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Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Attack on Titan Episode 1 Review

After hearing for over a year about how Attack on Titan is one of the best series of all-time, and the best of last year, the first episode of Attack on Titan officially aired in American. Does it live up to the Titan sized? Oh yeah! Even if you have absolutely no interest in anime, you own it to yourself to at least watch the first episode of Attack on Titan; it is that awesome. If you have a television provider, like Charter or DirecTV, you can watch the series here; if you live in another country or do not have a TV provider, you can watch the episode here in English dub (go at your own risk). If you want to watch the episode (and the entire series) in sub, you do so here from the official Crunchyroll website.
Despite hyping up the series for the nearly a year with many of my online friends, and the internet in general, telling me that I have to watch Attack on Titan, it actually delivered with possibly the best opening episode of a series that I have ever seen. The episode introduced the audience to the characters and the used effective world building techniques to set up for what is to come. Also, the series does an incredible job at making the Titans terrifying creatures. You can feel the fear of the characters, and *Spoilers* when Eren's mother was eaten by the Titan, the animation and the music effectively made the scene surprisingly impactful considering that we have just meet these characters. *End Spoilers*

My only minor complaint actually has nothing to do with the series itself. Having watched exclusively subbed series for the past two months, watching a dub was slightly odd at first. Fortunately, thanks to the excellent performances, it felt normal after a few minutes

Acting: 9.3/10- Being that this is the premiere of the English dub that everyone has been waiting for, it does not disappoint for the most part. While I believe Bryce Papenbrook will sound better later in the series when Eren, as a character, grows into a young adult, which I believe will happen in the next episode. Papenbrook effectively sounded like a wimp, and I believe he will do an excellent job as the series progresses. Trina Nishimura (Steins;Gate and FMA: Brotherhood) as Mikasa Ackerman gave a standout strong performance in her brief role. Most of the other English actors were very good in their roles, although we will have to wait until later to determine how well each actors does in their role.
Art Style: 9.7/10- Attack on Titan's animation is rather stunning. The detail work in the background and the general environment is nearly movie quality. Everything is fluid and crisp, and the animation style is appealing to look at. In terms of character designs, most of the character look very well done. However, a few of the character models looked a little unrealistic compared to the other characters, but they were mostly background characters. Also, using fast moving lines to produce a sense of speed is a little odd looking compared to the rest of the animation, but it still works for the most part. There is a little CGI that is used, which, while unnecessary, does not clash as much as it does with other series.

Soundtrack: 9.5/10- While we have yet to hear the best of Hiroyuki Sawano's score, what was used effectively added emotional weight to certain scenes.

Opening and Ending: 10/10- Well before watching Attack on Titan, the opening song, "Guren No Yumiyah," has been one of my favorites. I have already listened to it over 300 times, and its sheer epicness and intensity really gets you excited for what is coming next. Unfortunately, in the TV cut of the episode, part of the opening had to be cut so that it would fit into the timeslot. The ending song is also very good being slower and fitting for the series' darker themes.


Non-Otaku Appeal: Providing you do not mind violence, everyone should at least give the first episode a watch (link at the beginning and end of the review).

Overall: 9.9/10- For a pilot episode, Attack on Titan effectively invested me in the characters and set up the world that the characters inhabit. Compared to other first episodes, there are few, if any, that match it in terms of how effectively it grabbed my attention and interest. Thankfully, the Titan-sized hype was certainly warranted, because the first episode did not disappoint.

Note: My score for pilot episodes of a series are relative to other pilot episode scores. On the hand, scores for later episodes in the series are relative to previous episodes. Rating TV episodes is difficult, but the general conventions of a 1 to 10 system apply.


I will continue to review Attack on Titan episodes as they air on Toonami because it supports the anime scene in America, so be sure to check back next week for more.

If you want to contact us or have any questions please send an e-mail to johnstarslayer@gmail.com.

12 comments:

  1. After hearing that Attack on Titan is airing in there, I thought that you'd write a first reaction / review of it right away. Glad that you enjoyed the pilot episode! Since you gave it a 9.9, I'm interested to see the scores you'll give on game-changing episodes (I won't mention which episodes, to avoid spoiling the fun to you), episodes that are personally better than the pilot.

