Attack on Titan: Junior High

Episode 6

It's fitting that the episode of Attack on Titan: Junior High titled “Love Letter!” is the one that best fits the role of a love letter to Attack on Titan fans. By featuring an afterthought character that the fandom transformed into a favorite—Moe Titan—this episode indicated that the show's creators are hearing fans loud and clear. As usual, this episode relied too deeply on blunt caricatures that bring out the stupidest features of our favorite characters. However, its focus on new material, in the form of the many friendships and relationships that never got the chance to blossom, makes it more interesting than usual.

Everyone is pairing up, either in friendship or romance—Sasha and Connie, Marco and Jean, Christa and Ymir, Eren and Mikasa, and the no-longer-doomed lovers Hanna and Franz. This dual focus is carried into the classroom, through portraits that pairs of characters have drawn of one another. (My favorite is Sasha's portrait of Connie as a potato.) Jean isn't popular with the ladies, but he ignores Marco's advice to face reality when he receives a love letter in his shoe locker, revealing an even more detestable side of Jean's personality as he slicks back his hair, bathes in cologne, and pervs over every female character in the series.

Jean's new personality may be unlikable, but it's a major plus for this episode because it's brand new. While in Perv Mode, Jean doesn't repeat old jokes from the Attack on Titan series. The episode is forced to make up new material in the form of ridiculous fantasies. Jean imagines every girl fighting over him, making up new saccharine-sweet personalities for such unlikely characters as Sasha, Ymir, Annie, and Rico. It's stupid, it's totally out-of-character, and it's something we've never seen before! There are two ways to take this portrayal. On the one hand, if you liked Jean as he was in Attack on Titan (and I did), this seems like a horrific mockery of his personality. But on the other hand, it's wonderful to see that nothing is sacred in the Attack on Titan: Junior High universe. I hope the next parody is even more ridiculous.

Finally, we discover that the writer of the letters is none other than Moe Titan. I'm certain that manga creator Hajime Isayama saw this especially big-eyed Titan as a throwaway character when he first drew it, but the fandom has given it a life of its own, with image macros of it blushing, running with toast in its mouth, and so on. This episode turns those memes into a kind of canon, with Moe Titan actually blushing and sparkling as Annie helps her confess. Perhaps the best joke in the episode comes from Annie's friendship with the Titan. Her antagonistic role in the original show has been downgraded to an affinity for Titans, as it's revealed her Titan call and comprehension of Titan language comes from attending a Titan cram school! Indeed, this episode explores the friendships that might form in the absence of bloodshed, and some of them are a little weird and out-of-character, but I can't say they aren't entertaining.

Rating: B

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

Lauren writes about anime and journalism at Otaku Journalist.