Whoa

Written by sanyumi on September 25, 2013 at 12:08 PM

Okay, I'm gonna try to write a constructive review here. Even though the series IS almost over, I still feel like putting my two sense in.
I'm older than the average anime nerd... and I'm not a nerd anymore. I haven't felt this strongly of an anime since I was a teenager, and I honestly felt like I would never be THIS emotionally attached to an ANIME, ever.
So, Attack on Titan. I've heard the rants and raves about it, whatever. All my anime friends were just /insisting/ that I give this one a try, so I did. And it had me at the first episode. I don't want to make this a long, critical review (since there are those here, if you wanna sift, so I'll just give points).

The pros:
Animation style is ridiculously top notch and unique and follows along with the manga with beautiful precision (I've heard some of the character designs, like Levi, for example, are a bit off, but it's forgivable).
Music. Wow that soundtrack. The mix of German and Japanese has never been done so well. There, I said it.
The characters. I've heard some pretty negative feedback from the character development and I'm here to put a stop to the negatives. Each character is different, each grows. Some fast and obviously (Armin and his STRONG transition from nervous, self-belittling boy to a smart, confidant young adult) some slow but eager (Eren, our protagonist, and his reckless go-get-em tendency to slowly maturing to a soldier who must learn to take commands and make concise, thoughtful decisions of his own). They are all so believable too. They are terrified of these Titan monsters, but they fight anyway. I love it.
The dialogue... to an extent. These are teenagers. And yet the know how to speak and what to say. They also have foul mouths. They yell a lot. It's realistic, and sometimes it's great for comic relief... which holy shit we really need.

Cons:
... The story is a little choppy. It moves along very slowly, and the first season is almost over and we still know close to nothing about the Titans. A slew of new questions arise almost every episode without explanation, and it just gets frustrating.

So there you have it. I would recommend this anime to anyone, even non-anime watchers. Unless you have a weak stomach and are a sociopath. The story draws you in, makes you fall in love with the characters, then breaks your heart and kills them, to put bluntly. And its horrible because... everyone is a target.

It's not about the violence and gore, there's real story and character development here. And if you disagree, lets have a discussion, because I can give you character details and flaws for all of them. You must read past the dialogue and watch their facial expressions and body movements. Yeah, the animation is THAT good.