Attack on Titan: Counter Rockets - Final Thoughts

 

Title: 進撃の巨人 反撃の狼煙  | Shingeki no Kyojin ~ Hangeki no Norosh
Episodes: 3  
Network: dTV
Release: August 2015
Adaptation (manga): Hajime Isayama
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I was going to write a Attack on Titan movie impressions. But my heart wasn't into it, so I decided to drop it and instead, write my impressions on the Shingeki miniseries/spin-off. The 3 episode miniseries, distributed by a mobile streaming service, shows the backstory of the four characters and it's like a prequel to the live-action AoT movie. The spin off is streaming online, but so far I haven't seen any subbed version yet.

Episode 1: Hange (Satomi Ishihara)

This episode takes place before the invention of 3D-Maneuver Gear and they are still trying to figure out how to kill the Titans. The movie's original character, Izuru (Yuta Hiraoka) who is head of security, meets up with a group of titan researchers and they present him their ideas on how to kill a titan. Hange, a titan researcher/maniac, rejects their ideas because she knows that they are not going to work. Izuru becomes curious on what sort of research Hange is conducting in her secret lab.

He discovers that she's hiding a titan in her basement. This allows her to study the titan up close and personal. She discovers the weak spot of the titan which is the back of the neck. However, there's one problem: how do you get close to a Titan? Hange has solved that problem, by coming up with the idea of the 3D-maneuver gear. She demonstrates how the device works and comically crashes into a wall. Despite the epic fail, Izura chose to fund her project and help her further develop the 3DMG.

Episode 2: Sasha (Nanami Sakuraba)

This is mostly about Sasha's backstory and her love of potatoes. She lives with her parents in a small village in the woods. She's an expert at archery and she's very good at hunting.

She is forced to leave her home because the titans attacked the village. She later joins the Scout Regiment and  while there, she becomes very suspicious of a young boy who delivers food to their camp. She has a sixth sense for food, she believes that the boy has been stealing their supplies of potatoes. So, she teaches him a lesson. 

But my favorite part is at the end where Armin (Kanata Hongo) makes a special appearance. He offers her his free potatoes. She looks at him as Armin the Potato God. This explain how they got along very quickly and I thought this was cute. 

Episode 3: Fukushi and Lil

This one is very . . . different, more like a rom-com. It's about two of the movie's original characters (that no one cares), Fukushi (Shu Watanabe) and Lil (Rina Takeda). Lil has strong combat skills and nobody can beat her. But all of the men are attracted by her.

When Fukushi comes along, he falls in love with her after she beats the crap out of him. They announce that they are going to get married which shocks everybody. Eventually, Lil finds out that whenever he gets injured from training, he's being pampered by two beautiful woman. Lil feels betrayed by him and assumes that he's not serious about their relationship. She decides to marry anybody who can steal a kiss from her, and all of the guys come after her. From this point on, I don't know what I am watching anymore, she goes into a Jackie Chan mode as she beats up every guy that tries to kiss her.

I'll stop here because describing what happens next in my own words does not do do justice on how ridiculous this is. You just have to see this for yourselves.  

Thoughts

I feel neutral about the whole miniseries. You're not missing out on anything new outside of the movie. Although, there were a few surprises, like I had no idea that Lil is such a bad ass. In the movie, it never showed how good she was. I don't understand why they didn't give her a promotion because she could probably kill some titans without any problems (she's good as Levi). Another surprise, Hange inventing the 3DMG? In the original story, she had nothing to do with it.

The only parts that I enjoyed in this miniseries are the first episode and any scenes that has Hange in it. It's weird because in the anime I didn't really care for the character. But in the live action version I actually like her. Satomi Ishihara performance is over-the-top and eccentric but she's brings out the comedy and energy/spice to this story.  

 

As for my quick impression of the live action movie: If you remove yourself far far away from the original story, you'll enjoy the movie, But If you are really attached to the original, then you're not going to like it. I have no motivation to watch part 2. Instead, I will patiently wait for season 2 of the animation to come out soon and I'm more excited to see that than the live action movie.