Attack on Titan Season Four, Episode Ten, A Sound Argument Review: Historia’s Sacrifice.

I remember reading Chapter 107 of Attack on Titan and feeling quite disappointed with the direction Hajime Isayama took Historia’s character.
To me, the idea of her sacrificing herself and any children she would have went against everything that her character development in the Uprising Arc was about, so to see her pregnant for this sacrifice plan really did not sit well with me.
Thankfully, with the benefit of hindsight as a manga reader, I now look on this scene, and the potential it has for the end of the story, a lot more favourably.
Historia’s sidelining after this point, though?
Well, I am pretty sure that I will always believe that was a mistake.
In any case, Episode Ten of Attack on Titan‘s final season, “A Sound Argument”, adapts both Chapter 107 and 108 well, albeit with a few hiccups.
Directed by Kaori Makita, the episode follows up on the serious cliffhanger from “Brave Volunteers”, which featured Eren standing in front of a mirror in his jail cell and proclaiming that he has to fight.
This is continued in the episode with a not so serious beginning, as Hange interrupts Eren’s talk with himself and humorously comments on it.
I had honesty forgotten how funny Hange could be but seeing her scenes adapted in the anime really drove it home for me, especially with this scene.
Just take a shot everytime she says “fight” during this conversation.
You will pass out in a matter of seconds.
It’s not all humorous, though, as Hange switches to serious, reminiscing on her talk with Eren about Titans, all the way back in Season One, and how he let her ramble on and on about pointless things.
However, these happy times are no more, unfortunately showcased by Hange’s next line about how she believed Eren would never sacrifice Historia.
From there, the episode delves into the flashback that puts Zeke’s supposed plan to save Eldia into motion.
This comes from a flashback of the Volunteers introducing Paradis to an ally, Kiyomi Azumabito from the nation of Hizuru.
It is through this flashback of her meeting those on Paradis that we learn not only the effect Zeke’s plan will have on Historia but also of Mikasa’s “importance” to Hizuru as well.
It is revealed that Mikasa in actually the descendant of a lost Shogun from Hizuru and thus essential to the nation.
This is proven through a tattoo Mikasa has on her hand.
Now, while my opinion about Historia’s pregnancy in the manga has gone from negative to more mixed over the years, my opinion on this scene has not, and the anime makes its reveal a little more problematic.
Mikasa being the descendant of a long lost Shogun always felt a little too convient to me, what with five Titan Shifters and the heir to the throne all coincidentally coming from the same training corps.
Not only this but Mikasa being important to Hizuru has so far amounted to absolutley nothing in the manga.
The anime makes this reveal even weaker with how its revealed, although that is not entirely Mappa’s fault.
You see, Mikasa having this tattoo should have been set up all the way back in Season One but, for whatever reason, Wit decided to remove it.
So, now that the tattoo is revealed in this episode, it has absolutley no buildup and feels like a retcon.
Following this reveal, we get a brief happy scene with Historia, where she is excited for Mikasa being important because it means she has someone to relate to.
Eren then comments that Historia looks happy, to which she replies that she is.
You know, just to drive the knife deeper into her hearts when she looks so unhappy with her pregnancy later in the episode.
The plan for this pregnancy is revealed in the flashback by Kiyomi, who reveals that Zeke gained her trust by gifting her with ODM Gear, which he got from Mike, who he gruesomely murdered all the way back in Season Two.
With the Ice Burst fuel as a resource, Zeke gives Hizuru a reason to get in bed with Paradis: profit.
This causes Mikasa to realize she is a pretext pretty easily and it is following this that Kiyomi reveals Zeke’s plan to save Eldia but also sacrifice Historia and her descendants.
Paradis will need 50 years to catch up with the rest of the world’s military technology and, in order for the island not to be attacked during that time, the threat of the Rumbling must be maintained.
Therefore, the Founding Titan and a Titan of royal blood must be passed down, meaning that Historia must have children who will then be sacrificed to the same fatal cycle that her family subjected themselves to for centuries, which, again, goes completley against all of Historia’s character development.
Historia agrees to this nonetheless and this is where Eren steps in, furiously proclaiming that Zeke can take his plan and shove it.
Eren’s reaction is a lot more volitle than it was in the manga here and I am personally all for that.
This violence is then continued when the episode cuts back to the present and Eren angrily attacks Hange, after telling her that since he has the Warhammer Titan, he can escape anytime he wants.
