Attack on Titan is just about the most imaginative and different science fiction/fantasy show I’ve seen. I love the layered narrative of revealing everything a little at a time to the audience, and I love this last season’s time jump and flashback and once again the layered narrative and reveals. They really know how to tell a good story by revealing it in an order that makes it the most interesting.
The first 16 episodes aired until March 29, 2021 and a second part is in development with an expected release in the Winter 2022 airing season.
But yeah, Attack on Titan is really great. It started as an action/horror thing, then evolved into a mystery show, and finally it matured in a geopolitics and ethics course.
It’s been 2 years! Time for me to pop in and recommend Claymore! Mata ne!
Actually, it was something @Rock8man said that triggered this post. “Attack on Titan Committee”. I’ve noticed for a long time that every anime is produced by a unique committee for just that anime series. Now I’ve finally lmgtfy “anime committee organization”, and read these 2 informative links:
Talks about how anime studio grunts make almost no money, so where do the money go?!? I tl;dr so I don’t know.
Basically the committee is formed only to make the one thing, and then sit on the rights FOREVER! This explains why it’s so hard to license an anime after many years. You’d have to track down a bunch of possibly dead companies.
I can happily report that you can skip skip skip through the long sections with Zenitsu and not miss much. It’s easy to catch his big moment and you don’t need a ton of context.
But really, Z comes in hot and heavy for a few episodes and drags things down, but then they pull away from him quite a bit and he’s not so bad.
Seconding Samurai Champloo: I like the episode where they take a break from the main quest and everyone plays baseball. It’s more self aware than it sounds and is really, genuinely funny.
So, I’m been following World Trigger, and man, one of the great things about Season 2 is how the very slow training of Osamu pays off. Not in him getting more powerful, because he doesn’t. He still is the weakest member of Border, but how learning new skills allows him to play a huge role in the team battle, especially with the ability to put down trip wires.
I also love how fleshed out all the other members of Border, the politics and fighting styles, the equipment. Its great to watch them battle it out in the tournaments in teams, but then when the Neighbors show up, the how dynamic can change, and different members of different teams work together.
In other words, anyone gets to start watching now is in luck that the don’t have to wait several years between Osamu and Chika starting they’re journey, and then finally getting the pay off of learning skills to overcome their disadvantageous in the 2nd season.
The filer can probably be skipped. It has some great scenes, but it mostly shows off the the OPness of some of the other characters.
I think, if you have watched a large part of the first scene (sans filler), it is worth watching the rest for the payoff that happens around episode 4 or 5 of Season 2 (after the major battle).
The only downside is, as I’m sure you are aware of, that its pretty slow. One tournament battle in season 2 took 3 episodes, although it started late in the first episode, and ended early in the third episode. The creators of the anime really want you to get a feel for every single characters fighting abilities and thought process, no matter how minor the character appears.
But, I really like how in this team dynamic, every character does get a role to play. Somebody on youtube compared it to a Tactics RPG, like Ogre, or Final Fantasy Tactics.
I finished the light novel of Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation over the weekend. Phew. I was pretty obsessed with getting to the finish line by the end. I have to say, a great series, and a great story, and some fabulous boss battles at the end that were worthy of a great finale. I hope the actual anime does the story justice and actually gets all the way to the end. Judging by how far they got in the first season though, it will take about 12 more seasons of that size at least to tell the whole story.
Meanwhile, I’ve enjoyed the first two episodes of the new season of My Hero Academia so far. I’ve been able to see them on Hulu, but for some reason on Funimation I just get a black screen. Has anyone been able to view them on Funimation? I can see older seasons on Funimation just fine. I had no idea that had a little OVA movie in between seasons, so I watched that on Funimation.
Dr Stone Dr. Stone (TV Series 2019– ) - IMDb
I really enjoyed season 1 of this but I’ve not seen season 2 yet. It’s about two older teenagers who are the only survivors of an apocalyptic event. Together they have to rebuild civilization using the power of science. Rather than solving problems through fighting they usually reinvent some technology. It’s an unusual and quite wholesome show. 7.5/10.
Made in Abyss Made in Abyss (TV Series 2017– ) - IMDb
I love the animation in this one. Wow! - The background art in particular is amazing. I went into it blind and thought it was a kids show. I was wrong. It goes to some very dark places indeed. Beautiful and haunting with an epic soundtrack. 8/10.
EDIT: Thinking about it - it reminded me of a more adult Dark Crystal. Strong world building, slightly surreal, adult themes.
My Hero Academia My Hero Academia (TV Series 2016– ) - IMDb
I thought this was total garbage and I’m shocked that it garners such high reviews. I got about 10 episodes in hoping it would get better before I finally bailed. The animation is average at best. The plot and storyline very dull. Whatever the appeal is of this one I don’t get it at all. 2/10.
