What did that noise grenade even do?
What They Say:
Many years ago, the last remnants of humanity were forced to retreat behind the towering walls of a fortified city to escape the massive, man-eating Titans that roamed the land outside their fortress. Only the heroic members of the Scouting Legion dared to stray beyond the safety of the walls – but even those brave warriors seldom returned alive. Those within the city clung to the illusion of a peaceful existence until the day that dream was shattered, and their slim chance at survival was reduced to one horrifying choice: kill – or be devoured!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Most of episode 19 is a flashback to Eren’s training. He’s trying to turn into a Titan on command but can’t make himself do it, and this time his self-inflicted wounds won’t even heal. Later, while trying to pick up a spoon he dropped slightly out of reach, his right arm explodes into a skinless Titan arm. Everyone around him unsheathes their swords and threatens to kill him in an instant. They demand that he prove he’s not their enemy, but he can’t be heard over their paranoid yelling, so he ends up yanking his hand out of the Titan flesh instead (causing it to disintegrate).
Later, Hanji notices that the giant arm was holding a spoon; Eren recalls that he was trying to pick it up when he suddenly transformed. It appears that he can only become a Titan when he’s trying to achieve some sort of goal, even if it’s something as mundane as cutlery retrieval. Everyone is relieved that he wasn’t intentionally disobeying orders, and they all bite their own hands as an apology. This whole experience teaches Eren the value of trusting in his comrades.
Back to the present: the female Titan is still bearing down on Squad Levi, and Eren can’t decide whether to follow Erwin’s orders or to transform into a Titan and try to fight back. Levi even gives him the okay to do what he thinks is best, but Eren decides to believe in the survey corps.’ wisdom and continues riding through the forest.
Just before the female Titan catches up to them, they pass through a clearing in the forest where Erwin and several others are waiting. A rain of harpoons descends upon the Titan, piercing her a thousand times over and stopping her in her tracks. Amazingly, it seems Erwin’s intention was always to capture her alive. Squad Levi immediately rejoices over the success of the mighty survey corps., but the creepy music playing during this part makes their celebration look hubristic.
Levi breaks off from his team and orders them to keep Eren hidden in the forest. He meets up with Erwin, and their conversation reveals that they both think the female Titan is someone with the same power as Eren (“Thanks to them, we’ll be able to see who’s inside this thing.”) There’s definitely a sense that they know something we don’t. As the ending credits played and it ran through the usual collection of faces, it occurred to me that I already knew exactly who she was.
Honestly, it was a bit disappointing not to see some sort of climactic showdown between Eren and the female Titan, but this episode still laid some important groundwork. It was nice to see the members of Squad Levi receive some much-needed character development, and I’ll gladly take any details I can get about Eren’s power. Besides, with all those Titans surrounding the forest and the potential for the powerful female one to escape, they’re definitely not…out of the woods yet. (Sorry.)
In Summary:
Flashback to Eren’s survey corps. training: he can’t transform on command, but does so accidentally at an unauthorized time, and his comrades raise their swords against him. Hanji proves that it was accidentally triggered when Eren tried to pick up a spoon; everyone apologizes and promises to trust him from then on. Apparently, he can only change into a Titan when he has a clear goal in mind. Flash back out of the flashback and the female Titan is still chasing squad Levi. Eren decides to believe in his friends and keep riding rather than try to fight her. Soon after, Erwin and a group of survey corps. trap her using hundreds of harpoons. Erwin and Levi are convinced that there’s a human inside the Titan. Why are they so sure?
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Insignia 1080p TV, PS3 with Crunchyroll App; Occasionally 17” Toshiba Satellite Laptop, 2.13 GHz Core i3, 4GB RAM, Windows 7
Pretty sure the sound grenade was just to inform the others to prepare the trap as they’re closing in on it’s location. You can’t see the smoke signals in the forest but you can still hear.
Ooh, good point!