Attack on Titan, the Final Season, Episode Twenty-One, From You, 2000 Years Ago Review: Fantastic, Despite the Hindsight.

The twenty first episode of Attack on Titan’s final season, “From You, 2000 Years Ago”, was quite the surprise for me.
Honestly, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it as much as I did.
This is because the ending to the manga rectontextualized the chapter this episode adapts in a negative way for me, making it a lot less enjoyable.
However, despite this problem still being there in some instances, I actually loved this episode.
But, I am getting ahead of myself.
My criticisms for the future recontextualization of this episode will be left for the manga spoiler section down below and this half of the review will be spoiler free for the future of the story.
Directed by Naoki Matsuura, the episode begins by adapting the rest of Chapter 121, by first showing the fight between Grisha and Freida, which ended with Grisha killing her and the entire Reiss family, except for Rod.
Then, as expected, given how the rest of the episodes have started in the Final Season’s second half, we get a brief recap of the last scene of Episode Twenty, seeing Grisha’s reconcilation with Zeke again, leading to Zeke being thrown back into Paths with a chained Eren.
Zeke is horrifed at Eren’s manipulation of Grisha, stating that Eren showed Grisha something from the future that convinced him to pass on the Founding and Attack Titan.
Eren confirms this, before going on to state that he saw his own future all the way back in the Season Three finale, when he kissed Historia’s hand.
For those who watched this episode and are still confused about how this works, I’ll give a brief expanation.
Basically, Historia’s royal blood allowed Eren to get a better look at Grisha’s memory of killing the Reiss family.
However, because Grisha was then being manipulated by Eren and seeing his future memories, it allowed Eren at the moment when he kissed Historia’s hand to see these memories of what he would eventually do in the future.
This is another moment of geniux writing from Isayama, recontextualizing the Season Three finale perfectly by connecting it to the past and future.
Back to talking about Eren and Zeke in the Paths, Eren tells Zeke that when he kissed Historia’s hand he saw a “sight.”
This is where a curious change from the manga comes into play here.
In the original Chapter 121, when Eren mentions this “sight,” he looks like he cannot wait to see it, while in this episode he looks depressed when he says it.
I will get into the potential reason for this change down in the manga spoilers section.
Despite Eren looking depressed when he mentions the “sight,” it naturally does not lessen Zeke’s fears, only heightens them, causing him to demand that Ymir sterilize all Eldians at once.
She turns to do so and Eren, in a panic, rips himself free from the chains holding him down, with some great screaming from Yuki Kaji.
As Eren runs to grab a hold of Ymir, Zeke tells him that no one can stop the Founder Ymir once she has begun to move.
One opening credits scene later, and we get the adaptation of my former favourite chapter of Attack on Titan, “From You, 2000 Years Ago,” which depicts Ymir’s backstory.
It starts off with a brief flashback to Freida reading a young Historia the book about Ymir, describing her as a girl who is kind because she’s always thinking of others.
This brief scene is nice to compare Mappa and WIT’s differing style, as it also appeared in Season Three.
Along with this, it leads into Ymir’s backstory well, which shows that, despite constantly thinking of others, Ymir’s life was not a good one.
This is first proven with the the scene of Ymir’s village being raided by a group of barbarians, who enslave its people and cut out their tongues.
After this horrific treatment, Ymir sees two people kissing, showing her longing for human connection, and this is followed up by the leader of the barbarians, Fritz, declaring that one of the slaves has set a pig free.
He demands that the slaves identify the culprit or everyone else will lose an eye.
Whether she did it or not, Ymir is thrown under the bus, with thirteen fingers pointing at her, representing the life span of Titan Shifters.
Since Ymir has no tongue now, she cannot even defend herself and has to resort to bowing to Fritz, who sarcastically tells her that she is “free,” before having her hunted down like a wild animal.
With one eye gouged out, and multiple arrows in her body, Ymir flees until she comes across a gigantic tree, which she seeks refuge in, only to fall into a pit of water and begin to drown.
Just as she is about to die, a strange spine-like creature rises up and merges with her, making Ymir the first Titan.
Many years later, Ymir is still a slave for Fritz, unfortunately.
It gets worse for her when Fritz tells Ymir he will give her his “seed,” to which Ymir looks absolutley miserable, understandably so.
We then get a montage of Ymir bearing Fritz’s children, while his Eldian Empire continues to grow, with Ymir also being forced to fight and subjugate Marley, which resembled the Roman Empire back then.
Eventually, a group of Marleyan leaders are bowing before Fritz, only for this to turn out to be an assassination attempt, as one soldier throws a hidden spear at Fritz.
Ymir throws herself in front of the spear, giving her life for Fritz, only for him to berate her, telling her to get up since he knows no spear can kill her.
At that moment, Ymir gives up on life and dies, her soul going into the Paths.
In the physical world, Fritz horrifically feeds Ymir’s body to her daughters, revealed to be Maria, Rose and Sina, who the three walls on Paradis will be named after.
This cannibalistic feast allows Ymir’s Titan powers to be passed down.
Despite this horrifying scene being censored compared to the manga, I still think it was adapted well.
Ymir then continues to build Titan in the Paths for 2000 years, while we hear Fritz’s narration that his Titans will rule until the world’s end.
It is at this point that Eren interrupts Fritz, bringing us back to the present with his declaration that he will put an end to this world, pleading with Ymir to give him her strength.
He proclaims she is not a god, or a devil, but a person and that she has the right to choose what happens now.
Alarmed, Zeke runs to stop Eren, demanding that Ymir continue to obey him, just like Fritz demanded of her.
As Zeke approaches, Eren continues to console Ymir, before wondering if she was the one who lead him here, and telling her she has been waiting 2000 years for someone.
At this moment, we see Ymir’s eyes for the first time as she cries at Eren’s profound words.
This powerful moment was adapted beautifully from the manga, but I do wish we had seen Ymir’s face rise up to reveal her expression rather than just cutting to it, which the anime chose to do.
In any case, Ymir has chosen Eren.
Despite this being a powerful choice, it is quickly revealed to also be a horrifying one.
Outside of Paths, the spine-like creature emerges from Eren’s body and attaches itself to his decapitated head, the following transformiation absorbing both him and Zeke, as the walls crumble around them.
The Rumbling has begun.
Cutting back to Mikasa and Armin, the two look on in shock at Eren’s new Titan form, which is the largest we have ever seen in the story.
Armin desperately wants to believe Eren is doing the right thing, stating his belief that Eren has started only a partial Rumbling to destroy the world’s military.
However, it quickly becomes apparent that this is not the case, as Armin notices that all of Wall Maria has collapsed.
If Eren wanted to destroy just the world’s military, then he would not need so many Wall Titans.
Just as this relization is hitting Armin and Mikasa, Eren calls them and every other Eldian into Paths using the Founding Titan’s power to declare his intentions.
We get a brief overview of every important character hearing his announcement, including some anime original reactions from Floch and Historia, the latter of whom is still sitting in that damn rocking chair that she can’t seem to leave ever since she got pregant.
Eren declares to every single Eldian that his intent is to use the Rumbling to wipe out all life beyond Paradis Island, with the episode ending on a fantastic adaptation of his monstrous face from Chapter 123.
Eren has now gone down the path of global genocide and there is no going back for him.
“From You, 2000 Years Ago” is a fantastic episode of Attack on Titan, already being hailed as one of the series’ best, what with its amazing showcase of Ymir’s tragic backstory and Eren’s horrifying plans for the Rumbling.
Although, I am curious if anime onlies will keep this high opinion of the episode once its events are recontextualized with the ending.

