Quote Originally Posted by Pandadice View Post
But you also seem to be saying what Kraco said, which puts the show in a new light for me. The idea that the show is supposed to be viewed negatively I think is a really cool way to approach it. So we're more watching Orwell's 1984 rather than some army ad glorifying the awesomeness of violence. Redescribed this way, I might actually finish out the series.
At the end of the day this is still a product of the entertainment business, nothing more. So, if you don't find it entertaining, there should be zero reason to watch it. It's not like we were talking about some masterpieces of Nobel awarded world literature here and we were all students of literature that have to read a bunch of those and write long studies of their underlying messages and backgrounds. However, obviously you are mainly, at this point, going to get replies from people who are enjoying this show, more or less, (not having dropped it), and thus they are likely to defend it.

Quote Originally Posted by Pandadice View Post
Yeah, I really don't like Eren, and you basically nailed down way. But I will agree that it is better to look at the characters with more complexity rather than trying to write them off on oversimplifications. (But still, I do have a problem with Mikasa's psychopathy).
I reckon Mikasa's psychopathy is there simply because this is an anime based on a manga. Her sort of characters will enjoy considerable popularity among the readers, and no doubt among the authors themselves, so you should take it as such. It's a popularity device, an anime trope, a moe agent. I don't find her particularly realistic in the bigger setting, but her inborn kung fu and everything else kind of make her so unbelievable that you just have to accept her and like her or let it bother you to no end. Fortunately I liked her instantly.

I actually liked Eren being more single-mindedly interested in revenge and striking back against the titans. Too few people really seemed to want that, being ridiculously content living behind the walls while 99.999999999% of the world was apparently ruled by the titans. Because of that the city was also so twisted: The king and government are only interested in maintaining their petty domain and the fragile status quo. It looks like not much effort had been invested in emergency resources or fighting the titans since some initial burst of innovation a long time ago when the 3D gear was first developed. Obviously a political revolution would benefit mankind the most, to get rid of the king who reserves the best fighters for his own protection from other humans rather than using them to fight titans, but that would be beyond Eren.