Attack on Titan Junior High Episode 5--Should Probably Rename It "Titan Club"

Time to celebrate Halloween with a mad scientist!

To be honest, I’m liking the direct anime parody parts of this adaptation more than the things that came from the manga. Don’t get me wrong; I love the manga to bits and without it I wouldn’t be watching this at all, but it’s nice to take a step away from Kodansha’s translation stuffed with pop culture references and watch the series just poke fun at what it really is. In a way, this show is like getting a Junior High adaptation at the same time as a Spoof on Titan one. (Although the later can’t be adapted yet due to spoilers…)

For instance, unless I’m misremembering, both of the stories this week don’t turn up in the manga. The better of the two (“better” is read here as “containing characters I am more obsessed with”) is the one focused around Hanji and the Biology Club. In the manga, Hanji has scared away all prospective members. In the anime, Mobilt and some of the other members of Hanji’s squad are still around. The show also went for the Sonny and Bean joke, which the manga skipped over.

HANJI DON'T EAT THAT

Hanji’s obsession with Titans is still present in the Junior High manga, but in this parody Hanji is technically holding some students against their will. That puts a whole different spin on just how far Hanji is willing to go for an experiment. This does fly in the face of some of Hanji’s characterization from the main series about trying to take the path of least harm, but in this case I’ll just point at my explanation from a few posts ago about overblown character traits for the sake of parody and leave it at that.

I also get to watch Levi act like a tsundere, so it's all good in my book

I do remember the bit about Levi and Hanji comparing test scores in a bid by Hanji to score some free food, but in the manga that was just a bonus comic. There are also some short lines that came from other random parts of the manga as well. I’m impressed by the adaptation team that they were able to pull this much out of such a small moment and add some more direct parody on top of it!

Meanwhile, the "Sasha is obsessed with food" joke has outstayed its welcome. Please find new material for her.

Until next week, here are some of the references that I caught:

Erd playing the video game 

Gunther reading the manga chapter where he dies

Where did he get that poster? I need one.

Images from Funimation.com. Please support the official simulcast.

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