Attack on Titan: Junior High

Episode 12

For its last episode, Attack on Titan: Junior High made one final attempt to live up to its name. Since Titans are in the title of the show, I was definitely expecting to see them more this season, rather than one-offs about kickball and the student council election. This episode finally brings the Titans, but it's still a question of taste in the end. If it cracks you up to hear the characters parrot back their Attack on Titan lines in a far more trivial situation, this episode certainly delivers. But if you're looking for original situations that riff on characters' personalities to create something new, you'll find it lacking.

After a season of mostly standalone situations, the last episode is something of a continuation to the previous one. Eren and friends are unwilling to accept that the Titans have made off with their food stalls from the school festival, so they vow to recover them at the Titan's school building. (Side note: where are the Titans' school festival contributions? That would have been way more interesting than repeatedly portraying them as delinquents.) The human teachers are against the students' reclamation because the Titans are students with just as much right to be here. However, Eren perseveres with the help of his friends and finds himself face to face with the culprit: the Colossal Titan himself, AKA the principal of Attack on Titan: Junior High.

Some will find humor in the fact that nearly all of the lines this episode are identical to those in the original show—only this time, they're not talking about life and death, but cheeseburgers. Some people have already gif'd scenes from the episode and put them side by side with scenes from Attack on Titan, most notably Eren's confrontation with the Colossal Titan. To me. it seems more lazy than funny. Looking at the gifs, it's the same animation, only with a tinier chibi Eren. I also feel shortchanged by this episode since it introduced a key that resembles Eren's key to Dad's basement, but when they open the door with it, it's just a setup for another gag. I was hoping for just the tiniest revelation or hint about what's coming up in Attack on Titan since, in that show, putting that key in its lock is the characters' ultimate goal.

As usual, my favorite parts of the episode were the original gags. I loved when Levi, Hanji, and Mike distracted the Titans by forming an idol group, Levi yelling “kneel down, you pigs!” while rosy-cheeked Titans happily complied. I loved when Jean deepened his relationship with Moe Titan. These are situations that belong to Attack on Titan: Junior High alone. They show the potential to riff on this bizarre situation, instead of echoing its predecessor word for word.

One of the things that makes the Attack on Titan characters so likable is the way they adapt when the stakes are high. (Also, the death rate is so high that you have no choice but to root for them while they're alive.) But in Attack on Titan: Junior High, they sort of seem like jerks, responding to their gargantuan (but somewhat mentally challenged) classmates' pranks with their own calculated violence. To what end? As Erwin states at the end, “Maybe now the humans can have a fun school life.” So that was the goal, I guess? This episode had its bright spots but, just like the series as a whole, in the end it was simply lacking substance.

Rating: C

Attack on Titan: Junior High is currently streaming on Funimation.

Lauren writes about anime and journalism at Otaku Journalist.