I know Annie was nerfed for four years by being stuck in a crystal, but I honestly think she was mesmerizing despite that, and I’m pretty sure the animation team agreed. Because in the few scenes she does get? She steals the show. The fluidity and the power the animation radiates??? Like, girl.
First opening? She slowly turns to stare at the Scouts. The opening lingers on her.
Killing the titan without gear by jumping off the timber in Season 1? Majestic animation. The focus is on her.
Jumping on that abnormal to save Jean’s ass? Gorgeous queen. Did not need to go that hard.
Her OVA? Girl. Pulling her arm out of her Titan and getting shot shouldn’t be this impressive. Excuse me???
The frames of her sleeping peacefully during The Lost Girls' ending theme? And crying? I wanna hug her. Also, it's a nice detail that despite the episodes highlighting both her and Mikasa, Call Your Name <Gv> only depicts her.
Every scene as the Female Titan during her arc? Fucking terrifying. Twirling that soldier in the air? As cruel as intimidating. It had me recoiling the first time I saw it. When the Scouts see her immobile in the distance for the first time, it's fucking haunting. I've seen Reiner's armored ass plenty of time, but it wasn't this unsettling.
The staircase scene in Stohess. I think about it once a day. Her blood flicking through the air as she cuts herself, her sclera turning black (she’s the only shifter that happens to. Maybe it’s just how Eren perceives her in that moment, thus the different marks and her eyes, but it’s still incredibly badass), and those huge Titan marks appearing across her face as she transforms? Still one of the best transformations in the whole show.
When the world is getting Rumbled, but our girl is riding away into the sunset, looking at the disaster unfolding? She looks so pretty (Hitch probably agrees lol)
When confronting Mikasa at the end of the world, at the campfire. She locks in and pulls out her ring, has it so so close to her face, then extends her other arm. That scene? GOD.
Her first transformation to fight the Yeagerists at the port, and using the ODM gear to fly into battle? Hold me back.
Tearing up while telling Mikasa she doesn’t want to fight anymore? THE DETAILS.
Honestly, I think it’s the details. The animators made space for her every time she was on screen. She owns every frame. And yeah, maybe I notice it a tad more because she’s my favorite and I could watch her scenes on loop. I feel like there’s a level of care and attention in how they animate her that you don’t see with most secondary characters. She gets that focus, that weight. Out of all the Warriors, she easily has the best scenes. After EMA and Levi, I think she’s one of the few who often gets that extra bit of care in how she’s brought to life.
