mostlybiscuit

-We find out what role Zeke has played in recent developments and also learn something about his motivations.

-Zeke gets Gabi to eat one of the Warriors and attempts to use her as a weapon against his enemies (whoever they really are)

-Return of Falco and Reiner

-”Eren.”

-Not so much a prediction, but a threat: if we don’t see Armin with a ponytail soon, I will go on a hunger strike.

Mood: Groggy

We’ve got leaks - this is not a drill - we have leakage.

And... hooomygod guys. I’m reserving judgement until we get at least a few more pages and translations, but uh -

Why did I hope in my heart of hearts that the King’s Will had pacified Eren a bit? Is it just because I love that sweet cinnamon roll Falco? Is it because I felt bad for the people in internment camps? Either way, I genuinely don’t want “A Grim Reminder 2.0″ to happen, and while the latest pages suggest life isn’t fair and I can’t always get what I want, I’m holding out hope for a non-massacre.

...call me soft.

Mood: Hopeful

I never realized the SC took Connie’s mom into custody. The implications there are huge for Paradis’ development.

If they can figure out a way to un-Titan-ize Eldians, they can remove the walls completely and give all those people sentenced to a waking nightmare as titans within the walls a new chance at life, a la present-day Ymir (RIP). Basically the SC could be the heroes of the entire damn story since their race can no longer be randomly weaponized - but I do think that’d be a bit too easy.

Also in the previous scene, Hange says Annie was “out of it for a while” after transforming. Does that mean that as of that moment, even before Shingasana and Bert being eaten, before the ocean, before endless Reiner feels moments, before it all - Annie woke up, got out of the crystal and started communicating with the Survey Corps? 

God I hope so. 

With Hange at the helm, Paradis could make serious progress regarding titan science if they understand how Titans are made, even if they “why” is still a bit fuzzy. Annie’s knowledge from living in Marley would also be incredibly helpful for this purpose. 

Mood: Ponderous

You can tell I’m trying to use SnK for escapism since this is my third post in a row.

In any case, here’s a thought about Isayama’s story structure:

The series is basically called “Attack Titan”, and is told as a story narrated by Armin’s VA (in both English and Japanese, so this isn’t random). What if each part of the story in this book written for someone 2000 years in the future is about each of the 9 titans?

We were introduced to the initial world (Paradis) with the titular Attack Titan, we just learned about a different part of the world (Marley) with the Armored Titan, and maybe now we’ll move on to learn about the motivations and origins of the Female Titan, Beast, ect in their own 20 chapter interludes.

We know each Titan has traits that go beyond physical capabilities and affect the mind of the person possessing (or possessed by) their Titan. The Attack Titan is always relentlessly pursuing freedom.  The Founding Titan has a full will of its own and according to legend, worked with the Paradis King to build the walls, mind wipe the people, and accept a vow of pacifism.

Telling the story this way can also allow us to go back in time and learn a bit more about some of our major players who have been lost - most notably, Bertholdt, who is the shifter we know the least about and have just heard (Chapter 99) that his father died of an illness while in Marleyan custody. If we have 20 chapters of Armin/Bert/Collosal Titan memories, I’d be incredibly happy - especially since I want to know why Armin’s parents decided to try to flee Paradis in a hot air balloon and left their kid behind.

LOL and also *angry snarl*.

I’d never noticed that it cut to the Wallist leaders for this line about getting rid of all the Titans within the walls. He had no idea about the 100,000 titans *IN* the walls at the time, thus the dark/worried looks. Those sneaky sneakers knew all along. 

I wonder if that faction also had their minds wiped 100 years ago, or if they’re just from a line of men (I didn’t see any female Wallist priests) who pass down the wall’s secrets each generation.

Quick thought while re-watching the anime:

I think Chapter 100 (!!) will be the beginning of an interesting and possibly very long battle due to flashbacks. I also think the chapter will end with the return of Annie Leonhardt.

I think Chapter 101 will be hardcore Annie backstory flashbacks. Maybe we’ll find out that she inherited the Female Titan not through ritual, but by it just activating one day - supposing the previous holder died without being eaten and the Female Titan was therefore “lost” by that noble family. 

