- Erwin or Armin, you decide.
Epic Titan battle of history.
So what's up, guys, Foxen here.
Putting the jokes aside, a very powerful
"Attack on Titan" episode, definitely an amazing followup
to last week's Beast Titan sushi time.
So go ahead and give a colossal thumbs up and subscribe.
By the way, are you gonna be going to Anime Expo?
I'm thinking about holding up a smallish meetup,
so post down below if you're gonna be going.
Anyway, let's get started.
"Attack on Titan" season three, episode 18,
titled The Midnight Sun.
So to start this off, no opening.
That's when you know an anime episode is gonna be amazing.
At the start, you can see the Colossal Titan remains
just looking like a mountain of Titan crap,
also that crystallized wall
from Eren going Titan crystal mode.
So really quickly, let me actually address
a popular complaint from the last episode, or confusion.
Why did Eren even need to get his Titan hard?
The answer was really just so Bert still saw
his Titan figure remains down below.
That way, he wouldn't get distracted
and just leaving him open for Eren to take the kill.
Anyway, getting into the ultra-crispy Armin
coming to a Titan KFC near you.
Eren here looking awfully devastated, and do notice,
his face was more detailed than ever.
It looks like the WIT Studio makeup team
might've been back for this episode.
Over on the side, he had the steam machine known as Bert.
At this point, I was surprised to see
this guy's wounds covered up in steam.
Eren here dropped something key regarding Armin's character,
something that got hinted in the Armin flashback
the previous episode.
Ironically, I can suddenly see people online
call best girl Armin a wimp, but here,
Eren brings up how Armin has never been one to run away,
whether that was involving bullies
or the Colossal Titan cooking his ass.
Also, just a quick thing about Armin here.
Armin still had his pants.
The shirt is gone.
I guess the Survey Corps must be using
some of that Hulk material.
The world must not see this guy's Jaws Titan.
Anyway, for the War Chief coming over on his Titan Uber,
goddamn, look at the lips on that Titan.
Compared to the manga, it looks like the Cart Titan
got a frickin' lip job done.
Also still with the glowing red eyes,
which is not really a complaint
since it helped distract you from the puffy mouth.
That being said, the following shot looks frickin' menacing
for this smaller Titan.
Anyway, for the War Chief here,
dropping some important stuff to Eren,
something about Eren not looking like his papa.
Is this guy a stalker?
Zeke claims to understand the former raging boy,
and get this, that supposedly they've both been
victims of Grisha, even bringing up brainwashing.
They do go ahead and throw a quick glimpse of Grisha.
Ever since Zeke appeared back at the end
of "Attack on Titan" season two, a ton of anime people
thought Zeke was actually Eren's papa somehow.
I don't know how being a Titan makes you younger and blond.
"Attack on Titan" season three then confirmed Grisha's death
via the Mindless Titan Eren.
So what connection could the War Chief have
to Eren's Titan papa?
I think at this point, you've been given enough clues
to at least randomly guess parts of it.
Keep in mind I do have a full video
covering the Beast Titan and Grisha connection
plus their history.
Definitely check that out after, but honestly,
would Eren really buy what the monkey man is selling?
Especially when he has the colossal prize right next to him,
which is still at risk of being snatched away.
Would Eren be that gullible
or even tired enough to be tricked?
Too bad you have the Levi Ackerman
just coming in to break their papa talk.
Notice Levi here with those glowing white eyes.
Looks like the Levi god mode
was just about to run out of steam.
Unfortunately, the anime actually cut out a line here,
and I was really looking forward to it, too.
So after Levi appeared, ironically,
Zeke called Levi a monster.
In the anime version, they strangely chose
to keep this quiet.
Aw, too bad.
By the way, I really like how Levi took a page
out of Levi's book when sliding down the wall.
Those must be some very durable vibranium boots.
But back to Zeke, you got this guy using an escape rope
although not before that final cryptic line drop.
"Eren, I'm gonna save you one day."
Let's just completely ignore the fact
that the Beast Titan just made this cloud blood mist
on the other side of the wall.
