Attack on Titan 1.13

Primal Desire: The Struggle for Trost, Part 9

Eren finally moves the boulder and fills in the hole in the wall. Members of the city guard cover his back while he completes his mission. Some of them get killed. After the wall is plugged the guards with some help from the scout regiment hunt down and kill the remaining Titans within the wall. Two of the smaller Titans are captured still alive.

Eren wakes up chained to a bed in a jail cell. He is interrogated by a couple commanders from the Scout Regiment. The want to know what his intentions are. They decide to accept him into the Scout Regiment.

Thoughts

This episode wasn't terribly different from the others in this series up to this point. This is the end of this arc. It seems like a good point for me to stop watching. I don't see myself coming back to this series. It just doesn't do it for me. It seems very repetitive and there isn't enough in the way of meaningful character moments to satisfy me.

Attack on Titan 1.12

Wound: The Struggle for Trost, Part 8

Eren goes crashing to the ground in Titan form. He sits there in a daze while the guards around him debate how to proceed next. Armin hears that things aren't going well and goes looking for Eren. He finds him and tries talking sense to him. Finally at the end of the episode Eren starts to emerge from the funk that has been consuming him.

Thoughts

Very little happened in this episode. I get the impression that's how this show operates. I'm going to watch the next episode because its the last one in this arc but then I think I will move on watch something else and probably not return to this show.

Attack on Titan 1.11

Idol: The Struggle for Trost, Part 7

Eren is on board with the plan but some of the members of the city guard need some convincing. General Pyxis gives a rousing speech in an effort to convince the city guards of why they need to stand and fight. He says that anyone who wants to leave is free to go.

An elite group from the city guards is sent with Eren. Their job is to keep any other Titans from distracting him from his mission.

Thoughts

This show continues to move at a glacial pace. They are coloring in details but I still can't help but feel that the story should be moving faster than this.

Attack on Titan 1.10

Response: The Struggle for Trost, Part 6

Eren, Armin, and Mikasa ponder over what to do while the smoke is still obscuring them. Eren detaches himself from the remains of the Titan. He tells Mikasa and Armin about the key that his father gave him. Eren turns to Armin and asks him to convince the captain of the guard that he is not a threat to humanity.

Armin does his best to talk the captain of the guard into believing them but the man is not prepared to listen. He is getting ready to have the guards open fire on them when General Pyxis shows up and takes over the situation. He has the troops stand down.

General Pyxis pulls Eren, Armin, and Mikasa aside. Armin has a plan for how to proceed but it depends on Eren transforming into a Titan. The general asks Eren if he will go with Armin's plan. Eren says that he will.

Attack on Titan 1.09

Whereabouts of His Left Arm: The Struggle for Trost, Part 5

What happened to Eren is revealed but not in full. The captain of the guard holds an informal hearing and demands that Eren explain himself. Eren doesn't really remember what happened. He recalls that part of his right arm was bit off but seems to have been restored.

Mikasa tries to protect Eren. He recalls his father telling him to head to the basement of their home and use the key he was given. The commander of the guard ultimately decides that he doesn't like Eren's answer to the question. Eren bites his thumb and transforms into something kind of resembling a Titan just as a canon opens fire.

Attack on Titan 1.08

I Can Hear His Heartbeat: The Struggle for Trost, Part 4

The surviving soldiers use the Titan that is fighting the other Titans to their advantage. While it engages the other Titans they make their way to the headquarters building. There are smaller Titans inside the building but the soldiers use a combination of muskets (that they find in the building) and their swords to kill the Titans.

They head back outside. The Titan that is killing the other Titans look like it is about to be overcome. It kills all the Titans that are on it but then it collapses. Both of its arms are gone. Mikasa gets a little closer and sees Eren emerge from a spot on the back of the Titans neck. He is unconscious but alive.

Attack on Titan 1.07

Small Blade: The Struggle for Trost, Part 3

Things don't get much better for Mikasa, Armin, and the other soldiers who are still alive but outside the inner most walls of the city. They are running out of gas to power their mobility units. Mikasa finds out from Armin that Eren and his squad are all dead.

