Review of Attack on Titan

This review contains minor spoilers. It is clear that I have come very late to the hype-train of Shingeki no Kyojin, years later in fact; I don't know why but this show never quite caught my attention and I only started to get interested when the show had already blown up the anime and manga community in every possible way and I can see why; Shingeki no Kyojin is quite fun to watch, as I have finished it in just 3 days and not only this, it also has an animation that surely revolutionized 2014 in a similar way to Kimetsu no Yaiba in more-modern days.Watching the episodes of the anime and feeling full with an atmosphere of grandiosity and mostly-frenetic action scenes, with a tone that at the time was perhaps more innovative and which scratched the vein of more grotesque or dark atmosphere that was beginning to grow in anime fans. It's an exciting show to watch, but of course it's an anime that despite executing certain elements well, Shingeki no Kyojin does other things..., not so well, I'd say.

The first thing you notice when you start watching Shingeki no Kyojin is its simple and bland cast of characters, with Eren Jaeger, who possesses an identity characteristic of shonen protagonists; short fused, short-tempered and always in a hurry, who tends to shout most things out loud and is not very smart in the way he goes about things. Mikasa Ackermann, who is surely the worst character in the entire anime by far and consists purely of a tremendously bland Mary Sue composed of only one trait; protecting Eren at all costs, her identity is Eren and everything about her is Eren, to the point where she seems more like an ornament of the protagonist than a separate character; not only this, Mikasa actively damages the series due to her being so strong in combat that she makes the others look like complete useless dweebs next to her (with the exception of Levi). Armin is the classic fragile guy incapable of fighting and in charge of logistics, perhaps the best and most realistic character all in all, he's a decent interpretation of the wimpy character archetype; the other characters are completely one-dimensional (Annie being blonde Mikasa and Sasha, whose entire identity is based on two comedic gags) and their personality consists of a single trait repeated throughout the series, and I'm confident that this anime would be much better without Mikasa.

In a series like Shingeki no Kyojin something important is the mystery and emotion; but the climax of the series is an absolutely silly and obvious revelation that rather than surprise me the only thing it did was to make me think "Seriously?? Was it the most obvious thing all-along??" since my brain had automatically dismissed it due to it being clearer than water, it's a mystery solved in a very anticlimactic, goofy way and the ending of this anime (and climax of the series) is one of the worst I've ever seen, with a character doing something out of what his identity means and a weird representation of rage; imagine that someone kills compatriots and even your own family-members, completely destroys and pulverizes them in front of your own eyes without you being able to do anything, you have the opportunity to kill this individual but they just start to cry before you give them the final hit, do I have too much cynicism to think that something like that would not stop such a strong emotion as a completely unleashed rage? And more so when they are surely crocodile tears and sadness at being captured, not true regret. That scene felt more like something out of character and an asspull or plot armor to keep the series going, plus cheap emotion that reminds me of the flashbacks Kimetsu no Yaiba suddenly shoves in to make you "empathize" with the demons, it is a very disappointing and cheap ending.

A positive point of Shingeki no Kyojin is, as I said before, its tone of epic grandeur and dynamic action scenes that in its time were surely top-tier and that even today look good. The anime manages to capture the viewer's interest through its worldbuilding and manages to make the audience question various mysteries presented by the show; from the origin of the titans to the exterior beyond the walls, the first season definitely feels like an appetizer before the heavyweights that are the rest of the seasons. Like ingredients for a recipe, I can see why Shingeki blew up the community so much; for in 2014 it was the equivalent of Demon Slayer in pure action frenzy and dark setting, watching Levi spin through the air with the two blades should have been the equivalent of watching the sun dance in Kimetsu no Yaiba, an act of pure style and for their times they are impressive audio-visually and have aged like wine; but as it stands, it is a show that I can't rate very high due to its weak cast of characters and its utterly-ridiculous final mystery, with a disappointing climax for a series of this style.