Review of Attack on Titan

Attack on Titan is a series that is held in very high regard by the majority of the anime community, thus I found it a little strange how I struggled to finish the series for so long. This series found itself fluctuating between my on hold and watch list, and for quite a while it found itself on my back burner due to its quite abysmal pacing through its first half and the large amount of one dimensional characters. However the series truly does shine during its very well done action sequences and how it is able to create an interesting world. There willbe some spoilers in this review.

The story of Attack on Titan is fueled by a lust for revenge by our main character, Eren Jaeger who wishes to kill all the Titans. This is his defining trait, and drives him to eventually enlist in the military and join the Recon Corps. I wish I could say that is character is fleshed out more as the story goes on, but he is mostly driven by his desires for justice and revenge and sees little developmental change from the start to beginning. The story creates an excellent atmosphere of hopelessness right from the beginning, and is well done through the savage depictions of violence by the Titans and the twisted horror that is often seen on the faces of characters as they attempt to fight in vain or survey the death and destruction around them. The narrative then shifts introducing us to an ensemble cast of characters and focuses on their training as they attempt to join the most prestigious ranks of the military.
Almost all of the characters can be summed up with one quick sentence, such as Mikasa who, really likes Eren and is one of the top recruits, she is able to cut down Titans with ease. Her fondness of Eren is her only defining trait, it is the reason behind almost all her actions and in fact her screaming "Eren!" could be argued to make up a healthy amount of her lines. Armin is the physically weak but smart kid who comes up with the majority of plans that the group uses, and befriended Eren because he used to stick up for him when he was bullied. Almost all the characters are fairly one dimensional, except for Jean one of my favorite characters from the show who goes through a fairly significant change in his outlook as the show goes on. I also wanted to learn a lot more about Annie and her motives, finding her to be an extremely interesting character to watch, especially as the show continues on.
The story progresses very slowly, the battles are stretched out over several episodes and are sometimes inter-cut with a lot more dialogue than necessary. This sometimes makes the series really feel like it's dragging on, and the reason I had trouble watching the show. It felt the battle of Trost was simply never going to end, despite the fact that there were a lot of interesting developments and some excellent battle scenes, as well as a great veil of despair and hopelessness that surrounded the human's as they fought the Titans. This leads to one of my biggest problems I had watching the series, the fact that Eren has the ability to turn into a Titan. This negated the air of despair that the series had so intricately crafted and gave our main hero a super powerful form that instantly turned the tide of the battle. Also when we watch series there is a degree of believability that we all have, and I found it difficult to believe that even in the fantasy world of AoT, Eren could turn into a hulking giant simply by biting his thumb. I would have much rather have seen Eren and humanity struggle and fight against these unstoppable foes rather than gain such a game-changing ability.

I found that the second half of the series solved some of the pacing problems of the first with the introduction of the mysterious female Titan, seeing such a powerful enemy and the vain attempts to take it down drove the feeling of desperation that humanity is feeling. Having a set goal in the second half helped drive the narrative forward and it was highlighted by some great action scenes, as well as some well though out plans that are able to be triggered. The death and destruction that humanity faces is once again brought front and center, and is what makes the series so interesting as humanity faces a clearly superior foe. The series really hits its stride when it shows the psychological as well as the physical effects that the Titans have on the population, and crafts an interesting that leaves you wondering about the Titans, the walls, and makes you questions if humanity will be able to overcome its slow extinction. Attack on Titan sports some top notch action this is only amplified by its haunting soundtrack, and sets up an excellent atmosphere and world for the viewer to enjoy. However it is bogged down by slow pacing and a large cast of one dimensional characters, which isn't always a bad thing, but I expected to see much more significant development with the main cast. Overall the series is an intriguing one that is highlighted by some fantastic action, but will try your patience as the narrative crawls along.