Manga Spoilers:

I will start off the manga spoilers section for this post with a scene that I will admit to being quite confused by.
This is the opening scene, where Zeke confronts Eren after they leave their father’s memories.
As I said in the spoiler free section, Zeke deduces that Eren showed Grisha a memory, which convinced him to hand over the power of the Founding Titan.
What was this memory he was shown?
Well, your guess is as good as mine.
Seriously, what did Eren show Grisha that convinced him?
We get no further explanation on it in the manga and Grisha’s soul even sides against Eren in Chapter 137, so why does he give him the power?
Either this is something that will be explained in the show, with an anime original scene, or it’s a plot hole, unless I’m misunderstanding this scene’s meaning, of course.
Then there’s the strange change of Eren’s expression when he refrences the “sight.”
The question is why the anime changed his expression from excited to depressed?
This is just a guess on my part but maybe it’s because they want it to be more in line with the idea that Eren was pretty much a slave to the Founding Titan in the ending, forced by destiny or something to do all he did, which Eren would not be happy about.
If that is the reason for the change, I don’t really like it because it does not line up with Eren’s reaction to the “sight” of the Rumbling in Chapter 131.
Unless, god forbid, they change that too.
Now, let’s talk about the recontextualization of Chapter 122.
I disliked the ending reveals that Ymir was in love with her abuser and waiting for Mikasa to help her get rid of this toxic love so much that it shot the chapter from my favourite to right out of my top ten.
If anything, though, I would think that it speaks to this episode’s quality that I was able to put aside this major issue I have and enjoy it so much, despite my hindsight for future events as a manga reader.
However, there were a few instances where my negative opinion creeped through.
For instance, this episode only strengthened my opinion that the twist of Ymir loving Fritz is absolutely ridiculous.
Even if you put it in the lens of stockholm syndrome it makes no sense.
Just look at Ymir’s reaction to Fritz telling her that he will force her to bear his children.
Like I said in the spoiler free section, she looks miserable when he says that.
How are we supposed to believe she loved him when she looks so depressed whenever she’s with him because he’s such a monster to her?
I’m dreading this reveal whenever we get to it.
It’s easily the worst part of the entire ending for me.
I’ll end the manga spoiler section on a positive note, talking about the absence of most of Chapter 123, “Island Devils.”
That chapter mainly consists of a flashback from Mikasa’s perspective during her, Eren, Armin and the other scouts’ time infiltrating Marley.
This flashback was skipped over in the episode for the ending scene, where Eren declares he will destroy the world.
However, I do not think this scene has been removed entirely.
No, I think it was just moved for when the anime adapts Chapter 131, “Rumbling.”
I think the flashback of Chapter 123 would work perfectly with Chapter 131’s adaptation because it is the chapter that introduces Ramzi.
Seeing him and his family partying with the 104th, our main characters’ last moments of happiness, before seeing Ramzi and millions of other innocents slaughtered in the Rumbling right after would be horrifying and a lot more cohesive.
So, if that is what the anime is going for, I am in favour of this change.
Of course, there is the chance that this flashback has been removed altogether, but I don’t see that happening since it is required to introduce Ramzi, which will go on to make his death by the Rumbling impactful.
So, I’m looking forward to be horrified with that episode, before the season ends to adapt the rest of the manga in either a movie or the Final Season Part Three, because there’s no way it’s ending in twelve episodes with this pacing.

Attack on Titan, the Final Season, Episode 19, Two Brothers Review: Three Family Tragedies.

I was quite excited for episodes 19 and 20 of the Final Season of Attack on Titan.
This is because they would be adapting some of my favourite chapters of the manga, Chapter 119, “Two Brothers”, and Chapter 121, “Memories of the Future”, the latter actually being my favourite of the story.
As for “Two Brothers”, it was adapted amazingly under director Teruyuki Omine, detailing the three tragedies between brothers that happen in this episode perfectly.
The episode begins with a thankfully small recap, as we only see Zeke fall from the Wall, as he did in the previous episode, before we get to the current content, which begins with Eren absolutely wrecking Porco when he tries to stop him from reaching Zeke.
However, he is stopped by yet another head shot from Pieck’s Titan canon, only for the Jeagerists, lead by Floch, to intervene.
This leads to a brutal shot adapted well from the manga, where a Jeagerist is killed by Pieck’s canon slamming into him.
Seeing this, Armin realizes they have to take out the Cart Titan if they are to have a chance at winning.
Mikasa then saves him from gunfire, since Armin took his eyes off the battle they are currently in while thinking ahead.
Connie takes out their attackers and the group move forward, with Armin deciding to take Pyxis’ advice to get behind the enemy.
We then cut to Zeke, who wakes up at the bottom of the wall, still in his Beast Titan form, and he sees Eren being attacked by Reiner, who tries to rally Porco to help him.
However, when Reiner reaches for Porco, he unintentionally activates a memory from Marcel, showing Porco how his brother badmouthed him to keep him from inheriting the Armoured Titan, all to protect him.
So starts the beginning of the brotherly tragedies in this episode, as Zeke decides to scream and transform every single Eldian who drank his poisoned wine into Titans.
It is at this moment that Colt runs onto the scene with Falco, begging Zeke to allow his little brother enough time to escape the range of Zeke’s scream.
This clearly strikes a cord with Zeke, who feels the same brotherly bond with Eren.
However, it is because of that bond that he cannot delay the transformations so, to protect his plan and Eren, he screams.
Right as Falco transforms, Colt holds him close telling him that he is there for him.
On that note, I will say that that I wish they had kept Colt’s line from the manga, telling Falco that his big brother would always be with him.
That said, the soundtrack to Falco, Pyxis, Nile and the other infected member of the military’s transformation is top notch, and it becomes even better when the Titan invasion music from the very first season begins to play.
It really reminded me of the attack on Trost at the beginning of the story, especially with some visual similarities, like one Titan peeking behind a building, similar to how the one who ate Thomas did in Season One.
The moment is made more horrifying with Reiner staring in horror at Falco’s disturbing Titan form, and Gabi seeing Colt’s burned body, looking quite similar to how Armin did when he almost sacrificed himself to defeat Bertholdt.
Taking advantage of the situation, Zeke orders Falco’s Titan to kill Reiner, giving Eren the oppurtunity to escape.
Before Eren can break free from Reiner’s grasp, though, Zeke is apparently fatally shot through the nape by Magath, as he, Pieck, and the other Marleyan soldiers have defeated Floch’s Jeagerists, with Floch being the only survivor again.
Just as Magath is about to land another shot on Eren’s head, Armin’s plan to get behind the enemy pays off, as he blows Pieck’s Titan canon up with a thunder spear, while Mikasa kills some more Marleyan soldiers aiming for Armin, including Koslo.
Speaking of, I like how the anime decided to include Koslo in this attack, leading to Mikasa killing him.
In the manga, he just disappears after the Marley Arc, so it was nice to see the anime give him an actual death, even if he is just a minor character who pretty much nobody cares about.
One character I do care about is Porco, who ends up robbing Reiner of his sacrifice, allowing Falco to eat him instead.
This is a great death for Porco for three reasons.
Number One: He is too injured to heal himself so will die anyway but, this way, his death can have meaning.
Number Two: By saving Falco, he is living up to his own brother Marcel’s legacy as a brother.
And Number Three: It is one last middle finger to Reiner, as he dies saying he was always better than him.
Honestly, Colt and Porco were kind of meh characters for me, but their deaths in this episode are so well written it makes me care about them.
Enraged over Porco’s death, Reiner attacks Eren with all of his strength, only for him to harden and then escape, running to finally meet Zeke, who was playing dead that whole time.
Jean and Connie aid Eren, shooting Reiner with Thunder Spears to clear his way.
Zeke screams for Eren to hurry, stretching out his hand as he approaches, only for Gabi to pick up Colt’s Anti-Titan Rifle and literally decapitate Eren with it.
Imagine if this was the cliffhanger for the episode.
Everyone would have lost it right?
Well, that’s how it was for us manga readers because that is exactly how Chapter 119 concludes.
I read this chapter in public and got a few weird looks as I audibly gasped at the sight of Gabi shooting Eren.
However, despite this, I never really blamed Gabi.
Eren still murdered a lot of her friends and, whatever his plan is, it cannot be good for Gabi’s family in Marley.
Besides, it’s not like Eren’s dead, as Zeke makes contact with his head before he can die.
Before this, though, we get a flashback to Eren and Zeke’s meeting in Liberio, where we see just how much Eren means to Zeke, but also get a hint of how Eren may be manipulating Zeke, as he does not catch the ball Zeke gives him as a sign of trust.
This flashback then cuts back to the present, where Zeke catches Eren’s head, and we get the adaptation of the memory shards, which are amazingly adapted, with a couple of interesting easter eggs.
From here, we have Eren entering the Paths with a chained up Zeke, who explains that he waited years in the Paths for Eren to be reformed and that the chains constricting him are there because of the King’s vow renouncing war, stopping those with royal blood from using the Founding Titan, so only Eren can command Ymir.
Speaking of, the little girl who saved Zeke at the beginning of the season is confirmed to be Ymir Fritz, the Founder of all Titans.
Zeke then begs Eren to complete their plan of sterilizing all Eldians, only to learn that it is not Eren’s plan at all, bringing yet more brotherly tragedy to an episode full of it.
When Zeke demands that Eren tell him why he betrayed him, Eren responds with his catchphrase of “because I was born into this world,” before asking Ymir to lend him her power, only for her to walk straight past him and bow before Zeke.
Zeke reveals to a confused Eren that because he was not influenced by the first king’s ideology when he arrived in Paths, he was able to eventually destroy the vow renouncing war, allowing him to take full control of the Founding Titan.
This allows Zeke to order Ymir, who sees him as her master, along with other royal blooded Titan users, since she has the mentality of a slave.
The original Titan Shifter being a slave this entire time is a really interesting twist that plays into the story much better than the idea of her being some kind of evil manipulator.
Now having full control of the Founding Titan, Zeke declares that he will “save” Eren before saving the world with him, pressing their heads togethor with a flash of Titan lightening, bringing an end to the episode.
Although, given the direction Episode 20 goes, this was definitely not the best of idea on Zeke’s part.
Overall, Episode 19 was a fantastic adaptation of Chapter 119 and parts of Chapter 120.
It did a great job of bringing the brotherly tragedies of Colt and Falco, Porco and Marcel, and Eren and Zeke to the screen.

