Attack on Titan. The score thus far: Bloody and Brilliant

Holy shit this is a good anime.  Without a doubt the best one I've seen this year so far.

What?  You expected me to say anything else?  It's good.  You want me to say why it's good? Well I suppose I can spare five minutes.

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OK so for those of you who've seen, you know the score, but for those looking at it and doing the umming and erring let me give you a brief synopsis.

Attack on Titan takes place, as most animes do, in a fictitious world.  In this world humanity encountered a strange new race of beings known as the Titans.  These Titans tower above humans, ranging from sizes from a small house to well over 60 feet.

As a wise man said: "It ain't gonna last"

After skirmishes with the Titans proved ineffective at pushing them back humanity was forced to retreat, seeking sanctuary behind huge stone walls which, luckily enough, just happen to be there.  It's not really made clear if the people in the walls are the last bastion of humanity or if there are more walls around the world.

Eren realizes too late he'd left the stove on when he went out.

While watching his favorite episode of Naruto one day Eren Yeager, our protagonist, is asked by his mother to go out and gather firewood with their adoptive daughter Mikasa Ackerman. In any other anime she's be yandere as all hell but this isn't any other anime.

Soon after saving their friend Armin Arlert from the generic bullies they discover that the walls they based their whole security plans on aren't as Titan-proof as they first thought.  With Erens home getting destroyed by an ensuing Titan attack.  The setup is done well and sets up a direct motive.  Eren does not want to save his friends or impress anyone.  All he wants to do is kill all the Titans which have destroyed the world humans once lived in.

Of course Eren isn't devoid of emotion.  He does have strong feelings for his friends but nothing on the level of a shounen anime where all you here is how friendship is important and friendship makes *insert main characters name* stronger.

Santa Claus ponders what present to give Armin.  The shiny red bike or Ingestion?

From this point on the anime itself has only reached 14 episodes.  (That's when this post was published).

The show sets up humanity as the losing species well, often showing gratutious blood and gore whenever the Titans attack.  Humans are often shown to be more concerned with the trivial matters such as trade and religion rather than the grand scheme of attempting to push the Titans back.  This does a good job separating our protagonists and other main characters with personalities from the rest of the backdrop of generic disaster anime cliches.

As the series progresses it does show humanity making progress and Erens determination, although shaky at times, always seems to find a way to break through adversity.  This wouldn't be an anime if the main character didn't have something special about him though but I'll leave that to you guys to find out.  

Corporal Levi has the potential to rank up with Kenshiro and Kamina on the bad-ass scale.  

Pros:

• Strong main characters with clear goals
• Brilliant setup
• Beautiful art style which gets across the fear and emotion felt by the characters
• Movement shots are done beautifully.  Think Spiderman with swords.  
• Mikasa is a strong female lead so hopefully feminists won't complain.
• Corporal Levi.  When he show's up he's freakin' awesome

Cons

• Titans do look a bit silly sometimes, it's hard to take an enemy that's always smiling seriously.  
• Some characters are easily forgettable.  
• Episode 13.5 felt like a huge bitch slap. (Flashbacks suck)
• Obvious power is obvious
• Not knowing if Armin was a chick at first.  I suppose all anime needs a trap of some description.  

Rating:

Overlooked and Under-appreciated

"Ooh look he used a pun in his title, what a clever chap, perhaps we should build statues to him and make him our new God."

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This is what I wish people would say whenever I say something witty or sarcastic but it seems that whenever I make those kinds of puns I'm always alone and have nobody around to hear my genius.  So to that end lets look at some more under-appreciated things in the virtual world.

Never overlook fanservice.  Dynasty Warriors 8

Now personally I find games by the developer Koei to be incredibly under-appreciated by most of the gaming critics of this era.  Even games which mimic the style of Koei games go severely punished for being...well I'm not sure why they go punished.

Game reviewers often cite that it is because the games are boring or repetitive and yes I can see where they are coming from on that, let it be said that I am a fair internet user who smells nice and loves to be generous to the peasants of the land.  In some regards Koei games are repetitive but then again if you boil it down to a basic level what games aren't repetitive?

