10 Second Anime - Shingeki no Kyojin S3 - Episode 57

Grisha Jaeger relives the events of his arrival outside the Walls.

Episode 57 - "That Day"

Hmm.

Wow. Just wow! Mikasa's bed head is disturbing!

Seriously, what an amazing info dump. I got almost all the questions I've ever asked about the premise of this show answered in one episode.

As for my rampant speculation from last episode, I'm not surprised I got most of the puzzle pieces identified and mainly in the right spots, but what we had here was beyond my expectation. What I particularly enjoyed was how all the "historical" drawings that have been featured in the credit sequences from the first season all the way up to now finally got their clear showing in context. Mind you, we're still getting a filtered look at these things, first through the conquering Marleyans, then through the Restorationists anti-king attitude, and somewhere in between where even the heretics on Paradis Island created Ymir at some unknown point in time.

So, let me put down what I think is objectively true. 1820 years ago, Ymir Fritz gained the Power of the Titans, divided it into Nine Powers upon her death (whether by choice or what I don't know), and those who held those Powers were called the Eldians and ruled the world for 1700 years. 100 years ago, the Great Titan War erupted, with Eldians on opposite sides, leading to 7 of the 9 powers opposing the King, who abandoned the capital on the continent and established a fortress on Paradis Island, taking the Founding Titan power with him. The Eldians left on the continent, under the control of the Marley government, were placed in ghettos and made to wear armbands like Jews in Nazi Germany, while discriminated against and called "devil-bloods."

This cauldron of racial resentment, cultural guilt, and apartheid brewed an insurgent movement by the Eldians calling themselves the Restorationists. They opposed the King and worked to retrieve the Nine Titan Powers for themselves to overthrow the Marleyans and the King on Paradis Island. Lending them veracity and authority to their claims was a royal descendant by name of Dina Fritz, supposedly related to the Ymir Fritz from 1800 years ago.

The Marleyans needed Eldians to pilot the Titan Powers, so forced indoctrination and threats of violence and oppression were key to recruiting children loyal to the non-Eldian government. The most important of these children was Grisha and Dina's own son Zeke, who betrayed them and later became the Beast Titan.

The punishment for any Eldian crime was to be sent to "paradise," but in practical terms, this meant being shipped to the shores of Paradis Island, injected with Titan spinal fluid, and turned into Pure Titans to roam the lands beyond the Walls of the Eldian King's last fortress. That's how there were all those Titans running around outside the Walls and conceivably when the Beast Titan arrived, he started making his own Titans from the villages, explaining how we recognized Connie's mother as a Titan during the 2nd season.

So, wow! They even kind of answered the "why now?" question of the Titan infiltrators looking for the Coodinate Power in Eren. The Marleyans claim that Paradis Island has a vast reservoir of fossil fuel, coal, oil, or natural gas, that they need to ramp up their military against a technologically advancing world, but that could be lies. It's also 15 years later that the team finally arrived, and their specific mission was to find the Coordinate Power, not the Founding Power. Did it take 15 years to identify, then train Eldian traitor kids to use their stash of 7 Titan Powers? I still have questions.

One question I have centers on the origin of Ymir. Her memories of those heretics in the desert identifying certain children with "the King's blood" appear to be from even before the Eldian royalty fled to Paradis. They named her Ymir after their version of Eve, Ymir Fritz, which is obvious now, and why they treated her like a goddess or queen. It's a stray bit of history, but since she's going to the continent of the Marleyan government, that may be important.

The other question I had during the episode was how they said there were Nine Titan Powers. The Marleyans somehow convinced 7 Eldians to join their side, and the King with his Founding Power established an exile kingdom on Paradis. So, there's a Power missing and I think it's Kruger the Owl who had it. But, Grisha ate Rod's daughter who had the Royal Power, and he wasn't a dumb Titan when he did it. Can Titans have more than one Titan Power at the same time? The first Titan Ymir Fritz supposedly did, and divided them into Nine, but is that really true? Did Grisha have the Coordinate Power from Kruger before he got the Founding Power from Frieda, and then passed both of them on to Eren? I think the next episode will answer some of those questions.

But here comes the worst and best thing of the episode. First of all, it was only the royals who were supposed to control memories of those who had Titan Powers before, which is how Eren saw through the eyes of his Father Grisha how he took Frieda's power and then made Eren eat him. Now everybody can do it, like Armin and Eren, and I'm not okay that. But anyway, because of this supposed dreaming royal power Eren now has, he remembered Grisha seeing his wife Dina become the Smiling Titan. The very same Titan that killed his mother and that he killed by using Shout on the dumb Titans around him. That's a horrible thing to learn. He killed his own half-brother's mother, who probably doesn't even care because he's been indoctrinated by the Marleyans. This show really is a horror fest, and not just from violence. I love it!

Heh.

Almost all my Heh notes got folded into the Hmm section, so just enjoy the pictures.

Eldians, also called devil-bloods.

Poor Fay.

The Marleyan version of history seems awfully biased.

The Restorationists find ancient texts that have different interpretations of those 1700 years of rule.

Their drawings match the angelic versions we saw in the credit sequences from all the seasons. True events were probably much more complicated and nuanced.

Nice. Zeke is holding a big Sasquatch doll before his father drives him crazy.

Grisha should have known how much Zeke would have hated him telling him all this crap the same way he hated his own father when he told him the opposite of all that crap.

So now we know where all the Titans came from running around outside the Walls. They were other Eldians sent to "paradise" and turned into Pure Titans.

Ugh. Fay's killer says he did it because peace is boring. Well, Kruger will give him some excitement.

Oh, that's terrible. The Smiling Titan who killed Eren's mother was his father's first wife. Damn.

Oh ho. Kruger is the Owl, the mole inside the Marleyan government.

Ah. Eren's in jail for insubordination. Nice bed head Mikasa. Also, damn, gurl!

Back to Grisha. This Gross guy says he can decide how big a Titan to make with his injection. That's good to know.

Oh man, we've seen this Big Eyes Titan before too.

Well. Kruger is the 8th Titan and he looks just like Eren in Titan form.

That's a real Titan Power transformation. BOOM!

Nice cliffhanger. What is Kruger up to here with revealing himself?