Attack on Titan #01 — Not As Advertised

April 6th, 2013

 

Please stop screaming at me.

Impressions:

So, I seem to remember being impressed by slick animation and action sequences in the trailers. Apparently all they could muster for the first episode was some horse riding and spiderman swinging through trees for about twenty seconds before the OP even played. After that? Our old friends, shaky cam and speedlines! Good god. Old woman wailing in the street? Shaky cam and speedlines. Titans breaking down a wall? Shaky cam and speedlines. Mother geting eaten? Shaky cam and slow mo. And you know what would have also been nice? If almost every single character wasn’t screaming the entire time. The lead was the worst by far. Good god. It was just Yuuki Kaiji using his most petulant voice possible. Sure, the wailing opera in the background toward the end probably didn’t help things be any less excessively dramatic, but my ears hurt after this was over. Just a little contrast would be nice. When you’re using the exact same direction, screaming, and aghast looks on their faces for everything from childhood bullies to pissy sons arguing with their parents to random street anguish to two-story tall devouring monsters you should be rethinking things.

So, uh, yeah. Color me extremely disappointed. None of the action promised was present, the first half was slow as snot, the characters just made my ears ring, and even when things finally kicked in toward the last third, it still didn’t do much impressive. Unless you count a lot of disturbingly defined CG anatomy model asses as impressive. They didn’t even nail the drama either, so far overshooting it that it became a joke at times. A visceral jarring scene would be his mother’s head suddenly chewed off or something similar. A ridiculous scene is a 30 second slow motion affair complete with "Nooooooooooooooooo!" Or my favorite, when the big hero goes running up to fight one. Gets one look at it, a pan over it as it stands there rock still, blanches, turns tail and runs. It’s like the scene was straight out of a gag comedy, but we’re instead supposed to take it as him witnessing the horror and futility of… something. I don’t know. That would have been a good time for him or someone to be viciously eaten to actually make that convincing. Not be horrified by its terrifying ability to stand there.

Next Episode:

Titans and flashbacks.

Posted in Anime | 62 Comments »

62 Shouts From the Peanut Gallery

  • Ri5e says:
    April 6, 2013 at 12:13 pm

    You can feel free to delete this comment, but it will just show you can’t handle disapproval. I personally feel this review was low quality, and that you failed to understand anything. You expect action in the first half of a series? So I’m sure the entire set up of what life was like before the wall broke was worthless, the meaning that peace was disturbed after all is entirely asinine. This review was an annoying read, and while you may feel insulted by my disapproval i honestly wish that you take into more consideration what the anime, and for that matter the story is trying to present.

    Also what do you expect from the MC? he is a kid, if you ever noticed anything you would recognize her is younger now then in other parts of the PV even without reading the manga, he will get training and a timeskip after these events. As for the guy running away? You truly are amusing, so you expect someone who hasn’t seen a titan up close his entire life to charge in running? Big difference between training and the real thing, you would likely be crapping yourself.

    So i hope you will seriously give more thought to your next review, so it doesn’t come across so ignorant. With that said i will read your next review with optimism.

    • ZakuAbumi says:
      April 6, 2013 at 12:26 pm

      Dude, I’m fairly sure Aroduc has already given up on this thing anyway and will rather go with Date A Live and Muromi-san (although that one’s a 12 minutes show so he miiiiiight be a bit more forgiving towards Titan). Consider yourself lucky in case he at least bothers to post a half minute long video next week and a cynical remark added to it.

      • Ri5e says:
        April 6, 2013 at 12:34 pm

        The fact that he likes Date A Live which was butchered from the LN (merely having the content doesn’t mean it was adapted well), over Shingeki doesn’t speak well for him at all. At the very least though, negative reviewing is never a good thing so if he didn’t even bother to look over his viewing on this series then it would be pointless either way.

      • Aroduc says:
        April 6, 2013 at 12:42 pm

        Hey. Don’t forget JC Staff’s comedy next week either.

        But to our friend here, it’s not the story you tell. It’s how you tell your story.

        The presentation was incredibly poor with very little budget to actually bring the characters to life and make me care, and static direction put every scene at the same level of excessively dramatized without any contrast between them. Uneventful is not the same as boring. Dramatic is not the same as exaggerated. I can’t really think of any defense for all the shaky cam/speedline approach at all though.

        And yes, I expect action in the first half of an action series. This is an accusation that I gleefully accept and declare myself guilty of. It’s crazy, I know.

