This post is going to discuss through season three of Attack on Titan, spoilers warning.
Season one of Attack on Titan pulled you into the universe and captivated you. It was fast-paced, and the action was breathtaking. At first, I was hesitant about a show where you were fighting giants, but this blew away all my expectations and then some. It had me at the edge of my seat, yearning to see where this story would take it. Season two slowed down a bit and built up the supporting characters in an emotional way.
Season three. Season three was a piece of art. It had great action, and it was emotionally thrilling at the same time. This was no longer your typical shounen title. It elevated itself to be on the same level as Fullmetal Alchemist. And to understand why it is worth it to look at the world-building and the nuanced discussion of themes discussed during the show.
Attack on Titan could have easily fallen into tropes and had a very one-dimensional antagonist. It is quite literally in the title of the show; they are fighting titans. Titans = bad. End of the story. However, as the show goes on, the plot thickens. And oh boy, does the plot thicken. Yes, season one had us fighting giants, but there was always an era of mystery to it. Why did Eren turn into a titan? What are all these flashbacks about? What is in the basement? Who is trying to destroy the wall? What was once a one-dimensional villain became anything but that.
After learning about the Eldian empire’s bloody rise to power with titans, the first kings’ pacifism and tyrannical rule, the genocide of the Eldian people by the Marley empire builds layered complexity to the antagonist. Who is in the right? What happens next, now that we learn that the biggest enemy is not Titans but a hostile country that has far superior technology. How does Eldia recover after being isolate from the rest of the world for over 100 years? Was isolation their only option?
I loved the continual debate throughout the show about what it means to be free and live a life with meaning. The walls were described as a cage and the people cattle. Eren yearned to get outside of the walls to experience the vast world. To Eren and Armin, being free means experiencing the world. After learning all this Eren, he finished season three by saying this:
And just across that sea, freedom is waiting. That is what I always believed, at least. But I was wrong. I know what is across the sea now– it is our enemies. Everything we see is exactly as it was in my fathers’ memories… Hey, if we did cross the sea, and we killed our enemies; after that, would we finally be free?
If you haven’t seen it, watch it. It just came out in theaters in the US. This movie was everything that I expected it to be, more or less from reading the manga in advance. Ufotable did an incredible job once again at animating this. Watching this in a theater gave an immersive experience with amazing sounds and stunning visualization.
Mugen Train was ideal for movie format since it was essentially a giant fight sequence. My one gripe with the manga is that there are chapter cuts and even volume cuts mid-fight. This is obviously a constraint of the medium; however, having an uninterrupted conclusive fight is a nice thing. What sets Mugen Train apart from other anime movies from My Hero Academia, Full Metal Alchemist, and Hunter X Hunter is that this movie is canon and is critical to the main plot. Most anime movies associated with a series are typically just a side quest with no consequence to the main plot. Maybe with the major success of Demon Slayer, there will be more movies like this. Demon Slayer definitely will set an example for the upcoming Jujutsu Kaisen and Attack on Titan movies.
Like I discussed in my prior post on Demon Slayer, this is an unapologetic shounen title. The premise and story are straightforward. Demons = bad; boys slay demons. But, what sets Demon Slayer apart from other shounen titles like Bleach is the flawless focused execution. The characters are balanced; there is funny banter; the fight sequences are phenomenal. Demon Slayer doesn’t need a deep or unique story to carry it.
Mugen Train is like an Avenger move: visually stunning, face-paced, and guaranteed to be a mainstream hit.
Oh boy, so No.6 has an anime adaptation. To put this review short, the first half was great, but the second half fell apart the ending was rushed. This adaptation would really have been a lot better if it had three more episodes.
Don’t get me wrong, the adaptation nor the plot wasn’t terrible. With only 11 episodes, there is little reason for you not to watch it if you are interested in LGBTQ or sci-fi dystopias. My gripe with the anime may merely be because I read the manga first.
Up until the end, the anime followed the manga pretty close. Things diverged after Shion and Rat find out about Safu and decide to infiltrate the correctional facility. In the manga, Rat, and Safu visit the cave people and the Elder after the Manhunt, and Shion and Rat were dumped in a massive body pile in the correctional facility. Rat and Shion end up visiting the cave people by crawling through a crack in the wall. Slight plothole here since it doesn’t make sense for there to be an exposed cave in the middle of the correctional facility leading to dissidents? The anime actually fix this issue by having Rat and Safu visit the Elder before the Manhunt. In the anime, Dogkeeper and Rikiga play a larger role in getting them deeper into the facility by gaining access to a terminal.
