Author Topic: Critique of Attack on Titan  (Read 4203 times)

Offline Amechra

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Critique of Attack on Titan
« on: July 06, 2013, 11:01:13 AM »
Note: I kinda enjoyed Attack on Titan. More on the level of "eh, it looks pretty" than anything else

Those are some of the stupidest fuckers I've ever had the "pleasure" of watching. Their military has literally the worst training of any I've ever seen in something that was intended to be taken seriously.

Seriously, watch any combat scene; there is not really any coordination between the characters, beyond the most basic. It's as if they haven't been trained to work together as a team. Hell, the "elite" unit is filled with quirky characters who are individually good at what they do, instead of being a cohesive unit that uses coordination to take down the enemy.

And another thing: whose stupid idea was it to use swords to fight something 4+ metres tall? Seriously, if you gave me an enemy that required an extremely precise blow to kill, my first idea wouldn't be "invent a device that swings people around so quickly that they need specialized training to not panic, and then hand them swords."

It would be "whaling harpoons. We need whaling harpoons." OK, not necessarily whaling harpoons, but an explosive-tipped spear isn't a difficult concept, and they have the technology to launch small objects at something with extreme accuracy. It would result in a lot less of your soldiers being dead, idiots.

And another thing: the characters don't really have any connection to each-other. Seriously, it results in the characters being rather flat, because we're left with their motivations, and motivations don't carry a character.

Now, before people yell at me vis-a-vis "Rule of Cool"; I like the Rule of Cool. Attack on Titan, however, is thematically one of those things where Rule of Cool just doesn't fit with the rest of the series.

Looking back, I feel like Attack on Titan can be compared in many ways to Evangelion; both are about a "military" facing down a superior threat, on the edge of despair. Ignore for a second that Eren is Generic Shonen Protagonist #1324345 (seriously, there isn't much about his character other than "want to kill Titans.") and Shinji is a depressing sad sack; you can't argue though, that NERV doesn't handle their problems better.

NERV plotted out their strategies every step of the way, and acted as a reasonably cohesive force (despite the fact that one of the big themes of Eva is "wow, these people are really, really shitty at communicating"). They kinda realized that the battlefield isn't the time for bullshit. In other words, they acted like a military force.

The "army" in Attack on Titan, on the other hand, acts more like a militia; they have horrible morale, they make no real effort to learn about their enemy or their instincts, and just generally acts like a bunch of individuals that just happen to be fighting in the same general area at the same time.

Finally... am I the only one sick of Regeneration on monsters in like every anime? I know that they need some justification for whatever crazy gimmick they are using instead of just "let the army take care of it", and something to make the "characters who tries fighting it who isn't a main character" get terrified at because "oh noes, our attacks don't do anything", but seriously?

There are tons of ways that aren't "the monster is immune to everything but this one particular method of killing them."

I just wanna see smart monsters...
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Offline brujon

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Re: Critique of Attack on Titan
« Reply #1 on: July 26, 2013, 03:22:02 PM »
It finished then? Guess it's time to download the whole series and marathon it...

*With the exception of One Piece, and, once upon a time, Bleach and Naruto, i am simply UNABLE to keep up with a weekly series. I get too anxious. So i instead keep restraining myself until the series finish, then watch it all at once. It's my guilty pleasure!
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Offline Atmo

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Re: Critique of Attack on Titan
« Reply #2 on: July 26, 2013, 03:38:46 PM »
Read the manga, the Abnormal Titans are what you looking for (maybe).

Offline oslecamo

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Re: Critique of Attack on Titan
« Reply #3 on: July 26, 2013, 03:46:36 PM »
Note: I kinda enjoyed Attack on Titan. More on the level of "eh, it looks pretty" than anything else

Those are some of the stupidest fuckers I've ever had the "pleasure" of watching. Their military has literally the worst training of any I've ever seen in something that was intended to be taken seriously.

