Introducing: a 50-foot Muhammad Ali.
What They Say:
Many years ago, the last remnants of humanity were forced to retreat behind the towering walls of a fortified city to escape the massive, man-eating Titans that roamed the land outside their fortress. Only the heroic members of the Scouting Legion dared to stray beyond the safety of the walls – but even those brave warriors seldom returned alive. Those within the city clung to the illusion of a peaceful existence until the day that dream was shattered, and their slim chance at survival was reduced to one horrifying choice: kill – or be devoured!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Episode 7 highlights how good this show is at conveying a sense of scale. Attack on Titan has lots of zoomed-out shots of cities and rooftops as well as frantic scenes where characters zoom past the same buildings on maneuver gear. It also takes care to show us the Titans from many different angles. One second you’ll have an eagle’s-eye view of humanoid shapes clambering over buildings, the next you’ll be sitting indoors and watching as a Titan’s eye covers an entire window. The variance in these perspectives makes the show a lot more immersive than it would have been otherwise. It’s easy to sympathize with the cowering humans when we’re so familiar with their location and the size of their predators.
After heroically felling a Titan in the last episode, Mikasa heads back to help the others finish up their retreat. Unfortunately, they’re all running low on fuel for their maneuver gears, and no one has enough left to scale the wall. There’s a place with extra “gas” nearby, but the refueling team is trapped inside the building by several Titans.
Worse still, Mikasa finally hears the news when she talks to Armin. She takes it surprisingly well, and her determination doesn’t waver as she leads the dejected troops into battle. She uses reverse psychology to pump them up, claiming that she’s going to kill all of the remaining Titans by herself and that the others are weak and cowardly for giving up hope so easily. They all realize that they’re pretty much screwed either way and charge ahead with her.
However, Mikasa isn’t as emotionally in control as she seems. Her eagerness to fight turns out to be her own way of mourning. She uses up her minimal fuel reserves and falls down between the buildings, where a Titan quickly finds her. Mikasa sits down, closes her eyes and accepts death, but her body disagrees. Just before the Titan can grab her, she jumps up and slashes its hand away with her broken sword. She apologizes to Eren for “giving up,” and reflects on her own carelessness at leading her friends into battle. Her life isn’t pointless; she needs to stay alive for his sake.
Just as Mikasa is getting all fired up to fight the creature, another Titan appears behind her. Curiously, this muscular, long-haired Titan ignores her and starts to attack the other one. Actually, “attack” is an understatement. It completely destroys its opponent, repeatedly stomping on its head even after it has died. The new Titan tramples through the city, roaring and slaughtering as it goes. At one point it adopts a boxer’s stance, then uses a left hook to knock another Titan’s head clean off its body. Its hand is basically dissolved with the force of the hit, but it regenerates immediately, showing that the muscular Titan’s healing powers surpass even those of its kin. Mikasa and the other knights notice that it also seems to have a basic understanding of combat and knows to aim for the back of a Titan’s neck.
In Summary:
Mikasa finds out about the events of Episode 6, but rather than breaking down, she leads the rest of the fleet into battle. The plan backfires when Mikasa overzealously uses up all of her gear’s fuel, apparently not feeling as level-headed as she seemed. A Titan approaches the fallen Mikasa, but just before it corners her, another one appears and beats the crap out of the first one. The new, muscular Titan ignores all humans and seems hell-bent on destroying its brethren. What is the deal with this strange new saviour? Mikasa says that the muscular Titan seems to “embody the rage of humanity.” In any case, it looks like the good guys have finally caught a break. Hopefully the truth behind this unexpected ally will be revealed soon (although I think they’ve already left enough hints to be able to figure it out).
Grade: A-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Insignia 1080p TV, PS3 with Crunchyroll App; Occasionally 17” Toshiba Satellite Laptop, 2.13 GHz Core i3, 4GB RAM, Windows 7
