Attack on Titan - Overall Series Impressions & Total Series Rating

[Kairin]

This thread is to be used for discussing the entire episodes of Attack on Titan ... your thoughts about the show, overall impressions, expectations and hopes about Blu-Ray/DVD-exclusive footage etc.

A few subjects you might want to ramble on about:

• General impression of the series.
• Opinions on the overall story, writing & plot devices.
• Thoughts about the animation quality.
• Characters/Character Design
• Voice Acting
• Which kind of footage (Blu-Ray/DVD-exclusive) you feel you'd really like to see.
• What the show meant to you.
• What could the creators/animators/writers have done better.

And so on.

The poll represents your total series rating. In other words, how you would rate all the episodes combined (1-10)? If you'd rather rate the whole series by technical/artistic merits, you can do so. An example:

Animation Quality: 1-10
Voice Actors: 1-10
Script: 1-10
Soundtrack: 1-10
Editing: 1-10
Enjoyment: 1-10
Emotional Involvement: 1-10

Average = Total Series Rating

Or a combination of the two. Or your general gut feeling.

Feel free to discuss and more importantly, have fun

[oompa loompa]

Animation Quality: 7

Some sequences were amazing, as were some episodes, but others were distinctly lacking. I'm not talking about the random stills, I liked that idea in terms of saving costs. But there were some episodes, where there was a lot of action, yet the animation remained quite subpar.

Voice Actors: 8

I'm giving an 8 because there wasn't incredible scope as far as voice acting goes. Having said that, the main casts voice actors were very good. On the other hand, Hanji pissed me off when he/she gets over excited (that type of character works much better in a manga IMHO), and Levi, although casted well, often had a sort of batman voice when it wasn't necessary.

Script: 7

I'm giving this a 7 specifically because of the changes they made to the original material. While good, there was all together too much crying, and too many speeches. What I really like about the SnK manga, is the bleak, hopeless tone. This is exemplified in episode 25 where in the anime

Spoiler for episode 25:

Eren has to be serenaded by various people before he realizes what he has to do

whereas in the manga

Spoiler for episode 25:

When Mikasa says ' The world is a cruel place (after all), Eren replies " Yeah, it really is". This. They know what the situation is, they know its hopeless. They won't win if they're glorious heroes, they will win if they're savage animals. The last point is also repeated all too often in the final episodes.

Soundtrack:7

I don't know why people rave about the soundtrack so much. I'm giving it a 7 and not a 5 because there are select parts which are really, really excellent. Then there are others.. like when the initial training is going on, that are god awful. Also, (I'm sure I'm in a minority here), I hated the first OP.

Enjoyment: 9

One of the most enjoyable anime I've seen. The intensity of the show, particularly in the battle episodes, is absolutely captivating. Not to mention that the setting and the universe is brilliant. Retains a lot of the regular anime slightly shonen-esque tropes, but is much fresher and more visceral.

Emotional Involvement: 8

Since we only have a small part of the story, I don't see how you could be too emotionally involved in this show. Worry not though, being a manga reader I can tell you that this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Overall: 8.

A hard 8. Really though, the show is carried by the source material , and not the directing. However, that's only because they stuck so closely to the manga, and pretty much made all filler smooth transitions. I'm giving it an 8 and not a 9 or a 10 simply because I know it could have been done better. People will say costs yata yata yata, but really they've missed out on creating something absolutely amazing here.

[Claym0re]

After finishing the first season I have quite assymetric feelings. Lets start with the good ones.

Graphics, animation and especially the atmosphere - top notch. The mangaka and the director really knew how to picture the drama and the terror. I would say that the first few episodes are among the best openings I have ever seen in an anime (or any kind of series for that matter). I really liked the unique and original setup of humans fighting giants plus the introduction of the 3D gear. The background music was also perfect during most of the scenes.

The problem is that after an amazing and eventful start the rest of the story was like a deflating balloon. There were so many obvious stalling and pointless non-realistic monologues and speeches... for me it was borderline offensive.

After 25 episodes we still know nothing about the titans or for that matter...anything at all. Its like the mangaka inserted a „mystery plot” to the story which he has absolutely no idea how to unfold or the first season ended at the worst possibe time. And I don’t even want to talk about plotholes...

