Shingeki no Kyojin

Centuries ago, mankind was slaughtered to near extinction by monstrous humanoid creatures called Titans, forcing humans to hide in fear behind enormous concentric walls. What makes these giants truly terrifying is that their taste for human flesh is not born out of hunger but what appears to be out of pleasure. To ensure their survival, the remnants of humanity began living within defensive barriers, resulting in one hundred years without a single titan encounter. However, that fragile calm is soon shattered when a colossal Titan manages to breach the supposedly impregnable outer wall, reigniting the fight for survival against the man-eating abominations.

After witnessing a horrific personal loss at the hands of the invading creatures, Eren Yeager dedicates his life to their eradication by enlisting into the Survey Corps, an elite military unit that combats the merciless humanoids outside the protection of the walls. Eren, his adopted sister Mikasa Ackerman, and his childhood friend Armin Arlert join the brutal war against the Titans and race to discover a way of defeating them before the last walls are breached.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Yeager, Eren Main

Kaji, Yuuki Japanese

Ackerman, Mikasa Main

Ishikawa, Yui Japanese

Arlert, Armin Main

Inoue, Marina Japanese

Levi Supporting

Kamiya, Hiroshi Japanese

Smith, Erwin Supporting

Ono, Daisuke Japanese

Zoë, Hange Supporting

Park, Romi Japanese

Blouse, Sasha Supporting

Kobayashi, Yuu Japanese

Braun, Reiner Supporting

Hosoya, Yoshimasa Japanese

Kirstein, Jean Supporting

Taniyama, Kishou Japanese

Leonhart, Annie Supporting

Shimamura, Yuu Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Wada, Jouji Producer

Maeda, Toshihiro Producer

Nakatake, Tetsuya Producer

Reviews

Oct 2, 2014

Sorrowful

Recommended

Oh dear Shingeki no Kyojin, where do I even begin. If you've talked with your friends about anime, then the couple anime that everyone talks about are Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Dragon Ball, and... Shingeki no Kyojin. What's the difference between Shingeki and the rest? Shingeki only has 25 episodes so far yet it's on par in popularity with the other super long, Americanized anime. Why is it popular? Well that's simply because it's stunningly amazing. Those people that call Shingeki no Kyojin "overrated" may not have the same taste as me, and that's perfectly fine, but in my honest opinion, Shingeki no Kyojin is ... one of if not the greatest anime to be made. It's not popular for no reason.

The story is one of the most captivating stories I've ever seen. 100 years prior to the start of the anime, humanity has been on the bridge of extinction due to the monstrous humanoid Titans that devour humans. Now, present day in the anime, the remaining small population of mankind lives confined within 3 "heavenly" walls that are so tall and sturdy that even the titans can't break in. The most outward wall was named, Wall Maria, the middle wall was named Wall Rose, and the most outward wall named Wall Sina. Unfortunately for mankind, a colossal titan, one that is even bigger than the 50 meter heavenly walls, breaks Wall Maria, allowing the other titans to rampage the city, thus leading to another massacre of mankind. During this massacre, our main characters, Eren Yeager and Mikasa Ackerman watch in horror as a horrifying titan rips their mother's head off, then gobbles her up whole. Vowing that he'd one day avenge mankind and exterminate all the titans, Eren Yeager trains to become a survey corp, brave heroic soldiers who go outside the walls, into the plains in order to fight the titans. But we soon find out, that Eren is much more special than he seems, not only is he a brave warrior, but he's also something else that could be the key to humanity's survival, but could also be humanity's destruction.

My 3-word thoughts on the anime: Epic, Dynamic, Masterpiece. The suspense build-up was absolutely amazing, yet there was still room for improvement; that shows just how epic this anime can get. The anime not only includes epic fights, but lots of dialogue, and for those of you that hate dialogue, I feel sorry for you people whom only watch for action. The anime includes lots of other things as well: there's lots of half-hearted, hilarious scenes, as well as sad, tragic scenes. The anime certainly has a good amount of gore, and will break your heart frequently (if you get attached to the characters). Many characters end up getting gobbled up mercilessly while trying to protect humanity in ways that are quite *shivers*. Have I teared up in the anime? As a matter of fact, I have.

