My Favorite Animated Series
Animation has always fascinated me. As a child, of course, you love it in all its different forms but then people tend to outgrow it and remember it as childish. I also had a time when I didn’t really care anymore, however, over the last couple of years I really came to appreciate animated series again, especially Japanese anime. It’s amazing what kind of stories can be told and what kind of messages can be transported to the viewer — by choosing a unique animation style, being able to reduce the visuals to their core, etc.
Here I want to recommend to you my favorite animated series to give your little escapist a well deserved feast. Have fun!
1. Attack on Titan
This series really got me, my friends and basically the whole anime community hyped. When I first heard about it, for years, I was like: “Nope, thank you. Too weird!“ Gigantic naked people eating frightened normal people who have names like Mikasa Ackermann, Bertholdt or Reiner Braun. What’s the point?
It took me some time to get it but then I was absolutely overwhelmed and got addicted. Attack on Titan started out as an epic tale of humanity’s fight for survival against monsters. And developed into a complex political war thriller with heroes and villains on either side — with no clear distinction of who or what you should be rooting for. Good guys have flaws, bad guys are sympathetic and you’re just here sitting in the middle being like “Come on guys! Can’t we all just get along?”.
Wit Studio and MAPPA have both done an amazing job in the animation itself – especially the fight scenes are an action spectacle to behold. The show also asks intriguing and provoking philosophical questions like: Is it possible that in this dystopian society a controversial philosophy from a Nazi theorist, Carl Schmitt, may be the only thing keeping the fabric of society from collapsing? Or is that just what those in power want citizens to believe?
However, in my opinion, two other aspects really make this series a masterpiece: the unbelievably complex story-telling by creator Hajime Isayama and the epic soundtrack by Hiroyuki Sawano and Kohta Yamamoto.
Insane storytelling
What’s so amazing about Isayamas work is the foreshadowing with countless minuscule details, the absolutely insane cliffhangers and the epic conclusions. Seeds are planted in one episode early on when you have no idea of the world this series is set in, let alone how the characters are connected with each other or what their true goals are. And from one episode to the next, everything changes. You see a new world, you get a new revelation and you’re just like: wtf just happened?! The payoff for the viewer at each and every of those key moments in the series, sometimes after years of built-up, is ridiculous. It is literally mind-blowing if you look at some reaction videos on YouTube of people completely loosing it.
One of those details was, for example, just hidden in the episode titles. Episode 1 first aired on the 7th of April 2013 and the title was “To You, in 2.000 Years: The Fall of Shiganshina, Part 1“. You have absolutely no idea at this point what this title could possibly mean. And then, on the 7th of February 2022 (almost nine years later!), episode 80 airs which is called “From You, 2.000 Years Ago”. And this whole episode alone is enough to turn your expectations and views upside down and make you want to rewatch the whole series again.
Epic score
All of these moments and plot twists are underscored by Sawano’s and Yamamoto’s music — a unique, thrilling piece for each of these highly emotional situations and settings. I have seen rappers, music producers and composers who have never seen an anime before loose their shit over these compositions. And I see the genius behind them myself — from the complex layering, creating beautiful chords; to the insane mix of a symphonic orchestral production with German lyrics (sung with Japanese accents), with choirs and with electronic elements ranging from dirty synths to modified white noise. Opera-like elements together with futuristic EDM hints. And it all comes together in perfect chaotic harmony.
See my top three tracks from the series here and make up your own mind:
- YouSeeBIGGIRL/T:T by Hiroyuki Sawano (Season 2)
- Ashes on the Fire by Kohta Yamamoto (Season 4)
- Footsteps of Doom by Kohta Yamamoto (Season 4)
And then there are the super weird intros and outros for each season. Every time I was like: “Damn, I miss the songs from last season, they were my favorites!“ And several episodes later, I had new favorites. This was just ridiculous and very well done.
Conclusion
Attack on Titan is an amazing series with brilliant animated action, thought-provoking philosophical themes, insane storytelling and an epic score that can and will blow your mind. You can stream all four seasons on Crunchyroll and I recommend watching it in Japanese with subtitles.
Stay tuned for more recommendations. Details will follow for Rick and Morty and BoJack Horseman soon!
2. Rick and Morty
3. BoJack Horseman
