Attack on, Titan!

Attack on Titan is a speculative philosophical series hidden under the guise of a standard shounen. In-depth discussion involves detailing the spoilers of the series, as the plot’s unraveling is highly contingent on certain mysteries. This pervading, constant allure of mystery in the series amplifies its compelling nature. As such, this raises difficulty when bringing it up to others or discussing it in public, because to avoid spoilers, it's limited to the base concept. 

The story starts with three children: a driven boy called Eren, his adoptive sister Mikasa, and their best friend Armin. They live at the outer edge of humanity’s borders, humanity now being limited to three walls. This is because the outside world is populated by Titans, inexplicable humanoid monsters; they are also giant and near-immortal. A Colossal Titan somehow breaks the wall, and the Titans enter the third wall; chaos ensues. Then years pass and they become soldiers, and then things get more and more complicated.

The series starts with this main trio, but eventually grows to somewhat of an ensemble cast, featuring multiple perspectives. These perspectives further heighten the tragedy of the series, especially when they provide an insight into the moral dilemmas and trauma eating away at the characters. The use of different characters also prevents the show from getting tiresome, as the main trio, especially Mikasa, have a slow character development that many find frustrating. (I think Mikasa could be done better, but she is still a compelling character. (Mikasa is Eren’s adopted sister, and he saved her after her parents were killed in front of her, and she was going to be sold to slavery. Due to this trauma, she’s stoic. She’s incredibly attached to Eren and wants to protect him at any cost. Her philosophy is that, paradoxically, life is cruel, but also beautiful. She does have development, but it’s more subtle than other characters. She learns to trust Eren and trusts him on the battlefield. Initially, she doesn’t particularly care about the outside world, only wanting to keep her and Eren safe. But this changes, and she fights for freedom.)) Splitting up the characters keeps the flow fresh.

There’s also a wonderful juxtaposition with the series's military strategies and semi-steampunk technologies (These are used against the Titans. They allow those fighting the Titans to slash the Titan's nape with both swords, that being the Achilles' Heel of the Titans.) played against the mysterious and fantastically surreal nature of the Titans. This dichotomy is almost reminiscent of Star Wars, with that media dealing both with the Force and science-fiction warfare/conflict.

The manga’s grimness is accentuated by its black-and-white nature, while the anime suffers from being more flashy, especially regarding its bombastic opening themes that almost seems to paint the series as a more nationalistic shounen. The art progressively improves from its initial amateur standing to being extremely impressive. It's a visual experience, in which each frame, each detail further progresses the story, whether the reader consciously or unconsciously picks it up. The series also makes great use of imagery. The world in Attack on Titan is brutal; a mirror to ours. Both the best and worst of humanity is on full display. It’s an insight into the truth of humanity, with both the characters from the series and the audience looking within and progressing further.