「兄と弟」 (Ani to Otouto)
“Two Brothers”

Well I may loathe the wonders of technology at times, but the modern phenomenon of internet crashes and terrible ISPs sure give time to parse things, particularly those like SnK’s – and especially those SnK things like this week’s. I did say things would be getting crazy, and oh boy if the opening salvo of that statement proved it wasn’t all for show.

While the continued lack of episode count interferes with some expectations regarding where this season is heading endpoint-wise, it’s very nice knowing certain events like Eren’s march towards rumbling aren’t being dragged out too much. Beyond some Reiner agonizing and Porco doing the selfless it was all action and (to some degree) resolution as where things go next is made just a tad clearer. Well, more or less; Zeke proving his weight in zealotry and sacrificing Falco for the greater good definitely was a given, but Gabie 360 no-scoping Eren’s pretty little head clean off with a literal anti-tank – err, anti-Titan – rifle? Oh now that’s hitting all the right spots, especially when paired with some excellent animation work and SnK’s original soundtrack to boot. Say what you will about this series’ story and how it’s played out, but when it wants to get big and epic, it always rises to the occasion. Even if that involves some serious plot armour emerging in the process.

The big thing in the immediate future, however, is what transpires next between Eren and Zeke. Honestly there shouldn’t be any real shock with Eren repudiating Zeke’s suicidal desires, he never was explicitly on board with them (he’s always stayed incredibly ambiguous whenever it’s come up), yet it’s still somewhat annoying because this pretty much returns us back to square one: just what exactly is Mr. Ripped and Screamy after? Obviously not euthanasia, but nothing small and inconsequential either as it requires the power of Ymir in order to realize. This is where matters will (as repeatedly teased) start to get weird because it should be fairly evident the Coordinate is not at all what it seems and has the potential for some truly significant developments regarding Titans as a whole. What Eren wants to do with it is big, its effects will be far-reaching, and you can best be sure it won’t be a bloodless affair.

Whether it’s revealed sooner or later will hinge how Zeke plays his hand now that Eren’s true opinion is now out in the open.

 

Preview

7 Comments

  1. Fantastic episode.
    The brothers reunited (or at least parts of them lol) and Zeke has the upper hand controlling Ymir after turning all those poor saps into pure Titans.
    In any other series this would mark the start of the “final showdown between the protagonist and the big bad”, but with so many questions left and characters unaccounted for, that’s obviously not the case.

    Falco turning Titan wasn’t really surprising, it not being the Armor though definitely was.
    Gabie is…Gabie, a 12 year old badass lol. She doesn’t need to turn into a Titan to kick ass.

    Can’t complain about the animation so far. Less unnecessary use of CG, while still giving us those lovely reloading animations that we already loved in part 1.

    boingman
    1. Agreed, I really think the animation was on point this episode. Some CGI was noticeable as usual (Pieck in particular), but the large shots and the entire scene where Eren was decapitated stole the show. Goes to show MAPPA isn’t that bad when given room to spread its wings.

  2. Does the author have the guts to stick to what he did in this episode and not undo it in traditional anime style by bringing Eren back? Probably not.
    If he undid the Falco thing in the span of a minute, he’s definitely walking all of this back.

    Blitz

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