When I first watched Attack on Titan, I wasn’t the biggest fan of this show. Seasons 2 and 3 I liked a lot but S1 always remained on a weird spot for my opinions. I gave it a six initially before bringing it up to a seven. Apart from the action direction, everything else didn’t do it for me, and after rewatching it these past weeks, I can’t understand why.

While I do think this season was just as strong as the others when it came out, part of me still likes that I went through this odd mix of opinions. Watching this season again gave me chills like I haven’t felt for an anime in a long time. The big moments in this season may rise past ones even later down the line, even in S3P2.

Episode 13 stands as my all-time favorite episode in this season. If you’ve seen it, you probably know why. It was the perfect mix of direction, emotion, payoff, and most importantly, the SOUNDTRACK! I am a huge fan of the composer, Hiroyuki Sawano, and his work on Attack on Titan is his best to date. My biggest problem with his music is that most anime that his work is featured in never use it right.
Any anime directed by Tetsuro Araki being the exception. Titan, Guilty Crown and Kabaneri all use his scores to the fullest potential and have created unforgettable moments that have stayed with me years after I watched them. Almost every moment in Titan is unforgettable, and Sawano’s score is one of the sole reasons why.

Of course, the story propelling everything is fantastic as well. It was nostalgic seeing the beginnings of this story again after knowing what it’s all leading to. While a lot of the side characters you get to know later get sidelined this season, that gives a lot of room for the main trio. I never liked Eren and Mikasa much but after seeing this season again, they’re masterfully written.

Eren’s whining (while still slightly annoying) is believable to the person he is and Mikasa’s motivations just makes too much sense for what she went through as a kid. I always liked Armin so my respect for him went up even more. While I was disappointed to see how little screentime Sasha, Connie, Reiner, Bertholt, Christa and Ymir (they don’t even call her by name this season, only known as Freckles) got, I was glad to see how much focus Jean got.

He’s been the backbone of the main squad and has been so ever since his debut. While Annie gets a lot of time (for obvious reasons) I was pleasantly surprised to see how much focus Marco got when he was still ‘a character’.

I’ve seen people define this season as a ‘rollercoaster’. I never got why since I remember being bored a lot when I first watched it, but now I think calling it merely a ‘rollercoaster’ may be underselling what a ride this season is.

Every single episode something awesome happens and the consistent and extremely skilfully directed action makes sure that this show has your full attention. This series is a modern classic by every sense of the word, and I am so glad that I can finally agree with that sentiment.