WARNING: TEXT CONTAINS SPOILERS!
Photo MAPPA
In the latest episode of Shingeki no Kyojin The titans marching to the outside world of the island remained in the background, quite literally. It must be said that they still make an overwhelming impression, even when already at a considerable distance from the city. The story focuses on Anna, whose hardening went away after Eren caused the Rumble. The girl was attacked by her friend Hitch, who was tending to the injured and noticed signs of her presence. At first, they were quite hostile towards each other, but a flurry of explanations followed, led by Annie’s admission that she had heard everything during her visit with Armin.
Unexpectedly, we moved on to Annie’s story, her motivations, and her past. The timing of the flashbacks wasn’t very coincidental, as much more interesting events happened elsewhere. However, the story itself explains a lot. It turned out to have something to do with her adoptive father, Mr. Leonhart, who trained her to be a warrior. We had seen some glimpses of it even in previous seasons, but now we see the full version of events that makes sense. Her demanding and sadistic father, on the one hand, is proud of what Annie has accomplished (especially when she puts him down), but also shows a human face during their farewells. However, he loved her like his own daughter, so this scene was even more emotional. He motivated the heroine to act to fulfill her promise to return to her father. This subsequently resulted in many corpses, which was not overlooked. Annie admitted she’s done a lot of harm and damage, but she’s ready to do more. That means we’ll see her in spectacular action in Attack on Titanwhich is rewarding because you might miss this heroine.
Most of the episode was devoted to Anna, but there were several other subplots in the episode as well. Among other things, the aforementioned Leonhart appeared, trying to convince the guards that Mare was in danger and people should be warned. The situation became tense, but the hero decided not to give up. A gunshot was heard, but the public was not informed of Leonhart’s fate. This will remain a mystery for some time, which is crucial from Annie’s perspective.
We also return to Floch who presents the Jaegerist regime, announcing that they have succeeded in realizing their dream of regaining their freedom. This point is important because the vision and the concept of freedom are fundamental to the whole plot in Attack on Titan and the goal Eren wanted to achieve. And she was understood differently by the characters – Armin or Jean. The latter was devastated when he learned that the boy had betrayed his intentions towards the Jaegerists and not towards his friends, and that there was no longer any reason to fight. Also, the scene where Floch shot one of the volunteers in cold blood was shocking. She seemed more radical in the manga, and was heavily censored in the anime. In this case, there was no need for an excessive escalation of the macabre, for the purpose was achieved of showing the sickly fanaticism of Floch and his men.
Armin, on the other hand, confronted Mikasa. Again, doubts about his own worth arise in him. He was remorseful to think that if it was Erwin who had survived and not him, he would have known how to proceed within the framework of the Rumbling. Helplessness, confusion and nervousness spoke through him, which is why he hurt the girl, unconsciously spouting that Eren was unrecoverable. On the other hand, he was somewhat right to order him to make his own decisions, which don’t just depend on Jaeger’s moods and defensive instincts. Still, the scene was poignant enough to sympathize with Mikasa.
Armin decided to go after Connie and Gabi. The heroine bade farewell to the Braus family, who regarded her with concern. Kaya didn’t like her friend’s real name, which was kind of funny in the whole tragic story. Nonetheless, the girls said goodbye to each other with a friendly hug, which helped end this thread on a positive note.
Connie, for her part, was going with Falco to Ragako, where he wanted to feed him to his mother. The young boy expects nothing, which adds to the excitement of the story. Unusually, the episode did not end with an ending, but with a scene with these characters and subtitles, and an instrumental version of Ai Higuchi’s song could be heard in the background. Thanks to this, the creators managed to run all the threads of a given chapter in such a way that the viewers would not feel rushed, while smoothly transitioning to the important cliffhanger. Hange spoke to Pieck and Magath there, pointing to the bandaged Levi. The scout was badly injured but survived, which I’m sure made his loyal fandom happy. Additionally, the heroes will need all the “guns” and all hands on deck to deal with Rumbling’s situation. Ackermann will be a big backup, who will also provide some impressive action when his condition improves.
The animation from the MAPPA studio maintained a good level of quality in the last episode. Efforts were made to make Hitch look like she was in the manga, as well as Annie. They are also very beautiful in their version. The anime is now dominated by dark brown colors (not counting the flashbacks), which certainly sets this part of the season apart – both from its first part and from the previous series that Wit Studio was responsible for. It makes the atmosphere darker, depressing and desperate.
Twenty-third episode of the 4th series Attack on Titan wasn’t exciting, but in terms of content, it was rich and multi-dimensional. The emotional state of each character was shown. He didn’t even forget to show the moods of ordinary people (injured inhabitants of Shiganshina and people of Mare) and soldiers (Shadis). Annie’s flashback, on the other hand, was not a waste of time as this character deserved a few words of explanation. The fight continues, but the viewer’s gaze is now directed to the subplots (Connie) which must be wrapped up before the final events. Emotions have calmed down somewhat, but such a moment of (debatable) breathing is also necessary. It doesn’t change the fact that we will always be waiting for the next episode with great anticipation.