And on that day humanity received a grim reminder- of how awesome Attack on Titan is! Welcome back to the Multiversity Summer TV Binge. We will be diving, swooping, and swinging our way through Attack on Titan season two. Gas up your ODM gear and build up your walls, because we’re about to get into season 2 episode 1: “Beast Titan!”
1. Enter: The Peeper
When we last left our heroes, Eren had just laid the smackdown to Annie Leonheart, in a battle that wrecked a good portion of the innermost part of the city and the wall. Then the credits rolled. Then we learned that the wall is full of titans!? This final image was so shocking and so weird, that it would be easy to read it as a dream or a metaphor.
Nope! The first thing that happens is everyone notices the titan peeping out the wall. As the ranking officer, it falls to Hange Zoe to figure out what to do, and the solution is one that would do Catbug proud: they throw some blankets over it!
Season one slowly zoomed out in focus, but it was definitely the Eren and Mikasa show. From square one, this is going to be a season about the Scouts and whoever else has the gumption to step up and lead the fight. I for one am thrilled that scene-stealer Hange is getting more screen time.
As for the wall being full of titans, I don’t know. Titans seem to know not to eat each other. Maybe it’s a Walking Dead thing and they are repelled by others of their kind? It’s classic Attack on Titan. What started as spooky imagery is quickly considered within the rules established in this world. I’m so happy to be back in this depressing-ass story.
2. Sasageyo! Sasageyo!
New season means new opening credits! As per out last two theme songs, it’s a fascist anthem filled with fascist imagery, and I can’t help but love it. I love the howling electric guitars, and I love the montage of Eren, Mikasa, Hange, Levi, and the gang suiting up to do battle. The soldiers pouring off the wall while the chorus hits is choice. But the best part is the chorus reprise, which features a clip of the best animation in the series to date. The scouts gallop across a field towards the Armored and Colossal Titans, the screen filled with multiple levels of action like a freaking Kurosawa movie.
But then there’s the goofiest montage I’ve ever seen. God, do I love it. Creatures quickly flash by with their anatomically correct hearts illuminated through their chests. There’s a bear, a fish, a lizard, a bee, a freaking microbe. And then there’s a shot of all sorts of animals, including a goofy crocodile, an elephant, a giraffe, and a freaking T-Rex hovering across a field. There’s a vague theme of predators and prey, but the most important thing is that it is so extra and impossible not to love.
3) Hange Zoe Unleashed
The first half of this episode is all about Hange Zoe, so it would be good to focus on them and their leadership style. It’s clear that Hange is completely unhinged but that the troops have a lot of respect for them, due to a combination of rank and skill. Hange can kill titans, and that’s a valuable currency. But we also get to see Hange in action. When the shifty Pastor Nick knows more than he’s letting on, Hange dangles him off the top of the wall and threatens him. The Pastor screams a lot and Hange goes full-on Batman, but its the reactions from the rest of the squad that are the most telling. They seem a little bit worried that they are about to see a murder, but none of them really try to stop Hange. No one does any more than give a gentle warning.
It’s Hange’s final words that gave me chills though. At the end of the day, Hange Zoe is a scientist and an explorer, always trying to learn something new. “I haven’t felt this way since my first time outside the walls,” they say, “it’s terrifying.” Discovery can be terrifying, but Hange craves that fear more than anything.
Continued below4) The Ballad of Dogface Mike
The rest of the episode is told from the perspective of Commander Mike Zacharias. He was a background figure last season, the highest ranked Scout who wasn’t Hange, Levi or Erwin. Mike was most notable for having unfortunate facial hair and a super sniffer. I was looking forward to spending more time with him this season.
When a mission outside of the walls goes awry Mike stays behind to make a last stand, giving his squad time to escape. On any other show, this would be totally awesome and the character would be back within a few episodes. But this is Attack on Titan, and the risk of Mike getting killed is very high. He puts up a hell of a fight though, taking out more titans solo in a single engagement than a lot of soldiers take out in their whole careers. It looks like he’s going to make it! Mike is a total badass! Yay Mike!
But then something terrible happens…
5) The Worst Titan of Them All
He sees a weird titan. It’s freaky-looking, hairy like an ape, and with arms that seem to be almost twice as long as its legs. Then it talks.
A TITAN TALKS. All the rules of the show have been thrown out, and nothing has ever been more upsetting. It seems intelligent! It has power over the other titans. Its mere existence is entirely baffling. In other words, it’s exactly the kind of wild card you want to throw into the mix in the first episode of a new season.
The Beast Titan leaves Mike completely broken, in body and spirit. After carefully taking away his ODM gear for further analysis, it crushes him brutally. Mike is left crying, screaming, begging, and bleeding. That’s when the other titans are allowed to tear him apart, and he is devoured.
Pour one out for Dogface Mike. We hardly knew ya.
Hell, it’s good to be back.
