What does a series needs to become a masterpiece? To answer that question, look no further than Shingeki no Kyojin, also know as Attack on Titan.
Shingeki no Kyojin is a series that needs no introduction, since its anime adaptation in 2013 it became one of the most popular and acclaimed series of all time, among the likes of Evangelion or Berserk. Such impact on the industry would make you feel that it's indeed underserved, but make no mistake, all the hype around this series is completely deserved, or I would say that it even deserves more.

But let's get to the review, shall we?

Settled in a post-apocaliptic world where most of it is inhabitated by human-eating giants (named as "Titans"), making humanity barricade themselves within large walls in order to survive. Shingeki no Kyojin tells the story of how Eren Yeager makes his way in this cruel world, with the goal of erradicating all the titans of the world.

The premise may indeed sound silly for some, as it could make you remember of a generic zombie story about survival, but Shingeki no Kyojin is much more than that, it's an mistery, the enmacipation of a people, a war story about the price of living free and the clash between ideologies, a story that deals with the hipocrisy of society and rascim.

One the most prominent thoughts you will have when reading this work at the beggining is about the mere existence of the titans and all the mistery that surrounds them, incluiding the walls where our protagonists live; Why are there titans? What do they want? How could humanity build those wall? What's wrong with the govermment? Why is Levi so freaking perfect?

And it doesn't end there.

There's constant mistery surrounding the plot of the series, plot twist are left and right, making it seems that everything makes no sense at all, but in the end, it does really make sense. One of the strongest aspect of the story is the superb worldbuilding and all the foreshadowing around of it. There are no unnecessary plot points, everything that happens, as much as imposible that it seems, has a coherent explanation and moves foward the plot, and more importantly, has foreshadowing.

Everything that happens, in a way or another was already foreshadowed, even in the first chapters, but this can also be a downside to some viewers, as Shingeki no Kyojin is a work that doesn't insults the readers's intelligence and it's mostly slow placed, never being too obvious about the reveals and everything has a proper build-up. And you may ask; Why is that a bad thing? Well, as you see, there're some readers that like the answers spoon feeded to them (Steins;Gate would be a series that also suffers from a similar problem). And I don't blame them, there are a lot of scenes in the first chapters that doesn't make much sense at all, heck, you could even read about the first 50 chapters and a lot of things would still make no sense.

So, in situation like this comes a question, was Shingeki no Kyojin able to sucessfully answer all these misteries and "unexplained plot point" in a sastifying manner? Short answer: Yes.

I like to think of Shingeki no Kyojin as wine, as the first chapters gets better when you read them after reading the currently released chapters. You can see how everything, no matter how subtle it is, is inherently connected with everything that happens in the later arcs. In other words, Hajime Isayama (the author of the series) wrote everything with a clear goal and ending in sight.

With that said, I would like to talk about the worldbuilding, which it is, surprise, excellent.

There are constantly new concepts added to the plot, which none of it feels unnecessary, you can see how much thought effort Isayama has putted into the worldbuilding, wheter of it can be military formations and tactics, organizations within the walls, the hierarchy of the society and military, geography and design of the cities, the vertical maneuvering equipment and the weapons, and that's just to name a few.

Also, in the first volumes at the end of some chapters there are some page that explains some of the concepts of the series, of which it helps with the worldbuilding and is always welcome, since it saves the viewers from reading huge speech bubbles with the characters explaining things and it makes thing feel more natural.

Leaving the story aside, let's talk about the characters, of which some say is the weakest part of Shingeki no Kyojin.

And while there's some true in that statement, I would disagree with most of it, as there's awesome character development, especially in the later parts, some characters have changed so much that's hard to even identify them.

The protagonist of the story is Eren Yeager, a young boy with the desire of seeing outside world. He's stubborn, brave, selfish, impulsive, violent and shares some traits of what would be a sociopath, but what mostly makes his characters is his thirst of revenge against titans, wanting to kill all of them (as his mother was eaten by one in front of his eyes). He could come as bratty and even unlikable at begginning, making him one of the most undeservedly hated characters of the Shingeki no Kyojin. One of the main criticism against Eren's character is that he's bland, as he doesn't develop much more other than his desire to wipe out all titans. The main reason of this is basically because his development (at first arcs) is incredibly subtle and could be hard to notice it, his character slowly comes from a vengeful and angry edgelord to an overall a more capable and calm human being, someone who could you call a hero. Or not? Without going into spoilers too much, Eren's character development is one of the most exhilarating yet saddest things about the work, one that everyone should read and appreciate if they could.

