Posted by OP Sequence
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OP: 「KABANERI OF THE IRON FORTRES」 by EGOIST
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“Frightened Corpses”Shingeki no Kyojin 2.0?: One question many had when Koutetsujou no Kabaneri was announced was: “Is this Shingeki no Kyojin 2.0?”. Well, yes and no. The premise is certainly similar – evil monsters who want to eradicate humanity, causing people to live behind walled cities to try and stay alive – but once you get past the broader story being clearly inspired by Shingeki no Kyojin (after all, it is produced by the same studio and directed by the same director), it becomes evident that the finer details are different here, and, based off this premiere, are much more interesting and handled better overall. Yeah, I’ll say it: comparing the first episode of Koutetsujou no Kabaneri to the first episode of Shingeki no Kyojin, Koutetsujou no Kabaneri is better. Part of that is because this is an original anime where each episode has likely been perfectly composed to hit key notes of a bigger performance, whereas every manga adaptation faces some degree of difficulty in translating the source to the screen; sometimes certain episodes will be rushed, or too slow, or padded with filler, or skipped altogether. Here, the original creators know what they’re doing, and that is evident with the premiere. The world, its characters, and the trauma they are facing feels much more refined than Shingeki no Kyojin did in the very beginning. But will it be a better series overall? Time will tell. Action Done Right – A Strong Opener: Let me just say that I loved this episode. While Boku no Hero Academia had a stellar premiere, this is, so far, my favourite of the spring 2016 season. There are many reasons for that, but perhaps the most noteworthy is that this is a specific genre done right. It’s been so long since an action anime had me hooked from the first minute to the last. The violence was gripping and visceral in a way you don’t see too often (thanks to censoring). Grimgar is an example that managed to add the weight of death into its fight scenes, and that is even more prominent here. Is it subtle in any way? No. But it doesn’t have to be. It’s very likely that Koutetsujou no Kabaneri could end up a mess, but so long as its entertaining, that’s fine by me. But I have confidence that given this is a 1-cour (Noitamina) original clearly inspired by those who worked on Shingeki no Kyojin, there’s a fair chance all the things they wished they’d done with that series could end up here instead. As for the actual plot, it’s fairly standard, but executed strongly enough that it feels like it knows how to make the most of the premise. Ikoma (Hatanaka Tasuku) is already a more interesting and badass character than Eren, yet I’ve seen some people compare the two and say they’re not that different. But I can’t see that. They both shout a lot, I’ll grant you that (but that’s more to do with Araki Tetsurou directing, as he likes his characters to get angry and SCREAM THEIR PASSIONS – which I’m a fan of). This single episode makes Ikoma out to be confident, smart, inventive, and driven, overshadowing early impressions I had of Eren. The asphyxiation scene in particular was astonishing – for a moment I thought he was going to hang himself there and then, but what happened was even cooler. That moment alone is enough to have me interested in Ikoma’s quest to kill the Kabane, and find out why he was able to reject their infection. Speaking of Kabane, they’re also more intimidating than many of the titans were in early episodes. There was a certain amusement in their foolish designs that I appreciated, but if you’re looking for something that feels genuinely threatening, then the Kabane are a better option. They are basically zombies; infected humans who seemingly exist only to infect others. They’re brutal and unforgiving and not slow like your typical zombies, so there’s some real tension whenever one appears on screen. However, Mumei (Senbongi Sayaka) seems to have them covered. It was obvious she would be a secret badass, but her heel being her blade was more epic than I could have imagined, and a striking moment to end the episode on. Like Ikoma, she’s a badass and I can’t wait to see more of her in action in future episodes. Production Quality Through the Roof – Can It Keep Up?: Finally, I’d like to touch on how gorgeous this episode was. The PV gave that away, but the whole episode was stunning, from the intense action sequences, to the subtle movements and expressions of the characters, to how distinctive the art style is – though many will likely think of this as the SnK clone, I’m sure its aesthetic will remain identifiable in season/years to come. Yet for as good as the visuals were, the sound was just as brilliant. The OST had my blood pumping in the scenes that mattered, and the OP is simply epic (though the recycled animation throughout is not – hopefully there will be an actual OP released in the coming weeks). The one major concern people seem to have is that Wit Studio likely won’t be able to keep up this level of quality. That’s probably true; very few anime do maintain the same level of production quality from start to end, though Hunter x Hunter (2011) would be a massive exception. All you need to do is look back at Wit’s previous titles to see that pretty much all of them had slumps in later episodes. Each of their series have their own individual looks, but I sure do hope the output remains at least consistent with Koutetsujou no Kabaneri. It’s easily their most visually impressive anime to date, so I pray the Amazon Prime partnership is giving them some good money in return. Since I mentioned it, I might as well point out that it felt good to be able to watch this on Amazon Prime, which I am subscribed to but doesn’t quite have the catalog of other major streaming services. The fact that this and every other Noitamina anime will be streamed worldwide a few hours after they air in Japan is an exciting development in how we view our anime. So long as you’ve got an Amazon Prime account, of course. If not, you’ll just have to rely on the internet. Overview – First Impressions: As I stated, this has been my favourite premiere so far this season. It’s not especially deep, but it does its action right, the characters are badasses, the steampunk world is pretty damn cool, and there wasn’t a massive exposition dump to explain the situation or the way people live – instead we got what any good series should do: it showed us the world through the characters, their actions, their rankings, their manner of speech, the way they dress, act, and present themselves. This episode is not the shoddy rehash of an earlier success like some suspected – this is some very talented people making the story they want to tell after being held back by the limits of another’s source material. |
I am hyped.
Also, the zombies seem somehow semi-intelligent? At least that’s the message I am getting.
attack on titan animation, plus resident evil plot with snowpiercer train(movie), this is the best anime of the season confirmed.
Joining the hype train !
An iron hype train!
This feels like SnK x Guilty Crown!
But it looks interesting!
Only thing I didn’t understand is how Ikoma knew how to stave off the infection/virus(?). He just conveniently had that weird machine on hand and knew exactly how to get rid of it? What?
And yeah, he easily could have killed himself…but somehow didn’t. I don’t know. That entire scene was confusing.
He seems to be aware of the weaknesses of the Kabane (hence the weapon he perfected by the end of the episode), so it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine he came up with a plan to get rid of the infection. Though I think it was the gem in his hand that saved him rather than his contraption.
While it might in fact be the power of the plot-gem, said gem might also have just been a memento of his dead childhood friend or whatever. Think what he did was cauterize the injury, then did some makeshift tourniquet shenanigans to prevent the infection from reaching his brain (binding his arm and then choking himself. Probably wouldn’t work IRL, but…). Due to managing to prevent that from happening, said infection promptly died, because, I dunno, the infection requires a brain in order to stay around, and quickly disappears if it can’t reach the brain in time?
