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Gyre
Feb 25, 2007

Terper posted:

Well, the only confirmed superpower she has is the Ackerman blood. The only reason the asian bloodline is important, as far as we know, is that it's a minority, and as such isn't affected by the memory wiping.

This really stuck out at me because why keep liabilities like minority blood lines around? There must be some reason to let them live, and my guess is that they're last ditch reserves in case something happens to the Reiss line. The one's that didn't disagree with the royal family probably serve as the kingdom's historians, because no one else can actually keep track of what's happening. Are we even sure the Reisses are immune to the mindwipe if they're not titanized?

Also I think we can start speculating a bit about what's so important that there's this huge conspiracy behind it.

1) It's something that is still actively harmful.
2) It would probably cause massive despair if it was known, but if absolutely no one knows it then humanity is likely to bumble into it accidentally.
3) Whatever it is caused a genetic bottleneck, either naturally or artificially.
4) Whatever it is can be seen as more important than the people inside the Walls.

Depending on how we interpret #4 it could be anything from "unchecked human growth will ruin earth again" to "we carry a deadly disease to the rest of humanity" to "[insert insane alien plot here]". I get the definite sense that whatever it is, the Wall people are both dangerous and very lucky they weren't annihilated instead of just confined.

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GreenBuckanneer
Sep 15, 2007

Turin Turambar posted:

I wonder if the vague "there is a reason I can't turn into a Titan!" from the King, which actually went unexplained, will be a clue for something unexpected to happen in the next chapter. Maybe in the chaos of the fight he gets stabbed with the syringe and transforms in some horrible monster which interrupts everything or something like that.

Wait what now? I think I missed something.

Nelson Mandingo
Mar 27, 2005



GreenBuckanneer posted:

Wait what now? I think I missed something.

Kenny's diatribe against Rod is basically painting the picture that he's a man who wanted to escape from his responsibilities. He was the head of the family. He had his younger brother and daughter take the responsibility of becoming the true king in his place.

Rod says there is a reason he can't turn into a titan.

AlistairCookie
Apr 1, 2010

I am a Dinosaur

Gyre posted:

Also I think we can start speculating a bit about what's so important that there's this huge conspiracy behind it.

1) It's something that is still actively harmful.
2) It would probably cause massive despair if it was known, but if absolutely no one knows it then humanity is likely to bumble into it accidentally.
3) Whatever it is caused a genetic bottleneck, either naturally or artificially.
4) Whatever it is can be seen as more important than the people inside the Walls.

Depending on how we interpret #4 it could be anything from "unchecked human growth will ruin earth again" to "we carry a deadly disease to the rest of humanity" to "[insert insane alien plot here]". I get the definite sense that whatever it is, the Wall people are both dangerous and very lucky they weren't annihilated instead of just confined.


I've been getting a bit of a Claymore vibe off of Titan, as of late. As in, we're about to see something analogous to Claymore's big reveal about the world at large, beyond their island, the greater war, the truth of the Yoma [Titans] and Claymores/Awakened Beings [Shifter Titans], the Organization's [Reiss family's] true motivations.

I'm not sure what's coming exactly, but I'm pretty curious as to what the Big Reveal actually will be. Weaponized humans gone awry?

Soulcleaver
Sep 25, 2007

Murderer

AlistairCookie posted:

Weaponized humans gone awry?
This would be ultra cliche but I have faith that Isayama could do something interesting with it, much like he did something interesting with the "raging shounen hero suddenly gains super powers" cliche.

AlistairCookie
Apr 1, 2010

I am a Dinosaur
/\/\

I agree; I have faith that whatever comes out of The Big Reveal, it will be pretty good--even if it is a riff on a cliche. (Aren't most things a riff on a cliche? Cliches exist because they're so common...)

Yeah, Erin is a relatively typical shounen hero in that he gets power-ups directly related to Willpower and Protecting His Friends. (He's no better or worse than say, Ichigo, in that respect.) Be that as it may, this is still my favorite manga right now, and I can't wait for more of the anime. The general theme/plot and supporting cast of characters are good in my book. (Hange, Jean, and Mikasa are my favorites.)

Today, the Claymore similarities just struck me.

Jerry Manderbilt
May 31, 2012

No matter how much paperwork I process, it never goes away. It only increases.
So apparently there's an Attack on Titan theme park in Japan now.

ETB
Nov 8, 2009

Yeah, I'm that guy.