But to be fair I probably would have overlooked all this if atleast the cast were made right. Sadly the majority of the characters were cardboard cutouts with mostly one identifiable trait but no backstory or character development at all. Yes you might have felt sorry for those who died but apart from that we never knew them enough to really care whether they live or die. Not to mention there are so many of them even if they tried they couldn’t have given enough focus and screentime to each of them.

The first few episodes are easily 10/10. But for me who already watched plenty of series I would like to see atleast the basics done right.The second season might have some chance to redeem this but I dont have high hopes. So overall I will give this a strong 5 or weak 6. There is plenty of potential here hidden under the surface.

[richardtengcy]

Originally Posted by Claym0re

After finishing the first season I have quite assymetric feelings. Lets start with the good ones.

Graphics, animation and especially the atmosphere - top notch. The mangaka and the director really knew how to picture the drama and the terror. I would say that the first few episodes are among the best openings I have ever seen in an anime (or any kind of series for that matter). I really liked the unique and original setup of humans fighting giants plus the introduction of the 3D gear. The background music was also perfect during most of the scenes.

The problem is that after an amazing and eventful start the rest of the story was like a deflating balloon. There were so many obvious stalling and pointless non-realistic monologues and speeches... for me it was borderline offensive.

After 25 episodes we still know nothing about the titans or for that matter...anything at all. Its like the mangaka inserted a „mystery plot” to the story which he has absolutely no idea how to unfold or the first season ended at the worst possibe time. And I don’t even want to talk about plotholes...

But to be fair I probably would have overlooked all this if atleast the cast were made right. Sadly the majority of the characters were cardboard cutouts with mostly one identifiable trait but no backstory or character development at all. Yes you might have felt sorry for those who died but apart from that we never knew them enough to really care whether they live or die. Not to mention there are so many of them even if they tried they couldn’t have given enough focus and screentime to each of them.

The first few episodes are easily 10/10. But for me who already watched plenty of series I would like to see atleast the basics done right.The second season might have some chance to redeem this but I dont have high hopes. So overall I will give this a strong 5 or weak 6. There is plenty of potential here hidden under the surface.

The only points i disagree with you is on the lack of character development.

The character with the biggest development is Armin and Jean.

Also, we see much more character development for Erwin and Levi in the anime more than the manga due to the anime original (aka filler).

[Claym0re]

Originally Posted by richardtengcy

The only points i disagree with you is on the lack of character development.

The character with the biggest development is Armin and Jean.

Also, we see much more character development for Erwin and Levi in the anime more than the manga due to the anime original (aka filler).

The only one I can agree with is Jean. Funny that most people pick him but to be honest he was the only one who had the traits of a real protagonist had an arc and had a personality which the audience could relate to.

But if you dont believe me here is a simple challange. Run a "character development" check on the 20-30 characters we got introduced during the 25 episodes.

Describe the characters WITHOUT saying what they looked like what sort of clothing they wore or what their profession or role was in the series. Describe the character to any of your friend like they never seen or heard anything about Attack on the Titan.

The more descriptive you can get the stronger the character.

[richardtengcy]

Character development is how the reader comes to understand and know a character.

The ways a reader comes to know a character is by

what the character does
what the character says
what others say about a character
or what the narrator tells the reader (direct characterization)

A quote might show that others think the character is good or bad or confused in some way and the same could be understood by something the character says. Or it might show how the character changes in some way, if they are a dynamic and not a static character.

Example of character development in Attack on Titan:

For Armin, he was a kid who believe himself to be useless and always have to depend on protection from Mikasa and Eren. Viewer see him as a useless character early in the episodes when Armin was unable to do anything except seeing him cry and despair but later on start to become more confident in his strategizing and analytical abilities that saves many life and situation. I call that character development when people start recognising Armin in a different but positive light.

For Jean, he is someone who is a realist. Although he was acting like a jerk in the early episodes wanting to become the tops graduate to hide behind the wall (who wouldn't? I'll say majority would have act as him), he later on join the Survey Corp after understanding the role behind the true meaning of becoming a soldier after Marco death. He turn from a selfish character into someone who is selfless which even amaze Reiner who believe that Jean was a different person he is used to when they join the 104th Training Corp

[Claym0re]

My original post:

Sadly the majority of the characters were cardboard cutouts with mostly one identifiable trait but no backstory or character development at all.

