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Saturday, June 14, 2014

Attack on Titan: Episode 6 Review

After one of the most shocking episodes of all-time, episode six has a lot to live up to, and while it does not disappoint entirely, it does not exactly answer our questions either. 
*Major Spoilers*
We first pick with Armin after the Titan attack. On a side note, the bearded Titan that ate Eren looked like a Santa Claus Titan. Next, the episode follows some of the citizens trying to escape when the greedy merchant's guild leader is blocking the way with a cart. When a Titan comes crashing towards the citizens, Mikasa, aka the most bada** character since Roy Mustang (Fullmetal Alchemist), saves the day. The majority of the episode follows Mikasa with a flashback to how she met Eren. 
Before continuing, I must explain how my viewing experience for this episode is different than before. Previously, I watched the series weekly on Toonami; however, now that the first 13 episodes of the English dub have been released, I watched episodes 6, 7, and 8 the day after watching episode 5 instead of waiting for the episodes to air. Now, back to the review.
The episodes picks up with Mikasa's flashback to when her parents were still alive. Three bandits attack her home and murder her father and mother. It is revealed that Mikasa and her mother are oriental, and that Orientals are rare in AOT’s world. The bandits planned to sale her as a slave in the capital. Since the character designs are somewhat ambiguous in terms of ethnicity, the revelation that she is the only oriental is interesting. Eren apparently finds the cabin where the bandits have taken Mikasa, and, unexpectedly, he kills two of the bandits. It seems that Eren has had no problems with killing to survive even before his mother was eaten by the Titans, which provides some intriguing insight into the character's motivations. Although, my first impression of Eren in pilot episode was that he was a wimp that became motivated after his mother’s death, but that is obviously not the case. Mikasa also kills the third bandits when he grabs Eren. I am not sure if it was for dramatic effect, but how did Mikasa break the floor by planting her feet to attack? It happens a lot in anime, but unless she actually has superpowers of some kind, other than being a bada** Titan slayer, that one scene was kind of odd. Regardless, the part towards the end of the episode in the flashback when Eren gives Mikasa his scarf was a good character moment explaining where she got the scarf. 
Is she superhuman?
For the most part, the episode did next to nothing to progress the current plot thread, but that is not really a bad thing. If I was still watching the series on a weekly basis, I might be disappointed by the episode, but considering that I watched the next two episodes back-to-back, it was not a huge deal. Mikasa stood out as an intriguing, yet stoic, character in the previous episodes, and this one humanizes her, while still making her a bada** Titan slayer, which is a nice touch. In fact, after watching this episode, I am fully invested in her character now. Mikasa is, by far, my favorite character of the series at this point. 

Overall: 8.5/10- While not nearly as shocking and groundbreaking as the previous episode, episode 6, "The World She Saw: Battle of Trost District, Part 2," is an excellent character development piece that humanizes one of the best characters of the series.


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5 comments:

  1. Great review! :) I remember really liking Mikasa in the Battle of Trost arc- especially when she saved those people and made those merchants move their cart(I really don't like greedy people like that), she was so cool in her scenes! :) While she's not my top favorite character(she in my top ten), I do really like how she's been developed so far and that, of the main trio, she's the best fighter.
    I did have a problem with this episode and that was how Eren and Mikasa(as children) were somehow able to kill three grown ups(in fact, it's my only complaint about the story as of now). For some reason, that sort of thing has always bothered me since I've been around kids that age and they definitely aren't mentally capable of killing, even if they had the chance to- they'd most likely just get scared (plus, nine and ten year olds are pretty weak physically and won't be able to overpower an adult- though, the adults were caught by surprise, so that makes it a bit better). But really, that's my only complaint about the show.

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    1. Thanks! :)

      Good point. I did not put too much thought into it, but you are right about the kids not being physically strong enough to kill those guys. I can buy Eren being psychologically able to do it since he seems crazy and animalist with his instincts.

      -James

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  2. I consider episode 6 as a weak point. I don't know. It just seems out of place. I think it's not exactly the perfect timing for some background story. It is obvious that the creators are trying to delay the continuation of the events in episode 5, because they know viewers will be waiting for it.

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    Replies
    1. If I was still watching it weekly like you did, I would have probably given the episode a lower score, but I really like Mikasa's so far, but I agree, the timing is not the best, unless she ended up replacing Eren as the main character, which obviously did not happen.

      -James

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  3. Thanks for writing awesome review

    and watch Attack on titan English subbed and Dubbed on

    www.watchsnk.com

    ReplyDelete

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