English Dub Review: Attack on Titan “That Day”

Attack on Titan Origins: First Class

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

A young Grisha Yaeger lives his childhood in a land far more advanced than within the walls. One day, he sneaks his sister, Fay, across a wall dividing the Liberio Internment Zone and an even more advanced area in order to see a landing airship. Once there, they encounter policemen who beat Grisha for crossing the wall, but one offers to escort her home. However, she’s found dead the next day, having been mauled by dogs. But when the officer tells him a bald-faced lie, Grisha’s father merely accepts it. He then explains to Grisha why the lands are divided like this:

Long ago, their ancestor, Ymir Fritz, made a contract with “The Devil of All Earth” to gain Titan abilities, which were then split into nine others and used to conquer the continent of Marley under what became known as the Eldian Empire. “The Subjects of Ymir”, as they were called, then went on a millennia-long ethnic cleansing of the continent that led to the Marleyans overthrowing them and claiming seven of the nine for themselves. The remaining Eldian royalty retreated with most of their people to an island called Paradis, and their ancestors have been subjugated…er I mean ALLOWED TO LIVE in Marley ever since, being shamed for the actions of the ancestors and constantly under threat of exile

Grisha doesn’t buy any of this but grows up reluctantly swallowing it until he became 18, where he met Grice, a member of an Eldian Liberation Front who reveals the truth of his sister’s death. Once he learns this, he devotes himself entirely to the cause. He also meets Dina Fritz, the last of a royal Eldian bloodline, who later becomes his first wife. The group plans to enter the walls and take back the Founding Titan’s powers in order to reclaim Marley, and so use Grisha’s first son, Zeke, to infiltrate the Marleyan military and become a vessel for one of the Titan powers. Unfortunately, Zeke sided with the government and his grandparents and turned on his parents, who were sentenced to being turned into Titans on Paradis. As Grisha watches his wife and comrades either turned into Titans or eaten, he is saved by his group’s informant, the Owl, who reveals he is a Titan Shifter himself.

In the present, Eren awakens from experiencing Grisha’s memories, having realized the Titan that ate his mother was Dina.

OUR TAKE

THAT…was a lot to chew on. First of all, glad to see Toonami rectified their mistake (or Funimation’s mistake) of cutting off the post-credits scene from the last episode by airing it during this one. Would have been better if they had kept it in the first place, but it’s something I guess.

Much like the last few episodes of the first half of the season, it looks like the big battle of this batch will be followed up by getting an episode or two fillings us in on the life of the late Grisha Yaeger. While last time was about Grisha’s arrival within the walls through the perspective of Commander Shadis, this cuts right to the source from Grisha’s own notes and memories, which also finally sheds some light on life outside the walls and the true source of the Titan threat that has plagued the characters we’ve been following all this time. We now have an idea of how the walls and the society within them came to be formed, as well as the people who likely brought about the likes of Reiner, Bertholdt, Annie, and Ymir.

But even more surprising than that, some major revelations about things that once seemed pretty insignificant. Several fodder Titans that were so briefly glimpsed and then killed in early episodes now are revealed to have come from Grisha’s group, among them the so-called “Smiling Titan” that would eventually come for his family the day the walls fell. The seemingly loving vow from Dina to find him no matter what she turns into becomes a haunting warning that would lead to her devouring Carla, her husband’s second wife, as no more than a pawn in a Marleyan attack. And with the confirmation that Zeke, the Beast Titan, is actually Grisha’s son and Eren’s brother, things only become more and more entangled in the sins and regrets of the Yaeger family.

Two episodes remain in this season, most likely with more crucial info to explore. We might be done with action for now, but we’re by no means done with impactful moments. All of this will do its best to tide us over before the fourth and final season of the series starts next year, but I’m already starting to go through withdrawals. It’s going to be a long wait once this season wraps in just two more weeks.

Also, Mikasa bed head. What a sight.