Episode Name: To You, After 2,000 Years; The Fall of Shinganshima Part 1
Where can you watch it?
Netflix
http://www.crunchyroll.com/attack-on-titan/episode-1-to-you-2000-years-in-the-future-the-fall-of-zhiganshina-1-623251?p480=1
http://www.funimation.com/shows/attack-on-titan
Attack on Titan, which I will refer to as AoT, is probably one of the darkest fantasy anime I have ever seen. While there are plenty of dark (as hell) anime such as Guyver: Bio-Boosted Armor and M.D. Geist, they are set in either a modern or (post) apocalyptic setting. AoT is one of the few dark fantasy anime, much less animated works, that offers a true take on Lovecraft-style story telling.
When I talk of H.P. Lovecraft, the first thought is of Cthulu (malevolent god that looks like Zoidberg), which is one of his most famous works. But he doesn't paint Cthulu as being a villain in need of being killed by a band of heroes. Cthulu is more subtle and ethereal, needling at the subconscious of man's greatest fear, the Unknown.
The main themes of Lovecraftian horror are misanthropy, visceral textures, detachment, hopelessness, unanswered questions, and the fragility of sanity. Misanthropy is not a complete focus on the hu-mahns characterization, but rather their small, insignificant place in the grand scheme. If a human dies, does the Universe weep? Another theme is one most people miss, which as the use of more "slimy" textures, such as organs, saliva, and flesh, rather than skeletons and blood (with spiders and bats for standard "spooky" atmosphere). The "heroes" of Lovecraft are not the charismatic, happy-go-lucky heroes that are quite common, but rather are very detached not out of a lack of social skills or apathy, but rather because of a keen intellect. They do not want to get too close to someone they know will eventually leave or die.
The biggest and most notable theme is hopelessness, which goes hand-in-hand with the fragility of sanity. No matter what you do, it is not enough, and if it is enough, it's still not enough, and once you figure that out, you will probably lose your mind to insanity (or if you know the truth, is your reaction actually a sane one?). Unanswered questions is probably the biggest nagging point of Lovecraftian readers. Many literary arts answer all the questions about nearly everything, so the reader or characters knows what is what, and how everything is wrapped up with a nice neat little bow. With Lovecraft, an answer to your question is another 12 questions. Cthulu is the entity you see or know about, but what you should truly fear is what you don't see him do.
Now that you have gotten the gist of Lovecraftian style horror, let's review Attack on Titan.
Synopsis
We start out with a group of villagers staring up at a wall with a giant, skinless hand at the top with a skinless face steaming and possibly smiling. And when I say wall, I don't mean a basic castle wall, I mean as in Game of Thrones Wall. He looks on to the Village of Shinganshina, otherwise known as the Village of "Screwed" before cutting to a group of people of soldiers on horseback. Here we catch a glimpse of omni-directional gear, also known as 3D Maneuvering Gear which basically allows humans to switch around like Spiderman, crotch first. More on this later. They begin an attack on an eponymous titan, measuring at roughly 12 meters tall before cutting to an excellent title sequence (which for once isn't totally misleading to the series' animation quality."
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| The true face of Home Improvement's Wilson |
We meet our protagonist, Eren Jaeger, napping in a field with vividly dark dreams before being woke up by Mikasa Ackerman, his adopted sister. Eren begins crying for no apparent reason, leading Mikasa to conclude he is a complete wimp and suggests a check-up from Eren's father, Dr. Jaeger, further emasculating him.
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| Death Incarnate in a bundle of cute. |
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| Our hero, crying before anything actually happens. |
They had back to the village and run into Hannes, a member of the Garrison Regiment, one of three regiments that defends the so far unnamed nation. Hannes and the other guards are, of course, drunk off their butts since titans have not attacked or breached the wall in over a century. Much like how White Walkers have not been seen in over a thousand years, so you know where this is going. Complacent with a 50 meter wall for protection, the guards are not prepared for an actual threat. Jaeger goes into a tirade at their freeloading, getting privileges for practically nothing, and with humanity being stuck inside the wall like cattle. Oh, didn't I mention? This walled nation is the ONLY place humans can live, as the titans already took over the world over a century ago. This means about one million people in an area roughly 1/3 the size of Rhode Island. That's all the land humanity can hold on to.
