PS: This is coming from the perspective of someone who hasn't read the manga.
Shingeki no Kyojin was hyped for a while, but it was still met with the skeptical question of, "Will this really live up to all the hype?" In my case, it's exceeded my expectations. The first episode took off with a blast. The plot and setting were very simple -> We are the last remnants of humanity and there are tons of man-eating killing machines outside of these walls. Eren is your typical stubborn, headstrong, yet at the same time admirable protagonist, so he didn't seem very out of the ordinary. Mikasa, on the other hand, is a complete badass. She is cool, collected, and isn't made as an outlet for tons of fan service. In fact so far, this show has received spectacular ratings without ANY FAN SERVICE AT ALL which is very impressive. Anyway, the first episode introduced a lot of the story in a short amount of time including: the central conflict, reason to hate/fear the Titans (Eren's mother being killed), foreshadowing (primarily the mystery of Eren's father), and not being afraid to go completely out of the ordinary (taking down two walls in one episode!).
The other episodes built up adequately, going through training, backstory, more characters introduced etc. and then skipping to when Eren and the crew are about to graduate from their military training as the top of the class. The fast-paced buildup was great, leaving no room for fillers, and everything exploded again in episode 5. By the time episode 5 came around, I was completely hooked. I, like everyone else, usually skip anime openings after watching once or twice just because it gets tedious, but I've seen the opening to this anime every single new episode that came out because A) it has a great soundtrack and B) it hypes me up lol. But yeah, episode 5 gave the audience a sense of, "Eren and these guys are going to completely kick some Titan ass and shit's gonna go down." To be honest, I was completely expecting him to. Then out of nowhere, like in episode 1, AGAIN the enemies seem impossible to beat. When Eren rushed into that Grandpa Titan's mouth to save useless Armin, I didn't feel like he was actually in any danger despite losing a leg and w/e just because the protagonist always winning has become the accepted norm. But NOPE!@%! When Grandpa closed his mouth it was gg. That was by far the best anime moment of 2013, probably even 2012 just because it felt so unexpected. Props to the original creator for not being afraid to be different and step out of the bubble. At the same time, I was worried for how the series would progress from such a dramatic change but some people who have read the manga told me they either loved the progression or hated it so we'll see...
Episode 6 was just a Mikasa flashback that had that awesome "Get baited noob" moment but it was mostly just more explanation, nothing really crazy... still decent for a flashback. So far, this series has had a FANTASTIC introduction because it is so unorthodox, out of the norm but can pull it off, gorey-but-not-excessive, and brim-packed with action. Of course, a great intro doesn't mean it can't suddenly dropoff at any time *cough* SAO *cough*, but it certainly has the potential to be the best of 2013, maybe even compete in all-times. I'm going to not read the manga just to experience the full effect of the series, and I would encourage others to do the same for those who haven't already. I'm looking forward to it's success~
