# Explain to me "Attack on Titan" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 24, 2018, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-me-attack-on-titan/821808 "2018-09-24T01:50:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-me-attack-on-titan/821808/1 "2018-09-24T01:50:51Z")
Originally a Manga, then Anime, now a live action movie. [https://www.youtube.com/results?search\_query=attack+on+titan](https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=attack+on+titan) Giant, mindless human(oid)s attack and eat people. 😕 Tell me there’s more to it than that. Whoops, wrong forum…please move to Cafe Society ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-me-attack-on-titan/821808/2 "2018-09-24T05:57:43Z")
you missed the anime series the movie will be based on …. theres 2-3 seasons of it on Netflix …. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_Arachnid_Laser_1)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-me-attack-on-titan/821808/3 "2018-09-24T06:24:32Z")
All right. So it started as a comic serialized in a magazine name Bessatsu Shonen. Created by Hajime Isayama I can’t reccomend the lecture, quite frankly. Isayama isn’t a great artist and the storytelling is really bad at parts. The story is basically a twist on the traditional Gundam genre, only instead of giant robots, there’s actual giants. It was an interesting enough concept, even though with the pressure of having to send to the presses seveeral pages monthly, like most serialized manga, the plotting starts feeling rushed at some point. It became a world-wide phenomenon when the animation studios Wit Studio launched the cartoon. It was astonishing. Using a fair amount of cgi, it looked practically movie quality. Particularly Season 1 is a must see for every fan of animation. Beyond that, the plot becomes a bit convoluted, just like with the original comic, so it lost a bit of it’s fanbase. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-me-attack-on-titan/821808/4 "2018-09-24T06:38:45Z")
Moving from Thread Games to Cafe Society. [/moderating] ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-me-attack-on-titan/821808/5 "2018-09-24T08:31:38Z")
It is popular for the reason that “torture porn” movies like the Saw series is popular–some people get off on mindless suffering. (I never read past the second chapter of the manga.) ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-me-attack-on-titan/821808/6 "2018-09-24T18:54:02Z")
I tried watching the anime, found it interesting but not compelling enough to keep watching. I’m not really an anime fan though. I find I get my dosage of weirdness in a few episodes and then I’m good for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-me-attack-on-titan/821808/7 "2018-09-25T02:29:47Z")
So, this is basically a cross between Japanese Kaiju and western Zombies, right? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-me-attack-on-titan/821808/8 "2018-09-25T09:41:06Z")
> [@Enola\_Straight](#): > > So, this is basically a cross between Japanese Kaiju and western Zombies, right? [I suppose you could put it that way](http://attackontitan.wikia.com/wiki/Titan_(Anime)). ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-me-attack-on-titan/821808/9 "2018-09-25T09:53:30Z")
“Tell me there’s more to it than that.” Well, sure, but you can boil down lots of shit to the most basic tropes and it’ll sound pretty dumb. “Sakamoto desu ga?” is basically “Gary Stu has stupid hijinks in high school” and it’s easily one of the funniest shows of the last decade. What fills in the gaps is what matters here. And in this case, it’s a whole bunch of weird, interesting characters, intruiging worldbuilding, and some of the best animation I have ever seen. Okay, mostly that last one. Seriously, this show gets _so far_ on animation alone. The characters are passable, the story is interesting enough, but if it weren’t one of the most gorgeous shows I have ever seen, with some of the best action animation in mainstream anime productions (seriously, this show looks better than One Punch Man. This show looks better than My Hero Academia. This show’s animation quality is closer to shit like Princess Monoke and Your Name, _that’s how gorgeous it looks_), it would be pretty thoroughly average. The characters are pretty stock, the story is interesting if a bit impenetrable, the worldbuilding is really interesting but could just as easily shake out to be dull as hell if the reveals don’t work well… But my god, the action. The show makes the best of the incredible animation talent on hand. The pitched battles with the titans (and, yeah, by the way, these giant zombies are _fucking terrifying_ and the show pulls no punches on how lethal they can be, or how hard they are to kill) are absolutely stunning to behold. So yeah. This show is by no means an instant classic like One Punch Man, but as far as popular schlock goes, it’s really _decent_ popular schlock, bolstered by insane production values. If you aren’t sold on it by the first episode or two, you probably just won’t like it very much - it’s certainly not for everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-me-attack-on-titan/821808/10 "2018-09-25T10:26:50Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > It is popular for the reason that “torture porn” movies like the Saw series is popular–some people get off on mindless suffering. (I never read past the second chapter of the manga.) I disagree, at least for myself. I really dislike horror in general and especially torture porn - but I’m near the end of season 1 of the Attack on Titan anime and it’s working OK for me, so far - it contains a few horror elements I find uncomfortable, but for me, it’s more like, say, [Reign of Fire](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0253556/) - a beleaguered and ill-equipped remnant of humanity fights a seemingly hopeless battle against a powerful, terrifying enemy. