This new anime is awesome
Setting
One hundred years prior to the beginning of the story, giant humanoid creatures called Titans (巨人 Kyojin?) have forced humanity to devolve to a medieval level of technology and to retreat into a system of concentric Walls (ウォール Wōru?) known as Wall Maria (ウォール・マリア Wōru Maria?, outermost), Wall Rose (ウォール・ローゼ Wōru Rōze?, middle), and Wall Sina (ウォール・シーナ Wōru Shīna?, innermost). Inside these walls, humanity lived in peace for one hundred years. But in the beginning of the story, a sudden attack by a gigantic sixty-meter Titan and a smaller Titan covered in armor plates causes the outermost wall to be breached, forcing mankind to abandon the land between Walls Maria and Rose, leading to famine and turmoil.
Little is known about the Titans, giant creatures that are usually between 3-15 meters tall with a few exceptions. The Titans attack and devour ordinary humans on sight instinctively, although apparently they do not need to feed to survive, as they do not prey on other animals, even with the absence of humans, surviving by absorbing sunlight. They have hard skin and regenerative abilities, and can only be killed by a deep incision on the base of the neck. This weakness led to the development of the 3-D Maneuver Gear (立体機動装置 Rittai Kidō Sōchi?), allowing humans to navigate quickly in a three-dimensional space to access the Titans' weak point. Though it allows great mobility to a skilled user, it carries a large risk of overtaxing the muscles, thus a special physical conditioning and sense of balance is necessary to master it
What struck me is the easy the characters die, it is not glorius, it is not pretty, is is unkind and raw. the characters are scared, but some have the will to push on, others break, many die, it is such a good anime
It has insane battles using high speed maneuvers using harpoon harnesses and swords
here is the opening
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKzum5xCGjQ