i recently started watching this show with my boyfriend and we just finished the season

i dont hate it so far but just out of curiosity, am i alone in being really frustrated with the writing in this show? and is that an anime-only thing? i mean its enjoyable to watch and a lot of the concepts are interesting, i just find myself really frustrated with how its presented, and i really didnt feel the emotional impact everyone else seems to have experienced. i dont understand why character and plot development always seem to happen in flashback - or, in the case of character development, just before that character dies. a lot of character deaths might have meant more if id seen their families and certain positive qualities presented more before they died, and the same goes for plot development. eren having an internal monologue about how this squad of people is so successful because they trust each other SO much and are SO CLOSE really just seems like an unnecessary last-minute grab for emotional impact, and it makes their deaths feel really cheapened. same with plot development - hearing about the really clever plan after ive already seen it fail just lets me know that its a good time to get up and get a drink, because the placing of that scene makes it completely needless after ive already seen the outcome of said plan.

and i dont mean to say it was all bad - some parts were well-paced and solidly written, this is just my experience with it. i feel like we spent half of the time being mutually frustrated by how often the narrative likes to undercut itself