The Book of Reiner Braun
What They Say:
“The Door of Hope”
Reiner reflects on his past, remembering what pushed him to become a Warrior and keep moving forward when all hope was lost.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Since this season began, we’ve spent our time exclusively in Marley, primarily viewing it through the perspective of Eldians who were born and raised there. Our usual team of protagonists hasn’t been seen at all, with the only returning characters being Reiner and Zeke. Of the two, Reiner has been in the series far longer, and slightly longer as a Titan than as the character first introduced as Reiner Braun. It’s appropriate, then, that these first three episodes have been rapidly expanding Reiner’s role within the season from an antagonistic familiar face of importance and respect within this setting to its unquestionable protagonist. He may only hold that position with such certainty for a single episode, but it makes sure not to squander that opportunity.
After the quiet previous episode culminated in Reiner displaying the only empathy for the protagonists of the series seen from anyone in Marley, something that violently shocked his loved ones even as he tried to wrap it in animosity, much of this episode juxtaposes that sentiment with images of a young Reiner as a more successfully indoctrinated zealot than anyone. As soon as we begin to flash back to his moments as a child in the same position as we find the other protagonists of this arc thus far, it’s apparent that Reiner has gone through a great many changes. The indomitable ox of a young man we’ve known from the beginning of the series, one of the most dangerous Titans and an expert at using his powers, was easily the weakest candidate to inherit a Titan, so much so that he was only chosen because his comrade lied to save his more competent brother from the fate of a Warrior, something that is acknowledged as profoundly tragic much more openly throughout this episode.
The fact that he was able to push past his shortcomings to turn the tables and become arguably the top of his class, at the very least the only one of his team to survive and make it back home, dovetails with his conflicting personalities and unwanted empathy for those he was always sure were the enemies. His greatest strength was an unmatched potential for growth, and while he utilized it to the benefit of his mission, it also forced him to view the world with a more open mind than any of his comrades ever appeared subject to. We were made privy to one element of this shortly after the revelation that Reiner was the Armored Titan, and it has long made him one of the most complex and compelling villains of the series, but this wealth of additional character richness makes his position as the protagonist of this particular story, however brief the tenure, highly warranted.
As we explore Reiner’s history on Paradis, we see extended versions of previous scenes, now from Reiner’s perspective with a great deal more insight into their specifics. As a result, the episode features much crosscutting between unaltered footage from the prior seasons and new footage, which inevitably means there are some slightly jarring inconsistencies in style. A montage of the six of the Nine Titans assigned to the new Warriors expositing about their powers and how each Eldian is fit to wield their respective Titan before the Paradis scenes reminds us of how enamored this team is with depicting these Titans in CG, which I still somewhat bemoan. Interestingly, there are some seemingly new shots of a fully hand-drawn Colossal Titan, something we’ve rarely seen after the first season.
While some very intriguing elements are explored through this new take on early parts of the story, it does seem like something of a missed opportunity to not depict the development of Reiner’s Soldier persona or how his fellow Warriors had to deal with it. This was clearly a key component to the empathy he now finds himself struggling against, or rather a coping mechanism for its pervasion into a mind molded by diametrically opposed ideals. From the perspective of his allies from Marley and most of all his own, the fact that this apparent ailment only befell Reiner was a testament to a weaker will, when in actuality it was a stronger sense of humanity, of a moral code he can’t shake even as he attempts to deny it with every fiber of his being. To Reiner, the greatest war of all is waged within his very soul.
For the past five years, Reiner has been reflecting on a life far too eventful for someone of his age. All he ever wanted, as the Warrior in his mind and the Soldier in his heart battled relentlessly for domination of his soul, was to return to his home. We now know that this is a home where he’s despised by the ruling race, unwanted by his own father, and only able to achieve any recognition by pledging to die at a young age. Given his beliefs upon leaving for Paradis, it’s understandable that the only thing that could keep him going throughout the struggles he experienced was the conviction that returning home would make everything better, and would make his actions worthwhile. Instead, he finds himself in a world full of brainwashing that has no room for his unintentional enlightenment. Marley hasn’t changed; Reiner has, and that makes his feeling of alienation far harder to accept. Having failed his mission, he returns in shame, and the Marleyans look down on him more than ever as they continue to demand his services. He’s watched his original friends be killed or captured, and he’s had to betray the others that he couldn’t help but see as equally valid friends to the point that they view him as a most hated evil to be vanquished. Reiner’s best option would’ve been betraying his original cause and truly embodying the role of the Soldier, but that ship has long since sailed. When he had a promising future to head toward, even if he was lying to himself, he had something to look forward to. Now he’s at that future, and it’s his worst hell.
So we dramatically cut back to the present to find that Reiner has truly lost all hope and he’s ready to make the ultimate choice to escape this despair. But there’s one thing he didn’t acknowledge. The Marleyans hate him, sure, probably many of the Eldians in Marley as well. But the young Warrior candidates, near-perfect parallels of his own misguided younger self, look up to him as the greatest role model, and he can help guide them in whatever he ends up considering the right direction in a way that it’s unlikely anyone else in Marley could.
Falco is one such child who, in a story centered on Eldians in Marley during this time, possesses many qualities that would set him up as the ideal protagonist. Some of these qualities are found more in Armin than the actual protagonist of the series, and perhaps Armin is indeed a more deserving protagonist in a number of ways, but most importantly, Falco has been the only one seen questioning the status quo among these new characters. Reiner chastised him with such vigor that it’s clear he was trying to beat it into himself more than into Falco, but if anyone living in Marley would benefit from Reiner’s more nuanced perspective, it’s Falco. Will Reiner’s wake-up call inspire him to follow his heart? I’m looking forward to seeing where his character goes next, regardless of how it turns out.
Perhaps Reiner will appear as the protagonist for a bit longer, but Falco’s unknowingly critical action pulls the episode’s focus away from Reiner to move it to an enigmatic figure for the final scene. This may not be a familiar face, so perhaps the manga was more effective in carrying the mystery, but it’s certainly a familiar voice in a medium with sound, essentially prematurely confirming what only the final shot of the episode begins to hint at. It’s not as if this ruins anything; it just sets up an intriguing new chapter of this Marley arc with a big new question to add to the general bucket of “What’s been happening for these past four years?” With one glare to the camera, it feels like we may start connecting to the existing story.
In Summary:
Since his reveal as one, Reiner has been the most complicated antagonist of Attack on Titan. Now that we find ourselves in the hometown he was always longing so desperately for, we finally have the opportunity to truly explore the factors that contributed to this inner turmoil. As we flash back on events we’ve seen from different perspectives and in less detail, pieces of this development are unfortunately glazed over, but the main through line of Reiner’s tumultuous journey is felt with profound weight, cutting back to the aching conclusion he reaches. The final scene teases a potential change from the paradigm of this season thus far, although this medium doesn’t allow it to be quite as shrouded in mystery as its original medium may have.
Grade: A
Streamed By: Crunchyroll, Funimation, VRV, Hulu