Eren and Mikasa hear the bell signaling the return of the "heroes" of the Scout Regiment, the other one of three regiments of the nation, that Eren idolizes. They are psychoti-...courageous soldiers that willingly go beyond the walls to fight the titans for territory. They march through the gate ragged and wounded with PTSD all around. A mother asks about her son, only to receive his severed arm. She asks if her son at least helped strike a critical blow against the titans for humanity, hoping (wink) he did not die in vain. The commander tries to answer, but honesty prevailed with a resounding "we achieved nothing at all." The Lovecraft theme of hopelessness is prevalent, as hundreds of soldiers sacrificed themselves, gave the ultimate price, for a whole lot of nothing. Nothing was gained, nothing was learned, nothing was achieved. Not a dang thing. Which is sadly par for the course.
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| This is just a bloody loaf of bread, right? Right?! |
A bystander comments on the taxes being wasted on the Scout Regiment, receiving a blow upside the head from Eren. Eren declares his intention of joining the Scout Regiment, only to be dragged into an alley and tossed like a ragdoll by Mikasa. She calls him out on his crap, after seeing what happened with the Scout Regiment. We then reach the extremely informative "commercial break," each of which explains another aspect of the current state and structure of humanity. Humanity is confined in a walled nation, with three walls. The outermost one is Wall Maria, the middle is Wall Rose, and the center wall is Wall Sina, with roughly 100km between each wall.
Eren and Mikasa return home with firewood, thus we are introduced to Dr. Grisha Jaeger and their mother, Carla. Mikasa, being a total snitch, tells Eren's parents that Eren wants to join the Scout Regiment. He may as well have been taking an obscene amount of drugs, or declared he was gay, from his mother's reaction. As with many adventure anime protagonists, he "wants to see the world" and become a Titanmon master! But at the same time, he wants to help make the deaths of the Scouts not be in vain. Grisha, his father, his male role model, just nods and states he has to go to Wall Sina to treat medieval STDs or something that isn't important. At the pleading of Carla for Grisha to talk some since into Eren, Daddy just states that Eren can't be held back from human curiousity, and states that he'll show Eren the basement, holding a McGuffin key, when he gets back. Carla keeps trying to call Eren out on his crap, causing Eren to man up... and run away.
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| So you want to take part in suicidal charges against invincible monsters? Send me a postcard. |
Now we meet Armin, who shows us his physical strength and aptitude through getting the hell beat out of him. But now we get to see Armin's intellect. He is called heretic for some reason. He rebuts with stating that the bullies are too stupid to come up with a comeback and got physical, thus they conceded to his point. This, of course, makes the bullies want to beat his face in.
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| Sadly, THIS is the smartest of the heroes. |
They are interrupted by Eren charging at them. With Eren as the hero of the series, do the bullies A) Rethink what they said and apologize quickly, B) Run away or C) get ready to kick Eren's posterior. The answer is, sadly, C. But upon seeing the bland face of death and despair of Mikasa, the bullies opt for option D) soil themselves and run. And of course, Eren thinks they ran from him. Armin breaks this assertion very quickly.
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| Your soul. I will eat it. |
We learn that talking of the outside world is a taboo and the equivalent of saying Duck Dynasty sucks in the South. Using the lost art of common sense, Armin has realized that humanity isn't safe forever, things can go south very quickly.
3...2...1
Colossal Titan appears.
The colossal titan turns the gate of Wall Maria into Mario Soccer, kicking the gate, sending debris and boulders flying, naturally landing on old ladies and houses with the force sending everyone else flying. Goal! After 100 years, the titans inconceivably entered the wall. The Colossal Titan waves and disappears in a cloud of steam while titans between 5-15 meters tall, start entering the gap. The trio see the debris fly towards their house, so of course, the boulder landed right in the middle of their house. Eren and Mikasa find Carla under the debris, Eren and Mikasa desperately trying to lift the house off of her. Carla's legs are crushed, and urges the two to run away as the 15m tall titan, who apparently took in some of Joker's laughing gas, walks towards them.
