Anime

[Vy'drach]

A good bow and arrow or gun could dig into the back of the neck very well. But, this is an anime, and most people don't seem to realize that guns are basically LONG RANGE STABBING WEAPONS.

 

 

 

 

 

Also, how exactly is the neck portrayed as a weakpoint? Is it some magical mystery spot on the back of the neck? The spine? Because if titans have similar anatomy to humans then their faces being outright invulnerable is horse hockey since there is only a very thin layer of bone behind the eyes making that a very optimum weak spot. But if they're just walking sacks of magic meat with no bones or vital organs and what not, then there's a whole lot of fucks that need to go to a whole lot of places.

[Xortberg]

They're basically human in anatomy, minus the fact that they have no reproductive organs, but they don't ever eat anything but humans and they don't even need to do that to live. Their heads aren't invulnerable so much as they have extremely powerful regeneration, and there's a point on the back of their neck that apparently controls that regenerative ability so taking it out kills them.

 

Basically magic.

[WOLFjr]

They're basically human in anatomy, minus the fact that they have no reproductive organs, but they don't ever eat anything but humans and they don't even need to do that to live. Their heads aren't invulnerable so much as they have extremely powerful regeneration, and there's a point on the back of their neck that apparently controls that regenerative ability so taking it out kills them.

 

Basically magic.

There is also the added fact that the back of the neck is every living creatures weakpoint. It's nature's greatest blindspot. Hate to bring other anime into this little argument, but Bleach and Naruto both stated that the back of the neck is every creatures most vulnerable area.

[Vy'drach]

There is also the added fact that the back of the neck is every living creatures weakpoint. It's nature's greatest blindspot. Hate to bring other anime into this little argument, but Bleach and Naruto both stated that the back of the neck is every creatures most vulnerable area.

 

 

That's actually a very vague, baseless, loaded statement.

 

It is highly variable on what you're using and what the target actually is. I'd say the eyes are a larger weak point, at least in a mammal and many reptiles, fish, and amphibians. Take a bear, for example. A grizzly, to be precise. It's possible to kill a grizzly bear with a .22 long rifle cartridge. To do this, you have to shoot it through the eye into the brain. Shoot a bear in the back of the neck with a .22 long rifle (and a plethora of other small caliber rounds) and all you'll have is a really pissed off bear.

 

Just because say something is the case, doesn't make it so, haha. After all, the front of the neck can actually be much more of a weak point than the back, given that in a fight, an average person isn't going to cause serious damage in a blow to the back of the neck, but an average person can cause fatal damage quite easily with a moderate blow to the Adam's apple.

[Xidphel]

Well, one episode might give a hint as to why the back of their neck is the weak point.
You know that titan that wrecked all the other's shit? There's a reason he ignored the humans.

I haven't watched the anime but I've read the manga.

[Snys93]

I wish this was real.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt3qZYUPi2Y

[WOLFjr]

Well at the moment I'm currently reading a manga that my sister lent me to read. It's called Blood Lad, and it's pretty interesting. I like the characters, especially the main character Staz, who is a vampire but an otaku. Because of this, there are a few references to other anime and manga.

[Battlechili]

As far as Attack On Titan goes, someone mentioned that the Titans are unlikeable. I disagree. I love the things. Their faces look slightly derpy, which only makes them all the more creepy. They seem to be half creepy, half hilarious to look at and consequently I can't help but love to just look at the things.

Next, the hopelessness. That's what the series is trying to do. To make it seem as if the humans have no hope. The series may make you think humanity has hope at some points and then it pulls that hope away. It's supposed to be a truly hopeless situation, in which the humans really can't win. I mean, you've got a ton of man-eating giants, some of which are fast, strong, and smart. Do you really expect miniscule humans whose most powerful weapons are weak guns, cannons, and swords to win against them? It's supposed to be hopeless. I'm not saying humanity won't win though. I don't know what's going to happen. I've seen the first 7 episodes, but it seems to be leading up to some interesting stuff.

Now then. The big one. The characters.