So I wont argue with you anymore. If for you picking the two most interesting (out of 20-30) but still semi-developed characters are enough to rate this series high on character development so be it.

For me it wasnt. Call it personal taster or whatever.

Edit: If you still have something to share you are welcome to send me a private message but I believe we started to use this topic improperly.

[lateraldeath]

Animation quality: 10 It had it's downs of still frames and sometimes awkward shapes, and certainly some episodes where you can tell a staff or 2 went "missing" right before episode release. But despite that, it's my most memorable thing about SnK and where I think it broke grounds. For the episodes that were high budget, they did things I've never seen before in 14 years of anime (tv series wise, not movies). The three things that struck me the most was the lighting, especially in arc 2, the bokeh/depth of field focus on characters, and the choreography. For the lighting in the FT arc it was a very erry 8 am sunrise type of light that fits perfectly to the mood of the entire arc. Also as time passed in story, they took care to change it to look like mid day. Also the sunrays that penetrates the forest was just beautifully done. 2, Bokeh, these are things that people wouldn't notice with just or two watches to the anime. Some you even need to pause frame by frame to find it. The fact they spent the time to create these detail into making the overall feel of the episode strong is something I very much appreciate as a viewer. Choreography should be pretty self explanatory. End of ep 4, beginning, mid of ep 5, ep 17, ep 12, 21 so on and so forth, pretty much wherever they had a high budget. I felt like I was watching Monty Oum's Dead Fantasy work at one point in this respect. No other anime made me feel this way before. I prefer to have these highs and low animation style because one, it's different from run-of-the-mill. Two, in the end, the scenes most people remember years later when it's mentioned are the best parts, not the worst.

Voice Actors: 8 It was good, great in some respect. But not awestruck. Annie and Levi's voices never felt completely right with me. I can't explain it very well.

Script: 9 As a manga reader, not sure what's the proper way to rate this. Since I expect the script to mirror the manga, so maybe 100% mirror to manga would be a 10. I think 9 is proper, because they had it almost perfect. But there are some dialogues very important for character development they decided to leave out. Also I though ep 22's script was mediocre at best, yet ep 24's filler script was totally awesome and fitting.

Soundtrack:10 Another place I thought broke grounds. I always felt Yuki Kajiura's soundtrack was unbeatable in an anime. This anime beats it. I really wonder how the composer and the sound director work together. I'm not sure if I should give more credit to the original composer, or the director that knows exactly what music to use, How to cut it to make it the best fitting music for the scene.

Enjoyment: 10 For a anime that I know the manga story to. Generally I'm just watching the anime without feeling or thinking anything. This anime made me forget all that. I felt everything an anime viewer would have felt, except for the never ending nagging knowledge in the back of my head that I knew the bigger mysteries. It's the first anime that made me regret to no end I read the manga and know the story beforehand. (though I probably would have been spoiled somewhere along the way if I google it at all. Seems like no one was immune from spoilers)

Emotional Involvement: 10
Thanks mainly to the animation and the music. I was more involved than I would ever have imagined considering I knew the story. As a habit I like to theorize how I would direct each episode based on the manga for anime. Most other animes episodes fall short of my expectation. This anime had numerous episodes that went way beyond. One thing I really would have like to seen is a change in Aureo in ep 21. It's pretty clear to me even in the manga he likes Petra, I'd like to have seen him welding up with tears after Petra died, even after he changed his resolve from grieving to attacking the FT. It would have fit the music perfectly.

Overall: 10 I would have rated this a 9. But I gave it an extra point because objectively speaking the anime broke different grounds as examples other anime should follow. If other anime can see why SnK is so successful, analyse it, learn it's good parts and improve the industry for the better, then a 10 for it is well deserved.

[justsomeguy]

I read the manga after the series began. This adaptation was faithful (until the last episode) in terms of story, characters, and the hopeless resigned feeling in the face of an overwhelming enemy. Unfortunately based on the manga's pacing I also know that a sequel is very unlikely for another five years, so anime-only fans will probably not get the completion of the story.

