Shingeki no Kyojin/Attack on Titan (Manga Discussion)

Those two points aren't odd at all. Yes, the 3D gear is useless in the fields. But the 3D gear is their best bet for getting rid of the Titan's height advantage, as they don't have actual jetpacks. As for the best trainees holing up with the king... that's simply because there's a lot of incentive to work for the king. Keep in mind that a lot of the people in-universe aren't concerned with retaking the lands, and even view the Scouting Legion as an exercise in futility and waste of resources.

Hence the oddity, the training everyone receives is the same, yet only the best titan slayers... have no need to go out to slay titans. Those good at crowd control(good for protecting the king from mobs, which isn't stressed upon for titan slaying) etc? stay outside.

Yes, in the fields, the gear is useless, but it is in the field where they need the height advantage most. Around where there are plenty of buildings? Depending on the size, you can just climb rooftops and hack at their necks. In great numbers, to boot. And the numbers of titans is limited due to the buildings. In the field? Dead meat. There is absolutely nothing they can do, the most is to grapple on the giants itself, which has... well, you saw the fight against Annie outside the forest...

Anyone have any theory on the walls and the fanatic wall worshippers?

You have to consider that joining the Scouting Legion is a matter of choice, not talent. There's a lot more incentive to work for the king (high wages, the good life, and so on). Basically, it's not about what these "best titan slayers" can do, it's about what they want to do. And from the perspective of the king, it's only natural to want the best soldiers to be protecting you.

(I'd also question if the top graders are indeed the best titan slayers, simply because of the difference in field experience.)

Re: 3D Gear, they do need the height advantage in the fields the most. However, they do not have the means for securing that. They don't have the tech for jetpacks. That's why the stick to 3D gear.

And buildings? The big Titans can just destroy them. The Titans aren't just big, a lot of them are agile too! It's imperative to move. Which leads us to the 3D gear. It doesn't only provide a height advantage— it also gives mobility (hence the 3D in the name; it gives them vertical range in addition to the horizontal).

edited 9th Dec '12 5:02:01 AM by fillerdude

New chapter out!

Eren's not the only Titan siding with humanity. The implications of Ymir's circumstances are numerous.

While I had suspected this, this throws my other personal WMG into the bin: those with eyes with an outline around their pupils are part giant. I mean, consider Elen and Annie, both have those. I was expecting Rivaelle to be one too... but the note implied that Ymir is a giant, when one of the giants took a scout as Ymir and bowed to her and all.

The good news just keeps piling on. Dog Days S3, TWGOK S3, Sn K anime.

So as usual I decided to check out the first chapter of the manga to decide whether to watch the upcoming anime. I ended up binging the first 3 volumes in one sitting.

This is an awesome series.

Big reveal about Ymir isn't all that surprising, given what else we know about her. I'm more interested in her relationship with Christa

Have to really wonder though what causes the majority of titans to lose their sapience, while others, like Ymir, to suddenly regain sapience (as is implied to be the case, as she apparently actually attacked them before).

I did that too. Only came here right after Archive Binge the whole thing. In one day.

Which ones lost their sapience? Unless you think that all of them started out as sapient?

Because I am under the impression that those select few that are happen to be mutants or experiments.

Hmmm. maybe the "walls" are of the sapient class?

Well, two chapters ago, when Ymir and her companions were going after the villages, do recall how they noted the weird positioning of one of the titans there (who actually said "Welcome home"), which implied that the titan in question didn't attack the village, but actually WAS a villager, before whatever it was that triggered the transformation happened and trapped the sod in the house.

Hmm... so the entire village lost its sapience? Aside from the orangutan one

Or perhaps, there is some form of Mutant transformation, where a particular giant can turn other humans into giants?

I think it is a matter of willpower.

Does their size matter though? as far as I can tell, the sapient hybrids all seem to be of a similar size...

