Attack on Titan Episode 48 Review: Bystander

Isayama has proven once again that he is an amazing storyteller. Giving Shadis such a backstory and turning him into a noteworthy character with relatable fears and worries was just astonishing.

Japanese Original Episode Title: 傍観者

Plot

Two months have passed since Historia’s coronation but it seems like she spends most of her time caring for orphaned children and those in need. After the coup, a lot of talent was lost from humanity’s forces, but the discovery of glowing ore in the Reiss cavern helped the Scouts develop great weapons and enhance humanity’s defenses. With Eren’s hardening ability, Hange developed a new anti-Titan weapon for wall defense called the ‘Executioner from Hell’ which is capable of killing Titans effectively and with no human casualties. Eren finally recalls that the man from his vision is the former Cadet Corps Commander Keith Shadis, to whom the Scouts go in order to get more details. He tells them that twenty years ago, he met Grisha Jaeger outside Wall Maria with amnesia. Dr. Jaeger learned about life within the Walls, used his medical abilities to help the sick and later married Carla who gave birth to their son Eren. He also reveals to them that during the Titan attack on Shiganshina, Grisha took Eren into the woods where Shadis later found him wearing a key around his neck and returned him to the resting area. After hearing his story the scouts start making preparations to retake the Wall.

Episode Highlights

Eren can’t be more dense that this: When he was talking with Historia and they were just hitting it off and she was blushing and all, Mikasa comes in looking like this and Eren thinks she is just mad because he is carrying all those heavy boxes. Get a hint Eren, do you remember that she kissed you when all hell was unleashed around you in the previous season? God damn it. Also, when the rom-com duo Sasha and Connie try to make Marlo understand that Hitch is into him and that’s the reason why she tried to prevent him from joining the scouts and Marlo said something equally stupid as Eren’s quotes, Eren says: ‘Why, Marlo said nothing wrong?’. He is denser than his hardening abilities, I just can’t anymore.

Keith Shadis, the bystander: I would never have expected this guy to be important to the plot. He was used as a comic relief character at the beginning but he ended up having so much drama and sadness to his being that he honestly reminded me of Severus Snape from Harry Potter. Not only did he help Dr. Jaeger remember shit, practice his medical skills, and get him into Shiganshina but he also saw the love of his life getting married to him. With his story, we get to answer a lot of questions regarding the first episodes of the show: why was Eren found with the key around his neck and who was the one sabotaging his training. Everything comes together so perfectly that it would be a crime not to applaud the amazing storytelling of Isayama.

Themes & Trivia

You should re-watch this: There is this scene in the first season of Attack on Titan that really brings the words of Carla alive and that will make you experience more feels that you initially did.

Fun Fact: If you watch the opening scene of the first episode in the first season you will realize that the guy that we are watching fight off the Titans is no other than Mr. Keith Shadis.

Information Available for Public Disclosure

Executioner from Hell: A semi-automatic Titan extermination weapon constructed in part by Eren Jaeger’s hardening ability and the wall. It can safely fall and eliminate Titans compared to previous methods.

Comments

I was so pleasantly surprised with this episode. It really shows you that Isayama has thought everything out so well and that he doesn’t leave anything by chance, using all the characters and surroundings for the benefit of the plot. It was great to see a character like Shadis giving us answers for things that happened so early on, and to be honest I wasn’t even expecting more details coming our way regarding those scenes. The way he said the story as a ‘bystander’ gave us a complete different look on the story and made the character very relatable as he sees talented and special people around him moving on while he can’t do much and considers himself as a failure.

Normal people accomplishing nothing.

The mission to retake Shiganshina will finally start and boy oh boy I can’t be more excited to see what will happen. Prepare yourselves for some heavy action.

NEXT TIME: Night of the Battle to Retake the Wall