Shingeki no Kyojin – 03

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Suddenly, the Titans don’t seem so frightening.

Having no more exams means I can devote myself to the finer things in life…like going through as many of those Shingeki no Kyojin OP parodies as I can. My brain should be melted to a nice puddle of ooze by the time school starts up again in September at this rate. But I can’t help it….it’s just too catchy!

The military training this week consists of surviving verbal abuse and trying to stay upright. Simple things, you know? The real focus is introducing all the new recruits and showing what life in the military is like. It’s nothing out of the ordinary at the moment. The recruits all get verbally assaulted, yet they’re still treated fairly. The same drill sergeant who angrily picks up a guy by his head like he’s checking if a melon is ripe enough at the supermarket also gives Eren the benefit of the doubt by checking his equipment. If he hadn’t done that, he would have failed. It’s tough love, designed to make them hardened warriors without completely trodding on their hearts.

In fact, I’d say things are too comfortable at the moment. People like Eren and Mikasa who saw the Titans up close are few and far between. Everyone gathers around him at meal time like he’s a wizened old war veteran to hear his tales of the Titans because basically no one else survived the attack. Gossip has lead them to believe the Titans are big enough to straddle the wall, and God knows what they thought Titans looked like before now. Everyone else is so blissfully unaware of the gravity of the situation that they laugh, joke around, and don’t take anything seriously. I love how there’s a stark difference between people like Eren and the uninitiated newbies. When push comes to shove, I wouldn’t be surprised if a bunch of them panic…and die.

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I wonder what else they’re going to do for training. I doubt they’ll be facing a Titan for a while, so are they just going to swing around for practice? Will they get missions? I’m really excited to see how this will work now that a big chunk of the cast has been introduced. We’ll really get to see who people are when we see how they react to a grinning giant with a penchant for human flesh barreling towards them. I’m already wondering how likely everyone is to die.

A lot of time was devoted to introducing new characters, so here’s a quick run-down of who is who – minus the main three. No, I haven’t read the manga, so this is just a little reminder (mostly for myself) to know who is who. I always have a hard time remembering who is who. I felt like I was reading Game of Thrones with all these characters popping up, jesus christ.


Marco Bodt

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Marco joins to be part of the Police force because he wants to serve the King. He’s a bit of a smiley guy, yet he always looks nervous as if he knows that kind of cheerfulness isn’t going to fly here. Optimistic and sweet, he doesn’t seem like the ideal soldier at all.

Likelihood of dying: MEDIUM

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Jean Kirstein

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This is the guy everyone loves to hate. He’s only training alongside everyone so he can join the police and live out the rest of his days in the inner city walls without ever having to see a Titan. Truthfully, this is a really smart thing to do, but it looks like pure cowardice next to some of the more hardened recruits. Jean doesn’t feel bad about his choice in the least though, and doesn’t even try to hide it from the others. He clashes directly with Eren’s go-getting “KILL ALL TITANS” attitude, so I think he’ll stick around for a while. He also has a thing for Mikasa, and that should be the butt of more jokes later on if he hasn’t completely given up on her yet.
Likelihood of dying: LOW

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Ymir

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Ah, another badass chick! Ymir is another one of those hardened recruits who has seen the Titans at their worst, and therefore always looks a bit more severe than the others. She doesn’t believe in true altruism. Any act of good is done for selfish reasons such as making the do-gooder feel warm and fuzzy inside for helping someone. She helps people in order to accrue “favours” although we’ll see if she really means that or if she’s covering up her softness with a tough exterior. Based on how clever she is and her experience, I don’t think she’ll kick the bucket yet.
Likelihood of dying: LOW

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Connie Springer

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I feel like Connie might be the one guy who could turn out being worse at this whole Titan-hunting business than Eren. He just seems like the kind of guy who will panic when put face to face with a Titan. I think they’ll keep him around as the average Joe of the group who isn’t particularly strong or anything. He might screw things up for the group and get others killed, but I don’t see him dying yet.
Likelihood of dying: MED-LOW

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Sasha “Potato Girl” Braus

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I saved the best for last. Sasha is so incredibly dense that she fails at understanding the intentions of others in almost every single social situation. She can only interpret the world in terms of obtaining food for herself. It is like someone gave her the brain of a puppy and the stomach of Kirby. Her only strength seems to be her obedience, stamina, and hard-working personality. She ran until she literally passed out! That kinda work ethic is amazing for a soldier. Needless to say, a show this gloomy needs a girl like her to lighten the mood.
Likelihood of Dying: IMMORTAL

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Extra…

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I have no idea who half of these people are. Some of them hardly even said anything, but here they are…on the list for completion’s sake. Krista is the nice blonde girl who looks like she belongs in a fashion magazine instead of in military training and Annie is another one of those girls with a “I have seen some shit” face. As for Reiner and Huber, they are super nice for helping Eren…let’s just hope that doesn’t mean they die soon. I think they will though….

