Most anime, even the ones filled with wailing and battle cries, remove the 'flavor' of throat-cracks, half-swallowed words, and barked-up saliva that can cloud enunciation. It's not only what McFarland and his actors choose to put in, but also what they choose not to remove that makes this dub rattle your eardrums around.
Presented with a story fueled by full-throated gristle, Funimation's dubbing team have wisely decided against archetypal 'anime character' voice direction, where everyone has perfect enunciation and even gasps or shouts in melodic, clean, choir-boy 'head voice.' Director jerks every voice from principals to extras down through the chest to the bottom of their guts, resulting in hellish bowel-screams and breathless spit-filled ravings. It is only after reinforcing our beliefs in human perseverance, courage, and teamwork that Attack on Titan lands its first big heart-stopping system shock in episode 5, so devastating that it makes us question what hope any characters have of survival, much less any kind of happy future. We're given levity, budding friendships and the flicker of hope that these ragtag kids can really take back what was lost. We see child victims of the tragedy grow stronger and wiser as they butt heads with each other in the pursuit of a promising future, a chance to prove themselves, or even the desire for revenge. We need a reprieve from all the adrenaline, so episodes 3 and 4 dial back down to explore the human element. This collection of likable faces, most importantly those of the three main characters, makes the terror of people being eaten alive resonate with an impact no apocalyptic assault on screaming masses could imitate. We face the titans through the eyes of characters with striking personalities, grand dreams, and crippling flaws, and in such great numbers that it's impossible not to relate to someone in the cast.
He wonders how long humanity will choose safety in a sweaty, overpopulated cistern over freedom in the open seas beyond the walls. He dreams of a life of adventure, joining the military's scouting regiment, being praised as a hero, and seeing the world outside the walls. One boy among the fattened throngs, Eren Jaeger, finds himself restless about humanity's future.
To protect themselves from the creatures they named Titans, mankind erected three walls, each dozens of yards high, sealing all survivors inside for 100 years until their complacent, teeming cities felt secure from the man-eating Titans. In an age now lost to mankind's memory, monsters shaped like giant people, but with no discernible intelligence, appeared over the mountains and started feasting on humans. But for Eren, Armin, Mikasa, and the many young trainees alongside them, ending their renewed war against a monstrous enemy will be harder than they anticipated, and more bizarre and impossible than they could have ever imagined. His family and dreams taken from him, Eren swears revenge, immediately enlisting as a trainee in the anti-Titan defense corps.