I guess, I just don't really see it that way. In any case, I like that they're that way. Eren's similar, but not really the same as your average shonen protagonist and is different in an interesting way (to me, anyways), and Mikasa's just straight dead inside, which is also interesting to me.

I like Armin too.

 

The way I see it is, it isn't that Eren doesn't recognize Mikasa's strength but he just doesn't want her being over protective and always thinking about him when they are both soldiers in a war.

As for the whining,really? When he was confronted by possible execution he didn't start whining about the injustice of it all, in fact he understood while still fearing for his life and the little speech he gave at the court was just him being sick of all the cowardice and hypocrisy going on.

Also the whole him want to kill all Titans is simply a character trait, the one thing that's keep him together after basically becoming an orphan.

Maybe am missing something you don't. Would you mind giving an example of instances he whined instead of doing something better?

 

He has the habit of severely overstimating his skills and underestimating the enemy and should be glad that there is someone there who actually gives a damn about him and is there to ensure he lives to be stupid on another day. Interestingly, his first reaction to being able to use his gear was basically a "suck it, Mikasa" and not "now I can fight the enemies I have sworn revenge against which I have screamed basically in every scene I was in", which I do count as bitching.

The court scene was the point where he is actually starting to redeem himself in my eyes and he hasn't whined or done something stupid since. Hoping it is going to stay that way.

As to the whining, dude, I don't think I can convince you on that. To me, most of his rants were that, pre court room, I mean, not counting his childhood since he was first a kid and then a traumatized kid, so I am giving him a pass there although it hasn't endeared him, that I can say. Oh, and the speech he gave about "not going to hide in the inner circle" was also an exception.

Have to say, as I am rewatching it with a buddy, he is a bit more tolerable, even though I still dislike him.

Anyway, think we have beaten that dead horse enough, bottom line is, I don't like him and all the power to you if you do. Would be interested in a more meaningful discussion, as in, how do you guys think the walls came to be?

How did they build such high walls whilst under attack by the titans, doesn't seem possible to build something like that while giants wail on you. Priests there were pretty much convinced god build them, so, superstition over the century of peace or some supernatural intervention?

Just hope there is an explanation there.

 

I'm not really sure but I think it was stated that the walls were always there and it wasn't human's who built it that's for sure.

Actually in the last episode I noticed a lot of weird things and am not sure whether its me looking too much into it or mistakes but did you notice that when Reiner escaped from that Titans hand there was smoke just like when Eren turns into a titan?

Also when Armin was talking about how the guy who always wanted to die, died at the east flank, the titan stopped. Was he talking about Eren?


Too many questions and I refuse to read the manga until I hear that the next season will take like a year too make or something.

 

Spoiler

If I recall correctly (read the manga a long, long time ago), there's absolutely an explanation for the walls.

Spoilers just in case, I guess.

 

To be honest, I find Shingeki no Kyojin in general to be quite overrated and a lot of that is because I find ALL characters to be quite dull.

It's not necessarily that there's anything specifically wrong with them and rather I feel like I haven't been able to connect with them and the story doesn't make their personalities into something that supplements the plot.

Like Nemrut, I found Eren's obsessions with revenge to be quite similar to a typical main shounen character. But the difference is, I felt a connection to characters like Naruto which I just don't feel with Eren. Part of this may be that the pace of the anime doesn't suit the types of characters that are being used, and so you don't really get a chance to form those bonds - I don't know. I don't think I hate him quite as much as Nemrut does, but he does feel bland and forced.

I do find Armin pretty annoying. Just seems useless with no real redeemable traits - his 'strategical mind' just feels like a power he's been given so he's not completely useless.

Mikasa is cool, but she had a lot more potential to be more interesting. Just turn her protectiveness of Eren to be something a bit more...disturbing and it'd have really added to the plot a lot more. In general I felt her personality wasn't utilized as well as it could have been to make particular scenes more powerful.

The other cadets were pretty cool side characters - very much enjoyed them. But haven't enjoyed any of the newer side characters we've been introduced to during and after the Battle of Trost - their peculiarities seem forced to try to make them less dull.