By moving the “cave people” placement and when Shion learns about Rat’s tragic backstory of being the lone survivor of a genocide that eliminated the “Forest People,” it lessens how emotional the entire correctional break-in is on Shion. In the manga, they took time to have Shion grieve as he witnessed a literal mountain of dead bodies and then learn about Rat. At one point in the manga, a victim even asks Shion to end his life because he was in so much pain. In fact, Shion comes to the edge of a mental breakdown multiple times and even contemplated ending his life. Since the anime pacing was way too fast, we don’t get to see as much of this, and instead, it jumps past all that important character development and land at a point where Shion instantly became decisive ok with killing.
The anime ends quite abruptly compared to the manga, which gave slightly more closure. In the anime, both Shion and Rat were shot and injured pretty badly while trying to flee to the ground floor to make their escape with Dogkeeper and Rikiga. Shion was shot in the heart while saving Rat, and it doesn’t look like he will make it. After fumbling to the ground floor, Shion is essentially passed out practically dead, and Rat won’t leave his side. So what happens? Their best friends, Dogkeeper and Rikiga, flat up, left them to die at the correctional facility. Dogkeeper saying something like, “the one with something to protect always loses.” After their best friends abandon them, Elyurias magically appears, heals both of them, finishes destroying the outer wall of No.6, and vanishes. The anime then goes to a cut scene where everyone is outside looking at the outer wall destroyed, and the very last thing we see is Rat kiss Shion with no dialog whatsoever — plus, the kiss was swift.
I’m not saying that the manga’s ended perfectly; it too was rushed, but it at least gave characters more time to process the events, and it gave more closure. In the manga, Shion wasn’t fatally shot; only Rat was. Rather than his friends abandoning him like in the anime, they all stuck together and made a daring entrance into No.6 to get Rat the medical treatment he needed. Rather than have Elyurias magically disappear, Rat and Shion went downtown to have Rat sing the song of wind to calms Elyurias and make a deal with her. The deal promised Elyurias that they would do better to protect the forest in the future. In the anime, all Elyurias did was exact revenge on No.6. By going downtown to face Elyurias, we actually face our antagonists — the mayor and the head researcher responsible for all the inhumane experimentation. The anime never even introduced us to the antagonists. In the anime, the enemy was always just “No.6”.
The ending in the manga gave more closure between Rat and Shion. They kissed, and Rat said that he promised to come back for him, but he wanted to do traveling. Shion, in the meantime, became responsible for rebuilding the city — specifically, he was in charge of revitalizing the forest.
The start of the anime was excellent. The visualization of the city, the technology, etc, were all excellent. It is a shame that they didn’t follow the manga closer because it would have had such a more satisfying ending than it did. Not to say it was bad if I didn’t read the manga, I probably wouldn’t have complained hence much. What is tragic is that it would have only required 1-2 more episodes to include everything that they left out from the manga.
I really loved this manga! The gay love interest between Shion and Rat provides a strong emotional backbone for the story. However, the story is more than just a coming of age/romance story. At its core, this is a sci-fi manga that covers the dystopian city of No.6. The plot was concise, and the pacing of the manga was excellent. The core set of characters were diverse and played really well into the setting. On top of all that, the artwork in this manga is top beautiful making it an enjoyable series to read.
No.6, in my opinion, touched on some of the same themes as Full metal alchemist. The leaders of No.6 became blinded by power and the scientific inquiry that they committed grave crimes in the name of a pure ideal– protecting the Holy City. No.6’s city leaders killed hundreds, silenced dissidence, and intruded on citizens’ freedoms to protect the city. There was the mad scientist that killed thousands in the name of protecting the city. Similar to the themes in Fullmetal Alchemist, ideals that are taken way too far leads to destruction. Zealous devotion to either science or faith leads to bad things. In No.6, Shion teaches people that there is a third option between destroying the city and keeping the status quo — i.e., between Rat’s drive for revenge and the city officials, killing people of the West district and their citizens. It is with Shion at the end of the Manga that begins to rebuild the city with No.6 and the west district. Building a city that respects nature and does not discriminate against people outside of the city or against people who disagree with the government.
