Attack on Titan OVA reviews

Attack on Titan season three premieres in a few days and I cannot wait.
So, in anticipation for it, I decided to review all of the OVAs so far.
I will be reviewing these from the weakest OVA to the strongest and will be counting two part OVA’s like No Regrets and Lost Girls as one.
Let’s get into it.

Distress:

Distress is what I consider to be the weakest of the OVAs.
It simply follows the members of the 104th Cadet Corps on a training mission where they are ambushed by bandits.
After Krista is abducted, the cadets have to band together to rescue her, along with their stolen ODM gear.
This is an average OVA as it adds nothing to the anime and is merely just a side story.
There are a few things that detract from its quality though, as very obvious stock footage from season one is used.
Another detractor is Eren who is his typical, unlikable, season one self.
He was especially annoying in this OVA because he made a terrible decision, which could have got everyone killed.
However, this OVA does have some things I really like at the same time.
The bandits are not portrayed as entirely evil as it is established that they do have families, which was a nice addition.
Along with this, characters who previously died like Marco feature prominently in this and it is good to see them again in the spot light.
Overall, this OVA is average.
It is entertaining but if you decide not to watch it it will not change your viewing experience of the anime.

A Sudden Visitor:

This, this is how you do a parody.
Watching A Sudden Visitor I could not help but be reminded of the awful Attack on Titan live adaptation miniseries episode The Departure of Freedom, but in a good way.
This is because A Sudden Visitor achieved what the miniseries episode could not by making an actual funny parody.
This OVA is about a cooking competition between Jean and Sasha.
Yes, you heard right, a cooking contest in Attack on Titan. 
Surprisingly, this does end badly because the humor is spot on.
There is actually quite a bit of meta humor because this OVA adapts fake gag previews Attack on Titan‘s writer Hajime Isayama put in the manga, to hilarious results.
Sasha and Pyxis are especially funny in this OVA, with one scene where Pyxis has a vision leaving me in tears of laughter.
Still, this OVA does have its downsides as, once again, Eren is unlikable due to his treatment of Mikasa.
Also I hope this OVA is not canon because, even though it is very funny, it does not fit the tone of Attack on Titan.
A Sudden Visitor is a good parody but not something that I think should be canon.

Ilse’s Notebook:

Ilse’s Notebook is a unique OVA because it is the only one of the five to actually feature in the Attack on Titan manga.
Sure No Regrets and Lost Girls were mangas but they were spin offs and not part of the official manga.
That being said, I can understand why Ilse’s Notebook was made into an OVA and not featured in the anime.
This is because it gives a massive hint towards Ymir being a Titan Shifter.
The OVA features Hange and Levi discovering a notebook from a dead soldier named Ilse Lagnar who, in her final moments, wrote down that she had communicated with a Titan who said “Ymir’s people” and called her “Ymir.”
This would have made it pretty easy for people to guess that Ymir was a Titan Shifter so Ilse’s Journal was made into an OVA, instead of being included in the anime, to make this twist more surprising.
As for the OVA itself, it is really enjoyable with both funny and dark moments and watching it does add context to some episodes of the anime, like Children. 
I do wish it was added to the anime because it would have added an extra layer to the story but Ilse’s Journal is still a great OVA that explains some things from the anime.

No Regrets:

No Regrets is the OVA that goes into the backstory of fan favourite character Levi by showing how he joined the Survey Corps.
The OVA reveals that Levi was a criminal who taught himself how to use the ODM gear with his friends Farlan and Isabel.
However, the three were captured by Erwin Smith who forced them to join the Survey Corps, but Levi and his friends had also secretly been hired by a nobleman to kill Erwin.
From there the story grows showing how Levi came to trust Erwin and lost his friends.
One thing I really liked about this OVA was how it made me care for Farlan and Isabel, despite their short amount of screen time, and how their friendship with Levi was perfectly portrayed.
This OVA also not only has some great use of animation and music but, without a doubt, the creepiest Titan in all of Attack on Titan. 
The Titan that kills Farlan and Isabel is very disturbing and really showed how powerful Titans could be.
However, there was one thing that did hold this episode back for me and that was Erwin. He felt out of character in this OVA when he reflected on his dead men and Levi’s friends, calling their deaths “pathetic.”
This is not something that Erwin would do as every death of a Survey Corps soldier weighs on him.
Other than that though,  No Regrets was still a great OVA and the second best overall.

Lost Girls:

Lost Girls is the best OVA of Attack on Titan so far in my opinion.
The plot follows Annie trying to solve a woman’s disappearance the day before she goes on her mission to capture Eren.
The reason this is my favourite OVA is because it made me care for and understand Annie as a character.
After watching Annie’s arc so far in the series I did not really know how she felt about carrying out her mission, like I did with Reiner and Bertholdt, and as a result that made her a much less interesting character. 
Lost Girls really clears this up though, giving us insight into not only Annie as a character but how her past has shaped her.
This OVA also has some great fight sequences and action segments, the best of which where Annie partially transforms to escape her attackers.
The mystery of the missing woman is pretty interesting as well but the real highlight is, once again, Annie and what we learn about her.
It made me want Annie to wake up from the crystal in the anime so we can learn more about her.
I consider Lost Girls to be the best Attack on Titan OVA because of how it took a character I did not understand and made her very relatable.