Characters was another area (alongside every area) that was Shingeki's strongpoint. There's a diverse variety of characters that fight for humanity for all different reasons. There's trust, friendship, along with betrayals, and pains. There's comedy relief among many characters, especially Sasha "Potato Girl" Blouse. There are characters that people can definitely relate with, such as Armin Arlert, who wants to do the right thing and protect his friends, but can't seem to do much because of fear. Fear is something that haunts us all, and prevents us from doing things in life. Another character that people can somewhat relate with is Annie Leonhardt, who fights alongside humanity, yet fights opposed to humanity. What does that mean? Watch the anime. Why is she doing this? Because of her past scars, "scars have the strange power to remind us that our past is real" (watch to find out more). There were too many characters to development fully, but certainly the main characters were developed to their max. Levi is certainly a fan-favorite character, because of the fact that he's cool, overpowered, badass, kind-in-the-heart, smart, straight-to-the-point, and most of all, hilarious with all his neat-freakiness. The main character, Eren Yeager is strong-hearted, and "special", but he's still not strong enough to defeat the titans. How he develops is one of the most interesting things, in this interesting-things-packed anime.

The art and music can be described in one word: WOW! The art drawings were absolutely stunning! From the characters/titans to the setting of the story to all the equipment used in battle. The characters all had a unique aspect to them. The settings of the anime were beautiful. The cities, and walls looked realistic, the plains that characters dreamed of seeing made me want to run outside to see for myself how beautiful nature really is, and how humans under appreciate the naturality of nature. The 3-D gear was something that really caught my eye, and will certainly catch other people's eyes as well. A new form of action that's never been seen before. The characters would literally fly from rooftop to rooftop slicing their swords at the titans at high-speeds that keep the viewers eyes locked onto the screen at all times. The soundtrack in the anime was epic as shit. The openings speak for themselves, they do the anime justice. The openings were epic and certainly set the mood of what was to come from the anime. "They're the prey, and we are the hunters!" The rest of the soundtrack in the anime was okayasgduyasgda AMAZING. How can one describe how amazing those German OSTs were. They fit in perfectly with the epicness of the anime, and certianly added tons of suspense to the 3-D maneuver gear action.

Of course, I may be over-thinking things, but the anime certainly included some themes while creating this masterpiece of an anime. The aspect of being confined in an area, doing the same daily routine every day. People seek to be free, and to seek adventure. Watch for this. Another theme that the anime incorporated was that of the cycle of life. Humans, we steal animals away from their families, we kill them, we eat them. What's so different from us, and the titans? The feelings of not being at the top of the food chain... Anyways, if you haven't already watched this anime and you're reading this review, then you've clearly been living under a rock all this time, and I definitely encourage you to watch this show even if it isn't your style of anime.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Feb 19, 2014

Kerma_

Mixed Feelings

Shingeki no Kyojin... Where do I start?

In summary, Shingeki no Kyojin is a perfect anime to get somebody who loves action started on anime- I think it is literally the most mainstream anime ever made, and that is definitely not a bad thing. But with this comes downsides- ones not apparent to the viewer at first glance, but looking back on it after watching it around the time it first came out, definitely shine through.

Shingeki no Kyojin starts off with a roar- the first 2 episodes explode right out of the gate with high-octane action that also leaves mystery to draw the viewer in. Who ... are the titans? What is in the basement? Why is Eren's dad so creepy? All this and more the viewer asks themselves as the end credits roll for episode 2.

Then episode 3 and 4 jump in. It's a training scene for Eren and his friends, and it's dead slow in comparison. But that's ok- it's episodes like this that reinforce character development and get the plot rolling. And soon, the episodes with action will begin again, right? That High-Octane, bloody, gory action we've all been waiting for!

Well, it does. But then shortly after, it grinds back to a halt. Why do I bring up the first 5 episodes out of all things to mention about Shingeki no Kyojin? Because it perfectly frames the pacing of the entire anime. First you're baited with that sweet, bloody action that makes you just stare at the screen in amazement of the beautiful animation and heart-pumping soundtrack, and next thing you know you have to sit through an hour of people arguing over the same issue over and over before going back to the action. This would be fine and acceptable if it actually resulted in plot and character development going somewhere- but rarely this bickering between Armin and Eren result in anything productive.

