This video is sponsored by Book Walker.
I want you to cast your mind back to 2013.
This current generation console war had just begun, Harlem Shake was a thing and Youtube rewind was...
full of Youtubers.
Now if you were to head towards the anime community however, what you would have found it...
This was the year Attack on Titan took over and I don't just mean for the anime fandom,
it blasted the shackles of the community to find a wider vast mainstream appeal which had never been done before for a single season...
Excuse me for a second...
...for a single season of anime.
Conventions were flooded with people in a Survey Corps uniform, memes were absolutely
inescapable on the internet and somewhere in between all that Attack on Titan also aired.
I knew something was fucking weird when my
co-workers in my office job at that time started off handedly mentioning attack on Titan in the same conversation as Game of Thrones.
Mostly because people are saying: "IT'S BASICALLY LIKE GAME OF THRONES!" (excect it hasn't shit itself)
For anyone who's gotten into anime more recently is kind of hard to convey how unprecedented of phenomenon this show was.
There'd never been such a meteoric rise in the history of the medium and the only thing has come close is the One Punchy Boy.
Anime nowadays has become a much more accepted medium and I honestly think Attack on Titan was what set the ball rolling for that.
The franchise had the entire community in the palm of his hand and all it had to do to continue that hype train was anything...
and then it didn't.
But after four years it returns with season 2 and has been going strong since then with Attack on Titan Season 3 Part 2 Episode 12 Chapter 3 having just finished.
I'm not gonna pretend that the series isn't still immensely popular
but the hype is certainly just a fraction of what it was. Which is a shame because with this later season the series has evolved
and changed so much that as someone who is initially very lukewarm about the series, I think where it is right now
it's shaping up to be -
One of the greatest anime of the modern age.
And I don't use those words lightly.
What I'm trying to say is the Attack on Titan is pretty Great
and has turned into something pretty Great,
and as the series goes on it gets even more Great,
so I just wanted to make a video about how Great it was.
Originally this was just gonna be a short video talking about how good the new season is,
then the more I worked in it the more I realized I really couldn't do it justice without talking about the entire journey we took to get here.
Because every season is so vastly different from each other and yet builds on and adds to the overall experience.
There will be spoilers in this video
but I won't be spoiling anything from the latest season because it's my long-winded way of saying you should drop everything because this later season
is absolutely worth it.
So buckle up your seat belts, put your phone on silent,
take a break from your JoJo memes because it's gonna be a long one.
Because as one of the few people who waited all these years without buckling in to read the manga,
experiencing all this for the first time now, all I can say is...
I WAS ALL ALONG YOU FUCKERS! IT WAS WORTH IT!
If I can give season one credit for anything, it's that it immediately grabbed your attention until you can't look in any other direction.
I think many people can agree that the first few episodes is one of the best hooks you can find in anime.
In contrast to the rest of the season where you'll find a whole mixed bag of opinions ranging from:
I personally thought it was OK but lacking in a few places.
And I know everyone's given their two cents on this by now, so I'll try to avoid repeating any common things.
Yes, everyone got bored of seeing it everywhere. We all know you're not a real critic unless you complain about the...
And I really don't care if you're a special flower who thinks the second opening is better than the first.
'Cause it's not (Set playback speed to 0.25 to see this frame)
So before I get into what I thought the series was lacking compared to what we have now,
I want to shine a spotlight about what I thought it was doing right entire time and what it continues to do to this day.
Aside form the obvious spectacle of the amazing action Isayama was able to craft is really believable world with what felt like a unique premise.
I've always loved the world building in Attack on Titan because it never needed huge exposition,
dumps of dialogue and lore to lend to his credibility that it existed because it just felt like it did.
It's the attention to detail that gave the world so much life and made it so interesting.
And I know I'm speaking very broadly here,
so let me give you a counter example.
Let's throw all this out of the window for a second and talk about Naruto. (Believe it!)
Naruto has a world with a rich lore that intertwines all the different clans and bloodlines, creating a believable history that you can totally immerse yourself into.
