Review of Attack on Titan
Let's be honest, I watched this for Levi, and you? This anime is as fine as it is because Levi is hella /FINE/. Unfortunately the other characters and boring/unfunny comedic moments do exist, and that's not the only things to put someone off Attack on Titan. But anyway, let's get into the details... --- ||【 Art & Animation - 8/10 】|| Maybe I'm one of the very few people not wowed by this. The animation is functional, but it hardly does anything beyond that, which is somewhat... disappointing considering it comes from a Studio that is apparently amazing. Don't get me wrong, the animation is still smooth andthe art is largely consistent, but more could have been done visually with the show if it really were all that. And hey, don't blame me for hyping up the show so bad.
That said, on a personal level, and for the most part, I don't really like the art style. The Titans are drawn as if by a five year old, unless they are ones controlled by humans directly and something about most human faces in that style is just unsettling. Most of the younger cast suffer from this horrid style, whereas the older ones are better off for their less exaggerated features. And considering this is a darker and supposedly more "realistic" show, you would think the style would complement it. Instead it looks like, visually, the creators dipped their feet in a kiddie pool instead of creating anything worth the stupidly high amount of hype Mappa receives.
That said, when it comes to some of the greater action sequences, those do look cool, but everything else just looks comparatively lazy. I mean, really, do you expect me to believe they can just swing from one tree to another with that much space between them?
Also, I find the titans to be needlessly gross looking.
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||【 Sound - 7/10 】||
The sound, like in most anime was functional. Sure, thanks ot sounding more "epic", it did become more memorable, but at the same time, rarely did the scene deliver the kind of content to soundtrack promised, in my opinion.
The voice acting is... okay, I think. I don't believe it's the strongest -- let's be honest, I feel Armin, Mikasa and Eren's voice actors especially weren't all that great compared to some I've heard. But Dub Levi had a reasonably good voice, even if maybe not the one I'd give him, and I suppose Erwin's voice fit him. I'd say that the with main cast it feels like there is a little bit of over-acting, especially given the kind of anime SnK is supposedly trying to be, but on the whole it's not bad. It's just not stellar either.
Sound effects, to my knowledge are functional.
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||【 Openings & Endings - 7/10 】||
When you're constantly on someone's list of animes with great openings and endings, you can be damn well sure I'd have high expectations for you.
Opening 1 - The colour choices do add a little bit of creativity to it, and there are some interesting scenes and whatnot, with the music working well enough. But it also looks messy, and like something of a history powerpoint an over-eager student created. Which, I suppose makes sense in a way since it follows the characters as teans and is set in a messy world, but still... I'd give it an 8 - 9 without all those needlessly gross Titans. Also I find what it does show from the actual anime feels like it didn't need to be there.
Opening 2 - I just feel the music was both overdone and underdone, and the visuals were... nothing much. Saying that they did feature some Levi, so it wasn't a complete waste.
Ending 1 - Visually, it did look interesting, but there was little in it and it featured only characters I didn't care so much for so, even if it is biased, already visually it's just not that great, especially not for capturing my attention and stopping me from skipping it. Musically, it's... quite good but still skippable. The opening was less skippable.
Ending 2 - Visually and musically okay, but again, not that impressive.
They were all perfectly okay to listen to but I'm not sure I would have them on a playlist of the best anime openings and endings.
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||【 Writing/Pacing - 6/10 】||
Okay, so this is one of the worse parts of this season. Firstly, it feels slow compared to seasons 2 & 3. Secondly, the collection of characters isn't as well established so there is less keeping my attention there, which could be remedied by good writing, but somehow the writer chooses to undercut serious moments with weird humour, not foreshadow things and require explaining it after the fact (which is a crutch they lean on throughout this series and it really ticks me off), and makes their characters make dumb decisions only to be later considered special just for being idiots.
Fortunately when we are finally with the scouts this improves, because the collective of characters is just inherently more interesting, but even then... the questionable humour and retconning persists.
The premise isn't terrible, but I don't think the execution is all that great either. Also, being the MC you could tell Eren wasn't gonna actually be dead from a mile away, so there was really no suspense there, though clearly the series tried to make it seem like he'd actually died... it was never really gonna take that route so early into a shounen.
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||【 Characters - 6/10 】||
So, characters.
The peeps that can make or break a show for you. I mean, Levi was the only reason I decided to give this show another chance.
Except, Levi isn't the MC. He isn't the one we are mostly stuck with.
Thankfully, it seems that the mangaka did know that Eren could be downright obnoxious because they did take the opportunity to stick with characters that weren't Eren or around Eren for quite some length of time in some parts of the series. Much appreciated, that. Doesn't mean I'm gonna forget that Eren doesn't really develop this season, and nor does anyone else, not really.
At best, Levi shows a few different sides to him - The Badass, The Child Kicker, The Not So Secret Softy, Babysitter, Clean Freak, Tea Connoisseur - but again, none of these characters really change much in this season.
Is that inherently bad? No. Not every character needs character development to be entertaining to watch...
But it certainly helps.
Would've helped hear too.
It also doesn't help that for such a dramatic, gritty show as AoT seems to be trying to be, it tends to make a lot of its female cast caricatures and the guys aren't much better, honestly. Frankly, Sasha annoys me in this season, and though in concept Hange is interesting and her/their dynamics with Levi are interesting, she is basically just AoT's maniac scientist -- think Sally from Black Clover but with titans and stuff.
Really, once you've seen her type a few times, unless you're somehow into that, it gets kinda' boring. And yeah, its saved by those moments when Hange isn't just acting like her usual psycho self, but then it's ruined by moments when she's being a creepy/weird nuisance that isn't even all that funny. It's a pity though, because she and some other characters visually represent those of us who don't have those perfect faces with button noses and people who lack 20/20 vision. I like her design and the premise behind her, but it could have been executed better.
Mikasa coukd be so much more interesting if she were allowed to find independence away from Eren. But does she get that opportunity? Nope, not really. Same with Armin.
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||【 Enjoyment - 6/10 】||
Once you drag yourself through the first few episodes it does get better with the scouts but only if you like the kind of collective they have. My enjoyment of the series did improve over the course of the season but it doesn't make up for all obnoxious stuff I had to sit through.
It helps though, not to have people constantly crowing in your ear about how amazing the anime is. Once you get to just watch it in peace like any other, regular anime it becomes okay... just don't think too hard while you're at it, otherwise things will start annoying you about it, if you're anything like me.
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||【 Overall - 6/10 】||