The last chapter of the second part of the season finale of Attack the titans was another one of those episodes in which the series boasts of its strengths. Shingeki no Kyojin prepare the plot over low heat and then leave memorable action stretches; perhaps among the best anime current. Its closure (with a third party confirmed) leaves several doors open (and others not so much).
The episode titled “the dawn of humanity” clarified various doubts. It tells what was the reconnaissance mission that she did the legion in Marley and the impact on the protagonists. In this way, several of them had moments of construction. Those explain its development throughout this second part of the season finale; especially in the case of the protagonist.
Eren Jaeger was always clear about the fate that humanity would suffer. His judgment, based on protecting his friends, would prevail. Therefore, to the people of Paradis Island. Although this was obvious, one aspect that was not clear was the human side, the confrontation that the person experiences when he travels to the other side of the sea.
Attack the titans,
from Mikasa’s perspective
“The Dawn of Humanity” was narrated from the perspective of my house. As if to delve into her memories, she reviewed different moments with Eren. She tried to answer the question if her behavior was always oriented towards this end full of blood and destruction or if at some point the story could have been different.
The review revealed a key dialogue between Eren and Mikasa. He asks what it means to her. The anime opened up the possibility that her answer would change facts. If Mikasa had expressed her love for him, it may be that part of the protagonist’s desolation would be reduced, that her purposes would have another focus. But no.
The scene, well developed because it moves away from the corny, poses Eren’s confrontation between his destiny and his desires. Shingeki no Kyojin returns to one of its constants: to remind those who look at it that small decisions, that those facts that seem inconsequential, can have a significant value in the development of individual and collective stories.
It seems increasingly clear that Eren’s fate is associated with the decisions that Mikasa will make from now on.
Eren Jaeger: the heart of the beast
After several chapters without having past or present images on Eren jaegerin this he was seen in the different time planes in which he moves Shingeki no Kyojin. The boy was reminded, that episode that changes everything, when a titan eats his mom, the promises he made to himself, and his subsequent searches. He was described as that teenager who visits the land that he believes he must destroy. To later show him in his final form, blinded by his desire for blood and death.
In the second of those sections, it was seen, perhaps, the only moment in which the character smiles during the last season. If we review as viewers, most of us may not remember when was the last time you were laughing with your friends, that that child, initially innocent and mobilized by his desire for protection, stopped smiling. It is the living image of the consequences of the spirals of hate. That last smile of Eren occurs just before celebrating with a series of people who, seen outside the story, represent migrants, marginalized and displaced by the various crises in the world. It is no coincidence that he recognizes himself in them because he knows the weight of contempt and prejudice.
By providing all this information, Attack the titans further enriches the character. He did not justify the genocide that he is promoting, but he did provide arguments so that, from his perspective, it is understood how hatred and his interest in defending his own from a conflict that marked his people for more than 2000 years. Those who are on the other side of the sea have prejudices, traumas and, seen what has been seen, they will not give up the idea that those who live within the walls are dangerous demons. Acknowledging, Eren embraces the only solution that he recognized within his possibilities.
The rumble on the shore
After all that emotional preamble, tensions, strategies and political moves, it was completed with a sample of what hundreds of colossal titans can do advancing by sea and land. The adaptation left several impressive images, as epic as they are terrifying, without the camera being on the beasts all the time. The silences, the fear on the faces of the military they try to protect Marley, the violence of the attacks or the image of the titans advancing even though they didn’t have half their head. Everything starts with an impeccable adaptation in terms of images and sound management.
The emotional basis Attack the titans builds is nourished by these epic moments and vice versa. They are a dialogue between moments that lead to different reactions in the viewer, from the understanding towards the villain to the moment in which he is discovered as for the first time in his final form. Then, the narration, which had shown the different stages of Eren Jaeger, reveals the last one. It is about a monster alien to that child but moved by all the traumas and fears of the creature.
Facing the Marley Coast, one of the spaces he wishes to destroy to save his friends and his people, the Founding Titan shows no mercy or sense of remorse. On the contrary, he seems anxious to have reached that point, to that moment where the second part of the final season ends, to leave viewers with a mixture of emptiness and expectations that they will have to wait until 2023. During that year, Mikasa and Eren seem destined to meet again.