Review of Attack on Titan

I'm still trying to put my thoughts together on this. Given how much I've heard about this show I'm surprised to see there's a fair amount of critical reviews about the show. Not necessarily outright negative, but critical nonetheless. The main reasons of criticism revolve mainly around the characters and story, which I can understand to some extent, but the amount to which they will affect the viewing experience is totally subjective. *Spoilers* going forward. For me, this show completely blew me away. I had such a fun time watching this. The biggest thing about this show that drew me in was the world building. Thecreators make this world feel alive and lived in, setting up almost every aspect of this survivalist society. The corruption, terror, and uncertainty is fully displayed alongside the heroism and struggles they all face. Every decision has a fallout of some sort and each death is impactful, whether individually or collectively. The political struggles are well defined, the undercurrents within the common citizenry are touched upon, and other facets such as religion are shown giving this world a wholistic and well-rounded feel to it. I liked how each episode would pause to give a little information about their equipment or the history prior to the show. (I'm assuming they were placed there to create a bit of a smoother transition between commercial breaks though).

As to the characters, I found them to be pretty believable. Eren is largely by the death of his mother and the destruction of his home, so having such a deep seated hatred of the titans is not too far-fetched. And I won't deny the fact that he has hardly any character development though. That said, I do think that the show is more a story about how Eren reacts to the events surrounding him rather than a story about Eren changing in response to those events. For some people that may be frustrating, but I've been able to tolerate stagnant character as long as the show excels at other aspects, such as the world building. I'm a little worried at how psychopathic Eren gets when he's a titan. His mental stability will no doubt be a concern for everyone else in the following seasons. I also found Mikasa and Armin to be believable as well. I mean, I doubt there would be hardly anyone who would not feel slightly overprotective of the last person they could call a family-member after seeing both their biological parents get slaughtered, their surrogate mother eaten by a titan, and their surrogate father go mad. Although there isn't much progression, I found Eren and Mikasa's dynamic to be interesting. And I actually didn't like Armin much in the beginning of the show. He was too indecisive and I justified that judgement since he had experienced a titan attack before in the beginning of the show, so he should have at least been able to somewhat process that horror over the following five years. But when faced with titans again during the attack on Trost, he completely loses it and nearly gets killed. After that he got a lot better though. He's a great catalyst and motivator for Eren.

Concerning the story, I've seen criticisms that its predictable and I mean, the only thing you can fault the show with being predictable about is the fact that Annie was a titan. I mean, I thought a lot of the deaths came out of no where and the conclusions to the arcs kind have to turn out the way they did so that the story could progress. For instance, it's not the fault of the show nor can you fault if for being predictable when Eren closed up the gap in the wall at Trost. That's like saying a movie is predictable because the good guys win. I also didn't think the show was that slow at all. There was only one episode out of the entire twenty-five episodes that I thought was a little boring, but other than that I loved how some of the slower episodes were able to further build the world. The show also does a really good job at bringing up a lot of important questions and leaving them unanswered without making the story feel nonsensical or confusing.

But my goodness the animation. I personally like the art style of the show. The bold lining sets this show out from some other shows I've seen and the actions scenes are so well constructed. The equipment and style of fighting in this show really lends itself to incredibly dynamic and insane action sequences. The last two episodes especially really popped off. I really love how Levi and Mikasa's fighting styles are differentiated from the other scouts. The sound design is also used really well in conjunction with the animation to make all of the actions like the shooting of grappling hooks, punches, and slices to feel impactful and real. I mean, that's the point of sound design, but the creators went above and beyond really selling every effect in this show.

Also, the OST in this show is heavenly. It's epic and weighty helping convey the heavy tone and atmosphere of the show. I absolutely loved the OP and ED of the first cour. They were really good songs. And the OST has loads of bangers.

One of the most compelling things about this show is how they convey the conflict with the titans. The first thing we learn is that they eat humans, which is pretty terrifying, but then we learn that they don't ever die from hunger, so no matter how long humans stay away from them, they won't go away unless humanity drives them to extinction, which only puts titans on the path to eating more people. But then we learn that they don't actually need to eat but are just merciless killing machines that have no apparent reason for their slaughter of humans. And then the final blow is that they don't digest, so they just vomit everyone they've eaten once they've consumed too much. It's just one disheartening fact after another that really conveys how dreadful humanity's struggle against the titans really is. The show reveals to you how little hope there really is and that makes the realization that there are people who can transform into titans, but that they fight against humanity, even more disheartening. Although they could help humanity, which is slowly losing, they have chosen to cause further pain and devastation for everyone around them. I'm honestly at a complete loss as to why people like Annie would turn on humanity. I have no doubt that will be revealed in the later seasons though.

Overall, I was just blown away. The atmosphere and world building are by far the strongest aspects of this show. Can't wait to continue the show. I'm really glad I started this before season four comes out. Also, on a side note, I legitimately feel that the scariest moment in the show was when Annie burst out laughing before she transformed into a titan.