@Ashifili
yea that wouldnt work in real life at all. He tried to restrict the blood flow to his brain on the off-chance that the infection wouldnt spread; the infection shouldnt have disappeared from his system just because he restricted blood flow. And then the infection just disappeared after he succeeded, which threw me off even further. I had already suspended my disbelief when he began strangling himself but then when the infection just outright disappeared i was like “what?…he should have at least still been scarred by the whole thing….that’s not how an infection works”. Of course if it’s the gem that restored his health, ill be willing to look over this glaring flaw…which only becomes that much more glaring because now all ikoma has to do is tell people to strangle those who have been bit in order to keep them from transforming (if that is indeed how he was able to stop the infection)
@sonicsenryaku
That’s pretty much the only thing that took me out of the episode as well. Being in the biomedical science field, I’m more sensitive to impossibilities when it deals with areas like this, so while others would be perfectly fine, that scene broke my suspension of disbelief. Especially since I have a huge interest in viruses and infectious disease.
I don’t understand anything of what was going on in that scene with that ridiculous contraption.
@sonicsenryaku, IreneSharda
Guys, you seriously can’t be treating this “infection” like a normal viral infection, it very obviously has a magical or supernatural side to it, it’s more of a curse that looks like an infection (or a bit of both) than it is an actual viral or fungus infection, and it just happens this curse presists if it reaches the host’s brain through their blood, if it doesn’t it dies out after a short time.
Please judge fiction by the rules it creates and their consistency, they never said it’s a real viral infection nor is there anything like it in the real world that turns people into vicious flesh eating zombies within a minute.
@irenesharda
exactly, i agree with you all the way. It also bothered me only because playing your cards this early by showing that the virus can be “prevented” takes away from the urgency of being bitten…and it’s only the first ep. Of course if future eps go into the nature of the virus and as to what truly resolved the virus spreading through ikoma’s body, all these flaws immediately disappear…somewhat.
@hunterwolf
it’s not that clear what qualities the kabane virus has (whether it’s supernatural or science so we cant say that it’s clear that it’s “supernatural based”). Heck, even ikoma argues towards the end that the kabane virus is not a curse and attempts to use ” scientific logic” to stop it. Im taking whatever the show gives me buddy. I mean i even mentioned in my comment that ill wait till further explanation before i cast my final judgement but that as of right now, those elements kinda stick out like flaws. Im all for waiting for clarity; it’s not a deal breaker but it stuck out amongst other smaller, less significant flaws in this otherwise very enjoyable first ep. And i agree with samu that this was a better first ep than attack on titan’s premiere. It’s clear the staff that worked on AoT saw some things in that series they felt they would like to execute better and decided they could thru this show
@sonicsenryaku, IreneSharda
Given zombies defy the laws of physics I doubt it would follow accepted biological reality. Unless they set it out as a slow normal non-magic virus and then somehow it is fantastically magically turbo then that is a contradiction. With any work of fiction internal consistency is required which does not mean it needs to follow real world biology. Being in biology and complaining about a fantastical non-realistic physics defying zombie virus as not acting like a realistic virus is not a very strong reason to disbelieve a work of fiction.
Suspension of disbelief because that isn’t how real world viruses is not a valid argument nor is assuming because they do not explain it in detail it should default to the real world knowledge. If anything the show already illustrated that it works very rapidly far faster than any normal virus and has a number of magical properties that would be impossible in real life. These premise based fictional facts are just being set and I don’t think they have caused any inconsistencies with their internal logic in just this one episode.
Based on what is shown and said clearly the virus target is your brain and it magically shields the heart with an iron/steel cage and turns you into a perpetual energy machine bent on infecting others. If you cut off the blood flow to the brain then it can’t complete its infection and maybe the magic runs out and the infection fails to take hold. Also it isn’t a hard requirement that they ever completely explain how the virus works in great detail sometimes in fiction non-realistic parts of the premise are best left unexplained.
@a2222222222
Well said, i couldn’t have said it better, rule of thumb .. Always judge works of fiction by their own rules they set for themselves regarding everything that is fictional, unless something is explicitly based on real life the only consistency to worry about (and to affect suspension of disblief) is the consistency of the internal logic of the story, and so far Koutetsouju seems pretty damn consistent.
@sonicsenryaku, IreneSharda
The only way I can science it out is that the Kabane “virus”, or whatever it is, can’t exist in a living body for very long. So it makes it to the brain and kills the host (shuts off the body) in order to shut off whatever it is that they can’t abide—blood circulation, I’m guessing—then takes over the body to use as a further infection mechanism. I’m guessing it’s blood circulation because the clear focus of the “viral colony” at the heart, and the apparent usage of non-standard circulatory pathways, suggests that the “virus” itself controls circulation. Perhaps the “virus” is anaerobic, and eventually gets killed off if the host’s body continues to pump oxygenated blood. Perhaps it’s the opposite, and the buildup of CO2 in Ikoma’s blood due to his self-induced hypoxia is what killed it.
@222″
I am judging the fiction by its internal logic and its logic is not really clear at this point which is why i made the statement i made. I never asked for a detailed explanation of anything. The bottom line is that the execution of that scene is very questionable because it attempted to use “logic” to solve something that at this moment seems illogical and that wouldnt work regardless of what fantastical spin you want to put on it. Like i said, it wasnt a big deal and future eps can easily clear this gap in logic. It’s not like it broke the series for me (i said i had fun with this premiere), but it is something i noticed that had me scratching my head until i see something that provides me with a satisfactory explanation. Im not looking for some super detailed explanation; im just asking for things to make sense within the internal logic of this fiction and right now there are pieces missing for me understand the logic, again this is something the next ep can resolve but it doesnt change the fact that something that’s fit. That’s all im saying. Im pretty sure i know to judge fiction by its logic. It’s not like i shout at the screen that no person could ever shoot energy out of their hands in real life when im watching DBZ
@sonicsenryaku
How can you be judging a show’s internal logic (rules) on the infection if as you say “its logic is not really clear” can’t judge something for inconsistencies if there are none yet. If anything the episode defines the logic of the show and forms the premise so you cannot claim to be judging its internal logic when it hasn’t contradicted itself yet. A shows logic does not have to be realistic it just should not contradict itself and you have not brought up any internal inconsistencies other than it not following real world biology. You claimed “that’s not how an infection works” which is exactly like saying “no person could ever shoot energy out of their hands in real life when im watching DBZ”.
