Lost Girls - Attack on Titan
Attack on Titan: Lost Girls is a novel written by Hiroshi Seko, a scriptwriter for the Attack on Titan anime and a scenario writer for the small-screen adaptations of other popular franchises such as Seraph of the End and Ajin: Demi-Human.
This novel is a compilation of three stories called “Lost in the Cruel World”, “Wall Sina, Goodbye” and “Lost Girls”. The first two stories are based on the visual novels of the same names that were released on the Blu-ray copies of the anime. The third story was a new release and was also adapted into a manga by Kodansha.
The two visual novels were included originally as bonus features in the Japanese Blu-ray releases, while the introduction and the titular story, “Lost Girls”, was unique to the book.
Summary
When Mikasa Ackermann fights against Annie Leonhart’s Female Titan in Stohess District, a flood of memories comes to Annie’s mind. Among those memories, she specifically remembers a moment that happened in 849, when she and Mikasa spoke during their days in the 104th Training Corps. In that conversation, both characters shared their opinions, thoughts, and emotions about what they feel both inside and outside of battle. These memories come to an end when her Female Titan falls.
“Lost in the Cruel World”
This story revolves around Mikasa and Eren when they were still kids. At this point, Mikasa still lived with her family and Eren would visit her home with his father in order to attend to Mikasa’s mother. As time went by, both Mikasa and Eren became incredibly close, until his obsession with the Survey Corps and the outside world started to grow on him.
During a fight when a Titan appears behind Mikasa, she starts to remember the words that Eren said to her when he was almost about to die at the hands of one of her kidnappers. Then she promises to fight in his memory. While she gets ready for the battle, the Titan that is behind her swings its fist to confront her.
In Lost in the Cruel World, although Eren is present in the story, he is not the driving force behind it. Instead, it explains in detail the feelings behind a young Mikasa and how lonely she felt in the times before she met Eren and how she wishes to protect him from any harm as long as she lives. It shows how the mind of the introverted Mikasa works and it allows the reader to appreciate her more.
“Wall Sina, Goodbye”
The second story focuses on Annie Leonhart, on the day before her mission to capture Eren. On that day, Annie wakes up in the Military Police Brigade located in Stohess District, feeling down as she was ordered to infiltrate the 57th Survey Corps Extramural Expedition and kidnap Eren. She thinks about the consequences of the battle that occurred in the Trost District one month before and the number of people that died as a result of her actions.
In this case, it shows the daily life of Annie and how she tries to solve the case of a young girl who has gone missing. Annie is the main character of this story and it creates some interest in how she works out the case of the missing girl. It gives a more human point of view to Annie, contrasting the cold and distant side of her that is usually seen within the original series.
Lost Girls
This short 15-page story features a short interaction between Annie and Mikasa, where they give a small insight into their feelings about one another. It also serves to tie the previous two stories together and give the audience a better understanding of the emotions of two characters that are famous for their introverted and distant nature.
In this conversation, Mikasa asks Annie the reason why she joined the Training Corps. Annie replies by saying that she simply wants to join the Military Police Brigade, which makes Mikasa think that she wants to do so because she wants to have a luxurious life. At some point, Mikasa pulls out a silver ring and shows it to Annie, who recognizes it as her own. This ring is the same ring that Annie uses to injure herself to turn into the Female Titan. Although Mikasa isn’t aware of its true purpose, she activates the hidden blade within the ring and questions why someone as skilled as Annie would need something like a secret blade hidden in a ring. Although Annie uses it to transform, she explains to Mikasa that the hidden blade is used for self-defense, as she can’t rely on her own skills alone in every situation. Mikasa seems to not believe her entirely, but hopes that Annie will never have to use the ring -- a statement that Annie agrees with.
Characters
Although most of the characters that appear in Lost Girls belong to the universe of Attack on Titan and are well-known by the audience, it does show an alternative reality within the series, as some of the characters that are alive in the original story are dead in this version and vice versa. Other characters are missing or their backgrounds are different from the main story.