Manga Spoilers:

One thing I find especially interesting with the memory shard adaptation is the inclusion of goth Mikasa and nerd Armin from the school alternate universe at the end of every Attack on Titan volume, along with the inclusion of the cover image of Reiner in a sauna.
I’m pretty sure the latter is just an easter egg but I think there may be a possibility that the school au could be included in the anime, specifically the final one at the end of the last volume where a modern day Eren, Mikasa and Armin seem to be watching the end of Attack on Titan in the movie threatre.
This could potentially be a post credits scene after the final episode or movie, if the leaks about that are right.
Now that I think about it, Eren and Mikasa watching Attack on Titan at the movies could have been Isayama’s subtle way of telling the readers that we were getting a movie for the ending.
However, I’m not really sure how I’d feel about the school alternate universe being included in the anime, since I’ve never really cared it, but it’s a possibility I wanted to bring up.

Attack on Titan, the Final Season, Episode 18, Sneak Attack Review: Mappa Continues to do the Manga Justice.

I can still remember reading Chapter 118 of Attack on Titan for the first time and being quite impressed with all of the standout character moments.
Well, I am pleased to say that Mappa adapted this chapter amazingly, for the most part.
Directed by Jun Shishido, “Sneak Attack” begins by recapping the last few minutes of the previous episode, again showing us Armin tell everyone that Eren was probably lying about Mikasa, and that he is most likely just using Zeke and Yelena.
Last episode had a recap beginning as well and, honestly, I’m finding them to be a bit annoying.
It’s clear they’re just doing it to pad for time so they can adapt one chapter per episode.
Once the recap of the previous episode is over, the other characters quickly come to the conclusion that they have to help Eren, with Jean even admitting that he envied Eren because he found him to be “cool,” a great moment of growth for him.
Afterwards, the 104th go to suit up so they can help Eren fight off Marley and, while running, Mikasa questions Armin’s reasoning for Eren lying.
This causes Armin to remember Eren’s final line in the Season Three finale about destroying their enemies beyond the sea.
He realizes something because of this but chooses to stay quiet, instead focusing on how he and Eren both knew about Mikasa’s headaches so Eren used it to make his lie more convincing.
We then get another recap of Eren and Reiner’s fight, followed up by a kind of underwhelming moment when Porco attacks Eren, only for him to be punched away.
This, and Eren’s glare at Reiner when he is being held down, just had a lot more impact in the manga.
However, this worrying start then turns amazing when Eren begins to rip Reiner’s jaw apart.
Eren’s scream mixed with his Titan roar gave me goosebumps, as did Zeke arriving to save his little brother.
The Beast Titan was completely CGI in Part One of the Final Season but he appears to be mostly 2D in this episode and looks absolutely fantastic.
This animation only gets better when Zeke throws his crunched up boulders at Marley’s airships, causing them to crash into each other and explode.
As this is happening, Eren begins making his way towards Zeke, limping as he does so, which is a great showcase of the brain damage his Titan received from the constant heads shots from Pieck’s Anti-Titan Canon.
The Marleyan forces struggle to combat this, with Pieck and Magath forced to go on the defensive against Floch and the Jeagerists, and Colt and Gabi going to rescue Falco.
They don’t really have to though because the 104th set out to free everyone the Jeagerists are holding captive, including Falco and Nile.
Nile tries to comfort Falco before they are freed, saying this may be his chance to get home, while he may sadly never see his daughters again, even though there is so much he wants to tell them.
Along with Falco and Nile, Shadis and Pyxis are also freed, the latter of which prepares to lead his men who have drunk Zeke’s contaminated wine in the last ditch stand.
Mikasa also prepares for battle, Louise with her, and at that moment she decides to leave her scarf behind, something she has never done before.
Now, surely I am including this as one of the many great character growth moments in this episode, right?
Well, unfortunately, no, I’m not.
The reason for why though is manga spoilers so I’ll detail the reasons why I found this scene off putting in the manga section below.
Once the 104th are all geared up, they go outside, where we see two iconic Yelena panels adapted.
The first of these is her basking in the glory of Zeke’s destruction of the airships which is, again, fantastically animated.
The second of these is her troll face, when Armin tells everyone they don’t have time to focus on Levi and Hange’s status, as they should instead focus on helping Eren and Zeke.
Yelena’s threatening troll face that follows is great and a moment that I’m sure gave a lot of anime only viewers a few nervous chuckles.
As if these Yelena moments weren’t standout enough, we then get Nile, Floch and Gabi’s development in what is the best scene of the entire episode.
Colt and Gabi come across Nile, Falco and the other wine poisoned military police.
Falco sees Colt and tells Nile who, instead of attacking, takes Falco to his brother, freeing him.
Nile might not have much of a hope of seeing his daughters again but he made sure to help a little boy alone on the battlefield.
It is interesting how Isayama actually started Nile off like an antagonist, having him trying to get Eren taken in by the Military Police, where he probably would have been given to Rod Reiss to pass on his Titan.
Then, Isayama pulled back the layers to reveal Nile as a sympathetic character also fighting for humanity, all leading to this moment where he helps Falco.
Next, comes Gabi’s big moment of character development, as she stops Colt from attacking Nile and then, after overhearing Kya talk about how she wants to kill Gabi for killing Sasha, finally admits to herself that she was wrong about the people of Paradis being devils.
Her tearfully announcing this is her biggest moment and it is made better in the anime, through the new shots of open bird cages, showing how Gabi has just begun to free herself from the cycle of violence.
Falco also frees himself in a sense by finally confessing not just his involvement in the attack on Liberio, leading to Udo and Zofia’s deaths, but also his feelings for Gabi.
His awkward confession is genuinely sweet and leads to another excellent moment of growth for Gabi, as she tears off Falco’s black armband, just like he tore off her Eldian one before they meet Kya.
The three then go to warn Zeke about Falco ingesting the spinal fluid, in the hope that this will convince him not to scream.
They almost did not need to worry, though, because it is then we get the titular “Sneak Attack,” with Pieck and Magath showing off their intelligence by launching a near fatal attack on Zeke.
First, they have Pieck emerge from her Titan, causing it to disintegrate, making the Jeagerists think the have defeated her.
Then, the Marleyans ambush Floch and the other Jeagerists.
Finally, Magath fires the Anti-Titan Canon at Zeke in the hopes of killing Zeke.
Unfortunately for them, and Falco, Zeke is still alive so there is still a chance that he could scream if he is given the chance to recover on the ground wher he has fallen, ending the episode.
Overall, “Sneak Attack” is a fantastic adaptation of Chapter 118.
My only criticisms are that the recaps are slightly annoying and the Mikasa scarf scene loses a lot of impact for me with hindsight.
Otherwise, it’s a great episode, and I am even more excited for the next one because it will be adapting one of my favourite chapters of the entire series, Chapter 119, “Two Brothers.”

