Attack on Titan

 Welcome back my wonderful weebs! This week I watched 3 episodes of the famously popular show Attack on Titan! I've heard a lot about this anime and it's been on my list of things to watch for a while now, so I was very eager to check it out! Attack on Titan was released in 2013 and was produced by both Wit Studios and Production I.G. for its first 3 seasons while studio MAPPA produced the final fourth season. Now that we know a bit about the production, let's move on to the review!

Plot:

In this world, humanity has been living peacefully within the three walls that surround their cities for the last 100 years. Safe from the giant titans who would hunt and devour all humans. Soon after they showed up they became an apex predator. Everyone believes that since the walls are high enough they are safe. Until one day a giant titan unlike any seen before breaks through the outermost wall and as a result, lets in a stream of titans. The Titans slaughter all in their wake. Including our main character Eren Yeager's mother. Eren and his closest friends Mikasa and Armin escape into a deeper wall, Eren is set on one day eliminating Titans and getting his revenge for his mother's brutal demise. And that's the premise of the show, it's extremely gory to watch. You have been warned! While watching these three episodes I found the world of Attack on Titan truly fascinating. It left me with many questions about lore and the story behind how humanity was able to build these walls. The plot so far is fairly interesting and has me wondering what direction they'll take it in. 

Characters:

Let's talk characters! I'll be going over the 3 main characters this week: Eren Yeager, Mikasa (last name is a spoiler I think?), and Armin Arlert. In my opinion, Eren isn't the most interesting character. He's the classic headstrong protagonist trying to become the "best there ever was" to get his revenge. If I'm being honest I'm not a huge fan of him, though there are scenes where I do see some glimmers of other character traits he's mostly just angry and a bit of an asshole. One of Eren's closest friends is Mikasa, and honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about her, she seems almost emotionless at times. But when someone close to her is in danger or acting stupid she changes into a strong, smart, and loyal person. There are moments when I really like her and moments when I'm indifferent to her. Many people love her character so I'm just gonna assume that I'm not far enough into the show to see her 'final form' if you will. Armin is also a close friend of Eren's I don't really have much to say about him. His character is the "smart one" of the group. If I'm honest, he's a bit of a bland character. But, I think that this is a long story and that it might take more than what I watched to understand and to see character development. Sadly, I found some of the side characters more interesting than the main ones, and I hope that the show improves upon that throughout its course.  

Animation:

Overall in most scenes, the animation is good, I really love the thickness of the lines and the style is unique. The only gripe I have with it is well, the Titans. They're a bit funky looking and I find myself often distracted by their odd designs in impactful scenes. They're disturbing but not in a good way. Here's what I mean, feast your eyes: 

See? They're interesting-looking, to say the least. There are also some moments where the animaters integrate CGI into the show which is totally fine but it does take you out of some of the scenes. In the end, as long as there are no titans everything's good, which I guess is the whole point of the show...

Music:

On to music! The music has a bit of an opera-rock vibe in intense scenes and a sort of medieval tavern sound in peaceful ones. It fits the show very well and adds to the scenes nicely. The composer for the music in Attack on Titan is Hiroyuki Sawano, this name may sound familiar because he also did the track to Solo Leveling! Small world. Though the two shows have very different styles of music I think both were very well done and I really enjoyed the tracks. The intro to this show keeps that opera-rock music and is pretty catchy. The outro music takes a different turn from the rest of the music with a softer voice singing pop song that has rock elements to it. 

Sub or Dub:

I personally prefer the sub over the dub, I'm not sure what it is, but some of the lines just sound better in Japanese than how they sound in English. The dub is well done so if that's more your speed go for it, but I strongly recommend the sub. I think the lines sound better, I like the voices of each character more, and the acting is extremely well done.

Final rating:

Overall I found the world of Attack on Titan interesting and the music and voice acting was well done. However, the Titans were almost silly-looking and the main characters were a bit bland. Now for my final rating, I give this show (drum roll please)..........a solid 7/10. I definitely see potential in it and might continue watching it but I did have some gripes with it that hopefully are improved upon throughout the show. If this sounds like something you would be into I would totally recommend it just be aware that it is very gory at times! 

 

Ps. If you want to comment an anime for me to review, feel free to do so! See you next week!