8/10

[Zeydra]

When I went in to this series I didn't really know what to expect, naturally I'd heard about it, you couldn't really be on the internet and not have at least heard the name Attack on Titan. But I had no idea what the show was even about. Needless to say the show by the end of the first episode showed exactly what this series was about, a brutal world where only the strongest survive and the weak are mercilessly devoured by both the corruption of humanity and the titans.

It was relentless in its brutality, and I loved that from the start. It also did a very good job keeping things feeling grounded and real, so that when the next shock or huge piece of action happened it was truly awe inspiring.

Overall I very quickly saw why it was generating the buzz around the net that it was, and was borderline addicted from the second episode after the Armored Titan crashed through the gate. Overall the series has left me very impressed and entertained, if it weren't for a few budget problems at the end of the Trost arc I would be more than happy to call this a ten out of ten series, as it is I'll have to knock it down to a mere nine. Incomplete as it is I don't regret watching it for a second, and have reasonable hopes we may see a second series at some point due to the popularity this has.

[GoddyofAus]

All I'll say about this series is, for something to become a cultural phenomenon in and of itself, it needs to be doing something right.

[Iron Maw]

Animation Quality: 8

Honestly, in general I thought the show was pretty well animated for a 26 episode series with no artificial breaks. There were definitely moments of roughness and heavy still usage, but nothing got worse than of episode 8 and 13. Even those episodes were nothing close animation travesties of some other shows *cough* Tsukimori Moon Phase*cough*. More importantly when Most people who anime causality wouldn't notice some of uneven quality anyway. Aside from that there minor typical stock stock footage and recaps spread throughout a number airings but that was pretty standard for big TV productions. I would also like to note that SnK has some of best visual backgrounds and art direction I have in TV anime in quite sometime. It's unique style and tones certainly helped sell the world.

Voice Actors: 7

Nothing really particular for me to say here. I thought everyone did their roles as well as anyone expected. Just no standout performances.

Script: 8

Found it to be pretty good. Yes there is some repetitiveness (mainly during the filler parts) here that is common in the shounen and some scenes like in episode 1 with RC Commander and old woman were a little heavy handed as typical of an Araki work. Nothing really offensive though, unless you're the type to get overly nitpickly about that sort of stuff. Most of the dialogue and tone were well written and even more well direction in respect of lore and narrative.

Soundtrack: 9

One of the best OSTs and OP of year IMO. I don't really care if SnK might have been Hiroyuki Sawano's weaker work (I don't agree here either but whatever), it's still awesome even then. Not only was it mixed well within scenes in the show, but nearly always elevated them. The first OP is probably something hundred times by now and I have admittingly gotten a little tired of it by now, however it is still one of most memorable sequences of past seasons for me.

Enjoyment: 10

Easily the show I looked forward to the most every week for the past two seasons. The first few episodes did well to pull me in and rest to keep me in. Even in the light of rather of the heavily padded and slow paced episode 10, 11 and 12 didn't do much diminish my enjoyment of the show as whole and very anime kept on the edge of my seat as this one did.

Overall: 9

After reading quite a bit of manga I really think this is probably one of best adaptations in quite sometime despite some of it's faults and changes. Not just well directed overall, but even most of the filler was handled in such a excellent manner that it could have easily fit into the original narrative the without a problem. It shows for the most part that the staff did understand the material and weren't just winging things. Of course this may have made some of alterations more disappointing because of it depending on the individual.

Despite the large cast, most of them were treated quite well for the time given. Most of the MCs had distinct personalities and motivations for being where they were and how their are even if not everyone got the spotlight. The female characters were done particularity well for shounen and weren't made out to inferior to their male counterparts physically or mentally as it normally happens. I also like that despite Eren being an important key figure the world didn't revolve around him. He wasn't only interacting with everyone as some sort of proxy, but the characters as as whole spoke with each other. Since this is an ongoing story the cast clearly still has more to give here.

Speaking of which, the lack of resolution doesn't bother me. If anything, the ones complaining about it in an adaptation of a unfinished work is silly. You should have known that is also possibly depending on how closely the studio chooses to follow the source material. The anime may end here, but the original story does not. It also doesn't mean that you didn't learn anything or nothing happened, because it certainly did if you were paying attention. No author gives the entirely story of what is part mystery in the first half of a plot. There is no fun nor speculation in that. That stuff revealed piece by piece and let's the reader engage his/her mind and coming up with their own interpretations. That's part of what makes SnK a thrilling series to me.

