By Momina Khan
Picture this: it’s the night of New Years again, and you’re sitting with your 2025 calendar pondering on what you should write in your list of ultimately uncompleted resolutions. It lays there empty, with the exception of a few lines — ‘eat healthy, workout, study…’ — scratch that! I’m here to tell you why you should rewrite your list and restart the year two months in by making your number one priority watching AOT; a show that debuted in 2009, ASAP.
Firstly, the storyline is just incredible. It packs a punch with its emotional and socially-relevant themes such as freedom, love, and war. The portrayal of the complexities within these themes is explored deeply through many lenses. For example, instead of having a cut-throat villain and hero, there are no clear ‘good’ or ‘bad’ characters, allowing the reader to get lost in thought, and feel inclined to watch episode after episode. As you watch, you’ll catch little things, such as a random character line or action; but it all plays into a well woven storyweb which astoundingly comes together in Season 4. The manga ending seemed controversial to some, however the show’s close improved on it in many ways. Some consider it to be a ‘perfect ending’, however this topic is highly debated. In my opinion, the ending aligned soundly with the show’s core themes.
The animation is phenomenal. At times, I sat down and watched the scenes completely mesmerised at the attention to detail in each frame, and the resemblance the architecture in the show had with real life buildings and towns. The homeland of the main characters, The Shiganshina District, is inspired by Nördlingen; a town in Bavaria, Germany, which is a small town home to around 21,000 people.. The recreation of these specifics demonstrates the quality of the show and the time and effort put into making it.
Now I’ve told you why AOT is such a great show to watch —but — why now?
Well, on the 6th of Feb, ‘Attack On Titan: The Last Attack’ was released, enhancing the viewing experience with renewed animation to every episode in the show’s ending; all of which were attached to one long movie with a new alternative universe end-credits scene. With this brand-new release dying to be seen by you — yes, you — it’s time to binge-watch Attack On Titan this year and finally catch up to speed with, in my (correct) opinion, one of the best pieces of media in all time. You can find it in cinemas, however some have already finished airing this masterpiece; so you can tune in on Netflix, Prime Video, or Crunchyroll.
So grab your popcorn, pull up a blanket, dim the lights and get ready to experience peak cinema.
