Geek of Oz

Way back in my single-digit years, I watched Neon Genesis Evangelion. On reflection this might not have been the best idea for a neophyte child, especially when the Angel-eating and everybody-turns-into-lemonade bits came up. Re-watching it as a teen with a modicum of analytical discourse, one big thing struck me about it – innovation. Near as I could tell, nothing had been done like it before. It was groundbreaking on its own, juxtaposing a giant robot story against an intense interpersonal saga of character development, black comedy and psychological deconstruction, but as a popular release during the early-to-mid ‘90s period of anime gaining burgeoning attention in the Western market – alongside luminaries like Ghost in the Shell and Akira – it was damn near revolutionary. I would go so far as to brazenly offer that Attack on Titan is to the current anime generation as Evangelion was to the earlier one. Love it or hate it, it’s an experience. You’ve probably already read Ry...

Attack on Titan has to be one of the biggest manga/anime franchises in recent memory. Sure, One Piece is still the king of sales but Attack on Titan is swiftly showing itself to be a great money spinner and, if it keeps going the way that it is, will undoubtedly find itself as one of the most popular anime and manga series of all time. You can quite often judge the popularity of a franchise based on the volume of merchandising and product tie-ins that hit shelves. In this case, we've seen Lawson stores completely decked out in Attack on Titan regalia, bad-arse iPhone covers suitable for any Survey Corps member, titanic tea making equipment and even a colossal burger set which is all but guaranteed to bust an artery... or two. Hell, even car-maker Subaru got in on the action by showing that the only way to out run a horde of titans is behind the wheel of a Forrester . So, with that in mind, is Attack on Titan really all that good? In short.... hell yeah.  There's som...