[~Yami~]

Animation Quality: 9
not my favorite animation styles... but a mature animation like what SnK have is really matched with the setting..
how they pictured every deaths, terrors, and conflicts are just amazing

Voice Actors: 8
nothing special... sometimes Eren's voice is little annoying because it's too loud, high-pitched, too emotional... but that's just what Eren is
Mikasa's stoic voice is also good...
but no voices actually really special although all of them are matched with the characters

Script: 10 (or maybe 11?)
what else I can say?? roller-coaster... sometimes it's despairing... then next episode will be a calmer one... after that despair again
amazing manga just got adapted into a more amazing anime... great job!
The only bad point is this is an adaptation... can you believe what will happen if SnK is an original anime? SnK with no spoilers will be the best ever!

Soundtrack: 10
I don't like the soundtrack when I heard it separately from the anime... but when it blended, the soundtrack become very good!!! great job for whoever made this... and I super love the openings!!!

Enjoyment: 10
Even if you already got the spoiler, you still enjoy this anime...
why? because the story is good... and it got a very good adaptation as well
It feels strange but to see how this series' fandom growing.... we can conclude that this anime can be enjoyed by everyone (even fujoshis love this... hehehe)

Emotional Involvement: 10
Unforgettable scenes : when Eren's mother got eaten....
I think that's one the most powerful scene I ever watched from an anime
the rest scenes like how they pictured fear against Titan, favorite character got killed, countless failed operations, and betrayal are done well

Overall : it's still 10/10 for me
waiting for 2nd season... hopefully next time there won't be too much spoilers roaming around

[serenade_beta]

Overall, a fairly fun series to watch. Then again, you have to work pretty hard to make the colorful murdering of characters (getting kicked, spun, etc) boring.
The acting of the voice actors is great, but there are episodes that have too much screaming.

However, as the manga is not over yet, the anime ended up being a "Our fight has just begun!" That can't be helped.

The lack of budget was astounding at times. The anime does have a burst of energy whenever they enter the action scenes, but other moments are not too bright. And while the staff tried really hard, they were human and could only make have of the episodes before needing to rest a week. The episode before the rest was in shambles, with unnatural cuts and other weird stuff I very rarely see in anime.
A few times, the preview wasn't even a preview.
But that said, it is true the staff worked hard. And the anime was far more visually pleasing than the art level of the manga-ka.

But I have to deduct points for the terrible openers in almost every episode. At worst, it went to three minutes. It happened almost every episode. That's almost 2 episodes worth in time! Boy wouldn't every anime want two more episodes.

I'm not looking forward to the game coming out for the 3DS though. It is nice that despite being an anime game, it isn't just a cheap light novel, but it smells of leeching. (Oh, and Monster Hunter does hunting better, no doubt)

Anyways, 8/10

Oh, and the insert songs suck. I really laughed out loud at times when they suddenly started singing.

[SchierkeWiking]

What makes AoT so interesting is that it manages to mix many different genres without feeling disjointed.

The very nature of the titans is a clear throw back to zombie movies, an inhuman (yet familiar) enemy that can't be reasoned with in any way and that seems hell bent on the destruction of the human, a horrific and seemingly unstoppable force of nature.

I also like to call it Lost in anime form (except the plot seems like it will actually have a half logical conclusion). A good mystery is probably one of the best selling points for any story and while AoT stars fairly binary (humans good, titans bad, kill titans) it becomes fairly obvious that something far more complex is going on. Now we have a plot filled with a ton of mysteries and several different factions in clear conflict.

It has a very similar feeling to war movies, with it's constant dealings with human nature related to facing battle and imminent death; do you run when faced with such immeasurable horror?, or do you follow your duty?, is it morally acceptable to sacrifice many lives in the hope of serving the greater good?, compared to most animes that deal with this theme (mostly mecha shows) I feel tht AoT takes a very mature approach to it. There's a certain situation in the manga that hasn't been shown yet (no spoilers ahead) where the author writes something along the lines of "no dignity can survive in the face of such horror" related to an appropriate situation that struck me really hard; all the honor, the military discipline, the duty and whatever but in the end every soldier is nothing but a human that will be consumed by the absolute terror of an incoming horrible death. I feel this is a theme present through the whole story that I found very satisfying.

