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[shadenight123]

@Toonyman: there are TWO sequels of Grisaia, the problem being that they are both yet to be translated.
one is 'labyrinth' which has Yuji's past AND 'after-story' for the routes. The last one instead is..can't recall it, but they are both out in japan...
If only I knew how to read Japanese...argh!

[Urist McDepravity]

the problem being that they are both yet to be translated.

Well, koestl said that it shouldn't take too long for him to tl them and its reasonable to expect release of at least one of them within year.

[Solifuge]

Accidentally marathoned my way through Episode 6 of Shingeki no Kyojin last night. I did not expect that. Then I REALLY did not expect what followed. Then I was all like "You can't do that... it completely goes against the Plot Forumla!"

Well done, show. Well done.

[ToonyMan]

EDIT:
I really wouldn't mind if they continued Makina's Good End in some way.  I can't believe it ends just like that.

Well, there's afterstory in Meikyuu.

Oh, yay.

@Toonyman: there are TWO sequels of Grisaia, the problem being that they are both yet to be translated.
one is 'labyrinth' which has Yuji's past AND 'after-story' for the routes. The last one instead is..can't recall it, but they are both out in japan...
If only I knew how to read Japanese...argh!

I knew there were sequels.  I wouldn't know what they covered though.  I assumed they continued just one of the routes linearly or something.

[Tellemurius]

Preparing for Macross night for saturday, going to start with the first series movie (Do You Remember Love?), Macross Plus the movie,and then start into Macross 7 tv series. Keep Macross Frontier on the backburner incase we need something more recent.

[Sirus]

Accidentally marathoned my way through Episode 6 of Shingeki no Kyojin last night. I did not expect that. Then I REALLY did not expect what followed. Then I was all like "You can't do that... it completely goes against the Plot Forumla!"

Well done, show. Well done.

Yeah, that was pretty awesome.

Now for an unrelated note: does it bug anyone else how much anime breaks the rule of "show, don't tell"? Let's take SnK/AoT for an example. Remember that prologue action sequence? Two dozen elite scouts go up against a single Titan, at night when they're supposed to be slow and sluggish. It barely even seems to take notice of the scouts or horses. The last moment we see of the battle, one of the scouts is perfectly set up and moving in for the kill.

Then next we see them, they took 80% casualties? Utterly failed to kill it? What, did they all throw themselves under the titan's feet? We never see what the fuck happened, but it just makes them look utterly incompetent.

Another example, further in the series and thus spoilered:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Garrison has one job: hang out on the Wall out of reach and lure the titans over. We've seen that the titans will try to go after people even if they're on the very top of the wall, let along hanging on the side. Should be perfectly easy, no lives lost unless someone's gear fails and they plummet to their doom. No fighting involved. Yet they took over 200 casualties? How the hell do you screw that up so badly?

These two examples, along with a dozen other cases of horrific tactical thinking, makes it seem like humans are being wiped out due to their own stupidity rather than any real threat the titans represent. Maybe the manga is different.

[Vector]

Or it underlines that they're throwing themselves at suicide missions (as is supported in dialogue), and we're supposed to ask what it means for Eren to want that so badly, and why this is a societally supported institution.  Understanding that humanity is in grave danger meshes well with the data we later learn about the walls.  That is what they're showing, rather than telling.

Furthermore, if we had seen they being wiped out, would we care?  No.  Because this is Eren's story, so we have to understand the Titans through Eren, which means that we, like he, only see casualties and crying mothers, until the day Zhiganshina falls.

This is showing rather than telling.  It's just showing you something you don't expect, because like any good monster story this isn't a story about the Titans, it's a story about human response to an existential threat.

[Tellemurius]

Accidentally marathoned my way through Episode 6 of Shingeki no Kyojin last night. I did not expect that. Then I REALLY did not expect what followed. Then I was all like "You can't do that... it completely goes against the Plot Forumla!"

Well done, show. Well done.

Yeah, that was pretty awesome.

Now for an unrelated note: does it bug anyone else how much anime breaks the rule of "show, don't tell"? Let's take SnK/AoT for an example. Remember that prologue action sequence? Two dozen elite scouts go up against a single Titan, at night when they're supposed to be slow and sluggish. It barely even seems to take notice of the scouts or horses. The last moment we see of the battle, one of the scouts is perfectly set up and moving in for the kill.

Then next we see them, they took 80% casualties? Utterly failed to kill it? What, did they all throw themselves under the titan's feet? We never see what the fuck happened, but it just makes them look utterly incompetent.

Another example, further in the series and thus spoilered:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Garrison has one job: hang out on the Wall out of reach and lure the titans over. We've seen that the titans will try to go after people even if they're on the very top of the wall, let along hanging on the side. Should be perfectly easy, no lives lost unless someone's gear fails and they plummet to their doom. No fighting involved. Yet they took over 200 casualties? How the hell do you screw that up so badly?

