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This is something I've been giving a couple days thought to. And before I even say anything at all in condemnation or praise for this show, I wanna start off by simply describing exactly what happens in two specific scenes in this anime. Keep in mind, I will assume you are at least familiar with the core premise of the show. If you aren't you may be a little confused. Besides that though, it's mostly spoiler free.
So the first scene is of a bunch of soldiers upon a roof top, looking helplessly down to their comrade, a woman being held by a sadistic titan, begging for help, pleading for her life, crying and screaming in desperation as her body is slowly ripped apart and eaten before their eyes. The second scene is of a man within the stomach of another titan, his arm ripped off. He looks around and sees fresh corpses stewing in the stomach acid along with another woman barely alive and almost submerged, dazedly and deliriously asking to go home to her mother, her last words becoming slightly more desperate as she sinks further into the stomach acid before finally slipping in entirely.
...
So I was recommended this... Anime by a local friend of mine about a week ago. They were raving about how great it was. Me being slightly skeptical, I watched it anyway to give it a chance, and also because I wanted to show them something as well. And what I got was... This psychotic shit.
"But hold on, Arnox," you might say, "That seems hardly fair. You fangirl over Black Lagoon every chance you get. Why is it that BL gets a pass when Attack on Titan is just as dark?" Well, I'm glad you asked that, mysterious strawperson, because I actually questioned myself about this as well, and after some thinking, I have arrived at a firm conclusion about the real difference between these two shows.
The difference lies in how we define dark, violent, and morbid. Now, something violent would be a soldier in a WWII warzone, his leg blown off but he can still fight. He gruffly pulls a pin on a grenade and throws it into a nearby enemy foxhole, killing the enemy soldiers instantly, if grusomely. That is violent. Darkness is cynicism. So something like The Dark Knight and Black Lagoon. The show/movie portrays a dim view of the human race and of their future, and most of the time, through the main villain, though not always. And then there's morbid. Morbid is something like the Saw movies. Torture porn. Where sheer pain, agony, fear, and horrific images are not just a feature of the film/show, but a full-on focus.
Now, all of the media I've just mentioned above is both violent and dark, but when you have both of those and combine that with a ton of morbidness, which is what AoT does, then it goes way beyond those two and ventures into a twisted disturbing realm all its own. But that's not even what shocks me the most about AoT. No, what shocks me is how so many people actually enjoy this. And just for comparison, here's Cowboy Bebop's rating.
The problem is not with the show. And in case people get hard of hearing, let me repeat that. The show is not the problem. Never was. The problem is with us. What the FUCK is wrong with us? Was I just dead asleep to all this as we slowly transitioned into wanting this kind of "entertainment"? Is this why MLP became so popular because so many of us were giving ourselves PTSD with these kinds of shows?
...
I don't really know what else to say, or if there's even anything left to say now. But I firmly think we need to question what kind of media we're consuming here. And I also understand that there's also a fair few arguments to be made against my own entertainment, but I am very welcome to discuss that. I understand if people do not get the difference, though I won't FULLY defend that kind of media, so just keep that in mind.
So the first scene is of a bunch of soldiers upon a roof top, looking helplessly down to their comrade, a woman being held by a sadistic titan, begging for help, pleading for her life, crying and screaming in desperation as her body is slowly ripped apart and eaten before their eyes. The second scene is of a man within the stomach of another titan, his arm ripped off. He looks around and sees fresh corpses stewing in the stomach acid along with another woman barely alive and almost submerged, dazedly and deliriously asking to go home to her mother, her last words becoming slightly more desperate as she sinks further into the stomach acid before finally slipping in entirely.
...
So I was recommended this... Anime by a local friend of mine about a week ago. They were raving about how great it was. Me being slightly skeptical, I watched it anyway to give it a chance, and also because I wanted to show them something as well. And what I got was... This psychotic shit.
"But hold on, Arnox," you might say, "That seems hardly fair. You fangirl over Black Lagoon every chance you get. Why is it that BL gets a pass when Attack on Titan is just as dark?" Well, I'm glad you asked that, mysterious strawperson, because I actually questioned myself about this as well, and after some thinking, I have arrived at a firm conclusion about the real difference between these two shows.
The difference lies in how we define dark, violent, and morbid. Now, something violent would be a soldier in a WWII warzone, his leg blown off but he can still fight. He gruffly pulls a pin on a grenade and throws it into a nearby enemy foxhole, killing the enemy soldiers instantly, if grusomely. That is violent. Darkness is cynicism. So something like The Dark Knight and Black Lagoon. The show/movie portrays a dim view of the human race and of their future, and most of the time, through the main villain, though not always. And then there's morbid. Morbid is something like the Saw movies. Torture porn. Where sheer pain, agony, fear, and horrific images are not just a feature of the film/show, but a full-on focus.
Now, all of the media I've just mentioned above is both violent and dark, but when you have both of those and combine that with a ton of morbidness, which is what AoT does, then it goes way beyond those two and ventures into a twisted disturbing realm all its own. But that's not even what shocks me the most about AoT. No, what shocks me is how so many people actually enjoy this. And just for comparison, here's Cowboy Bebop's rating.
The problem is not with the show. And in case people get hard of hearing, let me repeat that. The show is not the problem. Never was. The problem is with us. What the FUCK is wrong with us? Was I just dead asleep to all this as we slowly transitioned into wanting this kind of "entertainment"? Is this why MLP became so popular because so many of us were giving ourselves PTSD with these kinds of shows?
...
I don't really know what else to say, or if there's even anything left to say now. But I firmly think we need to question what kind of media we're consuming here. And I also understand that there's also a fair few arguments to be made against my own entertainment, but I am very welcome to discuss that. I understand if people do not get the difference, though I won't FULLY defend that kind of media, so just keep that in mind.
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