I declare in advance that I will look at the production level of each episode of "The Last Season of Giants" from the perspective of the comic party, and analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the animation adaptation and production from the perspective of the original comics. At the same time, it involves a lot of spoilers. Articles need to be cautious.
As a fan of the original comics, I have to admit that the production level of the first episode of "The Final Season of Giants" brought by MAPPA really makes me very satisfied. Although there will be a lot of nitpicking passages in my next comment, I must first thank the production staff of MAPPA for their courage and willingness to pick up the hot potato of "Attack on Titan", and at the same time the final animation quality is so dazzling. Really, really thank MAPPA for satisfying this love of our giant fans.
But it doesn't mean that I will "condone" MAPPA's mistakes in the animation adaptation. I will still criticize some of the storyboard performance and direction.
The first ~ third episodes long review: "Giant" final season e01~03 personal impressions
The fourth~sixth episodes long comment: "Giant" final season e04~06 personal impression
The tenth~twelfth episode long review has been updated: "Giant" final season e10~12 personal impressions
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The ninth episode of the final season "The Volunteer"
Views of this episode: So-so.
Literally, it is neither good nor bad, it belongs to the normal play of MAPPA.
Let’s talk about the adaptation content of this episode first: it corresponds to the entire chapter 106 of the comic, and about 9 pages of chapter 107 (mainly including Nicolo going to the tomb of Sasha to mourn, the high-level prisoners of the volunteer soldiers on Pa Island, and the captain leading Jike to the giant tree. Forest's story). It is about the adaptation of 1.2 episodes per episode, which is reasonable for the "Pa Island Arc" dominated by literary dramas.
At the same time, the adaptation idea of this episode confirms one of my conjectures: the script adaptation of the final season animation may gather the same characters in different plots to make the viewing experience more concise. For the intricate "Pa Island chapter" in the story, such an adaptation idea can largely make the animation party clear up.
So is it possible to predict whether the next few episodes will specifically condense the experiences of Jia Bi and Falco into one episode, so as to strengthen the audience's impression of Jia Bi as a character, and use this adaptation to successfully deliver The creator wants to convey the idea through the character of Jia Bi.
So what I am really interested in is how Seko Koji will integrate the plots of the next large number of literary dramas, how to deal with the proportion of scenes between the characters, and properly allocate enough plot points.
The ninth episode can simply be regarded as a transitional episode to pave the way for the next plot, so there is really not much to talk about. After all, this episode also restores the content of the comics. The audience only needs to seriously absorb the plot and sort out the relationship between the characters.
In particular, pay attention to Isayama's original story and Seko Koji's plot arrangement. By focusing on Niccolò's scenes, the story of the Sasha family can be drawn; by focusing on the scenes of the soldier and Jike, the next "Chopping Monkey 2.0" will be drawn. "The battle (the surprise attack on Marais is not counted, after all, both sides are playing); then through the scenes of the 104th Survey Corps, senior military and political officials on the island, and volunteer soldiers, the next complicated political struggle is drawn. Animation party, get ready for "hell".
Then go directly to the feature film commentary:
The opening is accompanied by Armin's lines, and the timeline of the animation jumps back to three years ago, when the first advance team of Marais went to Pa Island to investigate and was ambushed by the army on the island. In the comics, Isayama's drawing of the scale of the attack giant is already very distorted (it is understandable for the pursuit of visual effects), but I didn't expect the animation to be more outrageous.
Regarding the recollection of the people on the island of Pao, the animation directly deletes the content of the conditions proposed by Jike, and only retains the reactions of senior military and political officials after listening to the conditions. It is not known whether this conversation will be fully supplemented in the next episode to accommodate the existing adaptation rhythm.
And a few storyboards that I'm very interested in didn't show up either....
In the comics, the lines of Ou Liangpengguo explaining the port to the Survey Corps were narrated in the animation with a voice-over narration. In order to simplify the lines as much as possible and improve the narrative efficiency.
However, the black and humorous division of the giant dance has reservations and is satisfied.
Armin the Giant is his second appearance in the final season, and the animation works well.
In the episode where Sasha devoured seafood, the animation team specially strengthened Nicolo's role, gave him several close-ups of his expressions, and made his later behavior to go to Sasha's tomb in person more reasonable.