Again you are mistaken if you believe that a show should clear things up or explain further as some things especially the magical/non-realistic aspects are sometimes better left unexplained. Requiring a satisfactory explanation implies that you want a more detailed explanation of the infections exact mechanics within the show but this as I said is not generally a good idea to ever bother explaining.
Also if you want an easy explanation for why that scene worked is that it is a magical virus that drains your psyche (mind) to operate and the infection from another only has a limited amount of residual magical pysche energy and when it fails to tap into the target’s brain the magic runs out and the magically active phase of the virus fails to complete. And the machine was calibrated to apply a non fatal pressure on the neck to restrict blood flow to delay the infection so that it runs out the clock so to speak. Note how the zombies like the neck region as their biting target as this would have the shortest infection time and possibly bites in the feet for example are possibly extremely easy to avert.
In terms of real world to fictional world a blood choke can take upto 20 seconds to take effect if properly applied ( http://judoinfo.com/chokes5.htm ) while a properly design partial choking mechanical system would be able to delay unconsciousness to say 40-60 seconds easily possibly even to the minutes scale depending on how much restriction you want to achieve. And as he doesn’t lose consciousness one could assume that the goal was not to completely cut off blood flow just to delay the virus till it ran out of magic and the active infection failed. If one did a quick review of partial strangulation research (choking game was a serious issue in schools) you could find cases of non-force controlled strangulation in the order of 5 minutes with no serious effects and a Glasgow coma score of 6 (perfectly normal) http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/7/3/231.full . For reference the show’s strangulation duration is approximately 40 seconds so in a rough estimate of things it is plausibly realistic.
Logically speaking given he researches the subject extensively one could assume he figured out that infections are typically very fast acting and that once the active stage fails there is little to no risk hence why he was so adamant about the other person in the train station who was shot and killed was an extremely low risk patient and is proven correct. Since so many people have seen people get infected and the duration is short hence why people carry the suicide pouch and are forced to use it quickly (start of episode, near ending, …) the speed of the infection could easily be determined. His solution would obviously not be acceptable to the rest as they are all living in total fear and the concept of being able to avert infection is probably a foreign concept to them and such experimentation would be taboo (as would be goop collecting). Other logical signs that the infection is not a real world type is that if it is carried by the blood then all that blood/guts/goo would be extremely dangerous yet no one dies from the cleaning process which is likely more to prevent the train from attracting the blood sensing zombies rather than for microbiological reasons. Other differences include how the higher ups are deathly afraid of touching the goop but the cleaning techs don’t care and the ones doing the cleaning would be deathly afraid if it caused random infections and it appears like this structure and world has been around for quite some time so again appears to be unfounded fear of the zombie infection which is more magic than real world type infection.
Again this is all conjecture but that is why leaving things unexplained in a work of fiction is often times better than trying to produce satisfactory explanations all the time.
@a2222″
dont take this the wrong way but i think you’re missing the point of my argument so ill just leave it at that. I know the in-depth science of these things (i study this stuff). My argument was two-fold: the first part was questioning the logic of the “virus”, the methodology used to hold back the virus and how it fits within the world’s internal logic; It wasnt clear. it’s not about inconsistencies with the logic in the narrative that’s the issue here; that’s what i believe you are incorrectly assuming. It’s about how missing pieces of info without context clues forces me as the viewer to look at the character’s actions and dialogue through the lens of the technical application of his method.
The whole thing about ikoma’s character is that he does not want to live his life in fear. He wants to rationalize the kabane and has been researching them so that he can come up with practical, scientific methods to take them down. In doing so, when he is ready to take the plunge and cut off his circulation, he remarks that the kabane-fication is not a curse. In that statement, he believes that he can scientifically stop the infection from spreading. This posits the viewer to then look at whatever action he performs to have some sort of scientific accuracy; but then when the scene plays out, it obviously doesnt do it too accurately. Magic or not, what happened in that scene didnt mesh well with what the character was trying to do….that’s point number one. Im not trying to argue inconsistencies with the story. If i was really trying to be pedantic, i would just mention how the kabane weakness is stated to be their hearts and yet mumei seemingly defeats one by decapitating it. Hey, now for all we know, it could still be alive and that she must deliver the final blow to it’s heart next ep to fully kill it. That’s why waiting for answers is a good thing; it doesnt change the way one may initially feel upon viewing the scene but at least the viewer is capable of being open-minded. Or hey, maybe mankind wasnt aware that decapitation was a killing method, which would be a huuuuge stretch because come on now, after fighting the kabane for some time, you’re trying to tell me that no one has decapitated one before?? riiiiiighttt.
And let’s say that just because decapitation wasnt mentioned before doesnt mean it’s not a legit way to kill them. If that ends up being the case, then ikoma’s hard work in trying to develop something strong enough to pierce a kabane’s heart loses it’s narrative relevance. Ikoma being able to successfully pierce the kabane’s heart is meant to be a triumphant accomplishment in making him a proactive protagonist, pushing forth his belief that his science is key to making a normal “non-mumei” human like him have a chance against the kabane. If they can just be decapitated, what is the point? See, this what i mean. I love when things arent answered for me right away, but a smart show knows how to write within the context of it’s world to allow the viewer to understand that while pieces are missing, it’s all part of the plan; part of the big mystery. This premiere ep of kabaneri wasnt put together in that tightly cohesive way (not that it was a mess or anything; it was decently constructed and very fun to watch; a guy can have his reservations about things without people telling him that he isnt allowed to think that way because “it’s wrong” dont you think?) to assure me that it’s all part of the plan. That’s has to do with a disconnect in the narrative composition of this ep specifically, but again (broken record), i have some faith that the next ep or two will give me the answers i need so here’s hoping my worries are laid to rest.
The second part of my argument (the more important part) was meant to point out that if asphyxiation was a main component in curing ikoma, then the show blew its load early because all people need to do is start strangling each other when they are bit and they can prevent themselves from being infected. Obviously we have to take into consideration the success rate of such a method, but still the fact that the narrative plays this up as a solution feels weak because it takes away some of the tension of being bitten by the kabane (again this is assuming that the green stone has nothing to do with the remission of the infection). If i can strangle my comrade who has been bit and save him from infection, then a big part of what makes zombie-based stories so tensions-filled has kind of been lost (of course that’s what im going off of at the moment until further notice). Of course you can argue that if there are kabane in the vicinity, you wont have time to strangle your comrade but it doesnt change the fact that if there arent any kabane around, you could (it sounds silly i know).
