English Dub Review: Attack on Titan “Declaration of War”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Eren has the horrified Reiner and Falco stay put while he explains what he’s doing here. Specifically, he’s here to do exactly what Reiner and his friends did all those years ago, which Reiner believes is him ushering just payback like Eren swore he would do back when he was captured with Ymir. But Eren isn’t here for revenge. In fact, his time in Marley has given him a chance to finally understand some things. He once thought that everyone here were monsters who wanted to kill him and his people, but now he sees that they’re just human like the rest of them. The only difference between him and them is that the Marleyans were taught from youth that the Eldians were evil, and that’s not their fault. They thought they were saving the world, much like Eren thinks he’s doing now.

Nearby, Willy Tybur puts on a play recounting the established history that Marleyans know: King Fritz and the Eldians ruled over the world with an iron grip until Titan infighting weakened the empire with the help of the hero Helos, who forced Fritz to retreating to the island of Paradis, promising to trample the world with an army of Collossal Titans if he were ever disturbed. However, Willy confesses that Helos was simply a myth, and that the Tybur family worked with Fritz to fabricate this legend and allow Fritz to retire in peace on Paradis with subjects, swearing that if the forces of Marley came to take his power, he would not resist. However, while this legend had kept order for this long, a greater threat has arisen who has no qualms about making good on the threat to trample the world: Eren Jaeger, who has taken the Founding Titans power for himself. He pleads with those who came from across the world to help him face this enemy.

Amongst the crowd, small moves begin being made. A strange soldier lures Porco and Pieck into a trap door, keeping them put and unable to transform. Magath and his troops observe for further activity, realizing something has started. And Eren admits that his letters that Falco sent were not for his family, but his comrades. He also says that Willy’s warning is correct, he could destroy the world if not stopped. However, he has to keep moving forward.

Eren transforms into his Titan and begins the massacre.

OUR TAKE

In the last moments of the current Opening, amongst the featureless war and carnage we see laid out, there is a brief glimpse of a few Titans, frozen in place. But even so, the camera quickly cuts closer to them, as if they continue to approach and will devour whoever is nearby. Eren’s presence in these last couple of episodes plays this imagery out, as he emerges from the seemingly static state of Paradis and unsuspectingly closes in to begin his homage to the battle that destroyed Shiganshina. Now, unlike the villagers who were completely caught off guard by that attack, the top brass of Marley are not so unprepared, as Magath and Willy both seemed to show signs that they expected something like this, which we’ll see in more detail in the next few episodes. But the core of this episode that makes it great, possibly one of the best of the series thus far, are the moments between Eren and Reiner & Willy’s speech.

Eren’s part in this is basically to verbalize what we as the audience have been seeing since the start of the season. The people of Marley and the Eldians who are subjugated in it are no more monsters or demons than the people they are told to despise over in Paradis, but mere humans who are told to hate and kill one side that they think threatens the other. There are decent people amongst them who simply believe that they are protecting their loved ones from an oncoming threat, one that could quite literally destroy all life on the planet. And so Eren, who began the story with a infernal hatred for the mindless beasts who destroyed his life and kept his people from seeing the world…now has to accept that he and them are simply two sides of humans who had it drilled into them from youth that they needed to fight these monstrous enemies to the death to save themselves.

And yet.

Willy’s pleas to those from across the world show that Marley still intends to finish this fight, especially now that Eren could very well enact the once empty threat of flattening the earth. So the fight must continue. And as for whether or not Eren would truly destroy the world, well that remains disturbingly unclear. He’s someone so dedicated to his cause that he would have his foot cut off and recreate the very moment that pushed him on this path. And Marley would abandon their long held beliefs to seek help from the rest of the world to destroy him. Both are seeking to save the world. Both seek to kill the other side to reach this. We’ll see how this battle begins next week when the War Hammer finally falls.