{"id":2567,"date":"2014-03-13T01:37:32","date_gmt":"2014-03-13T07:37:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/animationrevelation.com\/readables\/?p=2567"},"modified":"2026-07-12T17:01:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T23:01:22","slug":"attack-on-titan-is-edgy-to-the-edgeth-power-bloody-marquis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/animationrevelation.com\/readables\/?p=2567","title":{"rendered":"Attack on Titan is Edgy to the Edgeth Power"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
"...I didn't know Levi could bend that way."<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\tThere\u2019s no doubt that Attack on Titan is the most popular anime among Western fans in years. Cosplayers storm the cons like there\u2019s no tomorrow. Merchandise ranging from dolls to Mikasa hangers get sold. People who otherwise aren\u2019t anime fans have put this series on a leagues-high pedestal. It\u2019s a reception that\u2019s boggled the original creators to no end, causing them to drastically alter the planned ending in order to satisfy this new horde of followers. It\u2019s the anime that\u2019s made quite a few people watch anime again, with the wait for the eventual second season being one of the most hyped installments coming out of Japan in a while.<\/p>\n

\tSo that\u2019s why I\u2019m here to talk about why the show\u2019s kind of dumb. I like the show and can understand perfectly why fans love it. It\u2019s a non-stop ride of action and suspense where you\u2019re not sure who will survive the onslaught, full of characters that sacrifice everything they have in order to protect what they hold most dear. The cast all have their distinct goals, often wondering if their cause can truly be called the correct ideal. However, plenty of the series\u2019 elements strike me as a bit silly. I could take the easy route and talk about how dumb the Titans look, but I can get past that. Rather, it\u2019s what goes on between the lines that bother me the most. <\/p>\n

\tI know as a show where humans are struggling to survive, it\u2019s going to be bleak. It\u2019s going to have plenty of drama over how a single Titan can ruin the lives of regular people. But sometimes, it just hits you over the head so much about how dark the world is. From Eren having to cut himself in order to become a Titan to that scene where the Female Titan stomps on the religious crowd, it\u2019s all so unrelentingly edgy. Those scenes reek of \u201cYou don\u2019t know the pain that goes in fighting for my friends!\u201d or \u201cOnly weaklings need a phony god to survive.\u201d The show really wants to prove its maturity with all of these scenes. But in the process, this starts to feel like a teenager\u2019s Warhammer 40K fanfic.<\/p>\n

\tThese \u201cthe World is a cruel place\u201d or \u201chumans are the real monsters\u201d messages get so overblown. Scenes like where a young Mikasa gets kidnapped for sex slavery are as common as snowflakes in a blizzard. So much angst gets poured on this series like the author\u2019s trying to complete a checklist of ways to torture his characters at a breakneck speed. Yes, horrible things happen to people, but not all at once. Give the characters time to breathe, and remind us why these characters deserve to live instead of hammer home how the Survey Corps are all born to die. Merely reading a chapter of the manga makes me think Isayama is this over-the-top pessimist who believes he\u2019s deeper than he actually is.<\/p>\n

\tAnd yes, I know criticizing a show for being edgy comes off as hypocritical from the guy who writes Kill la Kill articles. But Kill la Kill knows not to take itself seriously. The show knows its premise is silly and runs with it, while Attack on Titan seldom acknowledges the absurdity of giant naked men fighting each other. It\u2019s the kind of blind grimness that plagues Naruto music videos set to the tune of Disturbed. While this helps the series stand out from other anime, it just overdoes the whole situation. Just because life isn\u2019t always sunshine and lollipops doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s automatically blood and desecration. That\u2019s why Hange\u2019s my favorite character out of the bunch, since she\u2019s the only one who doesn\u2019t see the world as neverending doom. And of course she\u2019s treated as the crazy one because of that. Maybe future chapters will try to not be so full of itself with darkness, like that scene where Mikasa smiled for once, so I just try to hope for the best. After all, you can\u2019t have true despair without hope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s no doubt that Attack on Titan is the most popular anime among Western fans in years. Cosplayers storm the cons like there\u2019s no tomorrow. Merchandise ranging from dolls to Mikasa hangers get sold. People who otherwise aren\u2019t anime fans have put this series on a leagues-high pedestal. It\u2019s a reception that\u2019s boggled the original creators to no end, causing them to drastically alter the planned ending in order to satisfy this new horde of followers. It\u2019s the anime that\u2019s…<\/p>\n

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