Attack on Titan

On that day (read: when this show premiered), humanity received a grim reminder.

Warning: Do not add the fact that the show's fanbase is toxic as a bad quality. Anyone who adds this bad quality will be blocked without warning.

Attack on Titan (Japanese: 進撃の巨人; Hepburn: Shingeki no Kyojin, lit. "Advancing Giant") is a Japanese anime series based on the manga of the same name by Hajime Isayama. The first season aired in Japan between April and September 2013, the second season from April to June 2015, and a third currently airing in July 2018 in Japanese and the following month in English. The English dub aired from May to November 2014, with its sequel airing from April to July 2017.

Plot

Attack on Titan revolves around the adventures of Eren Jaeger, Mikasa Ackerman, and their childhood friend Armin Arlert. After the wall which protects their hometown of Shinganshina is breached by the Colossal Titan leading the other Titans to enter, Eren watches in horror as a smiling Titan eats his mother. Vowing to kill all the Titans, Eren enlists in the military, along with his friends.

Why it rocks

1. The animation and art is amazing, even better than the manga's art.
2. Powerful and emotional music, courtesy of Hiroyuki Sawano (Blue Exorcist, Kill La Kill, The Seven Deadly Sins). One might argue that Attack on Titan has the best music out of any TV series.
3. The Japanese voice acting is a dramatic phenomenon, with the best performance being Yuki Kaji as Eren. Other voice actors did good jobs as well, especially Hiroshi Kamiya as Levi and Yoshimasa Hosoya as Reiner.
4. The story and overall premise is very interesting, as it is a unique spin on the zombie apocalypse premise.
5. Eren Jaeger is one of the best-written protagonists in fiction.
6. Its immense popularity led to a prequel subtitled No Regrets, a spin-off subtitled Junior High, merchandise, a two-film live-action movie series, and a slew of video games, two of which were released internationally.
7. Amazing character designs, for both humans and Titans.
8. Took liberties with its dark tone for including a lot of gore and shocking moments, more than Tokyo Ghoul, but not as much as Deadman Wonderland.
9. One of the best war dramas in film and television history, as the story involves teenagers and young adults forced to enlist in the military at such young ages and risking their lives to protect their home society.
10. Masterfully-performed intro and outro songs. The first three intros and the fourth outro are performed by Japanese band Linked Horizon, with the first, Feuerotter Pfeil und Bogen (lit. "Crimson Bow and Arrow"), being used in many videos having nothing to do with Attack on Titan.
11. This is one of the few modern anime that are actually completely loyal to the manga.
12. It had a crossover with The Avengers.
13. Amazing English dub from Bryce Papenbrook as Eren, Trina Nishimura as Mikasa, Josh Grelle as Armin, Matthew Mercer as Levi, and more!
14. Starting with the second season, English-dubbed episodes air almost immediately after Japanese broadcast.
15. The other dubs - French, Spanish (both Spain and Latin America), German, Italian, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Korean - are mostly well-translated and well-voiced-over.

Bad Qualities

1. The pacing of the anime, especially in the first half of Season 1, needed some work. Most episodes were just unnecessary dialogue. Luckily, the two anime films, which recap the first season, fix that by removing a lot of said dialogue.
2. The gory nature of the series can turn people away from the franchise. As expected, this show is a prime target of Moral Guardians. Most infamously, it was one of the franchises banned in China.
3. Its Junior High spin-off was disappointing to fans of the series, but was meant as a stop-gap for the first two seasons.
4. The Italian dub lacks proper screaming, which was one reason behind the show's infamy. When Armin screamed, it sounded like he was crying, and when Eren's Titan form roars, it sounds like he's yawning.
5. The ultimate series finale was considered disappointing to many fans, considering it's last moments and some parts that can feel like it's a cliffhanger or otherwise doesn't tie up a lot of stuff. It's hard to blame anyone in the staff, considering the ending of the manga was also considered disappointing, but still.
6. The wait times between seasons and even episodes were pretty ridiculous, considering it would often take 2 YEARS for the anime to either catch up to the manga or for any new material or announcements to be made. Not helped by the fact that the final season had that happen 4 TIMES.