Attack on Titan Episode 31 Review: Warrior

Uhm… what the hell just happened? That was exactly my reaction for Episode 31 of Attack on Titan. I mean we were all expecting that something like that would happen soon, but again, the revelation of the information was so anticlimactic that had me going: ‘wtf?’ But, they indeed hinted us for a shocking secret in the previous episode and, Oh my! Wasn’t it a juicy one!

Japanese Original Title: 戦士

Plot

Right after the battle, we see everyone on the Wall getting ready to head back to Trost and preparing Ymir for medical treatment. While Hange is having a chat with Kr— sorry, Historia, the group sees Hannes who comes to report that apparently the Walls have not been breached. After that, when everyone decides to head back, Reiner and Bertholdt take Eren aside. Reiner decides to just CASUALLY let him know that he is indeed the Armored Titan and Bertholdt the Colossal one and that their mission to destroy humanity can be easily avoided if only Eren cooperates and follow them back to their hometown. (WTF)

The episode then carries on with a flashback that happened 12 hours earlier in Ehrmich District. The scroll that we saw Sasha giving to Hange a few episodes ago reveals the background of Annie who, to everyone’s surprise, comes from the same area as Reiner and Bertholdt. Hange then asks the former cadets of the 104th for more information about these three. Thanks to Armin, soon they realize that during the 57th Expedition false information about Eren’s location was leaked to Reiner’s team and Annie acted according to that. Reiner told Annie where to find Eren during their fight, after Armin naively told him Eren’s whereabouts. Hange then orders everyone to keep quiet about all this and act casually around Bertholdt and Reiner without raising any more suspicion.

Back to the present, Eren asks Reiner if he had completely lost his mind and didn’t know what he was saying. He refuses to follow him. Reiner then says to Bertholdt that it’s time to finish their mission and go home. Both try to shift into their Titan forms when Mikasa attacks them but, unfortunately, she fails to stop the transformation. Reiner the Armored Titan grabs Eren and Bertholdt the Colossal Titan grabs Ymir. Eren, feeling angry and betrayed, transforms into his Titan form as well and starts to fight with Reiner.

Episode Highlights

Reiner & Bertholdt: Okay I know that I am getting annoying with this, but damn I CALLED IT. As someone who hasn’t read the manga I am very proud of myself that I actually see ahead of the plot. To be fair though, it was rather apparent that Reiner was suspicious, especially after Episode 28 in Connie’s hometown and the fact that Bertholdt started gaining screen time in this season. Both gave away the importance of his character. I always believed that Reiner was the Armored Titan because you could kind of see the resemblance as you could see it with Annie and the Female Titan, but damn I would have never thought that Bertholdt is the Colossal one.

Hometown:

It’s something like our hometown

From what Reiner said to Eren we can assume that the ‘Hometown’ he is talking about is the base of all the Titan shifters, which probably means that there are other human colonies living outside the Walls.

57th Expedition: I really liked the fact that the plot got back to that point of the story because I had so many questions and suspicions about that mission. I knew that something was fishy and that there was a traitor between the 104th Cadet Corps because otherwise Annie’s behavior would not have made sense.

Historia’s value: I don’t know exactly what role she is playing in all this and what did Pastor Nick said to everyone but the Titans don’t really care about her, because if she was that important and knew information about them then the Armored and the Colossal Titan would have tried to get her along with Eren and Ymir.

Themes & Trivia

Let’s take a minute to appreciate once again how much of a genius is Hajime Isayama, the creator of Attack on Titan. The main characters are named according to their personalities:

Eren Jaeger: Eren means ‘Saint’ in Turkish/Celtic and Jaeger means ‘Hunter’ or ‘Huntsman’ in German. So, he is a Saint because he is an extremely moral person, and a Hunter because of his strong willpower to kill the Titans. Eren Jaeger – the Saint who hunts Titans.

Mikasa Ackerman: The name Mikasa is of Japanese origin and holds no particular meaning. Ackerman means ‘Fieldman’ in German and is associated with peasants in medieval times. Although her first name has no meaning, Mikasa used to be a pre-dreadnought Japanese battleship built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) in the late 1890s, and was the only ship of her class, as Mikasa is the last oriental (Asian) in the entire world of Attack on Titan. Mikasa or ‘Mi casa’ means my house in Spanish. There is a common phrase in Spanish saying: ‘Mi Casa Es Su Casa,’ which means ‘My House Is Your House.’ If you think about the background of the character and how she was orphaned and went to live with Eren’s family, this could make sense!

Comments

I am still shocked that Bertholdt is the Colossal Titan.

Spoiler Alert MANGA.TOKYO

I always thought that the Colossal Titan was Eren’s father, (because, come on, Eren’s father is definitely a Titan or he creates Titans or I don’t know) which means that if he is not the Colossal one then who’s left guys, that creepy huge monkey.

*End of Potential Spoiler Alert*

About the ‘Hometown’: Most probably this is where Eren’s father is, or, if my theory that the Titans are not working all together is correct, then maybe he is somewhere else with his Neanderthal friends. But if you really think about it, why would Eren’s father want him back when he told him to go find out the truth in the basement of their house? So maybe I am right, or maybe I am completely clueless. Hmm, the plot thickens my friends!

About the 57th Expedition: I have to say that Commander Erwin Smith (apart from the fact that he is voiced by Daisuke Ono and I love him) is a god damn genius. I mean we knew that the whole plan was made in order to find the traitors between the Survey Corps but I am sure he suspected all of this and that’s why he gave false information about the mission to everyone. Looking forward to see what his brilliant mind will think of the situation.

Finally, this episode was worth the wait! We got something out of it! I don’t think the next episodes will be this valuable to the plot because there is going to be a very intense fight between the Titans for quite some time but again FINALLY WE LEARNED THE SHOCKING SECRET. I am so excited to see what will happen by the end of this season. Please don’t disappoint us!

Eren Vs Armored & Colossal Titan

Eren is going to be in quite a pickle along with all the Scouts since they have to fight with the two most powerful Titans of the story (no one really knows/cares about the Ape Titan yet). Get ready for a lot of action and a lot of unnecessary battle screaming!

Where you shocked by the episode guys? Did you expect any of this to happen so soon? Let me know in the comments down below! And for any of the Attack on Titan manga lovers out there, please avoid the spoilers! Cheers!

As always, here are all our reviews for Spring 2017 and our impressions for (nearly) all the first episodes of the season!

NEXT TIME: “Close Combat” (打投極)