Attack on Titan: Junior High… Really?

So… apparently this is a thing.
Seriously though, of all the things they could have parodied they chose Attack on Titan, really?
I was quite surprised when I first learned about Attack on Titan: Junior High but I decided to give it a watch to see if it could surpass my expectations, and you know what?
It was actually pretty good.
The premise of the show is that all of the Attack on Titan characters, in an over exaggerated form, go to junior high school and must stop the Titans from taking everything they hold dear… that being their lunch.

The characters are all gloriously over exaggerated to get the most comedy out of the situation.
Eren’s hatred for Titans, Mikasa’s obsession with Eren and Ymir and Reiner’s love for Krista were all hilariously blown out of proportion.
Although they did go some weird directions with some of the characters, like Armin who, for some reason, is always cold so is constantly wearing a futon.
The jokes for this parody are also mostly hit or miss.
The main problem I had with the jokes was that sometimes they just repeated the ones from the anime, only changing the wording to fit a school context, and many of these jokes were very repetitive.
I lost count of how many times Ymir asked Krista to marry her or Oruo bit his tongue.

That being said when the show got a joke right it was excellently done.
One joke in episode nine that referenced the shocking events of episode 31 of the anime, Warrior, had me rolling in a fit of laughter.
Another thing that had me laughing was all the subtle jokes, like characters watching the anime or reading the manga in the background and Mikasa’s blank face to every situation.

Animation wise Attack on Titan: Junior High did get some backlash because it did not use the animation of original anime but I do not understand this.
This a parody, not the actual show.
If anything, the way it is animated improves the comedy.
Another interesting thing I found was that there were a few characters who played an important role in some episodes that I have never seen before.
For example, in episode eight there is a brand new character who talks with Krista yet has not appeared in the anime yet.
This makes me wonder if this is a character that was in the manga who will be in future episodes of Attack on Titan.
Overall, Attack on Titan: Junior High was a pretty good parody.
Some of the jokes do not work and can be a bit repetitive but, for every one that falls flat, there will be another that will have you in a fit of laughter.
I would recommend this to any fan of Attack on Titan.