But there's one thing that's always bothered me about it.
What the fuck is the technology in this world?
These ninjas have cameras, computers, satellite dishes, bloody television sets and they are just randomly there and they're not there throughout the series.
These are all very small superficial things that shouldn't affect your overall enjoyment of the franchise,
but if you really think about it, it really fucks some of the worlds logic and raises way more questions than it should.
Like you have magic ninjas controlling mystical beast that could level entire cities with the single fart?
But having a whole room of meditating ninjas singing Kumbaya for chakra communication when wireless transmitters have clearly been used before?
What?!
Radio waves and satellite dishes obviously exist so why is important inventions like radar not a thing on the battlefield?
Or why is technology not more widely used in warfare in general?
And here you got Akatsuki using some high-level communication jutsu what is basically a Google Hangouts.
Christ guys, stop being so try-hard and just start a fucking discord server.
I'm not saying I want to see ninjas running around with fucking air pods
but if you're gonna add some of these elements in your fictional world for some kind of aesthetic reason,
while it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things and I'm sure some theory can explain it,
It just doesn't feel organic.
Now this all may sound like nitpicking to you cuz it totally is but the point I'm trying to get at is that
in the world of Attack on Titan everything just makes sense.
From the social-political structure, to the protocols for certain situations, to the wall having a religion, to the sophisticated mechanics of how the ODN gear works -
every aspect of this world seems to have been intricately crafted from the ground up.
The way it functions and develop seems like a logical product of the initial rules that is set and as the series goes on and more aspects get explored you're like:
"Oh, shit! Yeah! Of course that's how things work. I didn't think about that until now."
You can tell a lot of thoughts has been puts into even the tiniest details, even if they don't explain everything.
Like, I don't need a five-minute explanation on how they have an invention to get horses up and over the walls,
but it's there in the background and it's not exactly something you'd immediately think about, but yeah, of course they'd obviously need one.
Sometimes it's the smallest details that can lend the credibility of your world
and one thing that made Titans such a convincing threat was that they set up its rules then they dear to them under real world logic.
if you don't have anywhere to grapple onto -
If you run out of gas -
If you sustained an injury from some random debris, shot a landing or an ape thrown a fucking horse fastball at you -
Because of course you are.
This isn't the usual anime logic where you have high school kids being flung through five walls of pure concrete
and then no one's even remotely surprised when they dig through four tons of rubble with only a single scratch being like:
"you thought it was over"
Which is something everybody likes and has stayed consistent throughout the series.
But(t) to get back to why I never held the series in the highest regards,
the biggest problem about it was that after everything was said and done it all felt very superficial.
What I mean by that is a lot of the appeal came from shallower elements that were there to maximize impact but not really leave a lasting impression.
From the bombastic action
TO THE DRAMATIC SHOUTING
to soundtracks blaring in your face at full volume
There was always some kind of twist and turn to keep you watching even if it relied on cheap shock factor.
But I can't force feeding you something every episode so you never get a chance to rest and reflect on it.
Cheap thrills took priority over actually taking time to develop these characters with the possible exception of
Meaning most of them were just recognizable for a single quirk or were one no characters introduced for the purpose of being killed off.
The developments contributed to constant shocking and hype moments, but once the initial adrenaline wears off you've realized there was not much else there
OH MY GOD! THEY KILLED THE MAIN CHARACTER IN EPISODE 5!
Ha ha just kidding! He's actually a Titan. It was a prank. It's just prank bro.
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When I equate season 1 to is a rollercoaster ride.
And I'm not talking about those donkey pop-up coasters uou find in your local carnaval or whatever.
I'm talking Nemesis Inferno at Thorpe Park, King the car at Six Flags, the fucking
Attack on Titan riding Fuji-Q Japan... wait a minute
It was a high budget premium thrill ride but it was a thrill ride nonetheless.
Because of this when the show ended I undoubtedly had a great time watching it but looking back I had zero emotional attachment to it.
And that's how it was for a long, long, long-ass time...
