Previously on Attack on Titan:

The Titans infiltrated Wall Rose and began to wreck havoc. Eren & Armin were put on a team to halt the monsters advance and allow citizens to escape…let’s just say things go south, WAAAYYYY south. Spoilers Ahead.

After watching the devastation that unfolded around him Armin blacks out, but he is revived by Connie who came with his group to check on him. After remembering what happened he leaves Connie’s group and makes his way to support the rear guard. Near the evacuation site, Mikasa single handedly dispatches a Titan and helps the citizens evacuate. As the rain begins to pour upon the city, Mikasa starts to remember the 1st time she met Eren.

This episode is just as dark as the last one if not more so, but we do get a focus on Mikasa and how she sees the world. We get to see how she became the way she was, she had a real rough childhood. Living a relatively normal life, you know until three men came and killed her father and mother before kidnapping her so they could sell her to “rich perverts”. See Mikasa is half oriental, and her mother’s people escaped from “The Orient” to the walls, making their race extremely rare in this world. This adds to Mikasa as she is possibly the only Asian person left in the world. Eren is also integral to her story as he kills two of her kidnappers (pretty badass) before Mikasa has to save him from the last one. This showcases that Eren has very vicious side and that Mikasa’s world shifts in the moment she has to save him, seeing the world is merciless and that death was always around her (she saw a bug eating a butterfly & her father brought back a bird he killed for dinner) she just chose to ignore it. This is a very dark concept for a girl so young, but it fits with the stuff happening around her, and we also see her establish her connection to Eren (he even gave her trademark scarf) .

Young Mikasa after Eren saves her

Armin also gets more development as he is obviously still shaken from what happened to his squad last episode, especially Eren. His encounter with Connie Springer’s squad doesn’t help matters as one of the group (I forget her name so for the sake of argument let’s call her beotch) is clearly irritated that Armin survived while the others didn’t, Connie tries to help but it’s no use. When Armin makes his way towards the rear he encounters Hannah who is desperately trying to revive an already dead Franz. This further cements the horror these kids are going through in the wake of the Titans.

“The World She Saw” is another solid episode full of emotional scenes and imagery. Nothing is happy or even mildly amusing, everything is dark, depressing, and empty which fits these episodes very well. SHowcasing the darker parts on humanity as well as the present threat of the Titans to great effect. The fight to survive continues next week when Mikasa goes to check on Eren…this won’t end well.

In the mean time, here’s a gif of a very funny running Titan to cheer you up:

Where would we be without you Tumblr?

4.5/5