Attack on Titan: Junior High

Episode 4

Four episodes in, Attack on Titan: Junior High is no longer getting its bearings. It seems like this might be all there is to it—same characters, same jokes, and a complete 180-degree tonal shift. How you feel about these three elements being clashed together will affect your enjoyment of the show.

This week, Eren and friends join the wall clean-up club and you guessed it, they need to use 3D maneuver gear in order to scrub those hard-to-reach spots. Of course, Eren can't use his gear (just like in the original show) because it's broken (just like in the original show), a situation that leads to an entire repeat of that Attack on Titan episode, except with plenty more pain for Eren. Think comically large head bumps, plummeting falls that leave his eyes trailing behind, and a Titan smash that leaves his flattened body peeling off the walls. Very Looney Tunes.

The captain of the wall clean-up club is Rico, and her treatment in Attack on Titan: Junior High is a microcosm of why this episode's jokes fall flat. Mainly, the show is event repetition, not jokes. Rico repeats all the same actions she did in the original show—sending a signal flare, mistrusting Eren, etc.—and this repetition is treated in place of writing actual gags. The fact that Rico is continuing to be her wartime self at a junior high school is ostensibly the joke here, but it isn't working for me.

For these reasons, my favorite part of Attack on Titan: Junior High is usually the original content. The characters' exaggerated personalities usually lead to a good time, like Mikasa's amped-up devotion to Eren and Jean's obsession with being popular and Hannes' role as janitor. But this time, many of the jokes went over my head. Why are the Titans inexplicably awful people who steal lunch and spray graffiti on the wall? If the human students did that, they'd have to stand in the hallway. What are the Titans even learning? Is the totem pole covered with cicadas supposed to be a reference to something I don't understand? What about the Titans choosing to paint the words “soft boiled egg” on the wall? I am all for more original content in this series, but I think we need a little more world-building in order for viewers to actually understand what's going on.

Right now, Attack on Titan: Junior High relies on its predecessor far too much. The junior high school setting could be an interesting new playground for the characters we know and love to explore in a different way, but currently it's just a background for the same jokes we've already heard.

Rating: C-

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

Lauren writes about anime and journalism at Otaku Journalist.