Given the look of the setting of her brief flashbacks with her dad, I think she lived in a different country before her power activated and she was shipped off to Marley (or taken) to the capitol. Her dad didn’t want her to die like the previous holder, so he taught her powerful martial arts so that she would stay alive.

Currently: Re-reading Shingeki no Kyojin Chapter 86 along with the corresponding release megathread on Reddit

Pre-Grisha on Paradis, Marley knowingly held the following titans:

-Female 

-Armor

-Beast

-Colossal

-Warhammer

-Cart

-Jaws

We know Krueger, the Owl, was the Attack Titan, but Marley didn’t know about him - or if someone did, they did an awful job at keeping him under control. I wonder what they thought happened to that Titan.  They knew that the Founding Titan was on Paradis with the 145th King’s family, but did they think the Attack titan had been lost in a war at some point and showed up later in a random Eldian child somewhere in the world?

We still don’t know how Eren Krueger even ended up this way. 

I can’t believe we’re this far along in the story and still aren’t sure how P A T H S work.

I keep seeing speculation on Reddit that the story will be wrapping up soon but good Lord there’s a lot left to tell, and as we’ve seen from the beginning, the author is incredibly good at making the small details (and big ones) pay off way down the line.

I’ve been playing around with the various Norse mythology parallels and theories posted in various places that reference the canon SnK material. I’m basically just trying to determine the roles everyone is going to play in the upcoming start of Ragnarok (Chapters 100 and 101 of Shingeki no Kyojin):

Zeke: Loki - he’s as inscrutable as always, and appears to have had his own motivations since early childhood when he dimed on his parents. With that action at age 7, he (unwittingly?) put in motion the events that would create the new Attack Titan with the Coordinate. We’re still missing a lot of internal monologues by Zeke outside of his Beast form. He could be playing all sides for the sake of both chaos and the Greater Good. Who knows?

Annie: Fenrir - We just saw her dad last chapter, so I’m holding out hope that Annie will be back in Marley soon. Like Fenrir who was only unchained to kick off the start of the end of the world, Annie could break out of the crystal just in time to save the only person she loves (her dad). Disturbingly, Fenrir took the hand of Tyr during a botched show of good faith while chained up, and when he got loose during Ragnarok, he went on a rampage, killing everyone in his path...

...including Odin.

Hange Zoe: Odin - Hange is interesting because for much of the series Isayama has very purposefully drawn Zoe with just one eye when the SC leader is imparting knowledge, giving orders, or coming up with plans. Odin famously gave up one of his eyes so that he could attain “true knowledge”, and recent events (Return to Shingasana) have left Hange as a cyclops as well. (Edit: I also want to add that Odin’s lost eye is at the bottom of Earth’s deepest well where it can look forward and back in time. As we know, Hange received a life-saving push by the ever faithful Moblit and tumbled down into a well, emerging later without an eye.)

That said, Odin also famously sought out the source of all life and knowledge known as Yggdrasil, and impaled himself on the tree to gain more information about the source of all creation (and was resurrected). This account isn’t too dissimilar to the origin story of Ymir and the Devil given by all sides regarding the creation of Eldians. It’s not too much of a stretch to imagine Hange going to similar lengths in the past to obtain information, but as the possible last commander of the Survey Corps, one hopes Hange can show restraint.

Source: Attack on Titan: Junior High - Episode 8

I love rewatching portions of this series each month when the manga comes out. I saw the above frame this time around and really have no idea what to make of it.

P A T H S as a visual representation? 

My first audio review is on Anchor! Let me know what you think, and call in with questions and suggestions!

I watched the first episode of this series 3 times: once to view it, once to review it for tumblr, and again because I didn’t satisfied with my own first impressions.

I don’t hate Boruto.

I hate the fact that Naruto, a character I’ve truly grown to love, is not a great dad (for a lot of very good reasons) and Boruto is evidence of that.  

Upon rewatching the first few episodes of the original Naruto series I suddenly remembered why I’d planned to drop the series within 11 minutes of watching:  Naruto was annoying.  He grew on me very quickly, but wow - even I can admit he had a lot going on in those early days.

It’s only natural that his kid would also have some bratty tendencies.  In fact, after watching the first episode a few times, I decided that Boruto is actually quite mature and socially adept compared with his near-feral father at a similar age.  

