Review of Attack on Titan

*SPOILER FREE REVIEW* Shingeki no Kyojin or Attack on Titan is by and far the most popular and hyped anime of the year 2013. It has received much praise from all sides of the anime community and it is usually agreed upon that it is at least a “good” anime. Though the question is, is it overhyped? Story:- 7 (a)Premise: The story of SnK is one which, at first glance, doesn’t show originality. It is a classic “zombie” movie, just with the zombies being gigantic. The premise revolves around, gigantic man-eating creatures named “Titans”. These titans pose a gigantic threat to humanity’s existence. Thus humanity creates 3 walls, whichprotect them from the titans, but for how long?
Soon the wall is broken and the first protective wall is abandoned. Here, we meet our 3 main characters, Eren, Mikasa and Armin. Eren has just lost his mother in the titan attack and swears vengeance against all titans.

(b)Originality:
Thus the story truly begins. I call this a non-original story since, there are many anime that have a post-apocalyptic world where humans are constantly under the threat of attack from an external source shrouded in mystery (Like Evangelion and Gurren Lagann). The story also revolves around the survival aspect that many anime use. But, it is here that the story stops being similar to other anime. The rest of the anime is completely original filled with plot twists in every other episode.

(c)Pacing:
The pace of SnK is “weird”. After the first few episodes there is a 3 year time skip, while later on in the series, there is an “arc” which goes on for around 5-6 episodes, but takes place in 1 day.
Throughout the entirety of the series, it keeps the viewer exited for the next episode and keeps the story going at a ridiculously fast pace.

(d)Ending:
The ending of the series is extremely unsatisfactory. But as of now, a second season may be coming in 2015.

Art and Animation:- 9

(a)Art:
The art of SnK is of the best art in recent anime. The quality of the art is amazingly good, which is ironic, since the art in the manga wasn’t that good. Every single human and area shown in the anime is extremely detailed. For example, the art style shown in the outer and middle wall shows the cities to be filled to the brim with buildings everywhere. While on the other hand we have the complete opposite in the inner wall, which shows an abundance of nature and beauty.

(b)Animation:
The animation in SnK is a gigantic step in animation for all of anime. Specifically the scenes which utilize the use of 3-D maneuver gear. The 3-D maneuver gear is basically a piece of equipment given to the soldiers which allows them to become spiderman. The animation in the scenes with the maneuver gear is brilliant. It gives a sense of actual movement to the viewer.
The scenes with normal animation still seem very unique when compared to the animation style presented in other anime.

(c)Character Design:
The design of every human character is extremely unique and no character looks like a “normal” anime character. Every character looks like an actual human would look. For example, unlike other main character of other (Shonen) anime, our main characters in SnK all have, average human bodies with average looking hair.
The titan’s designs on the other hand, degrade as the series goes on. At the beginning of the series, the titans all looked creepy, but as the series continues the titans go from creepy to borderline retarded. For example, in episode 5 we are introduced to a Moe Titan and a Darwin Titan.

Sound:-9.5

(a)OST or Soundtrack:
Masafumi Mima was the one who directed the soundtrack for Shingeki No Kyojin. His previous works were nothing worth mentioning, but his work for this soundtrack in particular, it masterful. Every song just screams the word “epic” into your ear while listening to the soundtrack.
Every piece of music has german words thrown into it and uses choirs as an accompaniment for the lead music or singer.

(b)Openings and Ending:
There can only be one way to define the first opening of the series. Eargasm. The opening, on its own, has reached a higher hype level then the actual anime, which is saying a lot.
The second opening is garbage when compared to the first one, but when heard on its own it is a pretty good song.
Both endings of the series, while not terrible, are easily overshadowed by the 2 openings.

(c)Sub and Dub:
The subbed version of the series is more recommended than the dubbed in this case. It’s not that the dub is bad, but the sub it’s just better. The dub for SnK is fine, but Eren sounds ridiculously old for his age.

Character:-3

(a)Main characters:
The characters of SnK are the worst part of it. There is almost no development for any character aside from Armin.
Eren is the stereotypical “revenge junkie” for anime and doesn’t evolve any further than that.
Mikasa is the main problem. She is extremely overpowered. Awesome, but overpowered. But here biggest flaw is her affection for Eren. Unlike characters like Levi, who are overpowered, but not overly affectionate, Mikasa has an unreal amount of love for Eren.
Armin is the only main character in the series that goes through any development. He goes from a weak character to a person who uses tact in battles.
(b) Supporting Cast:
The supporting cast of SnK is mediocre at best. Some characters get little to no attention while other go through some development. Examples of a few good supporting characters in SnK are Sasha, Jean, Hange, Annie, Erwin and Levi.

Enjoyment:-8

The series as a whole was very enjoyable. It was a good shonen which was slow at some points. It keeps you on your toes by giving cliffhangers on every episode doing something like Code Geass achieved. The soundtrack was epic and the animation was brilliant. The ending, while was unsatisfactory, made you excited for the next season.

Is it overhyped? Maybe. That depends on your personal preference. It does praise, but definitely not as much as it gets.

The action scenes get your blood pumped up, the crappy character development will make you facepalm and the retarded titan designs will probably make you spit out your drink.

OVERALL= 7.2 out of 10