Wednesday, December 19, 2018

The Nine Titan Shifters


I posted a video explaining the Nine Titan Shifter in Attack on Titan. Basically this blog is just my script of it. If you want to check out my video just click this link.






·         Founding Titan – It is the first titan. According to the history of the walls, it was Ymir Fritz who was the first holder of the Founding titan. She got this power from a devil, perhaps she traded something like her soul as what we knew in fiction stories. After having the power for 13 years, she died and the power of the Founding Titan was split between the 9 inheritors. It is said that the holder of the Founding Titan should be a royal blood or the direct descendant of Ymir to achieve the full potential of it. The 145th King, Karl Fritz inherited the power of the Founding Titan and used its ability to escape from the Great Titan War. It is a civil war between the families of the possible inheritors of the power of titan. The king abandoned his responsibility to his country and created a new country that he called “Paradis Island” and stated that the peace should be in that island always. He used the power of the Founding Titan to make the countless colossus titans by using its “Scream” ability and create three walls and named it “Maria”, “Rose” and “Sina”. He stated that once that the peace was disturbed in his island he will use those colossus titans to “flatten the earth”. The former handlers after Ymir that was revealed in the manga were Karl Fritz then it was taken by the Reiss Family after some years. From Rod’s Father to Uri Reiss, Rod’s brother. Then it was given to Frieda Reiss, Historia’s half sister. Then it was forcefully taken by Grisha Jaeger and soon given to Eren Jaeger. The Founding Titan also has the ability to control the titans by means of its “Coordinate” like what Eren Jaeger did in episode 37. Though Eren doesn’t have a royal blood he was able to control the titans after he had a contact with the titan that was Dina Fritz. Another power is the memory manipulation that was shown in episode 43 where Frieda Reiss erased Historia’s memories with her.  Also, this ability was used by Karl Frits to manipulate the memory of the Eldians inside the walls to isolate them from outside world.


·         Colossus/Colossal Titan – First seen in the first episode, standing before the great wall of Maria having the height of more than 50 meters. He used his massive size to leave a huge hole on the wall making the peace ordered by the former king, Karl Fritz disturbed. The Colossus Titan is also called “God of Destruction” because of its massive size and ability to make a large explosion. The large explosion was seen in chapter 78 in the “Return of Shiganshina” Arc making a large mushroom smoke from the transformation explosion. Another ability of the Colossus Titan is to release immense amount of steam from its body due to the sever heat of the Colossus Titan. The heat serves as his shield from the attacking soldiers as seen in episode 32. The former holder of the Colossus Titan is Bertoldt Hoover and the current holder is Armin Arlert.


·         Armored Titan – First seen in episode 2, dashing towards the second gate of Shiganshina which is the Wall Maria itself.  Its ability is to harden his skin that can even destroy the wall created by the Colossus Titans back then. This also makes the Armored Titan undefeatable during the “Fall of Shiganshina” Arc. But during the “Clash of Titans” Arc where in Eren and the Armored Titan fought, Eren was able to almost defeat the Armored Titan by means of close combat that he learned from Annie Leonheart. The current holder of the Armored Titan is Reiner Braun and he has two candidates namely Gabi Braun and Falco Grice.


·         Attack Titan – Aside from the power of the Founding Titan, Eren Jaeger also have the power of the Attack Titan. It is said that this titan fought for freedom for years. It was first seen in episode 7 when Mikasa was in the verge of giving up and was revealed that the holder is Eren in episode 9. The main ability of the Attack Titan is its tenacity to fight for the freedom. The hardening ability that was seen in episode 45 that saved the lives of the Levi squad came from the bottle that he drank from Rod Reiss. That ability was used to close the gap in Shiganshina. In chapter 88, Eren Kruger was introduced as the oldest known holder of the Attack Titan. After revealing his identity as “the owl” he gave the power of Attack Titan to Grisha Jaeger and later gave it to his son Eren Jaeger. 


·         Female Titan – First seen in episode 17 in the anime adaptation. The only holder revealed in the manga is Annie Leonhart. The Female Titan is using its ability to attract titans nearby and lead them to the formation made by Erwin in the “Outside the Walls” Arc. In the “Marley” Arc, it was revealed that she also used this ability to lure the titans towards to Wall Maria before Bertoldt made his move. The Female Titan is very versatile and has high endurance. Its titan body is somewhat the same with a human’s body that is why the titans are very attracted to her. She also have the ability like with the Founding Titan which is the “Coordinate” in which she screamed to lure the nearby titans seen in episode 20 like what Eren did in episode 37 plus she can also harden its skin like with the Armored Titan. With this we have the theory that Annie might be a royal blood since she can use more abilities of the Female Titan.


·         Beast Titan – first seen in episode 26 walking around Mike with the Cart Titan and some pure titans. The ability of it is to manipulate titans by ordering them what to do. The Beast Titan can speak a language understood by humans. It also has the ability to create titans like what Founding Titan can do. The Beast Titan is like a titan weapon for war. His ability was used in “Marley” Arc wherein he was sent to a war creating a large amount of titans towards the opposing side. His ability to throw with immense power is one thing as well. Add up his pitching talent, this ability is so deadly. The Beast Titan must be a baseball fan. He also has the “Hardening” ability like with the Armored Titan however it was not seen in manga. The current holder of the Beast Titan is Zeke Jaeger who is the half brother of Eren Jaeger and his candidate is Historia Reiss. Zeke is a royal blood that is why he can use the full powers of the Beast Titan.





