10 Second Anime - Shingeki no Kyojin S2 - Episode 32

Eren and the Scouts face off against the Armored and Colossus Titan.

Episode 32 - "Close Combat"

Heh.

The sub hed on the title should have been "How Eren trained for MMA." That was basically the whole episode in how to deal with the Armored Titan. The scouts couldn't do much with the Colossus Titan once they discovered his own defense, so it was all about submission holds for the rest of the episode.

This was all good for Eren turning into a less Shouty McShouterson type of hero who keeps getting beat up. It's always nice to see the main character actually get good at the thing that made him the special focus of the story to begin with.

Also nice was how, beginning with the last episode, this season's narrative is being handed back to the original main three in Eren, Mikasa, and Armin. It's been a long time coming, but this is their story, so it's good to see them tell it again.

Eren had some process development but Mikasa had a little bit of character development. She's not just the one-dimensional super-possessive of Eren character. Though she is that, and this episode reminded us of that too.

Mikasa isn't just some monster fighter. She cares for people, though she only shows it during times of struggle. One small detail from last episode is how Mikasa did not kill Reiner and Bertholdt when she had the chance. The simple answer, filling her with regret, was that she flinched. She saw the faces of her comrades before she struck and she couldn't deal the decisive blows. This gave me a little bit of sympathy for how much Eren dithers after learning his squad mates are Titans. Just a little.

If the Attack on Titan production crew were waiting four years for CGI to get better, they should have waited a bit longer. That Colossus Titan's body model looked terrible. The lighting and movements were great, but at least match the 2D proportions.

Woof. The Colossus Titan just threw Ymir and somebody else down his gullet for transport. Who else was thrown in there?

The Scouts seem more confident about facing the big tall thing that kicked in their gate 5 years ago. He's slow, so he must be easy to beat for the small agile Scouts, right? Ah, no.

Bertholdt got steamed! And that steam is coming out his back so they can't get to his nape. Hange is good in a crisis. Wait him out and concentrate on helping Eren with the Throw Down Near Sundown.

Aw man, what the hell has Conny been paying attention to? He still didn't know that Reiner and Bertholdt were the Titans!

Ah. Eren Titan got beat up like usual. He's still got the same issues that he had with Annie. He can't reconcile the good people he knew with the traitorous Titans he's trying to fight. Well, this time Eren got a mad quickly at how duplicitous Reiner must have been. Good, good. Let the hate flow through you, Eren. Wait, that's another movie, and that's a bad thing...

Oh geez. The eye catch between halves gave the whole thing away about how Eren was finally going to beat the Armored Titan instead of just hitting him in the face. Titan Martial Arts. Come on! "Grappling and throws... more effective than striking blows..." Well, damn. I guess we're going to see some "grappling and throws" then.

Yay, flashback to Annie's tight pants! Ahem, I mean, flashback to how Eren will suddenly use moves he's never been shown to know before, even when he fought the Annie Titan who supposedly showed him her best moves.

Nice callback to Annie's fighter stance which convinced Eren that Annie really was that Titan.

Hmm, that grappling looks kind of smexy...

Ha! Mikasa thought so too and threw Reiner at them to break it up! I love these little scenes showing Mikasa's possessiveness.

Eren's getting the hang of this Titan thing. Even Hange is impressed.

Ha again! Mikasa didn't like that look Hange shared with Eren Titan. Get a grip girl!

All this grappling to defeat the Armored Titan might be for nothing with the Colossus Titan literally throwing himself into the fray. That's another good cliffhanger.