Getting to the actual review, now: I give the entire first season of this anime a 7 and honestly feel like a 7 is what it deserved.
Why?
First off, the pacing. SNK is one of the slowest animes I have ever experienced. Its arcs span an unnecessarily long amount of episodes and barely get the story that far in the end. Its pacing was completely horrible considering it got 25 episodes. I'm guessing this is because the manga isn't finished which is completely understandable. However, by the end there were no plans to make a second season and the anime viewers were left incredibly confused and full of questions (then they turned to the manga where they were left were even more questions).
Second off, inaccuracy. One of the biggest issues manga readers had with this anime were the inaccuracies (mostly around the end of the anime) when it came to comparing the manga and anime. I know what you're thinking now, "Animes can take different turns! Who cares!" But, said inaccuracies even angered the original creator Hajime Isayama so you know that these will probably end up ruining major events or character development later on.
Now let's get to the anime itself. The story? While interesting, like I said before, it has very slow pacing and will barely get watchers anywhere. Not at all a good standalone anime and it would probably be better as one of the bulky animes with 100+ episodes. It does a good job getting new readers for Isayama's manga though. I give it all a 7.
Art? While it looks strange with its thick lines initially, the art style grows on you. The animation and art in general aren't disappointing in the least and it's almost surprising finding such a popular anime without girls with huge boobs and people with strange hair. I give it a 9.
The background music and the voice acting (Japanese) were all great to me. I don't like the English dub (or what I heard of it) so much, but it's not exactly "horrible". The background music added perfectly to the feel of the rash and intense situations. I especially enjoyed the openings and the ending song gives it a strange, nostalgic, eerie feel that I also enjoy. I give sound a 9.
Character. There are so many characters in SNK and character deaths come easily because of it. Eren Jaeger is as intense, angry, determined, and merciless as the series is and I think he makes a pretty decent main character. However, the girl who often follows beside him, Mikasa Ackerman, is barely given an explanation for why she is so attached to him and her background and Eren's background feel very unexplored in the anime and I hope they are explained more in the manga or the second season. Armin, who is the third main character, doesn't really make an interesting main character at all. In fact, I'm so unsure of why he's considered a main character at all (besides being Eren and Mikasa's friend) and understand why he's always switched out for Levi in promo art and merchandise. I can only hope that he does some major development later on because he seems like he could be very interesting. I give character a 7.
And lastly, did I enjoy SNK? It was long. It was long and I hated how long and slow it was (though I did expect them to take more time on an arc that luckily lasted only around 3 episodes or so) which really killed it for me and how it just ended. The ending was strange and unfulfilling because instead of solving a HUGE issue/mystery in the series it somewhat solved a new one they found in the last arc. However, I had people to talk to about the anime while it was ongoing so that kept me entertained waiting for the new episode so I could say that I did enjoy it. Did I enjoy it enough to recommend it? Well, I'd only recommend this to someone who was new to anime. Mostly because of the mixed feelings that many people have with SNK and whether or not it is a quality anime, and also the fact that it's very popular and well known so anyone who is experienced with anime has probably heard of it and can make their own decision to take part in it. I don't believe everyone should experience this if they feel like they wouldn't enjoy it.
