Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Shingeki no Kyojin episode 3

Hello there my lovely readers! The weather needs to make up its mind. It's raining, it's 105 degrees outside, it's cold, ect ect. XO I live in Florida. Why is it still cold at the end of April. We have 4 seasons here. Hurricane, cold, hot, and boil egg on a sidewalk. According to my Florida resident calendar it is hot time! Honestly. But I guess since there are people digging out snow...I don't have it too bad.
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Time for nightmares!
In any event...anime time! Hopefully three posts tonight. Up first is Shingeki no Kyojin episode 3. Spoilers for lots of training and bonding.
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They can't see me right?
Episode Summary: A time skip has occurred and Eren and crew are now old enough to join the military. It is their first day and as such their training officer is calling people maggots and what not. He goes down the line and picks certain people to yell at. Two older officers walk by and watch the process, explaining not everyone has to be torn down and rebuilt as that has already happened to them IE Eren, Mikasa, and others in the crowd. Armin, a potato eating girl named Sasha, and cushy life seeking Marco are among the ones yelled at. Potato girl Sasha ends up having to run for 5 hours straight for her craziness. Eren watches the wagons leave with the washouts, saying good if they can't hack it they should leave. A few other trainees ask Eren where he is from and when he states it everyone is like MOG tell me about the Titans. This trickles over into dinner time. At first Eren talks about the Titans but he has a moment where he freaks out thinking about his mother. It is recommended people back off him but Eren is like no no I am going to kill all the Titans don't worry. Eren almost gets in a fight with a fellow trainee named Jean but then they squash things and sorta shake on it. Jean then tries to hit on Mikasa but gets upset when she is clearly...with Eren. Potato girl Sasha has passed out from running and another girl named Krista brings her food and water. Ymir, another female candidate, sees this and basically calls out Sasha for being a suck up. Ymir then proceeds to help Sasha out so the girl will owe her later in life.
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You might want to dial it down just a bit.
The next day the trainees have to practice....being stable on bungle cords so when they get their gear they aren't crashing into trees. A lot of the trainees seem like naturals. Eren....can't get balanced to save his life and keeps crashing to the ground. This causes a lot of teasing to come Eren's way, as he was the most outspoken about killing Titans and that losers need to step to the left. Mikasa and Armin try to help Eren outside of practice but he keeps on failing. Mikasa says that Eren wanting to be a soldier won't make him one and if he gets washed out she will join him. Eren does not accept this and asks other trainees for help. This leads to more teasing. Later Eren and Armin seem to make friends with two people Bertholt and Reiner. They came from a village that did not receive notice of the Titan attacks until the Titans were there. Bertholt wants a cushy life inside the inner walls while Reiner wants to return back home. They seem to bond with Eren and Armin as they all know about how horrible Titans can be. The two boys seem to help Eren with his balance problems so Eren can go into the next with confidence. For about 5 seconds Eren is balance but falls on his face again. He starts to get upset when their training officer declares Eren's belt rusty and gives him a new one. Eren is then able to stay balanced and can stay as a trainee. Both Mikasa and Eren are happy for different reasons. THE END!
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Determination does not pay the bills or save lives. Well in real life anyway. XD
Another episode that pretty much....well simple to explain. Yet my summary wasn't that short. I suffer from the wordiness!! Can this ever be changed?!?
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Just....this is too awesome for words. Or stupid. I can't tell.
Like I said last time I think it was wise to do the anime this way, getting all the training out of way. In the manga (I don't think this is spoiler) all the training is shown in flashbacks. Like chronologically the next bad thing should have been happening now and then training flashbacks happen when something important happens. Like who is this character, lets have a flashback. I think this way the viewers can get a better understanding of who the characters are and why they are important. That way when the awful things happen you can feel connected to the characters. I think this is a good step.
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And now she is 21....
Of course after a tiny time skip....everyone looks completely different. I mean I know in junior high I was looking 19 kinds of awkward. But Mikasa is a grade A hottie, Eren looks like he is 18 and ready to join the actual military in real life, and some of the other boys in class are beyond tall. I am surprised I didn't see facial hair. I wonder if this was done so when people start dying it isn't kid violence. Has anime ever shyed away from that before though?
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Brings a tear to my eye.
I like that people were being screamed and what not. Made it feel more real. And the explanation behind it...sorta made sense. Like your parents tell you all the time you are magical and wonderful and here this guy is screaming in your face. Also if you can't handle someone yelling at you you probably can't handle a Titan running your way. So this all makes sense to me even if they are little kids.
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Potato girls are everywhere!
Through this yelling we were able to learn about some of the characters. Of course Sasha comes across as a dumbass. I am sure many of these kids didn't have much to eat growing up so...starving really doesn't cut it. Especially when you see a lot of other people getting yelled at. Like dumbass put the potato in your pocket and eat it later. I thought the scene with Ymir and Krista could have...well made a little more sense. You were supposed to come away with more of a sense that Ymir thinks that Krista is a kiss ass, doing good things because she wants to be recognized and what not. That might be more of that to come on a mission and maybe it will be better explained then. But obviously Ymir can't be that much of a hardcore person as she did help Sasha. Given how crazy Sasha is how can she possibly pay Ymir back? Silly.
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Just big enough to eat my mom and kill thousands of people.
The boys were having a bit of issues too that needed to be worked on. Most of the boys are not from the outer walls which...I guess is surprising. Since all the adults from the outer walls were sent to die that would mean a lot of orphans right? Meaning that a lot of kids might want revenge? But it sounds like according to Eren many of them joined factories and what not. So that means Armin and especially Eren are pretty much amazing to the other boys. Well amazing and annoying. I can see how people can think that Eren is full of hot air, so full of himself when really all he wants is to avenge his mom.
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Thanks for the tip dude!!
However Eren can't master the most basic technique needed to be a solider. This spells trouble for him. To be fair it did look rather hard and everyone else was like dances with ropes. Like lala I do this kind of thing in my bedroom before bed. Of course I do see how it would be hard to teach someone how to master this skill. Like just do it. Get on the bike and peddle! So Eren looked stupid because everyone else was awesome at it and because of his behavior and or attitude earlier not many people wanted to help him.
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That is code for I LOVE YOU DON'T DIE!
Obviously Mikasa and Armin were going to do their best and try....but Mikasa's best and my best might not be the same thing. Mikasa is only there to keep Eren alive and if he washed out that would be best for her. She is more like I don't care about your man pride, I want you to stay alive. Armin is just there to looked confused and cute I guess. And actually age appropriate. At least they tried even if all he did was knock himself unconscious.
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Time to be friends yay!!!
Despite the fact that Eren was looking kinda scary with the idea of failing he still managed to make some friends. Bertholt the shy and Reiner the stoic. They were from a village that didn't get the memo that the Titans were in town until they were knocking on their doors. Obviously they saw a lot of horrible things as they have trouble remembering all that happened when the Titans came. But they are able to understand Eren a little better. Like yeah we saw some crazy shit, we know why you are so messed up. Both boys have different reasons for joining the military, one to get to the inner wall/be safe and the other to make it back to their home. Now I would argue that if a GIANT Titan can knock down one wall it can knock down the other two. I would also argue that there would be not much home to get back to. But the boys were bonding and what not so that is all that matters.
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Yeah okay scary dude. I believe you.
The next day Eren...well he had an emotional roller coaster. At first he was able to stay steady and everyone was like YAY you did it! Then face on the ground again. Everyone was like oh snap how embarrassing. I think at that point people were done making fun of Eren and they genuinely felt bad for him. But then....Mr. Boot Camp Maggot man....his heart grew three times that minute. He decided that Eren's equipment was rusty and let Eren try again. I don't know if he saw something special in Eren or thought that maybe this kid could unite everyone but he allowed Eren to try again and he was able to do so, as he felt the support of everyone. Go Eren!!! You can do it!!!
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I did it WOOHOO!!!
And that is about it for this episode. It ends with everyone flying in the trees basically as that is what their balance test was all about. It looks like Eren was doing much better. But these kids have a long ways to go before they can protect a paper bag, let alone people. I am sure they will do a good job as everyone but Eren is a natural. Onward to more training!

