Originally when coming up with the countdown earlier this month, I was thinking about talking about the full season. The first half of the fourth and current season of Attack on Titan because of what I did about the first half of the previous season back in 2018, but it’s best that I don’t do that because I don’t wanna tire myself out. Especially since coming out from the latest Bob’s Burgers episode review that you wish the episode should’ve been aired a week early as usual before Miss Universe gets brought back and the NFL being greedy and add an extra week. So let’s get to number 9 in the countdown for the year and sadly, this will be the only spot in the countdown to feature an anime. Though to be fair, Doctor Who didn’t make the cut this year, so...yeah. Attack on Titan with “Sole Salvation” at the number 9 spot of 2021.
I know people are giving me the stink eye right now over why I put the current season of Attack on Titan in this year’s countdown. Mostly for the sole reason of being that it came out last December even though this came out in 2021, so I say fuck it and add it into the countdown because why not. And sure, this season, the first half to be exact, does have its moments to list out whether being Reiner’s past, the siege of Liberio, Sasha’s death, Eren declaring his hatred towards Mikasa & finding out about the Ackermans being trained to fight and protect...pretty much Eren’s way of saying that Mikasa has no free will because of her being an Ackerman...I mean hell, the rematch between Levi and Zeke was godly as ever with Levi continuing to make Zeke his bitch. But out of the many moments, forgot to mention the end of the next episode that is setting things up for the second half of the season, one of the highlights that might be brought up in this countdown comes from this episode regarding the backstory regarding...you guessed it. Zeke Jaeger.
We already know one portion of the flashback from the episode of him calling the cops on his parents from Grisha’s past in the previous season where you have Zeke alerting the authorities about what Grisha and Dina were doing regarding the Eldian Restorationists and going against Marley. Saving himself and his grandparents from prosecution because...well, they can. If one person goes, the rest follows. Zeke and his grandparents avoided a free trip to Paradis by turning in Grisha and Dina. But that’s pretty much the short scene from the backstory from last season where we get to Zeke’s flashback in this episode is where we get the full frontal and what lead to that moment.
Although the flashback to the entirety of the episode, especially the first 10 minutes of it pretty much sums up to Zeke not having a good childhood and wishing that his parents would be around like any normal child would have rather than going against Marley in secrecy and host group meetings on when its the right time for the restorationists to make their move. That and also him being pushed to be a part of his parents’ group and think that he’s Eldia’s trump card in freeing Eldia from Marley. Even though his piss poor performance over at the academy when training to become a Warrior is putting Grisha in a really tight spot and you could really feel the friction between both Zeke and his parents. Mind you that he was just a kid up to this point. Well, a kid who later tag along with his half-brother and hold a nation’s military and presumably their race, if not, the whole world hostage. But still, he’s just a kid who just needed to have his family around for once in his life without getting into trouble.
And this is where we meet one of the officers from the military once Zeke spotted a baseball rolling in the ground and thrown it back to him. The officer revealed to be named Tom Xaver, who happened to be the previous user of the Beast Titan and seems to be grooming Zeke to be his successor once his time is up, despite Zeke’s constant struggles over at the academy as the episode drags on and the friction between him and Grisha continues to grow more and more by each passing day to the point where once Zeke, after finishing up mopping the floors, overheard the Marleyan officers getting dangerously close to discovering the Eldian restorationists and a harsh reaction from Grisha and Dina about the news...
This is where we get to the moment where Zeke snitches on his parents to save his skin after telling Xaver that his parents are restorationists and could be on the verge of getting persecuted and being sent to Paradis. That’s where Xaver comes in and requests Zeke to turn his parents in. A tough decision to make via voiceover as Grisha and Dina get sent away since those are his parents but did give him some poor treatment earlier in the episode with him struggling at the academy and putting Grisha in a difficult position. But regardless, Zeke did follow what Xaver advised him to do because again, he is grooming him to be his successor to inherit the Beast Titan once his term is up. Xaver is the father figure to Zeke than what Grisha did to him. Unlike Eren I guess, I don’t know.
We get Xaver’s reasons on why he became a Warrior himself it’s mostly because of a few things to list out. One is being the research of the power of the Titans, most importantly the Founding Titan, and the ability to alter memories. Hmm...and knowing that I’m an anime watcher and never read the manga, knowing that Grisha took the Founding away from the Freida and then Eren inherits both the Attack and Founding Titans, I can’t tell if that might tie in with that little scene from the previous season with Kreuger, ready to hand the deed to his titan to Grisha, telling him about protecting Armin and Mikasa, which befuddled Grisha. 14 years (18-19 as of this season) before Eren’s time on Earth. Again, I’m an anime watcher, so I could be wrong which I know I am.
