Ten Reasons Why Attack on Titan is the Best Piece of Media You Might Ever See

If you've been following me for any amount of time, you'll know that one of my all-time best show recommendations is Attack on Titan. For those of you unfamiliar with me, or the show, its premise is one anyone can get behind with excitement: the remnants of humanity must fight back against oppressive, mindless, giant zombies, using gear that turns them into Spider-Man with big box-cutter blades.

The show is dark, gruesome, heavy, and filled with emotion. This is not a casual show. This is perhaps one of the most complex and entertaining classics in modern culture, and it's many people's entry gate into the world of anime in general. This show might be the closest to mainstream that anime can get.

But why is it so good? Why do I hold it in such high regard? And why should you watch it too? I don't have one reason. I have ten, and I'm sure that if I tried, I could delve deeper into each of them. But I won't. That means spoilers, and I don't want to give too much away.

#1: The Plot

This story starts with a bang, hits the ground running, and barely lets up. From the very first episode, a feel of terror and looming doom hangs over the characters and world. But as you enter deeper into the story, more details are revealed about the world they live in, the oppressive government they use, the secrets various factions hold, and the traitors to their cause under your nose, and it’s absolutely perfect how the author managed to weave them all together cohesively and with such a satisfying direction, heading towards a fantastic, satisfying conclusion. Nothing is left out, and elements you once thought were thrown away are brought back and are absolutely essential. Every scene carries so much meaning. Every scene could be a Chekov's Gun. Which means every scene demands attention, and it never lets your focus get distracted.

One advantage the plot had was being able to deliver exactly what was needed when it needed to. The first season of the anime was equivalent to a roller coaster, where it’s full of shock and awe, full of thrills and flashy moments to get you hooked into it. Plenty of action-packed episodes yanked you in and put you on a wild ride. But they often felt like cheap thrills, and this came at the expense of the character’s initial depth. There was the main cast: Eren the protagonist, his nerdy best friend Armin, and the waifu bait of the series, his adopted sister, Mikasa. And of course, Captain Levi and Commander Erwin, the fangirl bait of the series. But with the possible exception of Jean and Annie, the rest of the cast wasn’t as fully developed as you’d like. You’d only remember them once they started to speak up, or when you saw a notable distinction they had, like Connie’s bald head, or Hanji’s glasses and giddy attitude, or Sasha the potato girl. If you were to only see season one, you would certainly have a good time watching it, but there would be very little to take away from, and it wouldn’t stick with you. Until you got into season two.

In season two, there were certainly action-filled moments, but they were fewer than in season one. However, season two offered you a much deeper look at what was going on, and introduced you to new ideas, but wouldn’t pay off on them just yet. All of a sudden, there’s far more emphasis on the characters, and instead of just being along for the ride of the plot, season two was full of character-driven moments and choices. In season two, Reiner, Bertholdt, Ymir, and Krista ended up becoming some of my new favorites. There was an air of mystery, where you didn’t know who to trust, who was in on a darker secret, what the relationships between cast members was. It made for a far more intriguing plot now that we were hooked into the world of Attack on Titan, and we started to care more and more about the characters. Season two proved that the series could do more than one thing. This season was great, but it was only the foundation for the far greater things that lay ahead.

Season 3 took a new direction by going into a political thriller, ending in a climactic epic battle in proportions previously unheard of and a mind-blowing revelation that turned the world upside-down. Powers beyond our comprehension were now introduced that changed the way we saw our characters permanently. More and more is at stake. The urge to fight is stronger than ever before, and morals have to be reevaluated. Difficult choices presented themselves, and Attack on Titan is so good at them because you genuinely do not know which direction it will go. Every episode is now a game of Russian Roulette. The question is not, “Will someone die?” It’s all about who, how, and why. I hate to use the term edge-of-your-seat, but this can literally keep you on the edge of your seat. And at the end of it, it doesn’t seem like the same show in season one, but that’s for the better, honestly.

Season four is in development right now, and as a manga reader, I can confirm that this one will be the best one yet. The complexity, the brilliance of the plot, and the callbacks to previous things make me more and more certain that the author, Hajime Isayama, is a master of his storytelling craft, planning it all from the very beginning. If you want one reason alone to watch this show, it’s to marvel at the storytelling present here.

#2: The Characters

These characters don’t start off too strong at the very beginning, but throughout the series, they develop into some of your absolute favorites. Even some that die off early can have a tremendous impact on you later on. They don’t die off willy-nilly, either; they are precisely where they need to be to have a powerful impact. That’s not to say that the only reason they are valuable is because they die, though. Each of them feels special in their role and unimaginable elsewhere in the plot. Which makes their death seem even more painful.

