After the first big action-oriented arc, Shingeki no Kyojin is in its intermezzo arc: the arc that does not focus on action, but instead is aimed at exploring the background of something, in this case the titans. Arcs like these don’t have action: they can’t depend on flashy graphics or fast-paced entertainment to keep the viewer busy, so their subject material really needs to be interesting here more than ever now.
Many series before have attempted to first show enemies as ruthless monsters, only to show a bit of humanity into them. My experience told me that this is very hard to really do well. The obvious solution would be to just hint that these beings also have some sort of humanity in them. Gargantia did that for example, but that was way too quick to really come of as convincing, especially how they used it. Shingeki no Kyojin has an intersesting approach here, by using this nutcase of a character really well.
This is new: a character who is so desperate to see the titans from a different angle. She’s fully aware of what they did, yet she forces herself to bond with the titans she caught, even though there are no hints whatsoever that they’re actually taking note of her and recognizin her. It’s like herding a bunch of amnesiac tigers, only ten times worse. And this actually worked.
In one way, Eren is a great main character. I mean, there is not much to his character, but as an observer he works quite well: he’s hardly ever in control of the situation, which gives the side cast tons of different oppotunities to shine and show themselves off. You way too often have these main characters who try to hog all of the spotlights, but he stays very surprisingly away from that.
Also, that final sentence of the episode intrigued me.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)
I don’t know…the show seems to be getting more and more boring. What happened to the “more despair than Berserk” slogan?
Comes in 1 to 3 episodes from now.
I read the manga already…even the manga is getting boring…
then drop it.
Nah the manga is getting better, it was having a lull for a time when the author was trying to figure out what he wanted to do with a story (and wrote himself out of the corner he wrote himself into earlier) I have a feeling that he’ll be able to finish the whole story by the time the series would be done with a 4 cour season (50+ eps)kinda like FMA brotherhood. They may take a break for 6 months in the anime or something then come back to it, but I feel that the way the manga is going, the guy has “his mojo” back.
@meep, seems like you’re mad that someone has an opinion that’s different than yours. You might want to check that out.
Agreed. This anime is pretty much boring at this point. The last few episodes were yawny at best.
“more despair than Berserk” slogan
Only in Jean’s head. There’s a lot of despair in Jean’s head. Jean’s head is boring as hell by the way.
Not sure if the guy in charge got the memo that this wasn’t a 100+ episodes shonen show or that the manga just translate very poorly to anime.
I’m kinda excited now 🙂
The anime is heading to the best arc in the manga, and I really hope that they will take things a bit slower with this. The manga is very action packed, but things tend to end too quickly.
I think the series does everything right at this point. It needs some time to introduce the characters, the world they’re living. I don’t mind if that takes time.. By the way Hanji turned out to be a likable character. 🙂 Unexpected…
There seems to be a formula of build-up, then action arc, then build-up again as we explore the fallout. I quite like it, it allows for more world-building then your typical shonen series. Plus when the carnage happens it has more impact.
I got the opposite impression, that they were dehumanising the Titans after the last arc, showing that their not just simple transformed humans like the title charachter, that they dont feel pain or have intelligence.
May be Eren would turn into that too if he would stay too long in his “Titan Mode”. May be that’s that happened with the other titans.
This show deserved a far higher rating. It is one of the first few shows in a while that actually drove a decent plot without inconsistanties in writing. Other then truly enjoying how the side characters are used I enjoy the sense that humanity is truly at the ednge of exintion. Every momment feels important. This is somthing for your typical anime. A must watch and I hope there will be a 2nd season. (26+ episods)
in comparison to other shows this season(or last season. . .or even last last season) then yeah. . .personally I think most of the other shows should be rated a lot lower than they are now like at 1 or 2. as there are just a lot of abysmal shows out now.