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. Notch some arrows and bake some potatoes , because we’re about to get into season 2 episode 2: “I’m Home!”
1. The second wall breached
Let’s get to our big conflict for the season: titans spotted within Wall Rose. That’s a big freaking deal. The series started with the destruction of Wall Maria, which triggered the genocide of something like a fifth of all known human beings, not to mention the resulting famine. If Wall Rose is compromised, I can’t see a way humanity goes on living.
So now all our heroes are racing to figure out what exactly happened. I like that the clear division between the senior Scouts and the 104th Cadet Corp is growing blurry. As the stakes rise, it becomes less important who has done what. It’s all about who can do what, and who is willing to do what. That’s Erwin’s stated superpower after all, he’s the guy who is willing to do whatever it takes. On a meta-narrative level, it also gives us the chance for fun team-ups, and to place the focus on some characters who have been off to the side for too long.
2. A real wall-worshiping wanker
That being said, we spend quite a bit of time this episode with Pastor Nick, a terrible character. The Wall Cult has been a weird piece of world-building that I’m happy to let the show ignore, but after Hange threatened Nick in the last episode it seems he’s here to stay. Not only that, it turns out that the Wall Cult isn’t just the goofy garnish they’ve appeared to be- they really are the keepers of secret lore.
Fortunately, we also have got Hange Zoe who has the uncanny ability to brighten the most dour scenes. They call Nick their “best friend” and continue to be a delightful ball of mania. If there’s anyone who can make nebulous foreshadowing about the secrets of the stupid Wall Cult fun, it’s Hange. I hope we cut to the chase because while I love this show, I don’t really trust it to have salient points on religious zealotry.
3. Spotlight on Sasha
Of course, for every boring Nick, there’s a wonderful Sasha Blouse. And this is the Sasha episode! Besides having the second best name in the cast (after Dot Pixis) Sasha is our lovely Potato Girl. She’s obsessed with food and has a propensity to accidentally pull off amazing physical feats of badassery. This episode manages to wrangle a shocking amount of pathos out of Sasha, by introducing us to her backstory.
I think it’s been implied before, but here we find out that Sasha grew up as a starving hillbilly in a hunting cabin with her dad. Her adorable food obsession? That’s actually the result of the oppressive poverty of her childhood. Yikes. She joined the army because her dad knew he couldn’t provide for her. Double yikes.
Also, I don’t speak Japanese at all, but I must give major props to the subtitle dialect. Whoever wrote these out made sure to cut the ends off of words and make Sasha and her dad talk like America hillbillies, and that’s an A+ choice. “No matter what trouble comes yer way,” Sasha’s dad says, “ya can’t go beggin’ for help.” I love that Sasha has been subtly code switching this entire time. What a great character.
4. Suck it, Domitian
In the present, this is also the Sasha Blouse action hour. Sasha revisits her childhood village, only to find a little girl trapped by a mid-sized titan- one who’s gnawing on her mom. It’s gruesome, and Sasha doesn’t have swords or Maneuver Gear, so she’s got to do some patented Sasha improvising. It. Is. Awesome! She goes hella-Hawkeye, and ends up battling the titan one-on-one with nothing but a bow and a few arrows. All she can do is blind it temporarily and then move the girl as the titan’s eyes regenerate. It’s one of the tensest action scenes in the whole series and really highlights what makes Sasha great. Her heart is a bottomless well of compassion, and she’s crazy enough to survive where more traditional soldiers would just give up.
Continued belowHer self sacrifice is rewarded. Not only does she save the girl, she ends up holding the titan off long enough to be rescued- by a party led by her dad! It’s the rare happy turn in this series. Not only does Sasha take a heroic stand and live, her tough-as-nails dad tells her he’s proud of her. That’s practically a Disney movie compared to the abject horror this series usually delights in.
5. Connie’s House Party
Like this scene! Here’s another lovely character, dumb lovely Connie Springer, who experiences terror that I would say is nigh-Lovecraftian. Imagine the horror of knowing your hometown was right in the path of a natural disaster. Now replace that tornado or earthquake or whatever with sixty-foot-tall zombies that can regenerate like Wolverine. Connie freaks out, but when he gets home, his village isn’t filled with blood and body parts it’s just… empty. The buildings are destroyed but there are no titans, no bodies, nothing. It’s eerie, and somewhat inexplicable.
Things get worse when Connie goes to his parent’s house. There’s a titan in it, trapped as if… it’s almost too horrible to say. Occam’s Razor dictates that something impossible happens, something that goes against what we know about titans. Somehow, Connie’s village was transformed into titans, and the horrid monster in his house used to be his mother. But what!? How!?
Now I got the jibblies.
