Unless you have been living underneath a rock for the past year, then you have heard of the latest anime craze of 2014 (well, one of MANY...), Attack on Titan. Cartoon Network's Toonami animation block has recently finished airing the English dub in its entirety this past weekend, but I have seen the entire series in Japanese earlier this year within a span of 2-3 days after being drain into this narrative.
I have been sitting on this review for quite some time, mainly out of consideration to my close friends who haven't seen this anime in its entirety. Now that the English dub has FINALLY finish airing in its entirety, I feel comfortable posting this review without worrying about discussing potential spoilers.
Plot Summary: (MINOR Spoilers)
The story of Attack on Titan centers around the adventures of Eren Yeager, his adopted sister Mikasa Ackerman, and their friend Armin Arlert. After the wall which protects their hometown of Shinganshina is breached by Titans, Eren watches in horror as one of them eats his mother. Vowing to kill all Titans, Eren enlists in the military along with his friends.
Five years later, the three cadet graduates are positioned in Trost District, one of the border towns jutting out of Wall Rose, when the Titans attack again. In the ensuing battle, Eren is eaten by one of the Titans before Armin's eyes. However, a Titan later appears that begins fighting the other ones instead of harming humans; the Titan is revealed to be Eren, who has somehow developed the ability to transform into one. Though he is seen as a threat by some, he helps the military take back Trost. After being placed on trial for being a danger to the humans, he is taken in by the Survey Corps' Special Operations Squad, led by Captain Levi.
In an expedition to Shinganshina, the Scouts are attacked by a Female Titan who attempts to capture Eren. Although the Scouts are able to briefly capture the Female Titan, she breaks free and devastates Levi's squad, forcing the expedition to retreat. Armin determines that the Female Titan is a soldier, and devises a plan to capture her at Stohess.
The first "season" concludes after Eren defeats the Female Titan, but the manga continues the narrative.
The Verdict:
To be fair, I'm going discuss this anime in two chunks, to divide the reception of both story arcs covered in the anime.
The English dub aired on Cartoon Network as part of their late night Saturday Toonami anime-oriented programming block, but you can EASILY find the Japanese dub (with English subtitles) online in its entirety online if you're willing to look for it. If you're dead set on seeing this series in English, the first 13 episodes are available already on DVD and Blu-Ray while the remaining 12 episodes will be available sometime this fall.
In terms of personal preference, I prefer the Japanese dub more than the English dub, but that doesn't discredit the English dub at all in terms of quality. Trina Nishimura (Lan Fan in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Mizune in Soul Eater, Milly Thompson in Trigun: Badlands Rumble) voices Mikasa Ackerman, Bryce Papenbrook (Shugo in .hack//Legend of the Twilight, Rin Okumura in Blue Exorcist, Kirito in Sword Art Online) voices Eren Yeager, and Matthew Mercer (Leon S. Kennedy in the Resident Evil series, Tygra in Thundercats 2011, Fei Long in Street Fighter IV series) voices Levi - just to name a few of the superb voice actors lending their talents to the English dub.
I know I might end up shelling out the cash for this series on DVD, since the visuals on this anime never cease to amaze me. From the brutal, vicious death scenes to the high speed visuals to highlight the agility of the 3D Maneuver Gear (ODM Gear in the English dub), this anime is simply gorgeous to behold.
The English dub aired on Cartoon Network as part of their late night Saturday Toonami anime-oriented programming block, but you can EASILY find the Japanese dub (with English subtitles) online in its entirety online if you're willing to look for it. If you're dead set on seeing this series in English, the first 13 episodes are available already on DVD and Blu-Ray while the remaining 12 episodes will be available sometime this fall.
