Mainstream media has been on the survivor bandwagon for a couple of years now with The Walking Dead on TV and The Hunger Games on the big screen, so it was only a matter of time before we got an anime that was about human survivor. Attack on Titan is that anime. The premise of this anime is very good and very original, titans are attacking humans and so humans built a big wall in order to stay alive. This is a very interesting concept because it makes humans look as if they are trapped in a cage. This concept is very original and has a lot of potential from the start. What Attack on Titan does very well is play around with this concept, this anime does not only explore what humans do inside the walls, but also what they do outside the walls. The walls create a beautiful setting and there seems to be something happening all the time, whether it be inside or outside the walls.
At first glance the animation is superb. If one was to blindly watch this anime without taking the time to actually look at the animation they would think the animation is superb. However, if one does take the time to actually look at the animation, one would find many flaws. Reused shots, still shots, reused animation, flashbacks to previous animation are all examples of where one could see that this anime was under financial restriction. However, don't let this fool you, Attack on Titan is extremely beautiful. As stated before, the walls are a beautiful setting for this anime and the animation does a great job in showing this. The titans in particular are drawn extremely well and one can see a difference in almost every titan.
And now we get to what I feel is the weakest part of this anime, the characters. It's very sad when I watch an anime and think the supporting characters are cooler than the main characters. Supporting characters, such as Levi and Hanji are interesting and make the show very enjoyable, while the main character Eren, for me, almost ruins the anime. What really grinds my gears with Eren is the fact that he doesn't seem to be learning while the anime is progressing. In one episode it will seem that he has learned a valuable lessen while in the following episode he will realize that that lesson was stupid. It is this lack of character development with the main character of this anime that really makes me sad. As stated previously, the supporting characters are very interesting, however, the fact that you only see them every other episode for a limited time makes me rate the character very low.
Attack on Titan is very enjoyable. It is an action anime that doesn't let you down on the action. The very original story is enough to keep most people coming back every week. However, I feel that characters such as Eren must improve if this anime will be a classic. Season 2 promises us more action, more titan, and hopefully more character development.