Eren furiously demands to know if Hange has some kind of backup plan, as Titan marks and sparks briefly flash up his face.
Hange backs off, playing off Eren’s lunge as a perverted move, before showing the audience how she feels depressed about the state of things, as she tells herself that Erwin made a terrible choice making her Commander.
After this scene, we get the big reveal of Historia’s pregnancy, with her looking dead inside, and a mysterious farmer telling her she needs to take better care of herself.
This farmer is apparently the father, according to members of the Military Police, including Nile, who are shown enjoying some wine togethor, before one drunk guy starts committing blasphemy by degrading Historia.
In all seriousness, this part of the episode was another problem I had with Historia’s pregnancy in the manga.
Historia just gets togethor with a random farmer who we have never seen and have no reason to care about, and also bullied her as a child, contributing to her suicidal ideology when we first met her in the story?
If the farmer is the father then, in my own opinion, this reveal was pretty poorly done.
However, notice that I said “if” because there are a lot of signs for this being a red herring.
Some of these signs, like Historia being said to have never married the farmer and also a panel of a mysterious, hooded figure watching Historia talk to the farmer, were cut in the actual episode.
Still, there are enough signs to make anime only viewers question it, just like us manga readers did.
Only time will tell if I am reading too much into these supposed signs or not.
One thing that is made explicitly obvious rather than just a sign, though, is Niccolo with the wine.
In the manga, this moment was subtle and some people did not pick up on it.
In the episode, however, Niccolo giving the Military Police officers the wine is highlighted by dark lighting and threatening music.
It makes it very obvious that something is up with the wine and I do wish it had been kept more subtle.
After this obvious scene, we get yet another flashback, to one of the last times Eren and his friends were truly happy, as they built a railway togethor, accompanied by a humorous background moment of Armin trying to stop Sasha from drinking all their water.
Levi and Hange show up, giving us another funny moment when levi is offended by how much taller the 104th has become, before Hange delivers the bad news that Hizuru is not willing to help Paradis negotiate with other nations because it wants their resources.
This most likely means they will have to sacrifice Historia, something that is already happening in the present time of the episode.
Yet, Hange has not given up hope and suggests sneaking into Marley to try and make connections because surveying is what the Scouts are all about.
This excites many of the 104th as they ride back on the train, which leads into a heart warming scene of them all discussing who should get Eren’s Titan when his 13 years are up.
Mikasa volunteers first but Jean counters this because she is still important to Hizuru and they don’t know if the Ackermans can become Titans.
Jean then says he would be best but Connie also counters this by saying he is too important and offers to take on the burden himself.
Next comes Sasha, who tells Connie that he is too much of an idiot to handle the responsibility, so she will do it, even though she doesn’t want to.
Connie fires back, declaring that she is just as much of an idiot as he is.
This leads to them both proving themselves idiots, as they comedically state, “Eh?” to each other in confusion.
Eren breaks this comedy by deciding he will not give the Titan to any of them because he wants them all to live long lives, leading to a whole lot of embarrassed blushing among the 104th, to which Armin blames on the sun after Jean yells at Eren about it.
Following this happy, heart warming flashback, it cuts back to the darker times where Mikasa, Armin, Connie and Jean are all reflecting on Eren’s actions, which lead to Sasha’s death.
Connie is particularly angered about this because of Eren laughing when he got the news, not aware that this is how he handles grief, and says they may have to cut Eren down if it comes down to it, which horrifies Mikasa.
Armin also says that the military may be planning to give Eren’s Founding Titan to someone they can trust, as the episode ends with shots of a suspicious looking Eren in his jail cell and even more suspicious Zeke at his “hotel”, still under careful watch from Levi.
Overall, “A Sound Argument” is a decent episode of Attack on Titan.
There are some great moments, like Eren and Hange’s scene and the flashback between the 104th.
However, some things I personally didn’t really like from the manga, like Mikasa’s convient importance that is actually not all that important, are kept and sometimes made weaker.
There are also a few animation issues here and there, like Pyxis’ bulbous head, which had a lot of people comparing him to Megamind.
Still, all in all, “A Sound Argument” is an enjoyable episode.