7 comments:

eternia said...

Uh, more training? But I think the next episode preview told me that we are going back to the manga chapter that we have left behind in order to be chronological.
So we are to see more dead bodies soon. Fascinating. Or not. I think they have toned down the gore considerably since episode 2. Episode 1 is much better.

Anonymous said...

Question, about the big Giant that torn down the walls, where is he? I mean he looks too BIG to hide........Also, it may just not shown, but I did not see him and the other big Giant who knock down walls eat anyone.......

eternia said...

Hmm... this shouldn't be called a spoiler since even a lot of non manga readers have predicted it:
these suckers can transform. I mean from human to titan and vice versa.

Anonymous said...

@Eternia
I'm the 1st Anon

Really?!?! So, if they are human then why break down the barrier/walls that protect their own kind? Are their POV different in Giant form? I don't mind spoilers.........

Christina said...

Eternia- If they are doing all the flashbacks at once there should be more training. Like the hand to hand combat and Mikasa having a little competition in the badass female department.

I do agree that the gore was really toned down, must be saving it for the DVD/Bluray releases. But this next event should be more horrifying that the first so who knows.

Anonymous- Well now that you have been spoiled....XD But yes before you find that out in the manga it is pretty much what the hell. Like um hello why are you running to another wall? This badass Titan is just going to tear them all down. The fact that humans thought they were going to be safe was pretty dumb. But since there has been NO EXPLANATION on why the intelligent Titans are doing ANYTHING...yeah we don't know why they don't go and knock down the other two walls or participate in the eating of the people.

I think the biggest hint is to why non manga readers have guessed this is those two Titans looked really different than the others ones. They look gross yes but not derpy like the other ones. Now Eternia has not spoiled the whole Titan thing...basically because we haven't been TOLD anything yet but lets just say that the intelligent Titans being humans is just the tip of the iceberg.

eternia said...

anonymous: as we complained, the mangaka loves to milk things out, even after 11 volumes, we have yet to really understand what were collosal titan and armored titan thinking. I suspect that their history book is a lie. And there are more walled human cities out there. The latest chapter has further confirmed this suspicion.

christina: in episode 2, we no longer saw explicit scene of human getting eaten. Instead the camera swung away everytime they are about to be chomped. Bleh. Dark fantasy anime without the gore?

Christina said...

Eternia- It really is insane how long this manga has gone on for and how little we have learned. But yes there has to be something to HOW the humans were able to make the walls fast enough to protect those inside and then continue to make two more walls. And Eren's father can't be the reason behind..."the secret" given how long this has been going on.

I wonder if the released DVDs or BluRays will show more, like with Fate/zero. Because yeah we are going to have body parts and chewed up people left and right soon.