Review of Attack on Titan

Right off the bat, I have to admit; I have a distinct love for the ‘dystopian world’ genre. It’s fascinating and something we may never be able to truly understand in the real world. The suffering, the agony and fear of being caged and suppressed…it’s not uncommon, but we definitely don’t live behind 50-meter high walls and don’t see giant naked humanoids eating our family and friends. That is what makes Shingeki No Kyojin so amazing to me. The storyline is very simple and easy to understand right from episode 1. The overall revelation of the exact plot does not allow me to truly comment on itas the manga is still ongoing and I have not finished the manga myself. I do appreciate the anime production team’s job on the whole aspect of suspense in almost every episode that relayed the true fear and tension from the story. As I’ve said, it may not be easy for us to relate to running away from naked giants but the anime portrayed great emphasis on fear, anger and many other extreme emotions that just draws us in. I would be lying to say that I was not at the edge of my seat in every episode. There is also the involvement of the supporting characters which is something I personally enjoy. I really can’t stomach when an anime or manga is ALL ABOUT the main character and that he/she is everything that the story is about –unless, the title itself IS the protagonist’s name. I just love to see the development of relationships amongst characters that adds up more depth into the story. I can’t say much about the story in complete detail for I am placing my bets on a second season AND awaiting the true finale of the manga, however, I can definitely say that the anime itself did a great job in portraying the originality and raw emotion of the story which enables me to give a double thumbs-up.

Now, here is where I want to elaborate on the most; the Art.
Oh how Shingeki No Kyojin blew me away with the majestic animation and art. From the characters to the settings and the details of the animation made me breathless; especially when they portray the use of the 3D Maneuver Gears. Not only that, the lighting and use of slow-motion effects magnified the emotions and suspense of each scene. I am a freak for fine details because it is quite hard to see super-great detail in art styles of shounen-based anime/manga. However, I was not disappointed with Shingeki No Kyojin. It captured the essence of the story beautifully and not to mention the work and effort of the flawless animation. I just…love it. I can’t put my personal happiness in words enough because I just wish that there are more shounen animes with this kind of quality animation; especially for action scenes. Simple thick intense lines and sound effects are not enough to convey a perfect action scene…it is the raw animation and movement of the characters captured frame by frame. That is why I appreciate the effort and work put onto this anime and the art is definitely one of my favourite aspects of this anime; hands down.

The soundtrack used in this anime is just stunning. I personally downloaded the entire OST album to listen to all of its tracks and although some were just…not all that great, there are certain ones that are beyond spectacular. Even by just listening to the background music, you can feel the sadness, melancholy and agony of the characters…and at other times, it builds up the pace into a huge Titan kickass fight. It blends well with the setting and mood of the anime and stays true to its emotions. There are also certain songs that are just plain EPIC which…I have to urge you to watch the anime itself to truly appreciate it. The two opening and ending sequences were also well chosen and in my personal opinion, I LOVED both of the openings…they were amazing. The first opening song captured the main protagonist, Eren’s resolve and anger towards the Titans which is basically the main thing happening in the anime and the second song is more of an evolution into a war-like aspect where you can truly catch onto the soldiers’ resolution for humanity. All in all, I love the soundtrack used in this anime. Great job once again, production team!

Ah, the characters…they can basically become the goldmine or garbage for an anime in my personal opinion. In this case, Shingeki No Kyojin is purely gold. Not saying that every character is awesome, I hated a few characters…but that is the beauty of it. There is never a perfect character and in this anime, ALL the characters are flawed. In the dystopian setting, I think such characteristic is easily found in all of its characters and it makes the anime less…boring? I don’t know about most of you but I love it when an anime truly portrays the weaknesses of the characters. Sure, strength and power development is cool and all but it is the flaw that makes them more…human and relatable in a sense. In every episode, you can see the characters in fear because…that is how things are in a crazy dystopian world. There is no such thing as ‘fearlessness’ here. Even the strongest soldier shows confusion and indecisiveness but that might give out spoilers so I’ll just leave it at that. Overall, I find the characters all beautifully made and well-thought out. And for once, I love how a supporting character is a lot more badass than the main protagonist…

I’m going to group up enjoyment and my overall thought of this anime into one and that is; simply EPIC. The anime does not showcase huge adventures and multiple crises; it’s already IN one huge severe problem. I’m just happy that there is still hope for epic animation in an anime because I’ve been disappointed a lot with many shounen animes. I’m going to give this a 9/10 because I cannot say that this anime is PERFECTION. It is not. But it definitely is a winner in my heart and hopefully yours as well! =D