10 Second Anime - Shingeki no Kyojin S3 - Episode 52

Reiner's Armored Titan is incapacitated, but is still able to signal for the launch of the Colossal Titan.

Episode 52 - "Descent"

Hmm.

We've seen earlier how Reiner had trouble reconciling his two identities as an undercover agent and the Scout Reiner who has friends and comrades within the Corps. In fact, he may still be having trouble, since he still refers to Christa and needing to rescue her for Ymir's sake. That would be hard to do since she's Queen Historia now. The brief flashback showing the exact circumstances of how Annie came in possession of Marco's ODM gear, which was a big mystery way back six years ago, showed Annie wrestling with these dual loyalties and even how Reiner appeared to be schizophrenic. But we never saw Bertholdt deal with this issue, except for staring bug-eyed and frozen at being accused as a traitor.

This week, we saw Bertholdt put everything behind him, using the very Japanese stoic philosophy of "it can't be helped." He's got precious friends, but he has to kill them. It can't be helped. He has orders. I think Bertholdt finally came to the same place of impatience that Reiner did when he just openly admitted to Eren who he was and would he please come with him. Here, he asks Armin to just die. As War Chief Zeke repeated (we know that guy's name now), the team that arrived five years ago had two objectives - retrieve Coordinate and exterminate the Wall People. With just Bertholdt, Reiner, and Annie, the extermination business was easy, but they had to wait a long time before they saw Eren transform into a Titan. It's easy to see how 5 years undercover with no end in sight could cause the schizophrenia or cognitive dissonance that we saw in Reiner and Bertholdt. Bertholdt said goodbye to all that self-doubt with the easy justification of "It can't be helped. I have orders."

What I also found interesting is that none of the enemy Titans know that Annie is actually frozen in her own crystal. They all assume she's been captured and being tortured for information. I'm impressed that bit of top secret info hasn't leaked out yet.

Heh.

Hey, almost all the spoilers in the opening credits have been used up by the end of this episode. All that's missing is the Beast Titan throwing a whole bunch of boulders.

And flashback to the invaders forcing Marco to get eaten by a Titan. It was such a big deal that Annie had Marco's ODM gear, and now we see she just stashed it in that house.

I'm feeling a little disappointed looking at this newly animated flashback compared to the original scenes repurposed for this episodes. The lines were so thick and bold back then and the textures look more detailed. Well, that was six years ago and that studio was only working on that one anime back then.

Interesting tidbits from Reiner calling the Wall People an "evil race."

There's also references to Annie and her father being descended from these people too.

And we're back to just before the Scouts reached Shiganshina, drinking coffee, with War Chief Zeke. Hi, Zeke!

These guys still don't know that Annie is frozen inside a big crystal.

Zeke has a habit of scratching his ear.

They have two goals - recover Coordinate and end this cursed history.

Whoa. Transport Titan can speak pretty well and he was the one who spotted the Scouts.

Reiner still wants to save Christa for Ymir. Crazy talk. How's he going to get Queen Historia to come with them?

And now we're back to last episode. Reiner got caught! His head his blown off, but his Titan is not disappearing. He obviously did that Mind Transfer thing again.

Aw. Conny and Sasha are crying for Reiner. I keep forgetting how little time has passed since they found out he and Bertholdt were spies this whole time.

Big shout! The Armored Titan wasn't so defeated after all.

Bertholdt is in a barrel with air holes...

And here he comes!

Bertholdt examines Reiner and tells him to get ready. These are some specialized Titan fighting techniques. Head shots were probably always common, so the Intelligent Titans needed a defense against it.

Armin wants to talk. He's just trying to get more info out of Bertholdt as the others race again toward Reiner to finish him off.

"It can't be helped." These people aren't Japanese! This stoic acceptance of circumstances and ganbaru is not the Northern European mindset at all. If they're Swedish, then it's accepting circumstances and being depressed about them...

Mikasa had enough talk. Bertholdt appears to be a different and decisive person now, but Mikasa still took his ear.

Reiner moved enough to protect his nape. The Scouts can't finish him off. And they're going to get caught in the Colossal Titan's blast zone.

Bertholdt is just knocking the crap out of this town. He's basically a fireball already, so anything he knocks around is spreading that fire.

Armin has to figure out a strategy assuming this handful of scouts and Eren the Titan are the only ones left inside the Walls to deal with Bertholdt.

Erwin wonders what the Beast Titan's next move is, as Zeke scratches his ear.

Next time, the Beast Titan does some more rock throwing.