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Episodes like this will pose a conflict of interest to myself and possibly other fans of Shingeki no Kyojin's manga.

Full Review

I say problem, but really it's impatience.  Since those who read the manga know exactly what to expect from the less action-paced episodes, I'm hoping I'm not the only one who was waiting to get to the mundane reveal about the gear malfunction.  Again, nothing against the adaptation.  This is just one of very few - can't remember if there will be many of these episodes - episodes where I patiently sit through, and enjoy the recap.

Now that I got that off my chest, here's a recap of what I wrote in the AAL post (link above):

  • Good episode for Eren's character development, especially for putting him in his place.
  • Not crazy about the bigger focus on Sasha as a comedy character; she was the co-star of the episode and ended up as the butt of every joke.
  • The feeling of dread and desperation is still in the air, and that's relayed rather well through the drill sergeant.
  • Mikasa's beautified look is quite distracting.

I may have left out the last one from the above post, simply because it's me nitpicking.  Mikasa's lips shouldn't be off-putting when you consider the calibre of the story but it just is to someone who was used to the dark pencil designs Shingeki no Kyojin's manga has.

That aside, another fine episode from the series.  Deciding to do this part of the story first - follow the story chronologically and not as it was published - was a wise decision by the staff.  It also shows they've considered a few things about how much the series will cover and that's never bad news.

We're still seeing a lot of the prep work being done in episodes like this.  Nothing exciting yet, but I'll remind people to exercise patience - hypocritical this may be, but I was reading he manga - and wait for the truly impressive episodes to air.  Unlucky for all of us, that time won't come next week.

Shingeki no Kyojin Episode 04 Preview

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Looks like next up is more training and the introduction to Annie.