Monday, September 09, 2013

Shingeki no Kyojin Episode 22 - Despair and Desperation

Hey guys, Tadashi here and today I'll be talking about the 22nd episode of SnK which shows us the aftermath of this bloody mission.

The episode begins with Mikasa and Levi tailing the Female Titan. Immediately Mikasa blames Levi for not taking proper care of Eren and that's when Levi realizes that Mikasa is Eren's close friend who he's heard about. They decide on a plan where Mikasa would be the distraction while Levi tries to take down the Female Titan.




She's specifically told to not to try and kill the titan since it is able to harden parts of its body (more importantly its neck) but she has a history of disobeying orders when it either comes to Eren or killing titans.

Levi shows us just how amazing of a soldier he really is and why he is the captain of the squad. His agility, his quickness, his precision - everything is at a top-tier level and it's no surprise that he was able to bring the titan to her knees. It truly left me in awe watching how easily he dealt with the titan. That's Captain Levi for you.

Levi in SERIOUS mode
Female Titan doesn't have shit on Levi

Anyways, Mikasa goes in for the kill after Levi displays his insane skills but the titan was simply luring Mikasa in so she could kill her. Just before things got bad, Levi saved her but in the process, he seemed to have sprained his ankle. It didn't bother him too much here, but I fear that he'll be out of action later on in the series.

They quickly rescue Eren and make their way back to the squad and out of the forest but not before we catch a glimpse of what looked to be the Female Titan crying as she lay against the tree. Was she crying because she failed in capturing Eren which could lead to dire consequences? Or because Levi's sheer epicness was more than enough to cause this?

Why so sad? T_T

After they regrouped and had enough time to count bodies and such, we're show just how much everyone is in despair. They're faces, their reactions, the situation - everything is appropriate with what had just occurred. Even Levi had his moment.

No :(
</3
You need a potato, girl :(

Their so called mission where everyone was super pumped for at the beginning resulted in the inevitable - death and despair. It didn't help that they even showed us the families of the Elite Squad's soldiers who were very optimistic about their sons/daughters returning when we all know they won't be.

As they're making their escape back to the city, two soldiers who disobeyed orders in order to retrieve their comrades bodies end up bringing back titans with them as well. At the rate they were going, they're unable to outrun these titans unless they abandon the bodies that they did manage to bring back. It was a very sad and depressing moment, especially when they threw Petra's body right in front of Levi. I can't even imagine what he must be going through. He did just lose his entire squad on a failed mission.

Bye-bye Petra</3
How Levi must feel

Even Eren wasn't pleased when he woke up. He, again, was ungrateful to Mikasa for saving him. He should seriously get over it and just be thankful that there's someone like her risking everything for him. Hell, if he doesn't want her, I'll take her hehe.


To make matters worse, as they returned to the city, they were not welcome back with open arms. Everyone knew that this would happen and they yelled and screamed at Levi and Erwin. We get a glimpse of everyone's dejected faces as well.


But the worst part was when Petra's father went up to Levi and started saying things about her. Man the amount of hurts we got from this episode was just crazy. Seems like they really wanted to think despair this episode.

Stop..
Please...
Stooooooop T_T
omg </3
Levi's face...man

Eren and Mikasa also got a glimpse of two kids who thought that the Recon Corps were nothing short of 'cool' for fighting and returning. That's when they realized how naive they really were as kids. They saw the Recon Corps as amazing, cool people who were the best of the best but now that they're in the Recon Corps' shoes, it's nothing like that. What it really is was something they didn't expect - pain, suffering, full of death. They realized just how clueless they really were.


In the end, Erwin and Levi were held responsible for everything and because the mission failed, Eren is to be handed over to the Police Squad. Uh. Oh.

From the preview, it looks like Armin has some kind of ploy for either the Female Titan or the problem with Eren (or both) and he goes to Annie for help. Annie.

Okay, now about the episode. DAMN. The amount of feels (more pain and despair than anything) was crazy. We all knew it'd end up this way but it's still a shock to see. With the perfect soundtrack that plays so subtly but enough for an emotional impact you can really get despair and desperation from this episode.

The part with Petra being thrown out the cart followed by Petra's father (who seemed to know that Levi wouldn't be giving any good news to him as he was covered in sweat and was speaking fast) had the most impact on me.

Not to mention the faces of Erwin and Levi which say it all. There was so much pain in this episode that I applaud the studio for pulling it off the way they did. From here on out, it looks like we won't be given too much action. We'll probably see more of the families and the outcome of Eren going to the Police Corps.

I've also heard that the Female Titan arc is still ongoing in the manga so it's most likely we'll be left with a major cliffhanger. Great....

Anyways, until  next episode!

-Tadashi

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