How I love Eren Jaeger. To me, he seems to be your typical average shonen hero but with a twist; he's got a bit of maturity to him. Don't get me wrong; He has been stupid and a bit immature, especially in the beginning, such as when he threw his bread at the blonde haired kid and said he was going to go kill the titans himself. That's insane. And really immature. But what makes him interesting is that even though like most shonen heroes he has great spirit and hope for humanity's survival, he at least understands the state of the world better then many. He sees the hope for survival and understands that humans shouldn't just stay locked up in the walls of the city forever. Few people in the series get that. The kid also makes me happy since I'm both an idealist and perhaps an optimist; I love that belief that humanity can win. And yet, the previously mentioned hopelessness is supposed to push back that spirit and make it seem even to the viewer that maybe not even Eren can save the day. If anyone, I hate Mikasa. I can't stand her in the beginning. I hate characters that show little to no emotion. It's unrealistic. She's also too negative, saying that humanity can't fight back but can only survive and looking down on Eren for wanting to make things better. I hate that so much.

To go back to Eren though, I didn't really explain why he was mature. It's hard for me to say precisely why, but I see more in him then in characters like Naruto or Luffy from One Piece. His answer to his dad in the beginning for why he wanted to join the Recon Corps is one of the reasons why I feel he's got some maturity. Finally, he does seem to get more mature as the series progresses.

Also, the machines they use to fly about like Spider man don't seem too advanced. They run on gas (air gas, not like gasoline gas). They are basically being propelled by tanks of air. That's not that advanced. Sure, its probably got a lot of fancy machinery and mechanics to it, but nothing that they wouldn't have access to it seems. I'm loving it. The show also reminds me a bit of Gurren Lagann, except without the happiness.

I'll look into it.

Well...Hope you...enjoy it? I didn't like it much at all. But its different. Very different....

[Battlechili]

They're basically human in anatomy, minus the fact that they have no reproductive organs, but they don't ever eat anything but humans and they don't even need to do that to live. Their heads aren't invulnerable so much as they have extremely powerful regeneration, and there's a point on the back of their neck that apparently controls that regenerative ability so taking it out kills them.

 

Basically magic.

I think they may explain some things before everything is said and done. Some things. I don't see an explanation as to why their necks are the weak spot coming. But perhaps why they don't need to eat and maybe why they can regenerate.

 

 

@Snes: They made a Supernatural anime, so I think an anime of Dr. Who isn't out of the question.

 

Sorry for the double post. I mess up.

[Pgpaw3]

I just discovered Cowboy Bebop. And its pretty damn good. Reminds of Star Fox in a weird way.

[Xortberg]

As far as Attack On Titan goes, someone mentioned that the Titans are unlikeable. I disagree. I love the things. Their faces look slightly derpy, which only makes them all the more creepy. They seem to be half creepy, half hilarious to look at and consequently I can't help but love to just look at the things.

 

 

Like I said, the titans are basically the only part of the anime I seriously, legit like. I think there's a lot of interesting potential to them, and they're one of the few well-executed elements of hopelessness in the show. Kinda like how in TTGL, the big bad fights them in a giant robot because beating them with their form is hope-crushing, the fact that the titans are very similar in appearance to the humans makes it all the more terrible that they're eating people.

 

 

Next, the hopelessness. That's what the series is trying to do. To make it seem as if the humans have no hope. The series may make you think humanity has hope at some points and then it pulls that hope away. It's supposed to be a truly hopeless situation, in which the humans really can't win. I mean, you've got a ton of man-eating giants, some of which are fast, strong, and smart. Do you really expect miniscule humans whose most powerful weapons are weak guns, cannons, and swords to win against them? It's supposed to be hopeless. I'm not saying humanity won't win though. I don't know what's going to happen. I've seen the first 7 episodes, but it seems to be leading up to some interesting stuff.

