The grandiose and destructive entry of the namesake monsters of Attack on Titan is a perfect mirror of the series' own entry into television. Based on the manga authored by then 23-year-old Hajime Isayama, and produced with the help of upstart Wit Studio, the show itself was such an alien creature on its face that a the rapt attention of the masses was bound to encircle it for some time. This would shortly prove to be one of its primary strengths, as a slew of barely disguised and well-used clichés began to effervesce upward from beneath its polished surface, and the logic underpinning its story began displaying its seams. These flaws are noticeable enough to at least threaten Attack on Titan's sustained popularity over the coming years.
I should remember to mention first that strength which immediately distinguished the series from its competition. The animation in the greater part of the twenty-five episodes of the first season is astonishingly fluid and emotive. If it ever lacks for model consistency, a valid rationale is provided by the very newness to television anime of the employed scenes and layouts. The violence and opulently beautiful scenery of every episode are together bathed in the earthy rainbow of the series' refreshingly realistic yet subtly otherworldly color palette, and sunset scenes in particular are a ravishing spectacle. As a contrast, the look of the characters' bold outlines is at times overly noticeable, and is oddly not reminiscent of the manga.
How nice it would be were the story told by such talented artwork constructed so carefully. Characters who are each seemingly capable of a single emotion are routinely tossed, with randomity as uninteresting as it is ironically unnatural, into simple and trite situations of peril. Dei ex machina (not ex machinis, as I can't make out multiple foci of such a simple story) are present in swarms; one becomes sadly numbed to their effect even before the season's halfway point. Moments that could have been more fully utilized for sorely-needed character development are instead devoted to hindsight exhibition and gratuitous gore; this show
is likewise unique, in the equivalent gratuitousness of its sentimental appeal, the grotesqueness of which competes with that of the violence I imagine most of us came to see.
Those approaching Shingeki no Kyojin hoping to have their intellect even slightly challenged will be left utterly starving, and I believe this criticism especially harsh when applied to a shounen series, most of which are hardly renowned for appeal to smarter audiences. As beautiful as much of the art and animation is,
its effect would only be heightened by a stronger and more consistent story to ground it. Unfortunately, a potentially reparative second season has yet to be confirmed, but hey, at least a high school spinoff is coming
