TOOOURNAMENNNT AAARRCCC
Yeah
I made a T-shirt
which I'm now going to be wearing the fuck out of
'cause I'm fucking proud of it
AND YOU CAN TOO
Links in the description!
I don't even need to sell this shirt, it sells itself!
but...if you did want something cheaper
since many of you were enlightened by my last video,
by high request, here is your
"Anime is Trash and so am I" shirt.
For those of us who have accepted the trash
that we really are
'cause you know what else is trash?
Attack on Titan!
*laughs at his own joke*
Sorry, I couldn't resist
*AoT S2 Opening plays*
You know, at first I wasn't such a big fan of this opening,
but after listening to it for about 10 times now
I can say
WHOA, FUCKING JESUS CHRIST *SASAGEYO INTENSIFIES*
So, with the second season of Attack on Titan almost
said and done now
regardless of how it wraps up in these coming weeks,
I've actually enjoyed it a considerable amount.
Even more so than the first season
so it comes as a little surprise to me that... uh...
no one is...
really...
talking...about it
WHERE THE FUCK WAS LEVI THIS SEASON
Alright, it's not really that nobody's talking about it
View counts are higher than pretty much every other show this season
so obviously people are watching it
but the overall spread and attention it's getting is
but a speck to what it was in the first season.
There's a clear acknowledgement that it's out,
but no real excitement or hype surrounding it
and it says "volume" so this has been a
far more common conversation for me this season
Gigguk: so, are you enjoying Attack on Titan
after waiting these 4 years?
Some Cool Dude: Yeeeah, I mean, it's cool
MORE IMPORTANTLY, have you heard about our new
LORD AND SAVIOR
EROMANGA-SENSEI??
I see, you too, have reached enlightenment
Yes, shows like "Eromanga-Sensei" and
"Boku no Hero Tournament Arc" hype
have been taking up all the discussions,
memes, and general attention within the anime community
which
we're not denying the true masterpiece that is "Eromanga-Sensei"
It's certainly surprising considering the rare world wide
phenomenon the first season was in the world of anime
Is the second season just a shadow
of what came before?
Can hype for one of the HOTTEST anime EVER
die out that quickly?
Or is "Eromanga-Sensei"
REALLY THAT GOOD?!
Now I have no doubt many would have found this season underwhelming
with its shift in tone and focus
but it's for that reason, I've actually enjoyed it MORE.
It's not longer the action-packed bombastic thrill ride of
season one, but it's
introduced this mystery horror element with much more
of a focus on building up side characters that moves
at a slower pace
Which, in my opinion, kinda address some of the
problems it had in the first season.
Attack on Titan season one was always
a thrilling and enjoyable, but ultimately
kind of empty ride.
It thrived on its interesting premise, explosive direction,
constant twists and turns,
and one of the strongest starts I can think of in anime.
But after the series ended, everything felt a bit hollow.
It didn't feel like we got much actual progression after
the first few episodes due to the slow down in pacing
Titans went from scary, to stupidly funny
and no characters,
especially the main trio, were particularly well
developed or engaging.
We'd mourn the loss of characters, not because we
were attached to them,
but because they useful to humanity
or had some cute quirk in some way.
Which, while shocking when it happens,
ultimately didn't mean anything
It was a show that was exciting
because of its shock factor
but as that wore off, it ceased being that special.
What this new season has done, in my eyes,
is to stop trying to make Titan this thrilling,
but empty ride.
It starts off by stamping its mark with one of the most
gut-wrenching death sequences the series had seen so far
reminding us that Titans are, indeed, terrifying,
even if the designs can still warp the fine line between
unsettling and stupidly hilarious
because
*hums cheerily*
(ofc u gotta draw a dick)
*hums cheerily*
*deeply breathes in*
YEAH
Instead of all out action, there are quiet scenes
of genuine tension and horror
which grounds the threat that the Titans pose.
Something that hasn't been felt since
the very beginning of the franchise
which I feel it tied in well with the mystery aspect of this season.
More information about the world is revealed to us
at a slow pace that keeps us guessing.
It's an entirely new element that builds off
the foundation of the previous season cliffhanger
making us question the nature of world they are in and
and keeping us in a guessing game of who is and isn't a Titan.
*whispers* Even though everyone is a fuckin' Titan
This mystery aspect gives you much more of an interest in the world they've built
that wasn't just a continual reminder that we need to go Eren's
"all important porn dungeon" ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Then we get to the character focus
which was a pleasant surprise.
Especially with Eren, who,
knowing he was one of the last interesting characters in the cast
was given this revolutionary
and innovative character development technique of...!
Removing him entirely from the first half of the season.
I know right?
fucking revolutionary writing technique that we should definitely use more often
We get more of a feel for side characters,
their motivation and history,
which I appreciated because now I can actually be a bit
more invested in what happens to them
instead of just killing characters for the sake of
shock factor that we've seen before
Now, if there was a glaring problem
It's the fact that they had to do this with about
20 fucking flashbacks every episode
Seriously, there would be scenes in the show that were like---
"Oh god, we're surrounded by Titans! we're all gonna DIE!1!!!11
"Yeah yea ye yeah, but do you remember that time
at Titan camp
when you were being a total stubborn BITCH??