Seriously, watch any combat scene; there is not really any coordination between the characters, beyond the most basic. It's as if they haven't been trained to work together as a team. Hell, the "elite" unit is filled with quirky characters who are individually good at what they do, instead of being a cohesive unit that uses coordination to take down the enemy.
Didn't watch the anime, but the manga actually puts a solid enphasis on teamwork, including the elite unit coordinating their attacks on a particular nasty enemy, and more recently two main character teaming up  to take down a sword-immune opponent. Still not much on large tactics tough.

And another thing: whose stupid idea was it to use swords to fight something 4+ metres tall? Seriously, if you gave me an enemy that required an extremely precise blow to kill, my first idea wouldn't be "invent a device that swings people around so quickly that they need specialized training to not panic, and then hand them swords."

It would be "whaling harpoons. We need whaling harpoons." OK, not necessarily whaling harpoons, but an explosive-tipped spear isn't a difficult concept, and they have the technology to launch small objects at something with extreme accuracy. It would result in a lot less of your soldiers being dead, idiots.
Reminds me of Gundam logic. "Hey guys we have this really fast units and homing missiles don't work. Should we just shoot more while flying away? Nah, plasma swords/axes bitches!"

Or Star Wars. Or warhammer 40k. Or Fate/Stay night where even casters have better chances of sucess when they start stabbing things close and personal. You name it. Sword porn is king.

Altough to be fair:
-In the manga they have artillery regiments tasked with blowing up giants when they mass themselves at the walls. However artillery is also slow to drag around. 3D gear troops have the mobility advantage of quickly reacting to giant appearances, in particular when fighting in the middle of houses. Altough still yeah they could most certainly carry some satchels around. Then throw said satchels into the gaping maws of the giants. That would've been be awesome.  :D
-The manga also puts a big enphasis that food is limited, so fresh recruits are considered completely expendable. Also those that perform worst on training are the ones being forced to the frontline first, so yeah...

Finally... am I the only one sick of Regeneration on monsters in like every anime? I know that they need some justification for whatever crazy gimmick they are using instead of just "let the army take care of it", and something to make the "characters who tries fighting it who isn't a main character" get terrified at because "oh noes, our attacks don't do anything", but seriously?

There are tons of ways that aren't "the monster is immune to everything but this one particular method of killing them."
Can you name three? Just out of curiosity?

I just wanna see smart monsters...
If a monster was smart, why would he be attacking the enemy town by himself, when he could do something like raise an army to fight and die for him? :p

Read the manga, the Abnormal Titans are what you looking for (maybe).
Wait, they didn't put those in the anime? Seems like I didn't miss much then.
« Last Edit: July 26, 2013, 03:49:09 PM by oslecamo »

Offline Amechra

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Re: Critique of Attack on Titan
« Reply #4 on: July 26, 2013, 04:11:28 PM »
There were mentions of Abnormal Titans, but we only really saw 3, and they got limited screen-time. I might have to take a look at the manga; from what you are saying, it sounds more to my speed.

And I can name a few:

1. Good ol' acid blood; hit the thing, and your weapon breaks, and you get horrible burns all over your body if you're too close.
2. Having a shit-ton of 'em; sure, you can take one down without too much trouble, but 10? How about 100? How about 1000?
3. Having the monsters be smart; not "genius level, organize an army", but more "velociraptors from Jurassic Park".
4. Mind control. A monster that takes over your best friend and makes him shoot you is a tad intimidating, no?

Or, hell, just make them tough; I find the image of a monster with its legs blown off dragging itself after you, not appreciably any slower, to be a lot more intimidating than the monster growing their legs back before coming after you.

And again, by smart, I mean "as smart as a pack of wolves"; you don't need super-geniuses to be scary.

Though I am reminded of DROD.

DROD is a puzzle game for PC where you go through a dungeon killing monsters; most of the time, the AI is pretty stupid...

Except for rooms with Brains. You see, Brains don't move, and they can't attack you.

