After a whole season where the characters of “Attack on Titan” (“Shingeki no Kyojin”) are anything but heroic, episode 83 of the Crunchyroll anime brings back the theme of the beginning, back in 2013; where the lines were clear: some are the heroes, the others, villains. It is a brief return, a promise of things to come.
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Below, SPOILERS for “Attack on Titan” 83, “Pride”:
This is one of the most thematically consistent episodes so far this season, with the action needed to move the story where it needs to be and not just to have some showmanship on screen. The episode is, more than anything, conversations between characters to reach agreements now that Eren Yeager has put everyone in check.
On one side is Conny Springer, willing to kill Falco so that his mother, turned into a titan since Zeke’s attack on Ragako’s village, revives. Quite a change for a character who went from defending his country from external enemies to being on the verge of doing questionable acts. But this approach to the behavior of the enemy, since it is something that Reiner could have done before, has not materialized yet thanks to the intervention of Armin Arlert, who no longer doubts if his life was worth more than that of Erwin Smith and jump to his death; represented in the jaws of the monstrous mother of his friend. Conny saves Armin but, more importantly, saves himself to be the kind of soldier his mom would be proud of.
That’s one of the reasons why the episode is called “pride.” It’s also in Levi Ackerman’s conversation with Theo Magath and Pieck Finger, where ‘mankind’s strongest soldier’ approaches his attitude, not from a position of superiority, but from the knowledge that he needs the help of the enemy and the only option is to be honest; this is to recognize that he is in a pitiful physical state. There is no pride in his words, because that does not work in this case. The same seems to think Magath, who agrees to collaborate with one of the “demons”.
Pride is also represented in the words of Onyankopon, who would rather die on his feet than live on his knees in the world that Floch Forster, de facto leader of the Yeagerists, wants to build; a moment that intersects with the story of Jean, who sacrifices a privileged social position among the Eldians to honor the death of his friend Marco Bott. In this case, it is his pride as a friend and a member of the Survey Corps that pushes him into an unsafe situation. Thematically, the episode is solid.
It is the end where we have a confirmation of how the rest of the story will unfold: Armin, Annie, Mikasa, Conny, Sasha and Falco wake up Reiner; they need his help to stop Eren from destroying the world. It is the unprecedented alliance between Eldia and Marley, what the leaders of both countries could not do for a century, but which arises from the need for a solution to the imminent apocalypse. Erwin would be proud.
loose thoughts
- Mikasa, who has lost some will of her own this season, shows what she’s made of by demanding the scarf from the dying fan who stole it from her. The young Ackerman is proud of that scarf, for what it represents of her, and her hand does not tremble to retrieve it. Unfortunately, this scene holds her more to Eren and prevents him from shining with his own light.
- Falco acts too calm after Conny tried to kill him.
- Who is the person watching the escape of Armin and his companions? From the insignia on his coat, we know he’s from the Training Corps.
- Even though the world is falling apart, some humor can’t be missing, like seeing Annie devouring a cake, her first meal in four years, or Conny with the titan toothbrush (which will surely be interesting for Hange) .
- And speaking of Annie, I’m not convinced that she ran into her colleagues from the Survey Corps by chance. It is not the first time that this story uses and abuses coincidences.
- According to the trailer, the next episode will delve deeper into the alliance. There is too much bad blood between these groups for them to work at once.
- I couldn’t close this review without sharing the following video. As Cap already said in “Endgame”: “Avengers… assemble”.
Qualification
3.5 out of 5 stars
Fact
“Attack on Titan” has new episodes every Sunday afternoon on Crunchyroll.
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