When it came to the comic's name mirror, the animation also clearly pointed out the causal relationship before and after the clip: Did Allen's insistence at the time indirectly kill Sasha. Of course, the comic party will now see this storyboard again, and it will be able to produce another layer of meaning.
In the animation, the conversation between Jike and the captain on the carriage has a very interesting performance: after the conversation between the two stopped, they were completely silent for four or five seconds, and then asked Zi'an Wuren in a cautious tone to ask "Can you stop? stare at me." This humorous handling is also a point of praise for this episode.
Next, let’s talk about character painting, which is still very stable, and there is nothing that can really be called Honkai (at most you can say that the character is out of shape, and Honkai really won’t happen; also, omitting the perspective ≠ Honkai!).
As for the last scene of Allen looking in the mirror, what do you say? Before that, MAPPA basically painted all the 16 Lun's appearances very well, but it was the last scene, the scene of Allen's peak appearance in the comics, but he did a very average one.
Although there is a high probability that this scene will be modified in the BD (or maybe not), I still want to complain about MAPPA: Why do you do so well in so many conventional parts, but this famous scene is not tepid? Woolen cloth?
Why am I so obsessed with the effect of this scene? Is it just because of Ellen's size? That's not the point at all! Even if this storyboard is a medium shot, it should never make Allen's eyes so mediocre . Look at it, even in the comics, Alan's face only occupies such a small area, readers can still clearly see the weight of this character and the determination to keep moving forward through those eyes. Why do readers love Ellen's character so much? This one has already given the answer: the character charm composed of the perfect body and the free soul intertwined.
In 90% of the content of this episode, MAPPA successfully restored Allen's expression, but it collapsed at the last moment. I really can't understand.
Personal Rating: 7.3
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Final Season Episode 8 "Bomb"
What can I say, this episode is definitely the best overall look of "The Final Season of Giants" so far.
MAPPA finally made this kind of drama-oriented animation single episode that is comparable to the level of the first three seasons (at least for me, the look and feel is not inferior to "friend", "bystander" and "that day", slightly inferior to "white night") .
Starting directly from the content of the adaptation: this episode corresponds to the last seven pages of chapter 104 of the manga, and the entire chapter of chapter 105. So in other words, it was the first time that MAPPA used the capacity of an entire episode to adapt the content of a comic. To tell the truth, after experiencing the disaster of the third episode, I can't imagine that MAPPA and the production committee behind it can agree to this "episode-by-episode" animation adaptation choice, which is simply too extravagant (think about it carefully). In the first three seasons, it seems that the episodes of "Warrior", "Basement" and "The Other Side of the Wall" are adaptations of "one episode and one chapter"). And such a decision has a very obvious effect on improving the look and feel of the animation. During the sufficient animation playback time, the production team can focus more on the storytelling performance and atmosphere creation, and the seiyuu does not need to be ignorant. After rushing to the lines, I can fully interpret the emotions of the characters in the special environment, which is the best result for the audience.
According to the official titles of the nine to twelve episodes "Volunteer Soldiers", "Righteousness", "Hypocrites" and "Guide", the next few episodes will be an average of two or one episodes per episode. , Of course, it is also possible to delete the corresponding two-part comic content in "Volunteer Soldiers" and move them to the plot of the next three episodes, so as to fully ease the narrative rhythm. At the same time, you can try to imagine the development of the animation timeline first, and see how Koji Seko will adapt this undercurrent plot.
Of course, this episode will be complicated for many comic book parties: if the episode is done well, it's torture; if it's not done well, it's double the torture. Fortunately, MAPPA chose the former, making the audience feel that the emotions they vented towards the characters were worthwhile.
At the beginning of this episode, the giant battle between Reiner and Ellen can be confirmed after repeated viewing: the attack giant is still 3D, while the battle-damaged armor giant is unexpectedly made in 2D hand-painted. It can be seen that MAPPA's hand-painted armor is very fine. In the later "Pa Island Arc", Allen and Reiner will have a fierce battle. I don't know how MAPPA will deal with it at that time.
Before the official exclamation of this episode, I want to say a very obvious question: from 7 minutes and 40 seconds to 11 minutes of this episode, about three minutes and twenty seconds, it is all the dialogues and memories between Jiabi and Falco. , For the audience, they are more likely to be surprised that these two people can catch up with the airship after saying so many lines.