Manga Spoilers:

Now, I will talk about the issue I have with the Mikasa leaving her scarf behind scene.
This scene had me excited when I first read it in the manga because I thought it would be a turning point for her character.
Yes, I did think the scarf would work its way back to her through Louise based off her looking at it, but I at least thought this would all result in Mikasa potentially distancing herself from Eren.
Instead, Mikasa ends up doubling down on her Eren obsession, despite her ending up killing him in Chapter 138.
This whole thing of her leaving the scarf behind just seems pointless in retrospect.
Mikasa is a character who my opinion on really suffered when I reread the series for my Top Ten Chapters list.
I am not saying that she never develops, but she is a character with so many missed opportunities.
She could have developed so much through her Ackerman and Hizuru heritage, along with leaving the scarf behind and her connection to Louise but these chances for further development are never taken.
It makes me wonder how I will view future Mikasa scenes in the anime.
Is the hindsight of how her story ends also going to make those less impactful for me?
I certainly hope not.

Attack on Titan, The Final Season, Episode 17, Judgement Review: Second Battle of Shiganshina.

Attack on Titan is back for the second part of its final season and, boy, am I excited to see some of my favourite chapters of the story animated.
Directed by Yūichirō Hayashi, Episode 17, “Judgement” is not an adaptation of one of my favourite chapters but it is still a pretty great episode nonetheless, starting off this series of episodes quite well.
“Judgement” begins by showing the scene I was disappointed not to see in the first half of the final season.
However, this scene’s adaptation certainly did not disappoint, presenting some excellent animation right off the bat.
The episode begins with the captive Hange and the Jeagerists discovering the aftermath of the explosion Zeke caused, after which both his and Levi’s fates were left uncertain.
Well, Levi’s status is still unknown, even after this episode, because it is not entirely clear if he is alive or dead.
That said, I was quite impressed with the amount of detail that went into the gore for what happened to Levi.
Heck, I was surprised with how uncensored this episode was in general.
Back to the scene at hand, Floch and the Jeagerists want to put a bullet in Levi’s head, to which Hange responds that he is already dead, only for her to flee with him when Zeke is revived.
The animation during Zeke’s revival is fantastic and it raises a great mystery with the question of who the girl who revived him in the “paths” was.
Then, we get the opening, “The Rumbling” by SiM, which is another banger, with some great symbolism for future events.
From here, the episode continues with Marley’s attack on Shiganshina, beginning the battle with an unexpectedly comedic moment, when Porco cuts off Pieck’s hand, so she can escape with Gabi.
The hand falls right into Gabi’s hands and the two scream as Pieck throws herself off the building to transform, leaving me chuckling.
In the end, both Titan Shifters escape, Pieck taking Gabi with her, later allowing Gabi to disclose her newfound theory to Magath that Zeke has royal blood, meaning they cannot allow the Jaeger brothers to come into contact.
As for Eren himself, he disregards Yelena’s advice to use the power of the Warhammer Titan to escape.
Instead, Eren goes to face Reiner, who lifts his bloody hand up to Eren before transforming, much like Eren did when he confronted Reiner in Marley.
This was a great callback.
It’s just a shame for Reiner that his fight with Eren goes as well as all of his previous fights with him.
Eren pummels him pretty easy, and Reiner only stands a chance with Porco’s help.
This is also when Eren is not using the Warhammer Titan’s powers.
When he does use them, the battle goes back to being incredibly one sided again.
But then, the Titan that is always exactly right enters the battlefield, as Magath uses Pieck’s Anti-Titan Gun to blow multiple holes in Eren’s Titan head.
This gives Marley plenty of time to deal with many of the Jeagerists, gunning them down with ease.
In Marley, the Scouts had the advantage, yet here it is clearly the reverse.
Much like many scenes in the first half of the Final Season, Mappa added a lot of combat scenes, like when the Jeagerist is chocking the Marley soldier, only to be stabbed with a bayonet from behind.
These are great additions that show off the brutality of war.
As well as Marley gaining the upper hand on the Jeagerists, Reiner also does on Eren, impaling him with one of his own Titan crystals.
While this is happening, Onyankopon rushes to free the 104th from their cell, not having been able to do so earlier out of fear of what Yelena would do to him.
However, he receives a less than warm welcome, with Connie outraged at his perceieved betrayal, revealing how the betrayals or Reiner, Bertholdt, Annie, and now Eren hurt him.
Armin wants to hear Onyankopon out, though, and the volunteer expresses how he is against Yelena and Zeke’s plan to sterilize the Eldians because he believes Paradis has a future and children are that future.
This causes Armin to remember Onyankopon’s comment about how an interesting mix of people makes the world more interesting, realizing he truly is on their side.
Armin also goes on to say he thinks Eren was lying about Mikasa only protecting Eren because she is an Ackerman and being on Zeke’s side, because him carrying out the Euthanization Plan would go directly against his character, beleiving he is only playing along with Zeke and Yelena.
The voice acting of this scene is really great, with Connie, Armin and Onyankopon’s voice actors doing a really good job.
Once this scene is done, we get the cliffhanger, which is Eren still being impaled with his crystal by Reiner, leaving him in a rather precarious position at the end of the episode.
We then get the ED, “Akuma no Ko” by Ai Higuchi, which I think is just as good as the OP.
It reminds me a lot of the OP from the first season and I think this is clearly intentional.
So, overall the second half of the Final Season is off to a good start with “Judgement.”
I am quite excited to see my favourite chapter, 121, get adapted eventually as well.

Manga Spoilers:
Since I’m a manga reader, I decided to leave a little section at the end of every review where I can talk about spoilers.
The main thing I want to talk about here is the OP, “The Rumbling.”
Along with it having some great symbolism, like the trampled butterfly at the end representing Ramzi, I was quite surprised by how many spoilers were packed in, like the actual Rumbling happening and Eren’s Founding Titan form.
I think some of these things probably should have been kept vague for anime only viewers.
Another interesting part of not just the OP but the ED as well is how they both refrence the final chapter.
In the OP we see Eren, Mikasa and Armin running towards the tree on the hill, which is important to the ending as it is where Eren is buried when he dies, and in the ED we see Paradis destroyed and overtaken by nature, much like how it is in the updated ending.
Because of this, it’s pretty obvious that we aren’t getting an anime original ending.
Not that I thought we would, but I have been seeing some insane conspiracy theories out there about how an anime original ending was always part of the plan.
People have literally been saying that a supposedly different coloured scarf means the ending will be completley changed.
With the OP and ED putting these anime ending theories to rest, I think the best we can hope for is maybe a couple of changes, rather than a completley different ending.
Personally, I’m just hoping the a few of the last minute twists of the ending will be reworked to make them more digestible.
Hopefully, some dialogue will be changed as well.
For example, please change Armin saying “thank you for becoming a mass muderer,” to, “I’m sorry you became a mass murderer.”
The “thank you” part really sends a bad message, although I know that is unintentional.
But, whatever ending we do get, we probably won’t be getting it for a while if the leaks about a movie turn out to be true.
Either way, I’m just looking forward to seeing fantastic chapters like 119, 121, 122, 123, 129, 130 and 131 adapted with the rest of Part Two.

Chainsaw Man PV Reaction: All Aboard the Hype Devil Train!

Warning: This reaction will contain spoilers for the manga so if you haven’t read it then don’t read this.

