After four years, the second season of Attack on Titan is finally here. Granted, it’s only going to be 12 episodes, to the disappointment of many who have been waiting since the fall of 2013 for more, but some is certainly better than none. It’s been a long wait and a long drought for new Titan, but now that it’s finally back, I’ll be covering the show’s second season, week by week, for you, the loyal readers. Time to dive back into the land of Walls and Titans and screaming teenagers flying around on crazy equipment, let’s dive in.
Off the bat, the show does a great job recapping the end of the first season in quick fashion, ending with Annie being captured and sent off for investigation and further analysis. And speaking of, remember how the first season ended with a shot of a Titan within the wall? Yeah, that’s a legit thing that’s happening, there’s a Titan embedded in the wall. My favorite non-binary soldier Hange takes notice of this, when the wallist preacher man steps in to tell her that this Titan must be kept out of sunlight. I’d also wager that it should’ve be fed after midnight. So why’s there a Titan in the wall? And more importantly, why did the wallist nutcases keep it a secret from everyone else? Sketchy, sketchy. Leave it to Hange to get in the priest’s face and threaten to drop him off the wall; I can’t wait to hear Jessica Calvello in the dub for this episode in a few weeks. But no, she wasn’t serious about letting the priest fall to his death, but she does pose an interesting question: are all the walls made of Titans? Adding a bit of intrigue to the mystery, I see. From there, we jump back 12 hours, to an undisclosed location, where many of our trusty band of young soldiers are fraternizing and taking some time to rest and hide. The crew’s all here: Conny, Sasha, Reiner, and the rest of the extras nobody cares about, but there’s no time for catch-up, Titans are afoot and coming for everyone, so it’s time to gear up and get ready for combat. The thing is, these Titans are coming from the south; perhaps there’s been a wall breach. Enter our star of the episode, squad leader Mike Zacharius (or Miche, depending on source), acting as a decoy and launching a frontal attack on the Titans, chooping them down one by one. Way to go, Mike.
And from there, going into the B-part of the episode, we jump to a flashback, this time with Eren and Mikasa from when they were much younger, but it’s only for a moment, as Eren is waking up from the flashback. Welcome back, main protagonist; I throughly do not await hearing Bryce Papenbrook belt out your lines in the dub in a few weeks. No time for pleasantries, though, as Armin is alerting them of the Titans breaching in. Back to the action, as these small fry Titans are being easily done with by our trusty Mike, with only four remaining, one of which is an Abnormal that’s covered in fur; he looks like Bigfoot on steroids, I’ll put it that way. Instead of going for Mike, he goes for his horse, and just throws it at the guy. And in a stunning surprise, the Abnormal can talk? Yes, Bigfoot can talk, and squishes a smaller Titan that’s caught Mike mid-bite; crazy, yo. Instead of going after Mike, he just picks up the ODM gear on his waist, but this won’t stop Mike from fighting, even if it is in vain. Unfortunately, this is the end for Mike, being devoured by the Titans surrounding him, and the scene is GRUESOME. Thankfully for all of us, this is where the episode ends, on that peak moment.
Well damn, welcome back to the fray, Attack on Titan. As far as first episodes go, this was one hell of a way to bring the show back to the viewers; despite the four year absence, it hasn’t lost a beat with the elements of mystery, suspense, action, and gore. It may just be a case of them just blasting out of the gate, but the animation production in this episode was fairly polished and great on the eyes. Let’s just hope the next 11 episodes will retain that level of quality to it. Another positive is that the presence of one Levi was incredibly limited, which is great because I just don’t get why people like him. He’s a total douchenozzle, I’m sorry. In short, great return episode, I’m back into full AOT fan mode, I’m ready for more. Bring on the insanity!
Attack on Titan is licensed by FUNimation Entertainment and is simulcast every Saturday at 10:30am EDT on Crunchyroll and FUNimationNow, on a 1-week delay-cast. An English simulcast dub will begin on Adult Swim on April 22, at 12:30am EDT.