Attack on Titan: Shingeki no Kyojin

[Kraco]

saw it, but while it looks cool, that colossal is too colossal. if he was that big, he could destroy the whole wall instead of just kicking in a small gap.

The poster wouldn't look cool or intimidating if you only saw the very top of the colossal's head. In fact most people (who haven't seen the manga or anime) wouldn't necessarily get what's going on.

I think it's a very cool poster, also artistically. My only problem is that the 3D gear looks like something out of a scifi movie, not early industrial application of pressurised gas. But, again, I think the artist did it like that to draw attention to the gear. People not familiar with the title might miss it altogether otherwise.

[KrayZ33]

The hunters should be the recon squads, but would the titans be called "food"? Or is it just Japanese not knowing German that well, and what they really meant was "prey" instead of food? Would make more sense.

and how exactly would that change the meaning of the sentence? it wouldn't
"prey" might be more lyrical though

the context and meaning of the OP should be clear either way though

True. But it was just another part of Eren's foolishness that he assumed all titans are trudging, dull eating machines.

while he saw and admitted it himself that there are intelligent titans out there (the huge one especially), they have been teached that titans show no sign of human intelligence in school
they are driven by instinct...is what has been said

[FelixZeroAlastor]

[gg] Shingeki no Kyojin - 07

That was a fantastic episode. That decapitation was the highlight of the episode for me.

[lelouch]

Well, that explains what happened to Eren. Awesome episode.

[Buffalobiian]

HaHA! I'm putting even more money on the point that eaten humans become titans now (that's how titans reproduce given their asexual state). Either Eren's anger on its own was enough maintain his mind (or at least attitude towards other titans), or it required his father's magical injection.

Someone came up with the idea before about whether the Colossal Titan was a human that could spontaneously transform, so leading on from that... would Eren be able to shapeshift between human and Boxing-Titan? (I would call him Eren-Titan, but I'll wait till that's confirmed).

[MFauli]

okay, that will need a lot of explaining but IT WAS FREAKING AWESOME!

Eren-Titan (of course, it´s him!) shouting aloud gave me goosebumps and reminded me of the first time when Shinji controlled EVA-01, when it went berserk. So good. so fantastically good.

Obviously, the question is now why Eren kept (part of) his mind, even after turning into a Titan. I dont really like the "his father gave him something"-idea, as it would mean that his father knew about all of this. Which would be fucking stupid to keep a secret from all other people.
But even before that, I´m now wondering just how "real" magic is in this anime. Eren was eaten just minutes ago, yet he´s there as a titan already. And his hand regenerated nothing like biological regeneration would work. It just went back into its original state. Since I´m not a big fan of bullshit magic explanations, I hope all of the Titans-related matters are part of a scifi-layer beyond what looks like a medieval setting otherwise.

Teleporting via lightning, living without eating for decades, regenerating instantly, even when the head is gone. Turning human beings into their own kind in a matter of minutes - yeah, I´m hoping this is all some Gantz-esque setup where superior alien lifeforms are messing with human lifes. Seeing how quickly the story proceeds, I could very well imagine that a stark shift in environment can happen anytime. But whatever. This anime has been so good till now, I won´t doubt we´ll get a good explanation for now.

About the idea of shapeshifting ... well, certainly not an impossible concept, seeing how quickly regeneration works and stuff. Though that definitely would change the tone of the series. Somewhat reminds me of "Heroic Age", where the main character also transforms into a super powerful monster. Being able to transform into one of the larger Titan-classes would also open up the option for leaving th e save wall-insides and go on "adventure" outside, with Eren protecting the group if necessary.

Damn, another week-long wait. So hard.

[shinta|hikari]

That episode reminded me of why I wanted this story animated so badly. That episode is now one of my most favorite anime episodes.

The decapitating left hook was awesome. The way the head flew away and struck the buildings, how it got stuck, the sudden pause right on impact of the punch, all of it made that scene awesome. The way Mikasa popped up into the air after the abnormal titan stomped on the ground for a right straight was absurdly cute to me. Well, anything Mikasa related is either absolutely cool and/or cute to me so that is no surprise. The sheer amount of Ackerman screen time this episode might give me withdrawal symptoms later on.

I loved how Mikasa managed to get back on her feet after getting broken once. Eren did save her that day, but maybe it is today that Eren truly saved Mikasa. She has become a stronger and more complete person after realizing just what Eren gave her and had continued giving her (although we hardly ever see it because the point was to surprise people on the reason Mikasa adores Eren) during the time they were together. The character development she went through in the span of a few minutes, from her racing towards death, surviving on instinct, realizing her reason for living, and finally being enthralled by the abnormal titan, surpasses what other characters go through in the length of an entire cour. Her internal and physical struggle as she goes through this were also done perfectly.

