Review of Attack on Titan

To start this review, I must mention that I am as I write this (26.4.2020) up to speed on the latest manga, so my view will definitely be a bit influenced by the knowledge of future events. I will therefor split this review in 2 parts. In the first one I will try to write a classic review based only on THIS SEASON. In the second one I will take into concideration the future events, which MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS although I will try to avoid it as much as possible. Do not read the second part if you do not want to know what´s tocome.

To finally start the first section I must definitely mention the first opening 紅蓮の弓矢 (Guren no Yumiya), which is in my opinion one of the greatest openings of all time and sets the mood amazingly. The story itself is not something special in my opinion in this season, but is definitely not bad. Another aspect I must commend is the world this story is set in. It is bleak and often even terrifying, portraing realistic flawed humanity. This makes the story an emotional rollercoaster making every victory hit really well. The amazing art only enhances these aspects. This may be only my personal opinion, but the art in the first half of this season might be the best I have yet to see in anime. The titans are really unsetteling and I found the Smiling titan absolutely terrifying. The action is therefore also great, often flowing in one long take, which makes it seem really fluent.
The next thing which really made me like the anime are most of the characters. To give precise examples I really think Jean, Hannes and Armin are the best characters this season. Even characters like Pixis and Erwin who do not get much screentime are well defined, which is amazing. The only problem with characters was the main protagonist Eren, who remained fairly one-dimentional and could have been much better handeled based on his backstory.
As to the ending, I think it was a great way to end this season, seting up further world- and character buliding.
To conclude this first part, I would defiinitely recommend to watch.

Now I will start the second review, so DO NOT READ FURTHER if you do not want any spoilers.

Something I really loved were the scenes with the titan shifters which all made sence with or without the knowledge of further story. This added so much more to all the scenes. Every scene with Reiner and Berthold had entirely different meanig then on the first watch when you knew who they really were. Even the Ymir scenes were a tiny bit better and made me remember them much more than without.
One thing that didn´t really make sence on its own this season was the reletionship between Eren and Mikasa, but I get it would be difficult to set it up without spoiling the greater twists further ahead.

I definitely recommend even the rewatch of this season when you know the whole story.