And then
If the reception for season 1 was unbridled hype and excitement,
When season two aired it was much more like: "Hey guys, Attack on Titan season 2 it's coming out!"
Alright we can fix this. Can you get me the hype button please?
A lot of this can be attributed to the four year gap
but I think another big reason was that it was just vastly different in tone and pacing causing a lot of people to feel a bit underwhelmed by it in comparison.
Despite this however, it may come as a shock to many of you that I actually prefer to Attack on Titan Season 2 over Season 1!
Oh you know, it would be shocking if I didn't already make a video literally called "Why I Actually Preferred Attack On Titan S2 Over S1!"
Season 2 made me infinitely more invested in the franchise than I had ever been before and the way it was able to make me do this was by
stopping the rollercoaster, letting you get off the ride and just explore the theme park at a slower pace.
I swear this is where a theme park analogy ends, I just really want to go to Thorpe park.
It added a lot of these mystery elements which really enriched my interest in the world and added a layer of tension to it.
J.J. Abrams has this great little TED talk where he explains his theory behind the mystery box.
Where when watching a show or movie you can always find these mystery boxes where information is fed to you
but just enough is withheld to create a mystery and it's the withholding of the
information that is far more engaging for the viewer because we invest ourselves to find out
"What's in a box?!"
And that's exactly what happens here.
It constantly gave you these little tidbits and flashback of conversations that implied
that there was something much larger going on in the grand scheme of things
but not giving you enough information for any of it to make sense.
And it got you curious and invested to see what was in this mystery box,
which in the series was literally
"What's in a basement?"
There was real tension in the air because you didn't know what was going on.
Who was a Titan? Who was in there? Who wasn't?
What did this flashback mean? Why is there talking gorilla?
It can't be a talking gorilla because I'm already Winston.
And the more you found out the more questions that were raised.
There was a lot more emotions evoke than just shock and awe and improved me that the series could do more than one thing.
Also gave a good amount of screen time on characters who hardly got any before so much so that the main trio were barely there in the first half
and one of the most popular characters, Levi was almost non-existent.
Levi more like Lebye, amIright?
Season 2 managed to make you invest and care about these characters who you didn't even remember existed in season one.
Like I remember back when the first season was in the prime of his hype I actually got spoiled about the reveal of who the Colossal and Armored Titan was.
And my actual response back then was:
"Oh for fuck's sake! I can't believe the internet done this again!
This has ruined the entire fucking thing for me! Goddamn it, I'm so fuckin' pissed!
Wait, who?"
Bertholdt, Reiner, Ymir and Krista all took the spotlight for a good portion of the season and I ended up really liking all of them.
Which is incredible because going to this all I remember about them was -
I'm pretty sure you had two lines before.
You were a background character I think.
Cheap waifu baits.
I don't even think you're in season 1.
It's in taking time to establish these characters and building up the mystery of the world
I felt they were setting up a story with an actual foundation rather than setting up the next big shocking moment.
And that's honestly why I preferred this season.
It felt less like a string of moments and more like a narrative that followed a set of characters with their own drives and motivations
with moments that organically resulted from it.
Because there was still some great moments, even if they came there on lower quantity.
Now, while I can understand that as a standalone season
not everyone will agree that this slow methodical build-up was more entertaining than the action-packed thrill ride,
I don't think anyone can argue about the results that this foundation paved the way for.
Season 2 was where we had some breathing room to really get to know the characters more,
Season 3 straight-up explored aspects of them we've never seen before by putting them in really interesting scenarios.
Because out of nowhere the series turns into this political thriller where it's all about scheming, conspiracies, vying for power and more importantly
some good-old human on human killing action.
Gun was a simple premise of the heroic humans versus the monstrous Titans
and while a big reason for the show's popularity and appeal was the fact that this was a conflict so simple anyone could get behind it,
it was refreshing to see these characters be put in a morally gray situation.
Levi and the whole Hanji squad went from these simple badass characters who were really good at fighting titans
to decisive cutthroat soldiers who didn't hesitate to get the hands dirty in order to get the job done.
