Hey guys Nitsuj here with my guest host Isis here to welcome you to another side blog the blogs between the blogs. (Isis): We’ve had a fun time these last two weeks reviewing Attack on Titan and are now finishing things up with the OVAs. (Nitsuj): As you would expect with an anime this popular and big there had to be OVAs out there of the show and today we’re here to look at them. Now we’re only at the OVAs and not the movies as those are basically the anime so talking about them again would be pointless. (Isis): Now from my understanding the first 3 OVAs take place between episodes 3 and 4 and the last two serve as prequels to the series. Let’s checkout more Attack on Titan and take a look at the OVAs.
(Isis): The first OVA is known as Ilse’s Notebook. This OVA focuses on Hange in the Recon Corps. who wants to capture a titan which everyone finds crazy (at this point in the story they hadn’t capture a titan at all and even thinking about capturing one was seen insanity and the ideals of a madman. (Nitsuj): Well that’s Hange for ya). While on a mission Hange spots an abnormal titan near the woods and tries to capture it. As she lures the titan to her it suddenly stops chasing and goes to the center of the forest where it bangs its head on a tree. When Hange gets closed to the tree the titan turns hostile and gets taken down by Levi and the rest of the scouts who were nearby. Upon inspecting the tree they discover the body of Ilse a scout from a previous mission and her notebook. Hange takes the notebook and reads it where it tells the story of Ilse’s last days. After her squad had been killed by the titans she escaped on foot in the woods only to run into a titan herself and the titan does something no other titan had done before. It spoke to her (scene here: //youtu.be/XyVK0IDR310, that escalated quickly). After reading the dairy (Nitsuj: Invasion of privacy much?) Hange uses this as leverage with Erwin to get him to approve her plans to capture titans alive so they can study and learn more about them and sure enough in the future they successfully captured 4 titans without losing a single human.
The second OVA focuses on Jean and the others still in training camp. In the episode they’re all doing field training in Jean’s hometown while being watched by Commander Pixis (Nitsuj: Long time no see you old badger. Staying sober these days?). During the training Jean gets into a fight with Sasha and Pixis (totally drunk) says they should settle their fight with a cook off. So Jean’s team composed of him, Armin, and Annie go into the forest to hunt for a boar but Sasha’s team composed of her, Connie, and Reiner are also hunting in the forest and manage to catch the boar before Jean’s team (losing on your own home turf). This puts Jean in a tough spot and his team abandons him when he proposes they steal meat from their superiors (Nitsuj: Jean’s gone off the deep end. Scene here: //youtu.be/6OJZ04SSBzg). Just before he can set his plan into motion he receives a visit from his mother who Jean is embarrassed by and forces her to leave in a rather mean way (scene here: //youtu.be/t9ddz5ARXBA). But before going his mother left him an omelet his favorite meal growing up (scene here: //youtu.be/d7mjF_e3d3k) which gives Jean the inspiration to cook a meal (scene here: //youtu.be/pPDx0PkM904, well it’s now clear who’s going to be the dominant one in Eren and Mikasa’s relationship). After preparations are done Jean and Sasha present their meals to Pixis. He first tries Sasha’s dish where it’s clear that the writers for this episode were ripping off Food Wars (scene here: //youtu.be/dMDbK_iF3Po). Next up is Jean’s this which is a simple omelet (Nitsuj: It’s not how fancy a dish looks that wins contest. It’s how it taste). In the end Jean’s meal wins over Sasha’s meat (well clearly Pixis is drunk) because his dish is traditional and has heart while Sasha’s dish is just meat. Good meat yes, but just meat. There’s no heart or theme to it, it’s just good meat. Jean’s meal came from the hidden love he had for his mother. After Jean wins the contest he and Sasha shake hands and he decides to go check up on his folks tomorrow.
In the third OVA the cadets are split into two teams for a wilderness exercise. In the exercise the groups will take different paths, meet up at one point, exchange information, and then then take the opposite paths to return to camp. They also have to keep a record of their travels. Marco leads one team where he has a tough time leading because Eren and Jean are constantly fighting with each other (arrogance on both their parts). While that’s going on the second group Mikasa is in discover that thieves are in the area and have stolen their 3D gear. That night, the thieves ambush Eren’s group, steal their gear, and take Krista hostage (I hear blondes are in high demand this season). Eren and Jean put aside their petty squabble and join the others to work as a team to save Krista and get their gear back. Armin comes up with a plan to get their gear back and after getting it back they go to save Krista where the leader of the thieves holds her at knife point but she gets saved by Mikasa and Annie who got the flare signal launched by Armin. The thieves are all captured, no casualties were sustained, and group learned a valuable about working together.
(Nitsuj): The final 2 OVAs are prequels and focus on Levi. In the first one we discover that Levi lived in an Underground District where citizens were forced to remain underground and could rarely venture into the sunlight (you’re characters are too meaningless for society). In this district Levi befriended a guy named Farlan and a woman named Isabel and together they formed a group of thieves who got their hands on the 3D gear and used it to commit various heists to help themselves out. One day the group is forced to commit a job where their reward would be citizenship on the surface. The three take the job and it goes out without a hitch. They manage to outrun the Military Police (which shouldn’t be hard seeing how lazy and useless they are) but they run into the Recon Corps led by Erwin and Levi fights him (scene here: //youtu.be/dPucEHlI2vY?t=20s). So Levi, Farlan, and Isabel join the Recon Corps where their supervisors isn’t too happy about having criminals under his command. We find out that man who hired Levi and the others is named Nicholas Lobov an anti-expedition faction leader who wants to use the funds that are used for the Recon expeditions for the Military Police. He’s also engaged in some illegals activities and wants Levi and the others to find Erwin’s documents and kill him. Levi raids his office but finds nothing so he gets the idea that the documents are on Erwin so he makes plans to get close to Erwin on the next expedition and kill him. On the expedition it begins to rain hard and he discovers that the squad was attacked by titans killing everyone including his friends. This causes Levi to on a rampage killing every titan within his sight (scene here: //youtu.be/BFV1QaDy844, and so the legend of Levi begins).
Final Thoughts
(Nitsuj): So those were the Attack on Titan OVAs and yeah for the most part they’re very good and worth checking out if you want to see more Attack on Titan. The best ones by far have to be Levi’s story as we see how this rose up from the ashes of society to become one of humanities greatest fighters and heroes. My personal favorite however would have to be Ilse’s Notebook as we learn a little something about the titans and discover that Hangi was right there’s more to them than we thought. (Isis): Probably the weakest OVA is Jean’s story. While not bad it really doesn’t add anything new to the series and it’s quite predictable. Just like the master said Ilse’s Notebook was my favorite as well as it shows us that the titans have a purpose for what they’re doing and it definitely opens paths for the future of what’s to come.
Final Score
(Nitsuj): If I had to give them a score I say a 7.5/10. A good set of OVAs that gives us some backstory on a few characters as well as open new doors and outlooks for other characters. (Isis): I would have to with an 8.5/10 for overall enjoyment and just what you said master it opens up new doors for the characters. This brings the overall score of the OVAs to 8/10. Thanks for reading and we’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.