Breathtaking! In all aspects where I felt disappointed by the opening episode of “Aku no Hana”, the first episode of “Shingeki no Kyojin” is at the opposite side of the spectrum, with splendid animation, luscious backgrounds, a fitting soundtrack of bombastic tones, sharply rendered facial expressions and excellent pacing.
Having read the manga which features an enthralling story, was really looking forward to the anime adaptation so my expectations of it are quite high. If the entire series achieves the same level as this first episode it will be nothing less than epic.
An ongoing manga series by Isayama Hajime, “進撃の巨人” also known as “Attack on Titan”, provides an excellent read with stunning art due to the gripping style in which the grotesque titans, the bloodshed and gore are drawn. The story has powerful themes, showing a society filled with secrets and intrigue even though the human race is on the brink of extinction, it also delves into the psychology of the key characters and offers lots of action.
Judging by the first episode, the anime will contain all these elements as well, promising what could be a near perfect adaptation. Considering the manga is rife with minute details cleverly strewn across its pages, almost hidden beneath between the plot’s shocking twists, the anime will be thrilling.
The black & white nature of manga illustrations lend themselves well to portraying such gore, so was somewhat curious how studio’s Wit and Production IG would handle rendering the grotesque titans and all the bloodshed.
Was pleasantly surprised to see them pull out all the stops, using luscious backgrounds to showcase the medieval looking walled cities as well as clever shadowing to render the oppressive atmosphere felt by the people that are locked inside the city walls.
The main characters are drawn with sharp lines and vibrant colors, the titans seem rendered with more paintbrush-like strokes which makes their grotesque aspect a lot more believable.
However, not only the fluid animation and injection of color into a world previously seen mostly in black & white on manga pages was pleasing in this first episode, but the choice of background music was spot on to support the atmosphere or action on screen.
Not all that many characters appear in the first episode, so have not much to say yet about the main voice cast. Saw Mikasa is voiced by Ishikawa Yui who doesn’t gave a long list of performances credited yet.
Inoue Marina voices blonde boy Armin, she previously voiced Kana in “Minami-ke”, Rein in “Highschool of the Dead” but also other male characters like Natsuru in “Kämpfer”, Koutarou in the “Mahou Sensei Negima!” OVA’s and Wataru in “Hayate no Gotoku!”.
After a dazzling opening episode, this show might very well fast become the biggest hit and best series of the new season. If you’re looking for an action packed series with some deeper themes not unlike “Shinsekai Yori” and can stomach some gore, then I highly recommend you watch “Shingeki no Kyojin”.
