Obviously I haven't read the manga and I've only noticed this series once I saw an internet trend that has been growing in popularity in impressive pace. But to speak to the anime, Attack on Titan / Shingeki no Kyojin is truly a masterpiece.
All professionals in the creative business know that good ideas are almost as abundant and ubiquitous as trash. Almost 100% of all failures as an anime are due to poor execution, not to poor ideas. That being said, great ideas that usually can either become a disciplinary classic or spur a massive output of merchandise products are hard to come by. Many
...
of the great-idea anime/manga that I came across could only do one of these two things, but I'm confident Attack on Titian / Shingeki no Kyojin can and will do both.
Ok now onto the actual review, as a visual work of arts the anime is stunning. The use of lines and coloring especially showcase master-skills. The cinematic-quality 3D effects that accompany almost every fight are handled by a group of outsourced Vietnamese animators, some of whom you might recognize from the EVA Rebuild movies (I'm promoting this because I'm Vietnamese ^^). I mean, holy cow who doesn't like a whole military of Spider-Man with blades / Deadpool with Spidey power, kicking all kinds of asses?
Ok, in all seriousness, the character designs (still visually speaking) are the highlight of this anime. All of them look like they just begged to be re-created in forms of figures & art prints. You have the cool military uniform and the characters who are varied enough and attractive in their own way. The visual design of each character suits their personality really well too.
While execution is still the topic here, let me just say that there are many facets of intricacies in the production of an anime. But to best sum things up, the directing overall is exceptional. The director knows the mood of EVERY SCENE, EVERY SHOT in the story so well, which is the essential but most difficult job for someone to transpire it from manga to anime, that we as audience feel immersed seamlessly and completely with it. Let me make a point here that this story & plot is incredibly rich, varied but condensed so that each scene is packed with moments that constantly consume our attention to the max. How someone can add appropriate editing to it, know when and where to use what effects (even sometimes not to animate at all), and manipulate music to complement the story and guide our sentiments at this level completely blows my mind.
But what else can make it a disciplinary classic? Well the basic aspects of all disciplines of story-telling arts have been PLOT and CHARACTERS. First off, the story is character-driven which already stands it above so many other franchises I've seen, read & watched AND the characters are all so life-like. Maybe it's just me who has a thing for scarfs and cool-headed female but Mikasa is my pick for a worthy star of the show. Almost every seemingly Ms. Perfects are like her. They are not perfect because they are perfect, they are because other people, except for us the audience, are not granted access to their imperfections. In this aspect the story is realistic because it does not deviate from the universal truths about human beings. What those universal truths are, you will find out when you watch this, one by one, so I'm not gonna go into too much details. And while I do love Mikasa too much, no words will do justice to how awesome characters like Armin, Eren, Levi, Irwin and many others are. Like all great stories, the characters here are incredibly complex and there are no clear heroes or villains. Just you wait and see.
Second, the PLOT is truly commendable. This is when I address the manga creator, Hajime Isayama. Call the plot at times convenient or not, Isayama-sensei is the god of the Attack on Titan universe, and he is a "good" god. I say so because he knows when and where to be predictable and when are where to be unpredictable. Being a good story-teller is like being a teacher and an entertainer at the same time, you guide your listeners in a way that excite them AND condition them for some development in their persons. I sure was excited at the combat sequences, the drama, the unknowns of his universe (the endless questioning about the titans, for example). But at the same time, I felt that both my brain and heart are very properly stimulated. My heart grew affected gradually, un-interuptedly for the cast of characters, one by one, sometimes two or three at once. My brain has to work too because of all the mysteries and the teasing that is going on. Who doesn't love working through hints given by the author to, say, figure out the identities of the special titans and/or the bigger forces at work here?
Lastly, this is a long shot because obviously the plot is far from complete but I have an idea of how both the manga & anime (assuming they're gonna stay close together story-wise) are going. I hope to re-affirm in this anime some truths I already knew about human beings and the world that I live in. So far so good. I accept his metaphors unconditionally. Magic. To do that to me is as if he read my minds, or maybe I belong to his target audience pool. But I would certainly use Attack on Titan as examples for things I might go on to teach others NOT ONLY about entertainment, manga & anime, but also about life.
22 episodes in, and it's 10/10 from me :).
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Sep 12, 2013
Shingeki no Kyojin
(Anime)
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Obviously I haven't read the manga and I've only noticed this series once I saw an internet trend that has been growing in popularity in impressive pace. But to speak to the anime, Attack on Titan / Shingeki no Kyojin is truly a masterpiece.
All professionals in the creative business know that good ideas are almost as abundant and ubiquitous as trash. Almost 100% of all failures as an anime are due to poor execution, not to poor ideas. That being said, great ideas that usually can either become a disciplinary classic or spur a massive output of merchandise products are hard to come by. Many ... |
