Shingeki no Kyojin - 01, 02
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It borders on the criminal that Shingeki no Kyojin has yet to be blogged on this site, given how much I love it. This is another one Vagish meant to be covering, but I'll have to step in for the time being.
I'm in a bit of an awkward situation. You see I'm already blogging this series at Anime Audiolog, so I'm not big on posting the same review on two different sites. At the same time, I don't want to deprive Anime Aura's readers of any thoughts I post there and not here so I'll be linking to my reviews on AAL in each post until Vagish resumes blogging. So what will I write in these posts? Short-ish overviews on what I thought on the episodes, from the perspective a fan of the manga.
From that point of view, how does episode one fare?
Absolutely fantastic. As a manga fan, one of the best things you can feel when you watch an anime adaptation is get excited for a story you already know. Shingeki no Kyojin did just that, on every single level, showing us the staff have clear direction in their approach and that Production I.G - Wit Studio maybe lead on this, but lets call it I.G - are pouring a lot of currency into this adaptation.
OP
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The first episode covered around 1.5 chapters and introduced us to the dire situation humanity is facing with fantastic animation and sound. The whole time I couldn't get over just how great everything looked, and before I knew it we'd had reached the scene where the colossal titan appears for the first time. This started off the chaos, which continued in the second episode and ended episode one of Shingeki no Kyojin on an uncensored, bloody and gruesome note.
Admittedly, I may have ignored any flaws in the first episode because I was in awe of the production values. Putting aside my love for the Shingeki no Kyojin manga, I'd say it was a great first episode to get people interested. It was more to set the tone for the episode, than to kick off the story but the latter wasn't sacrificed; it came at the end with first attack.
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The focus continues exactly where the first episode left it at: despair. We see the mayhem ensue in the city and just how useless humans become when faced with against an enemy of this calibre. Unfortunately, people turn into self-serving bastards, and that's exactly what we see here.
Looking back at the manga, this episode should have felt slow. I say should have because it only really covers half a chapter and most of that chapter was meant to be the conclusion to the titan's first invasion. Instead it felt like it wasn't forcibly adding new content to the story, but filling in the gaps which the manga left out. It may not have chosen to follow the manga word for word, and that could turn out to be something beneficial to Shingeki no Kyojin.
ED
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With the first two episodes setting up the story, it'll be up to the next few episodes to progress the plot smoothly and get us to the exciting bits. Judging the preview, it looks like the staff have decided to give Shingeki no Kyojin's manga a good read and choose to go in a chronological order for the anime. I for one welcome this decision and consider it to be a great choice in the grand scheme of things.
Another very well-done episode for Shingeki no Kyojin. The adaptation has started off on a high note, and at this point I'm confident it'll stay like that for a while.
Final Note: The ED was a lovely. An artistic charcoal palette used with Mikasa as the star can't be bad, right?.
Shingeki no Kyojin Episode 03 Preview
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