 

 

 

I get what the series is trying to do. Hopelessness can be a powerful storytelling tool. Madoka relied on it a lot, and it's my second favorite anime. But AoT does it wrooooong. Shit's going to hell in the absolute first episode of a ~25 episode series. We don't have any idea what sort of life they had led before the titans attacked, other than the fact that Eren was looking for firewood and Blondie was getting bullied. Despair and tragedy doesn't pack nearly as much punch if you don't have hope and happiness to juxtapose against it, and what little we saw of Eren's life before the titans wasn't enough to work with. The pacing, at least in the first couple of episodes, is utter shit. If you have 25 episodes to work with, you should be able to afford at least one episode of peace before the titans kill everything. If I had my way, episode one would be considerably more lighthearted, there wouldn't have been that huge melodrama in the streets with the Recon corp just passing an old lady her grandson's arm, and it would have ended with the titan appearing. Episode 2 would have been focusing on the fight, and then having Eren's mom get killed only at the very end.

 

It wouldn't fix every beef I have with the way they're trying to use the hopelessness, but it would go a long way towards placating me. You can't just introduce characters and then inflict tragedy on them in the exact same episode and expect me to care as much as watching a character I've known for multiple episodes and come to like have tragedy inflicted upon them. 

 

Now then. The big one. The characters.

How I love Eren Jaeger. To me, he seems to be your typical average shonen hero but with a twist; he's got a bit of maturity to him. Don't get me wrong; He has been stupid and a bit immature, especially in the beginning, such as when he threw his bread at the blonde haired kid and said he was going to go kill the titans himself. That's insane. And really immature. But what makes him interesting is that even though like most shonen heroes he has great spirit and hope for humanity's survival, he at least understands the state of the world better then many. He sees the hope for survival and understands that humans shouldn't just stay locked up in the walls of the city forever. Few people in the series get that. The kid also makes me happy since I'm both an idealist and perhaps an optimist; I love that belief that humanity can win. And yet, the previously mentioned hopelessness is supposed to push back that spirit and make it seem even to the viewer that maybe not even Eren can save the day.

 

 

Maturity =/= thinking that humans should go outside and do battle with the giant murderbeasts that are nearly impossible for all but the most highly trained, elite soldiers to kill. Not saying that staying cooped up in the walls was gonna work forever, mind you, but Eren completely disregards the danger the titans pose to people and their EXTREMELY JUSTIFIED fear of the 3-story-tall human eating monsters to call them cowards for wanting to stay behind the walls that've kept humanity safe from dangers they knew were there for the past 100 years.

 

Wanna know who I think is more mature than Eren? Kamina. (Yes, I know, TTGL and Madoka are all I'm referencing. I'm too lazy to think of other examples.) He has a reason to disregard peoples' fear of the surface in the beginning: they don't even believe there's a surface to begin with, for one, so nobody in the entire village even knows that leaving gets you attacked by giants. He talks big and acts like a moron, but that's all because he wants to inspire confidence in those around him, compared to Eren losing himself to murderous rage at the titans and acting in a way that gets almost all of his squad eaten. Kamina never loses his cool and starts hating his enemies, either, which I think is much more mature than genocide. Hell, Kamina even did lose his dad to the Beastmen, though it was probably not nearly as traumatic as seeing your mom eaten I'll admit, but still. They have similar tragedies thrust upon them, only by the time Kamina experiences his we already know and care about him so it hits us harder, and even knowing what he knows he never actually seems to hate any of his enemies.

 

In my personal opinion, that's maturity. Same motivations, two totally different ways of handling themselves when pursuing their goals.

 

 

If anyone, I hate Mikasa. I can't stand her in the beginning. I hate characters that show little to no emotion. It's unrealistic. She's also too negative, saying that humanity can't fight back but can only survive and looking down on Eren for wanting to make things better. I hate that so much.

 

 

 

I kinda see where you're coming from with this, but remember: only the best of the best, the most elite soldiers using the most cutting edge gear, having trained in its use for three years, can even hope to stand a chance against the titans, and they still tend to just be cannon fodder. Being negative is totally understandable, and if you want to protect someone in the face of those odds then of course you'd be a little salty that they wanna go fight the titans.