These two examples, along with a dozen other cases of horrific tactical thinking, makes it seem like humans are being wiped out due to their own stupidity rather than any real threat the titans represent. Maybe the manga is different.

episode 6 manga-wise? the walls were safe (excluding breathing down armored titan) but most people were pulled back to defend the section.

[Sirus]

Or it underlines that they're throwing themselves at suicide missions (as is supported in dialogue), and we're supposed to ask what it means for Eren to want that so badly, and why this is a societally supported institution.  Understanding that humanity is in grave danger meshes well with the data we later learn about the walls.  That is what they're showing, rather than telling.

Furthermore, if we had seen they being wiped out, would we care?  No.  Because this is Eren's story, so we have to understand the Titans through Eren, which means that we, like he, only see casualties and crying mothers, until the day Zhiganshina falls.

This is showing rather than telling.  It's just showing you something you don't expect, because like any good monster story this isn't a story about the Titans, it's a story about human response to an existential threat.

What I mean is that they failed to show how they're screwing up so badly, how the scouting missions are getting wiped out so often. These missions don't have to be anywhere near as suicidal as they seem to be, if what I've been able to gather via the show and TVTropes means anything.

Remember when one of Eren's squadmates is about to be eaten? He still has both of his swords AND both arms free, and yet all he does is sort of wave them threateningly. He could have cut himself free with ease; another character does it in maybe half a second! Eren's freaking broken-legged unarmed mother puts up more of a struggle! Titans with someone in their grip are seemingly oblivious to anything else and take all the time in the world to start eating, meaning it should be easy for another squadmate to swoop in for the rescue! And yet they insist on dying like flies in situations where none of them needed to or should have died.

I dunno, maybe I'm overthinking this. I can willingly suspend disbelief for the abilities of the titans, the maneuver gear, certain spoilers...just about everything except for how the humans keep fucking up situations that should be un-fuckupable.

[Solifuge]

Eren's freaking broken-legged unarmed mother puts up more of a struggle!

Sidenote: Notice how she kicked her legs as she struggled?

She was lying about having broken legs.

[Vector]

What I mean is that they failed to show how they're screwing up so badly, how the scouting missions are getting wiped out so often.

They're scared.  They're lacking in courage, remember?  "Fear is the mind-killer" and all that.

Sidenote: Notice how she kicked her legs as she struggled?

She was lying about having broken legs.

Yeah.  I also loved how she forced herself not to tell them to come back (I'd figured something was up when she wasn't making horrible wounded noises over her crushed legs).  That was amazing...

[quinnr]

Eren's freaking broken-legged unarmed mother puts up more of a struggle!

Sidenote: Notice how she kicked her legs as she struggled?

She was lying about having broken legs.

...WHOA. Thanks for pointing that out, wouldn't have noticed that myself. Wow.

[Sirus]

Eren's freaking broken-legged unarmed mother puts up more of a struggle!

Sidenote: Notice how she kicked her legs as she struggled?

She was lying about having broken legs.

I did notice that, actually. I assume she either lied or somehow managed to kick despite the pain and brokeness.

[Solifuge]

Not sure if you've had/seen seriously broken bones before, but it's not that you can't move the limb because of pain. You can't move them because the muscles and tendons are connected to bone fragments, and don't have anything solid to move against anymore. Basically, crushed limbs are noodles made out of meat.

[Flying Dice]

Leaving aside the obvious explanation of conservation of ninjutsu, there's also what we see of the training in the series. I don't recall any sort of psych evaluation or training to help the soldiers better cope with the sort of existential crisis that comes along with fighting inhuman monstrosities that exist (apparently) solely to eat you and everyone you know. That, and in the training montage episodes they apparently don't train in small-group tactics, but rather compete for the kills, as in the combat exercise in the forest with the dummy Titans. They aren't preparing their soldiers for the shock of seeing friends and comrades killed and eaten, and they aren't training them to work together as a cohesive unit.

That, and with a few exceptions the most skilled recruits are also the farthest from the front lines. This exacerbates the issue by removing skilled fighters from the battle. Their front-line soldiers are a combination of the borderline-suicidal recon corps, composed primarily of those who are lucky enough to live long enough to become skilled fighters, and the wall guard, composed primarily of the mediocre recruits (who have apparently not been taught even basic squad tactics).

They don't fight as cohesive units, they fight as individuals. They are more warrior than soldier, and in a situation where combat is a very high-risk situation, most aren't going to live very long. That leaves aside those who abandon their posts to hide, and those who do the same to blindly attack. When they engage a Titan or group of the same, they all charge individually and swarm them. It doesn't explain everything away, but it goes a long way.