Just to put this out there, I am reviewing this from the standpoint that this season is standalone, not considering any 2nd season at this point.
STORY - 6
The original idea for the story is really good, and unique. Set in a world where humans are the ones caged in, in fear of man-eating titans which range from house tall to 50m tall. Despite the premises having promise, the development of the plot was so slow, it felt like the both the opening theme songs had more action than the actual episode most of the time. In almost every episode there was this flashback or interior monologue that makes it feel like they’re trying to stretch the source material so that it will last a full 25 episodes. This pacing issue is something a lot of people have picked up, and when you compare the pacing to anime like kill la kill, it seems very slow. In the places where the story does get going, it is developed pretty well but these instances are rare. In my opinion they should have just delayed the release so they would have more source material, or just made it a 12 episode anime instead, considering they will end up releasing more seasons in the future. Even an abridged series, by Team Four Star, squeezed the events all the way to around the midpoint of the Battle of Trost within 20 minutes.
The first 2 episodes of the attack of the titans were not awful, they properly introduced the setting with some dramatic scenes. However it was the training camp 2 episodes that I have a problem with. The main purpose of the training camp seemed to be just to introduce all the support characters, many of which get barely any important or impactful screen time for the rest of the show. So essentially it served no real purpose, only making audiences wait 2 more weeks for their humans vs titans battle, which leads to…
The 5 episode long Battle of Trost. It is actually not as bad as it seems, because there is quite a lot of stuff that goes on. But it honestly could have been done in 3 or 4 episodes, and a very important plot point (trying not to give spoilers) seems a bit randomly placed. On that note, the plot holes concerning this plot point were not even covered within the 25 episodes, though it is hinted that his dad had been involved.
The rest of the anime follow suite, with relatively large amounts of screen time going to drawn out flashbacks and interior monologues, that are pretty unnecessary.
CHARACTER - 5.5
There are 3 main characters in the series, Eren Jaeger, Mikasa Ackerman and Armin Arlert. At the outset, 2/3 have distinct personalities, being Eren and Armin. Eren is solely focused on killing the titans, only caring about that and nothing else. He does not care for his friends, as long as he gets to kill titans he doesn’t mind anything else. Mikasa is a little more bland. She is defined with an obsession with Eren and wanting to keep her safe, all due to what happened to her as a child. She doesn’t go much deeper than that, and stays that way for the rest of the show pretty much. Armin is your resident scaredy-cat-but-is-a-genious character. He is scared of everything, but joins the army anyway, which seems is for plot convenience as he has no business being there other than coincidentally being the best tactician they have.
The biggest problem in terms of character, is the fact that the main characters don’t get much development at all. As stated earlier Mikasa goes under no character development whatsoever, while Eren is mostly filled with rage and desire for revenge for the whole first half. In the later stages of the series, he becomes a bit more concerned for others, and is not so one dimensional. But for 25 episodes this is not much development, and when you thought he would change, the people he trusted were killed. As a result he still probably does not have much faith in anyone, which means we’re back to square one.
Armin’s development is solely based upon him trying to overcome his fears, which he occasionally does and becomes less of a scaredy-cat by the end of the show. Out of the 3 main characters he definitely receives the best and most development, which is not really hard to do considering the other 2.
The supporting cast is…interesting to say the least. A lot of characters introduced in the training camp don’t really do much in the show as I said earlier. One support character worth mentioning is Jean. He probably has as much development as Armin, and much more than Eren and Mikasa. He starts off as arrogant and wanting to live an easy life, but then realises that if he is one of the better titan killers, he should actually put his skills to good use.
MUSIC - 9.5
The music, to put in 1 word, is epic. It sounds amazing, and are full of adrenaline. There is not much more to say than that. The music fits the scenes really well, and really adds to what’s happening on screen. The reason I did not give it a 10, is that although the whole soundtrack is fantastic, there is no one track that completely blows me away or anything like that. Especially when I consider Kill la Kill’s music a 10, and although many people disagree, I find Kill la Kill’s music better than Attack on Titan’s. Kill la Kill’s music has its own character basically, which is something Attack on Titan’s music lacks. Attack on Titan’s music may be amazing, but a lot of the time I did not take notice of it, it was just there…accompanying the visuals. Simply put it does not stand out as much as music for other anime. It is for this reason I have not given it a 10/10
ANIMATION - 9
The show is animated really well throughout. The actions scenes (in the rare instances that these take place) flow really well, and the animation is very consistent. My only complaint is that the titans often looked either badly drawn or just really messed up. Another thing is during that female titan arc when they were in the forest, the 3d gear ‘grappling hooks’ seemed infinitely long, as entire conversations were held without them ever reaching the end of their ‘hooks’. Lastly, the animation wasn’t nearly as good as something like Fate/Zero, which aired 2 years prior, so its animation cannot be considered ‘perfect’.
ENJOYMENT - 8.5
I personally really enjoyed the show, with the actions scenes really pumping me up. I also could not stop watching, as the moment one episode finished I had to watch the next. However this is not just a good thing, as one of the reasons I had to watch the next was that some episodes had literally nothing happen or there was another cliffhanger. What I did not enjoy was the cringeworthy pacing, which I talked about much earlier.
OVERALL - 7
Since this site only allows whole number ratings, I have given Attack on Titan a 7/10. Essentially it is a very hyped anime that in some ways fails to live up to it. It’s story and character are subpar, especially when you take into account the duration of the show. It would be a much better show if the 25 episodes were squeezed into 13, making the character development more plausible given the time frame and clearing the pacing issues. The animation and sound are amazing, and are definitely the highlights of the show.
In the end, Attack on Titan is a show for people who love action, and who have the patience to wait through some of the slower parts. Fans of mystery and dark fantasy will also enjoy it. However if you expect something very exciting to happen every episode, you will be sorely disappointed. I was due to having very high expectations because of the hype