Chainsaw Man is one of my favourite mangas.
Written and illustrated by Tatsuki Fujimoto, the story is a constant mix of being endearing, hilarious, horrifying, and emotional.
I’ve reread it twice and I’ve only loved it more each time.
So, obviously, I was very excited for the PV for the upcoming anime from Mappa Studio.
Well, we got the PV recently and its safe to say that the fanbase lost its collective mind over how good it was.
Seriously, I really hope that we don’t get an Attack on Titan Final Season situation where the actual show’s animation doesn’t live up to Mappa’s PV animation.
Not saying that Attack on Titan’s animation was bad but the PV did look better, and this caused a lot of outrage when the actual CGI appeared, which went as far as some stupid people harrassing Mappa’s staff.
Now, was the Chainsaw Man trailer preanimated?
Almost certainly.
However, this doesn’t mean we won’t be getting the same outcome as Attack on Titan because apparently the same people working on this trailer will be working on the anime and also the schedule will probably not be as bad for these animators, hopefully.
As for what happens in the trailer, it has a lot of recognizable and unrecognizable moments interestingly enough.
The PV starts and we see a young Denji standing in a bloody alleyway and a mouse nearby, as the shot pans out to reveal the city outside.
This works as great symbolism, both for what will be revealed about Denji as the story goes on and also the whole country and city mouse discussion that comes about.
From here, the trailer cuts to the Hayakawa household, with Denji, Aki and Power having a nice family meal.
The three of them look excellent and this is seen further with the following shots of Denji, Power and Kobeni at the beach and Aki and Himeno in bed.
Along with these moments leaving a smile on my face because of how well animated they are, they also had me intrigued because these scenes were not in the manga.
It makes me wonder if Mappa will be adding some anime only scenes or if these are just for the trailer.
Will be interesting to see.
However, the fact that the next shots reveals these idyllic settings are happening inside a TV screen means it is likely that these moments are not real and the disturbing stuff that follows is.
These disturbing things include shots of the Eternity Devil, a graveyard for devil hunters, a bloody Gun Devil bullet, Aki’s house exploding, Katana Man and Sawatari walking, Denji’s door, Denji resting with Pochita in an old shack, and Makima herself about to throw down.
Once the horror side of Chainsaw Man has been shown with this, the trailer makes sure to show the action side, with bombastic music set to even more quick shots, this time of Kon, Aki drawing his sword, Kishibe rising up, Power attacking with a sledge hammer, and Denji facing off against the Bat Devil and Leech Devil.
The final shots of the trailer see Denji in his full Chainsaw Man getup, as he cuts down zombies left and right in a gory display.
Now, these last few shots do give more credence to the trailer being preanimated, since Denji is wearing his devil hunting outfit here, when in the manga he was shirtless.
Still, even if it is preanimated, I have hope that the anime can actually make this fight look as good as it does in the PV.
Overall, the PV is excellent.
It does a fantastic job of hyping up fans of the manga and also getting those who will be anime only viewers intrigued.
Also the director has been announced as Ryu Nakayama, who is a first time director but has been a key animator for anime like Kill la Kill and One Punch Man.
As for the composer, they have been announced as Kensuke Ushio, who has composed for A Silent Voice, Devilman Crybaby, and Japan Sinks: 2020.
So, both of these people are promising people to leave Chainsaw Man in the hands of.
I hope that they and Mappa Studio can pull off adapting one of my favourite manga.

Chainsaw Man Review: Can’t Wait for the Anime and Part Two!

What an insane ride this one was.
I’d heard a lot about Chainsaw Man over the last few months.
How insane and well written it is, how it’s going to get an adaptation by Studio Mappa, and, most recently, how we can expect a trailer in June.
With this final piece of news, I gave in and read the manga, discovering one hell of a story.
Written and illustrated by Tatsuki Fujimoto, Chainsaw Man is set in a world where humans often find themselves being attacked by Devils, so a group of Devil Hunters has been formed to combat them.
Our main character is Denji, a young man who hunts Devils with his own pet Devil, Pochita, to pay off his dead father’s debt to the Yakuza, which has passed onto him.

Denji has gone through a lot of bad things at the beginning of the story… come to think of it, he goes through even worse things as the story progresses!

However, after a dark turn of events sees Denji dismembered and thrown into a dumpster, Pochita makes a contract with Denji to give him his heart, if he shows him his dreams.
And so, Denji becomes Chainsaw Man, a human with the capacity to transform into a Devil who has a chainsaw head and arms to dismember any Devils that get in the way of his goals.
What are these goals?
Well, they’re simple things, like eating good food, having a nice place to sleep, and touching some boobs.
It’s honestly funny how simple Denji’s motivations are compared to the other characters.
For example, we have Aki, a character whose tragic backstory would make you think he is being set up to be the main character.
But no, instead we have Denji, whose main motivation for trying to kill what is supposedly the most dangerous Devil of all being that he will get one wish from the girl he likes, Makima.
It’s so absurd, yet it somehow works.

The humor of *Chainsaw Man* is so outlandish but it is clearly intentional and I just couldn’t stop laughing.

Speaking of characters like Makima and Aki, though, both of them are great, with so many fantastic twists and turns to their arcs.
It’s not just them who are fun characters because there are many others.
Power brings constant laughs to the table and the growing found family dynamic between her, Denji and Aki is beautifully handled.
Kobeni’s suffering is weaponized into being some of the funniest stuff in the entire story, with me laughing my head off, while also feeling sorry for her.
Then there’s the awesome devil hunter Kishibe, who may just be my favourite of the bunch, due to his personality and the way he handles his trauma.
I actually don’t think there’s a single character among the main cast who is a weak link.
This makes it even harder to sit through when Fujimoto inevitably breaks our hearts with another character’s gruesome fate.
Seriously, Fujimoto should go into business with Hajime Isayama, building an onsen where the water comes from their fans’ tears.
I’m pretty sure a good portion of those tears would come from me too because some of the things that happen got me really emotional.
Chainsaw Man made me go from laughing so hard my sides were hurting, to tearing up, to being left in stunned silence on multiple occasions.

There were so many moments in *Chainsaw Man* that made me have to take a moment to see if what I just read really happened in the story.

All of this emotion is brought across by Fujimoto’s excellent drawing skills.
The guy is as skilled at illustrating as he is at making us laugh and feel depressed.
This culminates in a fitting ending for this part of the story, which has me not only incredibly excited for Mappa’s adaptation but also for Part Two of the manga, whenever that releases.
Chainsaw Man is one hell of a manga that will leave you clutching your sides with laughter, shedding a few tears, and in stunned silence.
Hopefully Mappa can do this great story justice.

Attack on Titan Season Four, Episode Sixteen, Above and Below Review: Part One Ending as it Began.