Jerry Manderbilt posted:

So apparently there's an Attack on Titan theme park in Japan now.



Universal Studios, I believe. Guess which goon is going there this March. :smug:

Brannock
Feb 9, 2006

by exmarx
Fallen Rib
Why did Kenny suddenly stop threatening Reiss and just go "Welp okay go ahead and fight it out guys"? That's the only part of the chapter that was unclear to me.

Nelson Mandingo
Mar 27, 2005



Brannock posted:

Why did Kenny suddenly stop threatening Reiss and just go "Welp okay go ahead and fight it out guys"? That's the only part of the chapter that was unclear to me.

He figured all of Reiss actions from that point was entirely self-serving, and he avoided all responsibility as possible. Reiss shows his resolve when he grabs the blade and says he has a reason for not being able to become the true king, otherwise he would have done so. Then tells Kenny that even though he won't fulfill his dream he should go and have a peaceful life.

Which Kenny isn't at all about. (Which thinking on it is opposite from Mikasa) So he decides to make the battle for the crown interesting if he can't have it, and see who deserves it more.

Nelson Mandingo fucked around with this message at 14:06 on Jan 21, 2015

TheKingofSprings
Oct 9, 2012
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9Ar_6pig4g

Looks like they're adapting a side story of some kind involving Levi?

Sub Harrison
May 2, 2013

What if Frieda's 'save the world power' is giving the people back its intelligence/humanity, and Eren can use it too for some reason?

Car Hater
May 7, 2007

wolf. bike.
Wolf. Bike.
Wolf! Bike!
WolfBike!
WolfBike!
ARROOOOOO!

TheKingofSprings posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9Ar_6pig4g

Looks like they're adapting a side story of some kind involving Levi?

That's the promo for part two of the OVA, actually. Part one came out in December, next installment in April.

Flying Squirrel
Oct 24, 2007
Thanks, Zombie Lincoln

Sub Harrison posted:

What if Frieda's 'save the world power' is giving the people back its intelligence/humanity, and Eren can use it too for some reason?

Yeah, I figure it's likely that Eren will bust out his powers in the coming conflict and the Reiss will have a pants-making GBS threads realization that Eren can in fact use the power and that means things are not what he thought

Say Nothing
Mar 5, 2013

by FactsAreUseless
Universal Studios Japan's Titan-themed park.

RyuujinBlueZ
Oct 9, 2007

WHAT DID YOU DO?!

Flying Squirrel posted:

Yeah, I figure it's likely that Eren will bust out his powers in the coming conflict and the Reiss will have a pants-making GBS threads realization that Eren can in fact use the power and that means things are not what he thought

But they already know he can use the power? The power they're talking about is just the Command Yell, which they also recently noted Eren can use but not as well as a Reiss because he's not of the proper bloodline.

Captain Invictus
Apr 5, 2005

Try reading some manga!


Clever Betty

Say Nothing posted:

Universal Studios Japan's Titan-themed park.



That's pretty loving badass

Captain Baal
Oct 23, 2010

I Failed At Anime 2022

Say Nothing posted:

Universal Studios Japan's Titan-themed park.



Top level poo poo

Soulcleaver
Sep 25, 2007

Murderer

Say Nothing posted:

Universal Studios Japan's Titan-themed park.


Every time I see the bonkers merchandise for AoT it amazes me that a crudely-drawn, bleak, grotesque comic about giant naked people devouring normal sized people has become so gigantically popular all over the world.

Flying Squirrel
Oct 24, 2007
Thanks, Zombie Lincoln

RyuujinBlueZ posted:

But they already know he can use the power? The power they're talking about is just the Command Yell, which they also recently noted Eren can use but not as well as a Reiss because he's not of the proper bloodline.

Think I missed the part where Reiss knew he could do it, just not as well, thought his explanation was just, "nope, only we can do it"

Squidster
Oct 7, 2008

✋😢Life's just better with Ominous Gloves🤗🧤

Soulcleaver posted:

Every time I see the bonkers merchandise for AoT it amazes me that a crudely-drawn, bleak, grotesque comic about giant naked people devouring normal sized people has become so gigantically popular all over the world.
I'm pretty sure Isayama sold his soul to some kind of Japanese gluttony demon.

