Review of Attack on Titan

I'll try to keep this review short, because I don't think there is much to be said. Also, English is not my first language, so please pardon my mistakes. Shingeki no Kyojin is basically the perfect anime to get people into anime. Great art, great soundtrack, great fighting choreography and interesting mysteries to be solved. However, the anime's weak spots lie on characters and plot. I'll explain why. Art - 9: There isn't much to be said here, this anime is famous for its art. The only reason why I didn't give it a 10 is due to minor visual glitches and some ugly CGI here andthere, but overall it's almost impeccable.

Sound - 10: One of the best soundtracks I've ever listened to, coupled with incredible SFX and immaculate voice acting. I love every single voice actor, and will never stop praising them. Opening and ending are also stellar.

Combat choreography - 8: This is something that was always great about Shingeki, but future seasons did it even better. For me, the only thing that keeps this aspect of the anime from receiving a 10 is the fact that posterior seasons manage to deliver fights that feel grand, while the first season can't. Combat scenes always feel like the main cast of 5 characters are actually fighting while dummies die around them. I'm not sure how to explain this, but it feels like the extra characters are simply incapable of fighting and exist solely for the purpose of standing still in place while screaming as titans approach them and kill them. It doesn't feel realistic. However, the proper fights for me more than compensate for this. I don't even need to talk about further seasons, simply perfection.

Plot - 6 and characters - 4: The glaring flaws of season 1. I've watched posterior seasons, and I understand why so many mysteries were kept unanswered. The problem is: 25 episodes is an excessive number when nothing important happens. It should've been a 12-16 ep season. The pacing is terrible, and leaves you feeling bored around 30 to 40% of the time while watching the anime. The good portions compensate for the boring ones, definitely, but it wouldn't be fair to pretend they doesn't exist. Every single time you're interested on the story, there is a 2 episode gap of absolutely nothing where nothing important happens. The atrocious pseudo-character-development makes everything worse, because not only the plot goes nowhere for 40% of the time, but the characters go nowhere for like 60%, and, when they do, 50% of the time they revert the development for no reason. I could mention examples, but better reviews already accomplished this for me, so I won't bother. Thankfully, all 3 aspects (plot, pacing and characters) improved DRASTICALLY from season 2 on, so that's great.

Enjoyment - 8: Overall it's a great anime, I recommend it for anyone, regardless of your gender, age (as long as you're above like 8 or so), experience with other anime or familiarity with Japanese culture. It is not settled in Japan, and therefore has almost no reliance on cultural references that are hard for foreigners to get. The premise is interesting, the art is eye-popping...so yeah, just watch this sh*t.