By last episodes post I believe I made my position on this anime clear. I am sorry but I just don’t have any interest anymore. The production values managed to catch my attention in the beginning but as the series continues and those values are falling I must admit to finding this season being style over substance. Continuing the trend of just not a lot happening we have an episode dedicated to just Reiner running away from the scouting corps. We have three moments of badass here starting with Erwin ordering the soldiers forward while getting his arm bitten off by a titan. Didn’t really think much of the guy but admittedly that was a really empowering performance that can even get me somewhat hyped up. Another moment was Mikasa going full yandere in trying to retrieve Eren and yeah if Mikasa’s interest in Eren is purely platonic then I don’t see it. You don’t get this possessive over a friend. All things considered, seeing how dense Eren is I think Mikasa’s best bet is to sneak into his bed and take the reins. Hey it’s the end days of humanity, we ain’t got time for romance. Then we have Armin pulling psychological tactics on Reiner and Bertolt. While it’s nice to see him play an active role but this really feels like an unnecessary action. After all he could have pulled a surprise attack and cut Eren out of the bonds holding him to Bertolt so the psychological manipulation just isn’t really needed besides giving Armin his little moment.
We have the team trying to reason with the two before titans swarm everyone but I think this was where the episode really lost me. I just don’t really have much of a connection to these characters and while my memory of the first season is vague I don’t remember these two being featured the prominently. The team remarks on the good old days that pretty much happened somewhere offscreen and as a viewer I find it hard to empathise with that. I don’t think focusing of the emotional aspect with these characters is the best approach as we don’t have any real logic to why they are doing this in the first place and the story needs to keep them tight lipped on that matter. We also have Ymir lying to Christa in order to get her to come along but I am annoyed yet again when they make her intent obvious but have Connie ride up to spell things out to Christa. Seriously Connie how do you know this? Are you her psychiatrist or something? For if you are trying to tell me that you can logically deduce all this in a single moment while in the midst of a giant titan battle then I call bullshit. Armin’s supposed to be the brains of the operation, not you.
One more episode to go and the second season of Attack on Titan ends. When looking over the season as a whole I find it lackluster. There were good action scenes and I am certain an Attack on Titan fan would be well satisfied with the result. To that I say good for you, truly wish I could have enjoyed it on that level as well. But to those who claim I am hatefully bias or misunderstand the value of this series, I pose a question. Let’s say next episode Eren and crew make it back to the wall and Reiner and Bertolt run to fight another day. Then just what has changed since episode one of this season? Sure Monkey Trouble was introduced and he might pop up in a third season if it comes. We have some development on some side characters with Sasha, Christa and Ymir. But are we not right back where we started? All the mysteries still remain mysteries, if anything we got more of them. We learn nothing of the affairs outside of the walls. Humanity is no closer to victory. And if this isn’t the end of the two titan shifters then what over half this season has been focused on is just a giant waste of time. This season is mainly a setup for a third season which may not even come. People give Re:Zero a hard time because it is claimed to be a prologue for things to come. But at least there things were accomplished, at least the main concerns were resolved. Here we don’t have that, we just have action scenes which essentially don’t change a thing. Popcorn entertainment if you will. But perhaps I am wrong and the last episode can bring something to the table which makes the events of this season all worth it. Even having Mikasa and Eren get revenge on the Titan that killed Eren’s mom would make for a good result. If it doesn’t then, well it’s just another transitional season that only serves to provide setup for another season which may never come.
Hmm. Let me provide a conditional defense of the season. But first let me say I do agree with you that this season was more an exercise in fanservice (in that it was mostly targeted at the fans of the show and manga) rather than a proper season. In many ways it reminds me of Season 2 of Sherlock.
That said, I think you might have your experience contaminated, just like me, by the manga. If we take the season by itself, ignoring the manga, I think it revealed quite a lot. Here is an exercise
1) Annie was not alone, but part of what seems to had been an organized group of humans?, humanoids? that like Eren can turn into Titans.
2) That these humans/humanoids come from beyond that walls. Since Ymir also comes beyond the walls from here flashback we can see that she comes from a developed society. We do not know if she comes from the same place as Annie-Bretchold-Reiner, but we do know that beyond the walls there is, or was at least 60 years ago a developed humanity/humanoid civilization.
3) We know that Titans are inexorably tied to the society within the walls not just as a threat (the titan in the wall), and that there are organizations within the Walls that are aware of it.
4) From Reiner and Bretchold we know that there is still a society beyond the walls (their homeland).
Considering the set-up of the first Season, these are not minor plot points, but major revelations. Humanity is not alone with just mindless Titans. There is something beyond the Walls, and that something is an enemy of the humanity within the walls. That something is organized. And there is much more to the Titan story then revealed. The whole premise for humanity in the walls seems to be false.
That is a major reveal I would say, eh no.
On Mikasa. I think Mikasa sees Eren as family rather than as lover. People will do a lot of things for family man. Remember Eren is Mikasa’s only remaining family, and only remaining tie to her real family. To put it simply if you abducted my sister, I woudl probably react the same way. Armin is Mikasa’s friend. Eren is her family.
Anyway I am not saying your judgment of the seasons is totally wrong. I think you have a point of the fannish element. But I do think it advances the story in a major way, if you lock out the manga from your mind.
By the way the tie of the music with the action when Eren awakes was exquisite.
A lot of those numbered points could be speculated from the revealations of the first season though. So it’s more like vague confirmation.
Speculation is different from explicit confirmation though.. Nearly all the reveals have been foreshadowed before.. But the actual reveal still matters..
I feel the problem with this season is that it’s truncated, and thus anime watchers are looking for big mythology reveals.. And not really finding them! Because this arc is really table setting for the following 2 arcs.. which are quite dense, to the point where I worry about the Anime staff’s capability to use either of them as a season starting point..
IMO, this arc + the next arc would have formed the basis of an excellent 2-cour season that would actually build the crescendo as the season flows.. And end on a similar note to season 1.
Now I doubt if they can handle the landing without losing viewers.
Attack on Titan is rather bizarre manga pacing wise. I can say that if anime will move to third season, it will definitely frustrate people since the focus will shift radically. Also, it took hell of a long time for them to finally get to the basement, though at least the basement reveal did really change the tone of whole series.
There is new season in the next year 2018 I hope there is more episodes, this anime is unlivable *o*