Chibi Theater: Fly, Cadets, Fly! - Attack on Titan
Chibi Theater: Fly, Cadets, Fly! (ちみキャラ劇場 とんでけ！訓練兵団 Chimi Kyara Gekijō – Tondeke! Kunren Heidan) is a series of animated gag shorts based on the universe of Attack on Titan, written and illustrated by Hajime Isayama. It was directed and written by Kenshirou Morii, composed by Hiroyuki Sawano and produced by Wit Studio and Production I.G. This comedy was released between July 17, 2013 and March, 19, 2014. These gag shorts were included with the Blu-ray Disc/DVD releases, featuring the characters of the original series in chibi form.
Summary
Consisting of nine episodes, this series takes a light hearted and comedic version of the original Attack on Titan series and it reproduces many of its memorable scenes and dialogues in a humorous way. Every episode depicts 2-3 days in the training of the 104th Trainee Corps, where Eren and his fellow trainees train to become the hope for humanity and to fight against the Titans.
Episodes
Episode 1: Day 1/Day 2 (Ichinichime / Futsukame, 01日目 / 02日目):
Eren struggles to wake up on time. Armin finds himself waking up in the nurse office. It was originally aired on July 17, 2013.Episode 2: Day 3/Day 4 (Mikkame / Yokkame, 03日目 / 04日目):
Eren tries to give a very good impression on his instructor, and Jean becomes jealous of him. It was aired on August 21, 2013.Episode 3: Day 5/Day 6/Day 7 (Itsukame / Muikame / Nanokame, 05日目 / 06日目 / 07日目):
Sasha is accused of something she did not do. As for Armin, he finds a suspicious book. Eren and Mikasa try to learn about a Titan’s weakness. The air date was September 18, 2013.Episode 4: Day 8/Day 9/Day 10 (Yōkame / Kokonokame / Tōkame, 8日目 / 9日目 / 10日目):
Eren walks in on the girls without intention. Mikasa challenges Ymir over pudding. [Krista] and Ymir choose a friend to go shopping with. It was aired on October 16, 2013.Episode 5: Day 11/Day 12/Day 13 (Jūichinichime / Jūninichime / Jūsannichime, 11日目 / 12日目 / 13日目):
Eren tries to copy Reiner. Bertholdt tries to grow his confidence. Mikasa and Annie challenge each other to see who is stronger. It was released on November 20, 2013Episode 6: Day 14/Day 15/Day 16 (Jūyokkame / Jūgonichime / Jūrokunichime, 14日目 / 15日目 / 16日目):
Connie and Sasha try to take revenge. Eren decides to get a new hairstyle. Armin tries to assist Eren, Connie and Sasha. It was aired on December 18, 2013.Episode 7: Day 17/Day 18/Day 19** (Jūshichinichime / Jūhachinichime / Jūkunichime, 17日目 / 18日目 / 19日目):
Eren has some difficulties using Vertical Equipment. Jean gets lost during training, and Marco returns a lost bag. It was aired on January 15, 2014.Episode 8: Day 20/Day 21/Day 22 (Nijūnichime / Nijūichinichime / Nijūninichime, 20日目 / 21日目 / 22日目):
Franz and Hannah help Eren to make amends. Mikasa tries to act based on her feelings. Hange tries to communicate with a Titan. It was aired on February 19, 2014.Episode 9: Day 23/Day 24/Day 25 (Nijūsannichime / Nijūyonnichime / Nijūgonichime, 23日目 / 24日目 / 25日目):
Erwin tries to make appeal to the cadets. Levi analyzes himself from another person’s point of view. The 104th Cadet Corps’ graduation ceremony starts. It was released on March 19, 2014.
Gags
There are several running gags throughout all the episodes:
- Eren over-sleeps, which causes him to arrive late and he ends up getting mad at Mikasa and Armin for not waking him up.
- Some characters always end up being eaten by the Colossal Titan at the end of each episode (with Eren almost always being one of them)
- Mikasa is completely expressionless. She does not make any facial expressions, nor changes her tone or shows any emotions at all
- Keith gets mad at one of the cadets and tells them to come to his room later
- Mikasa shows feelings for Eren, but it is a one-way love.
- Armin is very pervert
- Characters always pronounce the sounds or the small movements they make (e.g. saying chung* chung* when the bell is ringing, or wipe* when they are wiping tears).
Also, there are a lot of references to the anime series:
- The first day of training, the trainees go intimidated by Keith Sadies
- Jean is amazed by Mikasa and her long black hair, and he develops a rivalry with Eren
- Mikasa cuts her hair and states how “the world is a cruel place”, shoving a loaf of bread into Eren’s mouth, and telling others how she is much stronger than all of them
- Sasha steals meat and can always be seen eating a potato
- Armin brings a book and reads it with Eren. While reading, he mentions a passage that says “burning water, frozen earth, fields of sand” (although the context is different from the original one)
- Levi dresses up in his cleaning outfit and carries a mop, because he takes “cleaning very seriously”;
- Eren’s ears turn red when lying.
Voice cast
- Yuki Kaji as Eren Jaeger
- Yui Ishikawa as Mikasa Ackermann
- Marina Inoue as Armin Arlelt
- Hiroshi Kamiya as Levi Ackermann
- Kisho Taniyama as Jean Kirstein
- Yu Kobayashi as Sasha Blouse
- Daisuke Ono as Erwin Smith
- Tomohisa Hashizume as Bertolt Hoover
- Yoshimasa Hosoya as Reiner Braun
- Yu Shimamura as Annie Leonhart
- Ryota Osaka as Marco Bodt
- Hiro Shimono as Connie Springer
- Shiori Mikami as Krista Lenz
- Saki Fujita as Ymir
- Romi Park as Hange Zoë