Once again, i said that these are things that had me scratching my head in this ep itself, but it’s not like im being unreasonable. Im using what the story gives me at the moment. And as ive said, when the story gives me (and us the viewer) more, this bump in the narrative will have been smoothed out. But yea at this point, i think ive said all i need to say on this subject matter; if you still think im judging it incorrectly for some weird reason, there’s nothing else i can say to make you see my side nor do i care…it really isnt a big deal to me
@sonicsenryaku
The core problem is your taking your in-depth science and trying to apply it to a fictional non-scientific magical world. It makes no logical sense to apply real world virus behaviour to a magical virus that produces results that completely defy the laws of physics which override any biological rules in terms of real world plausibility. Given we accept this magical viruses can break real world physics then it too can break biological reality. By saying it has nothing to do with inconsistencies with the shows internal logic then your arugment falls apart on suspension of disbelief and just becomes nitpicking that the show doesn’t follow real world biology. Last time I checked zombies in general != realistic. You seem to think leaving bits out is a bad thing and come to the conclusion that in the absence of an explanation your personal expertise is the definitive thought on the matter.
Basically your biology expertise is being misapplied and is way way out of a proper application of such technical knowledge.
Fictional scientific research into magical viruses != real world science about viruses. Your entire argument does not follow through as a viewer watching can observe the results and that he is correct in his assumptions and his theory in the fictional world works. That is all. Why it worked, how exactly, the exact fictional science behind it is not critical.
You say it doesn’t mesh with his character of not wanting to live in fear yet his emotion, brazen action, containing to push through even in adverse conditions, … and finally succeeding in all are pretty convincing in showing us his work and drive.
You also don’t seem to be watching the show given it is more the heart is extremely protected and cannot be shot out with existing weaponry which is why he was trying to invent armour pricing weaponry which is very very logical. Cutting a head off cleanly is difficult at a distance and may be exactly why they all still have swords for close combat. If they can cut off the head or all the limbs they would effectively have killed them. The problem is that existing long range weapons compose off lead shot which cannot cleanly cut a head off let alone blow a head off (hollow point doesn’t exist nor does it appear typical gunpowder type technology). So obviously your not even watching the show. If you can make a gun that works at a distance to shoot out the shielded heart you can kill them easily without worrying about completely separating their heads. This is why watching carefully is more important than nitpicking randomly.
Oh my you keep on digging yourself a deeper hole. A steam shot lead gun is not going to decapitate the zombies an AP steam gun that he just invented could and they do carry swords capable of decapitation but the risk of getting bitten as shown in the city attacked sequence shows how risky it can be to try and decapitate a turbo zombie. So obviously inventing a better gun is a very good idea as few people will be skilled enough to reliably decapitate zombies without themselves getting bitten. The first thing I thought is why not make an AP round to kill them and that is exactly what he is trying to make and succeeded in doing. Making such a technology is important in their universe as no gun previously could pierce the metal heart cage. See this is what I mean about not thinking things through and not watching the show. You can’t exactly complain about narrative composition when you miss critical show not tell segments which literally explain away your problems. (How exactly do you decapitate a zombie with a sword through a gun port? should they just make the trains without armour and fight in the open sounds like a good idea for all them mooks…) What your suggesting makes no logical sense.
Second part of your argument already fails again because you do not watch the show and selectively ignore parts that explain away your arguments. We do not know is the asphyxiation was a main component just that it clearly helped slow the spread of the magical virus till it failed to complete its infection be it by the gem or just by running out of magic. Do you think it is safe to strangle people in the battlefield or even practical you have to do it immediately as there are precious little seconds to act. Not only that another thing you missed is almost all the bites shown in the episode are too the neck.
Timestamps are approximate
01:50 Non-neck bite
15:30 Neck bite (attempted to use sword to decapitate)
16:18 Neck bite
16:27 Neck bite
16:29 Neck bite 2x
16:30 Near Neck bite
18:40 Non-neck bite (MC)
19:00 Non-neck bite
20:32 Neck bite (flashback)
21:50 Neck bite
Total number of neck bites 8
Total number of bites 11
So in the first episode assuming there is a one on one situation (extremely rare) you have >30% chance in the existing sample of having enough time to use the method. So he was probably in a very unique situation to say the least. So not only have you not even considered the success rate which is very low but also missed another aspect that they showed and told very clearly that they all live in fear and his type of research and treatments are taboo to the point of being jailed for such thoughts and research. Those two aspects together are exactly why they have not explored or tested his methods previously. If you manually strangle someone your much much more likely to just kill them by accident than using a calibrated machine of which would be considered taboo of the highest degree and it is more likely they would shoot the patient multiple times (also shown) well before you managed to test out the idea. So your solution requires them to first shed their all their existing and shown taboo (not an easy task), have the same setup calibrated to various people and easily accessible in all areas (one per train car???), then you have to know that it only works if they are bitten far away from the neck (<30% useful) and be in a one on one safe situation (super rare). Again a non logical general solution.
Once again your arguments are head scratching and have no basis. You are actually being totally unreasonable and illogical. You are failing to use what the story gives you at the moment by cherry picking what you want and ignoring what goes against your ideas even when they are clearly shown.
Basically you just illustrated how you failed to even watch the episode as things like the iron heart are considered to be impenetrable (until the MC invention) not weak, his research is clearly taboo (he would probably be executed if they knew about everything he was working on), neck biting is clearly the zombie's preference making his solution rarely applicable (good writing), and decapitation is clearly a last resort as they all have swords but look what good that did for the guy in 15:32 (dead, bitten in the neck). It is becoming clear that your logic is highly suspect.
@a222″
no body is nitpicking randomly (at least im not). Ive started to notice a pattern with your arguments: they seem highly detailed but it never really tackles my main point. it’s more like you key in to something that i say and then instead of trying to understand that point, you’re trying so hard to prove why your point is correct and as a result we arent getting anywhere. At this point your argument is running in circles in an attempt to debunk what ive been saying without actually debunking what ive said. You keep telling me i cant apply science to a magical setting when clearly i keep emphasizing the logistics of the story rather than the science (and ironically, you’re using as well in your argument about this “magical fantasy” setting. You’re not differentiating the two and as such, this discussion has grown tiresome, especially when im reading something in which somebody clearly doesnt see the point. Let’s just agree to disagree 🙂
@sonicsenryaku
Claiming your not randomly nitpicking doesn’t make it so. I’ve noticed a pattern with your arguments in that they all don’t work and are illogical. Instead of trying to rebut a detailed direct point by point attack on your arguments you claim constantly that isn’t what your talking about. So lets break it down for you.
You previously stated,
“the infection shouldnt have disappeared from his system just because he restricted blood flow”, which is clearly an assumption it should work like a real world virus which is already clearly untrue given it is a physics defying magical virus. This was rebutted in my first reply with, “Given zombies defy the laws of physics I doubt it would follow accepted biological reality”
Then you say its internal logic, “I am judging the fiction by its internal logic” which later you state “it’s not about inconsistencies with the logic in the narrative that’s the issue here” which is a simple contradiction in your own words.
