Attack on Titan Season 2 Episode 5 Review

Attack on Titan Season 2 continues to impress with Episode 5. This episode was half flashback half action thrilled madness. Then we ended the episode with the reveal of Christa’s real name: ‘Historia.’ Ladies and Gentleman it has been incredibly difficult when editing each of these reviews having to remember to call her Christa instead of what I have been calling her for 3 years since this chapter first came out. Historia from this point forward the five main character are mostly Eren, Armin, Mikasa, Levi and Historia, so we can expect much more scene time for her. The Ymir and Historia flashback itself was heavily expanded in the episode, manga version didn’t include any the scenes with the other characters besides Ymir, Historia and Daz. However I think those scenes were interesting and added to the episode overall and reminds the audience of how far Eren was come since the beginning of the story, highlighting his character development. But it also reminds some casual watches and anime only viewers that Marco was indeed a person that existed and in the show we still don’t know how he actually died. I would advise anime only viewers to re-watch the scene were Jean finds his body and come up with a few theories…

In previous reviews I have constantly praised our author, Hajime Isayama, on his creativity in handling the mystery elements of the series including the action scenes with the canon and the power slam through the window last week but this episode has really displayed that the animation studio is also phenomenally skilled. There were several notably excellent animation and directorial moments in this episode. The one scene where Ymir is circling the tower pulling it down and the way the camera follows her is awesome and unique, and then it transitions into a close up shot straight out of a Kendrick Lamar music video. Another great scene was after Eren gets his first kill in human form, and the others hurry over to him and in the background you see a titan being slain, it was an interesting shot to watch. The final shot that I’ll gush over was in the flashback scene, when Ymir throws Historia down the snow slope and she collides with the tree and then the snow from the tree branches above, falls on her. It was a little detail that I really appreciated the studio for thinking of and I thought the way they handled the transformation of Ymir subtly but effectively. Overall the episode was filled with beautifully animated sequences.

This episode also fantastically integrated with the manga because in the manga there was a massive reveal regarding Ymir who we actually haven’t seen in a while in the manga. That alludes to the other thing I wanted to clarify in this review: Ymir is not dead! When someone transforms into a titan they regrow any lost limbs so she isn’t crippled either, she will be back to new in no time. But I do have a miniscule worry that the show could possibly kill her off because it is questionable how her character is handled after these event, in the manga. I have faith that the animation studio won’t alter the source material when the source material is of such a high quality, but I do have a sneaky suspicion. Also it will be interesting how they handle Eren’s reaction to the fact that Ymir is a titan shifter in the show. But that’s not what a majority of people are waiting to see in the next episode…

Another large reveal we got in this episode was the confirmation that Ymir was the one that ate Reiner and Bertolt’s friend in the flashback scene. This all but confirms what I have been saying with the flashback scene being akin to the ‘Massacre’ scene in Naruto with the Uchiha’s. More context to that scene is yet to be given so you can look forward to season 7 of Attack on Titan to fully explain it. The flashback device seems to be being spammed and over used at this point, so I hope it is refrained upon in the future. But in the manga, Isayama goes in a wired direction with ‘memories’ as a device to show flashbacks and it’s probably the low point if the series, so when memories start to be brought up get ready for a dip in quality.

With the conclusion on this episode, to me, it has finally been establishes that Season 2 has surpassed Season 1 in quality, and were not even up to the best part of this Arc yet! (That will be next episode) The preview for the next episode is insane, prepare to be blown away and get you’re live reactions uploaded quickly because this moment will be bigger than even Eren’s initial death. For all these reason combined this episode gets an 8.