Attack on Titan - Season 2 Won't Bring Down My Walls

Written by Shiggins

OTAKU NUTS' 500TH ARTICLE!

Yeesh, that title was rather suggestive, huh?

How fucking amazing was Attack on Titan's first season? It had perfect animation, fantastic testosterone-raising music, and the action was so intense and felt so good that we could almost classify it as erotica! To put it simply, we all wanted to have this series' babies. Unfortunately, I have come to realise that there are three main reasons why Season 2 of Attack on Titan, though still most likely good, will not be as pants-changingly awesome as it's predecessor.

A comedy grave.

Source Material

The most obvious problem to start off with is the manga itself, which the anime is obviously based on and follows to the letter. Due to the massive increase in popularity, mangaka Hajime Isayama has a lot of pressure to succeed, and I fear that might have negatively affected his work.

Didn't realise the manga's art is actually kinda... crap? I am sorry to piss you off... again.

I'll make it this as simple as possible. The "Female Titan Arc" is the best arc of the series and no other arc, manga or anime, surpasses it. "Clash of the Titans" and "The Uprising" are the only two arcs that could possibly appear in Season 2, and I'm not even sure if Uprising has a chance, since it only just ended a few chapters ago. To be honest though, that's a good thing because the Uprising Arc might be one of the most boring arcs I've ever read in my entire life.

"Attack on Titan" and "Politics". Fits as well together as "Batman" and "Ballerinas", am I right?

While unlikely Season 2 can fit it in, the threat that Uprising might be animated one day looms overhead like Naruto's Kaguya. It's utterly dreadful. An entire bore that focused on the most random decision to overthrow the crown of humanity, and gain a new royal leader. In most other series, this would be somewhat boring but could show potential. In a series that is meant to be focusing on a giant invasion of titanic monster men, it's a disgrace. Boring and generic characters constantly introduced to provide resources or convenient methods to help the assault then disappear, and possibly one of the most stupid and illogical backstories I've ever heard in my entire life. Oh and to make it even better, NO TITANS!

I hope you like seeing torture because... Oh I can't criticise Zoe. He/She is just too wonderful.

Admittedly, Clash of the Titans has some seriously epic moments. My personal favourite is the climax, which I'm 100% sure is going to be utterly amazing to witness in anime form. I won't dare spoil what happens but suffice to say, it's a treasure. In a way though, this arc perfectly captures what Season 2 will be like. "This moment was good". "That scene was good". Clash of the Titans is an arc that is half-great and half-yawnfest, as the focus tends to go from the actual titans themselves to character development for less interesting folk that, to be honest, are much more of a snooze than you first realised.

If you love the characters, you might find these changes slightly interesting, and I'm sure many viewers will welcome the slower moments that help develop them. To me though, I think it worked to a disadvantage, as I began to realise how boring some of them were and grew sleepy from their attempts to be interesting. Even Sasha, the infamous potato girl, loses a lot of appeal in the manga.

Hype

Who here loved the Avengers film? Almost all of you, good. And who here loved the sequel, Age of Ultron? Most of you, but not as much as the first one. While the sequel to Avengers was overstuffed and a bit cringing with their romance, I still consider it one of the best films of 2015. What surprised me however, was how many people were so negative towards it, and I began to realise that one of the most major reasons for this reaction was that the first one was so good, causing people to demand supreme greatness from Age of Ultron, or they'd march with pitchforks. Basically, they loved it so much that they asked for the impossible, and the film couldn't measure up to the public's expectations because of such an unfair order.

My biggest celebrity crush. Blame the voice.

This is exactly what I think might happen with Season 2 as well. All over the world, Attack on Titan has been absorbed in waves by the community and the series that was getting modest manga sales at first, suddenly became one of the biggest franchises of all time overnight. The speed and success is so staggering, that I'm surprised Attack on Titan hasn't just collapsed.

Nothing collapses under this Asian perfection!

And that's why I'm worried that Season 2 will only instil disappointment. Even if the source material was as pitch-perfect as a Cake-Pizza, fans will not have the same reaction. Rest assured, you will hear the phrase "not as good as Season 1" over and over again, by both hardcore and casual fans who care naught for the content, but rather just want to degrade it for not giving them the same excited rush as Season 1. I acknowledge how I'm not entirely excited for Season 2, but I am still going to check it out in the hopes that I'll be surprised. I want to be wrong and I want Season 2 to be amazing, despite questionable upcoming material, but most fans have already signed Season 2's death warrant, with unreasonable expectations. No matter how good Season 2 will be, there will not be as many happy people this time around.

Take It Seriously

Attack on Titan: Junior High.

That is it all that needs to be said here really. Both the fandom and the creators of this beloved series brought us a mostly funny anime parody, with chibi comedy versions of famous characters such as Eren, Levi and Mikasa. And while I do enjoy the episodes out so far, it perfectly captures one of the biggest bugs.

How ironic. Nobody takes Attack on Titan seriously, and everybody takes Naruto far too seriously. Toxic people out there...

Attack on Titan demands you take it seriously. It has done perhaps 3 jokes in it's entirity, all of which feel almost token because it's in the "shonen" category of manga. The fandom however have really latched onto these jokes, and the creators seem to have done as much as they can to ruin the series' dark reputation by doing everything it can behind-the-scenes to make it hilarious and laugh alongside the fans of Tumblr, Reddit and whatever else.

The only truly funny joke in the Attack on Titan canon.

One of my favourite examples of how the fan community have made the series unintentionally hilarious is Levi and his cleaning habit, like a Disney princess. Search online and you will instantly find pictures related to this, but the true mark that we can no longer take Levi seriously is in Junior High, where he is literally so obsessed with cleaning, they summon him out of thin air by putting a plastic bottle in a non-recyclable bin. Are the original and parody versions of this hilarious? Yes. Messing up Levi's image for eternity? You better believe it.

Even the original opening has become a victim to the hilarity virus.

I know I sound like a killjoy and like I said, Junior High made me laugh. It's just a bitter laugh. A sad laugh. A laugh I regret existing because I'm saying goodbye to how I'll ever perceive the original series, and need to learn that you can no longer go back to that tense rush from before. Even if characters do die, I have a bad feeling I'll be finding something to snicker about during.

That being said, I'm almost shocked we took it seriously in the first place, considering these designs...

Nothing but the best, huh?

I leave this article to remind myself to watch Attack on Titan Season 2, but it's inevitable wave of negative criticism from the pantheon of casuals will darken my spirits. It will deserve love, even if I myself am no longer capable of giving it the amount it hungers for.

You are now free to comment on why I suck. Good day, good sir/ma'am/other!

Shiggins:[Admin]
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Born under the stars of the Dark Gods, Shiggins owns the power of the Great Eye and is utterly magnificent in his omniscience. If you dare to discover more about someone as great as him, then go ahead. And to all my friends and family members, YOU are wrong and I should be disappointed! Not the other way round!,. You can find out about him or ask him stuff on ask.fm/shigginsishere or go to his tumblr page http://otakugajeel.tumblr.com/