Attack on Titan - Episode 4 Discussion / Poll

[Crimson Cloak]

Eren: Our counterattack has only just begun!
*lightning*
Colossal Titan: O Rly?

So among other things, that Colossal Titan is also a colossal troll.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

Sasha...oh that girl is hilarious. I'm amazed she decided to go with the rest of them though. I mean, the call for the convenience and food had to be pretty high up there. Maybe she figured that between killing Titans she can go around and find some cattle that are wandering around .

That, or she wants to eat Titans. Lots of meat on them, and heh, turnabout.

[VTHokiePride]

The episode had to end when the next gate falls. At least we know the next episode is going to be filled with a lot of action.

[FlareKnight]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

That, or she wants to eat Titans. Lots of meat on them, and heh, turnabout.

My god, that's probably right . Makes perfect sense. She was happy with just stealing a little bit of meat. It's like being asked to fight a walking buffet. Sasha's dream has come true .

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by Ashlotte

You can introduce characters a lot better then having still images of them going "This is what blah blah blah does". Also the training happens whether they show it or not so the MC's proficiency improves regardless. I didn't insinuate he didn't need training simply you didn't need to waste two episodes on it.

I know it must be utterly riveting showing people just sitting around in harnesses like last episode or fighting with little wooden knives these past few episodes simply felt like they were going through the motions without any effort into making these training segments enjoyable.

Certainly your problem with training montages is personal, so I won’t delve into it, but here’s what those training episodes did to the story: 1) Sitting in harnesses explain the most basic ability that a soldier must have. It also shows us the process of the selection of those who fit to be soldier and those who not as well as going deeper into some characters’ motivation and characteristics when they interact with Eren’s asking for their help when he “failed” the basic training. 2) The “wooden knife” training introduces us to Annie and her quirks through her interaction with Eren & Reiner which specifically happened because of the training + Reiner’s idea. From his interaction with Annie, Eren understood more about the contradiction between a trainee’s skill and function “get better in slaying titans only to get away from them” which, again, important for Eren’s character growth (which lead to him delivering that speech that really moved his friends).

Of course, they can go different way (hell, you can say that to every single piece of fiction out there), but I think what we got is quite decent and efficient. I can go on, but I think this is enough to describe that the training is not such a “BS” like you said

Originally Posted by Ashlotte

Either put your heart into it and devote several episodes to really fleshing out the training showing all aspects of how one learns how to fight with their weapons of choice or don't bother at all.

Or they can choose to present us with both aspects of training and character-development with just the right amount so that the audience won’t get bored by the over-exposure of just one element, just like what they did with the last two episodes. Their choice might not suit your taste, but considering what they deliver, they’re not “BS” either.

[DeathAngelBR]

Originally Posted by Endless Knackwurst

I'm finding the Very Large Titan's ability to manifest itself out of thin air (but conveniently always on the "safe" side of the wall) rather... amusing. After all, if it can appear in a flash (or not) of lightning, why not appear inside the wall? Without knowing the manga material, I can only speculate as to whether this ability is plot-relevant.

Not gonna spoil it for you, so think about it:

If he appeared inside the walls it would be much easier for the soldiers to kill him, as they wouldn't have to climb the walls. And when he blew the gate away the blast could kill or throw away a few titans, so doing it from the outside is safer and a few soldiers might be blown away or killed in the blast.

[monir]

The best freakin' show of this new season!

[frodonk]

teleporting colossal titans huh.

they better have a good explanation for that.

lol. it would be a really retarded twist if somehow it was eren who actually summons that titan whenever he thinks about it.

[Jerseykid]

like that tom cruise they come down with the lightning!

[King Lycan]

Wow i'm so happy I started watching this series its a work of art! A lot of action, I can't wait to see what Eren's does to the colossal Titan . It's been a while since I actually liked the main character, but Eren's cool. I wonder if that Colossal Titan is the leader and what his powers are ?

[ThereminVox]

The army's best just got "clever-girl'd."

I'm not convinced by this teleportation nonsense. Clearly the colossal titan is a ninja. If you look very carefully in the scene beforehand, I bet you can spot him tiptoeing up to the wall in the background. Bonus points if he glances at the camera, and puts his index finger to where his lips should be.

[Randrak42]

Originally Posted by ThereminVox

The army's best just got "clever-girl'd."

I'm not convinced by this teleportation nonsense. Clearly the colossal titan is a ninja. If you look very carefully in the scene beforehand, I bet you can spot him tiptoeing up to the wall in the background. Bonus points if he glances at the camera, and puts his index finger to where his lips should be.

If they ever make a parody of this...I can totally see him doing that xD

[ThereminVox]

Originally Posted by Randrak42

If they ever make a parody of this...I can totally see him doing that xD

I hope they keep that adorable scene where he turns sideways to try to hide behind a tree.

[LeoXiao]

I can't help but think that the Titans are somehow fundamentally connected to humanity itself - the flashback/dream that Eren had regarding his father and the experimentation, the fact that the Titans look like humans, and that they seem to be concerned with killing humans alone and leaving everything else in peace - all this has me thinking that something more sinister is going on than simply "monsters are attacking us let's fight them".

[Gravitas Free Zone]

Have to wonder about the Titan's level of intelligence, or if they're just very, very large zombies.

[Hitenma]

The system is weird. The best trainees end up never putting their skills in use.
Why don't they give such privilege to the soldiers who have served for an amount of time and/or have distinguished themselves with great achievements?

[Gravitas Free Zone]

Originally Posted by Hitenma

The system is weird. The best trainees end up never putting their skills in use.
Why don't they give such privilege to the soldiers who have served for an amount of time and/or have distinguished themselves with great achievements?

Clearly something is foul in the state of Denmark with the system.

Though getting postings based on ranking (or nobility) isn't exactly a new concept...

[Terrestrial Dream]

Originally Posted by Endless Knackwurst

Have to wonder about the Titan's level of intelligence, or if they're just very, very large zombies.

Well so far we have seen most of them if not all lack intelligence. But the Colossal one and Armor one might have some from what we saw.

Originally Posted by Hitenma

The system is weird. The best trainees end up never putting their skills in use.
Why don't they give such privilege to the soldiers who have served for an amount of time and/or have distinguished themselves with great achievements?

There are few possibilities, until five years it was relatively peaceful so maybe the system hasn't changed yet. Or this might be the best way to recruit many soldiers as possible. They might not really care skills much, rather numbers. The Titans are so powerful, I do not think 10 somewhat talented soldiers will make much differences.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by Hitenma

The system is weird. The best trainees end up never putting their skills in use.
Why don't they give such privilege to the soldiers who have served for an amount of time and/or have distinguished themselves with great achievements?

It strongly suggests corruption at the highest levels, does it not? The king wants to keep the best soldiers in the land as close to him as possible. Everyone else is disposable. As for the titans, they mostly seem like bunch of giant, intellectually disabled people. That is, they appear to be a race of retards acting on pure instinct: Humans! Eaaaat!!!

[Jan-Poo]

At the same time it also works as a strong motivator for the trainees.

They might not be the best, but everyone directly below the top ten must have trained hard.
Those who wish to join the recon corps like Eren will train hard anyway, but those who only wish to have an easy life wouldn't have any reason to learn how to fight titans if it wasn't for this rule.