Spoiler

I also felt Eren's Titan power somewhat spoiled something too. I'd much rather read about humans fighting off the Titans through ingenuity and intellect over just being given a winning asset like that.

In general, the personalities, character interaction and character development in this anime don't interest me at all. I find most of the scenes focused on characters that should be emotional and tense just...aren't for me. The only thing I really feel SnK has going for it is the battles (which are pretty cool), the mystery about the Titans and the unique setting.

Don't get me wrong, still enjoying it. But this probably wouldn't even fall into my top 40 - so I'm really baffled with how many people are considering this one of the best they've ever seen.

 

Not so much best we've ever seen, but more of a "finally a good anime after 2 years of dull stuff."

The past two years we've had like what? Fate/Zero and really nothing else that stands out. There were some nice 13 episode animes with nice plots, but they just don't make it toward the awesome standard. Attack on Titan just kind of fits the bill as something that I look forward to every week.

Also, while it may be nice if the story stayed as a humans vs titans forever, I feel as though that's actually a bit more dull in terms of story(though definitely would be more action packed). It would kind of just fit into the standard shounen good guys vs evil, and fight for freedom stuff. I'm not saying the way it is now is better, but it has a good potential to be (depending on how it plays out/ what the explanations end up being.)


As for when Reiner escaped, I assumed that the smoke was just because he cut up the Titan's hands. Every time they damage them, usually smoke accompanies it as the high temperature/pressure thing they have going on.

 

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (Parts 1 and 2) and Tsuritama were both incredible and within the past two years. Apparently Sakamichi no Apollon was also very, very good (I haven't watched it.)

Hell, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure was this year!

EDIT: Also, Titan healing and dissolving both emit steam.

 

What the hell have you been watching? Going back to 2011, we have...

Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Tiger & Bunny
Nichijou
Mawaru Penguindrum
Hunter x Hunter
Chihayafuru
Kids on the Slope
Space Brothers
Tsuritama
Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine
From the New World
Inferno Cop
Flowers of Evil

The only way you can say nothing awesome besides Fate/Zero or AoT has come out in the last few years is if you've been watching nothing but shit like Highschool DxD.

 

Admittedly, I haven't seen all that many anime, but what I liked about Attack on Titan was really enough to make it one of the better ones I have seen in recent years. Most characters are pretty interesting (Eren can die in a fire but the rest is quite good), the setting is good, the world is fascinating, the atmosphere is fitting, mystery suspensful, great fight scenes and absolutely no fanservice so far, which is rare in an anime like this and has pretty solid female characters. I quite honestly expected a lot of assshots while the girls were using their gear or stuff like that.

Even though, as said before, it is unfortunate that Mikasa is so dependent on Eren but then again, she is very, very messed up as well, so, it makes it a bit interesting at the same time since you feel there is really nothing she wouldn't do for Eren. She probably would let the whole world burn for him and she is strong enough to actually do just that, so yeah, plenty of potential there. She was rather close to slaughtering a lot of humans already and I doubt this will get better with how they are treating him.

So yeah, it is far from perfect, but overall, its strengths outweigh the negatives and the setting is interesting enough to play around with.

This going to be more than one season? Is the manga finished?

 

Still ongoing.

 

I'm not saying there were no good animes, just that nothing really that amazing (not counting some 13 episode ones, which I mentioned before). Hunter x Hunter would probably fit the long and good anime list, but I've already seen the older version and this newer one isn't as amazing to me.

Tiger & Bunny and Mawaru Penguindrum are both animes that I stopped midway because I got bored. The rest are really just mediocre.

 

So, I finally got around to watching Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Firstly, I thought Warlocke comments about it were pretty spot on.

Anyway, this is one of the best Anime I have ever seen, I consider it to be almost flawless. It set out to tell a very specific story, and it pulled it off pretty much perfectly.

Right from the start, there is this pervasive feeling that something is wrong. And each episode reinforces that feeling, to the extent where you just don't think it can get any worse. Then it does.

Fascinating story, kept me engrossed to the end. And I have to say, I really enjoyed the end. Once they went as big as they did, I wasn't sure they would pull it off, but they certainly managed to.

