Attack on Titan: Junior High

Episode 3

Attack on Titan is the type of show that will have you on the edge of your seat with suspense and disbelief. Attack on Titan: Junior High, not so much. This episode presents a cursory plot that gives the characters we know and love plenty of opportunities to antagonize—and even harm—one another, but this time it's all played for laughs.

Annie is embarrassed about having the same favorite food as Eren, for some reason. So when it's time for the dodgeball tournament, she vows to clobber him. Still, it's not the result of the dodgeball tournament that I cared about, but the way it would put each character's unique abilities on display. Since Eren overslept, Jean is made team captain and has no chill when it comes to dealing with everyone's wacky quirks. Sasha hates to be disturbed while eating, so as long as she's scarfing down a snack, she's a dodgeball champ. Mikasa, upsettingly, is morose and powerless without Eren around to protect. Granted, there's a fair share of recycled content from the show—the “Sasha farted” joke and the Jean-disguised-as-Eren situation are both played exactly the same as before—so the entertainment comes from how these characters react to not being under pressure all the time.

Most notably, it turns out that when mortal peril goes away, characters have a lot of time to joke and squabble and make silly faces. If you're a shipper, you'll love how Junior High gives the initial relationships of Attack on Titan a chance to blossom. Now that they aren't running for their lives, Krista and Ymir have clearly had time to become an item. There's also an Eren-Mikasa-Annie love triangle blossoming, something that fans may have wanted, but it could never have happened in Attack on Titan, thanks to Annie's role as an antagonist. It's pure fanservice in the best way, a nod from the creators to the fans and their desires.

What doesn't work so well is this episode's high amount of slapstick humor. In the original series, it felt like any character could be the next to die, so we took every injury seriously. Now Annie and Mikasa are beating up Eren for fun, and it's jarring. It's hard for me to laugh at Eren's pain after I've rooted him through a near-execution, getting chomped on by a Titan, and countless other horrifying situations. I still view this spoof behind the lens of an Attack on Titan fan, and there are some things I'm just not ready to laugh at yet.

It might be that the characters of Attack on Titan became so darn likable due to the way that they came into their own under pressure. Constant life-or-death situations showed us what they were made of. That good will hasn't gone away with the absence of a threat, but it's hard to ignore that this parody is simply fanservice and fluff. I can't say it's not a lot of fun, but there certainly isn't much substance here.

Rating: B-

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

Lauren writes about anime and journalism at Otaku Journalist.