{"id":1794,"date":"2017-06-04T00:54:59","date_gmt":"2017-06-04T00:54:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/?p=1794"},"modified":"2017-06-04T04:29:10","modified_gmt":"2017-06-04T04:29:10","slug":"attack-on-titan-episodes-32-34-a-feature-length-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/2017\/06\/04\/attack-on-titan-episodes-32-34-a-feature-length-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Attack on Titan – Episodes 32-34 (A Feature-Length Review)"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a hot minute since I\u2019ve been back on here. As per usual, the humdrum of reality has crept its way back into my day to day life, and I\u2019ve fallen a bit behind with the talking of the Titans and all that. So, to make up for that, we\u2019re going to do a \u201cfeature-length\u201d review, three episodes to catch us all up before we talk the newest episode, later on. Now, with my humblest apologies for this extended absence, let\u2019s dive right into the swing of things.<\/p>\n

\u201cEpisode 32 – Close Combat\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, a central theme of these episodes, as I\u2019ve found out, is that the main focus usually starts with a backstory of the character centered in the focus. It started with Sasha, proceeded with Krista and Ymir, and now, we\u2019re looking at Reiner and Bertholdt, as this episode starts with them in a flashback scene, with Bertholdt talking to Reiner and Eren and their group and asking Eren why he\u2019s a part of the military. You all know the answer. But enough of that, it\u2019s time for a TITAN GRUDGE MATCH, SET FOR ONE FALL!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And so we\u2019re all clear on who\u2019s who, here\u2019s a handy key for all to follow: Reiner = Armored Titan; Bertholdt = Colossal Titan; Eren = Eren.<\/p>\n

Bertholdt goes after the crew atop the wall, taking with him Ymir and a fellow soldier into its mouth, all to Krista\u2019s shock and horror. Hange\u2019s pissed off, though, and orders an attack to be carried out against Bertholdt, but he\u2019s crafty and retaliates with punches of his own. The thing is, someone that big is real slow, so they go after the neck, the weak spot; Bertholdt\u2019s smart, however, and ignites steam from his neck to get them all away. Nothing to do but wait it out, since their gear is useless with all that steam coming from its body, so Hange calls forth Armin and a few others to go after Reiner. And as a side note, Conny hasn\u2019t been briefed on the whole situation at hand. That\u2019s gonna suck, when he finds out.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Reiner and Eren are trading blows, with Eren being punched down by, in his words, that \u201cbig piece of s**t.\u201d He then wonders if Reiner was holding back, during their training, because now, he can\u2019t move, after a few full-force blows. Yeah, Eren isn\u2019t taking this whole thing well. MIkasa tries to deus-ex-machina her way in, but her blades are useless on that armored body of his. Eren waxes poetic about his change of heart toward Reiner before sitting up, proclaiming that he must erase Reiner. Personally, I\u2019d rather Eren DELETE him, but that works, too. And so, he goes for a hard punch, only to be met with an even harder punch from Reiner. Ouch. That ain\u2019t WONDERFUL, at all. (Side note, I want to hear Papenbrook say “delete” when the dubbed episode airs. Don’t let me down.)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And just like that, it\u2019s time to flash back to their training, this time with Eren and Annie. Short version, Annie wipes the floor with Eren, but so does Mikasa, with Reiner. She shows up, saying she wants to learn that move Annie used on Eren, an overhead throw into a choke hold, so it looks like there\u2019s gonna be a good fight brewing. Who will win? Heck if I know, Eren gives up remembering it midway, citing \u201cWho gives a s**t, anymore?\u201d as his reason. But he sure does remember that move, locking Reiner in a choke hold and tossing him hard to the ground. Reiner tries to punch out of the hold, but Eren locks in a triangle choke, and then locks in a devastating arm-bar, shattering Reiner\u2019s arm piece by piece before just ripping it off. Eat your heart out, Alberto El Patr\u00f3n. But this fight is far from over, though, folks. Hannes then arrives atop the wall and takes immediate notice of Bertholdt\u2019s Titan body starting to deteriorate from all the steam, and then notices Eren\u2019s Titan form, to his shocked intrigue. Hange then moves down to Eren and tells him, simply, to find the best course of action. Eren nods, and Hange has a fangirl moment, not expecting a response from him.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

