Review of Attack on Titan
Shingeki no Kyojin is arguably the most standout, influential, and memorable anime milestone of the 2010s; a decade with a generous share of great series. It's not perfect as a season, but it is still very enjoyable. The story is a dark and dangerous adventure. It is pretty unforgiving in it's portrayal of violence, and unrelenting in it's perilous nature - it lacks much lightheartedness or goofiness to provide relief from the serious story. It fortunately doesn't fall into the trap of being cynical, though; at it's core the story is about the will of humanity to 'give their hearts' and fight to survive and overcometheir truly dire situation. This theme continues through later seasons and is what makes it compelling to watch.
The writing is smart to give itself two great assets: an exceptional first episode, and exceptional final episode. The first episode is thrilling, frightening, and sets up the anime just perfectly. The final episode - most crucially, the final scene of the season - raises a host of thrilling questions that instantly make your mind race, and reels in the viewer to keep as a hostage for the next four years in a painfully long wait for answers. Though - fortunately for you if this is your first time watching the show, you won't have this problem!
The characters, while fine, I don't think fully blossom in this season. I struggled to find all of them memorable and distinct. This is partly down to the constraints of the character design: the cast are drawn in a more realistic style to fit the tone of the show, plus due to being part of an army they necessarily all wear the same uniform. The other factor is just time; as by spending more time with them in later seasons I do find them more individually memorable and compelling now. Our initial trio of Eren, Mikasa and Armin still have much development to do in later seasons.
The OST of Shingeki no Kyojin is to me, a pretty average anime score. While I never felt the music was out of place or lacking, I unfortunately can't remember any significant part of it. It is obviously there and doing it's job as needed, but it's also nothing special.
The opening themes are, conversely, a very special part of the show. You've probably been unable to avoid hearing the ubiquitous first opening even without ever watching the show, and for good reason - it's badass!! It's easily one of the greatest anime openings of all time. The second one is also good, it only suffers in people's opinions because we all just missed hearing the first one every week.
The Japanese voice acting is cool and appropriate; no voice is really out-of-place. I can't comment on the English dub as I haven't seen it.
The art of this first season is, I think, it's greatest asset. SnK is very pleasing to the eye. The character designs, while not super unique, are all attractive and realistic. The lines are clean. The action sequences are fluid and thrilling to follow. The palette is as dark as the show's content, and the violence makes you queasy.
The biggest standout, of course, is the design of the titans. Your investment in the show really hinges on the believablity of these ridiculous figures, and fortunately the designs work. The titans are intimidating, horrifying, revolting, and maddening to look at. You feel every bit of the character's fear when they are on screen; their size, strength and relentless pursuit of humans imposes a strong feeling of hopelessness and despair at humanity's situation in this story, and I believe that's why the anime works so well.
Overall, I think SnK has a fantastic set up, and is reasonably enjoyable throughout, if not often reaching exceptional heights. I think the story and characters fully blossom as the later seasons unfold, and it's well worth watching this to get to that point.