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| Why So Serious? |
Enter Hannes. The dashing hero flies on in his 3D Maneuvering Gear and declares he will save all three of them. He charges at the Titan, chanting a matra of strength in his mind. A day may come when the courage of Men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the Age of Men comes crashing down, but it is not this day! This day we fight!
One look and Hannes runs.
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| I bid you stand, Men of the -- No. Hell no. |
He grabs Eren and Mikasa (Armin was too busy having shell-shock to follow them) and runs.
It is this moment, after Carla screams that they must run to live and survive. After they are out of earshot, covering her mouth, she utters "Don't go." The human instinct of survival, and the motherly instinct of protecting her children, and being with her children, are at war. A very short war.
The Joker picks up Carla, while Eren has a full view due to Hannes doing a terrible job of carrying them. Carla strikes feebly at the hand of the Titan, until the Titan thinks she is a soda and twists her cap, proceeding to eat her. Not swallowing, not chewing with its mouth closed, but literally biting her in half and chewing. Her blood rains down to the ground as Eren can only look on in horror. The Batmobile lost a wheel and the Joker got away.
Review:
I am still mastering the art of synopsis, so this may have dragged on a good bit. My apologies.
Animation: 5/5
The art and animation of this episode is 5/5. It isn't a series of pictures panning left and right or zooming in and out, or simply pictures that happen to have animated mouths. The characters move naturally and the flow is excellent. The beginning scene gives us both the scale of the aptly named Titans, as well as a brief glimpse of the intensity of soldiers using 3D Maneuvering Gear. The animation of the latter is particularly enjoyable to see. Relative to other anime, I rate this on the scale of Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood. The art as well as the animation are superb.
Music: 4/5
The introduction music is a mix of rock and orchestral with a very intense tempo. Surprisingly, it uses both German and Japanese language with Gregorian-like chants to give it that "epic" feel. Nothing says epic like Latin chants. The music throughout the episode sets the tone, the eye before the storm. Everything is at peace, but tense at the same time. Much like a cat before it pounces. Which isn't my cat, who has been passed out on my lap since I started typing this review. He's a munchkin, thus compact.
Story: 4/5
As with all series' pilots, the story starts at a slow pace. Before the opening credits, it is anything but that. And I would have preferred it was not there, the most important reason being it acts as a spoiler of sorts. This episode, after the opening, starts with a dark dream, then shows us the situation of the land, the walls and the military, an introduction of important (and unimportant) characters, then boom, Colossal Titan. All of that build-up pays tenfold, as the life our protagonists knew literally got a hole kicked through it. Knowing about the Colossal Titan beforehand kind of gave it away. The Scouts attacking the Titan in the woods is debatable, as having it directly before their not-so-triumphant return would have better served the plot and tone. Hurray, the Scout Regiment is off to battle monsters. Then Yay! They're back... They meaning not very many now. However, I understand the need to draw the audience in quickly, but without much in the way of context, it might leave the viewer confused as to the scope of what's going on, and when its finally given context, the blow is not as strong. Other than that, we are given a view of the society and its structure as well as immediately seeing the strengths and weaknesses of each character.
Characters: 3/5
Eren is not particularly strong or smart, but is driven and extroverted. He is essentially Naruto, but without the "Believe it" crap.
Mikasa is extremely strong physically, but is very introverted. She would be the Sasuke of this show. Completely awesome and loyal to Eren, but a little too brooding. She's also the last Oriental, so definitely a Sasuke.
Armin is very intelligent, but is weak both physically and in common sense. Sadly, he is the Sakura of the group, but has the brains of Shikamaru. If you are getting your butt kicked, telling the guy that he's too-stupid-to-debate-thus-I-win is going to make him just want to beat-your-face-in-until-you-can't-physically-debate-with-a-broken-jaw. Plus, he totally jinxed humanity by saying the walls won't protect them forever.
Overall: 4/5
This episode serves its function by introducing us to the world and the characters. The "commercial break" information dumps are actually useful, without wasting time having other characters waste their breath telling other characters things that everybody should already know. If you play RPGs, you will see what I mean. The characters are, for now, nothing new in the world of anime. This may change later on.
More reviews to come, so stay tuned!
Excellent first review. Keep em coming.
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