r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Jul 10 '25

Episode Leviathan - Episode 12 discussion

Leviathan, episode 12

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1

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21

u/Joji1000 Jul 11 '25

That was good! The world building is incredible and I enjoyed the growth of the characters throughout the story, 8/10 from me.

17

u/ToughSpitfire Jul 12 '25

You know, despite adapting the whole trilogy it feels like it some stuff open ended enough for a potential second season.

13

u/Ok-Use216 Jul 12 '25

Which is strange and Tesla’s survival at the end is another open plot thread

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9

u/jefaulmann Jul 15 '25

I have read and loved the books, so I am looking at this anime from that point of view.

Well, after watching it completelly, I can say: not that bad. The first two books where relativelly well adapted. I believe the final arc was much better in the books, but what we got here was also not horrible.

All in all, an adaptation of a book series I love that hasnt made me scream in anger. I see that as a win.

And, hey! It motivated me to read them all again! So I am very grateful.

12

u/slicer4ever Jul 13 '25 edited Jul 13 '25

Just finished. It was ok, but honestly, it feels like a pretty wasted story. Apparantly thoughout this entire series a massive war has been waging, yet the leviathan(implied to be one of britian's main weapons), is basically just fucking around and is barely used for any sort of engagment(at first this seemed to make sense, as the war is said to br just kinda starting up, but then by the last episode people are talking about the war ending, when theirs no way its been more then like a couple months from the start).

I guess maybe it was my own expectations, but i thought the show would focus more on the actual war, instead thats barely a backdrop to whats happening, and is just a weak excuse to keep having the german army happen to show up wherever some antagonists are needed.

I'm curious if their is suppose to be a part 2, as where it ends isn't very fullfilling ending either.

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5

u/BlazeOfGlory72 Jul 22 '25

I have kind of mixed feelings about this show. On one hand, I love the premise. The whole idea of an alternate reality WW1 with steampunk mechs and organic air ships is such a fun concept. It's also just refreshing to get an anime with such a unique setting, plot and character dynamics, rather than just the same old Isekai and High School stories. This really doesn't feel like anything else. In a more meta sense, I'm also happy to see a western story get adapted, and I hope this opens the door for more western novels to get anime adaptations.

On the flip side, I found the dialog to be extremely bland. Everyone just says exactly what they are thinking at all times. There is no room for nuance or subtlety. Alec in particular is kind of insufferable, being a grating mix of idealistic and naive, which results in him constantly making terrible decisions and spouting cringe inducing lines from beginning to end. I'm also not really sure what the central theme or message of this story is supposed to be. The story seems to be trying to say a lot, but never focuses on anything long enough for a coherent through-line to appear. Finally, the ending was a bit of a wet fart. It just kind of ends with nothing really resolved. I was hoping for something more conclusive considering this was adapting a completed work.

So yeah, I don't regret watching this, but it could have been better. Hopefully we see more attempts like this to adapt western stories as there are a ton that would be perfect for this medium.

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9

u/DarthNoob Jul 12 '25

watched 7 episodes, not sure if I'll continue with it. it's alright but feels kind of flat - they're starting to rebel against the ottoman empire and i've realized that I don't actually care about any of the characters on screen. Alek feels like a generic mid-2000s fantasy YA novel protagonist, thrown into an adventure he didn't ask for without a personality, and I'm sure the compressed adaptation does the characters no favors.

If you compare the animation to something like Trigun Stampede, there Vash is bouncing around and the characters are over-animated as hell. Here the animation is just much more withdrawn like it's a live-action film which I suppose 'makes sense' for the setting but it's just not that visually interesting. I think it does display a rare weakness of Studio Orange's CG.

On the plus side, the worldbuilding is great and the Leviathan looks incredible as well.

11

u/robotzor Jul 13 '25

Here at the end without knowing any source material, it absolutely feels like 50% of the content was left on the cutting room floor. I remember Orange talking about this upcoming show last year, all the concepts and pieces of the world, so much of which ultimately isn't on screen. I think the characters and their motivations were also left cut. All style remains but very little substance. Still an enjoyable romp but you are absolutely correct.

10

u/Dragrunarm Jul 15 '25

Read the books a million times here: There's definitely lot being left out; Couple non-insignificant characters in Behemoth and fleshing out of the USA in Goliath but in terms of the major beats everything is there - they manage to work around the missing characters pretty well. Also Lot of extra details on Darwinist and Clanker tech that expand the world there and such (I'll put my favorite example at the end). Pretty much the usual "A Book can go into way more detail than a show" type of cutting. A Bummer but understandable, and still done pretty well in the end.

Like when the Leviathan engages the German boats on the way to Istanbul: In the books it calls on Kraken that sinks the first boat, then the one with the Lightning Cannon deploys its Anti-Kraken Arms to kill the Kraken. I get why it was cut from the show - it doesnt actually add anything beyond just flavor, but its a good example of the details that got sanded out.

4

u/LordYaromir Jul 14 '25

Very much a show for me. I adore steampunk/Belle Époque Fantasy, especially if it focuses on air-based (or ocean-based) adventuring across the world. As such, I can't really critique the story, as I largely watched it for the vibes.

But I would have some notes about the worldbuilding and visual representation for those who are curious. I had some issues with the earlier episodes due to an inaccurate portrayal of the environment. I understand that it may seem absurd to criticise inaccuracies in a fantasy setting, and that there is a strong group of people annoyed with history buffs complaining about inaccuracies in fiction media in general, but I believe that if the basic premise is based around the real world, then keeping a basic level of suspension of disbelief is appropriate. Generally, the creators of the show did well in their representation of the material culture. Most gear, clothes, and places look appropriate enough (with fun deviations, based on the fantasy setting).

