By Melissa Ly (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: March 26, 2014
Several hundred years ago, humanity was nearly exterminated by its first-ever predator: titans.
Titans resemble humans anatomically, but they typically range from five to 15 metres high, and devour humans for the sake of vicious pleasure rather than sustenance.
A small percentage of the world’s population survived by protecting themselves in a city surrounded by extremely high walls. Now, after a century of peace, one of the three walls is destroyed by a colossal titan, and once again humanity is faced with extinction.
Attack on Titan is an anime directed by Tetsuro Araki and adapted from the manga written by Gan Sunaaku and illustrated by Hikaru Suruga. It’s currently available only in Japanese with English subtitles.
Some would argue that you need to be an anime fan to be able to enjoy this show. But where do anime fans come from? From anyone who watches their first anime and gets hooked. I would argue that you don’t need to be an anime fan to appreciate this series. If you value an intricate plot, something completely original, likeable characters, and quality animations you will enjoy watching this show.
Considering I expected a simple plotline and the typical superhero vs. monsters type of story, the depth of the story really did surprise me. There are many mysteries that are well woven into the plot and the show almost becomes a complex puzzle. It’s something of its own, which makes it completely unpredictable. It also has a really interesting perspective about humans and humanity.
The story centres on the story of Eren Yeager, his adopted sister Mikasa Ackerman, and their friend Armin Arlert. Mikasa is a strong female lead, rather than someone who is portrayed as the heroine who needs saving. In fact she is the one who is often sweeping in to save the male lead. On one hand, Mikasa is flawless in her strength and skills, to the point of unbelievable perfection, but then again the story revolves around the existence of titans, which in itself defies reality.
I found myself getting choked up multiple times throughout the season, which is not to say I am easily brought to tears, but rather that the creators have done a great job and through the characters and plot they are able to create reactions of sympathy in the audience. It can be a negative for some that the show is so dark and has little humour relief or light-heartedness, but this absence is what makes the show so good at evoking strong dark reactions to the events that play out.
Finally, the romances are one-sided, so there’s not much of that kissing stuff in there, which may or may not be a big problem for you.
The animation of Attack on Titan is quite artistic, beautifully done, and shows great attention to detail from the individual characters to the scenery. I noticed in the beginning that there were some scenes where I was watching a still picture with the voices and background noises playing, but I found that this becomes less noticeable (or the graphics improved) as the season continued.
So far Attack on Titan is one season consisting of 25 episodes, but it has definitely left viewers asking for more, or left readers reaching for the manga to find some answers to the many mysteries revolving around the existence of titans.