As for the goddamn Levi Ackerman,
finally out of blades and gas.
I actually have to hand it to Isayama
for not abusing this gas restriction.
So it looks like even the overpowered Levi
has been conveniently grounded this time around.
Looking at Eren's hometown from a bird's eye view,
you can really see the whole devastation.
Notice that dark spot where the Colossal Titan
nuked the area, followed by his snail trail
over to Wall Maria.
Good thing there's no actual Titan radiation
from this colossal nuke, probably not.
Anyway, switching it over to Hange's side of things,
oh, the Reiner booty prize, all hot and steamy.
Hange even looted Reiner's Titan stash, too.
Could that be a flask with some Titan wine or whiskey?
Right, supposedly a letter from Ymir
who's been MIA since season two.
By the way, right here, do notice Hange's face.
Looks like Hange wasn't able to fully respawn here.
At the very least, she didn't get vaporized by the nuke.
In comparison to that, just missing one eye
is but a scratch.
Then for Hange asking whether Mr. Reiner here
will cooperate nicely, oh, you got
the Fifty Shades of Hange coming out full force.
At first glance, it seemed like the playful Hange
was gonna try to get answers out of him,
but it looks like Hange was far too pissed off
at this moment, and can you blame her?
It really took Mr. Horse over here to point it out.
Hey, Hange, don't frickin' waste the kill.
Reiner could still be useful, just gotta inject
some Titan juices into someone.
For the short flashback here, you have Commander Erwin
explaining the details about this Titan shot.
Even you fresh recruits
can become an overpowered Titan one day.
Totally fine if you get hurt.
Just make sure you don't actually die.
For Jean here, I do have to admit that this guy
has actually been growing more and more on me
since "Attack on Titan" season three.
Along with the current manga stuff ongoing,
the mini stallion brought up here
how they wouldn't be able to defeat the Titans
if they wouldn't learn more about the unknown stuff,
really echoing Commander Erwin in this moment.
As for Mikasa's gassy situation, really no surprise
that practically everyone is almost out at this point.
Switching it over to Levi's area, you got Mikasa
looking horrified, just holding on to her hairdo.
That must be a painful-ass headache.
So it turns out blond boy Armin is still breathing somehow
and also technically not blond anymore.
And I know some of you are gonna be wondering,
"How the hell did Armin survive?"
And on top of that, being able to breathe on his own.
Even Titan science can't explain this.
And oh, my God, Eren's chilling voice acting here.
Eren's screams right here
were already starting to get me into tears.
The assistant director actually highly suggested
to watch this episode with headphones
to really appreciate this episode's voice acting.
Funny how you had Eren doing that chokehold on the meat sack
and here's something really curious to notice,
that even at this point, you got Armin dying
in the background, everyone's all bloody, even in this point
where a few seconds could make the world of a difference,
Eren is still very much speaking
in a formal manner to Captain Levi.
Oh, Levi trained him well.
And let's not forget about Mikasa.
A huge credit to her, too.
Even while taking that massive trauma over here,
she still managed to pull through by firing that red signal,
finish out the Squidward Reiner.
Unfortunately, you do have a another massive fail
for the Survey Corps.
You got the Cart Titan coming and snatching
another human chew toy.
At least Jean managed to escape Hange,
huge credit for him, too, just doing that last-second save
while completely injured.
Seems like this guy's always rescuing people.
At the end of the day, just another screw-up
for the Survey Corps.
Next up, gotta love this shot,
passing the Titan torch with that blinding bright light.
But hold up a minute, there really should've been
a record scratch sound with Floch coming up.
Looks like the Survey Corps delivery service
is right on point.
Here's a very special commander package
ready for Mr. Ackerman.
Immediately, Levi must've been like, "Well, sorry, Armin.
"Papa Commander takes priority, better luck next time."
Either way, for this whole situation,
I do have to point out how convenient it is,
the commander that was up in front leading the charge
somehow managed to escape the shreddage
combined with Floch being able to deliver this guy
seconds before Armin got injected.
Convenient, although Isayama does know
how to set up this drama.
And man, the shots this episode, look at this.