    • nonamono says:
      April 6, 2013 at 12:46 pm

      I completely agree with Anon, though I am actually pissed. I pretty much liked your reviews but now I think that you either shouldn’t continue reviewing AoT if you seriously don’t like it or at least wait until people have a chance to watch it themselves. The way you write completely biased posts and have almost none to oppose you with proper arguments is pretty much abusive and below standard. Not to mention it often spoils so much fun. If you think it’s fair and people can just learn Japanese to have proper argument with you – I can only ask you to start blogging in Japanese and stop wasting both your and our time on us, primitive English speaking readers.. most of whom aren’t even english natives.

      • ZakuAbumi says:
        April 6, 2013 at 1:00 pm

        “If you think it’s fair and people can just learn Japanese to have proper argument with you”
        …what?
        You DO realize anime get subtitled rather fast, right? EXCEPT FOR DEATH BILL- wait, that one already has subs. Crap, now I’ve got to find something new to complain about… ah, Ryo! Awesome, they haven’t subbed that yet! Back to my usual modus operandi.

        “most of whom aren’t even english natives.”
        And now Aroduc is a racist. You heard it here first.

      • Jinzilla says:
        April 6, 2013 at 1:53 pm

        Lol, Aroduc you’re talking about. I’m sure has no problem dropping it.

    • anise_punter says:
      April 7, 2013 at 6:01 pm

      looks like Aroduc can handle disapproval. Huh.

      • Anonymous says:
        April 7, 2013 at 9:21 pm

        Don’t be fooled. I saw with my own eyes how he censored comments on this very post that dared to espouse the superiority of Beats by Dr. Dre headphones.

  • Dynellen says:
    April 6, 2013 at 12:17 pm

    I’m not sure how long this anime is going to be, though based on this episode it has to be longer than standard 12/13 episodes. It’s a fairly good manga once it gets going but at current pace it’ll take maybe 3 or so episodes before we get timeskip to the real main events of the story, as everything happening in this episode is just going through MC’s past.

  • CTT says:
    April 6, 2013 at 1:11 pm

    I think you’re funny. The way you right is conversational and witty, and that’s what I come here for. I don’t feel like I have to agree with what you say 100% of the time. If you don’t like something, that’s perfectly fine.

  • algorithm says:
    April 6, 2013 at 1:16 pm

    I guess you’re stuck waiting for the action sequences now. Maybe around episode 4. Or 6.

    http://tenka.seiha.org/images2013/titan1/52.jpg

    Everyone’s titan now!

  • tachi says:
    April 6, 2013 at 2:31 pm

    Where do you stand on the glut of premium live action dramas available now, aroduc?

    I know you’ve mostly brought up comedies like 30 rock, but do you care at all about stuff like game of thrones, mad men, breaking bad, justified, etc ?

    • ZakuAbumi says:
      April 6, 2013 at 3:17 pm

      Adding True Blood and Boardwalk Empire to the list.

      • Aroduc says:
        April 6, 2013 at 3:51 pm

        I’m not a huge fan of the super serious dramas in general, in any form. Procedurals are about as close as I’ll generally get. I do continue to very much dislike the direction Moffat’s taking Dr. Who in, if that counts. I did end up watching a lot of Game of Thrones and True Blood over the holidays simply because my mother/sister respectively were watching them. The former’s, uh, lack of a solid narrative or episodic structure made it difficult to jump into, especially for an eternal multi-tasker like myself. Not familiar with the book series either. True Blood was a little more my style and seemed good enough, but again, just sort of half-watched about 10 episodes in the background over a week while working on other things.

  • Karry says:
    April 6, 2013 at 2:31 pm

    Eh, who cares, its not a great story anyway, no matter how many rewards it receives.

  • Scorps says:
    April 6, 2013 at 2:34 pm

    “It’s not the story you tell. It’s how you tell your story.”
    I usually say that a lot.

    For a first episode, it was boring and frustrating to watch.
    Still, I don’t know… some shows spend all their efforts at the first episodes and then everything goes downhill in a rollercloasterfuck of doom. Those that manage to leave the impression of something that has potential just to let us down are even worse than weak first impressions.

    Also… my holy saint, not the shaky cam.

  • Ri5e says:
    April 6, 2013 at 3:11 pm

    I find it amusing how many people placed their own misconceived expectations upon a series and as a result label it as a failure. Your own expectations are nothing but your own pathetic sense of precognition on what you wished this series to be. Also i find it amusing how people are butthurt enough to mention rewards or whatever else this series may acquire as if full well knowing that they are the minority.

    This series like Guilty Crown and SAO before it will suffer from people like you who overhyped it into what it wasn’t, however unlike GC and SAO it won’t fall apart if it maintains the faithfulness to the material that the first episode portrayed.

