Story:
The story in the most basic sense is typical - three friends living in a town ruled by a Monarch within fortified walls, witness one of the walls breached by huge beings of flesh - Titans, that are driven by the only force to annihilate humans. The protagonist - Eren, out of anger and revenge, swears to destroy the titans while his close friends - the typical sane and considerate girl and wimpy boy, are alongside him. He meets people and secrets are unveiled... no need to go into additional details.
Now the story in essence was typical - the Titans and their purpose was new but the need for revenge, hidden power that makes the protagonist stand out and then people appearing who share that power... while not that common, it was still not the most unique idea. AND even if it was unique - it was expected. There were no major plot twists for me. I knew who the two major Titans were (trying my best not to give point blank spoilers) and... well there is little else to the anime.
The season ending reminds me of Accel World, Highschool of the Dead, Deadman Wonderland... all of which ended with the first season and left me disappointed. Here too, we don't have to consider if it has the potential to be amazing or perhaps how good the manga is. We need to consider the episodes we have and the ending... it was just blank. I will probably alter this review if the next season is to be released but till then, the story ended with little revelation, little advancement in the plot and furthermore - little satisfaction with Annie being captured.
The way how Annie's crying/flashbacks hint us a purpose yet the protagonist keeps beating her out of revenge... anger making him blind... we have seen it too many times. Nothing special for me. And that is where the story actually ends. Disappointment.
Art/Sound:
There is no debate over the art. It was very engaging and interesting. I liked the character features - they were unique and believable without resorting to bizarre features as many animes resort to this to make their char's seem unique. The color tone complimented the era shown - the dull colors, the costumes and the gears. The environment and buildings and the physics that applied to them in the destructive scenes was also surprisingly well handled.
The scenes involving the 3D Maneuver were impressive - the fluidity in motion and the coordination of the bodies with the gear, and the jerks and shifts they made, it almost made the gear look like a tool used in real life. Quite amazing.
Another thing that I personally liked was how sick they showed the titans at times. Expressionless faces with strange body proportions running in awkward jerking style. It did make the monsters hideous and disturbing. Although the female titan seemed... awkward to say the least, I will ignore her. There were also slight moments when nose shapes and facial features would somehow... 'change' and I would wonder if there was too much of a problem with that face :/
Coming to sound, the art sequences were well complimented with the soundtracks, and emotions and moods were noticeable. The sounds regarding slashes and the 3D gear was also well chosen - it gave quite a nice feel while watching the anime and of course, details like horse hooves and carraiges moving also enhanced the effect. The screeches of the Titans were again disturbing and well managed but I did have a problem with the roar of the female titan - I guess I have a problem with her in general.
Characters:
The characters were well managed in my opinion, though stereotypical in a sense. The main trio was extremely typical with the main protagonist driven by revenge and not having any skills... just raw sense of revenge. The rest of the char's almost felt as if one wrote down the common personalities in animes and then reproduced them - the jealous one with the brain who has a hidden sense of justice, the wimpy one with agility but little strength (can run away quickly), the serious female with extreme skills, the serious dude also with a lot of skills... the mad scientist even!
Furthermore, they lacked their own definition of abilities - the anime had to define their abilities, rather than the viewer able to determine it. And even then other than a few char's the others were unable to meet up to the reputation they had.
Having said all that, there WERE some good characters as well - Mikasa, though typical was balanced rather than a psycho like Yuno from Mirrai Nikki. Levi was balanced as well, not the cold hearted commander that listened to no one and only looked down on others (and the voice acting by Kamia Hiroshi also made him a likable personality for me :D ). FURTHERMORE, in an anime of such standing, some of the typical char's were supposed to be there so... to say the least, they could have worked more on the chars to make them better but they are still not pathetic... other than the idiotic protagonist to be honest who everyone relies on and... I am going to move on.
Enjoyment:
Now this is a controversial point. While the anime delivered some awesome scenes, art, fighting sequences, for me there were no plot twists - a rather disappointing ending and a pathetic protagonist. Meaning, most of the anime, I was hoping for the protagonist to die, there to be some twist, and hoping for a better conclusion. This means that by the end of the anime... I wasn't really satisfied.
YET an anime has to be given merit and so it shall. My rating is slightly biased on the hopes that another season will air, however late and will pick up the story from here. Thus the over all rating is nothing above a solid 7. If I could have given 7.5 then I would have bu not more than that.
For many people, I would again say that an anime has to be approached not from its potential or manga, but from what we are provided with.
Thank you for reading! Feedback is much appreciated!
