Review of Attack on Titan

I’ve seen the series a decade ago when it started airing, I read the manga when it ended and here I am back again rewatching the series from start to finish. I’ve forgotten how intense the first season of the anime was. The action starts right away and it’s nonstop. Along with a huge cast of characters there were some amazing side characters and some amazing side-side characters. It’s great how this anime handles its random side characters. Plot: At my first watch a decade ago I thought the plot was great but not anything spectacular, but after seeing the series end and witnessing all the worldand plot building, I think the plot of this season was amazing and all the tiny details were pretty cool. This anime made giants popular as horror movie monsters. I swear if Hollywood makes any movie with giants, we’ll just call it an Attack on Titan rip off. The world building is amazing, even though the first season is more based in action and giants, there are subtle hints at the world building, and it slowly establishes itself. The idea of walls, the cities and districts, the different factions within their army/police are done very well. I have to give the plot a 10/10.

Characters:
Let’s get straight to the facts: the main trio of characters are a bit shonenish, but the side characters are a treat. After rewatching this for the third time I paid more attention to the side characters and I have to say they are very well done. People like ‘Alpha squad (Rico Brzenska, Ian Dietrich)’, ‘Levi Squad (Oluo Bozado, Petra Ral)’ were written really well. They had their own unique personalities. Apart from the main characters and the side-side characters. The main side characters had a good part too, I’d also forgotten how much part Jean had in the story. His character development was one of the best in the entire season. Overall AOT is probably one of the best examples of how to manage a huge cast of characters and make each one of them memorable.

Animation:
Ahhh a time before titans were CGI, though I have nothing against Mappa’s CGI but the anime has great animation, the scenes with the ODM gear are so well done especially when the start making hand drawn art do 360 camera spins, that shit was dope. The overall design of the anime is pretty unique with brownish color grading, the show looks very moody and architecture inspired by 1920’s Germany; the settings are gorgeous whether they are inside the cities or outside on the plains. The action scenes are well done too, everything is amazing. Though I think there are a lot of scenes where they just used still images for action scenes, it was a cool concept at the beginning but kind of got overused by the end.

Soundtrack:
The soundtrack of Attack on titan is one of the most memorable soundtracks I’ve heard in anime. I’m listening to it as I’m writing this review and guess what track is playing? Vogel Im Kafig. I have tears in my eyes, I’ve been listening to shit for a decade now and it never gets old.
Hiroyuki Sawano is to Attack on Titan what John Williams is to Jurassic Park and Star Wars. There is no Attack on Titan with this man. The orchestral music features epic rising ‘two steps of hell’ kind of music, the kind of music you hear in summer blockbuster trailers. They also have some world music inspired themes and there are a couple of rock songs thrown in there into the OST as well. The music is iconic with very memorable melodies.

Overall, Attack on Titan is hands down the anime of the decade. This anime will forever define the era of 2010 to 2020. Here’s to the people who will watch it in the future 2000 years from now, the kids that haven’t been born into this world, the people who haven’t dedicated their hearts to anime. Pick this up as your first anime and watch yourself spiral down into an endless beautiful world.
10/10 gateway anime for the new generation.