Hangout Shingeki no Kyojin Hangout Thread

[SarcasticIndeed]

Besides that, I'm not a physics expert but if I heard it correctly, wouldn't the size of the weapon fitting for ErenTitan would be a lot heavier? It was already quite hard for Eren to carry that boulder, let alone a large weapon....

Anyway, anyone read the summary of the pilot chapter by Utsune?
I just reread the chapters corresponding to episode 19. Hange said that even though the skinless hand of Eren's Titan form was very hot, it didn't manage to warp the spoon it was holding...Is it a sign of the "Human Extermination Plan"? It seems like that is what the anime is leading us to believe. During the episode when Eren protected Armin and Mikasa from that cannonball by transforming into a titan, Armin noticed a flower, which seemingly was unharmed. I thought it was for symbolic purposes for the anime but...with that pilot chapter.....

(The spoon thing was also in the manga, just that, the anime is much more concerned with this by adding that flower stuff, which wasn't in the manga.)

Titans seem to be VERY purpose driven. You need a purpose to even shift into one, a clear and set goal. Your titan form will act in a way that will fulfill its form (save you from a canon, pick up a spoon). I assume that is the only reason the spoon isn't bent, the titan's purpose was just to pick it up safely.

Purpose is shown in the pilot, as you said. Titans are nature protectors, and will never hurt trees and such. I don't think it is the same in the real anime, but they obviously have a clear-cut purpose.

 

[kkck]

Not really when Atlas is known to be a Titan.

Well, yeah, atlas is a titan but so what? It is still the wrong mythology altogether. The manga takes after norse myth and symbolism, not greek mythology or symbolism. In this case titan is just a word to name stuff, there is no contextual significance between the SNK titans and the titans from greek mythology.

 

[Utsune]

Besides that, I'm not a physics expert but if I heard it correctly, wouldn't the size of the weapon fitting for ErenTitan would be a lot heavier? It was already quite hard for Eren to carry that boulder, let alone a large weapon....

Anyway, anyone read the summary of the pilot chapter by Utsune?
I just reread the chapters corresponding to episode 19. Hange said that even though the skinless hand of Eren's Titan form was very hot, it didn't manage to warp the spoon it was holding...Is it a sign of the "Human Extermination Plan"? It seems like that is what the anime is leading us to believe. During the episode when Eren protected Armin and Mikasa from that cannonball by transforming into a titan, Armin noticed a flower, which seemingly was unharmed. I thought it was for symbolic purposes for the anime but...with that pilot chapter.....

(The spoon thing was also in the manga, just that, the anime is much more concerned with this by adding that flower stuff, which wasn't in the manga.)

Funny you picked up the flower bit in the anime! The thing is, for some reason it caused quite a bit of commotion among a number of viewers back then, and they wonder if it had anything to do with the nature of Titan power (life-creating or something weird like that.) If I'd recall correctly, Isayama even had to clarify in his blog that was just a simple device saying to the viewers "everything within Eren's ribs got away without a scratch." XD

 

[Yumpo]

Funny you picked up the flower bit in the anime! The thing is, for some reason it caused quite a bit of commotion among a number of viewers back then, and they wonder if it had anything to do with the nature of Titan power (life-creating or something weird like that.) If I'd recall correctly, Isayama even had to clarify in his blog that was just a simple device saying to the viewers "everything within Eren's ribs got away without a scratch." XD

Damn! Didn't saw that Isayama clarified it in his blog. XD. SarcasticIndeed did give out the right points. There goes my theory down the drain. T^T

I was actually making a fuss about that flower scene too when I first saw it. I thought it meant symbolic things like it symbolizes that Eren is the protector of life or something. XD

 

[Utsune]

Damn! Didn't saw that Isayama clarified it in his blog. XD. SarcasticIndeed did give out the right points. There goes my theory down the drain. T^T

I was actually making a fuss about that flower scene too when I first saw it. I thought it meant symbolic things like it symbolizes that Eren is the protector of life or something. XD