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    1. It is kind of difficult to explain, but for my episode reviews, my scoring of pilot episodes are compared to other pilot episodes, and not the other episodes of the series. For example, a lot of anime first episodes do not completely sell me on a series, but AOT's did. Compared to something like Bebop's first episode, which while not bad, did not sell me on the series, so I would give it a 6.3/10.
      The next episode will serve as a baseline for the quality of the series in a way. It probably does not make a of sense, but even though the next episode might receive a lower rating, it still might be better than the pilot. I know I am not making a lot of sense, but my rating for this episode will the normalized after watching a couple of more and judging the quality of the series, because I have no doubt that later episodes will be better.

      -James

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  2. OHHHHHHHHHH MYYYYYYYYYYYYY GOOOOOOOOOOOOSHH!!! YOU WATCH IT!!! ACK!!! AND YOU GAVE IT SUCH A HIGH RATING!!! AGHHH!!! :D SEE???? It's TOTALLY AWESOME!
    Who's your favorite character?
    What are your expectations for the rest of the series?
    Have any idea how the story will continue? (I know because I'm reading the manga...)
    Wait...you watched the sub? xD

    ~Misty

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    1. LOL! xD
      After watching the first episode, my favorite character is Sasha. :)
      My expectations is that the series is going to be one of the best anime that I have ever seen. I mean virtually everyone loves it, and I do not think it is going to disappoint!
      From only watching the first episode, I don't exactly know where the series is heading, but I unfortunately know a couple of minor spoilers.
      And no, I watched the first episode dubbed. I can't wait to watch the next episode Saturday night! :)

      -James

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  3. YAY!!! :D I'm SO GLAD you are watching the series!! :D This is actually my favorite anime TV series ever and one of my favorite television shows in general. And I agree, this a series I could see non-anime fans liking(if they are okay with the gore/violence and the dark nature of the show). Yes, I love the animation, it's so great and I really like how the main cast/side cast are designed. Oh yes, Guren no Yumiyah is EPICSAUCE!!! :D It's one of the best openings I've heard and I love listening to it over and over! :D
    I hope you continue to enjoy the rest of the series(it just keeps getting better and better as you go along).
    Great review! :D

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    1. Providing the series turns out as awesome as I expect it to be, it will be one of my favorites for sure! :D I really hope my review convinces non-anime fans to at least give the series a watch, because it is hard not to like. ROLF! "EPICSAUCE" is the best way to describe it for sure!!! :D
      I have no doubt that I will, and thanks! :D

      -James

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  4. I heard about this series from friends who are obsessed with watching Japanese shows as they come out. They were absolutely losing their minds over this show! I'm up to episode 14 and it's a damn good show. Really threw a curveball at us early on and set the expectation that anything can happen. Looking forward to your review of the series! I'm hoping to finish the series this month and get a review up next month.

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    1. My friend was like that too. Almost every time I talked to him he was always saying "You have to watch Attack on Titan!" I am glad to hear that you like the series though, and I am looking forward to your review of the series as well.

      -James

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  5. Great review, and nice to know that even the first episode is so good - that seems a bit unusual for a TV series sometimes. From that gif the art does look beautiful. Would like to try this sometime. :)

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    1. Thanks! Definitely give AOT a watch some time, providing you don't mind a lot of violence.

      -James

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  6. Yay! You're watching it! I agree that the first episode is solid. It drew me into the show right away. The animation is very impressive. You are so right about being able to feel the fear the characters are feeling. Although Attack on Titan is not my favorite anime (that would be Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood), it's one of the best out of all the ones I've seen so far. I think the dub is pretty good so far but I'm not sure since I've only seen the first episode. I get annoyed when people hate on dubs just because they saw the version with subtitles first. I guess people like what they're used to. I watched the sub version so the dub sounded weird to me too, but it will probably grow on me. I absolutely love the opening song! I've listened to it so many times. I like the bits of German thrown into it. Attack on Titan seems to have a lot of characters with German names, and the houses are like German cottages. Maybe it's set in Germany? I'm not sure, but I think that would be cool.

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One rule: No strong profanity. If you want to link to one of your posts, please do; I am always interested in other reviews and such.

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