"Seid ihr das Essen? Ja, wir sind die Jägerschnitzel!"
What happens when you have a HUGELY popular series, but you can only make a new season every 3 years and people are all begging for more? Obviously, you HAVE to give them something, otherwise too many people will abandon ship. Especially since most fans of the anime don't actually read the manga. To solve this dilemma, Attack on Titan created this OVA. However, they really didn't want to create filler material that might accidentally contradict something later on in the manga. The only way to ASSURE that this contradiction doesn't happen, is to make an OVA where absolutely NOTHING of any importance or substance happens.
I appreciate the massive handicap that the director of this OVA faced! However, there was a much better approach the OVA could have taken. The OVA should have focused on actual character building and interesting conversations between the characters to perhaps flesh out some of the minor characters or let us look deeper into the minds and motivations of our leads. What did we get instead? I'll explain.
I can't really "spoil" anything because nothing happens!
OVA 1: The OVA starts strong by making the correct marketing decision and choosing fan favorite Levi as the main character. He and his team must capture a Titan alive in order to study it. They discover the lost diary of a deceased scout. The diary gives us a name and basically just acts as a teaser for people who have already read the manga. If you haven't read ahead in the manga, you don't actually learn jack shit. Yeah, they capture a Titan, but we don't learn ANYTHING new about the Titans! Where they came from, why they eat humans, etc. I DO know all of those answers as of 4/29/2015 because I've read the manga, but watching this OVA won't get you any closer to that knowledge. Do we learn anything new about Levi? Nope. Do we get to see how his team dynamics work in a much clearer picture? nope. Did this episode have a freaking point besides saying "go read the manga?" Nope
Ova 2: We get a cooking contest between "Potato Girl" and Jean. Seriously. That's what happens! We also get a sexy training montage of Mikasa practicing boxing for some reason in a white push-up bra. Is she trying to be Tifa Lockhart? Obvious fanservice is obvious
OVA 3: They travel to what looks like the "old West" AKA Southwest United States and end up fighting outlaws. Wait...didn't this series take place in Germany? How the fuck did they get to the Southwest US? DAMN IT OVA, YOU HAD ONE JOB!!!
Overall:
If you aren't a huge fan of Attack on Titan, this OVA is a colossal, titanic waste of time! If you ARE a huge Attack on Titan fan...ditto. Basically, this OVA sucks. That's it folks. I don't have positive things to say here. Besides keeping the same high quality music and good animation, it freaking sucks!