Shingeki no Kyojin has a pretty big character cast, but despite of that, every character has a sense of purpose to the story, never looking as unnecessary. If there's anything so remarkable about the characters, it's the fact that nobody is what you think they are, most of the character cast with the due time is properly developed and characterized, exploring their motives and backgrounds, as well their mysteries and secrets. The worst contender in this regards is Mikasa's character, as she is by far the least developed of the cast.

One of the things I like about Shingeki no Kyojin is the absolute absence of a moral high ground (moreso in the later arcs), as every character is right and wrong in their own ways. There's no a good or a bad in Shingeki no Kyojin, as the characters fight not for what is right, but for what they only can do. This is all futher supported as how much we delve into the story, as character's motivations become more clearer and their actions understandable. Isayama has created a story with a completely gray atmosphere, and there's no more easier way to notice that other than seeing the current state of the fanbase of Shingeki no Kyojin; Completely divided and constantly arguing about who's right and who isn't.

I would like also to add how realistically portrayed death is. If there's something prominent about anime and manga as a whole, is the romanticization of death, you can see in many other series how many character pass out with smiles in their faces, despite the fact that they're dying! It's like they are enjoying that they are dying and they want it, but Shingeki no Kyojin is different in this regard. Death is the worst thing that could happen to anyone and isn't something to be happy about it, and Shingeki no Kyojin portrays this. When a character dies, it's not with a smile on their face, but screaming and with horrifying faces, completely scared and desperately trying to fight their inevitable destiny. There's a lot of body horror and there's always a sense of danger to remind us that death is something we should be all afraid of.

As for the art, while is mediocre as it gets in the first volumes, with a lot of inconsistencies in the character design, it was clear that Isayama wasn't extremely experienced in this regard at the beggining. But as everything, with the time he steadily improved his drawing skills making of Shingeki no Kyojin one of the better you can currently find out there in this regard. One of the things I like about art is how gritty and rough it's, as it helps to trasmist better the character's emotions and the horror of the series to the reader.

When it comes down to sheer enjoyment, Shingeki no Kyojin (also) stands out in this regard. There is constantly something happening, never leaving the reader bored; Battles are filled with enganging strategies, deaths are left and right, revelations comes one after other. If it was just for the pure enjoyment factor without taking account the others aspect of the series, Shingeki no Kyojin would still be worth reading, that's just how entertaining it is.
Its only downside in this aspect is that while reading the manga you are missing out on Sawano's godlike songs, so I would recommend that while you read the manga add the OST to your playlist for a better experience.

But what's does Shingeki no Kyojin want to tell us? What's the theme behind its narrative? I brieftly talked about that at the begginning of the review so let's get back to that.
The most basic message you can see is about freedom; Are you free? Can you be free? What would you sacrifice in order to achieve freedom? Thoses are some of the most prominent questions that Shingeki no Kyojin proffer to us, but that's not everything about it.
It's a story about a people who fights against their chains and a world that opresses them, one who wants them dead; Yet despite of this there's still a good in the opressor, as well as an evil in the victims. We see how the characters rebels against their fate, prolonging an endless circle of death and hate, and as a much as worthless it can look, they do it for the sake of a ideology, for what could the ones who left call as the future.
It's a story about the nature of the war and the persecution it follows, of how misunderstanding is the worst aspect of human's nature. Characters are constantly pushed to their limits of their beliefs, exposing them and making the heroes looks as nothing but hypocrites.
It's a story about fighting against ignorance and the corruption in a system, of how the consequences of the war shapes who can you be and what the world it is. It makes you wonder what do you appreciate in life. Would you prefer to stay with what you have or do you want to reach the unreacheable?
It's a story of self-improvement and how people needs to cooperate in life in order to achieve what they strike for. But despiste of how the world is filled hate, there can be always a way to intermediate, despite how futile or hypocrite it can be.

All in all, Shingeki no Kyojin is one of my favorites stories I've ever read, one that I love with all my heart and I beg everyone to read it.

Thanks you for reading!

Note: This is my first review, feedback is appreciated.