I think there are two ways to get a smart Titan. You have human-trained warriors like Eren and Annie (notice how much more human and less misshapen they are than the average Titan), and then you have feral Titans who are simply older than most, and slowly gain a measure of more alien intelligence - observe how the big hairy Titan is clearly non-human, clearly very smart, and doesn't seem quite so familiar with how modern human society works. I think Ymir is somewhere between the two extremes - she seems to be a runaway from an organisation similar to (or the same as) Annie's, and never quite learned such sharp control of her powers.

edited 10th Dec '12 2:23:33 AM by Iaculus

I've a feeling that it wasn't humans who made the walls 100 years ago, cause I can't imagine how humanity got ??? # of Colossal Titans to stand around in circles and "harden".

Re: Flying - I think it's like Spider Man without superhuman strength.

Hopes for the Anime - I prefer season breaks over fillers, even long season breaks. Also, the deaths (especially, the self-sacrifices) in the manga are imo (very) well-done, so I prefer that none of the Maueve Shirts got cut out or have their screen time shorten.

We've already seen trained, human-controlled Titans. It might just have been a Heroic Sacrifice by some church agents.

Oh, okay.

edited 10th Dec '12 3:01:12 AM by probablyinsane

The orangutan talking is a bit creepy. I mean, neither Eren nor Annie ever spoke in their giant forms.... yet it, and the one in the short story, does.

Oh yeah, Iaculus, shouldn't you be spoilering that? or something. I'm not the authority on what to spoiler and what not to, so I have no idea, and just spoiler everything I think is spoileriffic.

The chapter number is not a full one, the main character is a different one.

edited 10th Dec '12 7:51:17 PM by Pryun

Short story? (must search for it later)

I think best spoiler all the whammy bits.

Rambling cause I really like this series.

This series does a very good job of making me care for the characters who get eaten. Good use of flashbacks in this regard, and I typically do not like flashbacks. I'm jaded enough about horror that I don't steel myself from being emotionally invested in characters who get chomped on. I should have for this series, cause now I'm psychologically compensating with an AU where they survive.

Points I particularly like about this series - aside from making me care about both Red Shirt and Mauve Shirt characters (and succeeding at that handily); we get like 50-50 both male and female heroic characters - or maybe it's more like 70-30, but anyway - we get a LOT of (really) Action Girl characters, who are NOT sexualized at all. The guys are also not sexualized. No Fanservice. I don't mind fanservice (if given to both genders on a more or less equal basis), but I still feel "serviced" by this series cause it's a fine example of how to get viewers to notice this or that character without them having to wear skintight outfights or bare their chests. High School Of The Dead, do please take down notes.

Heh, then again - maybe the mangaka opted for no Fanservice cause the setting is such that any Fanservice will turn into Fan Disservice.

May ramble more later.

edited 10th Dec '12 6:30:06 PM by probablyinsane

One thing is that we do get a fanservicey shot of Mikasa outside the series (the artist drew her in an MMA uniform), and it just serves to underline how different she looks from your standard manga heroine. I mean, seriously, a woman in an athletic job who looks like an athlete is incredibly rare in that medium.

I love Mikasa's design— heck, all the characters' designs— for that reason. They're a good middle ground between realistic and anime-style.

Glory to no-fanservice survival-themed manga!

She -has- muscles. (Stamp of Immense Approval)

Betcha the anime will "remedy" that.

I don't believe her muscles are ever actually visible. The anime doesn't really have anything to change

My current three favorite characters, who are still alive: Rivialle, Mikasa, Ryner This 'verse scares me so much that I can't help but pick the most badass of the lot.

Though, let me just pick everyone in the Scouting Legion, because DAMN - this series probably holds the most heroic sacrifices that really impresses me.

My least favorite would be the King and whoever else is in charge of the city. If the mangaka intends to give the higher ups reasonable reasons for being such bastards, he has his work cut out.

Good point

Everybody dies. Also, I get the impression that, whoever the king is, he seems as though he's not doing anything whatsoever. For all we know he could be a part of the wall giants, or maybe part giant

WMG Maybe THAT's why he needs the more skilled with him: to take him down if he loses his sapience?