About

A neuroscience graduate, black belt, and all-around nerd. You'll either find me in my lab or curled up in my rilakkuma kigurumi watching anime.
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37 Responses to “Shingeki no Kyojin – 03”

  1. skylion says:

    “He had a way of smoking a cigarette that made it look like a conspiracy” Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards! on Corporeal Nobby Nobbs.

    That is what I thought upon the reveal of Sasha Blouse. I like your assessment of her. But like a puppy, I fear she will be kicked/killed off for cheap drama later on down the way. I hope for her Immortality, however.

    • Highway says:

      I thought of a different Discworld character with Blouse… Lieutenant Blouse (and btw, Monstrous Regiment may be the single best Discworld book, imo, and would make a tremendous anime).

      • skylion says:

        Best Discworld book for me is tied, Night Watch and Going Postal! But I agree that MR would make for a keen anime.

        • Highway says:

          Both are definitely good, I’d give the nod to Going Postal! But I actually prefer the Witches books in total.

    • Irenesharda says:

      I too hope they don’t kill potato girl off. The ones I think most likely have a possible death flag are nervous smiling guy, the brunette mentally-scarred guy who has seen the Titans and simply wants to live inside the walls for the rest of his life, and maybe blond gentle princess girl.

      Everyone else, I think will stay around for at least a while.
      Of our main three, Armin has the biggest death flag.

      • Highway says:

        I actually think Mikasa has the biggest death flag of the main cast. But it won’t happen until the climax of the show.

        There’s plenty of cannon fodder outside of the people that got their names in the show, so I think we’ll keep them around for a long while.

        • BlackBriar says:

          I actually think Mikasa has the biggest death flag of the main cast. But it won’t happen until the climax of the show.

          The death of a close friend, especially one as important as her is always made for a big impact on the lead’s life. It’s a 50/50 chance that either she dies or becomes Eren’s wife in the future. You always got to consider the childhood friend card.

          • Overcooled says:

            Everyone loves Potato Girl. If she dies I’m going to cry! I can see Mikasa and/or Armin dying though. If it’s Mikasa, then it will allow Eren to live on his own without someone hovering over him and telling him what’s right or wrong.

  2. Irenesharda says:

    “Men are creatures of invention and are usually determined not to accept no for an answer.”
    ― Mario Stinger, Destined for Oblivion: As Nature Intended

    “Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.”
    ― Mary Anne Radmacher

    “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
    ― Thomas A. Edison

    After two episodes of events going at lightning speed, we actually get some down time this episode. We get a little bit of normal life again, and even some comic relief (Who’d of thunk it?!) as we are introduced to the rest of the cast.

    I’m glad that you decided to put in some of the new characters cause goodness knows that when they introduce this many characters all at once, I have a hard time remembering them. This same thing happened early on in Bleach when they began to introduce Soul Society and all the squads, their captains, lieutenants and members. It took me months to remember them all and where they all belonged. I have a feeling this is going to be the same, so I’m going to go with the same method I did there. It’s time for silly nicknames! 😀

    Of our main cast, we have Eren, Misaka, and Armin. Then of the males we have headstrong guy who likes Misaka, we have nervous guy who smiles but isn’t sure of himself. We have young bald guy who seems to be the innocent naive type. And then we have the two guys who have also seen the Titans, the brunette mentally-scarred guy, and blond veteran farmer guy.

    Of our females, we have older hardened brunette, older hardened blond who resembles Hawkeye from FMA, we have blond innocent gentle princess girl, and then we have the awesomely funny potato girl.

    This was a traditional boot camp training episode, but I do like the fact that the commanding officer knows which students to push and which to leave alone. I like how the look of the teens who have seen death and destruction are so similar and yet vastly different from the other more innocent, naive trainees around them.

    Now as this was a down time episode, it was a little hard trying to maintain my attention (It took me 3 HOURS to finish it!). However, it was by no means a bad episode, especially as we learn Eren’s tenacity and perseverance in order to become a soldier. Eren has matured since episode 1 and it’s nice seeing him around others his age and how he interacts. Misaka was as stoic as ever, but I wish she hadn’t cut her hair, I thought it was cute as it was and why she couldn’t have just pinned it up.