So this paragraph involves a very real problem: when the content of comics is translated into animation, there is often a viewing experience that is limited by the reading time of the lines. When reading comics, as readers, we will decide our own reading rhythm, and at the same time use the dialog box to guide our eyes, which can well compress the reading time and improve the reading experience (the area occupied by the dialog box and the change in font thickness are the same is an efficient visual storytelling method). In the animation, those vague reading times will be converted into specific and accurate dialogue times, and each line must be read out by the seiyuu. For many manga parties, this difference in reading/viewing time of different carriers will directly affect their viewing experience (of course, the same is true for animation parties in this more urgent situation). Of course, this problem actually exists more or less in the vast majority of animations.
But one thing to say, animation performances also have to bear the blame. In order to avoid the tedious feeling caused by a large number of lines, it is necessary to work on the storyboard design. The lenses used by MAPPA in this section are basically standard forward and reverse shots and high-altitude overlook shots. In fact, some lines can be inserted into the corresponding recall shots to enrich the amount of information in the picture, but MAPPA chose the most conservative approach. ,not so satisfied.
Next, let's talk about the facial expressions of the main characters in this episode: I am very satisfied.
The first is the silent reunion of the protagonist trio on the airship, which basically restores the charm of the original comics.
And the expressions of the stupid trio are also very attentive, and they specially added a disgusting expression to the interaction between the trio.
Therefore, the eighth episode should be the highest-level episode of the final season. Whether it is anger, sadness or consternation, MAPPA's drawings are very accurate, and the audience can directly feel the mood of the characters.
And a large number of close-up shots of eyes also play a role in directly amplifying emotional expression, which is one of the important reasons why this episode is so excellent. I hope that MAPPA will continue to be maintained in the next "Pa Island".
But it doesn't mean that MAPPA's facial expressions in this episode are basically perfect. There is one small detail that they have not been able to restore: in the comics, the commander sees Alan's indifferent appearance, which is full of sad and helpless complex emotions. , There seems to be only anger and contempt for the actions of the subordinates in the animation. I feel that the animation in this regard still cannot fully restore the demeanor of the characters drawn by Isayama.
As for the highlight of this episode, the part where Sasha was shot, it can be seen that the animation team put a lot of thought into the storytelling performance.
In the last second, there was still the cheering and noisy ambient sound in the airship. It started from Jia Bi rolling into the airship, and with the sound effect, it transitioned to the "mute" effect naturally and smoothly, cut to the character's reaction shot, and then switched back to Jia Bi to amplify the gunshot and the sound. The sound effect of the bullet hitting the torso creates the atmosphere of the whole picture in one go.
Later, when Jia Bi pulled the bolt to change the shot, I could clearly feel that the painting was very smooth. I don't know whether it was a rotoscoping or a real painting, but the effect was absolutely amazing.
The paintings of the next few cards are also very interesting: from a spatial point of view, the camera is specially moved from the position close to the eyes back to the muzzle, and there is a very obvious deep movement (it seems that a little sliding can be seen faintly). the feeling of zoom). This belongs to the kind of excellent performance design that is "crazy but not easy to detect". After both sides fired at the same time, the production team specially used the trajectory of the bullets to bounce back to the side. You can clearly feel that the trajectory of the two different bullets formed a very delicate sound and picture matching clip, which strengthened the audience's understanding of this scene. Impressions of two shots.
I don't know if Isayama deliberately blurred the boundaries between "meat" and "Niccolò" in Sasha's mouth when he designed the lines of this sentence.
As for the last paragraph of this episode informing Sasha's death, the animation specially emphasized the action of Kony opening the door, and also emphasized the behavior of half crying.
When reading the original manga, this storyboard gave me the feeling of "silent lamentation". I'm glad that the animation has restored this point. There is no voice, only the accompaniment of "call your name", which renders the emotion of this episode to the apex.
Later, MAPPA also specially repainted Sasha's memory, and the color of the sky was changed from sunny weather to dusk with a heavy sad atmosphere.
In the long review of episode 6, I once mentioned: I was very afraid of Sasha's highlight part, and the production team could really draw Alan's painful half-smile expression into a real smile. Fortunately, the animation team did not disappoint me. Whether it was the expression control or Kaji Yuki's interpretation, they all accurately captured the pain of the character Alan at this moment. MAPPA finally touched the essence of the character at a deep level. .
