Review of Attack on Titan

The Video Review is up on my channel, but here is the Written Review. The most hyped anime of 2013, Shingeki no Kyojin, but you may know it as, Attack on Titan. Story - 8/10 100 Years prior before the main story, Titans, giant humanoid things appeared out of nowhere and started feasting on humanity for no reason at all, nearly wiping them to extinction. The remaining humans live inside huge gigantic walls, separating them from titans. Cut to present day, humans are living in peace away from the titans to the point where some have never seen a titan before and therefor never experienced the fear oftitans. That is until a giant Colossal Titan suddenly appears and breaks down the wall, and all the other titans come in and have a buffet.

Eren Jaegar, one of the inhabitants inside the wall witnesses his mother being eaten by a titan, he decides to make a pledge, and that pledge is to get revenge on the titans. So and he and his friends Mikasa Ackerman and Armin Arlert join the military so they can fight the titans. The story seems simple at first, but later on gets interesting, not going to spoil it because it’s a pretty big spoiler and it makes you believe it’s something, but shows you something completely different.

One colossal problem with Attack on Titan story is it’s pacing. The show has a tendency, well to drag for long stretches. It is broken into arcs, but they are really long arcs for what they were trying to do. For instance, they take quite a while to move a rock. They take their time to find someone and don’t actually start fighting titans properly till 5 episodes in.

Characters - 8/10

There’s a lot of characters in Attack on Titan, and all them pretty much don’t have plot armor. And because of that reason, I’m only really going to talk about the 3 main characters and a bonus character.

Let’s start off with the main protagonist, Eren Jaegar. Eren is driven by a desire to kill titans, and thus making him the most dangerous human around, because his motives are so blood thirsty. Because of this, you find it really hard to like him because he really only has one motivation, and his character develops very slowly overtime as he learns it’s just not all about killing titans. He grows as he interacts with friends and teammates, learning to become a leader, although that does take a while.

Next on the list is Mikasa Ackerman, the natural born badass of the series. Mikasa is shown and described to be equal to 100 soldiers. She does not hesitate when it comes to the protection of Eren, as she was given the mission to protect him for life, by any means. Because her character is depicted as a quiet monotone unstoppable soldier, her character is not really that interesting outside of that. She’s got an interesting past, but I found that the past doesn’t really matter too much in a world like Attack on Titan. She’s pretty much there to be the badass character of the series, but then someone else comes along later as well.

And lastly out of the main characters we have Armin Arlet. Unlike the other two I just mentioned, Armin is a coward, and not physically combat ready. He serves as the weakest of the two, but however he is the brains, as he formulates plans for his friends and how to get around titans. At first, I hated Armin, because he was just a whiny character and didn’t take any action, but however he learns over time that he isn’t burden, however that path takes a while, and the longer it takes, the more I start hating him.

Another character I started hating but loving overtime, was Jean Kirstein. Jean is a complete coward and he admits it as well. He only joins the military in order to gain the prosperity of always being inside the inner walls and thus saving himself and shielding himself from the titans. He literally speaks his mind and doesn’t give a damn about what he said even if there is no honour in it. But you see him develop greatly over time, and you can actually love his character.

When there’s a lot of characters in show like Attack on Titan, and with the amount of people getting killed in the show as well, you’re going expect some throwaway characters. Honestly there were many characters that died in Attack on Titan, I felt from little to nothing for them, because they weren’t interesting or as likeable. However they do also have an array of likeable characters that you don’t want to die as well, it’s just that the ones who were killed, were not given much screen time before their timely death.

Animation and Sound - 9/10, 9/10

For the art style, it uses I would say somewhat simple, yet effective art style. For the characters they are surrounding by a thick black stroke, to really highlight them as individuals. Because of this art style, it really shows the terror in the characters eyes the moment they face a titan, it’s almost scary to a point. The designs on titans are probably some of the most disturbing horrific faces I’ve ever seen. And if they were intentionally doing that, they’ve made faces of terror alright. The part where the anime really shines, is during the sequences when the characters use the 3D Maneuver Gear. You see them zipping across the city like Spiderman making it really free flow. These action sequences are the best part of the animation, it flows so well if the style, and fits really well with the theme, as they’re fighting for freedom and these 3DM Gear lets them do that. Seriously that thing is dope.

For the soundtrack, I’d say it goes really well with the themes and scenes of the show. It really has this military feel orchestra. When there a moments in the anime there is a slight feel of hope and achievement, the music goes very well with that. And when everything goes bad and destruction and agonizing is happening, the music shifts perfectly to accompany it. Plus the opening song is amazing, gets you really pump by literally its first line, however it does get replace half way in, by an opening not as good as the first, but it grows over time.

Enjoyment - 9/10

When a show is overhyped like Attack on Titan, you go in thinking it’s the greatest anime of all time. Even though it’s not the greatest anime of all time it’s definitely worth the hype. The story gets really interesting as the series progress. It starts off simple so that anyone can enjoy and follow on. It was really fun watching the 3DM gear in action and watching your characters develop and hoping they don’t die was great as well. The soundtrack is really fun to watch and sing as well, especially that first opening. There’s a lot of things to like about Attack on Titan, also from the fact even though most of the characters are still in the teens, they’re really mature. And I enjoy the mature themes in this anime. However if you are looking for something silly, this is not it. Although some of the titans movements really kill the mood sometimes.

Verdict - 8.5

As for the story on Attack on Titan, I give it an 8, for I believe it starts off simple, but gets interesting later on. However that does take a while, and there are parts of the story where it does drag.

For the Animation and Sound I give them a 9, for I think the animation style may not appeal to some people. However it is a well animated series, especially during any action sequences with the 3DM gear, it doesn’t drop. And the art style really fits the mood of the show. The soundtrack is also great complimenting the style as well. Plus the epic opening theme.

For characters I give it an 8. If the writers were able to make me hate characters so much and love them in the end, they’ve done something right with them. Even some do take a while to develop, they do become interesting. However the ones that did die, I really couldn’t care to much for them, as I didn’t find them as interesting as the ones I did.

For my own personal enjoyment, I give it an 9, because I really love action anime, and this is definitely worth the hype. The story got really interesting to the point where I spoiled myself and read the manga. There’s also so much epic scale sequences in the anime where it really gets your heart racing.

And after rounding that all up, I give Attack on Titan an 8.5/10. And I recommended if you’re a fan of full scale epic war fought battles, this is a great anime to watch. It is a well animated series. However I also recommended this anime to anyone wanting to get into anime, as its simple start up is easy to grasp. And it being an action anime as well, can really appeal to many people.