Nelson Mandingo
Mar 27, 2005



Flying Squirrel posted:

Think I missed the part where Reiss knew he could do it, just not as well, thought his explanation was just, "nope, only we can do it"

My guess Reiss can't do it because he'd end up like Connie's mother.

quote:

The power they're talking about is just the Command Yell, which they also recently noted Eren can use but not as well as a Reiss because he's not of the proper bloodline.

Grisha gave it to him on purpose. We still don't know anything about Carla's background.

RyuujinBlueZ
Oct 9, 2007

WHAT DID YOU DO?!

Nelson Mandingo posted:

My guess Reiss can't do it because he'd end up like Connie's mother.

It seemed to me like Papa Reiss just didn't want to become a titan.

Nelson Mandingo posted:

Grisha gave it to him on purpose. We still don't know anything about Carla's background.

This is true, and I wouldn't be too surprised to see this series pull the twist of Eren and Historia being related. Hell, they could pretty easily be half-siblings.

flowinprose
Sep 11, 2001

Where were you? .... when they built that ladder to heaven...
I would guess that Lord Reiss doesn't want to inevitably be eaten himself when the time comes to transfer the power again (which he knows that it will).

Turin Turambar
Jun 5, 2011



Soulcleaver posted:

Every time I see the bonkers merchandise for AoT it amazes me that a crudely-drawn, bleak, grotesque comic about giant naked people devouring normal sized people has become so gigantically popular all over the world.

Zombie movies/tv series are also popular and they feature bleak settings with horror, gore and violence.

Phobophilia
Apr 26, 2008

by Hand Knit
I'm going to attempt to articulate my preference for titans over zombie stories.

Science/biological zombies have a plausibility problem. Science zombies can run without food or water. Not only that, but they're only as strong as a human, meaning that pudgy internet dwellers are capable of besting them in hand-to-hand combat. Some science zombies can sprint, or have a venomous bite, but even then they're only humans, and any zombie uprising in the US will be squelched by the ~0.9 gun to human ratio.

Titans dismiss all that. Titans are powered by evil magic. Some sentient humans can use titan magic, but only at a terrible cost of lives and social status. And so titans are absolutely terrifying, only the most acrobatic humans in peak physical condition can ever hope of defying them, and even then most are simply crushed.

Zombies don't scare me. Titans do.

Captain Baal
Oct 23, 2010

I Failed At Anime 2022
Titans are better than zombies because no serious zombie story ever had zombies that could do MMA fighting, ram through a wall like Brock Lesnar, or be a huge zombie. ...Or a female character that isn't completely helpless.

Say Nothing
Mar 5, 2013

by FactsAreUseless
How to tell if your teacher is a manga fan.

PunkBoy
Aug 22, 2008

You wanna get through this?

Beef Waifu posted:

Titans are better than zombies because no serious zombie story ever had zombies that could do MMA fighting, ram through a wall like Brock Lesnar, or be a huge zombie. ...Or a female character that isn't completely helpless.

Waiting for the day WWE's website has a Photoshop special of the wrestlers as titans. Also I now want titans to be heralded in with Brock Lesnar's music.

Jackard
Oct 28, 2007

We Have A Bow And We Wish To Use It

PunkBoy posted:

Also I now want titans to be heralded in with Brock Lesnar's music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmhkEQJK5cs

Tezcatlipoca
Sep 18, 2009

Beef Waifu posted:

...Or a female character that isn't completely helpless.

Counterpoint: the remakes of Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead .

Hellbunny
Dec 24, 2008

I'm not bad, I'm just misunderstood.

Phobophilia posted:

Zombies don't scare me. Titans do.

So it's only the size difference then? Cuz the rest are kinda fudgy reasons.

Beef Waifu posted:

Titans are better than zombies because no serious zombie story ever had zombies that could do MMA fighting, ram through a wall like Brock Lesnar, or be a huge zombie. ...Or a female character that isn't completely helpless.

Zombie stories have had poo poo like that and more since forever.

I love AOT but but please keep the circle jerking to a minimum guys.

Captain Baal
Oct 23, 2010

I Failed At Anime 2022
There is no serious zombie story with a zombie that gets into an actual fist fight with any of the characters. I'm not even circle jerking AoT so much as making GBS threads on the zombie genre.

Hellbunny
Dec 24, 2008

I'm not bad, I'm just misunderstood.

Beef Waifu posted:

There is no serious zombie story with a zombie that gets into an actual fist fight with any of the characters. I'm not even circle jerking AoT so much as making GBS threads on the zombie genre.