There may be viewers who will frantically struggle with this question: Did Sasha's softness to the enemy's children directly lead to her death? This kind of "aftermath" type of inference and speculation is obviously inappropriate. During the period from Sasha's soft hand to Sasha's death, there are too many uncertain factors that can fundamentally deny this problem, and there are too many too many Multiple plot forks can be extended indefinitely. So why did Isayama choose this plot development that seems to be directly connected to this "karma"?
Then we continue to deduce along the lines of this question, and let the soft hand of Falco also directly determine the result that he did not die under the gun of Jia Bi? Why did the same choice for an enemy child develop into two diametrically opposite outcomes? Rather than struggling with which characters are responsible for Sasha's death, it's better to think about why Isayama asked the characters to make such a choice, and why should their choices develop such a result, from the perspective of God. Is it really feasible to judge the "correctness" of a choice?
In other words, there is no "correct" choice, and every choice will bring a corresponding price, and you can only make a "regretless choice" for yourself. This truth has been explained very clearly in the first three seasons through the recapture of the Forest of the Giant Wood and the Wall of Maria.
As for a lot of people, my point is this: face up to the anger and sadness that these episodes bring you, and accept it. While maintaining your own anger, you must also see the anger of the character, and understand how this anger can destroy another character by sorting out the various threads in the story. To put it bluntly, allow the audience to express anger towards a character, but also avoid dry and boring opinions (like "XX biss").
At the same time, don’t stop thinking about the death of the character, the chain reaction after the death of the character is even more important: for the partners of the 104th issue, Sasha’s death is a sign of their parting ways with Alan; As for the murderer Jiabi, the subsequent plot will allow her to see the truth of the nation between Malai and Pa Island, and truly realize what her actions have brought (almost the same mentality as Reina). history, so I keep comparing the two characters over and over again). For the story of "Attack on Titan", Sasha's death heralds the end of the "Marai Arc", and the story will enter the more complicated "Pa Island Arc". For those viewers who love this group of survey corps, It will be a trip to hell.
Therefore, Isayama Chuang Gao Ming is brilliant here. He will not let the shaping of the character stop when he dies, but can flash back various memories in the plot after his death to further improve the character image and transmit the will of the character to the other people. At the same time you can see how his/her death affects the plot development of other characters. And how to make them face their own hearts by examining the characters' death, this is Isayama's forte. The death of Carula and Erwin is the best example. The plot about them will never stop at death. In the repeated questioning, those living make a choice and move on.
To put it more bluntly, Isayama is a manga artist who is very good at exploiting the death of characters.
However, in the interview with the animation production staff, it was clearly stated that for Isayama, one of the plot challenges after the Marais is to hope that readers can like the character Jia Bi. And Isayama also admitted that he did not do this well, as evidenced by the overlapping of Jia Bi and Sasha's backs in chapter 124 of the comic. But that scene was supposed to be a complicated tear, but the actual viewing experience was like a slot...
So is it really unquestionable perfection after the Giant Comics Marais? Of course not, the problem still exists, and Isayama's portrayal of the role of Jia Bi is one of the core problems, and the blame really has to be carried by Brother Chuang.
The next story will officially enter the "Pa Island Arc", similar to the "Malai Arc". In the early stage, a large number of literary dramas paved the way, the army, the people, and the forces of the enemy country, undercurrents surged, and then entered a dramatic climax, and conflicts broke out together. Those political patterns All were destroyed, leading to the most unpredictable ending. Before "Bombshell", there may still be many viewers entangled in animation production, and after "Bombshell", the basic dispute is everyone's different understanding of the plot and characters.
In any case, one thing must be admitted: Judging from the current audience's reaction, Isayama's ultimate goal of creating comics has been achieved, and the next plot is the hell of the animation party and the land of bliss of Isayama's creation.
Personal Rating: 8.8/10
--split line--
Let’s take a look at this episode below.
1. In the comics, Allen directly kicked the soldier until the corner of his mouth bleeds, but the animation was completely fine.
