Hey, everyone. So, as a relative newbie to the franchise, I thought I'd briefly update my thoughts on Attack on Titan now that we're 8 episodes in on Toonami.
For me, the mystery of the Titans themselves is still the strongest draw this series has. I also like how there are "abnormal" Titans that break the mold and keep things interesting. And the twist with Eren, which had been slightly spoiled for me, was still surprisingly satisfying, because it wasn't done in the obvious way I expected.
(The Titan was around him, rather than him turning into the Titan; and that hurts a lot of my other story assumptions).
I think it was episode 6 that this series really started to get its legs under it. That episode showed off some writing chops beyond the shock theater, shonen action, and traditional teen drama elements, and it really made Mikasa and Eren far more intriguing than before that point. (Though, their "relationship" hasn't flowed in a way that's felt quite right to me; I always took them more as brother and sister before this episode). That said, I think Jean is my favorite young character to this point. He has a nice balance/mixture of conflict and maturity within him. He has really stabilized the cast. And I thought Armin was going to go a long time ago based on previews. As an aside, I think if this were an Ocean dub, Brad Swaile would have played him.
They explained the Titan powers to some extent, answering some of my earlier questions/concerns, and the human forces' wires have a gas-powered air system attached that explains the steampunk jet packs I assumed this series would have.
After chugging for a little bit (deliberately, in retrospect), the action and pacing is really good all and all, and the graceful aerial combat and brutal
Titan vs. Titan
combat is very enjoyable. One wonders how that contrast will play out in the future.
The animation, while not necessarily setting the consistent level of new standards some reviews have stated, is very competent, and really shines during its action scenes, which tend to have cleverly blended uses for CG not unlike the
Rebuild of Evangelion movies, and various artistic flourishes in terms of distortions/camera angles seen less and less in most anime since the end of the late 90s. The heavy black outlines on characters against the backgrounds is a little strange, as are the pencil hashing/shading seen in some scenes, but it's an interesting visual quirk fitting for such a bizarre series.
After having seen 8 episodes, it is clear how to describe this series to long-time anime fans, and in doing so, it's not surprising that it's such a breakthrough title. It's basically
Berserk meets
Fullmetal Alchemist meets
Evangelion. It even seems to go so far as to visually reference these works at times.
Well, we'll see how it continues on. There's still the mystery of Eren's father and his experiments, too, which I'm looking forward to seeing more of. I have some theories about that. I have to say, though, despite the many assumptions I had about how this series' twists would go, they have managed to contradict a lot of my expectations, which is a good thing. I remember having that same experience with G-Gundam. I can't say I'm head-over-heels for Attack on Titan, but it's definitely an intriguing show that I want to continue with.