    Anyway, I want to see how all these characters develop through the coming episodes and how Eren continues to grow throughout the story. Again we hear mention of Eren’s father, who seems to have been a pretty well-known person through out the kingdom. Now if we can just figure out what happened to him and what was with that weird dream sequence from last time?

    But all in all this was a good episode despite not having much to do in it, and I’m sure I will learn everybody’s names eventually. The insert song at the end was very good, and Eren’s determination to fulfill his vow no matter what odds he might face is the real take-home message of this episode as he tries and tries again, and in the end he actually succeeds even in the face of the fact that he went in with faulty equipment.

    Keep going Eren, we’ll watch the next episode to see what’s next for you.

    I give this episode a 7.9/10.

    (And another note, I think think I will keep doing quotes for my review comments as it just seems right for this show. 🙂 )

    • Overcooled says:

      I really like seeing these quotes in the comments section, it’s really cool!

      I’m horrid at remembering who is who in books and anime, and this was just enough for me to go “..huh…who is that again?” whenever someone appeared more than once. I find nicknames help immensely as well! Unfortunately, I can’t use nicknames throughout an entire post so I’ll have to learn their names eventually…

      How did this take you 3 hours to finish? Did you pause it a lot in between and just go off and do random things? I watched it all in one shot. I think it’s a normal pace for an episode, but coming right after the absolutely insane episodes 1 and 2 it just seems slow by comparison. I agree it was still really good despite the fact it was mostly introductions and setting stuff up.

      • Irenesharda says:

        I think it had to do with I was reading the manga Arata Kangatari at the same time, so I was highly distracted. Arata just happened to have been more interesting at that moment, but I did eventually get through the episode in it’s entirety. It was actually my fault as I should have known not to read and watch at the same time! 🙂

  3. Liza says:

    Sadly this episode did not feature Titans going about their daily ventures into various occupations. *sigh* Oh well…

    As for this episode, all hail the potato! I love Sasha and her love for potatoes. Really hoping she survives and makes peace with the Titans by teaching them to love potatoes instead of people.

    As for Eren’s equipment, I wonder if Jean did something to it? The sergeant did say that he had never seen that part rusted before.

    • Highway says:

      Unless they’ve figured out a ‘quick rust’ kind of thing, I doubt that would be the case. If it was cut or sawn or some other thing, I’d think directed sabotage was a possibility, but since most of the derision Eren earned was after his failures, I don’t think anyone really had it out for him. Other than that, it might be a ‘cheap equipment’ kind of thing, some war profiteer back in the central city using the wrong sourcing, but that’s awfully Maoyuu-ish for this show.

    • Overcooled says:

      I’m sure there will be plenty more opportunities for the Titans to do lots of silly things while devouring humans. :>

    • skylion says:

      lots of silly things

  4. skylion says:

    I’m going to take this potato, and eat it! Herp de Derp

  5. Foshizzel says:

    POTATO GIRL FOR THE WIN!

  6. Ceyrai says:

    I’m glad that we took some downtime, I don’t know if I would’ve stuck around if we were given another Wham Episode. Too depressing. Anyway. Meeting new characters and training arcs in general are fun, and OMG POTATO GIRL. I LOVE HER. She reminds me of Frau from Robotics;Notes – not in personality of course, but in general wackiness crossed with awesomeness. I mean, who runs for 5+ hours without stopping anyway? That is some serious work ethic all for food.

    I was wishing Eren would get taken down a notch with all his rage, and he did. I think that getting embarrassed like that (though he did redeem himself tenfold in the end) should temper him a bit. And Mikasa being a genius soldier is, as always, a big plus for me. She and Sasha have become my favorite characters so far.

    Also, best conversation in the episode:
    Connie: What the hell did you wipe on my shirt?!
    Jean: -_____- My faith in humanity.
    (Can’t wait to deploy this on my friends one day. :P)

    • Overcooled says:

      Yeah, there need to be some quiet episodes to make the more depressing episodes stand out. Plus…I love training arcs.

      I’m hoping that moment of embarrassment made him more humble and realistic as well. Saying he’s going to kill EVERY TITAN EVER is hardly a reachable goal given how things have worked in the past.

      Oh, and that scene really was amazing. I think you might get an odd look if you do it in public, so just quietly walk away after you deliver the line =w=

  7. belatkuro says:

    >Reiner and Bertholdt
    >talked with Eren and Armin about the Titans
    >went outside with them
    >Extra…
    Wut? They even have more screentime than Marco and Jean.
    If anything, it should be those two who should be in the Extra section. At least Reiner appears a bit in the OP(Bert is not there sadly).
    And also Show ▼

    So yeah.