    Before you call the PV a blatant lie i suggest you become informed on what the series was trying to be, and like was mentioned on this comment board the fact that you like generic series like DAL over this is beyond pathetic. You deleting comments that you don’t like simply shows that you can’t take disapproval and try to cover it up after mocking it.

    As for the so called shaky cam, what do you expect when they are swinging around a city? You really don’t have any sensible thought do you?

  • Ri5e says:
    April 6, 2013 at 3:15 pm

    Another thing, of course when people are being eaten around you, you obviously must stay calm, screaming is out of the question! Just like you expect someone to charge a titan you also expect composure, get your head out of your ass.

  • Ri5e says:
    April 6, 2013 at 5:15 pm

    Making excuses is pretty pathetic, thinking that grammar was the only thing wrong with your sentence is even more pathetic. I’m not a fanboy of Shingeki no Kyojin, i enjoyed the manga nothing more. I disagreed with this post because i believed it to be narrow minded, like the idea that action is suppose to dominate a opening episode. The reviewer clearly has never heard of transition, which is ironic since he reviews DAL which (in a more disorganized way) also uses transition from SOL to action. The series are entirely different of course but a transition is the same regardless, the “snot” pace was on purpose, something he clearly doesn’t understand. Also its immensely amusing that he expects composure and courage in the eyes of Titans that devour people.

    • Longhaul says:
      April 6, 2013 at 5:28 pm

      No, you really are a angry fanboy that Aroduc did not fellate a series you were looking forward to, to the extent that you tune out what he means when he says “It’s how you tell your story.” Now before you try to deny it, explain why you posted under different names.

      I am also baffled that you think SnK transitions from SOL to action.

      • Scorps says:
        April 7, 2013 at 1:08 pm

        Haha, it’s pretty obvious why he posted under different names. He also can’t answer back, so he’ll be avoiding subjects.
        It’s hilarious to see butthurt fanboys raging.

  • The Phantom says:
    April 6, 2013 at 5:31 pm

    The plot looks good, but the main character spent the whole episode screaming and that was annoying as hell.

    I do agree that they abused speed lines, but I liked it regardless, there is not much else this season anyway.

  • Tiresias says:
    April 6, 2013 at 6:19 pm

    Oh hey, another manga adaptation that doesn’t do the original material justice. Yippe.

    Thank God my expectation already dropped when I found out that the director of goddamn’ Guilty Crown is involved in this. Not to mention having to hear Yuuki Kaji again, blergh.

  • Maceart says:
    April 6, 2013 at 6:40 pm

    Were we watching the same show? Sure there might be some pacing issues, but I found episode one to be pretty well done giving the 12 episode constraint (they have to quickly establish a setting, show the characters, along with some world building in 24 minutes).

    The shaky cam wasn’t that exaggerated in my opinion. It was only used in the final scene of episode 1. The nifty tree jumping in the beginning was very smooth, as expected of Production IG.

    Note, I haven’t read the source manga so I can’t complain but as a whole episode 1 was quite solid. Looking forward to episode 2 for more EDGY main characters.

    Besides, if this guy likes Date a Live, then there’s really no helping shit taste.

  • Ashlotte says:
    April 6, 2013 at 7:08 pm

    Holy hell I’ve never seen so many comments on on of your posts! Must have touched a nerve with this one I guess?

    Mah for my part I pretty much agree with your assessment. I try to avoid hype as much as possible so I had no idea what to expect going into this and I honestly didn’t see anything special?

    In particular the Titans designs ruined the atmosphere of the show to me. Its hard to be horrified of a giant naked shambling man with a borderline meme expression…I actually laughed during the entire mother eating scene.

    Muv Luv Marimo death scene it was not…

    • Nanaya says:
      April 6, 2013 at 7:42 pm

      Once you factor in that at least 1/6th of them were from one angry fanboy who expected everyone to worship the series and didn’t know different names don’t hide your IP address and another chunk are the conversations, it’s really around the average.

    • Anonymous says:
      April 6, 2013 at 9:03 pm

      I think this blog’s all time record for comment spam is the Angel Beats finale, followed by Aroduc’s unimpressed reaction to one of the Cobra specials that riled up a bunch of classic anime nuts.

      • Aroduc says:
        April 6, 2013 at 9:10 pm

        Top 6 are: Kamidori release, AB #13, GA announcement, BMW announcement, Toradora #24, BBA release

  • Catz says:
    April 6, 2013 at 8:00 pm

    Yuuki Kaiji has ruined…

  • Adam says:
    April 6, 2013 at 10:39 pm

    Where does all this wind keep coming from? I guess the speedlines must be creating it…

    I was expecting to at least see something impressive in the first episode…

  • Blocker says:
    April 7, 2013 at 2:16 am

    This blog is seriously the worst anime blog I have ever seen. This guy literally sits here and types nothing but paragraphs of negative stuff for every show. Why in fucks name do you watch anime? Every fucking show this season is nothing but”hurp this and derp that”.