Attack on Titan Volume 27 Review: Bad Beginning but Fantastic Ending.

Chapter 107: Visitor.

I have a bone to pick with this chapter.
Ever since I started reviewing the Attack on Titan volumes from Chapter 73 I have never given a chapter a bad review.
Sure, there were things I had problems with but even at their weakest I still found these chapters decent.
This all changes with Chapter 107, “Visitor” and the reason for this mostly comes down to how Hajime Isayama handles Historia’s character.
In “Visitor” Kyomi Azumbito is confirmed to be working with Paradis and proposes a plan to help them defeat Marley.
Threaten them into submission by demonstrating the power of the rumbling and then wait 50 years for their technology to catch up before attacking.
However, in order to maintain the threat of the rumbling for these 50 years, they will need a Beast Titan with royal blood and since Zeke only has one year left the role falls to Historia and her descendants.
Unfortunately, to achieve this, Historia would have to sacrifice her life and that of her children by carrying on the Beast Titan through the generations.
The chapter concludes by showing that Historia is following through with this plan as she is now pregnant.
I have massive issues with this storyline.
First, let me say I understand what Isayama is going for.
He is trying to create a tragic arc for Historia where she is forced to continue the cycle of abuse her family committed to save humanity.
However, the problem with this is that it undermines all of the fantastic character development Historia had in the Uprising Arc.
The main centerpiece of this arc was Historia learning to live for herself and not fall into self-martyrdom but now Historia is going against what she learned.
All of the inspirational growth she went through has been completely undone and now feels pointless.
Even worse is how this goes completely against her character as well.
After Historia became queen she dedicated herself to helping orphans throughout Paradis.
She cared for these children and gave them happy lives so the idea that she would sacrifice her own children is quite frankly ridiculous.
It is clear that Historia’s pregnancy is incredibly important to the story but Isayama should have found a way to do it that does not contradict her entire character arc.
Sadly, this is not the only issue I had with this chapter.
It is also revealed in “Visitor” that Mikasa is actually the descendant of a lost lord from Hizuru and is thus very important.
While I did like how well this had been set up, with the big hint for the twist coming during Mikasa’s backstory in the first arc, it is starting to make the story of Attack on Titan seem far too coincidental.
I mean five of the nine Titan Shifters, the heir to the throne and an Ackerman who is also the descendant of a lost lord somehow all ended up in the same training regiment.
Historia herself seems to joke about this by comparing how she and Mikasa both have important birthrights.
This leads to Historia saying she is happy, which only serves to drive the knife in deeper when we see how depressed she is at the end of the chapter.
However, even though I did have massive problems with “Volunteer” the chapter did not completely fail.
We got some pretty good character development from Hange this chapter, the reveal of Zeke’s motives as a “true Eldia Restorationist” and a nice scene with Nicolo and Sasha’s family that continued to show the impact of her death.
Then there is Gabi and Falco who escape from their prison to grow some more character wise.
There are good moments in “Visitor” but they are heavily weighed down by how coincidental the story appears and, most of all, with Historia’s character breaking new storyline.
This is one my least favorite chapters of Attack on Titan.

