The answers that we have been seeking for several years from Attack on Titan are about to be revealed. Now that Grisha Jaeger’s basement’s secrets have finally been revealed and “That Day” will deliver all the answers to a great extent. Clearly, we can’t get the whole picture in a single episode. However, we get enough knowledge to understand the Titan and Human war with an entirely new perspective. A perspective that makes us challenge our initial views that we thought our heroes held about their foes. At last weeks’ end we saw young Grisha along with his sister Fay on their way to see the zeppelin. They were aware of what the repercussions could be if an Eldian was caught in a place where they shouldn’t be. Grisha was beaten very badly by a Marleyan guard, however, the guard lets Grisha stay to see the Zeppelin, for which Grisha took so much trouble. Fay ran out of luck as she was killed before she could come back home. She was take away by a guard with moustaches who could not keep track of her, after which she was killed. Although Grisha is young, but he is mature enough to not trust what the Marleyans say. The Marleyans have poisoned generations of Eldians with venomous stories about how their forefathers conquered other countries with the help of the Titan’s power, committed atrocities and destroyed entire races. Another propaganda that they spread was that a walled city was built by their King on the Paradis Island for a handful of people that he chose. While the rest of them were left to rot in misery in the Marley Ghettos.
It’s only when Grisha grows older that he meets a member of Rebel Eldians group named Grice. This group also goes by the name of the Restorationists. It comes to Grisha’s knowledge that his sister was eaten alive by dogs and the guard who took away his sister was behind this, who did such a cruel thing for fun. After this news, Grisha is full of rage and fury and he wants to avenge the brutal murder of his sister. There is so much more that occurs between this incident and the end of the episode. There are many character growths, lots of relationships and astonishing developments in the plot that take place in a small period of ten minutes. The troublesome history from the Eldian Ancestry to Grisha, presents us with many fascinating thoughts that keep us glued to the screen. Grisha unintentionally commits the same sin that his father committed, which was that he turned his son against him. However, there was not much time this week for these ideas to grow, but I do hope that the coming episodes give a decent amount of time to these ideas.
At this point we do have the basic plot in front of us. Firstly, Grisha comes across evidence which points to the fact that Marleyans and Ymir have used propaganda to manipulate the history of the Eldians. The founding Titan’s power was used originally by Fritz to promote peace and prosperity. It was then that he came across Dina Fritz and fell in love with her. Dina Fritz has inherited the royal bloodline and she gives birth to Grisha’s son named Zeke. Zeke will be the Beast Titan in the future. Dina and Grisha are keen to use Zeke as a tool for the Eldian revolution, however, things do not go as planned. Zeke ends up turning them into soldiers for the Marleyan military just a few years later. They are taken to the Penal colony of the Paradis for fully turning them into Titans, similar to our new age Ymir. Ironically, the same Marleyan soldier who had beaten Grisha many years back, now saves Grisha’s life. As it transpired, the Marleyan soldier was actually a double agent named “owl” and was working as an informant, leaking sensitive information of the military to the Restorationists. However, before any Titan shifting power is demonstrated to Grisha, the Titan Serum is given to Dina and she is thrown into the Paradis’s desert. Dina is then transformed into a Titan and she would be the same grinning titan who will set out Eren on his journey for revenge and consume the second wife of Grisha.
I really love the way the story develops. It presents a beautiful combination of violence and tragedy. In my opinion, the arc’s perfect example is the mix of revenge and betrayal that the Jaegar Clan is plagued with. Grisha loses all respect for his father and consequently becomes a devoted revolutionary. Unfortunately, his treacherous son would later let the Marleyan wolves feed on him and many years later Grisha’s half-brothers companions would also be killed by him. Eren may wake up in shock by the cruelty and pain inflicted on Grisha’s new family by none other but Dina. This episode has limited animations, but freeze frame shots can be seen in abundance. The viewers will stay engaged because of the riveting story in this episode.
In the teaser last week, those arm bands had a connotation to the persecution of the Jews during the holocaust. While this seems like just a simple similarity, things get even stranger, when the Eldian’s are proclaimed to be the God’s chosen people by the characters. These connotations and imagery can be seen as an attempt to purposely revive the dark memories of the holocaust. However, if we see it in a different light, the story in this episode is compelling and complex. It can be argued that dark memories and experiences of people from history, can still haunt people living in today’s age. Some foresight should have been shown by the creators of “Attack on Titan” regarding the possible effects such imagery and narrative that has a dark history attached to it.
In my opinion, the creators of “Attack on Titan” should have been more sympathetic and sensitive towards the feelings of people by not making comparisons of a super race of cannibals to the Jewish people, as this could be looked upon quite negatively by some people or it can even trigger them. Although, I do not think that this amounts to anti-Semitism. It is often said that history is written by the victor. This may imply that villains spread propaganda in the name of history to make their crimes and atrocities look justified. Such propaganda can be used by artists as an enigma, to have an effect on their audience at a subconscious level. I mean, what can we deduce by the fact that our heroes as well as the cannibalistic monsters portrayed in the anime, are both Eldians. Are they suggesting that the victims of atrocities eventually become just as barbaric as the ones who committed those atrocities?
Was there even a need for “Attack on Titan” creators to use Holocaust imagery in their anime? In my opinion a simple racial discrimination story would have done the job. However, this season still has some episodes left and it is still a mystery what Season 4 will bring. I hope season 3 will not leave the viewers alienated, as they try to put together all the different elements of the story. I must say that I have not lost hope, as this show has done pretty awesome work in the past. However, what’s bothering me is that when it’s all over, I might be wondering why we opened up that bloody basement in the first place.
