Review of Attack on Titan

This is how you make an anime. This was written after my second go around at the show and let me tell you, it still holds up. I will be keeping spoilers to just the first season (I don't now how you haven't already seen this but alright). Spoilers Ahead! Attack on Titan, Shingeki no Kyojin, whatever is quite the joyride of a show. It entirely focuses on the struggle between Titans and Humans. Titans being unintelligent (mostly), all-consuming monsters that resemble humans but lie so well in the uncanny valley that it works to amplify their horror factor. Our main protagonists, Eren, Armin and Mikasa allbear witness to the destruction of their livelihoods, home, and pride as in the first episode, titans wreck shit in Shinganshina. Eren's mother is killed in front of him, its a fairly brutal first episode. What follows is one of the best subversions of shonen cliches. We go through a two episode training arc until our characters, after five whole years after Shinganshina got fucked and three years of military training, are stationed in Trost. The mood is upbeat in the fourth episode, where they completed training. You feel like humanity might just start winning with these rookies, Eren in particular. He's the main character! Nope, fuck you. Everything gets their shit kicked in the next two episodes. You're reminded that no one is immortal, flawless, or safe. Eren gets everyone in his squad killed save for Armiin and he himself is eaten and "dies" in the fifth episode. This is genius. Nobody is safe from the titans, nobody. You fuck up, you die. You run out of gas, you die. You miss, you die. Your name is Marco, you die. You get the point, this world has rules and sticks to them. No bullshit. Shonen protag edge won't save you here. The show sets up Titans as tangible threats. The Trost Arc is one of my favorites in the series, it is so brutal and honest. There are rays of hope in this world but you have to see them. Where some cower, others run, some fight, most die. Mikasa internalizes her pain and sends herself on a damn near suicide mission, choosing not to show her grief at losing the last bit of family she had. Her and Eren's backstory gets explained and she realizes that she must live, for him. As she stands up to fight the titan approaching her, a bigger, buffer titan comes in and beat the shit out of it. Eren's back. The rest of the arc covers how they seal up the breach in the wall, Eren learning to control his titan, and the rest of the military learning to trust him (hint, hint, they don't). It's seriously good shit and doesn't overstay it's welcome. I'm really happy this arc happened, if the entire show was just Trost-esque arcs, I would be very bored. But again, it didn't overstay it's welcome and served it's purpose as a great hook and rule setter for the show. There are titan shifters that exhibit intelligence, you will die if you aren't smart, and people die a lot in this world.
The rest of the season is a bit more of a mixed bag. In my opinion, it got better upon rewatching it but it lacks the magic of the Trost arc. What it did do really well was set up characters. You get to meet Erwin, Levi, Hanji, and Levi Squad. This was a lot more character focused than Trost. Unfortunately, these characters don't get the character development that happens in later seasons, this isn't known as the rollercoaster ride for nothing, this show doesn't let you fucking breathe. The scouting mission was good, great learning exercise for Eren and built on the world more. The Annie reveal was really good and led to more mystery in the show going forward. Enough story shit, 8/10, I liked it.

This show looks great, the animation is consistently great. The backgrounds are breathtaking. You get the point, this show is a looker and I'll be damned if I didn't say it greatly helped the show hook me. The ODM gear really allows for incredible one shot action that I haven't seen replicated anywhere else (other than Attack on Titan itself). 9.5/10

The soundtrack ranges to upbeat, frenetic, or absolutely beautiful. Vogel Im Kafig is one of my favorite songs ever. Hiroyuki Sawano composed one of the greatest soundtracks of any anime. Coming from someone who has a distaste for orchestral scores, I think this soundtrack kills it, not in spite of the orchestra, but because of it. It takes full advantage of it all, synth, vocals, and orchestra. And the thing is, he only gets better as time goes on. 10/10.

I really enjoyed this show, like unbelievably so. I wrote it off as a generic show "just about killing titans" and that classic anime was superior in every way. Once I stopped being an asshat elitist, I watched more and more modern anime (beginning with Sword Art Online, I know). I still had my preconception about this show being stupid and popular for no particular reason. I knew next to nothing about Attack on Titan. What caused me to consider watching it was a Dogen livestream wherein he mentioned reading the manga and loving it. That puzzled me. I added it to my plan to watch and then went to bed. Then a few days later, I was watching some YouTubers talking about Attack on Titan the Final Season and how everyone should watch it. Since I liked these guys, I stopped watching the video and proceeded to marathon all of Attack on Titan up to that point (AoT FS Episode 8) totally blind. I seriously doubted they could make an entire show about "killing titans" for four whole seasons while remaining interesting. I was so wrong. Everything I thought I knew about the show was shattered. I never gave it the benefit of the doubt until it was literally before my eyes. I thought the whole show would be like Trost. Couldn't have been more wrong. I found genuine beauty in each and every season. Everyone was right, I was the stupid one. The ride was breathtaking, heart-wrenching, and without a doubt, an experience I couldn't shake. That was just how I felt about Season 1. Without a doubt, my enjoyment was a 10/10, in light of all the story issues (it was a great setup, decent story on it's own), the pacing, and the lack of character for the most part. I had a blast and I hope you will too.

Attack on Titan rightfully deserves it's place in the sun. 8.9/10