Review of Attack on Titan

This will function as a review for the entire series. Although anime had flirted with mainstream pop culture before, it was generally regarded as something of a niche hobby beyond a handful of series like Dragon Ball and Pokemon. That all changed in the mid-2010s. Anime conventions around the world started to see spikes in attendance, anime films began to get high profile theatrical releases outside of Japan and streaming services like Netflix began to see the medium as a lucrative one. Right now, anime is more mainstream than it's ever been before. In fact, the medium's gotten so culturally ubiquitous now that New York'sTimes Square has routinely been taken over by ads for anime like One Piece and Demon Slayer. What was once a stigmatized niche primarily enjoyed by geeks and social outcasts has become a pop culture sensation in ways that I could only have dreamt about when I started watching anime in middle school. And I'd argue that we mainly have Attack on Titan to thank for this major cultural shift.

While other, later shows like My Hero Academia and the aforementioned Demon Slayer definitely had a major hand in cementing anime as a mainstay in contemporary pop culture, Attack on Titan's first season was undeniably what laid the groundwork for the medium's rapid growth in attention and popularity. It became an international smash hit, gripping seasoned anime fans and total newcomers alike and never once loosening its grasp. And it's not particularly difficult to see understand why the show became as popular as it did. The first season started airing in 2013, which was at the height of Game of Throne's popularity. As such, audiences were hungry for more violent, unpredictable fantasy and they got just that with AoT. It also helps that the show was just damn good, and one that only gets better as it progresses.

Attack on Titan's setup is one I'm sure most are to some extent familiar with, even if they haven't actually seen the show. We're told that the vast majority of humans have been eaten by malevolent giants called Titans, and that humanity's last remnants have gathered behind three high walls in order to ensure their survival. The story begins in earnest when one of these walls is breached by the exceptionally massive Colossal Titan, leading to the city of Shiganshina becoming overrun by them and the mother of the protagonist, Eren Jaeger, being eaten in front of him. Traumatized and seething with white-hot rage, he vows to join the military's Survey Corps and exterminate every single Titan.

Sounds fairly simple, right? And, during the first season, it is. Or at least appears to be. Some major twists and turns aside, Season 1 primarily follows Eren and the rest of the Survey Corps as they do battle with Titans in gorgeously animated action sequences and on risky, intense reconnaissance missions. While this part of the story is an undeniably fun one thanks in no small part to the immaculate, bombastic presentation courtesy of director Tetsuro Araki (Death Note, High School of the Dead) and the then-newly founded Wit Studio, it's not until the second season that the story really starts to hit its stride. Characters who previously only existed on the narrative's periphery start to take center stage and twists begin to recontextualize everything the story had initially set up. This approach continues throughout the third season and, by the show's final season, it becomes apparent that most of what we thought we knew about the show's world was either a half-truth or lie. It's also thanks to these twists and revelations that the show's identity shifts. What started off as a straightforward fantasy action series about fighting monsters morphs into a complex tragedy that deals with themes relating to cycles of violence and hatred, though I won't give away any specific details since I don't want to spoil what is a frequently incredibly shocking story. And the thing is, the show's shift in identity doesn't feel out of left field at all. It feels entirely organic given how deftly and intricately mangaka Hajime Isayama plotted the story. Right from the get go, seeds are planted that sprout into major plot points and foreshadowing is a constant throughout. It's an impressively airtight narrative, and one that's guaranteed to have you glued to your screen for hours on end.

The show's also undeniably impressive on a purely aesthetic level, and that's definitely a huge part of what made it such a successful show. As stated, the show was initially handled by Wit Studio before the reins were handed over to Mappa for its final season. Both are incredible studios and the talents of their respective animators are showcased throughout to a frequently jaw-dropping extent. Character designs are wonderfully detailed and distinctive, while lending themselves to wonderfully expressive moments during some of the series' most emotional sequences. And the action sequences in particular are an absolute highlight. They're frequently fluid and cinematic, with the show's third season in particular arguably containing some of the most impressive moments in the history of animated television.

While I've lavished Attack on Titan with plenty of praise, it nevertheless has flaws. While most of the side characters do ultimately come into their own as the series progresses, they're generally very flat during the show's first season and therefore not particularly engaging. And, while I have praised the narrative for generally being an intricate one, I'd be lying if I said there weren't moments by the end that did ultimately feel like contrivances, which only felt all the more jarring given how meticulous the story had felt up until that point. The animation also has its fair share of issues. While there is a generally high standard maintained throughout, it does falter at points. From the second season onwards, the use of shoddy CG for Titans becomes increasingly commonplace. Although the CG did get better and more detailed when Mappa took over for the fourth season, its use becomes even more regular and feels significantly less impressive than the horrifyingly detailed monsters of the first season. The action gets less impressive too after the fourth season begins. It's not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but can't help but feel like a downgrade after we were spoiled with just how beautiful Season 3 looked.

With all of that said, Attack on Titan is a special anime. The kind that comes along very rarely and etches itself into the annals of pop culture in a way that most simply can't. It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it's one that no one is bound to ever forget due to the absolute chokehold it had not only on the anime community, but on the world at large.