Attack on Titan, possibly this year's most popular anime.... and surprisingly, one of its worst as well. Although being immensely popular, Attack on Titan does not live up to the reputation that so many believe it does. Yes, the action and excitement are all very easily seen, yet the predictable/cliche story and the absolutely horrific characters makes this the SAO 2.0. In short, do not expect to be blown away by any means, in fact, prepare yourself for a rather emotional and boring ride that will make you wonder why you are still watching.
To begin with, let me clarify by saying that this won't be an extremely long review, as it has only been six episodes, but I will still mentions as many things as I can for now.
Story: The story in AOT revolves around a world were humanity struggles to survive against giant, genital-less Titans. While the story is fresh and includes very nice aspects, the predictability of the story is insane. It is incredibly simple to point out what will happen and when it will happen, and there were almost no surprises that ever arose from watching. Also, the story has some very weak spots, but now it seems that most shows rely on intense action and gore rather than the simplistic aspect of continuity. Furthermore, the show focuses on the aspect of throwing a lot of blood around to make an attempt to affect the audience, when it actually fails to influence any sort of emotion to come forth. Thus, I give the story 6/10 for being good and new, but incredibly boring.
Art: The art is actually one of the positive points in this mediocre anime, specifically when speaking about the Titan's ruthless smiles. Other than that, you have smooth action sequences and very gory scenes that couldn't have been more bloody. 9/10
Sound: Opening's great. I don't approve of the ending though, and action sequence tracks are pretty good. 9/10
Character: Now, AOT makes a fairly silly attempt to draw in their audience through rampant emotions, namely, Eren. Eren would be described in anime as: "The Little Train that could." This emotional roller coaster of a character fails to use logic at any given moment, rather, Eren relies on iron strong determination that will somehow be able to physically harm these giant Titans. He is more childish than any other character and has no actually talent. Yet, this boy will miraculously save humanity, you can bet on it. Furthermore, you have the useless Armin, the unnecessarily complicated Mikasa, the potato-eating, unneeded comedy relief in Sasha, and a whole gang of terrible characters that meet the bare minimum for supporting characters: being alive. Although, people have been able to turn away from these hideous creatures that are our characters, and focus on the "fantastic story and action" which doesn't exist. Overall: 2/10
Enjoyment: If you watched Sword Art Online and loved it, it is merely because you enjoyed it, more so than critiqued it. AOT is the same. In terms of enjoyment, it is great, but in terms of critique, its flaws can be spotted everywhere. So ultimately, it is up to personal preference. While I want to say it will get a 9 for enjoyment, the utter disgust of watching the characters and cliche story makes me want to give it a 5, so 7/10.
Overall: Attack on Titan fails to reach the standards that have been set for it. The story is rather cheesy, and the characters are a mess. AOT ultimately shows that an anime will not simply be great because it shows death and blood, rather, it needs a balance of characters, plot, and theme to get the job done. Hopefully, AOT becomes better, because right now, it deserves a 6/10. Nothing special, unless you are easily entertained by puerile attempts to become one of the great anime.
I'll write another review for this after the season is over, but for now, AOT is a letdown.