·         Jaw Titan – First seen in episode 29 revealing that Ymir is the holder of it in “Clash of Titans” Arc. Its ability is its unbeatable speed and agility that is why it was first called “Dancing Titan”. However, when Reiner and Bertoldt successfully kidnapped Ymir and Eren, Bertoldt told Ymir that she ate their comrade and the power of titan was passed to her after that. She decided to take sides with them and later sent to Marley to give back the power. Another one is the crushing strength of its jaw and nails. It was seen in chapter 102 in the “Marley” Arc when Eren and the Jaw Titan fought before he swallowed the holder of the War Hammer Titan. That ability is so powerful that scratched the hardened crystal made by the War Hammer Titan. The former holder of the Jaw Titan was Marcel Galliard, eaten by Ymir and now currently inherited by Porco Galliard, Marcel’s younger brother.


·         Cart Titan – First seen in episode 26 with the Beast titan. Its abilities are its speed and endurance. The Cart titan can maintain its form for a long period of time greatly used for equipping machine guns and other gears. It’s quadrupedal form is more likely the reason behind its speed. The Cart Titan was used in “Return in Shiganshina” Arc in which it is carrying the barrels where Bertoldt was hiding. The current holder of the Cart Titan is Pieck


·         War Hammer Titan – first seen in chapter 101 in “Battle of Liberio” in the “Marley” Arc. After Willy Tybur, a royal blood, died during a speech in Liberio, his younger sister transformed into its titan form and had a clash with Eren. Its ability is “Structural Hardening” wherein it can make weapons using the hardened crystal or skin. The whole titan form of it is actually hardened and the holder was detached from the body remotely controlling the titan body from afar. With this ability, the War Hammer Titan can create spikes from the ground and other kinds of weapon. The current holder of the War Hammer Titan is Eren Jaeger after using the Jaw Titan’s nails to brekl the hardened crystal enveloping the sister of Willy.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (2009) Anime Review





Title: Hagane no Renkinjutsushi (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Genre: Shounen, Dark Fantasy, Adventure, Science Fiction
Written and Illustrated By: Hiromu Arakawa
Synopsis: The Elric brothers, Edward and Alphonse were living perfectly with their mother in a peaceful town of Resembool. They are both smart children and they excel in alchemy like their father. However, their mother died due to an illness outbreak and they were left alone. They know an alchemy in which they can resurrect a dead called "Human Transmutation" which is a taboo. Alchemy requires an equal value of exchange or called "The Law of Equivalent Exchange" to perform the transformation. In Human Transmutation, they need to give the most equal amount to resurrect a dead. They took the risk to perform this dangerous alchemy. As a result, Alphonse's body and Edward's limb were taken as an exchange and unfortunately the Human Transmutation is a big failure. Luckily, Edward was able to take Alphonse's soul back and placed it in an empty armor. In exchange of that, Edward's arm was taken. In order to take back Alphonse' body, they are searching for the Philosopher's Stone.

(Young Ed and Al before doing the Human Transmutation)

Thoughts:

Watching it once, I re watched it immediately and even though I already know the events of the story I still cried for the characters in this anime. This anime was being recommended to me for years but I only got the chance to watch this and immediately I included this anime in one of my favorites. Though I more like the plot of the first anime series, it's plot is still recommended to be watched. This anime moved me into tears most of the time. It never escaped the reality of the world. You can always see the desires of the people in this anime. Dark pasts of each of the character. Brutal killings and war against other places in one nation. Now who told you that anime is for kids only?

I appreciate the overall character development of Ed and Al in the story. Just imagine two 16 years old children fighting with their fate as the people who received punishment because of using the human transmutation while they are opposing the government because of their evil plan, killing everyone in their country and in order to achieve that they need to kill different kinds of people. I don't know how they can manage living doing that. Not just the two protagonist but a lot of characters in the story that has their individual dark pasts and dreams.

(Height difference from episode 9 to episode 46)

One more thing, there are no useless character in the story. Everyone has an important role except to that damn father who turned his daughter into a chimera. Nothing can be darker on that scene. Female characters are one thing as well. I really admire those female characters that has courage to fight like a man. Special mention: Olivier Mira Armstrong!! A Major General who can fight against homunculus though she only have her sword skills. She can fight like a powerful alchemist. 

(Izumi Curtis - Ed and Al's teacher)
(Major Alex Louis Armstrong and Major General Olivier Mira Armstrong)


Though this anime has a dark plot, the mangaka never forgot to give this anime some humors like Roy Mustang being the coolest and one of the strongest alchemist but he have so many running gags in the anime.



Comparing from the 2003 series, this series is better if we talk about the number of the fight scenes. If you watched the first series you can notice that the power of being an alchemist was not shown there rather it always telling us that they can fight using their brains rather that with their fight skills. But in this series aside from their smart brains, they fight using martial arts or any kind of fighting styles (for example: Lin using an Asian Martial Arts, Olivier using her sword skill) and that made me hyped for this anime series.

(Colonel Roy Mustang - The Flame Alchemist)


Animation: 10/10
First I was wondering, why does it look like a fight scene from Boku no Hero Academia and Noragami? Then I learned that it was BONES who did the animation of this anime! I was hyped! BONES always do a great job in animation!



(Colonel Roy Mustang and First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye fighting at the Promised Day)

Soundtrack: 10/10
Anime Opening and Ending songs are great! It makes me want to watch the whole series again whenever I hear it's songs on my playlist. Plus the meaning of the songs are so sad but hopeful that is really matching with the plot of the anime. KUDOS AGAIN FOR THAT. The original soundtrack is almost the same with the first anime series so I got no problem with that!

Overall: 10/10
Totally recommended to people who can take dark plots. But the ending is one of the nicest thing you will see in the anime world. Believe me.




A/N: Right now I am watching Dragon Ball Super to support for it's upcoming movie next year: "Dagon Ball Super: Broly" and reading he manga of Fullmetal Alchemist to know the difference of it from the two anime series.