Attack on Titan and the Second Kaiju Golden Age · 12:28am Jan 20th, 2014
Warning: Long rant incoming.
So, some of you may be familiar with a wildly popular anime named Attack on Titan, or Shingeki no Kyojin for you sticklers who demand we use the non-translated titles.
For those of you who are unfamiliar, a basic synopsis. Humanity is top dog, everything is great, when BOOM - Titans show up. Titans are giant naked dudes who don't have nads(thank Godzilla) who like to eat people and destroy stuff. As a matter of fact, that's ALL they do. Eat people and destroy stuff. They are literally incapable of anything else. Anyway, Humanity gets boned, and we get driven to near extinction. The only surviving humans retreat behind three mysterious walls, 50 meters high. Keep in mind that the tallest titans are only 15 meters tall. So humans hide behind the three walls and - hey! It actually worked! And so mankind enjoys a hundred years of prosperity trapped in a cage by their animalistic titan overlords.
OR DO THEY?
Suddenly, a big-ass titan that's 60 meters tall shows up and screws up the outermost walls. And so it causes a chain of events that force our main characters into a battle for the fate of humanity, yadda yadda.
To be fair, I've been meaning to make this blog for a while, but only recently have I gotten around to doing it. So yeah, that's a thing.
Anyway, I've seen the show in its entirety - at least what's been produced thus far, that is. And what do I think?
I don't like it.
I love it.
This show feels incredibly in-depth and - I hate to use this word - gritty. I can't really describe it, and I don't like using words like "Dark," "Edgy," or "Gritty" to describe things cuz I feel they're overrated, but I can't think of anything better and I'm sure as hell not gonna wait an hour for one word in a dumb blog. Anywho, the show is a very, very depressing show. At the same time, it is punctuated with moments of joy and badassery that are able to pull you out of your misery most of the time. I'm trying to avoid bringing up spoilers, because frankly, you guys should ALL watch this show.
Now, I know that a lot of my followers are fans of the kaiju genre. My kaiju crossover stories are probably the reason you follow me anyways. So, as one kaiju fan to another, WATCH THIS SHOW. I've begun to realize that this show is the avante-garde of Kaiju. It strikes all the notes of a good kaiju film, like Gojira 54 or the Heisei Gamera films, but does so in a way completely new and different than anything we've seen before. In a weird sort of way, it's the closest thing to a kaiju anime since Evangelion, which I have yet to see(Why do mechs always get to steal the spotlight?).
A lot of people think that a "Second Golden Age for Kaiju Films" is on its way. What with Pacific Rim last year and Godzilla's return this summer, many are saying that these are signs of a revival in the genre. Personally, I think it may be early to make such a grand assumption, but I really hope they're right. And I have yet to see evidence to the contrary, so here's hoping everything comes up the way we'd like.
For those of you whose interest I've piqued, the link to a website where you can watch all AoT episodes for absolutely free is here. Don't worry, it's official.
End rant.
Sounds interesting. I have hear of it, but never seen the shoe myself. I will def give it a watch. I love kaiju! I grew up on Godzilla movies! Cannot wait for the 2014 Godzilla reboot! I just wanna know what other monsters they're putting in it. I read it'll be like 4 or so but some will be oc. I want Mothra and King Ghidorah!