A Difference in Judgement
A review of Attack on Titan by Hajime Isayama
“On that day, mankind received a grim reminder. We lived in fear of the Titans and were disgraced to live in these cages we called walls.” — Eren Jaeger
Every once in a while, an anime pops up that is on every otaku’s lips. In 2013, that anime was Shingeki no Kyojin (or Attack on Titan). Due to this, the manga gained popularity, being one of the best-selling manga worldwide with over a 100 million tankōbon copies worldwide. It has won several awards, including the Kodansha Manga Award, the Attilo Micheluzzi Award and the Harvey Award. The anime too was critically and commercially acclaimed. The anime adaptation won multiple accolades and was the number one streaming anime from Funimation in 2014.
Attack on Titan is a dark fantasy written by Hajime Isayama. The anime was directed by Tetsurō Araki, Masashi Koizuka, Yūichirō Hayashi and Jun Shishido. The screenplay was written by Yasuko Kobayashi, Hiroshi Seko and Noboru Takagi, while the music was composed by Hiroyuki Sawano and Kohta Yamamoto. Attack on Titan is set in a world where humanity lives inside cities surrounded by enormous Walls that protect them from Titans, gigantic humanoid creatures who devour humans seemingly without reason. The story follows Eren Jaeger, his adoptive sister Mikasa Ackermann and their childhood friend Armin Arlert, whose lives are changed forever after the appearance of a Colossal Titan, which brings about the destruction of their hometown and the death of Eren’s mother. Vowing revenge and reclamation of their world from the Titans, Eren, Mikasa and Armin join the Scout Regiment, an elite group of soldiers who fight Titans outside the Walls.
This was one anime which was recommended to me by anime fans everywhere. I watched once and had a poor opinion about it. I first thought it was nothing more than a zombie apocalypse story. I gave this anime a second chance and it completely overturned my first impression. While the first season didn’t do much to the story, it set up the latter seasons perfectly. The second, third and fourth seasons were action packed and the tensions in the scenes were palpable. There were twists and turns at every major point in the story that will keep you guessing. Clearly, there was more to this story than giant brain-dead zombies called Titans.
Curious at how this story ended, I read the manga after the anime paused, and clearly, this story was nothing short of a masterpiece. The later chapters were beautifully written and illustrated, and each and every moment in the anime shown before made sense in these chapters. This is one manga where no little information can be overlooked.
The ending, while not perfect, was proof of Isayama’s artistic genius. The story came full circle, with most of the characters getting closure and a happy ending.
“The difference in judgement between you and me, originates from different rules derived from past experience.” — Levi Ackermann
For those people who call this series ‘overrated’, do give this anime another chance. This series will keep you on the edge of your seats, like it did with me.