Well, that’s a wrap people, at least for now.
Part One of the Final Season of Attack on Titan has concluded with its sixteenth episode, “Above and Below”, with Part Two airing either later this year or in early 2022.
What a place to end Part One on as well, considering that what many people, including myself, consider to be the best part of the Manga is set to be adapted next.
At least the wait will be worth it.
I just hope that the Mappa animators don’t have to deal with such a hellish schedule this time around but, given what they’re going to have to animate, I unfortunately doubt it.
As for the episode itself, “Above and Below” does a very good job of getting viewers excited for this second half.
Directed by Teruyuki Ōmine, Tomoko Hiramuki, and Jun Shishido, the episode begins with a brief showcase of the aftermath of Zeke setting off the thunderspear at the end of “Sole Salvation.”
With his lower half completley gone, he lies dying in a field of flowers, when he recieves a brief and mysterious vision of a young girl with shaded eyes, who is carrying a bucket.
Before this can be explained, one of Zeke’s Titans, who survived Levi’s purge last episode, crawls up to Zeke, rips open its stomach, and stuffs him inside, no doubt confusing many anime only viewers.
This is the last time we see Zeke in the episode and Part One, creating a slight disappointment in me that a scene I expected to be adapted in “Above and Below” wasn’t.
The scene that was cut is quite an amazing one from the manga, so I’m sad that we’re going to have to wait a while to get it but, hey, it’s not the end of the world.
I know I’ll get to see this moment eventually, along with the plenty of other mind blowing moments from the manga that have yet to be adapted.
Once this scene with Zeke is over, the episode cuts to Shiganshina, where Yelena is having her self prophecized dinner with Commander Pyxis, who notices that the Volunteers and the Yeagerists are using Marleyan tactics to take over the military, identifying people with armband.
White means they’re a Jeagerist, red means they were blackmailed into working with them through the tainted wine, and black is for those who continued to drink the poisoned wine without realizing, like Pyxis.
His bleak situation does not erase his sharpness, though, as he quickly picks up on Yelena commenting about a plan to “save the world.”
This confuses Pyxis because he and many others thought the plan was to save just the island with a partial Rumbling, completly unaware of Zeke’s Euthanization Plan, which Yelena then brings to the locked up 104th.
Yet, before she explains this plan to them, we get the fallout from Eren’s disastrous meeting with Armin and Mikasa, which ended with him telling Mikasa that he hated her and beating up Armin.
Mikasa just seems dead inside about the whole thing and Armin appears to be more conflicted than ever.
That leaves Jean to reassure them, unexpectedly saying Eren must have had a reason for what he did.
This is some great development for Jean because, at the beginning of the story, he would never have spoken in Eren’s favour, yet here he actually does so, showing true growth.
As for another character who gets more entertaining as the show goes on, we then get one of Yelena’s best scenes, as she enters to tell the 104th about the Euthanization Plan.
With her are Onyankopon, who seems to have betrayed them, and probably now one of the most hated characters Greiz.
I say this because he dared to mock and degrade Sasha in front of her possible boyfriend and family, long after she died.
Seeing Yelena put a bullet in his head after he called her the W word pleased a lot of fans, I’m sure.
It also shows just how enjoyably nuts Yelena is.
You never know if she’s just going to have a conversation with someone or stab them in the neck.
Speaking of stabbing people in the neck, we then get Pieck’s epic entrance with the adaptation of one of her best scenes from the manga, as she manages to corner Eren when he goes to try and blackmail Gabi into helping him by using Falco.
Marching into the room and stabbing Eren’s guard, Pieck seems to have the advantage, until Eren clearly points out she’s in no position to kill him, being under orders to capture the Founding Titan.
It’s here that we end up seeing why Pieck is one of the smartest characters because she actually manages to fool Eren into thinking she wants to defect to save her father, or at least make him think that trusting her is worth the risk.
Although, one criticism I do have that carries over from the manga about this scene is that I do feel that Pieck’s backstory is a little too similar to Annie’s but it’s not a massive problem.
Also, the rest of the scene is pretty great, with Pieck ripping away the last shreds of Gabi’s indoctrination, explaining to her that the Marleyans will never free her, no matter how hard she tries.
Pieck then offers to prove herself to Eren by taking him up to the roof where she can point out her comrades.
The scene then cuts to the reveal of another character who is a pretty great liar, that being Armin.
As Yelena fanatically explains the Euthanization Plan, Armin appears to laugh but covers it up with tears, or maybe cries for a very different reason to what he claims to Yelena.
Either way, he’s certainly fooled Yelena into thinking that he is on board with the Euthanization Plan.
Any way he can take this further is quickly interrupted by news of Pieck’s apparent defection, though, as Eren leads her to the top of the roof.
It looks like many of the Yeagerists are ready to become Pieck simps when she smiles and waves at them.
Unfortunately for them, they are not long for this world, as you can see Porco hiding amongst the crowd, having seen the handcuffs that Eren had placed on Pieck and Gabi to prevent her from transforming.
What follows is pretty much a full minute of Pieck basically rubbing it in Eren’s face about how smart she is and trying to worm any additional information out of him before the inevitable ambush happens.
What an ambush it is too, as Eren is prepared to transform but completley unprepared for Porco’s attack from below and Marley’s attack from above.
The build up to this moment is great with the lack of music up until Pieck points the finger at Eren when he asks where the enemy is, and her well animated smile of reassurance at Gabi.
Once the tables turn and Porco attacks, biting off Eren’s legs, we get a great transformation scene of Eren, in which his Titan is 2D, most likely pleasing those who had a problem with the CGI this season.
However, I do think some of the animation was lacking in this scene and also in a few others.
For example, the shot of the airships coming down to assault Shiganshina does look quite a bit off.
So, I suppose it’s a good thing that Mappa’s getting more time to animate Part Two.
Again, though, I hope the animators get treated way better than they did this time around with the really bad production schedule and tonnes of crunch.
Aside from the couple of animation issues, this final scene is still incredibly hype, ending Part One of the season exactly as it began, with Reiner in an airship ready to attack.
This parralel makes it a fitting place to end Part One of the Final Season.
There was certainly a different part they could have ended it on, which would have frustrated anime only viewers even more, so it’s probably a good thing they ended it where they did.
Overall, “Above and Below” is a pretty good episode, with a hype ending.
It might not be the best episode of the season so far but it was a fitting way to end the first half.
And, even though we may have to wait a while for Part Two, us manga readers still have the final chapter of the story to look forward to, which is supposed to be dropping on the ninth.
It’ll be interesting to see how this story will end and how Mappa with adapt it when the next half of the Final Season starts, either in late 2021 or early 2022.

Attack on Titan, Season Four, Episode Fifteen, Sole Salvation Review: A Cautionary Tale.

Much like Chapters 112 and 113, Chapter 114 of Attack on Titan is one that I have slowly come to appreciate more in the years since it came out.
So, I was pretty excited to see it adapted in Episode 15 of the Final Season, “Sole Salvation”, which aired right alongside the delayed episode, “Savagery.”
I mention that episode here because while I think that “Savagery” could have been adapted a little better, I think that “Sole Salvation” is a perfect adaptation of its corresponding chapter that mostly improves on the source material, with its fantastic animation, voice acting, and soundtrack.
Directed by Mitsue Yamazaki, the episode is entirely devoted to Zeke’s backstory and explains his relationship with the mysterious man teased at the end of Episode 14, why he decided to turn on his parents, how he came to his ideology and what this ideology is.
That last point is foreshadowed right at the beginning of “Sole Salvation”, where it is shown how Grisha and Dina tried to indoctrinate Zeke in their cause to restart the Eldian Empire by taking Zeke to a tower and showing him the poor conditions Eldians are forced to live in compared with the rest of the world.
It is at this moment that a seemingly kind, old janitor walks in and apologises for interrupting, saying he can come back later.
Any niceties disappear, though, when he sees the armband on Grisha’s arm and throws his bucket full of dirty water at them in disgust, blaming them for the murder of millions of innocents, even though this happened centuries ago and none of them could possibly be responsible.
The old man even goes as far to scold them for “pumping out kids”, in reference to Zeke, an important line that will affect Zeke’s ideology going forward.
Grisha again uses this situation to try and instill a drive in Zeke to change the world, telling him that he will save everyone, however, this is clearly not helping Zeke, considering the poor kid is doing the worst at training because his heart is not set on being a Warrior.
Can you really blame Zeke, though?
The kid just wants to live with his parents and be seen as their son, not as their tool for reviving Eldia.
It is here that we get our first look at Zeke’s father figure, Tom Ksaver, the former Beast Titan who seems to take an immediate interest in Zeke.
Along with him, Zeke also has his grandparents who do actually care about him and what he wants, yet still try to indoctrinate him with Marleyan propaganda about how the Eldian Empire was pure evil and committed countless sins.
One interesting thing to note about this scene is how the illustrations in Mr and Mr Jaeger’s book on the different atrocities the Eldian Empire supposedly committed against Marley actually link back to the ED of the Second Season.
That ED was just full of spoilers and foreshadowing for future events, wasn’t it?
Back to the episode, we then get the opposite side of the indoctrination Zeke suffers, as Grisha attempts to teach him the exact opposite of what his grandparents said, that Eldia never committed the atrocities Marley claims because Ymir would never allow it.
As for the truth?
Well, it’s probably somewhere down the middle.
The Eldian Empire certainly did a lot of evil things but they also did some good.
It just depends on where you’re perspective falls, I suppose.
Once we see both of these scenes showing how Zeke’s parents and grandparents are trying to indoctrinate him, we then get his introduction to the one person who never tried to, Ksaver.
The two offically meet when Ksaver’s baseball rolls into Zeke’s path, seemingly by chance, although it is pretty clear by the end that Ksaver did this on purpose because Zeke reminded him of his dead son.
The two form an instant friendship, as Ksaver praises Zeke ernestly and not based on what he expects him to be, like Grisha and Dina do.
Speaking of which, we then get yet another showcase of how the two were not the best parents, as Zeke returns to find them arguing with Falco’s uncle, Grice, about Zeke’s low scores, which most likely means he won’t inherit a Titan.
Again, Grisha makes it clear what is expected of Zeke as his and Dina’s son and a child of royal blood but, again, Zeke just cannot live up to these expectations.
He still can’t keep up with the other kids and is horrified when Grisha storms off in disappointment.
Clearly not father of the year material.
At least Dina is kind enough to understand that Zeke is trying, attempting to tell a screaming Grisha this, while Zeke cries in the other room.
I also really have to give props to Grisha’s voice actor, Hiroshi Tsuchida, who did an absolutley amazing job this episode, especially with his screaming.
Again, in Zeke’s darkest moment, Ksaver is there to help him, lifting his spirts by telling him how it’s a good thing he won’t inherit a Titan and that they are both decent people.
However, Zeke’s newly lifted spirt is dashed upon the rocks when he hears Marleyan officers talking about how they are close to locating the Eldia Restorationists and their leaders.
Distraught, Zeke attempts to warn his parents, without explicitly telling them that they are close to being found out.
It is right before this moment that Grisha gives him such a look of disappointment that I’m sure it made all of us want to kick him.
If we didn’t know his own traumatic past then Grisha would be completley unlikeable here.
This past is hinted at in this scene because Grisha only explodes into anger when Zeke brings up his aunt Faye, who was feed to dogs, not wanting to end up like her.
Grisha’s angry reaction results in Zeke breaking down to Ksaver and telling him everything about his parents.
He comforts his father figure, though, telling Ksaver that because of all the fun times they had togethor, he will remember him, even if he is turned into a Titan.
Clearly seeing Zeke as a son now, Ksaver begs Zeke to turn his parents in to save himself and his grandparents, stating that his parents used him as a tool and never loved him, something that is, for the most part, unfortunately true.
And so Zeke turns his parents in at the behest of Ksaver and many years pass, during which Zeke and Ksaver grow closer to being like an actual father and son.
Soon, Ksaver’s term is close to its end, meaning he will have to pass his Titan on.
However, he is thankful that he managed to finish his research, discovering that every single Subject of Ymir is connected to the Founding Titan, meaning that it could change their bodies at any moment, and it is here that Zeke’s ideology finally comes to its full fruition.
Remembering what the old janitor yelled at him and his parents all those years ago, Zeke wonders aloud if the Founding Titan could sterilize all Eldians so that no more Subjects of Ymir will be born, and the power of the Titans will eventually vanish entirely from the world.
In Zeke’s mind, this would also mean no Eldian would have to suffer.
This explains much of Zeke’s apathy when he murdered countless Scouts before.
He believes that he is saving them from the cruel world.
When this genocide by sterlization plan was revealed in the manga, a few people decided this was proof that Attack on Titan was facist propaganda but I think it’s obvious that this is not that at all but a cautionary tale.
Subjected to brainwashing attempts and racism all his life, Zeke came to the conclusion that it would be better if his entire race didn’t exist so seeks to commit genocide by sterilization with his Euthanization Plan, which he sees as saving the world.
It’s screwed up and shows what dangers can be created from such despicable things, like prejudice and indoctrination.
These two things have clearly affected Ksaver as well because his own experiences causes him to align with Zeke’s plan.
When he was young, Ksaver took off his armband and married a woman, who he had a child with.
However, when she found out that he was an Eldian, she killed their son and then herself in disgust.
This goes to show just how strong the hatred for Subjects of Ymir is in the outside world, because it both destroys the Eldians and those who hate them.
In this scene, there also appear to be a few hints through the toys of Ksaver’s son to future plot points but I won’t say what in case any anime only viewers happen to read this review.
Following the formation of Zeke and Ksaver’s Euthanization plan, Ksaver reveals to Zeke how he will need to find someone he can trust to give the Founding Titan to.
Not long after that, Zeke finally inherits Ksaver’s Titan and truly acknowledges him as his father.
Low and behold, who should Zeke learn about many years later who he thinks would be perfect for joining him in his plan to sterilize all Eldians?
Why, his half-brother Eren of course.
The two finally meet in Marley and Eren seems to quickly accept Zeke’s plan, claiming that there is no greater gift than to not be born into this world, warping his own catch phrase into something much more sinister.
Zeke tears up from Eren calling him brother, showing just how much he was longing for this familial love.
Even though Zeke has done monstrous things, you just can’t help but feel sorry for the guy.
Levi, however, is understandably not so sympathetic, as he continues to taunt Zeke in the present about how he will be feed to a Titan.
This was clearly not the best call, along with impailing a thunderspear in Zeke’s stomach because a delirious Zeke rips the pin off with a scream for Mr Ksaver to keep watching him.
Takehito Koyasu also does an excellent job voicing Zeke here, in all his delirious desperation.
Just as excellent is the animation, with the close up on the characters’ eyes and the rain drops falling in slow motion, right before the big bang of the Thunderspear exploding, blowing both Levi and Zeke away, leaving their fates uncertain.
A frusrating cliffhanger for the anime only viewers that is pure Attack on Titan.
“Sole Salvation” is pretty much a perfect adaptation of its chapter counterpart.
With its amazing animation, voice acting, and soundtrack, it easily tops the manga in plenty of areas.
Now there’s just one more episode of Attack on Titan for me to review before we have to wait for the rest of the final season begins airing at the end of the year or in early 2022.