At the end of this story, I felt sad/happy/something, I almost broke into tears. It is sweet that Shion and Rat had a “Promise” kiss at the end, however, I wanted to see the two stay together and live happily ever after. Instead, Rat goes away to travel the unknown, and Shion is left in the city to rebuild. It was a happy ending, but… all that buildup for one kiss. I guess it leaves more for the imagination of what would happen in the future. I felt that way when I saw Gon and Killua separate at the end of the Hunger x Hunter anime. I know they would be reunited, but seeing them leave each other hurt.
Were Shion and Rat too different to remain together in the end? Rat said he was a wander, and Shion tended to cling to places. True, but Shion would have traveled, he said it himself, a life without you is a life not living. This manga was soo emotional, and the characters were captivating. Rat is the devious person with an air of mystery, and Shion being the pure sheltered person. Both characters change throughout the manga. Watching the mass murders changed Shion to the point where he ends up kills someone to save Rat. Rat changed from someone who only distrusts people to someone capable of love.
I think Shion and Rat’s characters bring up an interesting discussion about nature vs. nurture. Also, this can tie in with Dogkeeper’s character. These two were polar opposites in many regards. Shion being the light, having often naive ideals and outlook on the world. Shion was overly trusting of people, which put him in danger in West block. Was Shion “naive” way because of his upbringing? Being born in No.6, having a loving mother, never really facing any hardships, it is easy to say that this had a factor. However, even among the No.6 residents, Shion was particularly nice, even his mother was. It appears that most citizens in No.6 are nice in this way. What sets Shion apart from the rest of the citizens is that Shion is genuinely nice, where the rest of the citizens only put on a show facade of being good people. When he learned about the dark side of No.6, Shion fought it, where other residents just ignored it.
Rat is slow to trust, and he believes that the ends justify the means. Rat believes that destroying No.6 is worth it as long as it brings an end to the injustice that No.6 creates. Where Shion initially believed that bloodshed is always wrong no matter the cause. Rat doesn’t know exactly how to quantify Shion, often saying “is he even human” to himself. Maybe Rat believes that Shion is like an angel. Rat tries to protect Shion’s innocence. When at the correctional facility, Rat stops Shion from killing two different people. However, in the end, Shion ends up killing someone to save Rat’s life. The correctional facility changed Shion, after seeing a literal mountain of bodies, pain, and blood beyond imaginable, Shion changes. He doesn’t turn bitter and hate the world, but, he emerges as a man of action– proving to Rat that his words aren’t just shallow. At times throughout the Correctional facility, Shion almost kills himself. Once after seeing the mountain of bodies. Another time after Seeing the hologram of Safu and destroying Mother — the AI entity that NO.6 tried to create. After that misfortune, Shion became decisive and moved onwards. He stitched up Rat, and left an exploding building. Once rat was better, Shion and Rat didn’t go back to West Block to be safe, but instead went downtwon to put an end to the violence. Shion was able to calm the crowd and get Rat inside the Mayers office to stop Elyurias.
With all that said, nature vs. nurture? Are the people in No.6 better people since they had a better upbringing, or is their pompous upbringing at the cost of others in the west district bloody their hands? Most people in No.6 are innocent like Shion. Due to their environment, people in the West district commit crimes to survive– but does that make them bad people? These people are distrustful, like Rat. People like Rikiga (the old journalist turned porno mag) who is a sleazy drunk. Would all these people be different if they had the luxury of No.6? Dogkeeper puts on a hard exterior, but, on the inside, she is really a nice person. Interestingly, Dogkeeper was literally raised by Dogs– similar to Inosuke in Demon Slayer being raised by Boars. Characters like this only really work in fictional pieces. But, they illustrate how people born with nothing can still be good. I don’t think No.6 provides any clear answers but, it poses a good way of thinking about how your environment affects how people behave and what they value.
This isn’t the only Anime to bring up this idea. Older manga like Bleach dabbled with the problems with poverty– consider the Rukon district in the Soul Society. In Bleach, royalty was in more of a negative light than the lower class since they were completely disconnected from reality at times. In both Bleach and No.6, the lower class had more criminals but were at its core good people. Newer animes like Black Clover also look at social classes and how it huts the lower class. No.6, with its dystopian spin on things, makes this discussion a bit more salient.
Black Clover is the amalgamation of nearly every shounen trope to date. However, it managed to do so while not feeling forced nor awkward. It used the tropes that worked well, and it paid off in the show. I certainly wouldn’t call it a pioneer in the anime landscape. But, it did create a series that was highly enjoyable and well worth the watch.