[NeoCybercoin]

So...fucking...awesome.

Now that I've gotten that out of my system. It looks like the Titan's are really weak. I mean their bodies. The little shockwave you see coursing through Titan-Eren is from his own punch and afterwards his own hand is destroyed. Sure it heals right away but it really does show that physically the Titan's don't have a lot of defense.

[shinta|hikari]

They don't need it.

[Buffalobiian]

The little shockwave you see coursing through Titan-Eren is from his own punch and afterwards his own hand is destroyed. Sure it heals right away but it really does show that physically the Titan's don't have a lot of defense.

The "shockwave" depicted came from his neck and spread down his body, which didn't make any sense to me. I would have imagined it as kinetic energy coming from his toes, through his torso as he twisted then through his arms to the decapitated head - but that didn't happen either.

No idea what the "wave" was. DS thinks it's some sort of reinforcement mechanism.

[Ryllharu]

It seems just like a visual effect to me. It looks cooler than a still shot or different angles frozen at a point of time. It felt like it was the energy behind the strike, even if it was depicted backward from what we're used to seeing in martial arts anime.

It's not like this series hasn't done that before. This episode alone was full of crazy visual effects and badass lighting tricks.

edit:
Thought about it some more.

Start with your hand up by your shoulder, mimic that move. Feel which muscles work. Shoulders tense as the arm is extended, then as you swing, the tension moves down your arm and down your back as you twist. It's not a punch, it's a slap.

[NeoCybercoin]

So just slapped off the head of that Titan? Makes all the more badass. Like 'get the fuck outa here." Slap!

[shinta|hikari]

It was kinda weird how he took up a kick boxing stance then suddenly slapped the enemy though.

I just wish that they keep up the details on the titans' faces. Sometimes, particularly this new abnormal one, the face suddenly gets smooth with no details.

The titans are sorta pink right? Do you guys think they would be more disgusting and/or horrifying if the colour of their skin is the same as the rest of humanity?

[Ryllharu]

They're already all bloated, veiny, with a slight iridescence to their skin, partway between a deathly fever pallor or newborn amniotic goo. That's pretty fucking disgusting as is. Mostly notably, they have way too many teeth, and their mouths are just slightly too small for how many teeth they have, so their lips are always curled back.

They're designed to fall firmly in the uncanny valley, that I am sure.

[shinta|hikari]

I'm not questioning that. I'm asking if they could have dived further into that valley by copying the skin colour of humanity. I have always imagined them to be so from the black and white pages of the manga. So what do you think? I'm not really sure, but I feel that making their skin colour a little too alien made the titans less WTF for me, not that I am unsatisfied with them as is. I'm just curious as to how others perceive it.

[Buffalobiian]

I'm having trouble imagining them with a different skin colour (when I try to see them as "more human", I get a real-life giant in my head, rather than this anime). If you could photoshop a pic for comparison shinta, that would help me come to an answer.

At this point, I think the "baby-ness" of monsters in general make them pretty damn scary. It's that gleeful innocence as they munch down on humans tell you they simply like what they do (and there's nothing you can do to stop it).

You're not competing against someone's mind or strategy. You're simply someone's toy/food.

[David75]

The slap from that fighting Titan was obvious from the way the arm moved and the fact the hand was open (or maybe I did reconstruct that image after watching the hand regenerate?)

Regarding the muscle effects, I was wondering if it was in fact heat, lots of heat produced by the massive energy bursts in each muscle needed to move an absurdly big and heavy human-like arm.

What I find intriguing is that that Titan has a very good build, pretty much like the armored one. We'll eventually see if it is important. Why? because most of the titans we get to see do not have a good BMI after all
Would that mean human=junk food?

[Buffalobiian]

The slap from that fighting Titan was obvious from the way the arm moved and the fact the hand was open (or maybe I did reconstruct that image after watching the hand regenerate?)

On the first watch, I thought he hammer-fisted the guy with the wrong end of a hammerfist (thumb-side).

[Kraco]

I'm satisfied Mikasa overcame her depression, at least to a degree, so quickly. She was always quite a dark character (after her tragedy, anyway), so I imagine she wouldn't have any weapons such as cheerfulness to combat dead-end emotions. Although being obsessed about Eren is an integral part of her character, so I'd say dropping that to go on would be bad.

But yeah, I was also looking forward to seeing the abnormal titan animated.

[Buffalobiian]

Hopefully I won't be disappointed by the full length OP when it comes out in July, since this is pretty awesome already.