Oh right, protector-wise, that may be the case XP Symbolism depends a lot on how you look at it too. Sorry I totally misunderstood you! I thought you meant specific powers Eren has that somehow makes a flower grow out of nowhere (since you wrote "but...with that pilot chapter....." XD I'm guessing you wanted to say "protector of plants but not life in general" instead of "wow that flower came out of nowhere, did he teleport the flower from another dimension" ? I'm not joking with the suggestion... some people actually say this lol.) That's what Isayama is trying to clear up. (Found the post! Lol: http://blog.livedoor.jp/isayamahazime/archives/7920338.html He hasn't really clarify anything beyond the absolute protection inside the area, so your theory is still up in the air! if I'm not mistaken XP )

 

[Yumpo]

Oh right, protector-wise, that may be the case XP Symbolism depends a lot on how you look at it too. Sorry I totally misunderstood you! I thought you meant specific powers Eren has that somehow makes a flower grow out of nowhere (since you wrote "but...with that pilot chapter....." XD I'm guessing you wanted to say "protector of plants but not life in general" instead of "wow that flower came out of nowhere, did he teleport the flower from another dimension" ? I'm not joking with the suggestion... some people actually say this lol.) That's what Isayama is trying to clear up. (Found the post! Lol: http://blog.livedoor.jp/isayamahazime/archives/7920338.html He hasn't really clarify anything beyond the absolute protection inside the area, so your theory is still up in the air! if I'm not mistaken XP )

I actually really mean "protector of life." That's what the first symbolic meaning that came into my mind when I first saw that filler scene. Though after reading the summary of the pilot chapter, it kinda changed my mind to "natural actions of Titans, even Titan shifters, say steam, or their unusual heat don't affect plant life or other things that aren't human, unless they deliberately charge into it(by smashing it or something)." Then again, I have quite a heavy mistake on my reasoning since the impact of the transformation of Eren in Ch.25-26/Ep. 19 kinda broke the table they were sitting on.

But, anyway, people actually thought that Eren made the flower grow out of nowhere? Wow. That's....something. XDD

 

[kannazuki]

I don't blame them for thinking that based on episode 9. Random flowers seemed to appear out of nowhere there. But I took it as entirely symbolic. Eren is sleeping in a field of those exact same flowers in the first episode. That the large field of so many of these flowers he's sleeping in in episode 1 has been reduced to just the three of them within the titan rib cage in a way represents how many people have been lost from then until now. I saw it as just a one-off, single instance bit of symbolism.

 

[Duffman]

Caution spoilers


Hey guys was just rereading chapter 27 and noticed something on pg 44 look on Levi check is it just me or did he just regenerate. Now this might be just blood from the three titans he just took expertly down but why is he rubbing it or even covering it from Irvin.

 

[ForMotherRussia]

Nope, just Levi wiping the female titan's blood off his face

 

[Yumpo]

Besides random flowers stuff, has anyone checked out Kodansha USA's official tumblr and twitter accounts?
Tumblr: http://kodanshacomics.tumblr.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KodanshaUSA

I'm not really familiar with twitter, but OMG. I'm now really confused again on what spelling I should choose for Hange/Hanji's name again.
Here's their twitter+tumblr posts concerning Hange's name and other characters' names:
https://twitter.com/KodanshaUSA/status/341679411898249216
https://twitter.com/KodanshaUSA/status/341679659223756800
http://kodanshacomics.tumblr.com/post/54035873251/hi-i-just-got-attack-on-titan-5-and-i-saw-that-the
http://kodanshacomics.tumblr.com/po...ve-a-question-about-hanji-zoe-i-dont-know-the
http://kodanshacomics.tumblr.com/po...id-like-to-ask-about-the-surname-of-attack-on
http://kodanshacomics.tumblr.com/po...ink-things-in-asks-but-this-is-taken-from-the
Really?? T^T
Makes me wonder if they actually just got lucky with the names of the three main characters plus Levi. Or if they're actually trolling especially with that tweets.

So this means even if the officially translated manga has given out names for characters like Zoë Hange, it's not really the correct spelling unless Isayama or the Official Twitter account of SnK Japan posts something about it? Now doubting if they're even maintaining contact with the Japanese editor/s of the series.