The pacing of the anime was really good. There was no filler and battles never took an absorbant about of episodes — looking at Bleach’s Aizen Arc and Hunter x Hunter’s Chrimea Ant arc. But, that may change with the season and the impending battle against the Dark Triage in the spade kingdom.
The animation of Black Clover has gotten quite a bad reputation among the community. The biggest problem is that the show airs every week so they have consistency issues. Some episodes are really good where some episodes have battles that are really choppy. As the season went on, the animation did improve. Episode 170 and the episodes leading up to that one had some really great animation in the action scenes.
I could sit here and say the show was about overcoming adversity, friendship, becoming stronger, facing evil, but those are all sprinkled in most shounen anime series. At least, the show’s messages didn’t feel new or fresh.
Black Clover got a lot of inspiration from Bleach. The Squad Captains in the Clover kingdom are analogous to the Gotei 13 from Bleach and the Hashira from Demon Slayer. Asta fighting his inner demon is similar to Ichigo fighting his inner Hollow: they had to fight and defeat their inner “demon” to wield its power to the full extent.
The show follows Asta and Yuno: the two orphan peasants from a small town trying to make it big to prove that people are capable of anything despite where they were born. Again not unique since there was similar class friction within Bleach’s Soul Society. However, with Black Clover, this point is more salient and present throughout the series. In the Clover Kingdom, people in nobility are born with more mana (magic powers) therefore they don’t have to work as hard as the peasants who have less mana. That is why it is shocking when two peasants prove them wrong by joining the Royal Knight Squads and become an icon for others to follow. Later on, in the show we find out that Yuno is actually the refugee price of the Spade kingdom – thus explaining his incredible magic power, yet dulling the point they were making about peasants rising to power. Which, then just leaves us with the magicless boy Asta and the rest of the Black Bulls. Through hard work and rigorous training, they saved the kingdom on multiple occasions and are slowly changing people’s minds about the “importance” of nobility.
I’m not sure if all of this is just to say that life isn’t fair and that you have to work twice as hard as others to get to where you want to be. As annoying of a character Asta was in the beginning, we grow to love him throughout the season because he is caring, goofy, and above all else is an incredibly hard worker who won’t give up.
Shortly after watching this youtube video by Gigguk, I decided to watch Demon Slayer season one. I was immediately hooked on the anime. There was an emotional story, and above anything else, the artwork and animation were off the charts. I am truly amazed at how far animation has gotten in the last ten years. We went from “cartoons” to stunning works of art. And the amazing thing is that Demon Slayer is not an isolated incident. Other new shounen titles like Jujutsu Kaisen and My Hero Academia continue to push the medium to greater heights.
As Gigguk said in his video, it’s not that Demon Slayer is unique in the genre or has an incredible story; it is that the execution is perfect, and the animation brings it to a whole other level. The anime got me so enthralled that I ended up purchasing the manga just to learn what happens next– since there was just one season released.
The artwork in the manga was also good; Koyoharu Gotouge has a real knack for style. However, the manga can’t really hold a candle to the anime in this case. Not because the manga wasn’t good, it was great, but because the anime was really well executed. Plus, action in manga can sometimes be tough to follow — especially when every demon has a special fighting ability.
After catching up with the manga, I don’t know exactly how I feel about the story as a whole. One part of me wishes that it would run longer since I feel like there are aspects of the story that Gotouge didn’t have time to flesh out. However, on the other hand, I can understand how having this anime run for much longer would make it feel even more repetitive than it already is. The story follows a pattern of: big battle, recovery, training, next battle. Repeat. In each of these cycles, the characters get stronger, and the stakes get larger– typical shounen anime plot. I appreciate how much time the anime spends in the training/recovery phases since it allows for character development that doesn’t feel forced. Bleach suffered since it simply had the characters stuck in continuous battle rather than give them time resting between arcs — but that’s my hot take.
Overall, I would definitely recommend everyone watching Demon Slayer. With the upcoming movie (Mugen Train) release in the US and season two coming out sometime this/next year, I see this anime becoming a mainstream icon.
After watching the 2011 version of the anime Hunter X Hunter, I was hesitant as to whether or not I should also watch the 1999 version of the anime. With the two adaptations of Fullmetal Alchemist, there was a significant difference in the story — especially at the end. However, with Hunter X Hunter, these adaptations cover the same material in the manga with the 2011 version adapting more arcs.
Nerveless, I ended up watching the 1999 adaptation along with the OVAs that went through the Greed Island arc. Although these versions were near-identical in terms of story, there are still plenty of things in the 1999 version that was not in the 2011 adaptation.
