That difficult third episode

I've just watched the latest episodes of Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet and Attack on Titan, and have some serious reservations about both. I guess it's to be expected, after such strong opening episodes, that something was going to give sooner or later, but they've both dropped the ball in different ways.

Gargantia slipped up in its pacing; while the first two episodes were very deliberately paced, the pirates' revenge attack this episode seemed to come a bit too quickly - they still haven't introduced all of the characters from the OP animation, but are running off on what feels like a filler episode. I'd hoped they'd have the guts to go a while without a huge action sequence, but apparently not.

What's more disappointing about it, though, was the costume design (or lack thereof) for the newly-introduced Pirate Empress (whose name I already forget). She, along with her two scantily-clad slave/sidekick ladies, doesn't fit in particularly well with the other pirates. Her overt sexuality is a predictable crutch instead of an interesting character, as is the hint at a mysterious back story with the Gargantia fleet's commander.

Attack on Titan's misstep is just that it was boring. After the horrific scenes in the first two episodes, we're suddenly left with some training montages and new characters (I started making a mental dead pool as they were being introduced). I know this seems like a double-standard immediately after complaining that Gargantia didn't take a breather, but it's not the lack of action that's the problem - it's the lack of Titans.

There were some interesting plot threads though, and a few of the characters will be interesting once they get pulled into a major arc (assuming they have more substance than "girl who likes food"¹, anyway).

¹ Pretty sure there was an Evangelion reference when she was eating, at one point.