I wanna roll all over the floor now, gloomily. Of course, I'm still buying their books, but...I'm wondering if I could trust their translations ever again? It's a good thing I always get the raws(even though I don't understand most of it XD). Maybe I should really just use ハンジ for Hange/Hanji's name? 'Cause that's really how you officially spell her name, right? jk

 

[poncho1]

Attack on Titan #11 Is 1st Volume to Top Chart for 2 Weeks

Volume 11 of Hajime Isayama's Attack on Titan is the first one in the series to rank #1 in manga sales for two weeks in the row. Kodansha sold 290,893 copies of the volume just in the last week and 1,054,915 since the initial release. In addition, the limited edition of the same volume ranked in the top 10 for two weeks in a row.

The series as a whole has over 20 million copies in print.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/new...-no.11-is-1st-volume-to-top-chart-for-2-weeks

 

[kannazuki]

Besides random flowers stuff, has anyone checked out Kodansha USA's official tumblr and twitter accounts?
Tumblr: http://kodanshacomics.tumblr.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KodanshaUSA

I'm not really familiar with twitter, but OMG. I'm now really confused again on what spelling I should choose for Hange/Hanji's name again.
Here's their twitter+tumblr posts concerning Hange's name and other characters' names:
https://twitter.com/KodanshaUSA/status/341679411898249216
https://twitter.com/KodanshaUSA/status/341679659223756800
http://kodanshacomics.tumblr.com/post/54035873251/hi-i-just-got-attack-on-titan-5-and-i-saw-that-the
http://kodanshacomics.tumblr.com/po...ve-a-question-about-hanji-zoe-i-dont-know-the
http://kodanshacomics.tumblr.com/po...id-like-to-ask-about-the-surname-of-attack-on
http://kodanshacomics.tumblr.com/po...ink-things-in-asks-but-this-is-taken-from-the
Really?? T^T
Makes me wonder if they actually just got lucky with the names of the three main characters plus Levi. Or if they're actually trolling especially with that tweets.

So this means even if the officially translated manga has given out names for characters like Zoë Hange, it's not really the correct spelling unless Isayama or the Official Twitter account of SnK Japan posts something about it? Now doubting if they're even maintaining contact with the Japanese editor/s of the series.

I wanna roll all over the floor now, gloomily. Of course, I'm still buying their books, but...I'm wondering if I could trust their translations ever again? It's a good thing I always get the raws(even though I don't understand most of it XD). Maybe I should really just use ハンジ for Hange/Hanji's name? 'Cause that's really how you officially spell her name, right? jk

Well that's extremely disappointing, as it seems they just made it all up as they went, with the exception of the main characters' names + Levi, whom the original editor must have checked with them on, in order to get right. And now that ORIGINAL editor is gone. T_T

Still, I am encouraged they at least aren't outright encouraging the people who want to decide Hange/Hanji must be canonically gender atypical based only on her not looking "feminine" enough (???) and the ridiculous nonsense about her using a "gender neutral pronoun" in a language where it's the *norm* to do so. She may be interpreted as trans if people want to, but there is no canon basis for either that or cisgender. Both are equally up for interpretation. Same as most characters. (Armin was a great example of someone who could be up for interpretation as well, if people really want to go there.)

 

[Yumpo]

Well that's extremely disappointing, as it seems they just made it all up as they went, with the exception of the main characters' names + Levi, whom the original editor must have checked with them on, in order to get right. And now that ORIGINAL editor is gone. T_T

Still, I am encouraged they at least aren't outright encouraging the people who want to decide Hange/Hanji must be canonically gender atypical based only on her not looking "feminine" enough (???) and the ridiculous nonsense about her using a "gender neutral pronoun" in a language where it's the *norm* to do so. She may be interpreted as trans if people want to, but there is no canon basis for either that or cisgender. Both are equally up for interpretation. Same as most characters. (Armin was a great example of someone who could be up for interpretation as well, if people really want to go there.)

http://kodanshacomics.tumblr.com/post/57458293617/wait-whered-the-original-editor-for-aot-go
The original editor actually just did first volume and left....If the original editor did asked for the correct spelling of names in volume 1, then at least we probably got the names right for the top 10....But not Hange/Hanji T^T.