Then you say your “two” main points are “he believes that he can scientifically stop the infection from spreading. This posits the viewer to then look at whatever action he performs to have some sort of scientific accuracy” you claim that because he is trying to rationally thing in his universe his work must abide by real world biology even though it is a magical ultra unrealistically fast acting zombie virus that results in an unrealistic perpetual energy system. This again ignores the previously stated, “Given zombies defy the laws of physics I doubt it would follow accepted biological reality”
Then you have point 1.5 or something about “weakness is stated to be their hearts and yet mumei seemingly defeats one by decapitating it” which I state you are not watching the show as “decapitation is clearly a last resort as they all have swords but look what good that did for the guy in 15:32 (dead, bitten in the neck)”.
Then you have point 1.75 or something about “Ikoma being able to successfully pierce the kabane’s heart is meant to be a triumphant accomplishment” and ” If they can just be decapitated, what is the point” again ignoring how revolutionary the development of AP weaponry would be in their world to which I responded with “the iron heart are considered to be impenetrable (until the MC invention)” so his invention is a game changer since I also stated “(How exactly do you decapitate a zombie with a sword through a gun port? should they just make the trains without armour and fight in the open sounds like a good idea for all them mooks…) What your suggesting makes no logical sense”.
Then for your point 2.00 “more important part” is that you say “all people need to do is start strangling each other when they are bit and they can prevent themselves from being infected”. Ignoring your own words about “obviously we have to take into consideration the success rate of such a method”. To which I stated “not only have you not even considered the success rate which is very low but also missed another aspect that they showed and told very clearly that they all live in fear and his type of research and treatments are taboo to the point of being jailed for such thoughts and research”.
All of this flies right in the face of your claims that I am not directly attacking your points when you state “they seem highly detailed but it never really tackles my main point” by taking apart your points bit by bit you have nothing left to stand on which is clear from your response.
You keep telling me that you want to apply real world science to a magical setting while trying in vain to claim its from the story itself but it never claims it is a realistic virus at all. Then at the same time you call to your own biological expertise by stating “”I know the in-depth science of these things (i study this stuff)” which is odd since your not part of the show.
I’m here just to demonstrate to everyone else how illogical and paper thin your arguments are if you are tired of this discussion then that is your own prerogative.
@a222″
Hahahahaha ok
@sonicsenryaku
I’m guessing your not going to rebut that your entire line of arguments has been completely torn apart including the bits about me not seeing the point or my attack on every bit of your arguments major and minor is complete. Instead you respond with “Hahahahaha ok” which is a telling sign about how your major arguments are fairing.
Man, this sure is sad. Anyways, aaa2 made some interesting and I think, really sound observations while sonic was I think more focused on certain directorial decisions designed to increase thrilling sensations? At least, that’s what I was able to understand from this term paper of a comment section anyway.
It has something to do with slowing the spread of infection and something to do with the gem on his hand. It reveals that he is truly knowledgeable and bold rather than a lucky amateur, which is the point of that scene. Why he did what he did is something that is, no doubt, supposed to be revealed later on.
Based on the promo vid and materials, I think Ikoma just turned himself into a hybrid human-kabane like Mumei.
When Mumei removed her ribbon on the neck, her eyes glowed gold similar to the eyes of the Kabane and the promo materials has shown Mumei having the golden streaks on her face similar to the zombies as well.
Ikoma seems knowledgeable as to how the virus actually infects a human as it was shown that he has been collecting samples while cleaning up the trains so he might have prepared those contraptions beforehand. I don’t think he was cured by the gem on his palm.
Probably, restricting the flow towards the brain via constricting the neck similar as to how Mumei taps her Kabane-like powers is the key in controlling the virus.
It’s likely a reveal for later in the series, likely involving the stone as Nayrael mentioned. To me it seemed like a gamble Ikoma was taking–as with his nail gun, he did not know if it would work, but was willing to stake his life on it.
As for any biological “reality” here, from the start it should be pretty damn clear there will minimal (the Kabane glow in the bloody dark and have ossified flesh around their hearts after all. Hell, the necromorphs from Dead Space are more biologically realistic). As an infection though there is something they could be basing this off of. Fungi, bacteria, parasitic worms, and prions are all examples of non-viral infections, with some in particular (fungi, prions) attacking the brain directly (The Last of Us used cordyceps for example). I could believe Ikoma’s as asphyxiation preventing that sort of infection as all the aforementioned examples move through the circulatory system. Cut that off and they have nowhere to go. It wouldn’t get rid of the problem of the infection suddenly disappearing, but it would help suspend disbelief a bit more.
My thing would be that I think he would die of asphyxiation and probably crush his windpipe before he would ever be able to stop all the blood that’s carrying the virus from traveling the circulatory system into his brain.
He certainly could, but cutting off blood flow isn’t as difficult as breaking tracheal cartilage. If you can close the carotid artery and the jugular vein, you have basically cut off all other circulation superior of the neck. Whether possible or not I can’t remember, haven’t studied human anatomy for a few years 😛
The bigger problem IMO is probably losing consciousness before you ever get to that point.
the problem lies with the fact that viruses like that are still in your system and will eventually circulate to your brain even if you prevent it initially through asphyxiation.
While the show is entirely fictional it is not a certainty that any choking system would crush your airway and cause immediate unconsciousness if he calibrated things to his body mass and controlled the force applied to his neck he could easily achieve a controlled restriction of blood flow to prevent the active stage of the infection from reaching his brain.
Similar to the choking game studies (a real world problem) have had a case where the choking went on for ~5minutes which is much longer than the ~40seconds in the show.
@sonicsenryaku
Problem is that it is a magical zombie virus not a real world virus so obviously the rules are different. Given the first episode makes it clear that his method worked it clearly is a magical virus that doesn’t follow biological principles of reality. If it did then things like the train cleaning would result in countless rail service techs getting infected as they have next to no PPE when working on all the blood/goop/guts. Zombies defy the laws of physics which means there is little chance it would follow real world biology.
Nothing in the show claimed that it was a persistent virus rather it clearly infects within seconds/minutes of a bite with death occurring unrealistically fast for any real world virus so again saying it must persist is not even remotely based on what is shown/told. Having the infection fail in seconds within the shows logic makes sense as it is on the same timescale. Real world viruses work on the timescale of days/months/years which would make for a Contagion movie style anime where it is slow/sedate and people just die from the infection. This show is obviously not going to have realistic biology.
other animes in this gerne with the same infection way, would just cut off his own Arm to prevent taken over the body. but here its for the drama? 🙂
That’s what it looked like he was going to do at first.
