Weaknesses
AoT’s most glaring weakness is the cast of characters. Most of the characters in AoT can be summed up to pretty much with one sentence. Erin wants revenge on the titans, Mikasa is a badass who has obsession issues and Armin is, well, Armin. Though, credit to him for having the most development out of all the characters. Then, there’s the rest of the cast: Annie, Connie the bald, Potato Girl and Jean. Honestly, that’s all the characters I could think of off the top of my head as I am writing this review. And it’s a shame because the main trio are not outstanding themselves. In fact, the only characters I was invested in and felt emotions for is Levi and his comrades, before the bad thing happened…
Another weakness, albeit a minor one, is the pacing. When I was watching AoT, I marathon the show months after the initial hype died down. And wow, almost every episode ends on a cliffhanger. I couldn’t imagine waiting week after week for story arcs to end. The pacing is more of a nitpick than a weakness.
When are they ever going to get to that basement?
Strengths
Captain Motherf’in Levi the Hedgehog!! ‘Nuff said.
That ridiculously addictive opening!! I wanted this to be opening for the entire show, and I was disappointed when it changed to the second opening, which is good as well, but didn’t have the charm of the original opening.
Hiroyuki Sawano kills it again as the composer.
The art style did take a while to get use too, but it fits the show.
Good premise of an army of Davids vs. Goliath. The superb action scenes!! It’s Berserk Spidermen vs post-manscaping King Kongs!
The episode with the debut of the spindash!!
Overall
The first season of AoT feels like an opening to a story that has the potential to reach great heights akin to the first 13 episodes of FMA: Brotherhood. Even though the show is weak in the character department, it more than makes up for it with its premise and action scenes. And Levi. On a personal level, I wish I was more invested with the characters outside of their one sentence description. It’s kind of a shame that I like the portrayal of the characters more in Attack on Junior High than in AoT. Hopefully, the characterization is expanded in the second season.
Or Levi becomes the MC. That works too.