2. In the comics, the head of Polov's division only hesitated for a moment after seeing Jia Bi, and still maintained his aiming posture; and the animation specially added an action of shrinking his hands because of surprise, which felt very unnecessary. By the way, I feel that Jia Bi's sliding shovel action is not very good...
3. I really don't want to see those hip-pulling expressions in the basement conversation in episode 5, especially when compared to episode 8, it's really unsightly. I just hope BD can modify the expression in the basement, it's really ugly....
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Final Season Episode 7 "Strike"
Views of this episode: Very good, very good.
Speaking of MAPPA, it's really strange: you had great expectations for the third episode of Reiner's memory and the fifth episode's declaration of war, but he just did it in a normal way; you were disappointed and calmed down, and as a result, he was able to make the fourth episode daily. The transition back to the seventh episode is ready for you to see. It's quite speechless, and sometimes you really don't know what kind of mentality to take to face the next episode.
As for the rumors on the Internet that Kodansha would not give MAPPA more production time, let’s not mention the authenticity of these rumors. For an animation of the level of “Giant”, there will definitely be a tight schedule. In the current environment of the Japanese animation industry, it is also a fact that the number of original artists is insufficient, and it cannot be solved by simply relying on funds. Therefore, MAPPA's response method is also very practical: sacrifice the expressiveness of some episodes, and wait until BD to correct the picture; then pour the saved time and resources into important episodes (see the sixth and seventh episodes again). In the actual performance, I feel more and more that MAPPA may really regard the "declaration of war" as "transition back"). As Director Cao said, all the choices now are the optimal solutions under the constraints of the current animation production conditions.
The first is the content of the adaptation. This episode corresponds to the capacity of comics 102~104 in total of about two chapters (the paragraph before the op corresponds to the last ten pages of comic 102, and this episode ends with the scene where Reiner transforms). Since these three episodes are dominated by action scenes, there is no problem with the narrative rhythm. And according to the current adaptation ideas, the content of the last eight pages of Chapter 104 will most likely be placed before the op of the eighth episode "Ferocious Bullet". But it is difficult to predict where the end of the next episode will stop, because the original works 105~106 are extremely exciting literary dramas, and the adaptation is very difficult, and I am not sure if MAPPA can fully restore the meaning of part of the storytelling. Doubt.
Let's talk about the character first: the problem of the character's face going out of shape in the last episode basically doesn't exist anymore. MAPPA directly added 14 painting supervisors to this episode, 11 of which are the people of "Gymnastic Samurai" next door, which can be said to be airborne rescues. Under the premise that the construction period is insufficient, the "human sea tactics" are directly adopted to avoid the problem of character loss. And the final effect is also obvious, almost all the facial close-ups in the seventh episode are particularly good-looking.
Let Rangko and Sasha look good as always.
Mikasa really looks good, and the appearance of this episode has soared.
And Armin is undoubtedly responsible for the appearance of the island's face in this episode.
As for the soldier, I still wonder if MAPPA has any obsession with big nose...
As for Alan, he's not so dumbfounded, but the hairline is still too far back...
The image of the attack giant is still shaped towards the "devil", but the appearance is indeed much better than the previous episode.
Of course, Reiner is still one of the characters that MAPPA draws the most, and he is full of cooking power.
As for the action scene, in all fairness, the level is better than the previous episode. It can be seen that MAPPA is focusing its limited resources on the big scene, which also shows that they are really serious about making "Giant". But in any case, talking about the action scenes of the fourth season must recognize a premise: the level of action scenes in the final season is impossible to surpass the top performances of the first three seasons. Under the dual constraints of construction period and manpower, most of the choices made by MAPPA are the optimal solutions under the helpless conditions. Choosing the three-rendering two technology to make giant battles and three-dimensional maneuvering shots can indeed control the lower limit of picture quality, but the upper limit of the expressiveness of a single scene is impossible to compare with the peak moments of the first three seasons. This is a fact that the audience has to accept, and I will make an evaluation based on this fact.
The first is the section of the Survey Corps evading machine gun fire. When there are many people moving in the screen, it can be seen that three renderings and two renderings are used, and the single character is 2D hand-painted. As for the overall visual effect, it is good.
After the OP, it is directly a long shot of stereo maneuver. The 3D picture is very smooth, but it always feels that there is a lack of visual tension. I'm not going to discuss more, and let the audience judge for themselves.