Chapter 108: A Sound Argument

I thought the reveal of who the father of Historia’s baby is would make me feel better about the whole situation but I was wrong.
In Chapter 108, “A Sound Argument,” it is revealed by Nile that the father is someone who bullied and threw rocks at Historia when they were children because he liked her.
A character bullying someone because they like them is one of the worst romance cliche’s out there but it is made worse when you consider how terrible Historia’s childhood was.
With the exception of Freida, everyone treated Historia terribly when she was child, which led to he wanting to die at the beginning of the series.
She was actively trying to kill herself, while looking like a hero to add meaning to her life, before Ymir knocked some sense into her.
So the father being someone who contributed to Historia wanting to kill herself feels like an insult to her character.
I know I have been hating on the Historia pregnancy storyline a lot but I will say I do think there is a chance for it to get better.
We oddly have yet to hear Historia’s thoughts on her pregnancy and there seems to be a few things in this chapter that hints at something more going on.
This leads me to believe there may be a twist coming surrounding Historia’s pregnancy.
Honestly, I am just hoping for anything that makes this storyline seem better to me.
Until this twist happens though, Historia’s pregnancy will remain one of my least favourite storylines of the series.
Back to the chapter review, the reveal of the baby’s father is only a small part of “A Sound Argument” and the rest of it more than makes up for the problem I have with the reveal.
My favourite scene in the entire chapter is the one where Eren’s friends talk about the implications of his recent actions and how much he has changed, leading to a fantastic flashback.
In this flashback we get to see the close connection between Eren and his friends from the 104th cadet corps.
One by one Mikasa, Jean, Connie and Sasha all offer to inherit the Founding Titan from Eren when his thirteen years are up but Eren refuses saying they are important to him and he wants them to all live long lives.
This is one of the most heartwarming scenes we have had in Attack on Titan in a long time and makes for a sad contrast to the present scene where Eren’s friends are questioning his motives.
While Mikasa and Armin are desperate to believe Eren is still on their side, Connie seems to slowly be coming around to the idea that Eren has betrayed them.
As evidence he states how Eren laughed when Sasha died, not knowing this is how Eren grieves.
However, I can understand how Connie is unable to trust Eren given that a lot of people think he is working with Zeke who turned Connie’s entire family into Titans.
I hope we get a pay off to this with Connie facing Zeke because that has been set up for a while.
Another thing I hope to see is a flashback showing Eren and Zeke meeting in Marley because Jean confirms they did talk.
Speaking of setting up scenes, this chapter appears to be setting up a new arc for Gabi, with her and Falco encountering the girl who Sasha saved in the Clash of the Titans arc, named Kaya.
Before they encounter her, the two get into a fight about Gabi refusing to remove her Eldian arm band.
Watching Gabi hysterically cry that she is “a good Eldian” as she desperately tries to snatch back the arm band from Falco serves as another scene that shows just how brainwashed Gabi is.
Their fight is interrupted by Kaya though, who brings them to her place after they lie, stating they have run away from home.
In their actual home, however, Reiner wakes up and plans are being made to invade Paradis as retaliation for Eren and the Scouts’ attack.
The Marleyan forces have also figured out that Zeke has betrayed them, which leads to the chapter ending with Reiner advocating for an immediate attack on Paradis to stay ahead of him.
I think Reiner did this so they can rescue Falco and Gabi, who are his sole reason for living, quicker rather than an actual desire for vengeance.
Still, the implications of this cliffhanger are felt at the end of the volume and seem to set the stage for the Warrior’s counterattack in the future.
“A Sound Argument” was a decent chapter.
I did not like the reveal of the father of Historia’s baby but everything else was solid and potentially set up a lot of events to come.

Chapter 109: Guides

“Guides” is the callback chapter to end all callback chapters.
So many old characters return to the story from Flegel, to the journalists, to even the little girl who Mikasa saved all the way back in the battle of Trost.
These returning characters all serve a point in the chapter and help to show the consequences of our main characters’ actions.
The character who does this the most is undoubtedly Louise, the girl Mikasa saved.
Louise is revealed to have been so inspired by Mikasa that she helped Floch and other renegade Scouts leak information about Eren’s imprisonment to the press.
This leads to the return of the journalists and Flegel who, along with a mob, all demand an explanation out of Hange about why Eren is locked, up creating new tensions between the people and the government.
These returning characters all show the impact our main characters’ choices have had, which may be leading them to a point of no return again.
It has got so bad that Hange is even starting to doubt her position, with her remembering Sannes telling her to “break a leg” before declaring she is tired.
Hange has been going through a lot of development through her insecurities as Commander, which I believe may pay off in a big way soon.
Hopefully not with her dying though.
In comparison to Hange’s uncertainty, Floch, on the other hand, is much more certain in his goals of freeing Eren believing he is the only one who can save Eldia, which matches up with what Floch said when he and the Scouts attacked Marley.
However, while Floch is dedicated, it is almost certain that he is being manipulated by Yelena, as Pyxis points out in his discussion with her.
Pyxis points out on numerous occasions during their conversation that she has been in close proximity to both Eren and Floch, giving her the opportunity to manipulate them.
Watching Pyxis and Yelena’s discussions in this volume establishes her as one the most interesting characters right now as her true motivations, much like Zeke, remain a mystery.
However, the main focus of this chapter is not Yelena, Hange, or the returning characters but Gabi and Falco who are taken by Kaya to the home of Sasha’s family.
This can only end badly when they all learn who one another are, considering Gabi killed Sasha.
For a moment I thought it had ended badly when I saw a shot of what appeared to be Gabi stabbing Sasha’s father to death.
However, my shock about this was brief when it was thankfully revealed it was just Mikasa remembering Eren stabbing her kidnapper to death.
Still, this does not mean the situation will not end with someone getting stabbed.
As for Gabi, I know she is brainwashed but Isayama is making it a bit hard to like her at times, which is especially apparent in this chapter.
First Gabi tries to blame Kaya and the other orphans for not accepting their sins, then she tries to murder Kaya when she reveals she knows they are from Marley, and finally she says Falco should not have apologized to Kaya about her mother’s death.
This all makes Gabi fairly unlikable in this chapter, which I think should have been downplayed.
The moment when Gabi asks why Falco would apologize made her seem very callous and probably should have been removed.
That said, Gabi’s interactions with Kaya and Falco in this chapter will hopefully go on to change her world view that all Eldians on Paradis are evil.
Kaya’s kind actions may be the starting point for this because the chapter ends with her promising to help them get back to Marley since she wants to help people just like Sasha.
This ending is another fantastic way that Isayama shows the importance of characters after their deaths and may change Gabi’s point of view when she learns Sasha was the person she killed.
Overall, “Guides” is a good chapter that brings back many familiar faces and sets up a lot of development for Gabi.

