welcome back everyone it's Robert Macfarlane here and today we're going
to take a look at Attack on Titan and why it's being called a modern
masterpiece
just such a good show oh my god i wish i thought this story probably wouldn't have done it justice
spoilers you've been warned Attack on Titan is a Japanese anime that is in its fourth and final
season that the wildly popular anime series can also
be found on netflix as well as many other platforms and it is absolutely brilliant
as you well know i love myself a good movie and a good tv series
but i also love Japanese anime and i believe Attack on Titan for me is one of the best
Japanese animes that have ever been created is up there with the Full Metal Alchemist
the Cowboy Bebop tell me what you're doing here let's flip a coin as i tell you tails we go out on a date the Naruto
so why do we call it a modern masterpiece well pushing masterpiece aside for the moment because
to be honest that's a problematic term it's very subjective
but what does it do really really well why does it garner so much attention
well to be honest it is a really unique premise it's very very interesting it pushes together a
lot of really high concept ideas and does it successfully so many ideas for those of you
who don't know it is essentially a mystery with cannibalistic giants roaming the lands
making it pretty difficult to work out what the mystery is all about because well go outside your
door and get eaten on the surface level it already mimics one of the most popular stories of all
time and that is the David and Goliath premise but i can't help being tired of looking at you
quite literally you have giants versus humans and we are little weak squidgy things
it's also a story about war and the way it affects both sides of that wall
so what am i going to do now we're currently in the midst of season four which is
utterly epic so something that i have seen something that i have worked out from watching
the show a few times now is that it is incredibly efficient with its storytelling there is not
a line of dialogue or action that does not explore a character an element of story or
reveal to us whole new sides to those characters or story elements from the very very first season
within the first episode we get a multitude of motivations for the characters that we follow
and we understand that each of them are there for their own reasons first rule of this life kid
the better you are at dropping the bad guys the more distance the powers that be put between you
that's what this whole stupid farce is about in one 20-minute episode we get what most feature
films would struggle to do in two hours mankind didn't start this fight but we're gonna finish it
and this density of storytelling continues into season two into season three into season four
and i think that is what makes this show so compelling compared to so many other shows
out there we find ourselves watching some shows where one or two episodes are absolutely brilliant
and then we get a filler episode each and every time a character speaks even if they are
not even the lead character even if we don't even know their name and they're only on screen for
seconds till then a man apart from god oh wretched was i heaven driven in as the power by everest now
thou be wholeness am i here punished for it they will still have reason to be there they will still
be saying something that is relevant that explores something about the world what's going on with
this war the battle the conflict and the effects on those people in really deep and meaningful ways
what's the point of all the intimidation it's a rite a passage through stress and denigration
we revert them into blank slates from there we can mold them bit by bit into proper soldiers
almost every moment every second of the show is so effective so rich and dense with texture and story
that if it were deleted the show would be lesser it would be confusing it would break
i talked about the density and texture of the script writing but i really think i
can't overlook just how many plot twists there are in this show now i know that is a factor of
the mystery genre each and every revelation of information that the characters unveil during
their struggle i don't hit the center this won't kill me but well it is going to hurt
a lot should be some sort of twist should surprise the audience and the characters in
the world i mean it's hard enough to come up with a good story to begin with let alone effective
surprising dramatic emotional plot twists episode after episode after episode and then there
are obviously massive plot twists such as the revelation of Reiner and the tall one Bertolt
completely out of the blue that the two closest characters to our main character
are actually the two lead antagonists that they've been hunting this entire time
i'm going to elaborate why this continues to be one of the most surprising and emotional plot
twists in modern cinema tv and anime in my opinion feel free to disagree everything the show had done
up until that point every word every line every motivation it is the only thing that makes sense
and this is the key to beautiful storytelling when your plot twist has been set up so beautifully
so subconsciously that it was obvious the whole time but we were completely oblivious to it
as planned the coin drops for so many moments that have happened within that story to make
you realize well of course how could i have not known this our reaction of disbelief
is mimicked reflected by the other characters around them each and every time there is a
plot twist in the show they have staged it beautifully proving that there is
so much value in knowing how you're going to end your show can you give everything for humanity
by already knowing the end of the show and i'm sure this is exactly how the writer has been
dealing with this and probably why it's taken so long for this series to be made
is that each and every story element has been pushed tested developed evolved into
this beautiful mesh of story in such a perfect way and that takes time that takes thought it takes
inspiration and i'm really glad that these filmmakers have taken this as their process
for this storyline and it makes such a massive difference we want to know what we're laying our
lives down for otherwise he might hesitate when the time is at hand because normally
i would wait until the end of the whole season and all the episodes are out and then i'm gonna
binge watch it that would normally be the way i'd watch a show because i personally
hate having a 20 minute hit of a show and then have to wait seven days to find out what happened
just not nice it feels feels almost cruel you know i know you know what i mean right you know
i know you know you know i know and you know what i know so you know and i know you know what i know
i'm going to put out there an argument that Attack on Titan has not got one stereotypical character
in the entire show instead the show has used a mixture of what we know as an archetype which
is essentially a character who performs a function within the story but i believe
that the writers of this show went a little further than just thinking of archetypes they
fully fleshed out the characters even the more minor characters that don't spend much time on
screen they all seem to have a motivation even if the show doesn't take the time
to actually elaborate that we feel they are motivated this is such a breath of fresh air
this makes every single character no matter how much time they're on screen valuable interesting
and gut gut-wrenching to lose when they die and this show loves to kill off characters
oh my god i honestly i have no idea how the population of that city are still even there when
the dust has settled there may well be more graves than people to dig them i think for many of us the
first time we really saw this was when we started watching Game of Thrones in season one when Ned
Stark was beheaded sorry if that was a spoiler for any of you who haven't watched it he was
a character that had so much power and sway in the narrative so much hinged around his decisions
and he had so much to lose that was also the same values and morals as our own it was such
an incredibly shocking moment in tv history and changed what audiences expect from the tv that
is created nowadays Attack on Titan if you haven't watched it just just go right now
to netflix and watch it you literally will thank me it is a beautiful mystery thriller
it keeps us on our toes by creating beautiful plot twists engaging characters and wickedly
sharp script writing that just wastes no one's time it doesn't placate you with fillers and
nonsensical storytelling it keeps us in the thick of what we want to see
thank you so much for joining me today i thoroughly enjoyed
exploring Attack on Titan one of my favorite shows of all time i release
episodes on mondays and thursdays and i look forward to seeing you there you