To go back to Eren though, I didn't really explain why he was mature. It's hard for me to say precisely why, but I see more in him then in characters like Naruto or Luffy from One Piece. His answer to his dad in the beginning for why he wanted to join the Recon Corps is one of the reasons why I feel he's got some maturity. Finally, he does seem to get more mature as the series progresses.

 

Again, I just don't see the maturity. I see - and this is an optimistic estimation here, assuming Eren's personality is deliberate and not just a failed attempt at making one of those typical shonen heroes - an insecure, borderline psychopath with serious anger issues. I mean, seriously. In episode 6, I believe,

he kills two men and, when his dad asks him about it, he says he was just putting down animals who didn't deserve to live. No matter if you have a justified reason to kill them or not, that's kind of a psychopathic answer to be coming from a small child.

That has its place, and again, if that's deliberate and they intend to explore that and turn this into a semi-psychological anime, then I'll at least let some of his earlier douche-fuckery go, but as of right now, I just don't see him as being mature.

 

 

 

 

Also, the machines they use to fly about like Spider man don't seem too advanced. They run on gas (air gas, not like gasoline gas). They are basically being propelled by tanks of air. That's not that advanced. Sure, its probably got a lot of fancy machinery and mechanics to it, but nothing that they wouldn't have access to it seems. I'm loving it. The show also reminds me a bit of Gurren Lagann, except without the happiness.

 

 

 

I'm no expert on the timeline of industrialization, but I feel like using air pressure and such comes after cannons and guns, and they don't seem to actually have guns. But my problem with it isn't the tech level. It's the fact that it seems so much more inefficient than just making better cannons, or developing guns, and just training massive armies of people to aim for the necks rather than sending your extremely expensive, delicate, cutting-edge equipment with 3 years of investment into each soldier into titan melee range.

 

But then, I'm constantly shifting back and forth on the fence about the Spiderman gear. On one hand, I think it's stupid as fuck and stupid, flashy awesome shit only works in a universe where it's appropriate (like TTGL). On the other, it is an action anime, no matter what else it may be, so having a cool piece of equipment so we can watch our main characters being badass is somewhat pardonable. I think I'll just end up settling on neutral ground and not giving a shit either way about their gear.

 

 

I think they may explain some things before everything is said and done. Some things. I don't see an explanation as to why their necks are the weak spot coming. But perhaps why they don't need to eat and maybe why they can regenerate.

 

 

That's what I'm really hoping for. The titans themselves are the only really salvageable thing I see in this show, unless I turn out to be wrong about Eren being a failed attempt at a typical shonen hero and instead being deliberately fucked up. I'll keep watching it, but my cautious optimism is waning with each new episode that passes.

 

 

I just discovered Cowboy Bebop. And its pretty damn good. Reminds of Star Fox in a weird way.

 

 

 

I liked Bebop, but I made the mistake of forcing myself to marathon through it in a week. I think it's much better watched over a long period of time. Are you watching it dubbed or subbed? Because it's one of the truly rare dubs that're even better than the original Japanese. I think even the creator himself said so XD

[Pgpaw3]

I liked Bebop, but I made the mistake of forcing myself to marathon through it in a week. I think it's much better watched over a long period of time. Are you watching it dubbed or subbed? Because it's one of the truly rare dubs that're even better than the original Japanese. I think even the creator himself said so XD

 

I am watching it dubbed. I usually watch everything dubbed, unless of course there is no dub.

[Sarita]

Interrupting srs bsns Attack on Titan talk because heeeeeeee

 

[Xortberg]

Can't see the image. Doesn't load on the forums for me, and trying to follow the image link gives me a 403 error

[Sarita]

It's pixiv, it can be a little finicky. Here's a direct link.

[Xidphel]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weeJqvchYB8

[Xortberg]

It's pixiv, it can be a little finicky. Here's a direct link.

 

Oh god no

 

NO

 

NOT THE LOLIS! THEY DESERVE BETTER THAN THIS CRAPSACK WORLD! ;_;

[jeth]

I finally got around to finishing Gurren Lagann. Good gosh, that was spectacular! The characters, the animation, the... everything! I may have had a few little gripes, but they were fairly small. This is certainly going to receive several re-watches.

