Shingeki no Kyojin – 51 - Random Curiosity

「雷槍」 (Raisou)
“Thunder Spears”

Oh yeah now we’re talking. Whether down to airing the same day as the equally thrilling Game of Thrones (and featuring a similar compressed episode count to boot) or just due to the most interesting material finally coming up for adaptation, SnK has put pedal to the metal and gone full pulp action haymaker. Pile driving, looming death flags, and sweet sweet gun toting 2D animation—we got a face full of titan slaying goodness to start the week with, and the best part is the chaos is only just beginning.

Much like the aforementioned GoT and its Winterfell showdown last week, SnK has been gearing up for a key character death or six for some time now, and while we may not know who exactly is up for a spike to the face (or teeth through the neck), you can pretty much taste the upcoming carnage. Not much of a guess for example to assume Reiner isn’t getting out of his predicament alive (no matter how aggravatingly suspenseful that cliffhanger is trying to be) considering he used his one get out of fail free card previously, while Erwin (and to some extent Levi) are just oozing fatal flaw into premature decapitation in the not too distant future. Commander backstory with heavy focus on melancholic introspection over past responsibilities? Yeah you know full well someone isn’t likely long for this world. The situation is simply growing too “perfect” between Armin now assuming a great deal of authority over the troops and Eren successfully using his brains in addition to his brawn independently for once for Erwin to really have a place left in future events. Doesn’t mean one should expect a glorious charge into the beastly maw anytime soon, but full bets are on our Scout commander not leaving the walls of Shiganshima alive.

How the inevitable battle and resulting death goes though will come down to what the enemy has in store, and frankly this aspect is anyone’s guess. For all the difficulty Reiner is proving (not to mention the challenge of dealing with Bertholdt when he finally makes his appearance), the real test looks to be contained in the luggage on the back of one “interesting” Titan. Easy to assume the contents are explosives or something similar for example (if the Scouts can get a new toy to play with then the enemy sure as hell can), but considering how the big monkey has treated things so far I’m not so sure mass destruction will be the name of this game. With Eren and his Coordinate power the main enemy objective and Reiner apparently out of commission, it’s going to take something big and serious to upend the momentum of the good guys and restore some balance to this story’s suspense.

Whether it works of course we’ll have to wait and see to find out, but I imagine it won’t be long before the real battle starts in earnest.

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