To start the anime, there was about an episode of so of extra content in the 1999 anime going into more detail into Gon’s background before he leaves Whale island. In my opinion, this is great for character development because we are introduced to Kite, and it gives more depth to how Gon knows about his father Gin and why he wants to become a Hunter. In the 2011 edition, you are just sorta told, “yeah, this 12-year-old kid wants to be a Hunter because his dad he never met was”. With the 1999 opening, you get a better idea of why Gon idolizes hunters and why he wants to become one so bad.
The 1999 edition had an additional mission in the hunter arc with the ship and storm. Although it isn’t that missed in the 2011 edition, this mini phase had some great character development. Other than that, many one-off scenes were included in the 1999 edition that wasn’t in the 2011 edition. Stylistically the two shows were vastly different. The 2011 version is very bright and colorful, where 1999 had a darker color palette — typical animation for its time. I enjoyed the 1999 animation because it made me nostalgic for the old Pokémon videos I would watch as a kid. Also, seeing the dated technology in the 1999 version is entertaining.
https://youtu.be/xXjC0gTTfnA
The 1999 version can be weird at times…
I was fine with Killua’s DUB, but it was irking to hear Gon’s voice be so low in the 1999 DUB. No matter how Hisoka came off to you as in the 2011 version, he is definitely 10x creepier in the 1999 version. Plus, there are some out there scenes for a shounen — like the one where Killua watches porn in the hotel room.
https://youtu.be/XWVNSyZes9E
If your not a huge fan of HXH, it probably isn’t worth the time to watch the entire adaptation. But, if you want to check out the content in the 1999 version that isn’t in the 2011 edition, you should at least watch these episodes:
E1 – A Boy Setting Out for a Journey x Leaving Behind the Sound of the Wind
There are very few shounen anime that can hold a candle to Hunter X Hunter in narrative and character development. The series hits on so many themes such as friendship, redemption, enlightenment, and revenge. But, nothing stood out to me quite as much as the notion of ‘finding a purpose’ brought up throughout the season with Killua.
Shounen characters’ ambitions tend to be grandiose and often over the top. Take Black Clover, for example; Asta and Yuno both want to become the wizard king. Or, consider Midoriya in My Hero Academia that wants to become the GREATEST superhero in the entire world. Even characters within Hunter X Hunter have backstories that set them their respective goals. Kurapika is the lone survivor of a genocide leading him on a path towards revenge. Leorio grew up poor and was unable to save his best friend from dying, leading him to become a Hunter to attend medical school and save others. Gon’s father abandoned him as a child leading him to follow in his footsteps and become a Hunter.
Although an epic backstory will motivate characters throughout a story, that isn’t how life works. This then leads us to Killuas’ character which although has a big backstory, doesn’t give Killua’s a quest to chase after. Early on in the show, Gon asked Killua why he wanted to become a Hunter, and he said that he thought that the exam would be fun. Killua was raised by a family of assassins that pushed their ideals and aspirations onto Killua. However, Killua shared none of these aspirations. He did now want to become an assassin, so he ran away.
We see real development with Killua’s character. At the beginning of the show, Killua could best be described as a psychopath bearing little value on life and the ones around him. He was brainwashed from a young age to care about nothing but his family and that he didn’t need any friends. However, by the end of the exam arc, he replied that he wants to be Gon’s friend when asked what he wanted by his narcissistic older brother Illumi. Illumi proceeded to tell Killua that nobody would be friends with him and that he should return home.
Gon, Kurapica and Leorio end up chasing after Killua and rescuing him from his family. After the Zoldic Arc, Gon and Killua go to Whale island to visit Gon’s family. Killua expresses to Gon that he doesn’t know what he wants to do with his life. Gon replies that they should spend time together while searching for Gon’s father because they enjoy spending time together and that along the way, Killus can search for what he wants to do. This is how it remains until the end of the election Arc when Killua decides that his purpose, for the time being, would be to protect his sister from the rest of his family.
This plot obviously isn’t too deep; however, the execution is excellent, and it resonates throughout the story since Killua’s character development serves as the emotional backbone of Hunter X Hunter. Everyone throughout their life needs to decide what they want to do with their life. More often than not, this choice is thrust upon the character in fiction with an over-the-top backstory. However, having a clear purpose in life isn’t always given; you need to seek it out. For Killua, he found purpose and fulfillment in protecting his friends, and in the end, doing the same thing but with his sister.