KRiSTa?"
"What da FUCK has that gotta do wit anythin'??"
Yes, we had several episodes where
half the damn episode WAS A FLASHBACK
But hey, it worked for "Lost" right,
so why shouldn't it work here?
*laughs at own joke again*
All this lead to an experience I wasn't quite expecting,
but I definitely enjoyed more.
It was a different direction than what we were used to,
but something I feel would be needed
after the high octane first season
There were still twists and turns,
but not in the way you would think.
The reveal, for example, was pretty fucking obvious
for anyone paying attention, but the manner in which it was done,
I think caught everyone off guard, leading to a brilliantly
executed scene.
and the one Titan fight scene didn't just turn out to be
a fast and intense flurry of blows
but a slower paced, and one of the most technical
animated fights I've seen.
Any fans of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
will get an absolute hard on for this sequence
as if I were watching an MMA fight at points.
I would absolutely love to analyze this in full depth if I
had the time, but it's definitely my favorite fight
of this franchise so far
Regardless of all this though, I think I've been enjoying
this season so much more because of the lack of hype surrounding it.
Even after all the praise I've given this season,
I don't think this exceptionally stands out in any given area.
Mystery, horror, character development,
the lot, and it's still brimming wih flaws.
But with the much more muted reception its gotten,
I was just allowed to enjoy it for what it is.
Attack on Titan is just a very solid show and always was.
No masterpiece by any means, but still highly enjoyable
and I guess that's the advantage with less hype when
every little moment isn't being memed,
each intricate detail being dismantled and analyzed over and over
'cause no matter how fond you are for a series,
there'll reach a point where you'll get bored hearing about it
discussing the same points again and again with different people,
seeing the same jokes passed around.
As whether or not Attack on Titan was overrated is debatable,
whether or not it was over hyped was unquestionable.
But I think this muted reception can be easily linked
to how our community receives new anime this day and age
or at least how many new anime we watch.
In it's current climate, we're seeing new seasons being announced very soon after they first ended
or bizarrely having very old shows being resurrected out of nowhere.
Attack on Titan didn't sit in either of these camps,
and I think this shows how important it is to keep
momentum going in the world of anime.
On a technical standpoint, it did well to feel like no time had passed at all.
Art and music were kept pretty constant from the first season.
We didn't get any subtle shift as we often
see with other shows when there's a massive time gap between seasons.
Like "Haruhi" for example, where the designs shifted to become slightly more "K-On-ified"
Sawano's soundtrack has also been very similar to his previous work,
only subtly adding bits and pieces here and there.
So from a production standpoint, it honestly looks and
feels like we've just carried straight on where we left off 4 years ago.
But that's the thing!
It WAS 4 years ago.
As an anime community, we just move on very fast.
Any show, no matter how hot will be largely old news in
a matter of months when the next season rolls around.
Let's learn the years we had to wait for Attack on Titan.
We don't see this rise in popularity season to season
in the same way we see with western shows like
"Breaking Bad" or with the "Game of Thrones" of today.
In fact, it's the opposite.
A series will rarely continue rising in popularity per
season unless we have some kind of long running shounen that is on-going without breaks,
and I don't think there's a better candidate to illustrate
this than what we've seen with Attack on Titan.
and because of this, I think this show is a perfect case
study for how hype affects the perception of the show
and how quickly we move on as a community.
In the end, the biggest thing this season has going against it,
aside from the 4 year wait, was its 12 episode run.
Its done what it needed to do, but there aren't enough episodes to build up to a proper climactic pay off
so it baffles me, with the thinking behind giving one of the hottest anime properties of all time
just 12 episodes to stand back its momentum.
God knows how long we'll have to wait to see if we'll get
a continuation, so if viewers hadn't converted to the
manga already, I'm sure this short season will convert even more people to.
*coughs*
*coughs again*
Which is a shame,
'cause after all this, it's reminded me how enjoyable
the Attack on Titan train can be.
The season is FAR from perfect,
but it's definitely a solid entry.
Suffering from having a long wait,
to see a middle child trying its
best to build up to something bigger
which still remains to be seen if or when it happens.
it was a pleasant change to what I was expecting and
I'm not sure if everyone would have appreciated it,
but with only the short season, it might ultimately not even mean much.
But either way,
I enjoyed it regardless.
Now let's just hope it doesn't join the likes of "Spice and Wolf" and "Haruhi"
for that growing of shows that I,
as an anime fan, have just come to accept now
that I'll just never be able to see a season 3 of.
*crying noises*
I'M NOT CRYING, YOU'RE CRYING
Hey guys, hope you enjoyed the video
Thank you very much this month to:
and everyone else on Patreon for helping support me
for this month in making this video possible.
and I was just told by coincidence that Bookwalker is having a 50% off
deal for Attack on Titan manga until the 20th of June as well so...
Yeah, that's the thing! You know the deal!
A lot of you did ask for them, so if you want the T-shirts
you can get them in the links in the description
or the annotations below.
MAN, I am just out-shitting Jeff today, aren't I?
Well, I do need all that spare cash for all the figurines
I'm going to be buying at AX.
ANYWAY!
That's it for me
I've been Gigguk and I'll see you all next time!