Attack on Titan Season 2 - REVIEW

My review of attack on titan season 2. The follow to what I thought was an outstanding beginning to this show Attack on Titan.

[DanielGreeneReviews]

Correction, there was focus on side characters. Just none of the side characters I cared about at all 🤷‍♂️

[Blizzhobbs]

I had no idea people thought season 2 was bad. The bertholdt and reiner reveal is like perhaps the greatest moment in the show.

[lukaprojic]

I am confused when he says that the season did not focus on side characters. Rainer, Ymir got alot of characterisation. Sasha had one episode focusing about her. Eren had zero screen time in the first half of the season. Levi was not present because he is injured. I agree with the kidnaping. That is meme in the comunity because he gets kidnaped every season and his new ability will be explained later. I respect your opinion but I strongly disagree. Sorry for the misspeling.

[invaderzod]

Don’t worry Daniel, the mcguffin at the end is not random at all.

[AzelasEM]

Man I couldn't disagree more, I'm so sorry you didn't like it. It seems like the tree part really stuck with you, and while it can be a bit slow, there's so much more to the season than that. No mention of Reiner or Bertholdt, no mention of Ymir, no mention of the wall preachers, no mention of Erwin, no mention of the apparent corruption inside the Military Police or Sasha's/Conny's stories.

I don't know, I think you focused so much on the one part you didn't like you kinda of.... forgot about the rest.

[zazz]

Actually not a single thing is filler in this anime, everything you see gets mentioned in later seasons and connecting the dots example the tree talk

[kennywang]

If you want more levi you should watch the "no regrets" OVA. It takes place in the past and is exclusively focused on levi.

[ThePreciseClimber]

I still find it ironic the biggest fan of The Wheel of Time can have issues with pacing. :P

[electricant]

I liked season 2 way more than 1, saying it's "DBZ-like filler" is bizarre

[frez-gqie]

Season 2 is set in the 2 or 3 days after Levi breaks his ankle fighting the Female Titan, unlucky for you i guess

[hallowedsphere]

Hey Daniel as an Attack on Titan fan, I have to respectfully disagree with your take on season 2 and believe that I can provide a different perspective. On the topic of filler, I believe that in order to fully appreciate season 2, you need the context that is provided by future seasons, however that is not to say that season 2 on its own is bad at all. Many of the scenes that you talk about as being dragged out and easily shortened are actually incredibly important for the story down the line. To this day, I still go back to many seemingly pointless, dragged out scenes from season 2 and I am amazed at how well and extremely relevant these scenes are to the overall narrative and to pull off such recontextualization of seemingly insignificant scenes is masterful writing in my opinion.

Regarding your disdain for the Krista storyline. I understand why you feel that way. When I first watched the season, I also did not see the point in the storyline, but once again knowing where the story ends up in season 3 and the manga, I would not change a single thing about it.

On the point of the ‘macguffin’ at the end of season 2, I can safely say that what you are referring to is anything but that and may just end up being the most important plot point of the series and makes complete sense.

To end off, I believe that most of the things you were negative about may actually end up being positives once you see how intricately Isayama (AOT’s author) has set up his story and in my opinion the pay-off down the line is so massive, it will give you so much appreciation for every scene in AOT season 2, when you look back on the series as a whole. I hope that once you are caught up completely on the series you can look back at season 2 and change your opinion and see the merit in season 2 and realize that it is actually really well written and nowhere near clumsy B-movie tier storytelling.

[ethankendall]

Sitting in a tree for a four episodes upset you, but you weren't upset by them riding horses for four episodes in season 1?

[btbwilkinson]

Daniel, quick explanation that, as a book reader starting to watch anime would have helped me avoid a lot of unnecessary arguments: when reading a book, the term filler general refers to the author wasting our time on things that don't progress characters, build the world, further the story etc., which is what you (and I) took the term to mean in anime. This is not what it means in anime. Filler in the anime community means non-canon material added in adaptation of a work. So DBZ filler would refer to the arcs not in the manga that Toei added when making the show. Dragging out fights and the like is generally referred to with the more literal "slow pacing, " or "pacing issues."

[huhwtf]

its sad you immediately brush off some mysteries as "mcguffin" or filler/unimportant just because they are unexplained now. It almost looks like youre watching this going backwards just to please a portion of your fanbase and have no faith at all in these mysteries being explained or addressed later, which they are.

[matiaspereyra]

Eren does nothing for half season, and when we see what's he up to, eren almost doesn't talk I don't think the season is eren centric

[nalhimidi]

I never felt any moment was a waste. Every episode served its purpose and the story progression was good. Overall the season served its purpose in building up the hype for what's to come.

[VThanatos]

SEASON 2 SPOILERS:









I literally can't see how this season can be condensed. Showing off the Beast's titan's ability to change people into titans, Showing Krista's Importance, The build-up to revealing who the Colossal and Armored titan was. Showing the state of mind of Bertholdt and Reiner in the trees. Showing Ymir's back story. Then the climax where Eren was able to control titans. If these things were condensed into like 6 episodes it would be so unnatural. I feel as though even if you didn't like them they all contribute to the overall story of how things have ended up this way and where we go from here. The only "filler" type stuff I can remember was maybe in the beginning. Sure, I can agree that the pacing could be better but I don't think cutting actual content is the way to go. But yeah you can cut those moments of people just sitting there staring I guess to fix some of those pacing issues.

[RedRedGold]

I'm a little shocked. I think season 1 is highly overrated and season 2 is top tier. The side characters, the betrayals, the buildup, the music. Everything is excellent.

[Stoneward]

Season 2 ages well. It felt better after rewatching it after the events of season 3. Seeing all the hints you missed the first time is awesome.

[SpectraPhantom]

I don’t think it’s ok to get mad at you for not enjoying it. As a fan, I’m just confused on what exactly you didn’t like about it. It wasn’t really clear in the video what you didn’t like besides “I don’t like the side characters or eren”. While episodes 2, 8, and 9 are very slow paced, I don’t think 3 episodes out of the whole warrant a huge condensation. The beast titan episode was perfectly fine, the stuff at the castle was really engaging and action heavy. The wall mystery helps build suspense. The armored and colossal titan reveals change the story as a whole. The fight with eren and Reiner help show that eren has more control of the titan and is finally thinking strategically in his titan. The kidnapping stuff just made some of the best action scenes in the series. I can understand your dislike for Krista and Ymir, but I don’t understand how you don’t like Bertolt and Reiner. All in all, I don’t think you really understood where the story was going. I think you had preconceived notions on where you wanted the story to go, but when it didn’t, you weren’t happy with it because it didn’t go the way you wanted.