God Eater Episode 2: Amamiya Lindow

Being Eric is suffering.

Impression

Is it supposed to be Lindow or Rindou? And is it Lenka or Renka?

I’m going to go with the first of each of those, as that’s what the subs seem to be doing – but it sure would be nice if a name dispute is the biggest problem God Eater has. It’s definitely flashy, and I’m actually a fan of the visuals unlike some – the raindrops pooling on those leaves in the ED are mesmerizing. But it only has a single-cour to work with, and at the moment it feels like we’re still loitering around with an introductory arc. All that happened this time was that the battle from last week concluded, and a new escort mission began to rescue Alisa, the super hot babe from Russia who probably doesn’t need rescuing. I have no idea what kind of story this will have, not least because I haven’t played the video game, but it feels like it’s taking its sweet time setting up, and I want it to hurry up.

It would also be good if we had a bit of development for Lenka himself, even if it’s something straightforward like why his compass is important to him or why he still holds on to it even if its implied to be broken. I mean, I guess I did get what I wanted in that he’s set himself apart from Eren and Yuuichirou, but only by virtue of being blander and less skilled. I’d long resigned myself to the fact that he’d be a special snowflake and would be able to do unique stuff, so I was looking forward to it at least being cool – but he had no idea what he was doing! All that stuff about managing to switch the form of his Jinki as a New-Type turned out to be his greatest achievement in that battle, because he then ran in and got himself electrocuted, knocking himself out of action for days! I might have been expecting too much, given that the same thing happened in practically all his simulations last episode, but he was pretty useless when it counted.

I guess it wasn’t completely his fault that Eric died, though. If he hadn’t jumped out unarmed to save him in the first place, Eric would have died anyway – it’s just that if he didn’t then shock himself unconscious, there would have been no need for Eric to get eaten in his place. Poor Eric. I thought he was going to live! I thought he’d been carried to safety! Also, not that Lenka was around to listen, but at least the other God Eaters don’t seem to be blaming him for Eric’s death. I did like the fact that he was actually punished and locked up, with a serious risk of his credentials being revoked and all that – I have no idea if there’s some sort of tension between the Board and the Far East branch of Fenrir, but clearly the Director doesn’t want Lenka kicked out since New-Types are important for whatever his Aegis Plan involves. Yet another thing I’m worried will be the victim of the pacing – along with the backstory behind how the Director is now so obviously responsible for the creation of the Aragami with all that talk in the flashback about using the Oracle Cells for evolution.

I spent the first half of the episode thinking that it was still safe to fly around in planes, but it looks like some of the Aragami know how to fly, too! I’m sure Alisa can deal with them by herself, if her skills are anything like her self-confidence. At the moment, there’s not much to her personality other than arrogance and haughtiness, but at least she makes for great fanservice. Look at her skimpy outfit! And that underboob!

No but seriously, I hope Alisa delivers. She’s literally all I’m looking forward to with this show now.