He clearly a idepent sciencist who had been studying the viris. Hell, he even took all those hearts because he wanted to study them later. It’s pretty clear he knows all about the zombies.
He “burned” the source of the infection(w/c is the bitten part) while trying to avoid it being spread out in his whole body… by killing the source of the infection its probably safe that the virus will slowly die…and its pretty obvious that he has been studying them for a while so he probably know(or maybe his just guessing) that you won’t become a monster if you stop the virus from reaching your brain and that’s where the machine came from
the stone probably did nothing…its just a memento from his past lol
well its just episode 1 so I doubt we will be getting an answer to everything o.o
I think he just cauterized it to close the wound or hide the fact that he was bitten and was only burned. Third degree burned on the bitten area.
like kiseijuu? i think because of the lack of oxygen the parasite died before it reach to the brain? well i think it’s more realistic if he cut his own hand
Ah! I just rewatched it.
I think it doesn’t have to do with asphyxiation at all.
Notice that the little girl has a ribbon around her THROAT.
When the MC gets infected, he nails(?) a steel belt into his chest/shoulder.
Then he wraps a noose around enough to make blood spurt out.
He says that he would be fine as long as it doesn’t reach his brain (I honestly thought he was going to chop his arm off
and get automail.Maybe somehow bleeding out around the neck suppresses the virus?
Another AOTS in the making. This is why spring is a good season.
I may have made the mistake of watching this first before all the other promising shows of this season, because I fear I set the bar pretty high up. This was immensely engaging, the violence felt visceral and the characters were awesome, one of the best premieres I’ve seen in a while. MC is like a combination of Eren and Armin, but he takes the better characteristics of the two (headstrong, willful, but also intelligent and crafty). The whole steam punk + feudal Japan is also a big treat on the eyes, and I appreciate how the show didn’t treat it’s audiences like babies and info dump the entire narrative.
i cant help drawing comparisons to Sakura taisen/sakura wars… Even the princess looks like sakura.
Haha,yeah .. Glad to see someone still remembers that show, i can surely see the similarities, mainly the steampunk theme, some of the character designs and fashion too.
There is also the time period in which these fictional events are happening, they both feel pretty similar (altough Sakura Wars felt more like steampunk Miji era while this feels more like steampunk Shogun).
It’s a retro style stuck somewhere between the 80s and 90s. After looking at the character designer Haruhiko Mikimoto, I’m not surprised anymore.
He provided character designs for: Macross, Macross 7, Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket, and Top wo Nerae! (Gunbuster), among others. Each of these are bonafide classics.
She actually reminds me of Momohime from Muramasa – that Wii/Vita game. Mumei earns a bonus point from her personality though!
Next time, make it standard operating procedure that all trains should stop first outside of the walled city and visually confirm human passengers first before allowing it to go in whether it arrived on schedule or not.
Yeah, that was weird, specially because when I saw the first train doing that, I tough “wow, so they really take the obvious measure of checking for zombies on the trains before letting them in” and then the night train came, and they lowered the bridge without even doing a mere light signal confirmation
IIRC, the first train arrived much earlier than scheduled so maybe that’s why it was stopped.
Maybe, but it’s not that big of a deal. I mean, if they’re expecting a train at a specific time and it arrives at that time it’s not unreasonable that they would open the gates. And even if they weren’t open the train probably would have crashed in a similar fashion. The bridge being lifted too late was mainly for dramatic effect.
That’s why i said next time. Too bad for that walled city, the train passed a tunnel. If it it was in an open area, then theu might have detected it sooner and closed the bridge. The lead train will probably fall on the cliff and the rest of the coaches will follow. And not smash on the city like a whip.
habbits can be an killer.. nothing happen yesterday and the day before that, even a week before nothing happen. why should it now happen today? 🙂
True. Especially because they’ve practically spent the whole episode pointing out how paranoid and fanatic about safety the bushi were right before that happened.
Samu is right that the train would have crashed either way, but that situation was still hard to understand. I think it would have been equally dramatic if the bridge was closed.
The drawbridge was still low enough for the train to jackknife upwards. If the drawbridge was closed the town might hold out longer due to the lower initial infections (or none at all if the gate and wall holds / the train drops down through the gap between the outside world and the town).
I think the problem was also that the train was sounding its horn still which the gate guards assumed that they were still alive inside when in reality the chain just got caught on the zombie’s arm (@ around 12:42mins).
This is why positive train control was invented (not for zombies) but manual deadman switches / horn signaling are not a good replacement. The city could have used a speed control circuit by detecting the track circuit states and physically tripping the emergency brakes or manipulating the steam flow regulation if the train is approaching the gate at an unsafe speed as the results would be disastrous otherwise. (They clearly still have signalling technology as shown at the start of the episode) Alternatively if the train fails to decelerate and is still going to fast near the city a split rail derailing point could be used to redirect the crash away from the main gate.
immediate amv idea :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1HOE3FIQ7w
This ain’t a SnK clone, it’s more The Walking Dead meets SteamBoy. Having Haruhiko Mikimoto (of Macross fame) making the characters is a luxury few series could affort, as everything feels live and brimming with energy.
Love the old school character design.
Is this prelude to SnK? I sure as hell convinced that it is.
This premiere was pretty damn awesome, and it’s the first show to truly get me hyped this season. In the span of one episode it manages to build up an interesting world, introduce some badass characters (Mumei is awesome) and make all hell break loose. And is this Wit Studio’s niche now? Post-apocalyptics world full of monsters trying to destroy humanity? First it’s titans, then vampires, now zombies. Well, I ain’t complaining.
And as for its similarities to AoT – well, if you’re going to rip something off, you might as well rip off something good. Now let’s hope they keep this level of quality and we have a winner here.
I loved this episode. Truly, the rythm was great and the setting is something you don’t see everytime: Steampunk Shogunate Japan versus Zombies. I’m sold.
Rooting for the little zombie-beheading badass already.
That said, I have to admit that my initial impression of Ikoma is not as positive as Samu’s, to put it politely. During all the episode, he was the walking embodiment of “Too stupid to live, too lucky to die”.
-Zero experience fighting zombies and managing a station, yet shouts angrily at the samurai… while at the same time having on himself highly illegal zombie organs.
-Talks about fear making everyone stupid… yet this very episode proves the higher-ups were properly paranoid (trope!) about the zombie risk.
-I get he wanted to save his prototype, and I commend it, but when evacutation is going to be hard as it is, did he really need to test it right away? Had it not worked, everything would have been for naught. I wouldn’t mind if he was forced to use it when trying to run, but cutting himself to bait one and then being caught by surprise…
-For all his theoretical knowledge about zombies and his home-made tools to stop infection from spreading, the way I see that scene is that he was failing pretty hard and probably the convenient magical stone saved him.