That being said I think the biggest issues with the story are his weak protagonist (Eren is far from the worst male protagonist ever, but he's unnecessarily cliched and binary) and below average character development; while I feel that characters like Annie and Jean are handled well most of the cast to me(specially the main three) feels very unremarkable in this sense.

The pacing certainly wasn't ideal... but I think that's mostly related to the manga, there is no other point at which to end season 1 that wouldn't feel like a massive cop out and quite simply there wasn't enough content in those 33 manga chapters to make 25 anime episodes without the pace suffering.

In any case, AoT has something that many anime series lack; an interesting relatively original story and world, a mature approach to several "deep" themes, a plot that's not filled with holes from episode 1 and most important of all... it doesn't involve a high school.

So, 8/10.

[MrTerrorist]

I originally wasn't interested in watching Attack on Titan but after watching a trailer and seeing the 1st episode, i was hooked!

It was a good thing i never read the manga, since i enjoy the surprises and revelations shown in the anime. The story was rather depressing and harsh for a shonen series since the heroes never win everything and might get killed and not even the best survive. All of the characters are unique who each have their likes, quirks and faults (Eren's emotions and hatred for Titans, Mikasa's devotion to Eren, Jean narcissism, Levi's attitude. etc) which us live them. The music was great as expected of Production IG especially the theme songs by Linked Horizon.

All in all it was one of the best animes i seen.

I give this series a 10.

[Graydient]

Originally Posted by Claym0re

After finishing the first season I have quite assymetric feelings. Lets start with the good ones.
...

I largely agree with this. A lot of the issues arise because of the anime's decision to be faithful to the manga, which has plenty of its own problems.

There is a large disparity in the actual animation, from stills galore to obvious money shots, and this is largely because the manga spends a ridiculous amount of time with drawn-out dialogue in unrealistic situations. Too much time is spent talking about what is happening, without much actually happening.

The pacing is atrocious because the manga pacing is atrocious. For an effective mystery, there needs to be a careful balance of revealing some answers while withholding and generating more questions. If the plot takes way too long to give answers, interest will ultimately dwindle because there is no discovery and active participation to be had. Part of the problem with the pacing also goes back to the lack of show-don't-tell.

The characters...yes, a glaring problem is that there are too many useless characters. When you introduce Eren, Mikasa, and Levi as humanity's most powerful assets who are heads and shoulders above everyone else, that leaves very little room for anyone else to matter. It's only when the plot twist happens when you start to care about the character, which unfortunately means the twist isn't very effective because you never invested much in the character to begin with.

Overall, I'd give it a 7. The production quality is topnotch, the premise is amazing, and thank god for no fanservice. Unfortunately, as a storytelling medium, there are just too many problems after that. The positives far outweigh the negatives, but there's a lot to be desired.

[piplessgrapes]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_8C8eJZUOE

I DID A REVIEW OF ATTACK ON TITAN ON MY CHANNEL!!! I don't go in to great detail but I was wondering what people thought?

[takai]

Art/Animation: 8
Very strong art and animation. It's clear this is where a majority of the budget went. Detailed and realistic backgrounds, with dynamic shadows. Colors seemed to be of the darker variety given the premise. The character design always varied, from eye and nose shape, to even different jaw lines. It actually made me believe people were from different ethnic backgrounds. Impressive.

However, they used way too many still shots throughout the series. Stills can be very artistic, but only if used correctly. This show used way too many for its own good, and started to come off as lazy. Bad overall direction in that respect.

Voice Actors: 7
Nothing really special here, except for Eren's VA, Yuki Kaji. I've always admired his work on Issei Hyoudou from Highschool DxD, but his performance here solidifies my opinion about him. He's a splendid VA. Other than that, the others did alright.

Characters: 5
Stale, and mostly generic. Almost little to no development for anyone save for Armin and Jean. Armin developed wonderfully. Eren had little development, you'd think he'd change a lot more with his new found powers, but he still seems to be stuck in limbo of being the same and actually changing. And Mikasa was just a terrible character in general. She literally offered nothing to anything. She remains the exact same as she did since episode one.

