Attack on Titan | Shingeki no Kyojin: Initial Impressions

Oh my... what was that? I just watched the first episode of Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) and just.. wow. Mind blown.

This is a fantasy anime about a human town surrounded by 50 meter walls to keep out the Titans who would kill them all if they had half a chance. Humans have lived peacefully within these walls for 100 years but Eren isn't so sure that is going to last.

First off, the art style is absolutely gorgeous. The backgrounds are beautifully drawn, the characters have so much depth and those thick lines? I love them. The entire thing plays like a piece of art and the music that plays throughout the episode fits so perfectly. This might be one of the first shounen animes I have seen that doesn't get particularly silly, bringing down the tone of an otherwise intense show.

And oh how intense! It contains deep themes, of containment that our main character, Eren, feels very strongly, and loss throughout. It's emotional and gripping.. It had me almost crying twice. Just in the first episode. And these characters are not all powerful. They are weak and helpless against the Titans, giants who feast on humans, and they know it.

Eren and his friend Armin long to join the Recon Corps. To go out there and fight, but they are ridiculed for it and told it's silly. But is it?

The opening theme sets the tone very firmly for the series. This is a serious shounen anime.

I highly recommend this one. We are looking at something wonderful here, guys. It is still ongoing too. And as it turns out? Directed by the same guy who did Death Note. Oh it all makes sense now.

Tamako Market: Initial Impressions

Wow Tamako Market is a bit mental isn't it? Perhaps not by much of anime standards but when I tried to explain to my fiancé what the fuck I was watching I couldn't help but think, "Wow, Tamako Market is a bit mental."

See.. there's this girl who lives in her family's mochi shop, which as far as my British and unknowledgable brain can tell is a kinda of Japanese rice-cake dessert type thing, and she pops into the flower shop to talk to the woman with a man's voice and this talking bird falls out of the flowers onto her face at which point she sneezes and the bird thinks she's coming on to him. The bird talks. And seems to be a cockatiel. Called Dera Mochiyucky. So this bird rides on her head telling her, Tamako, about how he is on a journey to find a prince for his princess (or was it the other way around?) and pretty much constantly ends up dropped or choking, generally injured. Yet he finds himself wanting to stick around and gets fat on mochi. Oh and the boy across the street who lives in the enemy mochi shop seems to be in love with Tamako. Still with me?

When Dan asked the question: "So what was the catch of the episode? What was it about?" And I found myself unable to answer anything but, "Well.. I don't know. It was just fun." I knew I had to keep watching. Tamako Market isn't usually my kind of anime but the entire thing just made me smile so I'd call that a winner. If nothing else, watch it for the bird. He (at least I assume it's a he) is so funny.

Psycho Pass: Initial Impressions

I like to check out the currently airing anime from time to time despite having not watched many of the older titles and I've seen a lot of people talking about how they really enjoy Psycho-Pass so I decided to check it out. I'm only 4 episodes in at present so don't expect spoilers.

So far, I can tell you that Psycho-Pass is a cyberpunk anime set in the near future with the same kind of feel as Ghost in the Shell and perhaps a smidgen of Bebop (Kougami reminds me a lot of Spike). The main idea behind the world is that it is possible with the use of technology to instantly measure a person's personality and mental wellbeing, this shows their 'psycho pass' in hues, the cloudier their psycho pass is, the more likely they are to be labelled a latent criminal and the CID have the job of regulating people with high psycho passes to keep crime at an absolute minimum. Akane is a newcomer to the CID and has to battle with her conscience. On the one hand these people may not have committed a crime yet but on the other they are likely to and it is her job to bring them in for emergency therapy or worse if they are beyond help, meanwhile having to work alongside latent criminals whose job is to sniff out others like them and decide whether these enforcers are trustworthy, or should be treated like dogs as her superior tells her they are.

There's a lot of action, a fantastic OST and I adore the character interaction. Psycho-Pass definitely seems promising.

Opening Theme:

Ending Theme:

Hell it's rare that I like both opening and ending themes to an anime but as I said, Psycho-Pass has a fantastic OST. I'm definitely recommending this one, and that goes for those of you who think anime has become a bit crap in recent years as well.