I considered covering this series on Examiner back when it first hit. I held off, though, as I had a tendency to cover multiple series at the time and I didn't want to get too bogged down. Considering what happened to the site, it's probably for the best. It might have drawn more traffic when it was new, but with the second season coming at some point, discussing it now will allow me to be up to speed when that finally comes out.
The plot thus far, is fairly simple. The world has been overrun by creatures called Titans, gigantic humanoid abominations that roam the land and eat people. We don't know their origins, as of yet, but even the main characters don't, so at least everyone is on equal footing. They don't seem particularly menacing, being rather pudgy and goofy looking, but we see that all attempts to defeat them have been met with failure.
As such, humanity decides to enclose itself in a village surrounded by a series of large walls. Yeah, yeah, insert Trump comment here. As was the case in "Pacific Rim", the wall ultimately proves futile as the Titans reach a point where they can just smash through it. It is said that the walls had allowed the people to live in peace for a century before though, so there is that.
It does create a sort of philosophical debate. The main character, Eren, wants to venture out, defeat the monsters, and break free of the "cage". Others, however, insist that doing so is suicide and that they should be happy to live as they are.
Both sides have their points. Eren is right in saying that becoming complacent will end badly. They do need to remain vigilant about what's out there. On the other hand, they are able to live fairly comfortably. Eren tries to compare their lives to being cattle, but I don't really see it. The village is certainly big enough and they seem to have a working economy going. I'm not sure what more he expects.
I'm rather torn on Eren. He's noble enough, and compared to the kid from "The Babadook", he's a walk in the park, but I don't know.
He's a rather shrieking lad, isn't he? He's not "whining", exactly. I know, anime protagonists often fall into that trap, but that's not really what he's doing. Eren isn't wallowing in angst, though he does open the episode by waking up in tears for no explicable reason; he just gets worked up and his voice hits this high pitch that can be rather unpleasant from an audible standpoint.
Some of it is justified. I had no problem with it when his mother was buried under rubble and he was struggling to get her out before one of the Titans made its way to them. Given the circumstances, that makes perfect sense. There are other times where he's just bickering with someone and it didn't seem necessary. Hopefully that's a trait that gets phased out as the series progresses because I could see that becoming a problem if it doesn't get addressed.
As this is the first episode (and the first of a 2 parter, no less) this episode is largely set up. It gives you the basic plot premise and introduces you to the characters. I was never bored while I was watching this and I am interested to see where it goes. I can't say that I'm blown away, just yet, but it's still early.
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