I loved the delivery as well, none of the characters acted stupidly. Embarrassment wasn't the cop out way to elicit emotional reactions out of people. All in all, it seemed very mature and a lot deeper than it initially appeared.

Now, I have a question about this one however. I started watching this before Madoka Magica, and well, I'm half way in, but kinda bored. I find the characters just too frustrating to really get into it. A lot of the things that happen, are just painful to watch, as opposed to be funny.

Don't get me wrong, I love a good love story. But hate watching characters act in dumb ways. It's hard to explain, but the best example I can give is the way Taiga treats Ryuku most of the time. The bullying behaviour, calling him dog. And he just acts like a little bitch and takes it all, while basically being her servant.

I want to care about the characters in a love story, but the over the top bitchiness and subservience just gets on my nerves and takes most of the emotional attachment I have for the characters with it.

It definitely has been getting better, more serious, I guess I should probably just stick with it a little more. Does it continue though, or am I wasting my time?

 

I can't watch 'romantic' or similarly themed anime (The world only god knows, ore no imouto, etc) because the main male character is too pathetic to sympathize with or root for.

That's probably a large part of the issue you have with Toradora.

 

It is. But it's more the way the patheticness is displayed.

Character development in the series seems to involve nothing but repeated humiliation. It just makes me feel uncomfortable.

 

Yeah, it's one of my favorite endings. And that's why I'm not enthused, to say the least, to hear about what happens in the movie that came out recently and that they're planning on doing another season to follow up on that.

2000th post. Call the cops, I don't give a fuck.

 

Regarding Toradora, I've always wondered how it aged for me.

I watched it 5 years ago or so now, and really loved it back then. But a lot of that could be just because it was one of the first love-comedies I watched that actually had closure to the love component (before this, most of my romances I had seen were limited to things like Love Hina, Onegai Teacher/Twins, Kanon (2006) etc). I also had a lot more patience with that particular brand of tsundere (or rather, hadn't been overexposed to characters like Taiga).

Look back though, I can't really see what made me rate it so highly. As pointed out, it's made up a lot of characters acting in stupid ways, features the dull protagonist (so that the watcher can try to put himself in their shoes) and forced drama padded with episodes of nothing.

The actual events featured are the sort of 'adventures' you see in *every* anime like this - the beach episode, the cultural festival, the school trip, etc. After seeing these things done a bazillion times it can get really dull.

The 'romance' is just stupid amounts of coyness and obliviousness. Shounen anime/manga seem to hate this concept of ever actually allowing characters to explore their feelings properly until the last few episodes. It's just a constant building of tension really.

I think I should go rewatch it again sometime and see if I still enjoy it as much as I did the first time. But after watching things like Ano Hana and Kokoro Connect, which feature more real drama, I don't think I will.

 

People dissing on Toradora? Well fuck that. Ryuuji is never a pussy, dunno where this shit came from. He just understands Taiga and lets her vent without being a dickwad about it, he knows she doesn't mean it. The draw from the anime is that the characters all have progression, they change and grow from the time they are introduced, they don't really do that much stupid shit as far as anime goes and the romance is believable and cuddly (to me).

I personally think Ami is the best character and love her to bits.

 

Toradora introduces characters who seem to be cliched to hell and back, then slowly it developes those cliches into fully fledged individual characters, and does it pretty damn well. Ryuuji is not a bland MC in any way, he has his own flaws, he has problems, insecurities. He is not some doormat for the female characters of the show to walk all over. Taiga seems to do so but that's not because Ryuuji is weak, it's because he lets her. He helps her out because he wants to, not because she forces him too. Taiga may be a tsundere, but the show doesnt sacrifice it's emotional moments for a cheap laugh by having her beat people up. It only uses her for comedy, when comedy is appropriate. And Ami goes from generic jealous bitch to one of the best characters in romance ever.

There is a reason ToraDora is probably the most popular non-Clannad proper romance out there. And there is a reason Toradora stands apart from all the other romances out there.

Very intelligent writing.

Though I supppse if it's not for you, it's not for you.

 

Also Toradora has one of the best fight scenes in all of anime.

In a goddamn romance show.