Sunday, 28 April 2013

Attack on Titan - Episode 4

As Attack on Titan hits its fourth episode, we reach the cusp of graduation for the military recruits we saw in the previous instalment, as they face up to their final round of training and tests to decide who will cut the mustard.

More specifically, these individuals are all being scored to decide upon the top ten graduates who get to enjoy a life within the city's inner walls as part of the military police, serving the king and enjoying the security and relative plenty that comes from that particular environment.  Thanks to some comments to Eren served up the group's "lone wolf" Annie, our protagonist suddenly realises just how ludicrous this situation is, with the most skilled fighters battling to be kept as far away from the action as possible, leading to an environment where everyone is struggling not to do their part to defeat the Titans, but for their own security and safety.

Of course, Eren himself if having none of this, and despite scoring within the top ten students when graduation time comes he instead opts to drop out of the military police and join the Recon Corps.  While those around him think that he's nuts, his impassioned and stirring rebuttal of their questioning of his sanity has a surprising effect far beyond simply convincing Mikasa and Armin to join him (as if there were any doubt that they would), and as their new careers start Eren finds himself confronted with a lot of familiar faces.  Not every recognisable face is a welcome one come the end of the episode though....


After a short, slick and punchy introduction to the characters that we'll doubtless be following closely from now on, this was another hugely enjoyable episode of Attack on Titan which mixed up its action, socio-political story-telling and comedy nicely before dropping a decidedly juicy hook to bring us back for next week's episode.  This latest instalment also made me realise just how superb the show's soundtrack is, as it did a great job of pushing the episode along as required while accompanying it perfectly.  It's time for things to get serious within this series, and I really can't wait to see how it pans out.

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