    Do everyone a favor and delete this cancerous place. While you’re at it go find you anther hobby, anime clearly isn’t for you

    • algorithm says:
      April 7, 2013 at 4:02 am

      I’d rather have shit being called shit than reviews praising stuff like haganai or oreimo. At least he is one of the few reviewers who at least pay attention to the directing. He still always ends up with some of the worst shows with not much to tell about them in the end.

    • supachoc says:
      April 7, 2013 at 7:09 am

      When you consume a lot of any particular form of media, you reach a point where you become hypersensitive to its tricks. Once you reach that point you can only continue to consume that media in one of three ways: you draw comfort in the tricks themselves and blind yourself to the faults, you look for something that’s using the tricks in new ways or in the same ways particularly well, or you have fun pointing out how shit and generic it is.

      If you’re consuming it the first way, you are in the wrong place and you need to leave immediately.

    • Chipp12 says:
      April 7, 2013 at 11:03 pm

      If you want a blog where people are praising (almost) everything you can always go there:
      http://randomc.net/

  • Anon says:
    April 7, 2013 at 7:01 am

    Uh, you got many new “Fans”.. It was a long time ago since i saw that many Comments on a new Anime :)

  • giuvigiuvio says:
    April 7, 2013 at 8:25 am

    You probably don’t need it, but the only advice I could give is to be patient, I guess. After doing a little research, this anime’s supposed to run for 25 episodes. It probably wouldn’t be wise for Production I.G. to blow off the budget on the first episode where what’s there to animate are the Titans destroying a wall and walking sluggishly while the townspeople run and scream then leave the rest of the series relatively dull and unanimated. They pretty much set the bar low so the other episodes can jump the hurdle with ease. Still disappointed with the all the stills. Plus the main character is so angsty he’s almost a lunatic.

    • Chipp12 says:
      April 7, 2013 at 11:02 pm

      > Plus the main character is so angsty he’s almost a lunatic.
      You just need to wait for the next episode ^^

  • pannya says:
    April 7, 2013 at 9:37 am

    THE PEOPLE ARE GUMMYBEARS, THE TITANS ARE YOU.

  • slicendice says:
    April 7, 2013 at 12:55 pm

    Personally, I’m rooting for the titans. All they want to do is eat man, don’t hassle em’.

  • Baby Choo Choo says:
    April 7, 2013 at 1:26 pm

    I don’t understand the anger in some of these comments…

    I liked the show. I like Aroduc and this blog. He has a different opinion than my own? So what? I don’t reccall him sayng, “OMGZ DON’T WATCH THIS. IF YOU DO, YOU’RE A F***ING IDIOT LOLZ” or anything of that sort.

    I-I just don’t get it. If his opinion was extremely positive, I doubt half the people commenting would’ve done so in the first place. However, his opinion is negative and suddenly that makes him wrong? It invalidates his views? I-I…I mean…but…huh?

    • algorithm says:
      April 7, 2013 at 4:22 pm

      Done watching. It was a faithful adaptation at least, OVA quality, still it was dull as fuck for 75% of the episode. Why waste 20 minutes watching it when you need 5 minutes to go throught the original manga?

      • Panamana says:
        April 7, 2013 at 9:14 pm

        Why waste 20 minutes watching any adaption when you can just go through the manga in 5 minutes?

    • Nanaya says:
      April 8, 2013 at 3:38 am

      The comments really are strange. IMO, the best/worst one is the one telling him to “go find you anther hobby, anime clearly isn’t for [him].”

      Anime isn’t a hobby for him because he didn’t lavish this show with praise. It’s just as much ‘…huh?’ as it is funny as it is disturbingly indicative of a mindset in the community.

  • TOP2NE1 says:
    April 8, 2013 at 4:36 am

    Eh, I liked it. The opening was pretty great (my standards for OPs/EDs is pretty low, and they have a famous director to boot) and the art is really nice and consistent. Action’s soon to come and there are no immediate problems with pacing just yet.

    Also lol at some of the commenters. People just cruising around looking for the most sumptuous review blowjobs imaginable. Pfft.

  • Anonymous says:
    April 8, 2013 at 9:42 am

    The more proper title is “The Eotena Onslaught”, please rectify it at once.

  • jingoi says:
    April 10, 2013 at 3:01 am

    62 comments
    insert mario party “new record!” audio

    still need to check this out, damn you wiimc.