Review of Attack on Titan

You know a franchise is successful when you can find pictures of Mikasa floating around on food packagings. Yes, as if chips need her protection from getting eaten by a titan. ha ha ha. Sorry that was a terrible joke. Contains Spoilers, minor. Anyways let's talk about Attack on Titans. This show becomes so popular in the west that makes people forget One Piece and Naruto have ever existed. Popular things tend to not be the "best" things, but it is undebatable they always have aspects that are truly good and worth praising. That said, these good features tend to overshadow the flaws and problemsthat would otherwise be extremely obvious if we put them in a mediocre show.

All constructive criticisms are welcomed and great appreciated via comment or PM. This is a rather critical review so my personal enjoyment is... not taken into account, for the most part.

STORY (Concept 2/2, Execution 4/8)

The concept of AoT is perhaps the major reason that led it to be a successful series. The universe uses a direct, simple yet effective theme: Humans are going extinct, the the cause is humans themselves. This idea is expressed in a very unique/generic (yes I know it's a contradiction) way by integrating a superb cliche idea of "monsters kill humans" with another superb cliche idea of "humans kill humans". When you put these two ideas together, it becomes unique and refreshing to look at.

However, the execution has failed to explore this wonderful world. Within the walls, we are shown to many things including but not limited to kidnapping, corruption, abuse of power, racial inequality and many other things that are supposed to be impressive and amusing to know. The problem is none, none of these interesting factors have a real purpose other than making the audience feel amused. SHOCK FACTORS. I personally do not dislike shock factors, but at least there should be a purpose on the factor instead of just pouring in the factors for the pure sake of amusement.

This anime is not finished, and I haven't read the manga yet. So far, the general trend is very straightforward. The first arc Crimson Bow, which talks about how the humanity defend a titan invasion and the second arc, Wings of Freedom, which tells a story of a group of people trying to "find out" the "origin of titans" are both reasonable, yet rather predictable arcs that successfully deliver the storylines to the audience without too much confusions.

That said, some parts of the show are very terribly paced and absolutely unnecessary. Events occur just to flesh out some character background. In the first arc the pacing is horribly fast. It took Eren only 2 episodes to get to the cadet training camp and only 1 episodes before he first fights titans. Things are escalated so quickly. That may not be a bad thing, since many other shows such as Code Geass and Gurren Lagann all have super fast paced plot and they keep us excited. The problem with titan however, is that in the second half of the show, everything goes dangerously slow to a point of kind of boring. It took the show full 3 episodes to run to the forest and actually begins the quest. We've been seeing many character falling off the horse and half of the time is pretty lame and contribute little to the story.

There were many unreasonable events that tells little about the story, at the same times waste solid, whole episodes screening time. In the cadet training camp for example, the potato girl's little interaction with the officer is... not funny, and that scene lasts for one and half mins. Yes, I agree that this scene kind of becomes titan's trademark, but still purposeless.

Oh, and can someone tell me why there was a hand-to-hand combat training in the titan-killing-skill training camp?

All in all, the story is slightly above average. It does tell a good story without making it boring, with the use of shock factors and filler scenes, it has a little bit of flavor to spice it up.

CHARACTER (Design 1/2, Development 2/8)

The cast is extremely generic. Which is fine since generic, unextreme characters tend to be the ones that appeal to the general public. The downside to that is they are forgettable. Very forgettable. They don't have any symbolic value like Edward in FMA or Spike in Bebop, they don't have anything other than their unique hair colors and given character treats. (yay pokemon!)

Let's talk about the deaths that AoT is known for. From Eren's mom to the "Elite Four" serving Captain fangirl, although some do have symbolic meanings, most of them are just there purely for the shock factors. The death of Elite Four was mostly a shock factors because it contradict the popular belief of "friendships and bounds creates victories". Of course we can see it as "resembling to the reality", but it is inconsistent because the show itself is not a resemblance to the reality thus such thing should not be considered. It is just a shock factor.

Now we can talk about the development of complex pokemons. Eren, we knows nothing about him other than he is angry. Sure at the end of the show he becomes more understanding and changes his belief, but he is still the same person as before. He did not develop to a more mature character or anything like that, he merely received some amount of flashbacks and does some 2Dimensional character flip flops.

