This episode is one of very bizarre contrasts. On one hand, we see humanity score its first major win against the titans. On the other, I'm not sure they deserved it in this instance. You'd think after all the grim brooding, that seeing a moment of triumph would be a breath of fresh air, but the characters weren't exactly on the top of their game here.
I was surprised to see Eren-titan wake up. I figured that Armin's intention was to pull Eren out, but instead, the monster is revived. The good news is that Eren is back in control of his faculties and he is able to focus enough to pick up the boulder and carry it to the giant hole in the wall.
In the meantime, it's up to the others to keep the titans away from Eren and keep his path clear. You'd think that they would be slicing and dicing, trying to take down as many monsters as humanly possible, but only two characters (Mikasa and Levi) come away with titan kills when all is said and done.
It isn't due to lack of opportunity either. Characters are repeatedly presented with chances to slice at the monsters' necks, but seem to go out of their way not to attack the titan weak point. Characters will zip behind a titan's head and leave it unscathed; one character swings into another titan in order to kick it in the head; and in yet another instance, characters who have the titans' backs to them yell out and draw the creatures' attention as opposed to shooting themselves up in order to bring the monsters down. It's also brought up that the fighters are most vulnerable on the ground, so of course, that's where everyone goes. You really start to see why humanity is on the losing end of this war.
Now, the animation and the choreography help make up for this a little. It is cool seeing people zip around the city in highly stylized fashion. I just would have liked to see there be a bit more of a payoff.
Questionable tactics aside, the day is won and the wall is sealed. Sadly, there isn't much time for celebrating as the team still incurred heavy losses, with over 200 dead and almost 1,000 injured.
The somber scenes of soldiers mourning the loss of their friends were well done for the most part, though not really being connected to the characters is a detriment. It's strange that we're 13 episodes in and I still have this problem. I really don't think that should be the case. I have no idea how they did that.
The episode also plants some potential plot seeds for future episodes. The potential health risks of leaving dead bodies undiscovered is brought up. It would stand to reason that at least one episode deals with some sort of plague outbreak. There is also talk of restoring Wall Maria, the first outer structure that the titans broke through.
Maybe my memory on it is fuzzy, but I thought there was more damage done to that wall. It seems like it would take more than one giant, conveniently sized boulder to succeed on that front. Do they even have another giant, conveniently sized boulder? I guess they do.
It was nice to see the elite scouts covering their bases when it comes to Eren. Levi agrees to go along with the plan, but lets Eren know that if his titan goes crazy again, Levi's going to kill him. It's the sort of blunt, no nonsense mentality that you'd expect from a long time war combatant.
I am a bit surprised that Levi still has faith. Even going beyond the initial snafu regarding the rogue titan, Eren's disposition during that interrogation hardly did him any favors. That look on his face and the way he talked about killing all of the titans made him look more than a little out of his mind. Maybe repeated transformations degrade your mental stability? Honestly, I could see the logic in that; though I guess we'll have to find out.
It seems like the characters themselves might be finding out some things about the titans. One other side effect of the victory is capturing two alive. We (the viewers) also learn that, as titans have no digestive tract, the humans they eat are just clustered into some sort of weird, crystalline hairball and vomited out.
It's a weird enough image on its own, but it does add an element of pointlessness to everything. It doesn't seem like the titans even gain any sort of nutritional value from eating people, so you get the impression that they're doing it just for the sake of doing it. In some ways, it's even more unsettling, but you could also argue that it makes them one-dimensional antagonists...not that they were ever that complex to begin with.
This episode wraps up a 9-part arc and, alas, it's not as satisfying as one would like. I think having it go this long was a mistake. It probably sounded epic, but really, I think it just resulted in pacing issues. Maybe the future arcs, which only go 4-6 episodes from here on out, will be able to move things along at a brisker pace.
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