(I’m not totally sure how old Boruto is here.  In the movie he looks smaller and younger, but that may be because he’s often drawn from the point of view of the adults)

With that out of the way-

The Actual Review

I’m genuinely enjoying this now.  I was put off by Boruto’s attitude and the fact that many of his peers are just blatant Konoha 12/11/10 clones, but in viewing with an open mind, I can see the differences and appreciate the efforts to satisfy nostalgia for the Naruto fans but also bring in a newer, younger audience.

It is unclear whether these first episodes are canon or not - they don’t appear in the manga, but they certainly have been critical for character and relationship development.  The characters of Denki and Iwabe Yuino don’t show up in the ending credits (but someone who we haven’t met, like Metal Lee, is featured) so I’m guessing they are filler characters.

In this episode, Boruto attempts to make friends during his first day of classes (with Shino as his home room teacher) at the now-reformed Ninja Academy.  The students there now must complete actual academic classes in order to graduate instead of just learning how to kill people at an alarmingly young age.  It looks like the kids of the Konoha 10 have been home trained well, as some of them have already shown their powers, and Boruto, in particular, can already create shadow clones, and use shuriken and kunai with proficiency that would have probably been Chunin level years ago when most kids in the village were being brought up to be ninja.

With the change in curriculum comes the change in graduation policies- meaning that there’s a guy in Boruto’s class with facial hair named Iwabe Yuino, and he’s got a bit of a chip on his should when it comes to the Hokage’s son.  In fact, most of his classmates shun him, with some notable exceptions like Shikadai, who is taking on the wingman role in this anime very well.  Honestly the kids have a point though: if Boruto and Denki (the kid with the terrifying chakra from Episode 1) weren’t the Hokage’s son and the son of the richest guy in town, yes, they’d likely be in jail for derailing a train with kids inside and then crashing the car into the side of a mountain.  

Iwabe challenges Boruto to a fight, and if I’m not mistaken, it all goes down in the place where the prelims for the one on one Chunin Exams battles took place during the original Naruto series.  The fight was good; it was nice to actually see some taijutsu, and watch people get excited about a wood substitution again and overall it was great to not see god-like moves pulled out at every turn.  

In the end, Boruto is still very much like his father in many ways, and he uses some talk-no-jutsu to change the heart and mind of his foe while also winning over his classmates. 

 It is interesting to note how different he is from his father at this age though - Boruto grew up in a happy and loving home without a murderous tailed beast within him, so he’s a confident and relatively well-adjusted kid who hasn’t seen death or destruction or experienced any of the very deep feelings of being alone, an outcast, or a danger to anyone.  He speaks at a normal volume and not every sentence is a proclamation about his greatness.  In fact, like Sasuke, Boruto doesn’t bother to mention how good he is - he just shows it. 

Asides:  

Boruto’s hair design is ridiculous. 

I am extremely worried about what will have to happen to create real conflict and strife in Boruto’s life by the time we get back to the opening scene of episode one.  He looks like a teenager there, so I’m imagining whatever happens will happen fairly quickly, maybe during this arc or the next, and Boruto will go on his Sasuke-esque journey.

I love that Inojin has Ino’s catty forwardness with Sai’s unsettling honesty, and he has the good heart of them both.  Aw.

I think this is the first time I’ve ever actually heard the word chakra explained in the Naruto universe.

I hope we see more of Saratobi-sensai (Konohamaru) soon!

The class rep girl who is clearly a filler character has a Hinata-esque crush on Boruto.  It’s... something.

Lord help me, I despise Naruto’s son and I feel bad about it.

(side note, Grammarly keeps trying to correct Boruto to Naruto, and honestly I agree with it.  Give me back my sweet but very troubled Naruto-kun.)

The anime itself looks good, but I really, really, really hate Naruto and Hinata’s kid right now.  I don’t want to hate him.  I desperately want to enjoy the adventures of the son of the Gutsy Ninja and his Stalker Bride, but this is tough.   I watched the Boruto movie twice in theaters, and I own it on DVD, and I’ve read the manga every month when it comes out, just hoping that eventually things would change and I’d find something in my heart that would make me care at all about Naruto’s very gifted, very whiny, and very annoying son.

Do you remember the episode of Naruto: Shippuden when Naruto goes into the Waterfall of Truth to confront his angry, petulant and eternally hurt inner-child?  