In every Call of Duty game you run from location to location shooting Russians, Nazis, terrorists or Nazi zombies with often the slightest variation or section where you have to shoot down a helicopter with the anti air weaponry which always seems to be conveniently placed by your side.

*Insert witty comparison between zombies and CoD fans.*  Call of Duty: World at War

In every racing game the goal is always to get to the finish line.  Once you've played a track and know the way around it, that's repetitive.  The variations there come from either the characters being used, be they Mario, Sonic, Crash Bandicoot or the virtual representation of Vin Diesel.  Variation can also come from the power ups, or lack thereof, which are used in the game.  Everyone who's played Mario Kart knows how fruststrating the god damn blue shell is when you've been cruising in first for the whole circuit then that b*****d Toad launches the shell, which probably contains the souls of orphans, right up your tail pipe.

Can you tell I've had that happen way too many times?

Personally I wouldn't use rainbows to fight an ogre.  Ninety Nine Nights 2

But Koei games and ones which mimic the style often get stick for their supposed "lack of variation."  When I find that just not true.

A game series like Dyansty Warriors or Warriors Orochi has a variation on characters, stages and powerups.  Not only that but the feeling of godhood among the weaklings trying to kill you makes it all the more satisfying to put them in their place with the weaponry and skill at your fingertips.

Now of course there is much more skill in a racing game then there is in Dynasty Warriors and even a game like CoD you at least have to aim the weapon vaguely in the direction you're trying to shoot in.  But for Dynasty Warriors it does turn into somewhat of a button masher.

I believe the phrase is: "Bankai."  Warriors Orochi 3

This is where the fun is supposed to stem from though, you have fun experimenting with the buttons to find the combos which work best for the character you're using.  Finding out when it's best to use that special super laser beam you were planning to save for the end of level boss or just blasting an army of spear men trying to charge you.

The RPG level ups in these games makes it all the more rewarding to unlock new special moves and finishers.  Yes sometimes they can feel wasted when the "shoop da whoop" blast is used against the peons but the joy is knowing that you don't have to save it for the boss fight because you can beat him by doing the right combos and learning his attack patterns.

There is more strategy to these games than the reviewers give them credit for.

It seems the Elves had their traps designed by Indiana Jones.  Ninety Nine Nights 2

Konami made a game, they made several actually, but let's focus on one for now.  Ninety Nine Nights 2.  Now its predecessor, Ninety Nine Nights, was a terrible game.  Addled by bad voice acting, slow controls and generally boring gameplay.  It was as if they tried to emulate Koei but got the formula wrong.

The sequel improved everything about the first game.  Voice acting was improved, the story, although generic, worked as a fantasy story, controls were much faster and responsive and the character roster wasn't just the same five people.  Characters actually felt like different people rather than the same re-skinned guy.

Konami put a lot of effort into the game, showcasing its ability to have almost over 1000 guys on screen for the player to slash up.

Galen has a secret, he's really a Jedi.  Ninety Nine Nights 2

Reviewers bashed it saying there was an absence of challenge but the boss fights were frustrating.  Which struck me as odd.  The challenge is supposed to come from a boss fight whereas the level is meant to prepare you for that battle.

I'm really not sure what game they were playing too, my experience of Ninety Nine Nights 2 was brilliant.

But this isn't a review of Ninety Nine Nights 2, maybe i'll do one later.

Anyway the point of this piece is just to say that games like Dynasty Warriors, Fist of the North Star: Kens Rage, Warriors Orochi and Ninety Nine Nights 2 shouldn't be overlooked because of what reviewers say.

Juza has the power to distort the screen.  So deadly.  Fist of the North Star: Kens Rage 2

If you've played a game in any of those series' then you'll know if you're a fan or not.  If you don't know if you're a fan then go pick up a cheap copy from CeX or GameStop or wherever you get cheap games from.
Of course if you've played and didn't like the games then that's fine.  Just don't look down on a game with arguably more variety than most mainstream release titles.

Games are fun, don't you agree?

Written by Nathan Dack