And I'd prefer Hange/Hanji as a female actually. That's one of the reasons why I like her. Rarely have I seen in anime/manga does a girl exhibit a thirst and enthusiasm for important knowledge that are useful for the plot. Then again, people could always interpret anyone's gender in this manga any way they want(especially the ambiguous ones like Hange/Hanji again XD). According to Isayama, he doesn't really care about gender that much in this story anyway. XD

Also, I actually thought Armin was a girl too, at first. It almost made me stop reading the manga the first time I took a look at it. I thought it was going to be a harem manga(and I dislike 'em). Then I read SnK wikipedia articles and other forums. O_O

But you could still consider Eren having a harem, although in a different perspective...

 

[kannazuki]

I kind of tend to stick to Occam's Razor myself (that's why I said "if you want to go there" above-- I'm not going there, I'm sticking with Armin being a boy and Hange a woman-- and whatever parts they have between their legs are not my business --unless they as characters choose to express otherwise). This pisses me off because it's just flat out rude to insist on not referring to a transperson by the gender s/he feels s/he is. Hange hasn't spoken a single word or done a single thing, nor have there been any editorial notes of any sort to indicate that she is something other than what she presents herself to be. IRL if you went up to a person with a female body shape and clothing, but that you suspected as trans and were all "I've figured out your secret, I'm gonna call you a GUY from now on!" or just as bad "I'm gonna call you not-a-woman-and-not-a-man!" that would be extremely, extremely rude no matter what parts she was born with. Like the person from Kodansha said, Hange should not be defined by gender. One thing I love about this series is that for once, female characters have backgrounds and personalities just as complex as the male characters do. They absolutely aren't just dummies with boobs and makeup slapped on, that fall into one or another tired stereotype of a female character.

As for the "harem anime" thing, I never had that impression since (a) I watched the anime at first and heard Armin using "boku" with a typical "young boy" voice for anime and (b) harem anime typically have crappy plots and aren't to be taken seriously, from what I've seen. I just like using Armin as an example, because there's literally no more reason to single out Hange than there is to single him out. (He uses "boku," but that pronoun can be used by girls in some cases too, and that's probably why Isayama used him as an example.)

Eren has a titan harem maybe, but not a human one.

 

[Utsune]

I'm actually a fan of the name Jaeger rather than the Yeager variant. Yeager is in fact anglicised, meaning it is specifically derived from the German Jaeger into an English version. Also, I always get the feel (as explained in one of the links above) that they have chosen Yeager only to avoid pronunciation mistakes, which is another way of putting "we're naming him as such because of the capabilities of readers." A pretty ugly reason, to be honest. I just don't like the fact Eren's character has to be dependent on the audience, it's kinda breaking the fourth wall in a way.

---------- Post added at 06:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:01 PM ----------

Also, I really think they should stick with certain things rather than just changing them for the sake of people's incapability (mainly Googling eg. check pronunciation of Jaeger.) It's just like 4kids trying to call the riceball "doughnut." Seriously, kids have to learn and accept there are different cultures around the world, rather than leaving them in a comfort zone without being exposed to differences?

 

[kannazuki]

Well, it seems as though Isayama *might* have had certain people in mind when he named some characters (like Levi) for one thing. In Kodansha USA's case, they're literally translating for the USA and not the world, keep in mind. A lot of people there have the very alternate name variants that were chosen, and that kind of thing and although I would say the reasoning for the variants in the States is different, it can be consistent with a diaspora effect as would seem to be the case in SnK. As for the US though, people underwent a lot of cultural pressure to change their names, generations ago. Even the ones who kept the same spellings frequently don't pronounce them the original way. Part of translation is localization. You have to think of your audience and that's what they did. It's more in cases like where they changed "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" (a famous, legendary object) to "Sorceror's Stone" (new made up term) and changed the actual English spoken in the book to appease certain groups of people in the US that I would take issue. Yeager is obviously still associable with "Jaeger," (any name heritage website is sure to indicate that) so the meaning people want is still there!

*edit*
& that's not like "donut" at all. Onigiri and donuts aren't even close to being the same thing. Yeager and Jaeger are just spelling variants of the same name with the same meaning.