Mikasa. Why would you like her? She barely has any characteristic that makes her a legit person, she stays with her ideologies from beginning to the end. She has special episodes to describe her encounter with Eren and that's all it is. She is NOT a goddess of victory as she plays no part during any important events where Eren is in danger.

The rest of the casts are all plot devices. They are there because the plot needs them to be there. They feel inhuman, they don't have any real development and they are seriously sometimes only 2D or even 1D characters. Really nothing to say much about it.

The worst part of the characters is that, all of them feel like half-assed shounen characters that try to be something serious. They are essentially "mature" pokemons that have dark sides and actual brains.

But afterall, some of the character treats are likable. It's rare to see a relatively independent female character like Mikasa, tho somehow she is overly attached to Eren so the fanboys can imagine... Yea I get it. But that doesn't make her a good character.

Graphic (Art 5/5, Animation 5/5)

If you are still with me by this point, I thank you to the sincerest.

Art is great. The art style is very unique. Things such as the weirdly but appealing looking thickened character outlines that defies the current trend of "everything in 3D". 2D animation can also be just as beautiful. The extremely amazingly looking titans just grabs my eye like a magnet. At first I felt a little bit of absurd how all of them are naked, but eventually as I get used to them, I realized how most of them resembles typical mid-age male body shapes and how powerful they look. The art is also very consistent. There isn't any significant difference between the "action scenes" and the "talking scenes" in terms of art style and quality, unlike shows such as SAO, where the action scenes are refined but the regular talking scenes are stale and boring.

The animation... gosh they are just good. Brought to you by the animation director Death Note, Guilty Crown and... high school of the dead *cough cough*, Tetsuro Araki, you will experience possibly one of the top 5 animation in anime existence. Aside from amazingly detailed action scenes during titan fighting, the use of different camera angle during the ordinary conversational scenes maintain the exciting atmosphere of the show's overall feeling.

This is good. And good things need to be experienced. So I wouldn't talk much more, enjoy it yourself.

SOUND (OP/ED 2/2, OST 4/4, Dub 1/4, Sub 4/4)

The OP is one of the most engaging song I've heard for the longest time. It just fits the show so perfectly, and the complex but straightforward metal/vocal/orchestra mix creates really nice, glorious, solid soundtrack. It is worth mentioning that the rest of the song (the original, not just the 1:30) version is not nearly as good since it basically just repeats itself over and over to a point of dreadfulness. I've been listening to this song for months now and it is a bit irritating. The second OP is, in my opinion, just as good, or even better. The climax of the second some is a really nice melody that the first one does not have.

As for the ED... um... I never really listened to them all the much but they are also wonderful songs. (sorry about that :P)

OST feels like those songs you often hear from historical films where people fight gloriously on the battlefield, that's exactly how it feels. When the plot is going under a darker and depressed mode, the song is calm, but without losing the excitement. They reminds me pacific rim's soundtrack which I love (it was the only good part of that movie). Notable tracks including but not limited to Vogel im Kafig, Doa, and The Reluctant Heroes are very well done.

The dub. Funimation you lazy bastard is the only thing I have to say. They used the most overpraised voice actors who are clearly 50 years old to try speak in 16 year old tones. Come on, can't you at least do something like an real audition so the talented people actually get a chance to contribute their talent to the community? Why can't you learn from Japan and do the shit right? Watch sub if you don't mind reading, the dub can only be classified as "understandable".

ENJOYMENT (10/10)

AoT is my all time favorite action show. I completely enjoyed it, since the actions are truly amazing and not stupid. I was kind of disappointed about the character, but they aren't the focus so... Yea I'll let it slide. The story is fine, it does its job to carry the action. Very enjoyable series and easily recommendable to literally anyone. This is a really fun show to watch.

OVERALL (8/10)

Despite the lack of character development, this show does perfectly on what it tries to do. Since no one focus on the characters all that much, the action and music shine brightly. A solid 8 for what it has accomplished and the good features it has. This is one of the show that requires you to not overthink (like I did) and it certainly is a respectable piece of entertainment.