And we get to see the young trainees we grew up with having to make that same difficult decision of joining them in killing fellow humans or...
dying.
And I just enjoy seeing them be putting in moral dilemmas where they like:
"What the fuck?! Why are we fighting humans?!"
"Because humans are trying to kill us now!"
"Where are the titans?! I thought this show is called Attack on Titan!"
"We can call it Attack on Mikasa's Sweet Ass With Sugar On Top if we'll get you just shut the fuck up and kill that bloke over there!"
There wasn't any new revolutionary writing technique on display here.
All Isayama did was put his characters in interesting scenarios to see how they would react.
And it worked.
It really added a layer of complexity when the enemy wasn't just some mindless giant zombie
but a human being acting with their own reasons,
meaning the resulting consequences of everyone's actions had far more weight than ever used to.
Once again we get a swap on the character to getting the majority of the focus, is Levi
went from having a minute of screen time to being in every episode.
Lebye more Lehye.
Ok, that's the last time, I swear to God
And it's really cemented the strengths showcased last season that the series really isn't dependent on anyone character to carry this show
because they all can.
It doesn't matter if some characters had like 10 minutes of screen time before the series is able to bring any character to the forefront and make them interesting.
Or so, the other thing is allow the season to do was to have outstanding moments that didn't need to rely on action.
In fact, the best scenes purely revolved around character decisions, like the phenomenal scene with Historia AKA
So the scene basically revolves around is whether she should accept her heritage or reject it.
Now, I'm not really an animated guy when watching anime. There could be this really hype scene and
Cool
So I surprised even myself, when the waifu formerly known as Krista smacks a vial out of the hand,
I've visibly lapped out my seat and shouted -
YES! YOU FUCKING GO, GIRL!
God, I fucking love this moment so much.
And what I loved about it was that like the rest of the season Isayama presented a difficult character choice
and you genuinely did not know what they would choose
especially because what she chose to do was the harder choice.
By doing this not only does she have to reject her father and a more cushty life
but also her right to attain the power of essentially a titan God,
meaning humanity will now have to go down in unknown but far more challenging path.
So it give this so much more weight when she chooses not only to reject all that
but fucking do it by judo flipping her dick father, breaking his back,
smacking Eren in a head and telling him to stop being such a bloody cry-baby,
landing the killing blow so the public will have faith in her as a new queen and then just for good measure
having the balls to punch Levi all in a good day's work.
Peopel say that there's legitimate argument on who's best girl in this show!
"You're my queen." Press F to GoT S8
Pure and simple, this is just great writing and that was the point when I realized -
Holy crap! This series might actually be something really special.
Hopefully you're getting the idea by now that every arc so far has taken what's been previously established
and added something new and built upon that foundation, but that doesn't really happen in the next arc.
Because it kind of just does everything at ones.
OST Attack on Titan Season 3 OST - Apple Seed by Hiroyuki Sawano ft. Laco & Mpi
Remember when Attack on Titan was about Titans?
Remember when it was about humanity taking back the walls?
Remember when it was about getting to Eren's basement ?
Here you go. Are you happy now?
Are you happy? Are you finally gonna shut the fuck up?
Attack on Titan Season 3 Part 2, god that name never rolls off the tongue no matter how many times I say it.
It's a combination of everything the series has built up.
Its the action-packed rollercoaster of the first season with the weight of the second, the emotional complexity of the third
and holy fuck, is it an amazing sight to behold.
You may not like it, but this is what peak Attack on Titan looks like.
It's like the series is going through a greatest hits compilation of everything it was able to achieve
where the final product is even better than all the individual elements it added.
You've still got the amazingly directed action sequences, the epic reveal of the world and the mysteries build-up,
really difficult character decisions, consequence to every action and all this equates to an experience you can rarely find in anime.
I really hate how cliche the term Edge-of-your-seat has become because this is truly edge-of-your-seat stuff.
But I don't feel that term is justice to convey just how well it's built up its characters
and stakes so you go to every episode with a mix of fear, excitement and anticipation
because you genuinely do not know what is going to happen.