The characters that provided comedic relief more than often fell flat, and usually seemed both awkward and out of place. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see more of cool characters like Erwin, Levi, and Pixus, which was disappointing to me.

Everyone else to me seemed useless. Especially comparing them to the main 3.

Plot: 7.5
Probably Titan's greatest strength. The overall premise of "humans vs. some powerful mysterious enemy" is nothing that hasn't been done before, but the story itself is pretty interesting. It's a shame however, that we didn't get to explore more of this deep world and expansive world. Which is why the score remains only "Good".

The action always remained intense, which was good.

Originally Posted by Graydient

Too much time is spent talking about what is happening, without much actually happening.

Couldn't have said it better myself. This also seemed like a real issue in the show. Which is one of the main roots of the boredom in this show.

Pacing: 4
I think pacing merits its own category here. The pacing for this show seems to be the most widely accepted flaw. It was just awful, and for a show as plot based as this one, that's a very bad thing. It got into the habit of teasing something at the end of one episode, and not showing it until the end of the NEXT episode, or not until the episode after the next one (if that makes sense). Hell, there was an episode just based on them moving from one side of the wall to another. This bothered the hell out of me, and it seems I was not alone. I even saw people start dropping the show because they were sick of this. While Cliffhangers can be a key plot device to keeping people interested, pulling it off poorly can lead to disastrous results. Sometimes I felt the pacing was getting back on track, but then it'd just go right back to terrible.

Soundtrack: 6
Never really left an impression on me. However, the music never seemed out of place or awkward. Other than that, nothing special really.

Enjoyment: 6.8
Overall, Titan was ok. I always felt that I got the action I had came for, but at the price of being bored almost 85% of the time. Most characters never changed, and the pace really turned me off. I'm going to give it an Above Average score of 6.8. I still can't see why this show is as popular as it is. Not to say it was bad or that I hate it, but still it really never impressed me like people said it should.

[Guido]

Late to deliver my final conclusions to this epic but disheartening series, and yet here I am ready to post them.

Since right now we're on October, as it is a yearly tradition, I've picked-up Shingeki no Kyojin to watch it again episode to episode for the Halloween season, and I will be leaving my comments for the episodes that I could not comment upon them during the first time I watched them mainly for laziness.

Watching one more time the first episode today, did it brought back all those heartwrenching feelings for Eren and his people being wreaked carnage and tragedy on them by the Titans? Yes, it does again.

It is truly a magnificient story that, in spite of its dystopian setting and doomsday literary mechanisms, it truly makes me hold respect and appreciation for humanity in general. That's because humans are all alone striving, surviving, and fighting against the Titans making use of No sorcery and magic and No bio-augmentation enhancements. It's only properly trained soldiers making use of what technology they have developed in response to the knowledge gathered from incurring battles and heavy casualties against the Titans to know them better. That's until Eren's Titan-shifting ability became introduced to the audience, expanding and deepening down below the mysteries about the Titan's true nature and origins.

Throughout the run of the series characters came and went, and those who managed to remain still alive towards the end of series felt that they couldn't accomplish anything that would indicate a turn of the tides in humanity's favor.

Furthermore, I learned some valuable themes that are always prevailing in the real world and universe:
- Nothing can be gained without willing to sacrifce something in exchange.
- Nature is forever cruel and brutal and cannot be changed.
- An accomplished victory producing more costs that offset the benefits cannot be worthy of changing the course of events.

All in all the sum of those pieces and the cast is what makes Shingeki no Kyojin truly fascinating to me. That, and the fact that the story is a non-mainstream shounen depicting the protagonist neither as a chosen one nor as a child of destiny, but a child that becomes a man that follows his own choices leaving behind his comfort bubble to brave the dangers outside.
Eren's vengeance against the Titans, from what I saw in the series, is a venue or medium for him to accomplish his goal: the chance to see for himself what the outside world looks like and live in there, if only for a brief instance; his dream is the end goal, IMO.

Very majestic and epic story possessing an interesting assort of multi-layered characters that shouldn't be classified in moral terms of absolute right or wrong; the characters themselves have motivations and trauma for what they did and do in the series. IMO, only fodder characters become food for the Titans.

Pretty much sums up that this is the last title that I managed to end the whole Spring 2013 Anime season. My grade for this show is 95%