In terms of personal preference, I prefer the Japanese dub more than the English dub, but that doesn't discredit the English dub at all in terms of quality. Trina Nishimura (Lan Fan in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Mizune in Soul Eater, Milly Thompson in Trigun: Badlands Rumble) voices Mikasa Ackerman, Bryce Papenbrook (Shugo in .hack//Legend of the Twilight, Rin Okumura in Blue Exorcist, Kirito in Sword Art Online) voices Eren Yeager, and Matthew Mercer (Leon S. Kennedy in the Resident Evil series, Tygra in Thundercats 2011, Fei Long in Street Fighter IV series) voices Levi - just to name a few of the superb voice actors lending their talents to the English dub.
I know I might end up shelling out the cash for this series on DVD, since the visuals on this anime never cease to amaze me. From the brutal, vicious death scenes to the high speed visuals to highlight the agility of the 3D Maneuver Gear (ODM Gear in the English dub), this anime is simply gorgeous to behold.
The Battle of Trost
This opening story arc of the anime is where most people either don't stick with the anime or quickly become fans of the anime and stick around for the long haul. Even I will admit that the training montage dragged on a bit longer than I hoped but if you don't get hooked during the actual first battle that occurs afterwards, something is wrong. From my personal experience from suggesting this anime to friends and colleagues, that's pretty much the cut-off period for most people either loving or hating this anime.
This is the anime's least action-packed arc, but when it finally starts, you will be on the edge of your seats dying to know what happens next. This story arc serves as fans' introduction to the series before it sinks it's claws into its audience and keeps them coming back for more, much like AMC's The Walking Dead.
Fans quickly realize that nothing is sacred here as anyone and everyone could fall victim to the Titans at anytime. At the same time, this is where the series plants the foundations for a lot of reoccurring themes throughout the anime (and the manga) and establishes relationships between the bulk of the 106 graduating rookies.
This is the anime's least action-packed arc, but when it finally starts, you will be on the edge of your seats dying to know what happens next. This story arc serves as fans' introduction to the series before it sinks it's claws into its audience and keeps them coming back for more, much like AMC's The Walking Dead.
Fans quickly realize that nothing is sacred here as anyone and everyone could fall victim to the Titans at anytime. At the same time, this is where the series plants the foundations for a lot of reoccurring themes throughout the anime (and the manga) and establishes relationships between the bulk of the 106 graduating rookies.
The Female Titan
Without a shadow of a doubt, this is easily Attack on Titan's BEST story arc - hands down.
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| Captain Levi be like... |
This story arc begins in the wake of the humanity's first "legit" win against the Titans in the Battle of Trost with Eren held on trial as the military attempts to decide what is the best action to take for the safety and future of mankind with his "Titan Shifter" abilities. Once the verdict is passed, Eren is taken in as part of the Survey Corps' Special Operations Squad, led by the fan favorite character, Captain Levi.
We, the audience, are given a brief glimpse of the Survey Corps in action at the end of the Battle of Trost, but now is the full introduction to this branch of the military.
The narrative then changes gears onto an expedition that would see the Special Operations Squad venture to the outer walls of Trost on a mission to take Eren to the basement of his abandoned home to find the "secret" that Eren's father left there. Sadly, this expedition turns into a slaughter for the Survey Corps' troops as the Female Titan emerges looking for Eren. Seeing the Female Titan in action is both incredible and horrifying as she makes quick work of almost everything that stands in her way of her objective. This terrifying foe forces mankind's best into a corner with their backs against the wall and results in the series' best action sequences from top to bottom.
Sadly, this story arc ends with a bit of cliffhanger, presenting many more questions than answers than when this anime started.
Closing Words
Simply put, Attack on Titan is Japan's answer to America's The Walking Dead. Both series have some of the same similarities, with the bleak situation for mankind in both series with a terrifying enemy that could strike at any moment, creating a constant sense of fear and urgency. At the same time, Attack on Titan serves as a catalyst to sell the mangas to otakus hungry for what happens next. I remember the endings to the anime adaptations of Soul Eater and Deadman Wonderland having a similar effect. Both of those were great in their own right, but I would be lying that I feel ripped off in a sense that the show has a lackluster ending that leaves fans clamoring for more and would race to buy/read the manga to find out what happens next.