By the end of your experience, the characters will feel real, like you want them to be there, like you know them intimately well. One of the strengths of this show is it can take any character in the roster and make them the center of attention, and the audience will love it. They did it to Jean, Mikasa, Armin, and Eren in the first season. They did it with Reiner, Bertholdt, Ymir, and Krista in the second. And they did it with Levi, Erwin, Moblit, Grisha, and Kenny in the third season. And soon, they’ll do it to Zeke, Gabi, Falco, Yelena, and Eren again in the fourth season. I’ll talk about Eren specifically later, though.

The point is, in a post-apocalyptic world, in a fight for survival, most franchises handle characters wrongly, like in The Walking Dead and The Last Of Us Part 2. They feel flat and a cookie-cutter model of a stereotype. But Attack on Titan handles characters absolutely perfectly. Everyone gets more distinct and memorable as seasons go on. It’s hard to talk more about that without getting into spoiler territory, however, so I’ll move on to the next one.

#3: The Technical Expertise

I just gotta give a hand to the sound designers and voice actors for making more silent moments feel realistic and emotional. They did a good job with the technical creation of the world around them. The voice actors managed to give stunning, wrenching, powerful performances, in both the Japanese and English dub, so I don’t mind watching the dubbed version. Sometimes it’s actually better that way so you can focus on the animation instead of reading the subtitles all the time. Anyway, the actors brought all they had to the table, and I want to appreciate that.

And of course, as much as Hajime Isayama is a master of his craft in storytelling, Hiroyuki Sawano is a master of his craft in music. It’s a perfect mix of rock, orchestral, and dubstep, and it works well in every place it shows up. Most especially in that scene in season 2, episode 6. This music is some of my favorite ever composed, ever.

The music is dark. The music is chilling. The music is powerful. The music is lamenting. The music is motivational. The music is organized chaos. The music will give you goosebumps and longing emotions that you can’t put a name to. It’s all hummable and distinct for different characters and scenarios, not generic stuff like in Hellsing Ultimate. The music lends to the overall feel of the show in many ways, and I believe it’s one of the show’s many strengths.

This show could have been a marvel in every other department, but if the technical aspects failed, the show would be remembered as messy, painful perfection, if at all. I suppose it’s only fair to acknowledge where the show did a good job, and sometimes, that’s in small ways.

#4: The Worldbuilding

In Attack on Titan, we don’t do any of those monologues about how their society works, or how technology works, or how people live their lives, like in My Hero Academia. It mostly actually happens in the background, and when you see it, you put a hand to your head with a smack and go, “Of course they have pulleys to pull horses up the giant wall! Of course there's a religion for the walls! Of course they have cannons on railroad tracks on top of the wall! Of course they would need ODM gear, and that’s exactly how it would function!”

In the world of Attack on Titan, everything just fits. The steampunk-esque technology, the structures, the everyday life, the strategies, everything. You see it, or the more complicated stuff is given an explanation, and you go like, “Oh, of course that’s how scouting expeditions discover incoming titans! Of course there would have to be outlier districts! Of course that’s why the expedition went that way!” It can’t be any other way, and it’s hard to comprehend otherwise. This isn’t some weird blend of magic and technology like in Naruto that can be inconsistent at best, and baffling and plot-hole-creating at worst. (Imagine ninjas running around with Airpods getting crushed by a gigantic freaking meteor on a battlefield.) There are supernatural elements in Attack on Titan, but the supernatural is handled as such and treated separately from the rest of the world.

Basically what I’m trying to say is, the world is very convincing to believe exists, and the way the setting presents itself doesn’t distract from the plot and characters. This is something that is hard to do in comic book form, or any storytelling medium, and it’s extraordinary that Attack on Titan is masterful at keeping it both fictional and real.

#5: The Animation

For the first three seasons of the show, it was in the hands of WIT studio before being passed along to MAPPA for the fourth and final season. But whether it’s WIT or MAPPA, the show is visually striking and gorgeous to look at.

Now, because it’s anime, it has a distinct style to it, it doesn’t have that big a budget, and it is mostly just manga panels in motion. But despite those limitations, it manages to excel in its animation, which is top-quality. The skies and clouds especially, for me, and the character’s eyes, and the animation of a running horse. Some anime can’t get that right, but Attack on Titan does. There’s so much detail in both the small close-ups and the larger fields. Someone had to draw all of that. When there’s an action scene, the animation gets turned up to 11. When titans appear, it truly does feel like these are giants among the world of mortal men, or that there’s speed and whiplash from the ODM gear soaring high above the ground.

