Thanks @Lynx3d for sharing that link with me a few months ago
It took me so long because I realized there may be spoilers and I haven’t watched AOT before. I had to buy S1 DVDs and then watched on Crunchyroll from S2 onwards Needless to say, this is one of the best anime series out there, so good, both the story and the animation, the art. Just wow.
The video shows a few highlights from the last season’s production and… it’s intense. Lol, I was sitting there in my chair sweating, the pressure was palpable. The studio is MAPPA, no less This was equally illuminating, inspiring, and frightening, perhaps.
What really hit me was the struggle with the drawing itself. Like, we’re talking professionals here, drawing day in and day out and they still have a hard time sometimes! You may get a shot, an angle, that you didn’t do before and will need help from the references, real life, posing… So I mean, it’s ridiculous if you’re a hobbyist drawing maybe a few hours a week and expecting miracles This takes a lot of work and dedication, which is a nice benchmark actually. A reality check of sorts
Another fascinating discovery for me was observing Japanese interactions in the office. Apparently, they can express a very wide range of emotions with a slightly different smile and laugh It was like:
he he (“I find it amusing”)
he he (“uh oh… we’re in trouble”)
he he (“RIP, I’m done… I’m gonna cry now”)
So yeah, thanks again. It was an amazing video to watch I want more of these…
That making-of seems very interesting indeed, thanks for sharing!
Even though I didn’t appreciate Attack on Titan as much as you did, I was still very impressed by the quality of the animation.
As for why I didn’t appreciate, fun story (with SPOILERS! Consider yourself warned if you read further): at first I was super enthousiast because it looked like a story with giant zombies! I love zombie movies so giant zombies should be even better, right? So I watched 1st season, was great, then started the 2nd one, and the terrible truth struck me! I was tricked! This was NOT the zombie apocalypse it was posing as, it was simply yet another mecha story, with the only difference being that here the giant robots are made of flesh and bones instead of metal! I know they LOVE their mecha stories in Japan but it’s never been my thing (tired of the genre after having seen N. G. Evangelion and Soukyuu no Fafner) so I lost all interest in the series past season 2, after several characters revealed they had a titan to “pilot”…
Wow, that was awesome to watch! I was surprised to see so much paper in use. And it was so interesting to see the animators taking pics of themselves and each other for references.
Hmm…I never thought about that, but I guess you can really call it a mecha story in disguise
Although it’s odd how the giant Titan body apparently comes out of nowhere when they activate their power, but doesn’t disappear in the same way when the Titan gets defeated but the “pilot” escapes.
But that’s not really the reason why it’s not among my favourite animes either, it’s more the other rather popular theme in Japanese storyies. This whole world war scenario with all the devestation the upcoming industrialization adds to it, in this case mixed with this bizarre supernatural world order dominated by these Titans that’s (apparently) about to come to an end. And how fanatic everyone seems to be (I guess the art style enhances that impression quite a bit). I haven’t seen the end yet though…
But seeing that valley where the author grew up sure made it more comprehensible how he got the story idea…
Haha! Yes, the titan body grows out of their body like a tree or something, and at least they gave to science that such an outgrowth cannot be undone and absobed back, but the excess material has to fall at some point…
Though the fact that the “armor”, giant or not, appear “magically” around the hero, that’s really not new, it’s actually very common in Japanese “superhero” stories, from St Seiya to Power Rangers etc. The difference here is again the fact that it grows from their body, which goes with the particular organic nature of the mecha.
This is an interesting observation indeed They really are like mechs in some sense. It still feels different enough, and I think it’s more about everything else that pulls you in.
In case of AOT, there’s so much going on in this show. The story has a lot of mystery and there are many interesting characters. I think this is really what got me hooked. Also, the story really makes sense to me, there were maybe just a few things that seemed inconsistent (I’m not the type to nitpick too much). Plus the presentation is so superb, did I mention the music yet? Man, that’s epic too.
A lot of the time, music is my favourite part of an anime series.
For instance, I found Soukyuu no Fafner rather uninteresting but I still listen to the intro music Shangri-La regularly to this day!
Needless to say, this is one of the best anime series out there, so good, both the story and the animation, the art. Just wow.
This was equally illuminating, inspiring, and frightening, perhaps.
This takes a lot of work and dedication, which is a nice benchmark actually. A reality check of sorts 
I know they LOVE their mecha stories in Japan but it’s never been my thing (tired of the genre after having seen N. G. Evangelion and Soukyuu no Fafner) so I lost all interest in the series past season 2, after several characters revealed they had a titan to “pilot”… 
