Attack on Titan has been constantly raved about by many friends who are also big into Japanese Anime/ manga etc., and for a good while, I have refused to get dragged into it wondering if the reviews and praise would hold true if I ever were to delve into it personally. I shall agree with the praise regarding the show as a whole to a certain degree and in that phrase I shall explain myself further.
To start off I shall perform this review in Tarantino fashion giving the show Attack on Titan a 9. Now like previously stated, allow me to further explain my reasoning.
Story:
The story regarding Eren, Mikasa, Armin and assorted nameless and known characters trying to not only survive but to carve out a place for themselves in the "cruel" world of AOT is actually quite enticing and kept me wanting to know more and more.
In a short but certainly not spoiler filled paragraph, AOT revolves around three childhood friends and their desire and task of assisting humanity in combating these gigantic creatures with varying heights and demeanor's called Titans, who live outside the three walls of the kingdom where the show takes place and have a knack for eating human beings. The three characters aforementioned enroll in the military with the sole desire to combat the Titans after their hometown is destroyed and ultimately abandoned due to a titan attack.
Now the story is very well done and there were times where I would be sitting back calmly and the next second, be on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next and where the story would take me. I can certainly see the similarities between this show and Death Note, especially in the creators proclivity for not holding back or following certain rules in stories in regards to what can happen and what cannot to main characters (I will not spoil anything but watch the it and you will see my point).
Art:
Now in regards to the overall animation and look of AOT, it is one of the most beautiful animes that I have seen in quite some time and harken me back to when I first saw Cowboy Bebop as a child, birthing this desire in me to see more and more if only to regain that sense of wonder at seeing such beautiful and imaginative worlds. My favorite scenes were when any action scene took place which featured the characters (both nameless and therefore throwaways, or known) zipping around the cities, and scenes with this gear referred to as omni-directional mobility gear or ODM for short. These scenes threw away the conventional 2-D approach and g=opted for a faux 3-D approach o the artwork, giving the viewer the sense that they were flying, comparative to the 'Spider-cam" in the Sam Raimi Spider-man movies.
Some of the episodes were filled with much dialogue that I felt wasn't truly necessary or either dragged on for too long, which made me all the more excited to glance upon the art of the speeding environments while the action picked up again. Overall, the art is very well done and I am certainly excited to see where the artists responsible for it go from here.
Sound:
The sounds and songs of the show certainly match perfectly or as close as they can get to what is happening or how the creators want you to feel at any given moment/ situation. To start off, the 1st opening song (Guren no Yumiya) while very excited and exerting a bit of overkill at times, is a good start to the show and what to expect in terms of the action and situations that will occur. One of my favorites songs is titled: Bauklotze performed by Mika Kobayashi and has more of a presence later in the series. This song to me sums up what the show represents in its sense of: desperation but also of hope, even if it tends to fade at times.
Character:
Now I have read a few other reviews of the show previously and I have to agree with a lot of the reviewers in their assessment of the character element in the show. I felt this was the weakest part of the show and the creators, while putting in the old "college try" with character development fell short on what could've been a great cast. In terms of the characters that I liked, were: Jean, Sasha, Levi, Mikasa, and Eren while most of the other characters weren't given the proper time to really become human in my eyes. One of the characters that I truly despised and I use that word lightly was the character of Armin who in almost every encounter with the titan entities, would resort to whining and feeling sorry for himself which in the beginning drew me to him and made me feel for him but as the show went on and it looked as if he wasn't going to develop beyond or overcome that part of himself, annoyed me and made me wonder when he would either "grow or fade".
I have to say that I found a lot of cliches with the characters, which saddened me greatly, especially with how great the characters in Death Note for instance were portrayed. Character truly was the weakest portion of the mix.
Enjoyment:
In terms of enjoyment, I would say that I was thoroughly entertained by this show and I actually wanted to see what would happen next even when the show was a bit slow in its progression of events. This show has a great blend of action, drama, suspense and wonder to keep the fire going. My only qualm would be in regards for its "plot holes". Now I understand that there will probably be a second season due to its popularity but I felt like with every question that was answered, there would be two more questions in response to that one and maybe an answer strewn about here and there. I would've liked there to be more enlightenment in regards to: What are the titans? Where do they come from? How did the city come to be? etc., which took away from my enjoyment of the show.
Overall:
I thought it was a great anime filled with a plethora of elements that will attract fans of varying genres although a warning must be mentioned that this is quite gory, reminding me of Devil May Cry/ Elfin Lied in terms of the "no holds barred" attitude with gore, human casualties. But if you can somehow get passed that (and if you have to term it in that way then this isn't for you), then you will find a rich show that has created a nice size fire within my mind, and heart; a fire that I only hope will grow with news of a second season and more development in certain areas (cough characters cough). I think the show as a whole has so much potential to become a classic, with a few minor tweaks to common story elements and I look forward to not only staying abreast of a possible return but also to re watching it again eventually.
9/ 10.