They just make the AI for every enemy about 10 times smarter.
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Offline X-Codes

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Re: Critique of Attack on Titan
« Reply #5 on: July 26, 2013, 04:18:24 PM »
It's not done yet. It's still ongoing, and I somewhat agree with the OP. I'm watching it mostly out of curiosity at this point, and less so because of entertainment value. That may not hold out quite as much now that the story seems to be shifting away from the trio of Eren, Mikasa, and Armin and more on just Eren. I kinda wish they didn't bother with that stupid titan magic Eren has (yes, anything so blatantly breaking the law of conservation of energy is magic), and that instead the damn titans just ate him and the story focused more on Mikasa. Maybe then we wouldn't have to endure Mikasa blushing and stammering demurely every time someone calls her Eren's Girlfriend and she could just be a badass 24/7 instead of Generic Shonen Protagonist's Love Interest #6621721.

Also, directed more at Amechra's list of possible scary enemy featueres: Hordes of enemies is overdone, too. Blame the zombie fad. I could get into a show where humanity was fighting for survival against roving packs of really tough, acid-blooded vel- oh hell, let's just call it what it is: fleshrakers.

Offline Amechra

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Re: Critique of Attack on Titan
« Reply #6 on: July 26, 2013, 04:45:29 PM »
I think I wouldn't be as annoyed at the show if one of my friends didn't think it was the best thing since sliced bread.

Also, why does everyone in that damn anime react to fear in the same way? Seriously, I'd expect a cult or two to spring up worshiping the damn things.

But, yeah, Eren is the weakest of the 3 main characters, personality-wise; he is Generic Shounen Protagonist #whatever. At least the other two have some redeeming qualities.
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Offline oslecamo

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Re: Critique of Attack on Titan
« Reply #7 on: July 26, 2013, 05:02:28 PM »
1. Good ol' acid blood; hit the thing, and your weapon breaks, and you get horrible burns all over your body if you're too close.
2. Having a shit-ton of 'em; sure, you can take one down without too much trouble, but 10? How about 100? How about 1000?
3. Having the monsters be smart; not "genius level, organize an army", but more "velociraptors from Jurassic Park".
4. Mind control. A monster that takes over your best friend and makes him shoot you is a tad intimidating, no?
1. In that case you could solve the giant problem just by forming disciplined firing lines.
2. In the manga at least, the giants currently do outnumber humies in the current age for all we know. One of the main factors why they took over the world, no matter how much mankind kills of them, more keep coming. Also kinda overdone as pointed out by X-Codes
3. Read the manga.
4. That's more suited for horror/intrigue series than exactly action series if you ask me. But plenty of stuff that focus on that out there already tough. Including Code Geass, where the protanogist is the one mind-controling people.

Or, hell, just make them tough; I find the image of a monster with its legs blown off dragging itself after you, not appreciably any slower, to be a lot more intimidating than the monster growing their legs back before coming after you.
Personally, I would find it even more nonlogical for a legless monster to don't be impaired in any visible way.

And again, by smart, I mean "as smart as a pack of wolves"; you don't need super-geniuses to be scary.
Read the manga.

Also, why does everyone in that damn anime react to fear in the same way? Seriously, I'd expect a cult or two to spring up worshiping the damn things.
Read. The. Manga.

But, yeah, Eren is the weakest of the 3 main characters, personality-wise; he is Generic Shounen Protagonist #whatever. At least the other two have some redeeming qualities.
A bit spoilerific, but in the manga, a human being able to turn into a giant ends up becoming a key plot point besides "We now have a giant in our side!"
« Last Edit: July 26, 2013, 05:04:06 PM by oslecamo »

Offline Amechra

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Re: Critique of Attack on Titan
« Reply #8 on: July 26, 2013, 05:16:54 PM »
I'll read the manga; after all, my interest has been piqued.

Maybe after my jaw stops feeling like Kuroi was mad at it...
"There is happiness for those who accept their fate, there is glory for those that defy it."

"Now that everyone's so happy, this is probably a good time to tell you I ate your parents."