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Now that the final episode of Season 4 part 1 is out and the ardent fans move into nine painful months of anticipation to witness what goes down with our favorite characters, it’s time to reflect upon the beauty of ‘Shingeki No Kyojin’, or more popularly known as ‘Attack on Titan’.
The anime ‘Shingeki No Kyojin’ (Okay I’ll start calling it ‘Attack on Titan’ from now on) is based upon the popular manga by Hajime Isayama. The anime follows Eren Yeager, a boy living in the town of Shiganshina with his father Grisha Yeager, mother Carla Yeager and Mikasa Ackerman, a girl who was saved by Yeager from the hands of kidnappers and whom the Yeagers chose to adopt. The family lives behind Wall Maria, a wall that was built a century ago to protect mankind from gigantic man-eating creatures known as ‘titans’. A century after humanity took shelter behind the three walls (Wall Maria, Wall Rose and Wall Sina), the peace is broken and humanity’s defence is shattered one day when suddenly the Colossal Titan appears out of nowhere, towering over the 50m tall Wall Maria and breaking the gates open for hoards of titans to enter. As the wall collapses and panicked civilians try to escape the bloodbath, Eren’s mother is trapped in the rubbles of their collapsed house, and while a soldier of the Survey Corps saves Eren and Mikasa, Eren’s mother is left trapped and soon is devoured by a titan. Shocked at the view of his mother being devoured, Eren becomes furious and vows to join the Scout Regiment of the Survey Corps and wipe out every single titan from the surface of the earth.
Now let’s get down to it. There are only a few cinemas or tv shows that really affect me deeply and leave me wondering about the story and how it could’ve affected me if I was in the position of a certain character. There are only a few cinemas or shows that I find relatable, inspirational, and poignant enough to make me sit in a corner and cry. I call such epic productions ‘milestone’. ‘Attack on Titan’ is such a ‘milestone’, and if ranked, might be the top of the list of all milestone.
‘Attack on Titan’ is not just an episodic journey of a boy seeking vengeance or a group of soldiers fending off hoards of titans, it’s an experience of a lifetime. It is an emotional journey through the depths of characters, how each and everyone is affected by the series of events taking place and how they learn to trust and love each other at the face of despair, along with breath-taking animation, wonderfully thought dialogues and heart-wrenching scores all through the 25 episodes of the first season. It was an absolute delight to stay up late at night and feast my eyes on the gorgeous animation by Wit studios, accompanied by a magnum opus from Hajime Isayama who is a literal genius.
Let’s start with the characters. Very rarely do I find a tv show or a film where every character is likeable or at least I get behind their characters and understand their motivations. Often (or to be honest, most of the times) there are random side characters whose presence is fun but you feel like if the character had been omitted, only a few minutes of runtime would have been lost. But in ‘Attack on Titan’, I loved EACH AND EVERY character. There’s not one character whom I feel like could’ve been left out, there’s not one presence talking in the room whom I felt like didn’t have a motivation to speak. EACH AND EVERY character is well-sketched, not just on pen and paper but also character-wise, and they all really shine in this series. Eren’s best friends Armin and Mikasa, though not relatable and rather bland near the beginning, shine later in the series with a really well-written script behind them- Mikasa is not just a titan-slicing badass but rather someone who has been through a lot at a young age, and Armin, though not a fighter at all, is wise and his impetuous decisions end up saving his friends just at the nick of time. There’s enough comic relief with Connie and Sasha (the latter being more relatable to me) and there’s a beautiful example set by Isayama with the character of Jean, a recruit who wants to be a leader, but often gets caught in his own web. His character was the most relatable to me- an imperfect guy who wants to be the perfect leader, but often gets caught and looks at what his decisions have cost him, and tries to do better the next time. He is even wise at times. There are the characters of Annie, Bertholdt and Reiner, but we’ll get to know more about them in the future reviews.
Speaking of characters, it’s time to talk about my favorite character, perhaps across all of fiction (only rival to Captain America). CAPTAIN LEVI ACKERMAN. The quintessential hero, and the perfect embodiment of badassery at its best. Levi is one of the most badass character to have appeared on the screen (and the most badass character of all time who never appeared in the silver screen), and not only that, Levi is also a wise man at times, and even might shoot something thought- provoking at times at a character that might indirectly punch you in the face too. His animations are absolutely mesmerizing, his shots of slicing titans is fabulous and his ability to keep a straight face even at the worst of times is fascinating to say the least. Commander Erwin Smith and Hange Zoe are amazing characters too who get their moments to shine, and Erwin is a brave commander for most of the series unlike many characters in the hierarchy who are cowardly.
Now moving on to the other aspects. The animation is beautiful in this anime, but that’s just something pretty common in today’s day and age. However, the action scenes are highly enjoyable, the use of Omni-Directional Movement (ODM) gears and the animation involved with these as our heroes encircle titans is an absolute treat to watch, and all the action scenes involving Levi are just daunting and ABSOLUTELY FREAKING AWESOME to watch. The soundtrack and scores are brilliant to, especially Hiroyuki Sawano’s theme for the scouts (‘Wings of Freedom’) is a beautiful soundtrack to listen to while solving mathematics problems. All the scores and songs add to the depth of the poignant or heroic scenes.
Any criticism for this show? Well, the issues I have with ‘Attack on Titan’ are very nitpicky and rather avoidable. For me, the show drags on for a bit after the second episode. It kind of gets slow for a moment, but that’s understandable because it’s just the first season and they are only setting up for something greater. ‘Attack on Titan’ is a slow-burn, one that slowly immerses you into this dystopia our heroes live in. On the face of it, it might seem like all out action with soldiers slicing titans with swords, but deep inside it’s a story about grief, loss, anguish and hatred. The anime takes its time to grow our heroes into what they become, and that takes up a few episodes. But once the anime picks up with Eren revealing his special abilities, it’s a feast from then on, and you’re instantly hooked.
To conclude, ‘Attack on Titan’ is an amazing show that’s not only about badassery and cool music, but one that teaches growing up in a dystopic condition and getting showered with love and friendship in a place where survival is the raison d'être of one’s existence.
I’m going to give the first season of ‘Attack on Titan’ an ‘A’.
Thank you for reading my review! Be ready for the review of Season 2!
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