Eren was so close, yet so far,
inches away from the damn box.
Of course, Eren wasn't too happy about Levi
wanting to shoot Erwin with the Titan juices.
In this moment, Eren just had that look.
"I'm about to toss this short bastard off the roof."
Even Mikasa was about to double-team
and back-stab Levi from behind.
Friends before Ackermans.
Meanwhile, the War Chief was over here on the wall top
just enjoying the drama.
Reiner, you goddamn lucky bastard.
Let's just applaud Armored Titan's ability.
All right, so let's get into it.
What got teased or even spoiled
in the previous "Attack on Titan" Uprising ending?
Oh, Eren got to touch the box?
That is a no-no, you frickin' screwed up.
Oh, yes, you have Levi using his strong pimp hand on Eren.
Get the hell outta my way.
Papa Erwin needs these Titan juices.
Unfortunately, that's when he screwed up.
Levi frickin' triggered Mikasa into bodyguard mode.
With Armin in barbecue mode and Eren getting pimp slapped,
Mikasa leaped on him like a frickin' tiger.
Mikasa rage mode activated, although honestly,
it really wasn't fun at all
seeing these buddies almost try to kill each other,
especially after the horrible crap that just took place
on both sides of the wall.
As for Eren almost falling off the rooftop over here,
you may not have caught it, but Levi's pimp slap
actually knocked out a few of Eren's chompers.
The anime then added this new closeup shot of Eren's mouth
where you could clearly see some of the white gems missing.
If you recall, this is not the first time
Levi has actually done this to this boy.
So you got Eren listing off all of Armin's accomplishments
for humanity, which honestly is quite the list.
By comparison, Commander Erwin unfortunately has been
on the flip side of this, instead being credited
for the massive Survey Corps failures.
Then Mikasa over here, funny how even she was asking nicely
for the Titan shot, at least saying please with her words,
her actions really telling a different story.
Getting into Floch's point of view of things,
which is really letting Mikasa and Eren know
about the blood mist that the Beast Titan created
on the other side.
At the start of this, it really seemed like Floch
was praising Commander Erwin's efforts,
then the twist happened.
This devil commander shouldn't die yet.
He needs to continue living on this hell on Earth.
Humanity needs this devil gambler that is Erwin.
Next up, a wild Hange appeared.
She's really good at teleporting, and Floch was really
just super lucky that Hange even showed up.
Mikasa was about to slice up this red bastard.
You really have to applaud
Mikasa's voice actor's performance right here.
Finally you're getting the shot of Mikasa,
who's almost always appeared emotionless,
just breaking down, crying over realizing
that Armin's not gonna be the one getting chosen.
Wonderful moment for her character.
Another side thing to notice was Mikasa,
who always speaks formally, really dropped it
when she was pleading for Armin's sake towards Hange.
Despite that, Mikasa was still about to break
Hange's wrist right here.
It really took some effort for Mikasa to let it go.
For Hange here, you gotta find out how exactly
she even survived the nuke when she was so close up.
Turns out Hange just jumped under a dumpster.
Oh, wait, wrong series.
Conveniently, right next to them,
there happened to be this well.
Unfortunately, Moblit sacrificed himself in a way
and ended up saving Hange.
Then for Mikasa having that flashback of the trio,
this is really important, especially for a lot of you
that claim Mikasa's only about her beloved Eren.
Armin still gets, like, 10% of her love.
Next up, Eren's turn.
Levi must've been like, "Goddammit, first Mikasa
"and now the other guy, too?
"Stop giving me random water trivia."
Erwin's about to bleed out at this rate,
and just notice this, that closeup of Eren's face.
Levi really just wrecked this guy.
At first I thought this guy lost two or three chompers,
but, like, half his jaw is completely gone.
With everyone finally out of the damn way,
you still had Levi carefully thinking about this
in his head, all this time really looking dreadful
over the whole situation.
As for Erwin's true final moment, come on,
Erwin's flashback here combined with Levi's thoughts,
it really has me like Mikasa earlier, completely drenched.
Oh, it must be raining today.
