Anime Review: Attack On Titan English Dubbed Episodes 1-13

I can only imagine that mostly anyone that’s even remotely interested in anime has heard of, and probably even seen, Attack on Titan; in Japanese most likely. I for one watched it through with English subtitles and I really enjoyed it! But if I’m honest with my self, now that the English dub is airing, I’ll probably never watch the Subbed again. I’ll talk about why later, but first, for those who actually haven’t seen it yet, I’ll talk about the plot and all that review jazz.

The Plot

In a world where enormous humanoid creatures called Titans who carry a bloodlust for human flesh scour the land, the helpless humans built three walls surrounding each other to protect themselves from being killed. Within these walls are the cities with which they reside. The walls have allowed the humans to live in peace for a hundred years, and most of the humans aren’t even scared of Titans anymore! However, 10 year old Eren Jaeger wants to do more with his life than just sit inside a wall. With a burning passion, Eren dreams to join the Scout Regiment, warriors that go outside the walls to fight the Titans and hopefully learn a bit more about them. Will he be able to convince his mom that he’s not useless? Will his Dad ever show him what’s in the basement? Maybe.

Oh yeah, and spoiler alert, the titans get in.

Who Would Be Interested In Watching?

If you like anime, then there is no reason for you to not check it out. However, if you’re not familiar with anime, I still think you should give it a try. There’s lots of gore and violence, so it’s not really a great show for families with younger children, however, 16 year olds and higher should be able to handle it fine. There’s practically no sexual content to be worried about, but there is strong language here and there. The worst of it is a sh!t every now and then, but it’s really subtle in it’s delivery. Anyone who loves action horror and intense thrill rides will most likely love this show. It’s definitely worth watching. All of the Japanese w/ english sub episodes are on Netflix, and the English dubbed version currently airs on Cartoon Network’s Toonami on Saturdays at 11:30pm pacific and 10:30pm central. They’ve also released the first 13 episodes on DVD and Blu-Ray.

My Final Verdict (With Spoilers)

I absolutely love Attack on Titan. I loved it when I watched it in Japanese, and I love it even more in English. “But why?! Dubs suck!“, you might say. True, I’m sure that some do. But this one isn’t even close to “sucking”. I think it’s really good! Being an english speaker, it only makes sense that I would enjoy the english version more. It’s more comfortable to watch (I can blink and I won’t miss a whole line of dialogue), and the voice deliveries for the main character’s are great, especially Armin. I’m so happy they actually got a guy to do his voice. And that bloodcurdling scream at the end of episode 5? Gave me chills. Anyway, what I’m practically trying to say is screw the Subbed fanboys. You can continue reading your anime, it’s fine. But I’m gonna stick with my own language, and I shouldn’t get persecuted for that.

So what do you think of Attack on Titan? Love it? Hate it? Let me know!

And more specifically, what do you think of the dub? Does it make you want to punch a hole in your tv? Or does it make you smile wider than a titan? I’d love to hear about it!

Did you enjoy this little ramble? If so, consider following The Critic’s Canvas for all your critical needs.

Anime Review: Spice and Wolf I & II

Being unable to play video games due to hand surgery really sucks, so I’ve had to find something else to fill my time. Of course, the first thing I turned to was television, something I never really spent that much time watching (mostly because I was so busy playing video games). Whether it be through cable or streaming services, I’ve been watching a lot, and I thought to myself “Hey! Since I’m spending so much time watching stuff, why don’t I start writing reviews over said stuff!”. Quite genius if you ask me. And that leads us to what we’ll be talking about today: A very interesting anime by the name of Spice and Wolf.

I wrote a piece on anime a while back and I talked about how I had never truly delved into the genre. So, one of the things I’ve tried to do lately is check out some animes that had caught my eye in the past, but I had never actually sat down and watched. I remember seeing Spice and Wolf on my Netflix and thinking “A wolf girl and a merchant that go on adventures together? Sounds pretty cute. I’m sure I’ll watch it some day.”, and that day finally came around last week or so. I was feeling depressed after having finished Attack on Titan (which you can expect a review about sometime soon) and I had no idea what I could do to fill the hole that Attack on Titan used to reside in, and as I was desperately scrolling through Netflix, I came upon a certain showed that I had called cute many years ago. That’s where my journey began, and god was it a beautiful one.

Let me just start off with saying that the first opening, “Tabi no Tochuu”, is probably one of my favorite themes to date. You can click here to view it now. Spice and Wolf is a light novel series written by Isuna Hasekura, and the series has launched an anime and a manga. Of course, we’re talking about the anime today. The story revolves around Kraft Lawrence, a 25 year old peddler, and Holo, a wolf spirit who has taken the form of an adolescent girl. Lawrence has agreed to take Holo back to her home in the north, and in return she helps him strike it big as a merchant. I absolutely love the two of these characters, and that’s a good thing, seeing as how you never really get to know anyone else. Their budding romance and snark is truly the highlight of the series in my opinion, and my heart was swelling every time I saw them. Whenever the show isn’t making you go aww! it’s delving into complex, albeit fun and interesting economics-driven story arches. I can see the money-talk confusing many people, but I personally enjoyed it.

Overall though, my absolute favorite thing about the series is how they handle the relationship between Holo and Lawrence. You won’t be seeing them macking on each other much, if at all here. Their relationship is explored almost exclusively through dialogue, however whenever they do engage in physical affection, such as holding hands or resting on each others shoulders, it is truly beautiful. I totally mean it when I say that I could watch them travel together forever and I don’t think I’d ever get bored. And that leads us to my main problem with this anime: There’s only 26 episodes. Yep, 2 seasons, each with 13 episodes, all of them around 25 minutes long. There was just so much more of the journey that we never get to see. However, the light novel series explores the same story, so reading those would be the best way to achieve a true conclusion of the journey. I honestly can’t wait until I get an opportunity to read them.

So should you watch Spice and Wolf? Hell yeah, you should! And while you’re at it, read the light novels too. I completely recommend giving this series a go.

Maybe you’ve already seen it? If so, what’d you think?

Did you enjoy this little ramble? Maybe you’d like to give The Critic’s Canvas a follow? It’s pretty rad.