And then there are the characters. Attack on Titan features a main trio of sorts, which consists of Eren Jaeger, Mikasa Ackerman, and Armin Arlert. Whenever there is a group of main characters that the viewer is intended to follow from the beginning of the story to the end, one must always look for four individual archetypes(Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles examples will be used for the sake of simplicity)- the heroic main guy (Leonardo), the badass-selfish-lonely jerk (Raphael), the smart one (Donatello), and the pretty and/or funny one (if Michaelangelo was human you can bet your ass he would be good looking). In a group of three, one character usually ends up getting the best (or worst) of two of the four archetypes while the other two follow form (Ex: Harry Potter is the hero, Ron is the lonely jerk, and Hermione gets the other two). In Attack on Titans, that character is Mikasa Ackerman, who gets the Raphael archetype and the pretty one archetype. And sweet Mother Theresa on the hood of a Mercedes-Benz is this character annoying. Mikasa is quiet (note: not shy), beautiful (surprise there), funny when she wants to be (but never one to laugh at somebody else's joke), just absolutely amazing at everything (top of the class and all that), and, wait for it, absolutely amazing at everything. She's essentially a female Sasuke as Sasuke was in his very first appearance, except Mikasa never developed afterward and instead of having the badass purpose of killing her sadistic older brother, Mikasa just wants to protect the main character with her life. Granted, her character isn't entirely worthless. Mikasa is reallly good at killing things, but wants to spend her life protecting Eren, creating a sense of conflicting irony that becomes clear at key moments with her character. Speaking of Eren, he starts out promisingly enough, then quickly falls into the background after the tenth episode (can't really say anything more without spoilers). He isn't a good or bad character, just painfully average. Armin Arlert is the smart member of the group, and easily the second best character in the series. He has actual growth, is written intelligently, and contributes to the story. My favorite character would have to be Annie Leonhardt, who basically gets more character development than every other character in this series combined in all of the ten minutes for which she actually has dialogue. Once again, can't say any more about her without major spoilers.
From a special effects point of view, this series is fantastic. The soud is brilliant, and the manner with which the CGI is incorporated into the animation is brilliant. As a result, all of the fight scenes stand out and are just all around awesome. The art on the other hand, is average. When there isn't any fighting going on, expect a lot of still shots and facial shots.
Overall, Attack on Titan is a decent, but overhyped and overrated series. Go in expecting nothing more than mindless action and you'll get more than you bargained for. Go in expecting a well-thought out anime fraught with meaning and you'll spend the rest of your live wishing spent that time watching something else.
