Watching anime and reading manga is a casual hobby of mine that I indulge in on occasion when I’m bored. I’m probably really late on this topic, but I’ve recently watched the most recent episodes on an extremely popular anime called Attack on Titans.
The plot is a post apocalyptic time period in which all races of men live together in a fortified wall city with several layers to defend against giant man eating monsters called the Titans. The main character, Eren Jeager, lives in the outermost layer of the city and witnesses Titans attacking his city after 100 years of peace. His mother is killed in the process, driven by his thirst for revenge, he joins the “Survey Corps”. soldiers who venture outside the wall city and fight to protect the citizens directly with Titans,
The story reminded me at first, a bit like Naruto. Let’s list the similarities shall we?
-Main character has no blood related relatives throughout most of the series, his mom definitely died for sure
-Main character has two dynamic friends who prove to be talented in their own ways and are loyal to him
-Main character has some extremely rare gift that is a totally unfair advantage (but also a personal curse). This curse was given to him by his own father (thanks dad).
-Main character is extremely eager to die, but doesn’t, which is awfully brave, but also slightly stupid in the beginning
-Main character is moral, his values and character are unwavering
-Main character will save everyone (inevitably)
Nonetheless, I really enjoyed it. The story has a lot of violence in it, and the society’s lack of technology (but amazing invention of gas tubes that let you fly) is somewhat silly as it is a time period ahead of current modern age, but I’ll take it for what it is.
The anime’s “Titans” are not the kind you would expect from watching that childhood show “Teen Titans” on Cartoon Network, or the weird monster/God like creatures from Greek mythology. These monsters are pure horror, allowing you to witness gruesome scenes of humans getting eaten and basic human like cruelty from them. Which, I must say, is epic.
Learning how to kill these monsters is really cool, apparently they can only die from slices off the back of its neck, so watching humans kill them with their 3D flying gear maneuver thing is freaking bad ass.
I actually liked Eren Jeager’s plot twist, where he could become a Titan and regenerate his body all the time. It would have been a little more satisfying, however, if he had enough skills to just take down a bunch of Titans like Levi Ackerman. But then we would never understand the Colossal or Armored Titan’s true nature.
Long story short, it is absolutely amazing. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested but hesitant to watch it. I would recommend watching anime as an extremely efficient study break indulgence as most episodes are only 20 minutes (not an extreme investment of time) and it is much more satisfying than watching you tube (which can be addicting and quickly add up to much more time you had originally planned on spending on it).