It’s as if that’s the part of Naruto that was given to Boruto, along with the hair, whiskers, and blue eyes.  I’m not sure any part of Hinata’s personality resides in the boy, but then - Kishi’s lack of development for female characters means that Hinata could secretly be an awful brat and we’d never know it (but I strongly doubt it).

That said- I will keep watching this show out of concern for all other characters, and because I like Konohamaru’s adult design.  I hope the story gets beyond Boruto’s daddy issues very soon though.  I’m not sure exactly where we are canon-wise in relation to the events that happened in the movie (the Chunin exams) but I’m happy to believe there might be an end to the pouty daddy-blaming times fairly soon.

So now that this episode is up (Crunchyroll link), let’s talk it out:

-What is Boruto’s eye ability?  It didn’t look like the Hyuga’s byakugan, and it doesn’t look like any other inherited ocular abilities that we’ve seen so far in this universe.  Edit: Naruto Reddit says it may be the tensigan, or something close to another of the Ōtsutsuki eye abilities.  If so, Boruto is probably going to very quickly become a god.

-Who the hell is Kawaki and where did he send Naruto?  I don’t think he actually killed him, since it is damn near impossible to kill Naruto at this point without being an actual god, AND that guy would absolutely have to get through Sasuke + the Konoha 10 (RIP Neji) first - which wouldn’t happen.  I’m thinking he sent him to another dimension (that happened a lot toward the end of the Shippuden battle arcs).

-Why and how did the village get destroyed *again*?

-War is just going to keep happening, but there is an emphasis on the village getting more and more modern technology.  Will ninjas be replaced with drone strikes?  I really hope not, for a lot of dark and sad real-world reasons.

-Who is Denki’s dad?  We see him in this episode, and I don’t recognize him at all but he apparently did great things during the 4th ninja war.  Unless he was part of the Konoha 11, he was likely fodder nin who somehow survived and then made a business on the back of some war stories.  Good for him (seriously).

-Is Denki actually an important character?  His character design looks like a filler-creation, but he’s in the OP, so I guess he’s part of the gang now?  I don’t really remember him from the manga.  Who is controlling him with the seriously terrifying chakra or a seal of some kind?  It would seem like Orochimaru’s kind of thing, but it seems more likely that Deki’s pops implanted something in him to make him physically stronger, but it has really terrifying homicidal side effects.

-They really did just make Shikadai a straight up clone of Shikamaru, huh.  I honestly have no problem with that, since his parents’ personalities are so alike.  I would have liked to have seen Shikamaru and Temari trying to raise and relate to a really upbeat, loud, cheerful, go-getter of a child though.  I do like that they’re establishing at the start that Shikadai is Team Uzumaki, just as Shikamaru was the first of the Konoha 12 to recognize Naruto’s talents and compliment him publicly (I don’t count Sasuke’s grudging recognition because it was coming from a crazy place).

Overall, I liked the art and the anime has potential once we get past the events of the Boruto movie.  The opening scene gave me hope for Boruto, given that his teen(?) design looks pretty cool.  I wish the manga had a more frequent publishing schedule (currently once a month) so that we don’t have to endure loads of filler episodes while waiting for story resolution.

Just... don’t actually kill off Naruto and leave his kid in charge.  My heart can’t take that.

I will start by saying that I love Naruto as a deeply psychologically tortured child who grows up and still has emotional scars and mental flaws, but still somehow works hard to overcome his internal and external issues and become a functional young adult. 

I did not love Naruto as an actual god/saviour for the entire world(?) or even just the world of ninja.  It was too much, and strayed far from the original “hard work pays off” message in favor of “you’re destined to save the world and will transform into a fantastic diety-level creature to do it”.

So I’ve been pretty invested in Naruto’s progression for a while now, and the opening pages of the Boruto manga (semi-spoiler) filled me with grief, because it’s like, “Okay, what the hell was all of that for?”  

So I’m hoping I won’t feel that way anytime soon while viewing the anime.  I’ll be honest, I wish they’d scrapped the next-gen characters and just made Naruto into an adult slice of life series (see the final anime arcs for those bits of pleasantness).

Since that didn’t happen, I’m going into watching Boruto with as open of a mind and heart as I can.