Eren had at least the benefit of the doubt in the first episode of SnK, with him being a kid and all that. Ikoma? Not so much.
I was absolutely floored by how rich and visceral the overall looks of this premiere. Yes, some things are quite hard to believe and require lots of suspensing your disbelief, but it’s just a minor issue compared to how fabulous everything else is. We seriously need more anime like this each season, one that don’t care about substance or subtlety but give you serious eyegasm.
This is like an adult version of Attack on Titan, without all the shounen cheesiness and cliches Attack on Titan has.
Definitely one of the top opening episodes this season I’ve watched so far. This has a seinen vibe to it which is nice and I think works well for the story. The comparisons to Shingeki no Kyojin (SNK) are inevitable with so much similarity in the setup, but I think it did enough to distinguish itself so far. Action was good with plenty of blood being shed and tension most of the way. Agree with Samu that the Kubane made for exciting, deadly foes. Not your typical slow, stupid zombies indeed. Quick, but not too quick, pacing helped keep things moving along, and I think matched an action filled episode. So good overall execution and some money being spent with solid visual quality.
I found Ikoma (ML) a pretty good lead though his obsessiveness (even if warranted) reminded me of SNK’s ML Eren. The two are different enough I suppose, and Ikoma strikes me as less one-dimensional than Eren. Mumei was pretty cool. Personal preference is that she’s older, but not a huge deal. She didn’t immediately remind me of an SNK character which is a plus. I think the more this diverges from “SNK Alternative Version” the better. One character that did bug me a little was the lord/ruler of the place who I felt was too tropish/one dimensional. “Gotta uphold the law!” Uh, dude… didn’t Ikoma just say that the law was to imprison potential infected? What happened to that?
Like SNK, everything seems to be steam/compressed air powered which is fine. But no traditional guns/cannons & the like because ML did mention explosives? Wondering because AP ammunition sure seems like the ticket to the “iron heart cage” dilemma (are those literally cages – i.e. have gaps?). Won’t work with compressed air guns (be one hell of an “air-gun” to generate sufficient velocity). A couple other “anti-Kabane” measure came to mind, but I’m thinking it’s probably best to go into this with some suspension of disbelief/don’t scrutinize things to closely. I found that to be the case with SNK.
Even then, there are limits and some things need explanation. In Ep.01 there was one, possibly two, instance(s) where I sure hope the show explains what happened. The first is what Ikoma did to “disinfect” himself from zombism. If it’s the magic stone, fine – I can roll with that, but give a reason because the way the disease was spreading what he did sure didn’t seem to be working until “it just does”. Frankly, I wonder how he didn’t pass out and accidentally kill himself from asphyxiation. The second potential question depends upon whether Mumei did in fact kill that Kubane. If so, then show needs to explain that because of a main premise. Is it you need to destroy their heart or is decapitation just fine as well? Show needs to be consistent with such things.
A few questions aside, overall a good start and potentially one of the strongest shows this season if it can get the details right.
I say as long as a show doesn’t contradict itself, it’s fine with whatever route they take. I personally wouldn’t like to think that it’s because of the stone absorbing the virus. I just think the whole infection animation scene was really just for fun. They could’ve done something really visually boring or they could’ve done this which I believe is much more visually engaging even if you have to suspend belief. Also, it’s not like hanging kills you instantly. Hate to bring this up but you know that some people like to jack off while hanging themselves? Also, I guess sheer willpower would probably be the most common explanation.
As for the decapitation, it’s not like they said that decapitation didn’t work. But it’s definitely not the first thing people would think of doing if they have guns. Especially when you consider that the Kabane are considerably stronger than a normal human and that slicing their neck clean off might be an impossible task for a normal human to do so.
@Goodwill Wright: I definitely agree that they need to be consistent with the rules of the fictional world. It’s something I do not think SnK did well. Both MAL and AniDB have the same description/series summary: “As the world is in the middle of an industrial revolution, a monster appears that cannot be defeated unless its heart, which is protected by a layer of iron, is pierced.” [emphasis added] I can’t recall whether the anime gave an explicit statement to that effect, but everything fits exactly with that theme. ML has a diagram of the Kanbane’s heart and is developing a weapon to reliably pierce their hearts. They use “heart grenades” if you get bitten (so they definitely have explosives tying into my post above).
So it’s all heart, heart, heart focused. Decapitation may be hard, but we can’t say that it’s impossible for a normal person with the right weapon at this point. Best thing about a heart shot is that you can do it a range, but if you can’t/it’s very difficult to do (why ML is inventing a better “gun”) and/or you’re forced to enter melee combat… Bottom line is that if decapitation is an option (which it does seem to be), then it’s an option. It looked like Mumei killed the Kubane, but maybe it’s just temporarily disabled. Either way, it’s best to make these things clear to avoid leaving unnecessary questions raised by viewers, and again, show needs to be consistent with the in-universe rules it sets.
As for Ikoma passing out while hanging himself, I understand you don’t black out instantaneously (same goes for a choke hold). It didn’t last that long I guess and not an MD so perhaps a bit of hyperbole on my part. I’m fine with dropping that point anyway because it’s de minimis compared to the main issue of that scene which is how he cured himself.
“I just think the whole infection animation scene was really just for fun. They could’ve done something really visually boring or they could’ve done this which I believe is much more visually engaging even if you have to suspend belief.”
I agree with you that the scene was done for sensationalism, however, “more visually engaging” isn’t a valid reason IMO if the result is to give at least some viewers a WTF reaction (I’m not the only one on this – see discussion above). It’s counter-productive as far as I’m concerned. You can push things from time to time, but don’t abuse viewer suspension of disbelief.
You and others may very well be right about the stone being just a memento and not some magic cure all. I wouldn’t think so either – Ikoma says it’s not a curse, but to me (and others) what was shown doesn’t make much sense so what’s left? It’s just odd as hell the way it plays out. If the zombie virus (or whatever it is) doesn’t reach the brain immediately, it dies? Huh? If that’s the cure, then I guess soldiers will be handed nooses so they can choke bitten comrades. Sure hope they don’t do that for too long though. If you get bit in the foot, maybe wait until it reach the chest or something. Helmets are a very good idea because what do you do if you’re bitten on the head?
So yeah, the “magic stone” isn’t the cleanest solution (and there doesn’t seem to be magic in this story), but the given alternative isn’t looking so good either IMO. Frankly, I think they could have skipped that extra sensationalism and the scene would have been just fine without it. I suspect it’s there because they needed a way for him to test his theory. Regardless of the answer, IMO this needs explanation and I hope the answer given is solid.