Chapter 110: Counterfeit.

Volume 27 may have started badly but it ends amazingly with its final chapter “Counterfeit.”
The chapter kicks off with Zeke finally explaining what happened in Connie’s village back in the Clash of the Titans Arc.
Zeke’s spinal fluid was transformed into gas and used as chemical warfare, blown into Ragako Village, which knocked all of its inhabitants unconscious who were then turned into Titans with Zeke’s scream.
It was good to finally get the information about what really happened in Ragako and it led to an interesting conversation between Levi and Zeke.
Watching these two mortal enemies stand off in a conversation was very intriguing.
Levi does not keep his contempt for Zeke hidden, accusing him of feeling no remorse for his actions, while Zeke seems to come across as more reasonable, although is almost certainly hiding his anger towards Levi.
While it is cool to see these two interact somewhat peacefully, it is practically guaranteed to not last long, especially with what happens at the end of the chapter.
Eren manages to escape captivity with his Warhammer Titan powers and meets up with Floch and the rest of his followers to track down Zeke.
The events leading up to this moment are nothing short of shocking and left me genuinely wondering who I should route for because it is clear now that Eren and the Scouts are on opposing sides.
This can be seen with the death of Darius Zachary who was killed by some of Eren’s followers because he was planning to have him sacrificed and his Founding Titan power given to someone else.
I did not particularly like Zachary as a character but it was still shocking to see him die in such a gruesome way.
That said, it was oddly fitting and funny that he was most likely killed because of a bomb attached to his excrement torture device first seen in the Uprising Arc.
Speaking of the Uprising Arc, it looks like the past is repeating itself because the masses are once again turning against the government, only this time the government is a side we are routing for, which makes the whole situation complicated.
I do not know whose side to take here, Eren or the Scouts.
We do not even fully know Eren’s motivations for turning against the Scouts and even Mikasa and Armin seem to be questioning him by the end of the chapter.
Attack on Titan started with these three as the closet of friends but as it has gone on Eren has moved further and further away from the two.
I love how Isayama continues to shape these three characters friendship, especially with Armin and Mikasa now wondering how much they can trust Eren.
The fact that Pieck is shown to be in Paradis at the end of the chapter makes the situation even worse.
Along with all this, there are numerous other interesting scenes.
We got another conversation between Pyxis and Yelena where she admits she did meet with Eren but only to help him shape his ideology.
She really came across as a crazed fan girl here but Pyxis points out how he knows she is lying because she did not incorporate any truth into what she said.
So what is Yelena, a crazy fan girl or an attempted manipulator with her own motives?
Either way it will be interesting what her role to play in this story is.
Another intriguing scene in “Counterfeit” saw Armin visiting Annie again, only this time he appears a lot more intimate with because he reaches out to touch the crystal.
He is then caught by Hitch who he desperately tries to explain himself to but I am unsure whether she bought it or not.
I, for one, certainly do not buy it because it seems apparent that Armin has gained some feelings for Annie over the years.
I think this has to do with him inheriting Bertholdt’s memories after he became the Colossal Titan.
If this is true it will be interesting to see in what other ways Bertholdt’s memories have affected him.
“Counterfeit” was a fantastic way to end Volume 27 because it redeemed a lot of the bad stuff that came before in the first few chapters.
The consequences of this chapter will most likely be felt across the series because Eren now seems to have fully embraced his dark side, moving towards an unforeseen goal that may have even more dire consequences.