The first thing I’m going to say is that Jean is actually my favorite character. In this show or the other one. So when I see an episode devoted to him, it makes me happy. Because Jean always needs more screen time. Because Jean’s awesome. That being said, this episode isn’t exactly roses for him, but it has some good moments. So let’s start this out.
So the episode starts out with Jean receiving a love letter from an anonymous person. He thinks and fantasizes about who it could be, ranging from Sasha to even the girl in charge of the cleanup club.
That’s when Annie shows up saying that she needs to talk him about something. Jean then gets incredibly suspicious that it’s Annie who’s writing the letters. The gang follows him to check out his locker and sees that it is actually Annie placing some the letters in his shoe locker. Jean decides to go out and talk to Annie about what he thinks is her love confession.
Unfortunately for Jean he soon finds out that she was writing the letters for her friend, who is in fact, a Titan who has a crush on Jean.
Feeling bad for him, Sasha then tries to cheer him up, which seemingly works a little even though his mind is kind of broken.
And that’s how the episode ends.
Yeah, this episode isn’t exactly chock full of content. It’s filled with exactly the kind of stuff you would think it would be. It’s filled with Jean daydreaming about the girls, everyone telling him that he’s living in a fantasy world, and poor Jean being disappointed.
Here’s the thing. I actually like the idea of a girl having a crush on Jean, but I would have been happier if it was actually a human girl. I’m glad they didn’t use the trope of “oh that letter was for someone else” but at the same time, the way they went about it was almost as annoying.
The fact that this episode starred Jean really helped it though as any time this guy’s in the spotlight, you now you’re in for a good time.
When I watched Attack on Titan I asked my friends if Jean died because if he had died, I would have given up the series then and there.
It’s also good to see that Marco gets to chill around in this series, basically to play the best friend, but this time doesn’t go anywhere.
I do like what they’re doing in this series in terms of having characters that died early on interact with characters that they never met. It’s a cool little thing that’s nice to see and it really makes the world feel larger.
This episode did cement one idea i’ve had rolling around in my head and that is that Titans really do work better as a backdrop then as a central focus. The fact that they’re there and it’s an accepted thing is actually really beneficial to these characters.
The fact that in the other show they’re these terrifying murder things makes the series feel smaller and more petty. The way they integrate them into this world as if it’s a normal society really works well and makes the experience all the more enjoyable for me.
I do wish that Jean could have gotten an actual human girlfriend in this episode, but I guess we can’t have EVERYTHING we want. Still, fun episode, and even if it was a dream sequence, it was nice to see the girls fawning over Jean.
Episode 6.5/10
-Hideki