AOT is part of the zombie genre through. Making the zombies stronger and bigger (and changing into a zombie is triumphant and cool instead of sad and depressing) doesn't change that at it's heart it's a story of a horde of mindless monster trying to eat humanity (with some variations, of course).

Captain Baal
Oct 23, 2010

I Failed At Anime 2022
Actually it does, because not only does it make the story more action oriented, but it makes the characters far less helpless from certain viewpoints. There are similarities, but zombie stories largely focus on helplessness, survival, and how humans end up being the biggest threats to one another. While Attack on Titan uses some of those themes, it is not centered around them. At its heart, Attack on Titan is a story about a boy who wants to break free from the stagnation that everyone else resigned themselves to and fight for the future that he sees. It's a story for the youth of Japan, it is not part of the zombie genre because there are mindless monsters who eat people. That's like saying Wrong Turn is a zombie movie because it has cannibal rednecks. To prove it even further, the more the story has developed, the more it has proven this to be true. The world is more involved in the story and finding out what titans exactly are, the titans themselves are people who can still turn back into people,

More and the more story is proving to be what most shonen manga is, a war of philosophies with big grandiose fights and superpowers. I would honestly not even call titans zombies anymore since they have been effectively defined as Meat Mechs thanks to recent revelations (Ones that people speculated about long ago). Like I don't know how you can look at Monkey Trouble and still say this is a zombie story, because that there should've killed that notion.

Captain Invictus
Apr 5, 2005

Try reading some manga!


Clever Betty
I had a dream last night where I was trapped in a Motel 6 with hordes of zombies shambling outside on one side of the building, and a nest of tyrannosaurus Rexes on the other side. There was a blizzard and all the zombies froze and fell apart because they're just animate dead bodies. The T-Rexes were fine though and I had to be quiet so I didn't wake them up as I was moving about the Motel 6 building.

I hope this contributes to the Titans Zombies discussion.

Captain Baal
Oct 23, 2010

I Failed At Anime 2022
I'm glad the T-Rexes survived, I love dinosaurs.

Phobophilia
Apr 26, 2008

by Hand Knit
Heck, the more recent fights have been some of my favourite. They're very down to earth, between anti-titan 3DMG (that focus on speed and momentum), and anti-human 3DMG (that focus on agility and ambush). Isayama is good at putting together action sequences that just make you go "poo poo poo poo gently caress gently caress" as you desperately charge in a direction hoping not to die.

Terrible Opinions
Oct 18, 2013



Beef Waifu posted:

Actually it does, because not only does it make the story more action oriented, but it makes the characters far less helpless from certain viewpoints. There are similarities, but zombie stories largely focus on helplessness, survival, and how humans end up being the biggest threats to one another. While Attack on Titan uses some of those themes, it is not centered around them. At its heart, Attack on Titan is a story about a boy who wants to break free from the stagnation that everyone else resigned themselves to and fight for the future that he sees. It's a story for the youth of Japan, it is not part of the zombie genre because there are mindless monsters who eat people. That's like saying Wrong Turn is a zombie movie because it has cannibal rednecks. To prove it even further, the more the story has developed, the more it has proven this to be true. The world is more involved in the story and finding out what titans exactly are, the titans themselves are people who can still turn back into people,

More and the more story is proving to be what most shonen manga is, a war of philosophies with big grandiose fights and superpowers. I would honestly not even call titans zombies anymore since they have been effectively defined as Meat Mechs thanks to recent revelations (Ones that people speculated about long ago). Like I don't know how you can look at Monkey Trouble and still say this is a zombie story, because that there should've killed that notion.

Themes of societal stagnation and breaking free are all common elements of the siege story structure, of which zombie siege stories are the most common in current pop culture. Those same basic themes of breaking out of cultural norms are presented, albeit rather poorly, in Land of the Dead. In Land of the Dead the society in question is a consumerist capitalist society rather than a nihilistic aristocracy, but the point remains the same. People are forced into a cage by monsters and as a result the worse parts of their nature lead to them tearing each other apart. That's the part that make people say "it's a zombie story". By that same note you can say that a whole bunch of stories from Dr Who are "zombie stories" because it's about people trapped in an area by monsters and in turn becoming monsters.

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Captain Baal
Oct 23, 2010

I Failed At Anime 2022
I sort of started snoring when I saw "Consumerist capitalist society," you'll have to forgive me.

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