Today we review the anime Attack on Titan. A really hyped up anime that quickly rose to become a giant in the anime industry. Is it worth all the hype though? As always I’ll look at the main characters, the premise and the plot to ensure your time and money aren’t wasted.
The premise of Attack on Titan is a story set years into the future. These massive man eating giants known as Titans have appeared out of nowhere and humanity has been forced to live behind massive walls that keep them in and the titans out. Everything is fine for a hundred years but then one day a massive titan breaks a hole in the wall.
That’s when the real story of Attack on Titan really begins for our main cast.
To avoid spoiling too much I’ll stick to the main characters at first as most are only brought into the show after big plot reveals.
The main character is on the right, Eren Yeager. If this were the typical Shonen anime he’d fit right in. Here though the consequences are seen more visibly. He’s reckless and hot headed ever since Titan’s broke into his city and even before then has always had a hard time controlling his temper. He’s constantly backed up by his friends as a result, he’s known as the Suicidal Idiot by his comrades.
The character in the middle of the picture is a secondary character Armin, his role is to be the brains of the group. Most plans and situations are thought out by him. Not a good fighter by any means but he always makes sure to contribute by getting everyone out of a messy situation. Action wise though he’s a minor character.
The character on the right is Eren’s adopted sister Mikasa Ackerman. She is the main female heroin of the show and the action girl that gets things done when Eren can’t. Essentially she acts as Eren’s hyper competent sidekick. The only thing that stops her from stealing the show as the protagonist altogether is an emotional reliance on Eren.
Then the villains of the show are as implied by the name the Titan’s themselves. They are mindless man eating beasts. Where they came from and why they eat humans is unknown and their great size, strength and healing abilities make them a dangerous foe to face especially in large numbers.
The story starts on the day the Titans break through the wall into the human settlements and Eren loses his mother in the attack causing him to vow vengeance upon the Titans and join the army along with Armin and Mikasa.
One thing to note about this show is that important characters will die. The show will not be gentle about it when it happens either. Eren’s mother dying is not implied off screen like most shows would do it. No it is front and center in your face, you see the whole thing as she’s struggling for life. The show is same for all the deaths it portrays. And more often than not it will be a character you never expected to die getting offed.
Besides that there is a lot to get from this show and a lot in the very first episode that cleverly foreshadows what happens in later episodes. The pacing does get a bit slow in some episodes where it is mainly exposition about the current state of human political affairs and how they tie into the titans but then the show makes up for those moments by having truly epic battle scenes and soundtracks.
Attack on Titan isn’t the best anime of all time but it is definitely a great anime to watch. You will remember a lot from it and look back to previous episodes for clever foreshadowing when the plot twists are revealed and there are quite a few of them in just the first season. Right now you can find it on Netflix and Crunchyroll.
It gets 9 out of 10.