Attack on Titan Junior High Episode 8--The Face of True Terror

Fact: putting manga faces in an anime series always makes for great reaction images.

(A/N: This post contains spoilers for the Attack on Titan manga! Please read with caution if you are not caught up!)

I’m a little bummed that this episode didn’t air closer to Halloween given the subject matter, but despite the simple plot (the first years have to take a test of courage and are scared by the upperclassmen along the way), this is probably my favorite episode yet for a single reason:

They parodied the main manga series this week!

Pretty much every shocked or scared image this week was pulled or based on an image from the Attack on Titan manga, poking fun at Isayama’s art style while working really well alongside the content. There were also a lot of references to things that were not covered (yet) by the anime series but will most likely turn up in the second season planned for next year. Most of these were background references, but there was one interesting cameo in particular—

I freaked out when I saw Frieda was the school ghost. If you know who this is, then it’s thematically perfect. Her scene with Krista is also almost a shot-for-shot reproduction of their scene in the manga. This was pretty amazing to see, and since this scene hasn’t been done at all in anime format just yet, and I’m impressed that they were able to keep it recognizable while still maintaining the chibi-parody design. Good job, Production I.G.!

HER EXPRESSION

In the interest of not putting major spoilers out there, I won’t say anything else about this character other than that if you don’t know her yet, you will soon. She’s pretty closely tied with with the next arc the main series will adapt, so if you do not want to have any of that spoiled for you, I strongly recommend not looking up spoilers about who this character is. Trust me, her identity is…complicated, and it will ruin a couple of other main series plot points as well. Just consider this a teaser for next year!

Meanwhile, apparently the show is not even constrained by just parodying Attack on Titan material anymore but has moved on to voice actor jokes as well! If you’re not sure what the reference was here, Levi was wearing a jersey similar to the one worn by Akashi from Kuroko’s Basketball, who is also voiced by Hiroshi Kamiya, Levi’s voice actor. Both series were also made by Production I.G., so that’s likely where they got the idea.

EVERYONE ELSE WAS WEARING COSTUMES AND YOU JUST PUT YOUR HEAD BACK ON?!

Anyway, this was a pretty fun episode, and it made me excited for next year’s new adaptation all over again! It looks like next week we’re going back to stuff that actually comes from the Junior High manga, where Bertoldt gets some focus!

Until next time, here are the other references I caught this week (please be aware of manga spoilers!):

Mikasa just does not care

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

~

Want to support posts like this one? Check out Subdued Fangirling's Patreon! Backers get to vote on which series I cover and photo previews on figure reviews! Thanks for looking!