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-me-attack-on-titan/821808/11 "2018-09-25T15:02:49Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I disagree, at least for myself. I really dislike horror in general and especially torture porn - but I’m near the end of season 1 of the Attack on Titan anime and it’s working OK for me, so far As I mentioned, I read only the first 2 chapters of the manga (years ago, and haven’t seen a second of the anime) so I can’t make too much of an overall judgement, but what made me put down the manga was how lovingly the suffering is portrayed. There is fictional suffering where the author is saying “look how bad these folks have it”, then there is fictional suffering where you get the idea that the author is jacking off while they write it. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2018, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-me-attack-on-titan/821808/12 "2018-09-27T02:27:38Z")
> [@Enola\_Straight](#): > > Originally a Manga, then Anime, now a live action movie. > [https://www.youtube.com/results?search\_query=attack+on+titan](https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=attack+on+titan) And now, a video game! [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvuQkv1jaZs) ---
**Author:** ![Mavis\_Topholese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7feea3/32.png) [@Mavis\_Topholese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mavis_Topholese)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2018, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-me-attack-on-titan/821808/13 "2018-09-28T18:13:22Z")
The live action films were a few years back, right? We’re watching the third season of AoT right now and to me this season feels like it’s finally living up to its potential, in terms of moving the story along at a good pace and not meandering or stalling or plain going in circles the way the first two seasons did. I have not been “reading ahead” in the manga, so I’m not privy to some of the Big Revelations concerning this world, but suffice to say that something cataclysmic has happened to the world. Humanity is at the mercy of Titans, most of whom are mindless monsters, and the carefully constructed society that keeps the Titans at bay has begun to come apart at the seams (literally and figuratively) with the attack of newer, more destructive Titans and the discovery that humanity’s rulers may not have humanity’s best interests at heart. It is a horror series, and if there’s anything Western I could compare it to, it would be Stephen King; there’s a creep factor to the Titans that is genuinely off-putting and anyone with a particular fear of, you know, being eaten by giants, might want to give this one a pass. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2018, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-me-attack-on-titan/821808/14 "2018-09-29T14:15:10Z")
One of the facts of this series is that Colossal Titans are embedded _within_ the walls. Just…_how_…did 500 k big-uns decide to assemble and just _let_ all those yummy humans encase them in stone and mortar? How were the persuaded to do that? ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2018, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-me-attack-on-titan/821808/15 "2018-09-29T15:16:25Z")
> [@Enola\_Straight](#): > > One of the facts of this series is that Colossal Titans are embedded _within_ the walls. > > Just…_how_…did 500 k big-uns decide to assemble and just _let_ all those yummy humans encase them in stone and mortar? > How were the persuaded to do that? Huge ass spoilers: What you thought is the remnants of humanity is actually that worlds version of North Korea. The rest of the world is dominated by the one country that has control of the Titans and use them as weapons of mass destruction. The titans are actually a race of humans that can turn into them that can be controlled by the special titans. Turns out the royal family of the walled city are the original Titan controllers and they built the walls with Titans inside and erased everybody’s memory of the outside world through magic, or something. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-me-attack-on-titan/821808/16 "2018-09-30T01:01:29Z")
I’ve seen seasons 1 and 2 of the anime. It has elements of Game of Thrones meets The Walking Dead in the sense that it’s a world with various class systems and political infighting and gruesome character deaths, set against a backdrop of a “zombie” invasion. But in this case the “zombies” are 50+ foot tall man-eating retards. Throw in the standard anime “Gundam” war mecha trope. Except instead of giant fighting robots, the characters suit up in these steam-punk zip-liney contraptions. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-me-attack-on-titan/821808/17 "2018-09-30T23:53:34Z")
Today’s edition of S.S.D.D makes me wonder if Alan Foreman is a fan as well. [![](http://www.poisonedminds.com/comics/ssdd20180930.jpg) ](http://www.poisonedminds.com/comics/ssdd20180930.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2018, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-me-attack-on-titan/821808/18 "2018-12-14T04:30:46Z")
[quote=“Enola\_Straight, post:12, topic:821808”] And now, a video game! [/QUOTE] And now, [detergent](https://soranews24.com/2018/12/14/attack-on-titan-laundry-detergent-on-sale-in-japan-for-a-limited-time/)! ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2018, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-me-attack-on-titan/821808/19 "2018-12-14T15:08:34Z")
I wonder if it ever occurred to the writers to create a titan with intact human memories and personality: not one of the big titan-shifters which are “piloted” by a human inside the titan’s nape, but one of the “regular” titans. "I’m tellin’ ya guys, I go ta sleep one night, an’ wake up in the forest…buck nekkid…_and missin’ mah JUNK!_