In terms of animation, Attack on Titan is a visual masterpiece. From the terrifying Titans to the gruesome death scenes to the stylish maneuvers of the ODMS Gear in action, never ceases to amaze me in terms of visuals.
Let's not forget the death scenes... Warning: These are NOT for the faint at heart and are MAJOR spoilers if you haven't seen the anime in full.
This was one thing that drew me into this anime - NOTHING was sacred and the death toll is insane by the end of the Female Titan arc.
Last but not least, this anime has so many "likable" characters - major AND minor characters. For example, I absolutely hated Jean at the start of the anime, but by the end of the anime, I loved his character because he's the only "realist" among the rookie cadets. He gives everyone that reality check when they need to hear it with precise timing. Everyone seems to hate on Eren and his countless flaws in the anime, but I always cut him a break because I'm sick of the cookie-cutter "perfect" protagonists in anime. Even Eren's childhood friends, Armin and Mikasa, are both interesting in their own right but the anime glosses over the surface of their relationships compared to the manga. These are only a few characters that manage to leave their mark on viewers of this anime.
Let's not forget "Potato Girl"...
Sadly, the ending of this first "season" is rather underwhelming as the anime decides to go with a slightly different direction than the manga that this anime was based off of. Like I mentioned earlier, this anime benefits greatly if you pick up reading the manga after finishing the anime. Most people start where the anime leaves off, but I suggest starting at the very beginning. That is because a lot of details were glossed over in the anime, such as the training sessions of the 106th cadet class. To condense that into a single episode was rather strange, along with some of the changes to Eren's relationship with Armin and Anne from the manga to the anime.
I don't want to dwell too much on the manga as this is a review on the anime itself. As a stand-alone anime series, I can easily recommend Attack on Titan as one of the anime series to watch in 2014 if you haven't already seen it in it's entirety. It's one of those anime series where you're either going to love it and can't get enough of it or absolutely hate it and you get sick of hearing about it from everyone else, much like The Walking Dead.
Despite it's faults, the good about this anime far outweighs the bad, so I'm going to give Attack on Titan a 9 out of 10.
In terms of animation, Attack on Titan is a visual masterpiece. From the terrifying Titans to the gruesome death scenes to the stylish maneuvers of the ODMS Gear in action, never ceases to amaze me in terms of visuals.
Let's not forget the death scenes... Warning: These are NOT for the faint at heart and are MAJOR spoilers if you haven't seen the anime in full.
This was one thing that drew me into this anime - NOTHING was sacred and the death toll is insane by the end of the Female Titan arc.
Last but not least, this anime has so many "likable" characters - major AND minor characters. For example, I absolutely hated Jean at the start of the anime, but by the end of the anime, I loved his character because he's the only "realist" among the rookie cadets. He gives everyone that reality check when they need to hear it with precise timing. Everyone seems to hate on Eren and his countless flaws in the anime, but I always cut him a break because I'm sick of the cookie-cutter "perfect" protagonists in anime. Even Eren's childhood friends, Armin and Mikasa, are both interesting in their own right but the anime glosses over the surface of their relationships compared to the manga. These are only a few characters that manage to leave their mark on viewers of this anime.
Let's not forget "Potato Girl"...
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| I think everyone had that one moment where they "loved" good ol' "Potato Girl" here... |
I don't want to dwell too much on the manga as this is a review on the anime itself. As a stand-alone anime series, I can easily recommend Attack on Titan as one of the anime series to watch in 2014 if you haven't already seen it in it's entirety. It's one of those anime series where you're either going to love it and can't get enough of it or absolutely hate it and you get sick of hearing about it from everyone else, much like The Walking Dead.
Despite it's faults, the good about this anime far outweighs the bad, so I'm going to give Attack on Titan a 9 out of 10.
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