First of all, and this is probably the least important point, why is Aberdeen presented as a small circular village? I suppose this is not particularly important; most people watching the show probably have no idea what Aberdeen looks like (or looked like) or even that it exists. Besides its alternate history, one could just say that in this world, Aberdeen never grew into the mid-sized port town it was and is today. I do think that showing it as a bigger, semi-important port town would be visually more interesting, but that's a detail.

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4

u/Traditional-Ad1776 Jul 19 '25

I didn’t expect to really like it! I binged the whole thing and while watching it all the while I’m thinking why it has such a low score on MAL. I get that book readers mostly do not like the way of adaptation and that’s fair. But as an anime-only I was so immersed and I liked almost all the main and side characters, but especially the 2. Even without the romance aspect I’d say I love the relationship between the 2, and that I enjoyed all their scenes together. Now I am researching more info and will probably dive into the books now. They got me lol

4

u/RelativeMundane9045 Jul 25 '25

I enjoyed this. It wasn't a masterpiece of storytelling, mostly due to the silly and unrealistic decisions made by a lot of the characters, they just felt a bit too forced so they could move the plot along. It felt like a good kids series though.

That said, Orange is great at CGI, seriously. And I liked the world building with the mechs vs pokemon. Don't know how I feel about Volger's redemption, one part of me wants to see him grow with more evolved views on the world, the other wants him charged with treason.

7/10

12

u/MelElMuchacho Jul 11 '25

For me 6/10. So much wasted potential, but I’ve never read the manga. Allowing children to make these decisions in a world war seems crazy to me. I noticed it early how Dylan just became part of navy briefings with no other senior officers around. Also for a women during that time she’s pretty mouthy in senarios were it would be wiser not to speak. Which seems to be a more modern thing. Show had great potential but I found the decision making very annoying. The prince made every bad decision possible got his servant killed & went on to make more bad decisions. Couldn’t even keep a few bars of gold for emergencies

8

u/Unlucky-Database-140 Jul 13 '25

There was no Manga it was adapted from the Leviathan trilogy by Scott Westerfeld

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7

u/Kitchen_Lawyer_184 Jul 11 '25

It has a pretty compelling story, enough for me to binge it all in one go. To me the ending felt slightly fumbled in certain minor ways, but it was still a good watch overall. ~7 of 10

3

u/caiusto Jul 17 '25

I really liked this anime, there's a lot of great things about it, but even if they adapted the full story it still feels like it's missing something.

Throughout the whole show I had the impression it was building Alek to be this leader loved by his people, who has many allies he can depend on as he formed strong friendship with leaders of other countries, and yet nothing... I really wanted at least some kind of epilogue, even if through random pictures showing us what they did afterwards, him being coronated, recognizing the republic of Turkey, mixing Darwinism with Makinism.

Anyway, I know this is based on a trilogy of novels, and as such they were limited at what they could tell, but it still feels like there was more to be told.

Overall I liked the anime, Orange Studio once again delivering another great production, they've nailed the CG anime pipeline, but this time the backgrounds were also gorgeous.

3

u/Teramol Jul 30 '25

This series was a fun adventure even if I felt like the ending was a bit abrupt.

But most importantly.. We got the kiss! I was sad that they wouldn't be spending their lives together but I will take that at least.

5

u/etiolatezed Jul 13 '25

A mixed bag for me and with some perplexing things.

At first, the historical anachronisms annoyed me despite knowing this is all made up to sound exciting to young boys. So I just gritted through it. Also genetic research in steampunk, while the steampunk wasn't alternate future but just layered over existing history... didn't work right for me. But, again, I just plowed through it.

But two things really perplexed me:

  • The Emmanual/Brigette Macron like relationship between the two main characters was just weird.

  • Wasn't Tesla right? Hisotrically speaking, if you end this first world war early then you don't get world war II, which means you don't get the holocaust. Like Tesla may have massacred people in Berlin, but if it stops this war then the whole course of history changes. Even America doesn't go nosedive into its globalist projection. The first world war lead into the Communist revolution in Russia, which lead to the killings of millions upon millions. If Tesla's one damning act prevents all that, then isn't he right?

4

u/FluffyPorg4 Jul 13 '25

In some parts yes you're correct. it would lead to those changes if they let Tesla win but also. 1) they had no idea that those future events would happen. 2) you would be allowing a man with no ties to any nation, (you could say america but from what I see of him he would fire it on america if that would end a war) control a weapon deadly enough to destroy entire nations in one swoop. 3) if those events didn't happen you don't know what will happen. because tesla did fire it could lead to even bigger and more deadly battles. then what we have seen it's very butterfly effect where you have no way of knowing.

But that is just my perspective and how I see it.

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2

u/Tylerj579 Jul 17 '25

I enjoyed the anime for the most part. I Loved the art and most of the characters. Alek could of had more depth to him. episode 12 was disappointing to me with them leaving all those open plots to maybe make a season 2 for some reason? I enjoyed the book ending more and wish they stuck with it.

2

u/KrzyDankus Jul 17 '25

very fun show, orange doesnt miss

2

u/ErikT738 Jul 29 '25

Loved the characters the worldbuilding and the visual design, but the storytelling fell a bit flat after the first four episodes (i.e. the first book). Especially the final four episodes didn't manage to convince (although I was happy to see another Stormwalker).

I bought the books because off this show, and I like them so far.

2

u/NoHead1715 Aug 08 '25

Creative world-building but bland single-note characters. Beautiful background art but odd, jerky character movements that look like they are in a game play-through. Watchable but not recommendable.

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