The Plot:
Humanity has been pushed back to the very brink by beings known as Titans, humanoid creatures who posses no intelligence, are much taller than regular humans, and seem to want nothing but the extinction of the human race. Humanity, in their darkest hour, built three impossibly high walls; Wall Maria, Wall Rose and Wall Sina, in an effort to keep the Titans away from them. For a peaceful period of a hundred years, humanity never found themselves encountering the Titans, minus the members of the Survey Corps., mankind's elite recon group who are trying to find out as much info on the Titans as they can. However, in the year 845, mankind received a grim reminder: We Lived in Fear, of the Titans. Eren-plot-armour-Jaeger, an angsty little twat, witnesses a horrible event on this day, along with his two best friends: Mikasa-I'm-OP-as-fuck- Ackerman and Armin-Typically-Smart-but-Physically-Weak-Arlert. From this day forth, Eren makes it his mission to rid the entire world of the Titans to avenge the tragic events of That Day.
Personally, I found the plot to be enjoyable for the majority of the show's 25 episodes. We see the hardships humanity faces and the grim reality of the world they live in, being oppressed by a higher being and what-not. It makes for a very "Walking Dead" esque situation, where the characters will do whatever they must to survive against their oppressors. We see how depressing life inside these walls, or cages rather, is for their inhabitants. It's a gritty and surreal plot, if not a tad too over-dramatic for it's own good. I just find that some scenes were really drawn out at times, especially the explanation scenes at the start of most of the "Battle of Trost" episodes.
The Characters:
The characters for the most part are serviceable, but a few of them are tethered down by typical anime clichés. First of all, we have our main protagonist, Eren Jaeger (or if you're a manga weeaboo, Yeager) Eren is an angsty boy who's quite the hothead and has a massive erection for revenge against the Titans. He's an alright character, having his emotional moments and his really awesome bad ass ones too, but then he's literally surrounded by plot armour the moment the fifth episode hits. He's impervious practically. If show's like Clannad (2006, Key) taught me anything, it's that a major characters suddenly leaving isn't a bad thing, but here he just comes back a couple episodes later like it's nothing. Secondly, we have Eren's not girlfriend but still practically yandere in a very strange and subliminal way, Mikasa Ackerman. Mikasa is literally the goddess of badass and awesome (yes I am fanboying WHO GIVES A DAMN I LOVE THIS CHARACTER). She's incredibly strong, rivaling humanity's strongest soldiers even though she's only a Trainee. She's top of her class in both aptitude and physical skill, and she's got nice development over the series (aswell as having one of the series most freaky moments to her name). Finally, to round out the main trio, we have Armin Arlert, who's the typical "Weak but Smart best friend" who you see a lot in fiction nowadays. Armin is the crux of almost any situation's outcome, since he's a strategic genius, but this comes at a price of physical strength. He's a decent character who's unfortunately bogged down by his tropé. The rest of the cast is either entertaining (see Levi, Sasha, Jean, Zoe and Connie) or extremely underdeveloped and/or unlikeable (See Annie, Reiner, Petra and Krista). Now, if they're underdeveloped that's mainly because the show hasn't caught up to the Manga yet, but hopefully, the inevitable second season brings more of these characters and their motivations to life.
The animation:
It's good. Damn good. For the first work of an anime studio (although the show was partly funded by Production I.G), Studio WIT did an amazing job an the high detailed and stylized world of Attack on Titan. Everything is dark and gritty when it needs to be and lush and colourful when it needs to be. It's almost like pathetic fallacy in a way, because when the mood calls for it, the animation matches it perfectly. It's one of the best studio debuts in a while, and one that's just stunning from beginning to end.
The soundtrack.
HOLY HOT DAMN. This soundtrack is the bee's knees. Hiroyuki Sawano pulled out all the stops for this one, composing an epic, bombastic and beautifully cruel soundtrack that's almost too good. it's right up there with Final Fantasy VII and Star Wars in terms of how much I love this soundtrack, it's that good. And then of course, we have the openeng and ending themes. "Fuerotter Pfeil und Bogen" (or Guren no Yumiya depending on who you are) is the perfect way to get you into this show. It starts off depressing and then works it's way into an epic song fitting of the show's themes. The Second opening, "Flugel der Freiheit" (or Jiyuu no Tsubasa) is a good opening, just not as good as the first in my opinion. it's good, but it's missing something that the first one had. the first ending theme, "Utsukushiki Zankoku na Sekai" is fitting of Mikasa's character, and represents her feelings of the world she lives in. The second ending, "Great Escape" is just hard rock. fitting, but slightly underwhelming.
Overall:
I enjoyed the hell out of this show from start to finish. Sure, it's a bit repetitive hearing about the history of Titans and Mankind's fight against them and hearing about the events of the year 845 over and over again, but it's worth it in the end. With a solid plot, decent characters, amazing sound and animation, Shingeki no Kyojin/Attack on Titan get's a full recommendation from me.
9/10