 

[Yumpo]

I kind of tend to stick to Occam's Razor myself (that's why I said "if you want to go there" above-- I'm not going there, I'm sticking with Armin being a boy and Hange a woman-- and whatever parts they have between their legs are not my business --unless they as characters choose to express otherwise). This pisses me off because it's just flat out rude to insist on not referring to a transperson by the gender s/he feels s/he is. Hange hasn't spoken a single word or done a single thing, nor have there been any editorial notes of any sort to indicate that she is something other than what she presents herself to be. IRL if you went up to a person with a female body shape and clothing, but that you suspected as trans and were all "I've figured out your secret, I'm gonna call you a GUY from now on!" or just as bad "I'm gonna call you not-a-woman-and-not-a-man!" that would be extremely, extremely rude no matter what parts she was born with. Like the person from Kodansha said, Hange should not be defined by gender. One thing I love about this series is that for once, female characters have backgrounds and personalities just as complex as the male characters do. They absolutely aren't just dummies with boobs and makeup slapped on, that fall into one or another tired stereotype of a female character.

As for the "harem anime" thing, I never had that impression since (a) I watched the anime at first and heard Armin using "boku" with a typical "young boy" voice for anime and (b) harem anime typically have crappy plots and aren't to be taken seriously, from what I've seen. I just like using Armin as an example, because there's literally no more reason to single out Hange than there is to single him out. (He uses "boku," but that pronoun can be used by girls in some cases too, and that's probably why Isayama used him as an example.)

Eren has a titan harem maybe, but not a human one.

Wait, that's what you meant about the words "if you want to go there" thing? I thought it meant about going into long indefinite discussions about Armin's gender. Not the parts between the legs...XDDD. I'm so sorry! T^T. I'm quite mistaking things here......Though I do think too that it's quite rude to say that to a person in real life too.

Though about me mistaking Armin for a girl, it's because I started with the manga, not with the anime. If I started with the anime, I would never had mistaken him for a girl. I really wouldn't. T^T. And with the harem anime/manga thing, I actually tend to be quite suspicious when picking up a series. Tendency of some people when reviewing some anime/manga, they would praise this and that but they would never mention that it is a harem anime. It's like they have a different definition of what's a crappy harem anime and what's not. T^T. So I started learning myself some indicators judging from the character designs. My basic indicators would be that the main character has an average harem anime MC face(typically dark haired with an unimpressive face at first glance) and that he's at least surrounded by 2 girls(same age as his) at the beginning of the story. And since I've mistaken Armin for a girl at first, I actually thought that this was a harem manga. So the moment I saw Armin in the first chapter when I read it for the first time, I really stopped. And exited the manga-reading site. T^T. It's until I checked his wiki profile and saw what pronouns were being used for him, that I started reading again. I feel so ashamed for almost dropping the manga like this.T^T

But Eren I think has a human harem too...well, at least according to pixiv and fan assumptions *coughMikasaArminLevicough*. XDD

@Utsune
With the name Yeager though, it's kinda the most likely intended way of spelling it by the author. I mean that's how it was posted in SnK's Japanese official Twitter account along with the spelling of Levi's name. There were two editors for SnK's official English translations and the first editor(who only just did volume 1) had the three main characters names matched up with what was posted with the official twitter account. So he/she may have really asked how to spell their names. While the second editor, through those blog posts, kinda sound like he/she didn't bother asking...if the one writing those blog posts really is the editor for the series right now.

 

[Utsune]

Well, it seems as though Isayama *might* have had certain people in mind when he named some characters (like Levi) for one thing. In Kodansha USA's case, they're literally translating for the USA and not the world, keep in mind. A lot of people there have the very alternate name variants that were chosen, and that kind of thing and although I would say the reasoning for the variants in the States is different, it can be consistent with a diaspora effect as would seem to be the case in SnK. As for the US though, people underwent a lot of cultural pressure to change their names, generations ago. Even the ones who kept the same spellings frequently don't pronounce them the original way. Part of translation is localization. You have to think of your audience and that's what they did. It's more in cases like where they changed "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" (a famous, legendary object) to "Sorceror's Stone" (new made up term) and changed the actual English spoken in the book to appease certain groups of people in the US that I would take issue. Yeager is obviously still associable with "Jaeger," (any name heritage website is sure to indicate that) so the meaning people want is still there!

*edit*
& that's not like "donut" at all. Onigiri and donuts aren't even close to being the same thing. Yeager and Jaeger are just spelling variants of the same name with the same meaning.