Ultimately, you have Titan Armin
going for the bite-sized snack.
So quite a few things I have to bring up about this.
First off, I've actually seen a good chunk of people
feel bad for Bert here, especially with him screaming out
for help to the others.
Let me just say that I am not among those people,
especially not after the whole Armin and Erwin situation
which just took place seconds earlier.
On top of that, unfortunately Bert has been
one of the least-developed warriors.
Combined with this guy having so much blood on his hands,
for me, I could easily say sayonara to him here.
Second thing, the Mindless Armin Titan,
really great thing for these guys that the Armin Titan
actually ate Bert correctly.
Recall that you do have to eat a Titan shifter
in a specific manner to actually gain their powers.
Good thing Titan Armin didn't just splat Bert
or even just swallow the guy.
Recall what happened to Eren
in "Attack on Titan" season one, the Trost arc?
Yeah, there's a ton of room for error here.
Third thing, which is something regarding Levi.
Over the years, I've seen a ton of manga readers
for some reason hating on Armin for killing Bert
and also killing Erwin.
Whether you're anime only or a manga reader,
let me clarify this.
I do have to stress this,
that this was not Armin's fault at all.
Armin was basically dead at this point.
It wasn't Armin but Levi who was totally at fault here.
Ultimately, Levi Ackerman was the one
that chose to inject Armin instead.
The complete responsibility is on Levi
for allowing Erwin to pass on and Bert to be eaten.
Armin really had no say in the matter at all.
But anyway, back to the commander.
This really was Levi finally letting this guy rest in peace.
Unfortunately, it is very "Attack on Titan"-like
for a guy to be so close to achieving his goal
but to then die right before the finish line.
It is sad to know that Erwin died without knowing the truth,
which is coming up, by the way,
although perhaps he was better not knowing the reality.
Anyway, welcome to your new Colossal Titan.
Oh, those Armin abs are back.
Armin definitely has some massive shoes to fill
with Commander Erwin gone, so right here,
let me toss it over to you simply: Armin or Erwin?
Who would you have picked and why?
That is both for anime-only people and manga readers.
I might have to do a full video diving into this,
especially with the current manga event.
Does anyone want to see that?
Post down below.
Next up, bonus topic.
In hindsight for the whole situation, let me mention
that yes, you could've created some Mindless Titan problems,
but in Titan theory, you should've been able
to inject Armin and Erwin, in other words,
really only using part of the Titan juices, maybe half.
Again, in Titan theory, this should've given you
two questionable-size mindless Titans.
At the very least, you could've kept Titan Erwin
in the dungeon somewhere until later.
Next up, the manga changes
going into the anime, the highlights.
No surprise, censorship this episode.
First off is Bert's body healing up,
which is a little surprising since the wounds
should've been closing up fairly quickly.
In this episode, they're just covered in steam.
Next up, Zeke's face.
In the manga, Zeke's lip was still torn
from Levi piercing his mouth and eye socket.
For the anime, this is pretty much nonexistent,
only a slight red mark on the lip.
Next up, something cut out.
Before I switch back to Levi, Hange here
was actually asking for a potential candidate.
In the manga, they quickly pan to Sasha,
but then you had Hange wondering
if there was potentially a better candidate.
They might've cut this out due to time constraints.
Next up, Erwin's bloody body.
To give the anime some credit, they actually made Erwin
look a lot more bloody here compared to the manga shots.
In some of the manga panels, it did look like Erwin
was a little bit better off, at least blood-wise.
Next up, a change for the anime.
This was in a scene where Levi
was about to inject one of these guys.
In the shot where it was showing Armin's burned body,
you heard Kenny's voiceover saying
that they were all slaves to something, including him,
in the shot, him referring to Erwin.
The him line got cut and got changed.
You now have a new shot and line from Armin here.
Armin's saying that it's not,
plus the ocean line, interesting change.
So how awesomely sad was this episode?
Post down below who would you have picked, Erwin or Armin?
Definitely check out my Promare non-spoiler anime review
and my in-depth look at Eren's Titan.
Next in-depth Titan video's coming tomorrow
and I'll see you guys later.