Mikasa tries to get the others to follow her but no one does. She kills one Titan before the gas in her mobility unit runs out. She almost gets killed by another Titan but then a third Titan, one with pointy ears, attacks the Titan that is about to kill her. The pointy-ear Titan destroys the other Titan and kills another one after that.

Armin helps Mikasa get back up to the roof tops. He gives her all the gas he has left.

Attack on Titan 1.06

The World the Girl Saw: The Struggle for Trost, Part 2

Armin has serious trouble processing what he just happened. He can't believe that Eren is gone. Some of the other soldiers try to get him to get up and move. Eventually he does. He finds someone else who lost a friend and is trying to revive them. It is pretty clear to Armin that the soldier is dead.

There is a bottleneck at one of the escape routes because a farmer is blocking the passageway with his cart which won't fit. He wants the civilians who are standing around waiting to go through to help him push it through. Mikasa shows up and after killing a Titan in front of the group she intimidates the farmer into moving his cart so that the large group of people can get through.

Mikasa flashes back to her first meeting with Eren. It was the same day that her parents were killed. She was taken by the three men who killed her parents. The planned to sell her into slavery. Eren found them and despite being a child like Mikasa he killed two of them. Mikasa slew the third.

Attack on Titan 1.05

First Battle: The Struggle for Trost, Part 1

Eren attacks and deals a mighty blow to the Colossal Titan. It disappears but lots more Titans attack the city. Civilians are evacuated to within the next set of inner walls. The guards are quickly organized to fight back against the Titans.

Eren gives a motivational speech that motivates some of his fellow guards. They attack the Titans. Armin is almost killed by a Titan but Eren saves him. Eren is unable to save himself as he is swallowed by the Titan right in front of Armin.

Thoughts

This is the first installment in an arc that runs through the 13th episode. I'm going to try and stick with this series until that point.

Attack on Titan 1.04

The Night of the Closing Ceremony: Humanity's Comeback, Part 2

Eren, Mikasa, Armin, and the rest of their class graduate after years of training. Eren, Mikasa, and Armin decide to stick together and serve in the scout division that serves outside the city walls even though they finished high enough in their class that they could play it safe and serve in the military police, within the city walls.

The day after they graduate the Colossal Titan returns, five years after it last struck the city.

Thoughts

This isn't bad, I'm going to give it some more time but I don't feel drawn into this show or compelled to watch it. I am curious to see how the fights against the Titans go. I assume that Eren and the others won't get slaughtered. The way that omni-directional mobility gear, the devices the soldiers use to fight the Titans and get high up in the air) reminds me a bit of Spider-Man in cartoons.

Attack on Titan 1.03

A Dim Light Amid Despair: Humanity's Comeback, Part 1

Eren, Mikasa, and Armin start training to become scouts. Keith Sadies, the commander of the training unit, is very hard on all the new recruits. Eren has a lot of trouble mastering balance in a harness. He finally gets it right just in time to avoid getting ejected from the training unit. 

Thoughts

This episode was a big improvement over the first couple episodes. Eren seems to calm down, for the most part, and focuses his energies on learning how to balance in the harness.

Attack on Titan 1.02

That Day: The Fall of Shiganshina, Part 2

Eren, Mikasa, and Armin escape on boats with other refugees as the Titans continue to wreck havoc within the city. More people are eaten by Titans. Eren, Mikasa and Armin decide to join the 104th Cadet Corps.

Thoughts

This show seems to be big on spectacle. I don't hate it but it has yet to really grab me. Eren seems to be the main character but he has yet to do anything truly heroic.

Attack on Titan 1.01

To You, in 2000 Years: The Fall of Shiganshina, Part 1

Eren and Mikasa return from gathering wood outside the city walls. They arrive in time to see the return of a scout unit. Eren aspires to become a scout. His father is a doctor, his mother insists that he give up on his idea of joining the scouts.

It has been 100 years since the last time the city was attacked by titans. Eren thinks that people have become complacent. It is then that the titans strike. A huge titan tears a hole in the city's massive walls. Everyone in the city panics. Carla, Eren's mother, is badly injured and trapped inside their home.

One of the city's guardsmen comes to help. He listens to Carla and grabs Eren and Mikasa and runs away from the titan. Eren watches in horror (as he is carried away from the collapsed home) as his mother is picked up and eaten by the titan.