And that’s where we get the idea of a certain plan that Zeke’s been carrying all the present and it was first brought up by Xaver after losing his wife and son because Tommy boy here is an Eldian and his dead wife is a Marleyan and an interracial marriage is a considered a no-no in the land of Marley. Enough for Xaver to come up with the “Eldian Euthianisian Plan” where you need someone with royal blood, mostly someone who is the user of the Founding Titan, to put every Eldian in a permanent nap in hopes to put an end to the 2,000-year Titan threat to humanity. A plan that Xaver came up with and Zeke to carry on, along with his proclamation that he’ll inherit the Beast Titan from his father figure, and make sure the idea goes as planned once Xaver gets eaten by Zeke and becomes the new host for the Beast Titan.
Transitioning to years later over at the shores of Paradis with Reiner and Bertholdt to relay what they know about Eren and him possessing the Founding Titan…’s abilities after witnessing him controlling titans at the end of Season 2 and also brought up Grisha being alive, though not knowing that he died because Eren ate Grisha to become a titan shifter himself and of course, that little encounter, their first meeting between the half-brothers, in Season 3 after the scouts reclaimed Shingashina until they meet again four years later with Eren infiltrating Marley as an injured soldier prior to the attack on Liberio and decided to have a little catching up with their conversation. Mostly with Eren obtaining the power of the titans from his father and taking a look at his memories at the moment where he took the Founding Titan away from the Reiss family and squished them like bugs. And that was after Reiner and Bertholdt broke through the walls and the titans came into the town and create shit. A moment in Grisha’s life that’s been drilled into Eren’s head all the way to this day from Rod to Historia. That and also taking a trip down memory lane through his father’s past is enough for Eren to come to terms with his half-brother, sympathize with him, and establish a partnership between the two brothers to end the 2,000-year titan domination by committing genocide on the Eldian race by using Zeke’s spinal fluid.
Which leads up to the end of the episode with a beat-up Zeke in the wagon with Levi, who overheard his mutters after going through memory lane and seeing his legs starting to regrow before Zeke yells out Xaver’s name and moves around, causing the spear to explode along with the wagon with Zeke being flown away in one side and the episode after this one shows that he survived the blast. Levi also in the other and knowing that once this is released, the trailer for the second half of the season is already been released, and c’mon...it’s Levi. I’m pretty sure he ain’t dead. I mean you’d think that a single blast would kill him off?
But besides all of that, this was one of those instances where I have to pick it out of random when creating this countdown. Again, I would talk about the entirety of the first half of the season as if it’s my thoughts on the season, but again, I was just coming out from the episode review earlier in the week. Also for the fans, please stop harassing the people over at MAPPA studios not doing XYZ reasons. Whether being not using a certain soundtrack for the scene where Eren eats Willy or animating something that shouldn’t be shrouded with controversy over a jacket. A goddamn jacket. I already told the Bob’s fandom to calm their tits down over a goddamn loft bed, which was kept, thank god. Hopefully, the flames died down once we enter the second half of the season in less than two weeks from now from the fans.
Other than that, this was a good episode. It did explore Zeke’s past regarding how he inherited the Beast Titan. Meeting the previous holder to the said titan and also him being a father figure to Zeke and also grooming him to be his successor despite his constant struggles over at the academy enough to create friction between him and Grisha as if he’s the Christ figure for Eldia enough for him to call the authorities and say that enough is enough and follow what Xaver is saying. Not to mention keeping Xaver’s legacy alive once Zeke inherits the Beast Titan with the Eldian Euthianisian Plan and his meeting with Eren in Liberio to make sure the plan will go into motion, which they did with the stepping stones in making sure the plan goes into action by overtaking the military and hold almost every official hostage with the tainted wine. Again, this is one of those instances in the countdown where I have to pick out at random and this is one of them. Even though I really enjoyed Attack on Titan. People think that the series is nothing more than people in flying gear and taking out giant monsters but there’s more than just the simple description about the show. The lore, the mystery, the action, it’s all there, and now that we’re nearing the finish line with this series with January getting closer and closer as the days pass by, this roller coaster ride of an anime is about to go full speed ahead with what the second half has in store. As someone once said when talking about this series, we’re not watching any anime coming to an end, we’re watching history being made...also the opening fucking slaps. Fight me. The ending too.
But that’ll do it for the number 10 spot in the Top 12 Countdown of 2021. Do you think that this episode should be higher, lower, or just stay put on your list for the year? Put it in the comments below. The countdown is back, y’all! We back! Which episode and series will it be number 8? You’ll have to wait and find out as the countdown continues. Follow me over at Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram for updates and behind-the-scenes stuff and all that jazz. And y’all should probably know the drill by now…
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