Gomen!
I just finished watching the first season of Attack on Titan this last week. I apologise to all fans of the show, but I just didn't fall head over heels for this show. :( It was just not my cup of tea. So you have been warned about this review! All opinions are my own, but if you are hurt by them, then too bad for you.
The animation was good. I liked the darkened lines and the scetchiness of the character designs. Action scenes flowed perfectly and despite being high-speed I always had a clear sense what was happening. Recent Bond movies should learn from this how to make action scenes where the viewer isn't totally lost in all the close-ups and switching camera angles. The animation faltered a bit when the scene was quieter though. I could then see that they had saved frames on hair movement and such. They had packed all their punches for the tree-tops it seemed. But it was minor enough so it wasn't too distracting.
The overall story was interesting and there were enough of cliffhangers for me to watch the whole season. The idea of caged mankind and a threat that was mostly still unknown or at least not understood was a good base for the storyline. I would have been interested to see more of how humanity had turned on itself in those conditions though. It was glimpsed at in very small details (corrupted police, black markets and so on) which always brought a bit more flavour to the story. Instead the story focused very much on the outer threat of Titans. Which of course were a massive threat. But I would have cared more about the masses of people killed if I had grown fond of them, or grown to hate them. Thenagain, with the masses of soldiers being killed - and these are soldiers that I had started to get to know, with a feeling of actually having background, nevermind that there wasn't time to tell it before gettin squashed - I might have run out of emotions.
Now the thing that made me feel a bit 'meh' about the show was how the main characters felt too one-trick-ponies. Your average sideshow had a more complicated background and personality that "I'll go on yelling how I want to kill titans"-Eren and "I'll just hang around Eren since he is incapable of doing anything himself - except for yelling"-Mikasa. I was supposed to care about Eren just because he has the key to this massive secret and because his will is so powerful? And I was supposed to go uuhaah about Mikasa since she's just so damn cool with her combat expertise. Not. Eren was a brat and Mikasa the silent uninteresting guardian.
Only interesting main character was Armin, who seem to be the favourite of a few of my friends who have watched the show. Armin seemed to have a nice mix of determination (to not be a burden), intelligence and caring. He isn't the best (except mabe in strategy, but those were always nice scenes), and he has weaknesses and flaws, but that just makes him interesting. Too bad his hairstyle is so out of style :( But that's just me being superficial XD
As I said, the other characters are actually much more interesting. I hated Jean, and then I loved him. He has an amazing character growing story arc and I would really like to know what comes of him. Levi balances his cool combat scenes with the lines he says in that uninterested tone of voice, which instantly makes him more intrigueing than Mikasa. And Sasha stole the show for me with that potato trick of hers XD
It might just be that the shows nature also wasn't just what I look for in anime. I like dark-themed shows, loved Elfen Lied and GITS. But Attack on Titan was a bit too heavy on splatter drama. I mean it says a lot when my favourite character was Sasha-the-comic-relief. In the end I mostly like the comedies, preferably high-school harem comadies.
Or it just wasn't heavy enough, not pushing the show as a full-on dramafest with exploring the darker side of confined humanity, as I discussed before. Now I just felt it was showing a new character, then covering it in blood with more innovatively gruesome ways. It was numbing. And after a while, not at all surprising anymore because of it.
Don't get me wrong, it was an ok show. I did watch the whole season of it. But I might not say I liked it. But I know others love it, so why not go watch it? Make up your own mind about it.
The animation was good. I liked the darkened lines and the scetchiness of the character designs. Action scenes flowed perfectly and despite being high-speed I always had a clear sense what was happening. Recent Bond movies should learn from this how to make action scenes where the viewer isn't totally lost in all the close-ups and switching camera angles. The animation faltered a bit when the scene was quieter though. I could then see that they had saved frames on hair movement and such. They had packed all their punches for the tree-tops it seemed. But it was minor enough so it wasn't too distracting.
The overall story was interesting and there were enough of cliffhangers for me to watch the whole season. The idea of caged mankind and a threat that was mostly still unknown or at least not understood was a good base for the storyline. I would have been interested to see more of how humanity had turned on itself in those conditions though. It was glimpsed at in very small details (corrupted police, black markets and so on) which always brought a bit more flavour to the story. Instead the story focused very much on the outer threat of Titans. Which of course were a massive threat. But I would have cared more about the masses of people killed if I had grown fond of them, or grown to hate them. Thenagain, with the masses of soldiers being killed - and these are soldiers that I had started to get to know, with a feeling of actually having background, nevermind that there wasn't time to tell it before gettin squashed - I might have run out of emotions.
Now the thing that made me feel a bit 'meh' about the show was how the main characters felt too one-trick-ponies. Your average sideshow had a more complicated background and personality that "I'll go on yelling how I want to kill titans"-Eren and "I'll just hang around Eren since he is incapable of doing anything himself - except for yelling"-Mikasa. I was supposed to care about Eren just because he has the key to this massive secret and because his will is so powerful? And I was supposed to go uuhaah about Mikasa since she's just so damn cool with her combat expertise. Not. Eren was a brat and Mikasa the silent uninteresting guardian.
Only interesting main character was Armin, who seem to be the favourite of a few of my friends who have watched the show. Armin seemed to have a nice mix of determination (to not be a burden), intelligence and caring. He isn't the best (except mabe in strategy, but those were always nice scenes), and he has weaknesses and flaws, but that just makes him interesting. Too bad his hairstyle is so out of style :( But that's just me being superficial XD
As I said, the other characters are actually much more interesting. I hated Jean, and then I loved him. He has an amazing character growing story arc and I would really like to know what comes of him. Levi balances his cool combat scenes with the lines he says in that uninterested tone of voice, which instantly makes him more intrigueing than Mikasa. And Sasha stole the show for me with that potato trick of hers XD
It might just be that the shows nature also wasn't just what I look for in anime. I like dark-themed shows, loved Elfen Lied and GITS. But Attack on Titan was a bit too heavy on splatter drama. I mean it says a lot when my favourite character was Sasha-the-comic-relief. In the end I mostly like the comedies, preferably high-school harem comadies.
Or it just wasn't heavy enough, not pushing the show as a full-on dramafest with exploring the darker side of confined humanity, as I discussed before. Now I just felt it was showing a new character, then covering it in blood with more innovatively gruesome ways. It was numbing. And after a while, not at all surprising anymore because of it.
Don't get me wrong, it was an ok show. I did watch the whole season of it. But I might not say I liked it. But I know others love it, so why not go watch it? Make up your own mind about it.
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