In light of the revelation this episode allow me to paraphrase a common saying, well shit. I admit due to my knowledge of the manga that I have been dancing around this particular reveal in my posts. I knew it was coming but I wasn’t sure how obvious it was to those that didn’t know. To me it felt very obvious that Reiner was a Titan, though which titan was up in the air. Though regardless if you seen the reveal coming or not, there was no way you could have possibly have predicted just how it was revealed. Well in this episode it was revealed who two of the most iconic titans in the entire series are and done so with such casual banter that it’s hard to believe. “I’m the Armoured Titan and this guys the Colossal Titan” says Reiner in a shot where he’s barely on screen. I remember reading this in the manga and needing to go back a few pages just to verify if I missed something. But no, the reveal is just dropped that suddenly. I can’t honestly fathom just what Reiner was thinking and even Reiner himself seems to be flabbergasted when he thinks over just what he’s doing. Perhaps after getting out of a near death situation he was unhinged enough to drop the ball. But this will likely go down as one of the most shocking moments in the entire series. Almost makes me wish I waited till the second season before reading on in the manga.
Thing is that I must ask, just what else happened in this episode? I know twenty minutes went by but it does seem odd just how little happened in those twenty minutes. Ymir was pulled up on to the wall and Reiner revealed that he was a titan. Quite frankly, that’s all that happened this episode. Sure there was so mindless talk, one thing being for the most part a needless flashback which looks to be the author trying to justify that this was set up in advance. However I feel it opens up a plothole. For that flashback confirmed that the scouting corps had caught on to Reiner and Bertholt being Titans, yet they still left Eren all alone with the two of them. Mikasa was smart enough to keep an eye on the two of them but just what excuse does the rest of the corps have to leaving them so close to humanity’s only hope? Not saying they have to have twelve soldiers surrounding them at all times but they could maybe push Eren somewhere else and let some other guy take care of them. Maybe it was a plan to lure them underground to detain them? Still seems too risky to use Eren in that regard. Besides they don’t quite know if they can detain them.
That really bugged me but all things considered the reveal was fantastically done, leaving one hell of a cliffhanger. Pretty sure that seeing the scouting core have a rematch with these two is a long time desire of fans and now we are looking to get that showdown. Still no answers though, who is Reiner working for and why is he doing this? Are Ymir and Reiner working together?(I am guessing not based on his reaction to her titan form) Where does monkey trouble fit into all this? Is he another completely separate entity? Perhaps next episode we will get some answers. But even if not this is bound to be one hell of a fight.
After all this, what i’m hoping to see is Levi in action again ?
The only time he directly fought was against the Female titan in season 1.
They showed him to be way more skilled than any other, and now his leg never heals, uhrg, it’s making me anxious ^_^
Like many I already saw this play out in manga form. But to be frank the enormity of the reveal is stronger in anime form, partly thanks to the excellent direction and music. Now that I think it, this arc was a major turning point in the narrative of Shingeki no Koyjin. As you pointed out, until this point AoT was essentially a survival horror story. With this arch the great transformation began. Once more I will say to the directors Bravo. Not only was it great to see what I had read before, but the direction brought out a new understanding of he significance of the arch.