AOT is my endgame. I've never ever felt what this anime made me feel. Even after re-watching the entire series for a number of times. Even after knowing every scene by heart... I still cry (sob my eyes out), I still jump out of my chair in happiness, I still scream at the most frustrating parts of it. I’ve grown personal with this anime.
People who know me say that I'm crazy for loving an anime this much, but they didn't watch AOT to know better. I understand that not everyone likes AOT, but I encourage you to at least try it out. So now, I want to point out WHY you should watch this anime and share some of my experiences.
1. The story itself. When I first started aot, confused is a small word to compare to what I felt. The mangaka did a very good job. Everything was thought out until the very end... Every scene, every character, every line a character says, every small detail and every foreshadowing, everything was very well placed to keep you hooked. Yes, it had boring moments. Yes, sometimes it was frustrating. But if you take a second to see the bigger picture, even that boring enlistment episodes had a big contribution to the series and how it progressed. The story is complex (very), it will take you a while to process everything (especially when you get to season 4 and check if you're really watching the right show), but, in my opinion, it is all worth it. Every arc is well-organized and gives you just the right amount of new information to make you go crazy and want to watch more. Also, it’s that kind of plot that has a lot (and i mean, A LOT) of twists. You might say too many plot-twists ruin the balance, but I think AOT had just the right amount of them.
2. The characters. You might not see it, but every character in AOT has a purpose. Everyone somehow contributed to this story. I am going to focus more on the main and side characters in this paragraph. The level of detail used to empower all of them is fascinating. Everyone had something, be it physical skill, great intellect, sense of leadership, responsibility, or even craziness and a little dumbness. Not a single character was neglected and was developed in rich detail and never rushed. And when you reach their end, you can see the difference, the growth, the circumstance in which they developed. For me personally, it was amazing to see my favorite characters grow into strong people with very fixed motivations. Of course, everyone warned me to NOT get deeply attached with any AOT character, but I didn’t listen, and while it sometimes destroyed me, it was also amazing and emotional.
3. Detail. This has to have its own section, because man… When I finished season 3 and had to wait for more episodes because season 4 was still in production, AOT started to appear a lot on my social media. I was shocked at how many small details I missed that foreshadowed the upcoming events. It was even more shocking after I finished the entire series 20 days ago. How many, MANY small things that either reappeared later in the series or told me exactly what is going to happen next… The worst, I only realized the entirety of them after I cried for 3 days straight after watching the finale. And trust me, when I say small things, I mean needle-in-a-haystack small. Worth of re-mentioning in this section is the rich detailing in the characters and the story as a whole.
4. Art. While I might say season 4 part 1 wasn’t extraordinary in this regard, the rest of the anime compensated for that rushed bit. They changed studios, pandemic was all over us, so you can excuse them for wanting to stop keeping us waiting for what’s coming. Anyways, overall, the art was AMAZING (at least). Now that I’ve watched AOT a number of times and know every bit of the story, when I re-watch, I like to pause sometimes and watch the scenery, the level of detail in the animation, faces of characters that are well-defined and it's just… magical. At least for me. Animation is really important for me. I like definition and rich detail (you probably noticed that). And if it’s important for you too, this anime is for you.
5. Music. Last but clearly not least. Evidently, you might know a good part of the AOT soundtracks, because they’re pretty popular. But pair them with the scenes, and you get extraordinary. The way a song can be so well-paired with certain scenes, it made me cry like a million times, even if I re-watched those scenes a hundred times.
So, in conclusion, I’m obsessed with Attack on Titan and I recommend it to you. It surely is not for every watcher, but would it hurt you to try?
