Attack On Titan

 Anime:  Attack on Titan 

Titans. Lots of Titans. 60 meter high, skinless Titans with the ability to appear out of nowhere and easily kick in the thickest wall you could build. Titans with a taste for human flesh and a knack of growing back any limbs that happen to be hacked off by the little flying humans. 

What the hell is going on here!!? And why didn't I know about this sooner!

If you've been hiding under a rock and don't know about Attack on Titan, you should be ashamed (unless your hiding under that rock because of the Titans, then its entirely understandable). 

Rest assured though, you can make up for this lapse in judgement and watch the entire series (at the same time it airs in Japan, once you've caught up) in the Madman Screening rooms, right now. So finish reading this post, leave a nice comment thanking me and get watching!

Attack on Titan is bought to us from the mind of Hajime Isayama in a Manga of the same name. Set in a world ravaged by the Titans, Giants that can be anywhere between 3-15 meters tall (although there are some that throw that rule out the window and can be bigger, like the Colossal Titan with no skin mentioned above) they can regrow any severed limbs simply through the energy from the sun. 
Humans have lived the last 100 years in huge walled cities that have for the most part kept them safe. That is until the Colossal Titan turns up with another, the Armoured titan. These two manage to smash in the first two of three protective walls, letting the masses of other 'normal' titans in, to reak havok amongst the Humans.

Enter the young hero, Eren Yeager and his adopted sister Mikasa. Their mother is eaten by the Titans (yep thats the favoured way to off a human in this one... not for the faint hearted or the young-ens) and their Father seems to have disappeared, so the two orphans must escape and head off to join the army to kill them some titans! These two, along with their good friend Armin, are the perfect combination of tactical brains (Armin), cold calculated skill (Mikasa) and pure unadulterated anger and passion to kill all the titans (Eren)

Humans have one wicked piece of kit that gives them an edge over the titans, Vertical Manoeuvring Equipment. This kit, with built in replaceable sword blades, allows them to manoeuvre through the skies (provided there are tall buildings/trees around) like they are flying, giving them access to the only vulnerable part of the Titan... the nape of its neck.

With so many huge, differing and freakish Titans everywhere, as well as humans flying around like hornets on steroids, there are some pretty amazing fight scenes, especially since theres no holding back on the gore... Titans are quick buggers for their size and like nothing better than munching down on someones leg/arm/entire body as they whizz past, dodging flying clock towers and splintering roof beams!

The characters in this series are likeable and believable, with the differing personalities interacting well and the anguish and horror of seeing your best friend bitten in half shown as well as the true grit they need to get back up and have another go. 

As much as I want to, I won't go and give away all the juicy secrets this anime has to offer but lets just say that Eren has a BIG secret that he has trouble controlling and thats just the start of the twists and turns this anime has in its gigantic bloodied hand!

I think the only issue I have is the overuse of still frames but then again they do often create a nice break in the action giving you a detailed look at the characters and the world they live in. So they are not that bad!

Loving this anime!

You can watch all the episodes, free and legally, over at www.madman.com.au so a big thanks to them for bringing it to us!