Even if the finale wasn’t perfect, it doesn’t make the rest of the anime bad.
Summary:
Attack on Titan was a huge hit, but the hype died down for a bit between S1 and S2 due to a long break.
The first season has cool fights, but also gets better on rewatches due to the amount of foreshadowing.
Regardless of the finale, AoT has earned its hype and status of a modern classic.
Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) has ended, but that doesn’t stop fans from still talking about it. Granted, most of the discussion revolves around the ending — which was controversial, to say the least.
Whatever you think of the finale, though, is ultimately not as relevant. The series has very much become a modern classic and reshaped the anime fandom, introducing many new fans to the medium. It was also one of the most hyped-up series of all time, and it deserves the hype it got.
The release schedule hurt the show at first
Despite being a hit when it aired initially (and even before that — the manga was very popular as well), Attack on Titan didn’t get this amount of attention so much later. This can be explained by its odd release schedule, as well as the general structure of the series that makes every next season even more discussable.
There was a 4-year break between the first and second seasons of the anime. During that time period, the hype had mostly died out. Yes, there have been OVAs, recap movies and even a chibi parody TV series (which actually spoiled the anime past S1, granted, in the ways only manga readers who already knew the spoilers would understand).
And even when S2 aired, people weren’t as convinced on the series: it took until S3 for AoT to achieve the cultural phenomenon status it has now.
Initially seen as action anime — but being more than that
The first season is impressively animated and is full of beautiful yet brutal fights. It, however, doesn’t amount to much by itself. Yes, it does have a lot of elements that double as pieces of the overall puzzle and will become relevant later, but these are only noticed on the second watch, usually.
There just wasn’t much to discuss about the first season before later seasons aired. In a certain way, this emphasizes the beauty of AoT: it only gets better on rewatches, as the anime relies heavily on the mystery factor.
After you know how the world actually works (presumably, after finishing the anime), you can go and rewatch the anime to see if you missed any clues. This structure alone is deserving of praise.
One of the most important series recently
In general, AoT deserves its hype for introducing many newer fans to anime. Not many series before it attracted so much mainstream audience without being long-running shounen or kids anime.
Attack on Titan turned millions around the world into otaku, and we should thank it for that — regardless of how controversial its ending was.
Even if the finale wasn’t perfect, it doesn’t make the rest of the anime bad.
Summary:
Attack on Titan was a huge hit, but the hype died down for a bit between S1 and S2 due to a long break.
The first season has cool fights, but also gets better on rewatches due to the amount of foreshadowing.
Regardless of the finale, AoT has earned its hype and status of a modern classic.
Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) has ended, but that doesn’t stop fans from still talking about it. Granted, most of the discussion revolves around the ending — which was controversial, to say the least.
Whatever you think of the finale, though, is ultimately not as relevant. The series has very much become a modern classic and reshaped the anime fandom, introducing many new fans to the medium. It was also one of the most hyped-up series of all time, and it deserves the hype it got.
The release schedule hurt the show at first
Despite being a hit when it aired initially (and even before that — the manga was very popular as well), Attack on Titan didn’t get this amount of attention so much later. This can be explained by its odd release schedule, as well as the general structure of the series that makes every next season even more discussable.
There was a 4-year break between the first and second seasons of the anime. During that time period, the hype had mostly died out. Yes, there have been OVAs, recap movies and even a chibi parody TV series (which actually spoiled the anime past S1, granted, in the ways only manga readers who already knew the spoilers would understand).
And even when S2 aired, people weren’t as convinced on the series: it took until S3 for AoT to achieve the cultural phenomenon status it has now.
Initially seen as action anime — but being more than that
The first season is impressively animated and is full of beautiful yet brutal fights. It, however, doesn’t amount to much by itself. Yes, it does have a lot of elements that double as pieces of the overall puzzle and will become relevant later, but these are only noticed on the second watch, usually.
There just wasn’t much to discuss about the first season before later seasons aired. In a certain way, this emphasizes the beauty of AoT: it only gets better on rewatches, as the anime relies heavily on the mystery factor.
After you know how the world actually works (presumably, after finishing the anime), you can go and rewatch the anime to see if you missed any clues. This structure alone is deserving of praise.
One of the most important series recently
In general, AoT deserves its hype for introducing many newer fans to anime. Not many series before it attracted so much mainstream audience without being long-running shounen or kids anime.
Attack on Titan turned millions around the world into otaku, and we should thank it for that — regardless of how controversial its ending was.
