The nightmare continues! The plan to seal the breach in Wall Rose is under way.  But is it doomed to fail just as it starts and what is the fate of humanity should it actually fail? Well you’re just going to have to hit the link to find out.

The plan to lure Titans to the corner of the wall continues, and despite the soldiers trying to avoid combat as much as possible, a fifth of the force is lost. Commander Dot Pixis, however, states that the soldiers don’t die on their own as his orders are what send them to their death. Saying that this is a critical point in mankind’s survival, Pixis declares that as long as humans manage to live on, he doesn’t mind being called a murderer.

At the location of the elite team, Mikasa manages to dodge Eren’s punches and much to the rest of the team’s surprise, she hangs herself at Eren’s face in an attempt to talk to him. Meanwhile, Rico shoots a red signal flare as a message that the plan has failed. Ian warns Mikasa to get away from him just as Eren punches his own head as Mikasa manages to evade. The elite team then, much to Mikasa’s discontent, discusses leaving Eren there and retreating.

On top of the wall, the soldiers witness the red signal flare. Seeing this, Armin decides to head to their location. A soldier then proposes focusing on defending and calling off the elite team, however, Pixis orders them to continue luring the Titans and puts all his trust into the elite team, saying that they won’t give up so easily.

Back to the elite team, Mitabi decides to retreat, however, Mikasa heads his way, just to be stopped by Ian. He then orders them to take down the Titans nearing to their place, surprising everyone. He claims that Eren cannot be abandoned as he represents a precious possibility for mankind.

Elsewhere, Jean reaches the wall and questions Eren’s state. Marco replies that Armin is headed there alone and hopes that they will be fine. Connie expresses his doubts about the plan and asks whether the soldiers who have died die in vain, but Jean just says that they must preserve their numbers as it will later become an all out war. Connie just replies that they should try not to become casualties themselves. Meanwhile, the elite team argues about retreating, but in the end decides to follow the plan as Rico states that she will show them how dreadful humans can be. Mikasa gives her thanks to Ian, but he replies that there is no need and orders her to defend her ‘boyfriend’, which makes Mikasa blush and say that he’s her family.

 

Meanwhile, Armin is seen running on top of the wall, wondering what happened. Inside of the Titan, Eren is seen being barely conscious, not knowing where he is not what he is doing. He then gets a vision of him being at home, being able to see his parents and Mikasa. At that time, Armin arrives just to see injured Eren in his Titan form.

 

Back to the elite team, Mikasa saves Mitabi by killing one of the Titans, but then they see more Titans coming in, much to their surprise. Mikasa then realizes that it’s Eren who’s luring all the Titans in. She notices Armin who asks about the plan and Eren’s state and tells him that Eren is unable to control the Titan. Believing that Eren coming out of Titan’s weak point back then is related to the mystery of Titans, Armin stabs the Titan’s nape, leading the blade through Eren’s left arm inside of the Titan. He tells Mikasa to defend everyone from the Titans and then attempts to talk to Eren. However, Eren, in his vision, sees Armin from outside of the window and doesn’t understand Armin’s words. At that moment, he remembers about joining the Scouting Legion. Meanwhile, the elite team along with Mikasa continues their attempts at defeating all the Titans who attempt to reach Eren.

In the streets below the wall, Jean, Annie and Connie continue their mission. While Annie and Connie manage to reach the wall, Jean’s 3D Maneuver Gear breaks and all he can do is to run away by feet. He hides himself inside of a building and through a window; he can see a corpse of a soldier still wearing their 3D Maneuver Gear. Meanwhile, Armin continues talking to Eren, asking him if he remembers that they want to explore the outside world. He questions his motives for doing so and Eren answers that it is because he was born to this world, just as his vision begins burning and the Titan with Eren inside wakes up.

 

So this is a good penultimate episode to the final part of Defense of Trost Arc and I really don’t have much to talk about here really. The animation is as usual excellent, it was interesting though some what predictable of what Eren’s subconscious looked like. Once again it’s up to Armin to ensure that the plan actually works and he has become so much better than he was. On a more humorous note I finally realized Rico was female, and yes I realized I’ve been writing as a she when I refer to her. But honestly I was guessing. I have never in my 30 years on this earth heard of a girl named Rico. So next episode is I guess what we can consider the end of season 1 part 1.