Attack on Titan Final Thoughts

Huge Spoilers and a huge wayward post listing things I loved about it.

I started reading the manga in 2011 (it began publication in 2009) around the time news came out it was going to get a live-action film adaptation. I was reading a lot of dystopian manga like Eden: It’s an Endless World and King of Thorn and I was immediately drawn to Attack on Titan’s story of survival in a strange world full of mysteries and giants gobbling up cool looking characters. It had many elements that only anime and manga seem to do that I love such as an intriguing dystopian world, slight tweaking of gender roles – intelligent males and aggressive and confident female characters, and a boatload of existentialism that pointed out the cages humans make for themselves and give fancy labels like society, family and religion. I’m no anarchist but I do like a story which tears these things down or at least questions them and to see characters do their best to survive in the world and transcend their circumstances.

Attack on Titan First Impression

Attack on Titan

Director: Tetsuro Araki, Series Composition: Yasuko Kobayashi, Original Manga: Hajime Isayama

Voice Actors: Yuuki Kaji, Yui Ishikawa, Marina Inoue, Hiro Shimono, Yu Kobayashi

Studio: Wit Studio, Production I.G.

Attack on Titan was the first anime I decided to watch from the latest season. The hype surrounding it was huge and I helped perpetuate it over at AUKN and here by repeatedly singing the praises of the staff and manga in previews. It is genuinely justified because the manga is a dark, shocking and moving and even inspiring. A really great read.

I must admit I am not far into the manga but I feel the translation to the screen via anime has been perfect and captures the action brilliantly. Which is why this post is long, full of spoilers and littered with images 😉

The world of Attack on Titan sees the human race on the brink of extinction brought on by a sudden attack from wave upon wave of man-eating giants known as Titans. Mankind only survived because it sealed itself in a medieval style city with a series of three progressively higher walls around fifty metres tall which were taller than the biggest of giants. 100 years later and people live in peace in this city.

The city is richly painted with a range of colours and intricately detailed in a European style. There are canals, fields and farms, windmills, mock-Tudor (not medieval, I know) houses, stone battlements and town squares and huge gates.

The art direction is fantastic with so much detail. Just look at the flowers.

So beautiful. Isn’t it soothing?

HAL Anime Film Trailer

HAL                                  

Japanese Title: ハル

Romaji: Haru

Release Date: June 08^th, 2013

Running Time: 125 mins.

Director: Ryōtarō Makihara

Writer: Izumi Kizara (Screenplay),

Starring: Yōko Hikasa, Yoshimasa Hosoya

Ah, another trailer for an anime film. Wait! This one is based on an original screenplay.

This near-future romance is called Hal and it sounds like a cross between Time of Eve and the supernatural romance Ghost. I love the former but I have not seen the latter in a long time so I cannot comment. Anyway, this mixture of soul trading and androids is full of names that are new to me as far as the staff goes but I am very familiar with the cast. Yōko Hikasa takes the lead alongside Yoshimasa Hosoya. I have heard her voice Maya in Occult Academy and Gabriella in the recent TV comedy anime Cuticle Detective Inaba. I have heard Hosoya as Subaru Hidaka in Robotics;Notes. I like the sound of her voice! One look at the trailer made me think of Natsuyuki Rendezvous.

Here is the trailer:

Kurumi (Hikasa) likes Haru (Hosoya) and the two seem happy life ends when a plane accident takes Haru from the mortal world. A robot version of Haru, Hal emerges as a substitute. As the two live together Kurumi gradually opens her memories and mind to him.

Ryōtarō Makihara makes his theatrical directorial debut. Hosoya has a lot of experience with TV anime like directing an episode of Tatami Galaxy and Monster, Summer Wars and Le Chevalier D’Eon. I like the titles I just listed but this is a different sort of title altogether but the trailer looks good. Music comes from Michiru Oshima (Fullmetal Alchemist, Fuse: A Gungirl’s Tale, Hana Yori Dango, Le Chevalier D’Eon) and character designs come from manga artist Io Sakisaka (Strobe Edge) and Katsuhiko Kitada (Guilty Crown) is chief animation director. The anime is produced by Wit Studio who are bringing a thrillingly dark title to television screens with Attack on Titan, a title with giants chomping down on people. They also worked on the cool anime Robotics;Notes. As well as this movie there will also be a manga running in Bessatsu Margaret in the spring.