Ah don't misunderstand, I'm not saying people shouldn't spell their own names a certain way; it's their name and I do acknowledge name variants due to the culture. What I'm not too fond of is the fact the SnK Universe is very European based, in a setting that bears great resemblance to a time before the States have much influence in its counterpart. I recognise that the spelling of a name hints at a significant ancestral history, for the exact same reason I highly doubt Eren Jaeger's family are American and/or have undergone the same cultural pressure into using a variant of their name.

In terms of the rice ball issue, I think it's similar in the way it is equally trying to portray a familiar environment to the audience of the show by replacing rice ball with an American counterpart. The spelling of Yeager is also creating a familiar environment by omitting the unfamiliar 'y' sounding letter 'j.'

---------- Post added at 08:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:34 PM ----------

@Yumpo
Yes I realise it is the decision of the author. I'm actually pretty much going against my usual self (in that I normally support whatever the author intends to create for their own universes,) but I really can't overlook the fact he could have gone for the 'Y' spelling with a great consideration towards those who may not be able to pronounce the 'J' properly. Also as explained above, the 'Y' spelling has great relations to the culture of the States, something I personally find unlikely in the SnK setting. I hate to conclude this, but I think it is a bad decision on Isayama's part in terms of lore-consistency.

 

[kannazuki]

Wait, that's what you meant about the words "if you want to go there" thing? I thought it meant about going into long indefinite discussions about Armin's gender. Not the parts between the legs...XDDD. I'm so sorry! T^T. I'm quite mistaking things here......Though I do think too that it's quite rude to say that to a person in real life too.

Ahahaha... No, you were right the first time about what I meant with the "not going there" part of it. Well sort of. I technically meant both at the same time: I don't want to do the complicated conversation about the character (gender is pretty unimportant as compared to everything else that makes a character up, right?), AND I also don't think it's my business to try to figure out what's between people's legs unless I'm getting romantically involved with them or something. It just seemed like you thought I was saying Armin was a girl for some reason? Maybe it was MY misunderstanding? (If so, I'm sorry about that.)

And about your "mistaking" Armin, that's fine-- it was your honest impression from reading the manga right? No big deal there. I wouldn't blame you, anyway. In fact if you were reading the manga without even knowing much about what kind of story it was going to be yet, then personally I think that's pretty cool you were giving it a chance that early-- even with the way the mangaka is still working at his art and all!

But Eren I think has a human harem too...well, at least according to pixiv and fan assumptions *coughMikasaArminLevicough*. XDD

Ahahaha... I try to be open-minded, but I'm not a fan of most of the fan pairings for Eren at all. Everyone they tend put him with I would prefer to see with somebody else. XD

In terms of the rice ball issue, I think it's similar in the way it is equally trying to portray a familiar environment to the audience of the show by replacing rice ball with an American counterpart. The spelling of Yeager is also creating a familiar environment by omitting the unfamiliar 'y' sounding letter 'j.'

If there were an analogous English language counterpart in existence, I don't think it would have been as much of an issue. It's just that in that case there isn't, really (as far as I'm aware), and to make matters worse, anybody can understand what a "rice ball" is just from hearing the words. 4Kids literally had no excuse there that, nor with hardly any of the other things they randomly changed or censored. Mangastream, for example, has done some interesting things with Killer Bee's lines in Naruto, because he curses (bakayarou, konoyarou) and "raps" all the time in Japanese. In order to preserve the tone of the series and Bee's character, they preserve the swearing and rhyming. They kept reasonably close to the meanings of what he said too, though not quite. Some people on another site I visit took issue with how they handled it (often sexual analogies/euphemisms), but when I compared it with another Manga Editor, they had taken those complicated lines, translated them literally, and it neither preserved the mood/character nor even made any sense in English! (You know I actually took a university level translation course and this is still my favourite example of anything I can give, lol...)

 

[SarcasticIndeed]

Ramdom question. Is it outed anywhere how RBA got into the walls in the first place? They have been pretty young (inb4 becoming a shifter completely halts aging) at the time and while the colossal was near the gate, he couldn't just go back to human form and enter the gates. What's more, none of the three had access to 3DMG so they could not really climb the walls as well.