Attack on Titan, Season Four, Episode Fourteen, Savagery Review: It’s Time for Round Two.

I was very excited for Episode Fourteen of Attack on Titan‘s Final Season, “Savagery”, because it would be adapting two very great chapters that I may have not graded too high upon initial viewing but have become more fond of over time.
However, then an earthquake happened and the episode was delayed a full week, now premiering alongside Episode 15, “Solve Salvation.”
While not getting “Savagery” last week was disappointing, it is understandable why they would delay it.
I mean, this came not ten years after the devestating earthquake and tsunami that killed thousands.
Yet, once again, some of the fandom showed its toxic side, demanding the episode be aired and saying they did not care about the reason for the delay.
In any case, we eventually got “Savagery”, directed by Jun Shishido, and was it the potential top ten episode that I said it could be?
Well, not really, but it’s still a great episode.
Picking up from where “Children of the Forest” left off, Episode Fourteen kicks off with Eren’s confrontation with Mikasa and Armin, where he tells them some very hard truths(?).
Leaning back in his chair, Eren tells Armin that because he has been going to see Annie so much this means that Bertholdt has taken over his brain, which is honestly a very hypocritical thing for someone who has eaten three Titan Shifters to say.
But Eren doesn’t stop there, oh no, because then comes the tragic scene that fans have memed ever since it happened.
The “Mmgh” scene.
Dubbed this because of the sound effect Mikasa makes in the manga, in this moment, Eren claims that Zeke told him that members of the Ackerman family only awaken their power after they recognize a host to protect.
So, when Eren saved Mikasa all those years ago in the cabin, she saw him as a host, which is why she has been so desperate to protect Eren over the years, not because she truly loves him but because she is essentially a slave to her Ackerman instincts, or so Eren claims.
He backs this up with the constant headaches Mikasa has been suffering, which is apparently the true self trying to break free from its Ackerman programming.
As if this was not bad enough, Eren follows this up with the cruelest thing he could possibly say, “Mikasa, I’ve always hated you.”
Rightfully, Armin goes to try and teach Eren a lesson, only for Mikasa to slam him into the table, again seemingly proving Eren’s point.
This doesn’t stop Armin, though, as he continues to try and beat up Eren.
Note my repeated use of the word “try” because Armin does not stand a chance.
Eren’s brutal beating to Armin here was much worse than in the manga, where he only hit him once or twice.
Here, Eren launches a barage of fists, reducing Armin to a bloody pulp.
But if Armin doesn’t get to Eren with his fists then he definitley gets to him with his words, calling him a slave and, given Eren’s angered reaction, you have to wonder exactly how free he really is.
This whole scene was a great adaptation of Eren practically trying to destroy his friendship with Mikasa and Armin, although I do wish more lines from the manga had been kept in.
I was pretty sad to see Eren’s line of, “There’s nothing further removed from freedom than ignorance” go.
Following the intense scene between Eren, Mikasa and Armin (oh, and Gabi too, I guess) we get the action segment of the episode with the long awaited round two between Zeke and Levi.
Seeing Zeke run away from Levi before transforming Levi’s men was way funnier than in the manga and the part where he actually transformed them was particularily horrifying.
Then we get the fight, which is really good but admittedly could have been done better.
For starters, I do think some of the shots of the Titans were a bit too static and also some iconic shots from the manga should have been given a few more seconds to linger to make the scene more epic.
Then there’s the OST.
I know I harked on about people complaining about the OST in “Declaration of War” but that’s because I personally think some of them let their expectations get in the way of things, which is understandable because I’ve experienced that too.
In the case of this OST use, I actually like that they used Kenny’s theme because, with him now gone, it feels like it belongs to Levi.
However, I do think that they should have used the lyricless version because the lyrics of this theme speak directly to Kenny’s motivations.
So, it’s a bit weird listening to a song about why Kenny wanted to steal the Founding Titan that is playing in a Levi vs Zeke fight scene.
This is something I picked up on a rewatch, though, and I don’t think a lot of people will be too bothered by it.
Again, I did really enjoy the Levi vs Zeke scene, I just wish that Mappa had more time to animate certain sections of it better and maybe went with the lyricless version of K21, so the lyrics didn’t jar with what is actually happening in the scene.
Back to the actual fight, if we can even call it that because it’s more of a slaughter, Levi comes out on top once more because Zeke underestimates him yet again.
Zeke may be one of the smartest characters in Attack on Titan but his ego always gets the better of him, and in spectacular fashion here.
Levi not only manages to kill all of the Titans Zeke transformed, willingly killing his own comrades, but also blows Zeke out of his hardened nape with the Thunder Spears, leaving Zeke a gruesome mess that looks brutal, even with the censorship.
This leaves him at Levi’s mercy, stuck in a cart, looking like a piece of overcooked pizza, and with a thunderspear stabbed in his abdomen to keep him from escaping.
Not to mention Levi torturing him by cutting his feet off so he won’t transform into a Titan, and probably also for personal satisfaction but who can blame Levi for that after all the cruel things Zeke has done.
Well, if you thought that Zeke was a completley irredeemable monster, then the cliffhanger for the episode may have hinted otherwise to you, as we see Zeke as a child playing catch with a mysterious man named Mr Ksaver, preparing us all for the Zeke flashback we would see next episode, which more than lived up to expectations.
As for the rest of “Savagery” that comes before this cliffhanger, it is just as great, with Floch’s ambushing of Shadis done very well.
You can really see how drunk on power Floch has become, as he pursues nationalism even further by punishing those who do not align with his thought process, having Shadis be beaten up by a bunch of recruits he trained before demanding Hange lead them to Zeke.
Given that it was implied that Hange once had a crush on Shadis, the moment she looks at him, beaten to a bloody pulp, like Armin was previously, is really sad.
Not as sad as the next episode, though, “Sole Salvation”, which, as I have said, is a fantastic episode that I look forward to reviewing.
Overall, even if I think certain moments of “Savagery” could have been done better, the episode is still fantastic with its tragic scene between Eren, Mikasa and Armin, and epic second showdown between Levi and Zeke.

