「進撃の巨人」 (Shingeki no Kyojin)
“Attack Titan”

With world shaking reveals (literally) now out of the way and the central struggle of SnK fully out in the open, it’s hard faulting the show for slowing things down and smelling the roses. Considering only one episode remains of arguably the last season we’ll see of Titan action for the foreseeable future, it only makes sense to start filling in the remaining gaps and setting up the new conflict quietly growing strong. This may have been the biggest shakeup since SnK first began, but the real fighting has yet to begin.

While the Marley-Eldia slugfest and its relationship to our friendly neighbourhood Scout boys (and girls) remains the talk of the town, the two major takeaways this week concerned the titan power itself. I imagine the 13 year lifespan of titan wielders for example probably proved surprising to some, especially those who were wholly unprepared for the consequences of it. Mikasa after all hasn’t yet progressed through the five stages of grief, and if given the chance will move heaven and earth to see to it Mr. Screamer keeps on kicking strong—because the power of childhood friendship. As for Eren that screaming ability looks to have some narrative significance behind it, because it will quickly become the key thing everyone will soon wind up fighting over to bring this conflict to a close. It’s no lie to guess Eren’s realization of how to utilize his power will eventually become known (*looks at Armin*), while his fear about what could happen to Historia will likely come to pass, because in a brave new world with an unknown hoizon ahead, you typically do what you must and damn the consequences. Some missions are quite literally worth killing for.

As for what SnK’s future holds (and how the above is ultimately brought about), that’s going to be up in the air for a while yet. For all that we’ve learned and finally pieced together, quite a bit still remains unknown, particularly in regards to the next major enemy. Zeke after all is still missing with Reiner, and if both escaped to outside the walls, it’s only a matter of time until they return, and probably with reinforcements in tow. There’s also the matter of if Marley as a whole is the existential threat, or only a part of the country, because as prior events and all the flashbacks these past couple of weeks have shown, no political entity is ever monolithic. For every Marleyan out to eradicate the Subjects of Ymir there’s likely one caring less about them—and another who may even harbour sympathies. It’s a big unknown world out beyond the walls, and until our main crew can start learning about it and where they stand (whether physically or via more predictive means), nothing as we know it will really change.

In SnK’s world reaching the sea truly has a meaning all of its own, and we’ll get to see exactly what in next week’s big finale.

 

Preview

20 Comments

  1. I can’t take credit for this (and it’s not a spoiler for anything we don’t already know, but to be safe):

    Show Spoiler ▼

    AoT has had its ups and downs over the past 4 seasons, but suffice to say Isayama is a madman and I tip my cap to him.

    PurpleBomber
    1. The Royal family going that long does strain credibility except in Japan where we are on the 126th Emperor the First Emperor claimed to start 660 BC.
      But no conformation of any of the Early Emperors existing although at least one had to for the first accepted existed is stated as son of last Emperor.
      First Emperor any dates attach to is 10th in 97BC. 15th some evidence for in 270AD. And first truly reliable is the 29th in 539 where some claim it should be counted as new Dynasty as his claim is 5th Generation dependent of Earlier Emperor.

      But even starting with the later date the line is 1480 years old with 97 Emperors. A quite amazing thing history wise. This almost certainly due to Emperors often not holding actual power even back in the days we cannot confirm. The Emperor got a tradition going along with religion that the Emperor always had to be around but it was fine if the Emperor was just a figurehead. Thus people fighting for control focused on getting rid of the real power and if they won continued the tradition of being nominally under control of the Emperor. At times the Emperors gained more power then lost it and gained it again. And thus the Emperor continues even after the US occupation.

      RedRocket
  2. It really bothers me he thought about turning historia into titan to control his coordinate and not just touch her, like literally hold her hand and you gain control over other titans because all you need is skin to skin contact judging by when he punched Dina’s palm.

    John
  3. So, does that mean Grisha/Eren don’t have the Owl’s Attack Titan “ability” anymore, since Grisha went on to eat the Founding Titan?

    The weird telepathic thing is interesting. I feel a need to go back to recap Ymir’s past, about how she was a fake idol or something.

    Bambi
    1. No, when Grisha ate Frieda Reiss he inherited the Founding Titan alongside his Attack Titan. Now Eren has both titans powers in him.

      It’s unconfirmed but it seems due to the “paths” connecting all subjects of Ymir, that memories can be observed both in the past and future.

      eamonx
  4. – did we even notice when characters switched from omni-directional uniforms to khaki? are they cos playing their archenemy on the mainland? it’s like going from ancient Greece to WWI, khaki really only makes sense when you hind from enemy gunman, e.g. human-on-human warfare with firearms, not human-on-titan with sabers

    – are those reinforcements that come with Zeke&Reiner going to come with air-ships, airplanes, bombing raids field artillery and machine guns? are we going full-on into WWI? those technical achievements seem to much of a Chekhov’s gun not to be used..

    – I just love it how concise and up-to-the-point Hange was in summarizing what we know so far; beautiful military style for same kind of content as shared on this blog

    Anton
  5. So “you have to love someone inside the walls” message to Grisha and future attack titan’s heirs, meaning Eren.
    Immediately followed by him to wanting any harm to fall upon Historia, strangely very protective or maybe i never noticed before.
    Is this the writer hinting a romantic subplot by any chance?

    anon0521
    1. I’ve heard Isayama (the author) found that translation even better than his own. As it’d leave the reveal we’ve had these past episodes more clouded. A deliberate wrong translation.

      Shrubbery
  6. I’ll admit, reading the manga, this is where the story exploded too large IMO. I liked the concentrated focus on the mystery of what’s the beyond the walls and can it possibly be true that the last humans are in the walls (it was reasonable and accurate to guess no).

    Now that more of the series’s long-standing secrets are being answered, the rest of the story needs to keep a sharp focus on its target. We’ll see if they can swing it.

    Ok, done with AoT puns.

    Danny
  7. – Annie is presumably alive so Historia doesn’t have to be a thoughtless titan
    – ..for 13 years only; so people inside the walls need Historia to give birth preferably twice
    – not clear if woman-titan can give birth – after all transformation is triggered by even slight injury/pain

    – theoretically a tandem ruling dynasty could form: descendants of Historia would provide royal blood and at each generation a new unrelated bearer of founding titan + attack titan can be elected
    – this would be a funny balance of power: it will be the bearer of founding titan who would posses the ultimate god-like power; presumably even over his/her royal partner; a lot of trust would need to be put into such person
    – children would probably refuse to eat their mom or grandma, so a child of Historia would need to eat say Armin, and somebody else would eat Historia bearing Annie’s titan

    – once titans have been merged the only way to separate them is to allow the bearer die without being eaten; but that places say Founding Titan into truly random hands, possibly in enemy-run concentration camp

    – presumably producing a syringe requires steel and lathes – rather advanced equipment; how did they pass on titan power 2k years ago? how did they pass founding titan from Ymir for the first time? probably they dissected her titan spine with knives (stone knives?) and had her hair drink the spine fluid?

    Anton
  8. >Some missions are quite literally worth killing for.
    LMAO

    Oh the irony, that in the manga and current events, Eren is willing to go truly impossible lengths for the sake of Historia and to keep her safe of all harm

    vopv

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