So this Attack on Titan Phenomenon may have legs in USA...

[davemerrill]

There was a guy wearing an AoT hoodie at the Canadian National Exposition last weekend, and I got a photo but I have so far forgotten to post it, sorry. Not something you normally see among the carnival midway at the CNE.

[_D_]

If it's getting attention, I think it's because the show actually goes somewhere. It really built up a feeling that ANYTHING might happen and any character might die, even the leads. It's also refreshingly free of MOE.

I've been interested in the 'world building' that's gone on, it raises so many questions, many of which will likely not be answered or worse yet end up in a 'infodump' coda when they shoot the last episode.

I mean, why is the technology frozen in appx. Europe late 18th century, except for the 3D Maneuver Gear which is WAY more advanced than everything else. Why are there no aircraft, or lighter-than-air vehicles? Is the entire thing some kind of isolation experiment?

bah.

Yeah, you too, eh? I dunno why writers of many genres think this is okay. Hunger Games has the same mentality. How did the USA go from freedom loving Republic to a fascist state? It never says. The many derivative copycat series are the same way. One author's editor told her to ignore the calls for more detail because in their opinion it wasn't necessary to the story. That's a bad call IMO...

[greg]

Well, I think some things are better left as a mystery and unexplained, since it adds to the intrigue. Look at how bad Prometheus was. I know enough about that movie that I completely refuse to watch it. I really don't want to know the origins of the xenomorph species from Alien and they mystery behind them adds to the horror. The Matrix was great because it was all a mystery; you just had to accept the premise. Then when the sequel came along and they showed Zion and it looked like an MTV music video and I was rooting for the robots to wipe them out.

Too often, trying to explain things works out poorly. The Star Wars prequels told a story of how Anakin Skywalker turned into Darth Vader, and it was so poorly convincing and badly written that it was such a disappointment.

The USA as a fascist state has been done many times before, such as in Death Race 2000 and Escape from New York. Not to get too political, but I think anybody can see how we've had far too much erosion of personal freedom during the past 15-20 years or so for the sake of "safety" and "security." Circumventing the Consititution, tossing out due process and denying people their rights, murdering unarmed citizens and even children, people losing their jobs for being "guilty" of "thoughtcrimes"... A fascist state is entirely plausible. I've never really watched Hunger Games since I'm not into juevinile fiction, but skipping the backstory on the world-building and skipping to the point might be the best thing to do.

In terms of anime, I am glad that Gundam Build Fighters didn't waste time trying to establish the plausibility of a system in which people can enter their plastic models into a virtual reality environment in order to pilot them and break each others' models. Who cares? Trying to explain all that would just drag down the narrative.

[llj]

I agree, if you waste too much time on exposition, it just bogs the story down. You create a strange situation and force the audience to accept it through good writing and execution. If you explain too much of everything in terms of backstory, you get sidetracked from the characters and story taking place.

[usamimi]

I agree, if you waste too much time on exposition, it just bogs the story down. You create a strange situation and force the audience to accept it through good writing and execution. If you explain too much of everything in terms of backstory, you get sidetracked from the characters and story taking place.

I totally agree with you and Greg on this. I have the same issue with horror movies/stories--you don't have to explain everything. In fact, NOT explaining everything (in the right ways) can make a story better. The trick is to know what to leave alone and what to explain. It can be a slippery slope, but what I've seen of AoT, I don't feel like I need an explanation of everything. It's an alternate timeline, and parallel world...if they never explain why they have some technology but not others, it's not gonna keep me up at night. But stuff like that might get explained in the manga, or new seasons (since those are coming), so that gives people something to look forward to later.

[greg]

The Birds is another great example. It never explained why the birds were attacking and killing people. The only important thing was survival. The X-Files TV show was great and kept us all watching it because with almost every episode, there was never a full resolution and no explanation. And although I never watched Lost, it seems that everyone enjoyed the ride until the end of the show. Although I guess that doesn't fully count, since even still the explanation was pretty half-assed and not as cool as everyone's imaginations had expected it to be.

Speaking of The Birds, I recommend watching the hilariously awful movie Birdemic. Unlike The Birds, this one explains why poorly animated CG eagles are attacking everyone and sounding like WWII dive bomber planes when they do so: they're mad at humans over global warming! It was made by some crackpot guy from Vietnam and the movie is great because he actually believes in his movie. Alfred Hitchcock he is not.

However, I have yet to watch Attack on Titan. I've only read the first manga volume. Maybe after taking in the whole series, I may end up expecting answers too... Hopefully it won't end up like The Village...

[usamimi]

The artist for the AoT manga said he was gonna end the series sometime in either 2017 or 2018, so it's definitely not over yet. I've only ever seen the first season of the anime, and I thought it ended at a good place while we wait for the next one. I've heard the manga starts out kinda wonky, but the artist has improved a lot since. I'd consider reading it, but it's looking to be a long one...so I dunno if I'll want to commit to buying a 50+ series, lol.

omg, Birdemic...I heard that was hysterical. The creator believes in that stuff?! Well, that's....something.

[greg]

Yes, the action was rather difficult to understand at first. Sometimes action scenes can be confusing in manga unless they're done correctly.

omg, Birdemic...I heard that was hysterical. The creator believes in that stuff?! Well, that's....something.

Oh yes... When it comes to "airmchair scientist" global warming hysterics, there's Al Gore "the polar ice caps will be gone by 2013" crazy and then there's James Nguyen "If we don't do something about global warming, all the animals will rise up and kill us I swear to God it's true" craziness. People think he made the movie as a joke, but he is serious, it seems. The movie is full of great quotes like "The eagles killed Becky!" and "I hear a mountain lion. I've gotta get going!" I bought it for real cheap off Amazon a few years ago, watched it, then bought the Rifftrax commentary. It's a film that's probably even more enjoyable while sharing the experience with friends.

[PinkAppleJam]

.The character designs aren't annoying as hell, either (like Naruto or One Piece). Something like that should have a wider appeal that the others lack.

I think it's because the character designs are quite repetitive and samey? Like you can buy an outfit from China for cheaps and wear it without too much trouble - voila, you're instantly part of a group cosplay after one purchase (wig optional); I think the inclusion part of cosplay mixed with social media cool-factor ("like my pic! I'm your fave character! You will recognise this uniform!" etc) plays a part in it's adaptable popularity.

It doesn't seem to talk down to the audience, nor panders to dumb otaku crap

Indeed! For me it encompasses many tropes I've already seen in shonen anime, so I'm not too fussed about it TBPH, but for newcomers it must be the best thing ever, which is cool by me.

[usamimi]

.The character designs aren't annoying as hell, either (like Naruto or One Piece). Something like that should have a wider appeal that the others lack.

I think it's because the character designs are quite repetitive and samey? Like you can buy an outfit from China for cheaps and wear it without too much trouble - voila, you're instantly part of a group cosplay after one purchase (wig optional); I think the inclusion part of cosplay mixed with social media cool-factor ("like my pic! I'm your fave character! You will recognise this uniform!" etc) plays a part in it's adaptable popularity.

That's true! It's pretty easy to cosplay anyone (or no one in particular!) with that series, even if you don't wanna build a prop 3D maneuver gear set. And the great thing is that there isn't a "sexy" version of the uniform for ladies--everyone wears the same uniform--so I've seem some of my female friends who normally don't cosplay at all do AoT cosplay and have lots of fun with it. Conventions lately have "[Series X] Meetups" or "[Series X] Photoshoots" where everyone dressed in that series' cosplay will come and people take photos of them as a giant group...the Attack on Titan ones are always pretty large and draw a lot of fans who take lots of pictures to post online later.