Attack on Titan, Season Four, Episode Thirteen, Children of the Forest Review: An Intense Adaptation for an Underated Chapter.

I really loved Chapter 111 of Attack on Titan when I first read it and I think it is one of the most underated chapters in the entire manga.
So, imagine my excitement to see it so well adapted in the thirteenth episode of the final season, “Children of the Forest.”
Directed by Yasuhiro Geshi and Kōnosuke Uda, the episode picks up first with a scene from Chapter 110, which many feared was cut, that being Zeke’s flashback revealing what he did to Ragako village.
The scene opens with the village being consumed by gas, fanned in by Marleyan soldiers, with Zeke and Pieck in attendance.
Once the smoke hits them, all of the villagers, Connie’s family among them, collapse and are unable to move.
Zeke then Titanizes them with his roar, just like he did back in the first episode of this final season.
However, Zeke’s explanation of these events and how he supposedly did it to save Eldia clearly does not satisfy Levi, understandably.
Levi believes Zeke to have not a shred of guilt over his actions, which is not helped by Zeke’s good mood.
This does lead to a pretty humorous scene, though, where Zeke assumes Levi must not be very popular with the ladies.
Oh, Zeke, if only you knew the extent to which Levi fangirls will go.
This comedic and on the nose moment is quickly interrupted, though, as soldiers arrive to inform Levi of Zachary’s assasination at the hands of the Yeagerists.
With that, the episode transitions into the adaption of Chapter 111, as Gabi, Falco, Kaya, and the Braus family arrive to taste Niccolo’s excellent cooking in remembrance of Sasha.
It is here that Gabi and Falco plan to make contact with Niccolo based on Kaya’s advice, all of them still unaware that the woman Gabi killed was Sasha herself.
The tension of this reveal slowly builds as Falco begins to realize something is amiss, and Hange and the 104th arrive to question Niccolo.
However, the impending reveal to those characters close to Sasha that Gabi was the one who killed her is not the only case of growing tension here, because now the wine is coming into play.
I did criticize how easy it was to guess that there was something up with the wine in Episode Ten, when it was more subtle in the manga, but now I would like to rescind this criticism.
It being made fairly obvious that the wine was poisoned with something made the scene where Jean and Connie almost take a sip very nerve-racking.
Thank goodness Niccolo had the foresight, and the added kindness thanks to Sasha, to stop them from doing so, although he did end up using Marleyan racism to cover it up.
This leads to the big conflict of the episode, as Gabi and Falco follow Niccolo when he retreats with the wine and confront him, telling them that they are Warriors candidates who snuck aboard the airship when it was fleeing Marley.
This, of course, tips Niccolo off and he asks the big question: “Did you kill someone? A female soldier.”
Well, any smart person would find this question odd, considering Niccolo is a Marleyan, who have pretty much all been brainwashed into hating Eldians.
This is why Falco picks up on it.
Gabi, on the other hand, oh boy, her brainwashed brain cannot take a hint.
With every word out of her mouth she keeps digging her metaphorical grave deeper and deeper.
You can really see how indoctrinated Gabi is, as she almost seems to be seeking praise from Niccolo, a Marleyan, for killing Sasha.
However, praise is certainly what Niccolo has in mind.
No, he’d much rahter perfer a wine bottle smash to the skull for her.
It’s Falco who takes the blow, though, jumping in front of Gabi and taking the hit but also ingesting the wine.
The soundtrack during this scene is also straight up fire.
Niccolo is much more focused on Gabi than the injured Falco, delivering her a beating off screen, before throwing her before the Braus family and exposing her as Sasha’s killer.
It’s here that the best voice acting of the episode is showcased.
Ayane Sakura again does a magnificent job as Gabi but Eji Hanawa steals the show as Niccolo, who mournfully and furiously explains how Sasha saved him from this war and taught him that he was supposed to make people happy with his food.
Gabi hits back by telling him of the people Sasha killed, claiming that it is actually she who brainwashed him, ironic coming from her.
Mr Braus understandably looks sickened to hear such a despicable thing about his daughter and requests the knife from Niccolo.
The terrified eye movements of Gabi and Mr Braus’ contemplative face here, almost as if he is considering actually killing Gabi in an act of revenge, are animated incredibly well.
However, revenge is not what Mr Braus ultimately wants, as he shows exceptional maturity for a mere side character, giving one of the best speeches of the series about how, as adults, it is their burden to carry and move on from their sins to get the children out of the forest.
The forest, in this instance, being a metaphor for the cruel world and cycle of violence that our characters struggle with daily.
With this, Mr and Mrs Braus convince Niccolo to let Falco go, followed by Mr Braus asking if Gabi is alright.
This shocks Gabi right to the core of her being, as she sees these supposed devils concerned for the very person who killed their daughter.
Well, not all of them are concerned because Kaya is already moving head first into the forest, as she attempts to stab Gabi with a knife for the death of Sasha.
Only Mikasa’s Ackerman insticts save Gabi from a knife to the head.
The animation of Kaya being tackled to the ground and comforted by Mr and Mrs Braus is just great, as well.
Mappa did a really good job with the animation this episode.
With Mikasa and Armin moving Gabi to a safer place, we then get the big reveal of the episode from Niccolo.
Zeke’s spinal fluid is in the wine, and potentially hundreds of military officers among the Military Police and Garrison are currently infected.
Zeke lied at the beginning of the episode when he said that Eldians freeze when they ingest his spinal fluid, and this lie has caused those infected to be entirely unaware of their dangerous position.
The Scouts have absolutley no time to warn everyone, though, because who else should show up but Eren and the Yeagerists, and in a much more abrupt way than in the manga.
Rather than seeing Eren enter the room that Mikasa and Armin are talking to Gabi in, like in the manga, we just hear the door close and see him casually walk up to them, bloodly hand raised in a threatening manner.
It honestly reminded me of the abrupt Reiner and Bertholdt reveal from Season Two, it’s that great.
Just as entertaining is Floch’s arrival with the Yeagerists and Hange’s slow realization that they all knew about the poisoned wine.
Floch grinning at Hange and shushing her is a real improvement on the manga, making Floch look much more sinister than he does in the original source material.
Following this, we get the naturally frustrating cliffhanger of Eren saying he wants to talk to Armin and Mikasa, only for the episode to cut off there.
Well, at least the wait might just be more than worth it because tomorrow’s episodes is about to adapt two fantastic chapters which, with time, I have come to look incredibly favourably on.
If done right, the next episode could easily be in the top ten best episodes of the series.
As for “Children of the Forest”, in my opinion, it is a near perfect adaptation.
Great shots, animation, voice acting and music, it has it all.
I do wish a couple of manga panels, like a particular flashback shot of Sasha, had been included but these are not major things and did not decrease my enjoyment of the episode.
“Children of the Forest” is a fantastic episode and I have my fingers crossed that “Savagery” can be adapted to near perfection as well.