    • Overcooled says:

      Ah, I probably should have included them, but I didn’t have anything much to say aside from “they’re nice.” I shall keep my eyes on them.

  8. HannoX says:

    OMG, I winced when I saw Potato Girl eating that potato in formation. I could only imagine what the DI’s reaction would have been at that when I went through bootcamp and I was in the Navy, not something more akin to the Marines! When they were first using the harnesses, was that her using one like a swing? And ordered to run until she drops, she proceeds to do just that, rather than quiting part way through and claiming she can’t go any further like most people would do.

    Potato Girl for the win! She’s the kind of person who won’t let anything get her down and she’s shown she’s physically tough. When they encounter the Titans, aside from Mikasa, she’s probably the one who’ll prove the most resilient mentally.

    Of course, if they really want to kill off all the Titans, they just have to tell Potato Girl, “For every Titan you kill, we’ll give you a sack of potatoes AND 6 loaves of bread!”

    • Overcooled says:

      Wow, you were in the Navy? Amazing. Would your punishment be even worse than running and a light scolding?

      I love Potato Girl. She’s just having fun in her own, food-filled world. She’s a good soldier though, so it’s hard to complain. I don’t think most people would be able to actually run until they actually drop, because usually the mind gives out before the body.

      Shingeki no Kyojin would be over in two episodes if they said that to her ahaha

      • HannoX says:

        Whatever the punishment, it wouldn’t have been over in one day. And anyone doing that would have been a marked man for the rest of boot camp.

  9. BlackBriar says:

    First off, that patato girl, attacking a piece of bread like a desperate animal. What the hell is she?!

    Damn! We got ourselves a medieval boot camp here and the drill instructor is tough as nails. On the sidelines, his methods are invaluable for telling the recruits that this is not a game they are playing but it must be a pain in the ass when you’re the intended target of his “training”.

    Eren should consider himself lucky that it was only the equipment that was at fault. It was more like paying a debt to a friend than tough love. It’s possible the sargeant knew Eren’s mother before she died. He said “Grisha, your son has become a soldier today”. Is anyone else thinking Spider-Man or Naruto seeing the soldiers rush through the trees?

    In fact, I’d say things are too comfortable at the moment.

    This is what we call the calm before the storm. Just like how it was before the Titans broke through the wall. If there’s such a thing as peace, it’s only temporary and a prelude to chaos.

    This is a recepie for disaster and heartache waiting to happen because the more we know these characters, the more attached we will become to some of them and the more pissed off/heartbroken we’ll be if/once they die. I really don’t want to see Potato Girl or the girl helping her out to die. It was bad enough seeing a sweet girl like Hare get killed in Guilty Crown. By all means the Titans can have the likes of Jean Kirstein (a French first name, huh? I see that as a tribute) and Connie Springer if he continues to follow Jean.

    • skylion says:

      …yeah, but what if Kirstein does something really noble, and then he’s a titan crumpet..

      • HannoX says:

        Yes, Kirstein is the kind of character who could unexpectedly do something heroic that gets him killed.

        • Highway says:

          But will it be a heroic thing that really matters, or one of those ‘heroism’ moments that are just personal sacrifice to no true end and doesn’t make it better. I can see it going either way.

    • Irenesharda says:

      I can see Jean having a heroic death, and I hate when they make us feel so attached to these characters only to kill them off tragically. And yet, somehow I can’t look away.

      Also btw, Girsha is Eren’s father, not his mother. His mother’s name was Carla.
      And honestly, will somebody explain what happened to Girsha anyway? It’s been two years time and he just disappeared.

      • HannoX says:

        I think Girsha will turn up soon and show Eren what’s in the basement of their house. And that will be key to killing Titans.

        • BlackBriar says:

          It would be a major troll to us all if it turned out that Girsha was a soldier and hid it from Eren all this time. That drill sargeant knew him personally and that could be a clue.

          • HannoX says:

            I believe the first episode established that Girsha is a scientist. And I assume he was working on an anti-Titan weapon in their basement. Then he got summoned away before the attack. Presumably he’s since been working on the weapon elsewhere.

            If Girsha’s a scientist working on a weapon, the drill sergeant could know him from that. Or Girsha could be a former soldier using his first hand knowlege of the Titans to make a weapon. So the DI could know him from back then.

  10. skylion says:

    Good luck sleeping tonite!

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