Attack on Titan

So I almost forgot to post something and then I remembered Attack on Titan just returned to Toonami and I never went over this, so, yeah, here we go.

Attack on Titan is...well, wierd. It's not clear when exactly it is set, let alone where, but the basic idea is that titans are giant naked people that just sort of lumber aound until they see humans and then they eat the little people, and because of this, humanity has been forced into isolation in a citadel where people live a life that is mostly like medieval Europe. The one remarkable exception to their lack of technology is the gas powered omni-directional system that allows soldiers to use hooks and wires to propel themselves through the air and attack the titans at their one weak spot, the nape of their neck. The story centers on one soldier named Eren who watched his family get killed by a titan when he was a child and then titans were not seen for over a decade and he joined the military specifically to fight them should they ever return, and sure enough, right after he finished training with his friends Mikasa and Armin, the titans returned. Things get really wierd when Eren discovers he can transform into a titan himself, which begins a period of controversy deciding whether he is a threat or an asset, the latter being assumed when Eren focuses entirely on fighting other titans when he transforms. At first it seems Eren is unique, but then they discover other titans may be like Eren, only in reverse, spying on humans and preparing to attack the city from within. As season one ended, they identified the first of these titans as a member of their own team who, upon being discovered, transformed, fought as best as she could and when all else failed, crystallized herself. Now season two has begun, and the next discovery is that the walls of the citadel that keep out the titans are made of petrified titans much in the same way that their recent quarry crystallized herself.

This show has a very interesting aesthetic, a kind of steampunk resembling the kind of world a JRPG takes place in, but the story is clearly some sort of post apocalyptic scenario that seems quite bleak because with no civilization known outside of this citadel, it seems humanity is doomed by a ruthlessly efficient apex predator that will break through and destroy everything eventually. esistance is futile, and yet the heroes are determined to go down swinging, resulting in a beautifully rendered war between man and monster, you root for the humans even though it seems pretty clear they'regong to lose, you keep hoping they will win, because dammit, they believe they will figure out some way some how. The show has a pretty serious tone, with rare exceptions such as the girl obsessed with potatoes and a scientist who has circumstantial sympathy at best. Almost every scene appears to be at twilight, which may be symbolic of the twilight of humanity. It won't happen all at once, it will take a long time and it will be a long fight, and we won't realize it's over until it's too late. But assuming it doesn't actually happen to us in reality, watching this version is very entertaining, sometimes preferable to the doom of reality.

New episodes every Saturday night right after Dragon Ball Z Kai. Stay gold Toonami Faithful!