Actually, Shingeki no Kyojin seems to show perfectly how to pull off the ILLUSION of plot and character development- Eren struggling with his inner demons despite somehow going back to square 1 every 5 episodes, the Basement which has been explicitly mentioned as having "all the answers" being completely forgotten about while the group goes out to hunt titans, and Armin rehashing what we already know to other characters every episode or two. All of this combined create a huge mess that on first glance seems like a deep and interesting story, but only through reflection of a different lens you begin to notice how shallow the pool you're standing in really is. The characters are shallow, the story tries to go somewhere but the characters almost seem to prevent it from moving at all, and at some points the story tries to go to too many places at once, just confusing the viewer until the next trippy action scene kicks in.

I like to compare Shingeki no Kyojin to a Michael Bay film. This also makes it easier to understand what I'm trying to say (and trust me, it's not your fault- I have a hard time expressing what I feel in words sometimes).

Imagine Eren as Shia Labeouf, and Shingeki no Kyojin as a typical summer blockbuster by Michael Bay. Eren zips around the scenes of the movie, fighting bad-guys and pulling off amazing stunts with beautifully rendered graphics and an amazing ost- but then hardcut to Eren getting mad at himself and people around him but not actually advancing the plot for 1/3rd of the movie as the action grinds to a halt. Add some comedic relief (if you want a Bay comparison, the classic transformers out of place masturbation joke fits well) including possibly some potatoes after a traumatic scene and then slap on the illusion of having a deep plot and you have Shingeki no Kyojin. It's a typical summer blockbuster! You go in, watch it, enjoy it, then leave and forget about it! I'm really not saying you're not allowed to enjoy it because it's shallow and noisy, I'm just saying you shouldn't walk in expecting a revolutionary masterpiece of anime- which is what some critics are raising it up to be.

STORY- 4 : The story's foundations are put up well, but the actual progression falls flat as no questions are ever really answered and the plot never seems to want to go in a single direction.
ART- 9 : The art is amazing! There are some worse-off scenes and some animation glitches, but the art is one of the things that makes Shingeki no Kyojin stand out from the crowd. Even though I am not a huge fan of the anime itself, I have a massive poster above my computer of it as we speak.
SOUND- 10 : While the music and sound design is generic at worst, it is composed beautifully and always reinforces the mood set out by the show. I would highly recommend a download of the OST.
CHARACTER- 3 : Easily the worst part of Shingeki no Kyojin. Eren's constant back and forth attitude and behaviour that never goes anywhere, Armin's arguing with people that last an entire episode simply to recap what just happened on screen, Mikasa's constant fight to try and save everyone and pull everything together: it's just all poorly done.
ENJOYMENT- 6 : While watching Shingeki no Kyojin, I certainly enjoyed it- but I wouldn't say I enjoyed it the whole way through. Even while watching it, I noticed a lot of the fighting and arguing was going on too long, and let's not forget the 3-5 episodes of riding on horses. But the scenes that were enjoyable- notably the fight scenes and the pivotal plot twists certainly left a lot to talk about and were enjoyable enough to at least somewhat wipe away two annoying characters yelling at eachother on horses for 30 minutes.

OVERALL- 5: Watch it, get what you get out of it, but don't walk in expecting the next amazing revolutionary anime. Expect a summer blockbuster.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Aug 23, 2024

Shrabster

Not Recommended

Funny

There’s a current trend that favors dark and edgy stories such as Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, and so on. Anime, being no different, saw the much anticipated release of Attack on Titan which is based on the manga of the same name. Given the astronomical amount of hype behind the series it certainly had a lot to live up to. That said, the hype was understandable as Attack on Titan seemed to have everything going for it, being produced by Production I.G., having top notch production values, and a promising premise.

Attack on Titan follows the story of Eren and the Survey Corps ... as they fight for survival in a world where monstrous beings known as titans terrorize humanity.

