the greatest soldiers of all time. Sounds about right. And I love that, as little as she says anything, she makes sure to divert the attention to Sasha by continuing to **** with her. That must've been the first time in many years I laughed at something related to a fart joke. I wouldn't have expected those two to be the best comedy duo. The other comical scenes were all very good as well, though. And really, everything involving Sasha and her food escapades has just been comedy gold.
And then it all gets extremely intense at the end. That was executed so amazingly flawlessly. Can it please be next week now?
[h=2]Episode 5[/h]
How is this show so amazing?
Every moment of this episode kept me in suspense, feeling as worried as the characters, and not knowing what would happen next. And I didn't even realize how little I expected with the way it ended. Obviously the main character doesn't die in episode 5 of the first of probably many seasons. But what the hell does happen? At the very best he's got a couple of limbs missing along with countless comrades and land as always, and somehow manages to climb out of a Titan's stomach. He and Armin are both pretty damn lucky that they happened to be eaten by the one Titan who doesn't enjoy the sensation of biting.
So we get a flashback next time. Given that timing, I would imagine we won't have any idea of what happens to Eren after this for at least another week. Oh Attack on Titan staff, I'd be angry if this wasn't all so unbelievably perfect. Keep it up. Even my highest hopes for this didn't touch what I've gotten, and we're still so early into it.
This is also the first real moment of weakness we've seen from Mikasa. I was a little surprised that Eren was the only one who really had it together, although he was mostly just running on adrenaline. And even still, we saw how well that all worked out for him.
[h=2]Episode 6[/h]
I was expecting the backstory to take up a little more of the episode than it did, but the time spent in the present was still very effectively used. I wonder how much longer it will take to learn what happened to Eren. Maybe near the end of the next episode? I still have no idea exactly how everything is going to work out.
She didn't get to shine so much last episode, but Mikasa was definitely back to being the best character in this episode, which isn't surprising considering she was the main focus.
That was a harsh backstory, but it definitely explains how she's reacted to the different situations she's experienced in the series so far, as well as why she always buried her face in that scarf. Honestly I wasn't really expecting to learn the meaning behind that, or even that there was one.
Also interesting to finally acknowledge the races of our current world and how they've ended up in this one, also possibly the first solid evidence that this is indeed our world in the future, although it doesn't indicate how far ahead in time that is (presumably more than the in-world year count). So Mikasa is the last surviving Asian, and she's actually only half Asian. Since she was so clearly the one Asian character, I thought her European last name might mean she was simply adopted. I suppose her kidnappers don't necessarily know that's not the case since seeing her father was the only reason they thought Mikasa wasn't a full Asian, but I don't see why they'd include that if she was just adopted.
It's a little surprising to see Eren so ready to kill people at such a young age when he (presumably) hadn't really experienced much by that point and didn't exactly seem to have such a history when we first met him, but as brutal as it was, it was still good to see that he was ready to save Mikasa no matter what. It does give a little more insight into how he ended up like he is now, although obviously the events of the beginning of the series were the main cause of that.
No real progress as expected, but still a spectacular masterpiece of an episode.
