It has been awhile since I catch up with the latest chapters of Attack on Titans. Honestly I have never been a big fan of the series because the art is kinda "rough" compared to other shonen series, but the mystery and good storytelling worth it. I didn't even watch the anime even after it has been aired for a long time, until recently. Spotify recommended some tracks from Attack on Titan anime, and they are like ZOMG so EPIC.
I finally decided to watch Attack on Titan anime on netflix last weekend, finishing two seasons in two days, what a delight! I think the anime is much better than the manga because it's so colorful and the characters are given a new depth thanks to the voice acting. I think the author has done a very good job to connect all the loose plots and it's all finally come into circle. This manga reminds me to Naoki Urasawa's storytelling, where most of the narratives seem clear enough and not going into mindless directions like a typical shonen cashcow series where you just fight, power upgrades, without any real plot or character development (Fairy's tail is the epitome of this syndrome).
Anyway, the crazies part of this series is the fact the protagonist of the series, Eren Yeager, has entered the villainy territory as he basically wants to commit a genocide to all people who live outside Paradis island, as he felt there was no hope to co-exist with the outside world.
His descent into the villain divided the entire cast, and actually enough to reconcile the protagonists and designated villains from the previous seasons into allies to stop Eren from committing his goal. The latest twist makes Eren Yeager as one of the most complex character even written in a manga medium, even more complex than Gesicht from Naoki Urasawa's Pluto (also one of most well written protagonist in a manga medium).
The attack on titan forced us to identify as Eren during the previous seasons as the designated villains destroyed his hometown and induced him rage and trauma as he saw his mom was eaten by a Titan. Later, our designated villains were not really villains. They were a second class citizen who desperately tried to climb the ladder of their society. Everyone in this manga had a very a tragic background but somehow they caught up in an endless violence.
I personally find Eren is a better character than Daenerys as the manga never depicts him as a "savior" like how GRRM shoved Daenerys' perspective upon the reader while neglecting her tyrannical tendencies. Eren's descent into the villainy territory was not as abrupt as Daenerys', but rather gradual, as it was shown numerous times from the series, he's not a hero, and he hated the villains who destroyed his hometown, and wished them for the most brutal deaths. Later on, he delivered his revenge by destroying their hometown, followed by the death of civilians. By the volume 24 of Attack on Titan, Eren is the TRUE villain of the series. The later chapters showed the series employed a time travel, which allowed him to put everything into a motion by altering the past. Hajime Isayama is a genius storyteller. I couldn't stop being impressed with so many plot twists in the series as he is trying to tie all the loose ends.
Attack on Titan incorporates a lot of theme that resonates with our current reality such as fantasy racism, the discrimination against Eldian seems a mixed of historical elements of Jewish people+North Korea+Mainland China+Taiwan+Rome empire+Nazi. The best part of the series, it triggers a debate whether those titans are metaphors of something else. Some people interpret the titans as "China" while some others interpret it as metaphor of modern farming. I personally find all of those interpretations are valid, since the author himself didn't force his perspective. I personally think it's just a brilliant fiction and ultimately an art to entertain the mass. Whether it is a metaphor or not, it may not matter because it will not change anything as its purpose is an entertainment.
I finally decided to watch Attack on Titan anime on netflix last weekend, finishing two seasons in two days, what a delight! I think the anime is much better than the manga because it's so colorful and the characters are given a new depth thanks to the voice acting. I think the author has done a very good job to connect all the loose plots and it's all finally come into circle. This manga reminds me to Naoki Urasawa's storytelling, where most of the narratives seem clear enough and not going into mindless directions like a typical shonen cashcow series where you just fight, power upgrades, without any real plot or character development (Fairy's tail is the epitome of this syndrome).
Anyway, the crazies part of this series is the fact the protagonist of the series, Eren Yeager, has entered the villainy territory as he basically wants to commit a genocide to all people who live outside Paradis island, as he felt there was no hope to co-exist with the outside world.
His descent into the villain divided the entire cast, and actually enough to reconcile the protagonists and designated villains from the previous seasons into allies to stop Eren from committing his goal. The latest twist makes Eren Yeager as one of the most complex character even written in a manga medium, even more complex than Gesicht from Naoki Urasawa's Pluto (also one of most well written protagonist in a manga medium).
The attack on titan forced us to identify as Eren during the previous seasons as the designated villains destroyed his hometown and induced him rage and trauma as he saw his mom was eaten by a Titan. Later, our designated villains were not really villains. They were a second class citizen who desperately tried to climb the ladder of their society. Everyone in this manga had a very a tragic background but somehow they caught up in an endless violence.
I personally find Eren is a better character than Daenerys as the manga never depicts him as a "savior" like how GRRM shoved Daenerys' perspective upon the reader while neglecting her tyrannical tendencies. Eren's descent into the villainy territory was not as abrupt as Daenerys', but rather gradual, as it was shown numerous times from the series, he's not a hero, and he hated the villains who destroyed his hometown, and wished them for the most brutal deaths. Later on, he delivered his revenge by destroying their hometown, followed by the death of civilians. By the volume 24 of Attack on Titan, Eren is the TRUE villain of the series. The later chapters showed the series employed a time travel, which allowed him to put everything into a motion by altering the past. Hajime Isayama is a genius storyteller. I couldn't stop being impressed with so many plot twists in the series as he is trying to tie all the loose ends.
Attack on Titan incorporates a lot of theme that resonates with our current reality such as fantasy racism, the discrimination against Eldian seems a mixed of historical elements of Jewish people+North Korea+Mainland China+Taiwan+Rome empire+Nazi. The best part of the series, it triggers a debate whether those titans are metaphors of something else. Some people interpret the titans as "China" while some others interpret it as metaphor of modern farming. I personally find all of those interpretations are valid, since the author himself didn't force his perspective. I personally think it's just a brilliant fiction and ultimately an art to entertain the mass. Whether it is a metaphor or not, it may not matter because it will not change anything as its purpose is an entertainment.