You watch with bated breath knowing not everyone is going to make it out of this.
It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of who, when and how many.
And now that we've reached a point where you actually care about these characters and it's not fucking two-lined Lenny riding to his death.
Every event whether that be a small victory in battle or someone's unfortunate demise has tremendous weight behind it.
Side characters no longer feel like side characters.
Most of them now you've gotten to know for a decent amount of time with meaningful development.
And I'm not talking about something like -
That's some premium character development right there!
You're invested, you're hopeful, you've gone through this long arduous journey with them
and seeing everyone playing this giant game of russian roulette every episode,
brings the same kind of squeaky bum, gut-wrenching tension as when it's the 90th minute in the World Cup final, it's stoppage time
and your team is one goal away from winning or losing the entire tournament.
Except this isn't some live sporting event,
It's a premade animation.
It brings an emotional weight that has never been reached before by this show and is rarely reached by any show.
And none of this would have been possible without the way it's constantly evolved and build-up upon itself.
Essentially, the series itself went on this 26 episode hyperbolic time chamber training arc,
level up every aspect to continue its journey stronger than ever.
So now I hope you understand why I've needed to spend 19 minutes of your time going through every season,
explaining what's all the individual seasons have done
and that's because where we are at right now would not be possible without the combined effort of every season.
And now that we're at this point looking back at season 1, there were a lot of elements, I wasn't too fond of back then that now I'm glad they did.
I'm glad people can change into Titans.
I'm glad they didn't just take the wall back straight away.
I'm glad they took the time to introduce the female Titan and this mysterious external entity who wants to destroy humanity.
I'm glad they didn't just stay on that simple rollercoaster and stick to humans versus mindless titans
because now the story is far more intricate and diverse than anything I had predicted when I first started watching it.
After this latest reveal of what's in the basement and the secrets of the world have been unpacked,
once again the show has evolved into something entirely new.
It doesn't even feel like the same show anymore.
And I mean that in a good way.
It's resulted in a far more interesting world with a richer history than I ever thought it was going to be
while still sticking to the same themes presented in Episode 1.
And through me realizing this I've just come to appreciate how rare and enigma of this show has become.
Because it's one that has been fully able to realize its potential until the very end.
How many of you have had an anime you like so you go off to read the source material,
only to find that the anime barely scratched the surface
And the source material reaches heights you can only dream of seeing in the anime.
Well, Attack on Titan, is that one in a million adaptation.
Not just a really good short hard-hitting series that said its piece and ended
but a full epic that we've gone on this long ride with and has been able to hit its final form with no compromise.
In the process of making this video Season 4 was announced which is going to be the final season.
We are going to see a conclusion to this story and if word of mouth of every manga reader I've talked to is true,
things are going to get even better which considering how things have been set up now,
I absolutely believe.
So here I am now, in 2019, unironically telling you that you should watch Attack on Titan.
Whether you're a new fan, or old one or even someone who wasn't too hot on season 1
because when I say I like Attack on Titan, a lot of people still associate it with that one dimensional rollercoaster season 1 was.
And it's just so much more than that now.
Believe the hype.
Believe the anticipation.
Forget what I said about The Death of Classic Anime because when this ends
if by some miracle it is able to continue to get the same amazing treatment this adaptation has received thus far -
This could very much be THE anime that defines this generation...
Attack on Titan Season 3 OST - Zero Eclipse by Hiroyuki Sawano ft. Laco
Hey guys, hope you enjoyed that video
Thank you to Book Walker for sponsoring me to just be able to talk about the Attack on Titan for 20 plus minutes
I really enjoyed making this video call me an Attack on Titan fanboy because I just
Freaking love it. Now. All the available attack on Titan volumes are available on their website in eBook form
In fact, you can pick up right where I left off where the anime ended by clicking on the link in the description
Which will take you straight to volume 23 onwards if you can't wait till season 4 to come out. Again if you're a first-time user
Anyway, that's it from me though
I hope you all have a wonderful day get on the Attack on Titan hype train and I'll see you all next time.