When the series uses CGI, it’s blended well with the background and movements, which are extraordinarily detailed and smooth. The only detractor could be the colossal titan in season 3, which looked like a PS2 cutscene. But what can I say, this budget was relatively small, and the in-canon explanation could be that it’s an otherworldly feel about the titan itself.

Great care and talent went into making this appear both gorgeous and terrifying in different places. That’s a truth about the world, by the way. It’s a terrible, cruel world, but there is beauty in it, and sometimes, even because of the cruelty.

#6: The Villains

What villains?

Sure, there are the titans. But the titans are merely the catalyst around what happens in the show. As the series progresses, you start to wonder who the true guy pulling the strings was all along. Is Eren’s father the evil mastermind, like in Evangelion? No, actually. Is it the Armored and Colossal Titans? They’re overshadowed by other things. Is it Kenny? No. The government? Not really. Is it even the world itself? Depends on who you ask.

There are no clear-cut villains in Attack on Titan, a show that from all appearances looks pretty cut-and-clear as to who the villains are. Everybody is simultaneously in the right and in the wrong. To the other side, each of them is either a devil or a miracle. The more we discover about the world, the more we wish we could go back to a simpler time, a more binary time where the enemy was easily identifiable. War ruins you and makes you wonder who and what you’re fighting for. Sometimes you are thrust into conflict. But the people who push themselves into conflict endure it much better. And that leads me into my next point.

#7: The Themes and Lessons

Attack on Titan is not a mindless extravaganza of bloodshed. The themes of war, grief, history, culture, seperation, sacrifice, depression, and PTSD are all present and handled extraordinarily well. But most importantly, the show carries the message of moral agency, freedom, and the will to keep moving forward. Being in a religion that champions all of that, it is especially meaningful to me.

So often, it feels like we don’t have a choice in how we respond to evil, but those who willingly thrust themselves into hell see a different hell than the rest of the world. Those people also see a light at the end of the tunnel that gives them further strength to slog forward.

The idea of endless perseverance and keeping moving forward despite the world telling you you’re wrong is championed by our protagonist, who does the unthinkable and proceeds to take the idea of fighting for freedom at any cost to an extreme. Speaking of which...

#8: The G.O.A.T Eren Yeager

This character might be the best anime protagonist I’ve ever seen. Not Naruto Uzumaki, not Izuku Midoriya, but Eren Yeager.

Now to this, you would say, “What makes him different? He’s a typical loudmouthed teenager who’s kinda bland and has no outstanding talents, but also supernatural powers that can save the world.” And yes, that does sound formulaic. But this was intentional, and actually genius. Hear me out.

Yes, Eren Yeager starts out that way: generic anime protagonist #342 screaming about his black-and-white morality and his dream to kill all the titans! But after he experiences the frightening mortality of his life and how easy it is to die a meaningless death, he comes to a realization: he isn’t a chosen one. Eren’s shonen tropes were crushed by the harsh world he lives in. This is to establish that Eren is not special and can easily die as any other side character. The world is cruel, and doesn't make any sense. Eren's enemy is the world itself.

He is initially viewed as a monster and a weapon, not a person. And then he gets betrayed by some of his closest friends. This makes him come to terms that the black-and-white morality he once had was not true, and that people act in ways they perceive to be correct. His worldview is not the only one that matters, and there are reasons beyond his comprehension for perceived villainous acts.

When the origin of his power is discovered, he is thoroughly beaten down by this. He never should have existed. It was for the greater good that his power would be in the hands of the people that should have it. But he still ends up with his power, and he is forced to continue to use it on a harder path for humanity.

By the time season 4 rolls around, Eren is by far the most changed and the most interesting character in the series. He becomes far more morally grey and takes actions that resemble an antagonist’s. The perspective on him is switched. He is the character in the series that takes the most action by moving forward despite what the rest of the world thinks of him.

Most anime protagonists treat their enemies with respect. Goku gives Cell Senzu Beans. Deku's rival Bakugo is as much a grindstone for him as Deku is for Bakugo. Luffy, Jonathan Joestar, Naruto, you name it. They show respect and acknowledgement of each other. Not Eren. He understands his enemies, but that doesn't mean he has mercy. He knows what he has to do, and he doesn't let petty notions like mercy get in the way.

I can’t say much more than that without getting into heavy spoiler territory, but when you watch the show, take note of how his behavior changes throughout the series and how he matures. As you go, you will see that he is by far the most dynamic character in the series, even among legends like Erwin Smith and Captain Levi.

#9: The Action

Sometimes, you look at the action in other animes and it’s absolutely ridiculous. This fifteen-year-old kid gets thrown through three stone walls and he gets up without a scratch? Or the villain tells the kid he punctured a lung and his leg bones are turned to powder, and he vomits up a liter of blood, but he still stands up, and his wounds heal miraculously in the next episode. (I’m looking at you, Jojo.)

