It’s hard to write a review on a Manga and its plot point without spoiling it. Due to why I am trying my best not to spoil it. So, I will explain things in such a manner that if I succeed then you will realize what I was trying to say after you have read through the event. But if I failed you will be spoiled halfway through it. So, sorry in advance. Beware contain spoilers for HxH as well.
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ART STYLE
Let’s get the basic thing out of the way. The first half of the Manga is artistically weak. The second half gets better but not much only the inconsistency problem is fixed and the design of many Titans gets better that many panels look just amazing. Looking at them you will be amazed that this was drawn by the same person that drew the first chapters. After the first 33 chapters, it will get better.
The art style is nowhere close to the amazing art style of Berserk, Vagabond, The Five Star Stories, Real, Slam Dunk, and even Bleach. But we all know about that. Because Isayama can not draw people. They do not look like their races. And some females don’t look like a female. The noses of many characters are similar.
And his shading technique is really poor. To great lighting, he uses to draw lines across the face sometimes. And sometimes he draws an area of the face completely dark. But the worst thing of all the sometimes forgets where the light sources. So, the shadow and the shade are on opposite sides. And the facial features are pure ugly. Some facial features are similar to each other like shock, anxiety, and anger. And sometimes he to show the things like wrinkles on the face again uses do it by drawing lines across the face.
CHOREOGRAPHY
The fighting choreography well mainly for the scouts using gears is the problem. These ODM gear will get to know in the Manga are basically like spiderman web but with hooks. This means they, of course, need an object to attach to that can hold the user's weight so they swing. They sometimes hang on to nothing and change their direction in mid-air. And not like there isn’t always no reason for it. Because half of the time it isn’t drawn well so the reader is confused about what happened.
STORY
Story-wise this Manga is the most unique. Humanity being pushed back by giant humanoids monster known as Titan. Forced to live inside giant walls to survive. With so much mystery around everything. And all the questions raised in the first chapters are answered. Not like all the theme going around was unique. Many stories have used it before but in such a manner and mixed all these perfectly which seem unbelievable. When a story focuses on too many themes; some of its aspects are not properly focused on but not here. This story gave us readers suspense, drama, and a very tragic experience. As well as some moments that were hype.
And we later realize that the story was about something even bigger than we thought from the first chapter of AOT. It was mind-blowing! And believe it or not all of it makes sense. I always wonder how certain things happen and why didn’t many characters not do things in certain situations. But Isayama tied it all together. Like why aren’t they using guns? Or why can’t they just aim for the head?
We also got to learn an amazing lesson on; ‘Cycle of Hatred’. Showing us that children should not be treated depending on the sin of their parents and ancestors. It is the ideology of a foolish and a cruel person. Showing us that the oppressed can become the oppressor. The message was so beautiful I almost cried few times.
But that is only for the first half of the story. Second, made so many mistakes that they started to raise questions that never got an answer to the very end.
Some of the messages Mangaka tries to deliver made no sense. Because one of the things the story is teaching is:
Be completely evil. Leaving no victims will break the ‘Cycle of Hatred’.
Which makes sense in the Manga later on. But you are teaching us something that only makes sense if we were going through things that happen in this story. But would never happen in reality at all. Then it should be just there for our entertainment only.
CHARACTERS and THEIR DEVELOPMENT
The character writing in this Manga was a phenomenon. We get to see many well-written characters. With amazing backstories to show us how they became like this and what their motives are. Invoking all sort of feeling to their actions. And many characters get amazing development. Each character has their memorable trait.
But 2 characters in the story whose character development and personality were ruined by the conclusion of final arc.
So, motive of one of the characters was what made their compelling. Because of his back story we were rooting for them. Because they lost their loved ones. But in the end, it turned out they were the cause of their loved one's death. Now, what reason is there left for having such motives? Then we were rooting him/her for no reason. The worst part about it was that they blamed another character for it. And the story paints this as they are right and we should route for them. Which is disgusting because not like they have no choice everything about them was to even challenge their fate to saved the loved ones. Then to all of a sudden give up to destiny; that is hypocritical of them.
