Ah, the wait is finally over!
It’s been three and a half years since Attack on Titan season one ended, and fans have had
to patiently wait for more ever since.
It’s hard to believe, and feels like yesterday when all my friends who follow anime were
going nuts and telling me to watch it.
For good reason, as their aren’t too many animes in the past decade that have made such
a splash in the U.S.
But alas, with hype comes high expectations and the possibility of being disappointed.
A reminder that just because something's popular doesn’t means it’s the best ever.
I won’t say Attack on Titan is the greatest or my favorite anime, but it’s damn good.
When it first came out, I remember being relieved by the fresh take on survival anime in a world
inhabited by terrifyingly large creatures.
And I thought The Walking Dead characters had it bad.
I’d take their situation any day over this one.
So the series deals with protagonist Eren Yaeger, in a world overrun by giant naked
beings.
Or Titans, who from what we can tell, serve to torment and get rid of every last human.
Now in case you were wondering, let’s make it clear.
This show is as bleak as it gets.
Without question people are going to die and things will get emotional real fast.
Imagine if this was Game of Thrones and we took a hypothetical situation of White Walkers
taking over the world.
Sure that’s probably a lot worse, but you get it.
We begin the series with a core group of characters, including Eren, Mikasa and Armin, and their
goal of defeating the titans for good.
Several years pass and they enlist as cadets with many others who want to join the Survey
Corps, Garrison Regiment and Military Police Brigade.
That’s the basic idea here, and we’re the lucky ones who get to see how all these
people can survive in such a horrific world.
Alright, now this is what the anime does well: Epic music and intense scenes.
I mean, have you listened to either of the first two opening theme songs yet?
There’s something about the intros that pulls us in and gets you pumped up and almost
wishing we could fight right alongside them.
It’s this epicness and scale that’s translated poetically well whenever there’s a sense
of impending doom.
Oh, it’s going to feel that way a lot.
The animation is very stylish and eye-catching as well, with an exquisite color palette of
red, orange and brown shades that really pop.
Unlike a lot of anime with intimidating amounts of episodes to sift through, this one isn’t
bogged down by filler, therefore it doesn’t dottle for long.
Sure the characters go through moments where they doubt themselves, and there’s times
where they have to stop and question their decisions.
But this usually won’t last forever and it quickly progresses to the next important
story element.
Another positive?
It's great replay value.
I’ve seen it twice now in Japanese with subtitles, and completely forgot the first
season’s twist and surprise reveal on second viewing.
You can power through the first 25 episodes quickly with Netflix’s auto-play setting,
which will skip over the ending credits and unnecessary recaps.
The only downside of this is if you’re a purist who always has to see the intro and
outro, so to each their own here.
Now I know not everyone is a fan of English dub tracks, but from what I’ve seen and
heard, overall they did a pretty good job with it.
Yet you’ll have to find it elsewhere.
With season two finally here, we can only hope it lives up to the expectations created
from the first, and delivers on multiple levels.
Aside from Netflix, the first season is on Blu-ray, and it can also be streamed on Funimation
and Crunchyroll.
Attack on Titan is a catastrophically complex sight to see, promising to only get better.
And that’s why this anime, is a Dyligent Pick.
So what’s your favorite thing about Attack on Titan?
If you don’t watch anime, would you still try it out?
My name is Dylan, and if you love entertainment, subscribe to my channel while this video ends
and send me a thumbs up before you go.
Thanks for watching, and stay diligent!