Shingeki no Kyojin Movie 1: Guren no Yumiya

First of all, I'd like to point out that this is a 2 hour movie.. It simply can't include every scene from the first half of the show! Too bad some of them were left out, but they weren't really that important for the story if you think about it. Sure, they helpt with the character development, but if you've watched the show you know the charachters already. And even if you haven't seen the show, the movie presents the characters well enough for you to get a good graps of who they are.

What I'm trying to say is that I think they did ... a pretty good job with chosing which scenes to include and not. Not perfect but pretty good! The presentation of the survey corps was short and pretty irrelevant to include in this movie, since it was the only scene they appeared in. They could have saved it for the next movie and replaced it with more material for the scene where Eren saves himself, Mikasa and Armin from being shot by the canon. It felt like that one was a little too rushed in the movie.

However, apart from the obvious fact that some scenes had to be cut out, there's nothing to complain about. The music is great and the art is amazing. I honestly think that the movie provides the same excitement and is just as epic as the show!

Attack on Titan is the very popular manga nowadays. It inspired some anime adaptations: 26 episode long overrated TV series, OVAs and movies. The movie I am going to talk about is the recap of 1-13 episodes. Is it a nice recap that can be enjoyed as much, or almost, as the original adaptation?

No.

This movie should be watched only by fans in order to remember the story before watching the upcoming second season. Because creators had to put 13 episodes in one film, they didn't include important moments that are necessary to develop characters:

1) The movie DOESN'T show how the relationship between Eren and Jean ... was shaped during military training. Their conflict considering how to live and what to do in the world was shrinked to from-time-to-time quarrels.
2) The movie DOESN'T show a well done flashback about how Mikasa was saved by Eren, which gave the audience explanation why Mikasa feels strong for Eren. The movie only shows pictures of memories and Mikasa's inner thoughts about this matter. If a newcomer were to see this movie before finishing original TV series, he or she would be left with a lot of questions.

The movie is really fast paced. It provides a lot of action and less mystery about the world that characters live in. Their development was thrown away. And surely this movie was created to gain more money from fans (it seems that selling t-shirts, hoodies, coats, hats, figures ON EVERY CORNER is not enough).
I don't say that the movie is bad. But remembering how Gurren Lagann was recaped, especially the second movie, I conclude that creators didn't put much effort into production. Yes, the art is very good but only it.

Thank you for reading.

Story:
Having watched the whole anime before, I think that the story was told in an incomplete manner in the movie. For those who have never read the manga or watched the anime, the story might seem odd and underdeveloped at some parts. Too many scenes were taken from episode 1 (practically the whole thing), which could've been used to show the training part where Eren's comrades were introduced. One part near the end confused me because I totally forgot why that scene was happening and how the situation even began. As I said, some parts seem quite abrupt. However, the movie is a great way ... to get an overall idea of what SnK is about. Those who have never watched the anime and are interested after the movie should definitely watch the anime to get filled in on the little details and important interactions between characters.

Art:
Great animation and art, as usual. It's the same in the anime and movie.

Sound:
I loved the addition of the emotional piano pieces into the scenes, but I was slightly disappointed that some songs were not included. Because the story was told at a faster pace than the anime, the music might seem to be a little too overused (but that's because one action scene came after another, which doesn't happen in the anime; thus, the feeling wasn't as epic as it was for me). The new songs were great, though!

Character:
The lack of character development is a great flaw since the movie tends to assume that we are all familiar with the characters, which those who have not watched the anime or read the manga are not.

All Eren's interactions seemed to made up of anger and cliched lines, but again, that's the case because of the increased story pacing. There's more to Eren's character but that's all not in the movie. The same goes for the other leading characters like Mikasa and Jean. Armin was the only one whose character was well-rounded. We get to see a lot of the Armin that's in the anime.

Enjoyment:
The loopholes were a bit of a downer, but otherwise, I enjoyed it because I'm well-acquainted with the story and characters.

Overall:
If you're a fan of SnK, watch it to prepare for the next season or just for fun. If you're not a fan, watch it if you're feeling iffy about SnK and decide - you might either hate it for the loopholes and abruptness or you might just love it for the action and story and decide to watch the whole anime to get to know the characters and story better.

Thank you for reading!