And the second character's arc that was ruined by the Isayama by making him switch sides at the very moment others need him. But the real problem is that Isayama realizes there is no way that his enemies can win against him now. So, instead of properly ending his arc he was made more relevant. And deemed so important to an event that makes it easier for his opponent to win. Because they have to convince him then they win because he is still given control to stop the events which will give us the conclusion of the story. Even though it made some sense for him to have control over the events of the conclusion. But it also goes against his 'keep on fighting' personality and motives to save the world. Because after this ending many people die for nothing. And world is going to at war even more. And is in turmoil. And how smart he is, he would have realized it. Thus, we won't have been in this position to begin with at the end of the story.
BAD DECISION MAKING
So, in the story, there has a decision made that makes no sense. A character that made the decision had previously made many harsh but logical decisions. But he is given a choice to save one person from between 2 people. One of them is a person with great intelligence and amazing leadership and the other is a person that is still young and was learning from other characters. And since humanity is in a very poor condition that they need someone like the first person to lead him out of the tyranny of the Titans. So, it makes sense to choose the first person.
But the decision-maker doesn’t; give in to the pressure applied by others. Just because one person was screaming his friend never got to full his life long dream of seeing something which is insignificant in grand scheme of things. And for your information: all the mistakes I complained about previously happened right after this point in the story.
TIME SKIP
So, now Imagine there is an extreme sense of suspense on what will happen next or can they accomplish their task safely. At the same time as the event unfold you are seeing other perspectives of people thoroughly of their life, relationship and other detail that make them more than someone that dies later on or just show up in front of the screen. Because there is no problem with time management and pacing. Since all the things are unfolding altogether.
This is something that Isayama didn’t do. Instead, he skips to a time where we are only given 4 episodes to understand a whole new set of casts and their lives. Because certain event needs to quickly match each other. What about have been a great build up is now shown immediately so we don't have the suspense of 'will they execute it properly' just for some mystery about some motive of a character. So, due to which some details are shown through flashbacks. And the majority of the flashback are important details but isn’t as suspenseful as the current event. And mysteries didn’t even turn out to be mind-blowing and interesting.
Why is that so; because we know what became of those situations and events in the end. There was no suspense or mystery to begin with as we will get to know 'why' by seeing them what they are doing now.
FORESHADOWING
In terms of foreshadowing Isayama is one of the best Mangaka today. His foreshadowing is what gives re-reading the Manga more value than other Manga. Because a lot of answers to many questions were hidden around us. Everything makes sense when the story starts to slowly answer everything itself.
But he not the best at foreshadowing because sometimes he forces foreshadowing. Which are spoilers. Foreshadowing is a detail that is not a clue and you won’t find any meaning in it until the event it was foreshadowing happens.
Clues are some details you piece together to solve a mystery. But the following scene falls into the spoiler’s category:
@SSPULLS
Even though in this story we have things like Titans this Manga was logical most of the time. But there is the time when this Manga overdid. A character won’t die even though he suffered from so many blasts. Even though he had armor on but in some incidences, it made no sense. There is a time when his armor was damaged and he took direct impact from something ten-time his size and still got up and ran as nothing happened.
And there are special powers in the story as well. Sorry to spoil it for you. But it’s important. Because it turns out some people have different abilities than each other. So, someone at the very moment when the stakes are high has the most convenient ability. Allowing people to escape from having casualties.
One of the ridiculous which I am going to spoil also:
UNORIGINAL AND CHANGED ENDING
Not just the fact the last arc was rushed the ending was as well. Means not enough answered questions and many amateur writing mistakes. With the most atrocious mistake being how completely unoriginal the ending. It was copied from 2 different shows.
Even though in this review I talked about a lot of bad things still won't change this is one of the most iconic and will be remembered for years to come. You shouldn't be afraid from picking this up. And you will fell in love with it before the story turn to sore. It's just compare to other series this Manga have many highs. But the the other stories that are competing with AOT do not have these many lows. Or don't make these mistakes at all.
And I hope you like my first review. I will edit it in the future, so it would be less confusing and more well constructed.
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