Moreover, many three-dimensional mobile lenses this season use medium and close-up scenes to present motion, and it can be seen that the angle of the lens is limited, unlike the 360° motion lens that broke through the limits of various imaginations like the previous three seasons. The audience needs to get used to it.
As for the nuclear explosion of Port Armin, it is the most restored comic in terms of visual tension.
And the investigation corps's solution to the giant car force was also very conscientious, not only reflected in the painting of the explosion scene, but also added original details: the photos posted by the chariot team. It is these details that make the audience feel the camaraderie between the tank team and Pique.
For the scene after the nuclear explosion, the animation team specially chose blood red as the main color to depict the super-giant and terrifying power and the devastated war scene, which is very good.
And unexpectedly, MAPPA used 2D hand-painting to create Armin's oversized giant. If you think about it, it makes sense: in the entire Marais + Pa Island, this is the only appearance of the super giant Armin. If you want to make a set of 3D modeling for this purpose, it will be superfluous, and it is more economical to use 2D hand-painting. Efficient.
By the way, an animation rule that I've found so far: Jawbow's action parts tend to be the parts with the best overall 3D quality. This episode of beating Allen with a huge jaw is the best proof. The sense of strength and speed reflected by biting and scratching is in place. The overall technique of three rendering and two rendering is very smooth, which restores the agile characteristics in the comics.
In the section of "Walnut Cracker", the original manga pays attention to a smooth flow without procrastination. The highlight is the word "fast", which makes Polk and the audience unable to react. It also reflects the limited physical strength of Allen after his third transformation. Every action is extremely streamlined, efficient and leaves no room.
The animation strengthens the emotional experience of this section, prolongs the viewing time of the audience, and focuses on rendering the tyrannical image of the attack giant. From the beginning to the end, three words are highlighted - the sense of oppression.
Well, although there are still some regrets about the stereoscopic motorized lens in this episode, the overall completion is very good, and it is worthy of the expectations of most audiences.
At the end of this episode, Reiner's transformation made me a little surprised. When I read the comics, I thought Reiner was not physically strong enough to produce a hard face, so there was such a handsome armor giant, and the actual effect of the animation can be seen. It comes out that there is a thin layer of hardening attached to the face, the perception of this part is still a matter of opinion.
However, in the sixth episode, the screen information is displayed too fast, and the problems such as the lack of logic between actions and actions still exist.
For example, the warhammer traps Allen for the second time, Allen bites the crystal with his teeth, and Mikasa jumps up and cuts off the huge legs of the jaw.
Perhaps there is a problem with the reconciliation of the storyboard arrangement and the 3D performance, or it may be deliberately "evading" or quickly skipping some bloody scenes for the sake of NHK TV's censorship. This aspect will not be discussed in depth for the time being.
Another point of dissatisfaction is that in the comics, Falco was obviously shocked when he learned that the other two partners had died, but in the animation, it was very understatement, it should not be.
Personal Rating: 8.3/10
--split line--
Some digressions:
Judging from the tyrannical image of the attack giant in the current final season, some things can also be discerned from the subtleties: the production team and the decision-making party behind it are deliberately "weakening" the complexity of the role of Alan Yeager, making the The hatred, grievances and tragedies that the characters bear behind, as well as the tragedies created by the times and the nation, have to be downplayed, and the intertwining and conflicting meanings of these factors have to be hidden. Isayama uses a lot of brush and ink to describe the literary drama in the basement, just to let the audience see clearly the various reasons why the characters are complicated and unable to distinguish the primary and secondary under each choice. (So "Warrior" and "Declaration of War" are the perfect counterparts in the play, and there are countless rational and emotional confrontations behind personal choices).
Of course, it is undeniable that the depth and breadth of this role-building may affect the audience's understanding to a certain extent. So MAPPA chose a safe path: to continue to lock the perspective between personal hatred and national grievances, simplify the thinking pattern, and guide the audience's thinking. This kind of change affects the whole body. If the dialogue in the basement is mediocre, the corresponding plots must be adjusted accordingly, and the same is true for the tyrannical image of the attack giant. And this part of the change must have been implemented with the consent of Isayama. As for the reason, it may be that the production team is not good at doing it, can't do it, and really doesn't have time to do it.
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