 

Now I've hit that moment where I don't know what to watch next! I've had a friend recommend Trigun and initial D.

 

I've also been meaning to get around to watching Neon Genesis Evangelion and Fullmetal Alchemist.

 

And now I don't know witch one to watch fiiiiiiiirst! D: The challenges of being a geek... xD

[Xortberg]

I finally got around to finishing Gurren Lagann. Good gosh, that was spectacular! The characters, the animation, the... everything! I may have had a few little gripes, but they were fairly small. This is certainly going to receive several re-watches.

 

I've watched it 5 times now. Planning on a sixth time, during a trip when I'm gonna make a friend watch it. It's so fucking good.

 

Now go watch the movies. They retell the story, but it gets even more batshit crazy.

 

 

 

Now I've hit that moment where I don't know what to watch next! I've had a friend recommend Trigun and initial D.

 

I've also been meaning to get around to watching Neon Genesis Evangelion and Fullmetal Alchemist.

 

And now I don't know witch one to watch fiiiiiiiirst! D: The challenges of being a geek... xD

 

 

I've not seen Trigun or Initial D, but between Evangelion and FMA, I definitely recommend FMA. I didn't like Eva all that much.

[jeth]

Now go watch the movies. They retell the story, but it gets even more batshit crazy.

 

Dang... Looks like I'm off to hunt down the movie! xD

[Deploy]

I've not seen Trigun

GO SEE IT

SEE IT NOW

 

 

THIS GIF COMMANDS YOU

[Vy'drach]

I can second Trigun for being fantastic. The characters are great, the animation is great, and story wraps up nicely. Hell, even one shot characters with no lasting importance on the story can be favourites, for instance, Brilliance Dynamite Neon (AKA BDN) is way up there on my list of great characters for the show. And it has plenty of amazingly badass moments.

[Xortberg]

Oh don't worry, Trigun is definitely on my list. It's just, the list currently has 98 different anime on it, so getting to any specific one takes some time XD

[jeth]

Just started Trigun. I'm only two episodes in, but so far it's been pretty good. The animation is great and the lead character is freaking hilarious.

[Battlechili]

I've not seen Trigun, but I have seen the movie Trigun: Badlands Rumble. Good movie. Fun main character with serious themes here and there.

 

I bought .hack//Sign Volume 3 Limited Edition, which comes with the .hack//Luminality soundtrack. I'm happy with it. Cheap and affordable, plus .hack// merchandise! Even if it was volume 3 on DVD and not the whole series. I'm particularly happy to get .hack// merchandise since it has relation to CyberConnect2, the same guys who worked on my Solatorobo game. I'm worried though because the place where I bought it had a clearance sale on a lot of its old anime merchandise and it said that they might not get more anime. Its the only place I know of nearby that has a lot of anime for sale. 

 

 

Oh don't worry, Trigun is definitely on my list. It's just, the list currently has 98 different anime on it, so getting to any specific one takes some time XD

Better then my Plan To Watch list. http://myanimelist.net/animelist/Battlechili1

 

It's pixiv, it can be a little finicky. Here's a direct link.

Ha. Puts a new meaning on that K-On cover.

 

I finally got around to finishing Gurren Lagann. Good gosh, that was spectacular! The characters, the animation, the... everything! I may have had a few little gripes, but they were fairly small. This is certainly going to receive several re-watches.

 

Now I've hit that moment where I don't know what to watch next! I've had a friend recommend Trigun and initial D.

 

I've also been meaning to get around to watching Neon Genesis Evangelion and Fullmetal Alchemist.

 

And now I don't know witch one to watch fiiiiiiiirst! D: The challenges of being a geek... xD

Glad you enjoyed TTGL!  As far as shows go, NGE is pretty cool in my opinion, especially the Rebuild films, plus NGE is shorter, but I think FMA is overall better. That said its long. I recomend watching the original FMA and then FMA:B, however if you don't feel like watching FMA twice, watch just FMA:B, as its an improved version of FMA with a story that follows more closely to the manga.