Noob Reviews: Attack on Titan

DaNoob returns with another review:

I'm hoping a bit of Noob Appeal (it's a thing!) is enough to attract a few non-anime fans to this review, if it worked, thank me later.… This may be one to change your mind. If you’re a fan of shows such as Game of Thrones, you like gritty realistic survival (a la The Walking Dead), the drama of realistic people facing the horrors of war (akin to Platoon or Saving Private Ryan), and edge of your seat viewing where anyone can die at any moment, then you might want to look past your cartoon based prejudices.

Taking the hipster approach that I wasn’t going to watch this series, purely because it was popular, wasn’t my best move. Although more accurately, I didn’t think I had any other reason to watch it… it was popular but I couldn't see anything I'd be interested in - just screaming, crying and ugly giants. Thanks to the magic of Netflix I eventually caved, but by the end of the 5^th episode I had to wonder what I had gotten myself into… and took a break to recover.

What is this? The Walking Dead with 10 meter tall naked zombies? A gory Valkyria Chronicles? An animated Full Metal Jacket? There's some truth in each of those but AoT adds in a deepening mystery and plenty of twists with a bit of anime flare to the visuals and action sequences. And that action... dual swords are always cool but strap two of Batman's grapple guns to your hips and you'll never want to settle for something as lame as super-powered flight.

Very enjoyable, if enjoyable is the right word for a series that constantly crushes both the hope and life out of its characters but viewer don't despair; moments of daring do, rousing camaraderie and fleeting hope are enough to keep you coming back for more.

If you're looking for more "fun" with AoT check out Issue 12 of Niche: Treat Your Geek for a review of AoT High School. (Download the kindle edition here).