Review
Shingeki no Kyojin (SnK) hit the industry like a hurricane. It blew away the attention to other shows in its season and was copied over and over again in the years to follow, basically crafting a whole new subgenre. The reason was fairly simple: no shounen before had the guts of employing shocking scenes and events as SnK did. It became hyped as very few in the history of japanese animation, and its success in the west was so big it outgrew the limits of the otaku fanbase.
After that, however, there was silence. As the tale continued in manga form, the animation sequel was teased and forgotten every six months. Western fans became apprehensive and the only way to remedy their needs was through clumsy video game adaptations or trying the badly-made manga version of it. Now, however, the wait has ended. SnK comes with its second season with a boom, following Eren's quest to annihilate the titans and the never ending struggle humanity needs to face to live another day.
- The Shocking Factor
SnK's most signature quality was its capacity of creating scenes where the audience thought the life of major characters were in danger. Through the course of the first season, however, that slowly faded as you learned they were pretty much script-protected and only random characters whose name you would barely remember are eaten by the otaku-giants. As this quality faded, SnK came to rely on its mystery, on its forgotten past relating to men and titans. From this point the second season starts, or so you would think...
Remember the Door to the Basement???
Yes? Nice. Good to you.
Not a moment to take a breath
Immediately after the events of the first season, as you think there would be some room for answers to the giant revealed on the wall, or perhaps a detective-inspired arc trying to rat out the armored titan and colossal titan from the military ranks, things go south. A new attack comes out of thin air, from within the massive walls safekeeping mankind. This surprise attack, led by a monkey-like giant is the focus of this season as a whole, as it brews even more questioning about the setting's past and the origins of the titans. Yes. It gives you no damn answer.
The Shounen Transition
Although this season still offers plenty of shocking scenes and it does have some revelations in regards with the major picture involving titans, the attacks, and the humans capable of transforming into giants, the show starts to show off its true colors: the colors of a basic superpower shounen. As the season moves you get to see this will not be about uncovering conspiracies and finding traitors amidst the heart of the military, it will be about massive fights between human-transformed titans as the average titans become like chinese foot soldiers in a Dynasty Warrior game.
One last push
If the future seems kind of disappointing, at least the events leading to it are full of thrill and action-packed scenes as well as many surprises. You get to know more human-transforming titans, some random dudes with zero background get more screen time, and the whole purpose of this tale gets a clearer picture. The animation is still amazing, making the visual experience something to last, and the yelling is still there to remind you this is a shounen at its heart (which is now becomes more evident as the survival aspect gives room to super-power fights).
Oh, and no Levi
Perhaps for the greater good, the unbalanced character whose very existence make humanity's fear of titans irrational sits out of this season due to his broken bones. You won't see him slashing giants, and the only bad side of it is knowing he will be recovered in the next season.
Comments
Although the hype factor annoyed me and SnK’s pace was terribly slow in the first season, it was a show that got my attention and earned my respect. This second season works in a way to confirm it, but at the same time leaves a bleak future ahead. Even though this season seems more frantic and thrilling than the first, it gets more and more shounen with each and every episode. By the end, with the new "super-power" revealed and all the human-titans around, the survival aspect is thrown out of the window and the next arc is bound to be more about Eren kicking dozens of titans ass along with Levi and his crew and less about soldiers dying in the hands of invincible foes.
Anyway, if you enjoyed the first season this one is certain to make you even happier. The wait was worth it and SnK delivered a decent sequence, even though it is still unfinished. The shounen take-over, however, may harm the experience for those who enjoyed SnK for what it did differently such as myself, especially when it gets hard to see all the shocking parts returning by the end of this second season.
