Ah yes, the time has finally come for me to discuss my thoughts on this well known horror anime with the people who read these posts. I have been avoiding this for quite some time now because I truthfully am not caught up with the manga (I stopped reading around chapter 55 I think. I would tell you the last thing I remember, but it's kind of a spoiler for those of you who only watch the anime and I know there are actually a lot of those people out there.) I have also been avoiding this post because it has been a really, really long time since I watched the anime (I watched it as it was coming out and haven't re-watched it since then. So like 2014 or so), read the manga again (I used to be caught up but stopped around 2014), and the last actual content from the show I've actually been interested in was the Attack on Titan video game for the PS4 that just came out (that I haven't played yet, but it looks super cool). I also saw the live action movies when they were shown in theaters here in San Francisco! (You can read my article about it here) TLDR; I used to be a giant AoT nerd in high school and then I got a life and haven't liked it since, but now I'm gonna talk about it!
I'm sure most people have heard about this anime in some way or another and probably don't need a rundown of what it's about, but if you were living under a rock during 2013 and 2014 I will explain it as simply as possible: Attack on Titan is the story of giant titans that eat humans and terrorize society. One day the titans break into human society and eat a bunch of people. Some of those people happened to be family members of an angry boy named Eren Yeager, who then swore that he would kill all the titans to get his revenge on them. A bunch of stuff happens and he gets turned into a titan and helps humanity with his titan powers to stop the titans. He joins the army and they try to save the world. That's as simple as I can make it without giving away any major spoilers. 😅
I'm not exactly sure why this anime became so popular in America. I haven't seen anything become as mainstream in our pop culture like this except for maybe Naruto, and even that wasn't as popular as Attack on Titan is today. I remember hearing about it because it was so crazy and gory and, oh my gosh, people get eaten and it was so messed up! In reality this is a rather tame anime compared to some of the other things I have written about in the past, but it is definitely really graphic in its own right. I think the reason why I personally used to like it so much was because everyone else I knew online was so into it and it was very much the thing to be into at the time. The story was interesting and the animation was fantastic, but at the time I liked it I didn't really care about those things. In fact the reason I don't like it now is because so many people do like it and if that makes me a horrible person then so be it. I remember talking to a cashier at Hot Topic about it one time and he was saying how excited he was to see next week's episode on Toonami and how he couldn't wait to find out what happened next. It made me so angry mostly because I am elitist anime trash now and I couldn't believe people actually waited for the dub to air to watch it. If they cared that much then why didn't they just read the manga? It was at that point that I think I truly lost interest in the series and the people who were into it.
I don't really know what I want to say about this series as a whole. There is a large cast of characters, many of which get killed off which is cool. The story is pretty interesting if it manages to hold your attention long enough, and if you can stand the people who like it and wear the Survey Corps jackets in public, hey, who am I to judge? I can't really even back up what I'm saying because yes, I own the Survey Corps cloak, I have invested several hundred dollars into the series by way of figures, manga, posters, and now video games, and I will be watching the second season when it eventually comes out. In fact last week I bought a stupid Attack on Titan coloring book at F.Y.E for $3 and I have no excuse as to why I did that. It's just something about the series that both infuriates me and enraptures me at the same time and I just can't seem to fully stop being involved with it as much as I would like to. Check it out at your own risk, or take the smarter route and don't. It's up to you.
-BookWyrm
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