No, here, if your gear malfunctions, you are screwed. If there isn’t anything to latch onto in an open area, you are screwed. If you have a hard impact with a wall or the ground, you are pretty much screwed. The rules of the universe are consistently applied here. This makes the characters frighteningly human and frail, and it can be hard to have outstanding action in this steampunk world under those conditions. And yet Attack on Titan does it!

The fall of Shiganshina, the Battle of Trost, the 47th Expedition, the Battle of Stohess, Utgard Castle, the Clash of the Titans, the unlocking of the Coordinate, Kenny and the Anti-Personnel Squad against Levi, the battle under the king’s church, the massive titan outside the walls of Orvud district, the Battle of Shiganshina, Fort Slava, and the Battle of Liberio are all distinct from each other and are each memorable events in the show. Plenty die in the victory or defeat, but it’s all done masterfully.

The action is quick, hard-hitting, and intense, as action should be, and has high-flying, fictional battles, but it also has a huge degree of realism to it. There isn’t a pause for each side to sarcastically compliment the other before transforming into their final form and continue to talk and talk and talk. This isn’t friggin’ Dragon Ball. The action is also clear to follow, intensely personal, and doesn’t rely on lasers and swirly lights, and it’s through the action that the story unravels and reveals itself.

#10: Baby, I’m Not Like The Other Animes

You might have inferred this from the above reasons. But most of the traditional anime stereotypes you would see in other shonen series or tv shows that try to compete with AoT are simply not there, and it’s all the better for it.

Talk No Jutsu? That’s gone. We don’t convince the other guy he’s wrong in one single discussion. Sorry Steven Universe and Naruto, go back to your own world. Here, we fight for what we believe in until we die, and devote our hearts to a cause greater than ourselves.

Unnecessary ‘fanservice’? That’s also gone. Gratuitous shots of girls in underwear and swimsuits that distract from the feel of the anime are gone entirely, which means you appreciate them for who they are naturally, leading to a much deeper connection and more sincere appreciation.

Beach episodes? There’s only one of them, and it’s at the very end of season three with a more somber feeling to it. It’s a beach episode, but it’s not a, uh, ‘Beach Episode,’ if you know what I mean.

Flashbacks? That only happens when the character’s about to die. I get that this happens in Jojo as well, but I’m not talking about Jojo right now.

Filler episodes? Recap episodes? Yeah, we don’t do that here. We stick to the manga and trim what’s needed to fit in an episode, and there are no unnecessary parts. Each one is essential to the overall story and development. When you look at other shows, you typically ask the question, “How many of these do I have to watch?” I mean, it’s daunting to look at the hundreds of Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece episodes and ask yourself if they’re all necessary.

“With the power of friendship, we’ll win together!” Not here. With the power of friendship, we’ll die together.

You know what I’m saying. Attack on Titan has a much different flavor compared to other series you watch that can cleanse your palette and leave you hungry for more, but there’s very little else like it. So you simply consume more and more of this fantastic show.

Game of Thrones? Once it ran out of source material, it expired quickly. My Hero Academia? It’s fantastic in its own right, but it falls into a lot of shonen traps. Breaking Bad? There’s some similarities in terms of main character development, but Attack on Titan does it better. The Clone Wars? I absolutely adore it, but it’s based off the films surrounding it. Even The Last Airbender--I know, it’s heresy, but hear me out--isn’t as complex and satisfying as going through Attack on Titan. I love The Last Airbender with all my heart, but Attack on Titan is simply more filling. And if I’m willing to make a legitimate heartfelt statement like that, you can trust me when I say AoT is about the closest thing I can think of in terms of tv show perfection. This show has multiple episodes with a rating of a perfect 10 or a 9.9 on IMDB, more than any other show I listed above, and the top rated tv episode of all time is Season 3 episode 17, Hero. Check it yourself if you don't believe me.

This show is one of the best shows, one of the best pieces of media, you will ever see. More than Code Geass, more than Game of Thrones, even more than Jojo in some respects. This is a modern classic.

Comments

[GivingSpider]

AOT has a lot of bits and pieces that remind you that the 'main' cast are still just kids.
That Beach episode really gut punched me with that fact.

The point is, in a post-apocalyptic world, in a fight for survival, most franchises handle characters wrongly, like in The Walking Dead and The Last Of Us Part 2.

I'd argue that Part 1 was worse. I'm glad that Joel died in 2.

[Gundamfan]

I do like it, but still prefer Gundam.