Wow this series has it all – the scenery, the manga-like art style(s), the divide between castes, the Atk. on Titan style- despair , the OP and soon-to-appear ED (Aimer and EGOIST showcasing songs in the same show? WAHHHHH!!!!111), the OST (hope Sawano doesn’t fall back to his usual ‘repeats’ and we’d be all golden).
checklist complete, we have a surefire show to watch for this cour.
Wait what, the version I got didn’t have the OP (Sad for daysss)
Holy shit, is anime finally getting more advanced than the super high budget theatrical anime of the 80’s and 90’s ?
This tops every anime i’ve seen in terms of action and intrigue.
Episode 1 usually looks better than the rest. Let’s hope they keep it up!
This origin of this virus kinda reminds me of parasyte, the mc in both shows just suddenly know how to fight off whatever infection they are up against in a similar manner. I’m assuming the virus is really an alien lifeform but much more dumber than the one in parasyte. Considering the time period, most likely this virus was not manmade. Although I’m not sure how curses work, I doubt it is a curse since Ikoma ruled it out and survived by his beliefs.
Ikoma collects body parts of the Kabane for research purposes. This shows that he didn’t just ‘know’ how to fight off the infection. He studied the Kabane for a very long time. His treatment is the fruits of all his research, and he isn’t even sure it will work. That was his very first experiment and it worked, to his good fortune.
Ikoma is more badass than Eren can ever be. Instead of screaming about his hate for Titans and be useless unless he becomes a Titan, Ikoma researched the Kabane, studied them, experimented, designed weapons and countermeasures and eventually grasped the ability to fight the Kabane himself! He is aware of the absurdity of his society and goes against it! He will not be talked down, he will rise up and fight for what he believes in!
Ikoma is an Ubermensch!
here i thought i am watching a movie because of the damn quality! and heck, after i have watched this for like 6 times, that is when i realized this was a series… damn… so good.
Is it me or the main character does resemble gender-bent Girl Genius?
http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/
I hope it is at least 25 episodes.
Unfortunately it’s only going to be 1-cour as its a Noitamina anime and there is another series (Battery) takings its place.
noitaminA sometimes does split cours, so let’s hope…
There could be a second season, but not a split-cour. Split-cour series usually take a one season break before returning, but the Noitamina schedule has been announced up until Spring 2016, so it would be over a year away (15 months+) at the earliest. Honestly, I’m willing to bet the whole story they want to tell will be wrapped up in a single cour.
Better than the Attack on Titan premiere? eh…I don’t know about that.
But this definitely looks interesting, curious how it plays out.
“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
Great statement. Who made it though? I’m intrigued; inspired too.
It’s from a 1997-ish Apple advertisement, the so called “Crazy Ones”
Speaking of which she’s beautiful. https://randomc.net/image/Koutetsujou%20no%20Kabaneri/Koutetsujou%20no%20Kabaneri%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2020.jpg The voice actor looks like her character too.
The only issue I have so far is the choice of seiyuu for the MC. Not a great performance.
I assume that no one’s thought to shoot out the big, glowing, heart, and that’s what our protagonist’s super power is? 😀
Ok. Hey, I’m game. Solid animation. Zombies. Little girl slicing heads of zombies with her katana slippers. MC is kind of a whino, but I chalk that up as a cultural thing. Male anime leads tend to always be a bit whino.
When the first rain approached, they made it stop before opening the gate. Sensible. Second train approaches, they just go ahead and open the gate while it’s far away….I know…plot device, but in a world where you live behind protective walls and there’s flesh-eating zombies outside, it seemed quite the silly plot device.
So, if it’s just one cour, I guess this is going to be a train anime, where they just ride along and see some new horror of the week (station that’s overrun, station that gets overrun while they’re there, etc). Seems hard to believe they’re going to save the world in one cour, so like Attack of the Titan, this seems more like a promotional hook for the…I assume manga?
OMG.. Bottom line, we haven’t had anything like this in a long time.
This may prove to be better served as a mini series.. but if they can maintain this pace, Sense of urgency, and unbelievable quality. This one is a winner.
We have a few series this summer that have sexy plots.. I am not expecting that from this series.. Hell I don’t even want that from this: What they gave us pure ass kick’n fun.
I am a relatively old man.. however this episode had my wife asking me “why are you screaming ‘f*&% yeah'”
This summer season has a some gems in it- Totally rad!
Not going to nitpick the whole virus disappearing thing since I’ll give the anime time to properly explain how it works later on and would rather not jump the gun. I do take issue with the train crashing in though. I mean with everyone as scared shitless of any possible infected getting through as the show seems so keen on displaying I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t always have the bridge up just to be safe. I mean at least with Attack on Titan the walls had protected them for such a long time that it makes sense for them to become complacent and screw things up security wise (that’s not what happened but if it did it would make sense). But here where stations are apparently being lost very frequently I’m not going to give that kind of shit a pass personally. I mean the draw bridge wasn’t even that big. Since it was going full speed the train probably would have gotten a least a few zombies across. And in that sense you don’t have to abandon internal logic for the sake of the script when you have the same scenario happen.
Also let’s look at how Attack on Titan this series ALREADY is.
Hot headed MC who talks smack to authority? Check.
Giant Walls to keep monsters out? Check
Shows daily life and then has everything go to shit so we can see death and destruction in the first episode? Check
Death of someone close to the MC very early in life? (though to be fair it was a brief flashback in this episode but it’s still the same thing Razz) Check.
Has nobility not-so-nice-people who don’t care about everyone else as long as they themselves are safe? Check.
Female Protagonist is clearly a badass capable of taking out anyone who proves to be a threat better than anyone else? Check (not a bad thing though)
The monsters were Show Spoiler ▼
The train crashing through the bridge and busting up the walls scene basically being the same thing as the armored titan smashing through the gate in AOT? Check.
MC has the key to actually defeating the monsters? Show Spoiler ▼
Check.
I mean damn. Some of those are superficial to fair but I couldn’t help but feel the AOT vibe when watching this. Even the part where the zombies rise from all the wreckage of the train reminded me of the part where the colossal titan peeks over the wall at onlooking civilians. Part of kind of likes that but the other part sees it as shameless pandering which it most certainly is doing. If the show can give itself a original feel with later episodes that’s fine. I just have trouble believing that as of now.
Yep a bit plot on the train. I got definite feel the bridge crew were not following procedure. Sort of it’s on time so nothings wrong so lets ignore procedure and let it cross then I can get off shift on time. Yes they are scared of the enemy but constant tension and normal train arrivals everyday or so would make procedures go lax. In a constant challenge in real wars keeping the solders following the whole procedure for troops crossing into your line.