I was very intrigued by the premise of Attack on Titan. It’s definitely something that stands out and is at least somewhat unique in a sea of all too similar anime. That’s sadly where my praise ends for the series. Unfortunately the execution does not live up to the premise and it's not long before the show turns into glorified torture porn.

The majority of the characters are bland and pretty cookie cutter. This is a huge problem in a series where death and survival are the main aspects, and a character’s death has no impact unless the viewer is attached to them. Without spoiling too much there are one or more important characters that are introduced and die within the span of a single episode. The scenes are supposed to be impactful, yet these characters are barely shown in the one episode they are in creating little emotional payoff.

Eren has one emotion- anger, and only one way of expressing himself- yelling. Combined with his naive and arrogant attitude and inability to back much of it up, Eren can be a very annoying character. He never really learns from his mistakes nor do other characters react appropriately to it to any meaningful degree. Something that also shatters the illusion of suspense in the series is Eren's ability to shounen his way out of death avarious other situations because writing is hard to do.

Mikasa is Eren’s sister and plays the part of the cool heroine of few words. She succeeds at everything she does but her biggest accomplishment is being cute despite her manly abs. One could argue her weird and unhealthy obsession with her brother Eren is a flaw, but like most things out of Japan I just assume it's the creator's fetish. I guess it's okay though since she does look good in those tight pants.

The rest of the main cast consists of various other trainees and the Survey Corps. They aren’t really memorable and I couldn’t name more than a handful of them even if my life depended on it. There’s Armin, he’s not so good at fighting but he’s smart or so I'm told. There’s Levi, he’s kind of like Eren's mentor and a male version of Mikasa except for the part about wanting to bang Eren. Well, unless the shipping community has anything to say about it.

There are a few characters that I felt were somewhat more interesting. Sasha probably has the best characterization out of all the characters, or maybe I just like her potatoes. There is also Hange who has an obsession with studying the titans who also adds much needed personality to series. I think they provide the right amount of levity for the series. The other humor in the show doesn't work as well. It's a bit silly and contrived and interferes with the otherwise grim atmosphere and just makes things feel tonally inconsistent. Most stories do benefit from some type of levity and contrast, but it should be appropriate to tone and not take the viewer out of the story. A good example would be Paranoia Agent, there is an episode dedicated to three people trying to commit suicide that is quite humorous but stays in tune with the show's dark tone while also making for interesting social commentary on Japan's high suicide rate in real life, playing into the overarching themes of the series. It is natural and fits the show with its dry humor, in comparison Attack on Titan literally pulls you out of an serious scene for a cheap laugh, like Armin and Reiner gawking at a pretty blonde girl while they are running for their lives.

There are some other problems, such as pacing issues where the series just grinds to a screeching halt and drags on for a fair bit. A lot of other parts of the story dip into shounen levels of silliness and predictability. I’m still not entirely sure how the transformation aspect of the show works either, besides something about biting your thumb while you have some kind of goal in mind or something very ill thought out. I suppose these are things that aren’t meant to be looked into too deeply. The dialogue is also bad with the characters having to explain every little thing they do or have an internal monologue every five seconds for exposition's sake.

The production values of this show are good. The art and animation are nice and fluid, with the art style itself being very distinctive. The characters have an unusually thick border that outlines that's kind of unique. Character design is pretty good for what the show is trying to do, being more grounded and what not. The technology is pretty neat looking as well, from the 3D maneuver gear to the box cutter swords. The music doesn't thrill me as much as most but has some noteworthy pieces. It’s all fittingly high energy and I don’t have a problem with it.

By now it’s no secret that both the anime and manga versions of Attack on Titan are sweeping successes. Nearly everyone remotely interested in media has watched or has heard of it, including people that weren’t particularly big on anime to begin with. While its success with the mainstream market is commendable I can’t help but feel disappointed with the actual content. I can see Attack on Titan riding the hype wave with the support of the casual market for as long as it can. It doesn’t help that the creator is prostituting the series with several spinoffs, a live action movie, and even going as far as to change the original ending to pander to fans. It’s a shame really, I had high hopes for Attack on Titan but a few big missteps crushed those. Regrettably Attack on Titan will be a story of what could have been instead of what was.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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