Attack on Titan Season 2, Episode 2
In another highly emotional and suspenseful Attack on Titan episode, while the Survey Corps continue to pull at the thread of the unraveling Ugly Sweater that is the Titan-in-the-wall mystery, Sasha and Connie head home, and each finds their respective village in completely different what-the-fuck Titan-related situations.
Armin, you clever virtuous sea porpoise.
One of the commenters in my review of the last episode pointed out that I forgot to mention Armin in said review, that why does everybody keep forgetting Armin when he’s an effing main character too?! And to that, I say… You’re right. I’m sorry. There’s no good reason why I failed to mention him (there are reasons, just not good ones, so I won’t waste time going into them), and it won’t happen again, especially not in this review because Armin shone like a star this episode. He’s brought up some enormously important points: Nobody seems to know how the walls are made. There are no cracks or crevices in them. And what if, just what if, they’re made from Titan armor? If I hadn’t known this was coming on, it would’ve blown my mind as it certainly did Eren and Mikasa’s. Also, that Hange-Nick “’blossoming friendship” moment? Clearly one of the highlights of this episode.
Sasha Going Home
The lion share of “I’m Home”’s screen time went to Sasha, who is still beautiful and perfect in all the ways that matter. Before I get into Sasha’s flashback, which too important not to go into in depth, that whole sequence with the Titan in the house munching on Mom’s leg is freaky as hell. And so is that catatonic little girl, who had me internally screaming in frustration because WHY ARE YOU STILL THERE? RUN! Thank goodness for Sasha, who I need to talk about right now. I’ve always thought that Sasha and her gluttony is one of the most fascinating juxtapositions to the world of Attack on Titan. Sure, every anime has one character with a black hole for stomach, and most of the time, that serves for comic relief, but in a world where all of humanity is confined inside walls with limited resources and even more limited food production real estate (I’m surprised forests even exist within the walls), it’s as funny as it is anxiety-inducing to watch. We got a real look into what made Sasha the way she is in “I’m Home”, and I cannot be more surprised at how gracefully and true-to-real-life her story is handled. The fact that she’s proud and ashamed of her social upbringing at the same time, even going as far as hiding her accent, is something that a lot of us in modern society can relate to. Her younger self’s resentment towards people coming into Wall Rose from Wall Maria rings even louder to me in the political climate right now. An anime about man-eating giants actually went into the stigmas of classism and xenophobia. Think about that. Also, her father? Great dad. It’s always nice to see caring, three-dimensional parent characters in an anime, where they’re frequently either reduced to complete assholes or idiots overly supportive of everything their underaged protagonist children do.
Connie Going Home
Sasha’s family and friends is alive and well. The same cannot be said for Connie, who need to be wrapped in a blanket and given chocolate immediately. This is where the episode, which started with Armin questioning the nature of the Titans and the wall, makes a 360 back to Titans with the tiny-limbed Titan and the question of how it got there when it shouldn’t have been able to move in the first place. And I hope we’ll find out in the future, if not the next episode.
What Else?
– “If you’re not there for them, don’t expect them to be there for you.” Sasha’s dad is too real.
