WARNING: TEXT CONTAINS SPOILERS!
Photo MAPPA
Previous episodes Shingeki no Kyojin focused on Eren and Zeke, so after the fight broke out, the focus shifted to the other characters in the anime. In the last episode, a lot of time was spent on Gabi, who initially helped the exhausted and broken Reiner. The character couldn’t help but fail to stop Eren, who destroyed the outside world and killed his family. In turn, Gabi got up and went looking for Falco.
It turns out that his path crossed that of the Braus family. Kaya was nearly devoured by the titan Nil had transformed into, which made it all the more exciting. At the last moment, Gabi saved the girl and in a very impressive way. The animators succeeded in this short and dynamic scene. There was also a moment of nostalgia when Kaya seemed to see the heroic Sasha.
Gabi and the Braus family have a tumultuous relationship based on a tragic set of circumstances. The girl saved the life of Kaya, who moments later interceded with her cousin Reiner to protect her from the soldiers. The whole family followed suit, thanking her in this way, which was even more touching. Eventually, Gabi admitted that she was wrong and that she was the one who turned out to be the devil, not the Paradises. Niccolo wisely said that there is a demon in everyone. There are no innocents in this anime. You may or may not like this character, but you have to appreciate the fact that she underwent a big transformation in Season 4, and her perspective changed dramatically under the suffering she went through. His story is really interesting, even if the character does not have titanic powers and does not come from Heaven.
Meanwhile, Mikasa, Armin, Jean, and Connie tied up the unconscious Falco. They gradually realize that Eren’s plan, which leads to genocide, isn’t so great. There was even a brief flashback to the scene where Jaeger told them they were important to him. Interestingly, its color scheme has been changed. Probably to distinguish it from the news, as orange and brown colors dominate as soon as the Rumble begins. The anime acquires a dark atmosphere thanks to this. It’s good that the characters have moral dilemmas about Eren’s decision or the future of Falco, whose death would cause another conflict with Reiner and the others across the sea. Even the fact that Connie kidnaps the boy for his mother to revert to human form is an interesting turn of events. Everyone acts under the influence of strong emotions, and their choices provoke discussions and reflections on the correctness of their actions. All of this makes for a multi-dimensional, non-obvious, and just plain mature story, which is unusual by anime standards.
Additionally, the episode also featured plenty of spectacular action as the friends set out to defeat the titans attacking the city and the humans. The most impressive was of course Mikasa, who slew the titans in such an eccentric way that even Louise caught sight of her. Out of nowhere, Shadis appeared and warmed up the soldiers for battle. And it all happened to the beat of a song Barricades by Hiroyuki Sawano, which gives the effect of a music video. This is not a disadvantage, because it was very pleasant to watch. I got teary-eyed because it was kind of a reference to the Battles of Trost or other scenes from Season 2 with space maneuvers when this song appeared. It should be mentioned that in addition to Nile being transformed into a titan, we saw Pyxis, who also had to be eliminated, which was not easy for the main characters. Plus, discerning viewers might have noticed a pop culture oddity, as one of the titans looked like… Saul Goodman in the movie. breaking Bad. He was harder to recognize in the anime (he was more handsome in the manga), but such an easter egg still causes a lot of joy.
In the ending, we saw Floch threaten Yelena, who is heartbroken and devastated by Zeke’s defeat. This character survived the fight with the Transport Titan, so he will continue to annoy audiences. In contrast, the most important scene took place later, when Gabi apologized for her actions and begged to return Falco. Armin understood from the girl’s words about Reiner losing his armor that the same thing could happen to Annie. The last image with this heroine coming out of her hardening was exciting! An excellent cliffhanger that allowed us to come full circle in this episode, since it started with a scene with his father, Mr. Leonhart.
Twenty-second episode Attack on Titan was very good. It was based on a single manga chapter, so the anime’s creators didn’t have to combine how to properly distribute plot accents in events. Sure, it wasn’t the same level of excitement as the previous weeks, but the interest didn’t wane. We must salute the animation studio MAPPA, even if everything was not so perfect in this episode. In any case, there was no shortage of dynamic action and interesting plots. And that’s just the beginning of the Rumble!