So what course of action does Eren do? He aims for the leg, but Reiner\u2019s starting to get some hard offense in. Once broken apart, Reiner lunges back forward, but Eren catches him in a fierce choke hold, which allows Mikasa just enough time to slice the back of Reiner\u2019s knee, one of the few weak spots he has in that Titan form of his. The leg gives out, and Eren tightens the hold even further, looking to rip his head off the body. It isn\u2019t that easy, though, as Reiner starts to crawl his way out, stopping to give a fierce growl, as if to scream for help. And help starts to come, in the form of Bertholdt\u2019s Titan skeleton falling down from the wall. This doesn\u2019t bode well, friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cEpisode 33 – The Hunters\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

So what happened when Bertholdt fell down to the scene? Well, for one, Reiner reversed the hold and bit into Eren\u2019s flesh, leaving a now-human Bertholdt to carry a now-wounded Eren atop Titan!Reiner\u2019s body, and away they go. What a major anti-climax to a real great pay-per-view quality fight, this is on-par with\u2026 never mind, I\u2019m getting off topic.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take a breather, though, with our favorite drunkard, Pixis, napping and boozing it up as he\u2019s being briefed over what\u2019s transpired recently. Things are rather quiet in the Trost District, with many of the military congregating in the quiet piece, but Levi\u2019s in a mood of \u201ctime to lean, then time to fight Titans,\u201d because that\u2019s just the kind of jerkhole he is. Sasha and her squad soon arrive to inform Pixis and everyone else about Titans running afoot, and they\u2019re of their own kind. Meanwhile, up top at the wall of the scene, Hannes and Armin are looking over the injured and wounded, Mikasa among them. Not their finest hour, for sure.<\/p>\n

As per usual, it\u2019s time for another flashback, this time going back many years, with a much younger Eren being accosted by a trio of jerkfaces. Many cans of ass-whoop are opened, before Mikasa shows up to kick ass and take names. The jerkfaces run off when a military man shows up, the only one who isn\u2019t acting like a lazy drunk, and just like that, flashback over. What a purpose that served. Mikasa, in the present time, then wakes up, only to be told that Eren\u2019s long gone. Things are real dire, and Mikasa\u2019s in a bit of disbelief over everything that\u2019s happened. Some time later, Erwin and his squad arrive, atop the wall, ready to assist and get everyone the hell out of here, even if Eren is MIA. Hange isn\u2019t ready to end things, though, asking for and receiving a map of the nearby area; sure, Reiner and Bertholdt may be gone and weakened, but who\u2019s to say more Titans couldn\u2019t show up and cause more chaos?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

One question remains unanswered, though: where was Eren taken, anyway? Where could Reiner and Bertholdt have run off to, with Eren in their possession? Well, he\u2019s been taken deep into the forest, with the two rogues looking down at both him\u2026 and Ymir. She\u2019s awake, although sans an arm. This fight is far from over, as the military squad heads out for their next rescue mission, in search of Eren.<\/p>\n

\u201cEpisode 34 – Opening\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

What a weird title for this episode, \u201cOpening.\u201d Anyway, Erwin leads the charge with the whole squad on horseback, heading deep into the forest in a spread formation. And within this forest, of course, is Eren\u2026 well, 90% of Eren, he\u2019s missing his forearms. And that\u2019s bad news for him and Ymir, they\u2019re surrounded with Titans all over the forest, trapped deep inside Wall Maria. Even worse, they\u2019re both sans ODM gear, while Reiner and Bertholdt are packing heat of their own. In short, they\u2019re trapped, and even worse, since their bodies are in the middle of recovery, they can\u2019t transform into their Titan forms. Or so says Reiner, at least. But what do they want to do with these two? Reiner speaks up and tells them that they want to take them to his and Bertholdt\u2019s hometown, albeit not until nightfall when the Titans around them rest.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Now, when you think about this plan, it sounds really solid and systematic. If they turn forms, they either fight off the Titans nearby and risk their own lives, but if they get out, where do they run to? And if reinforcements come, they have to fight off all the Titans nearby, and risk their lives, as well. Either way, nobody wins and nobody comes out the victor. Smart, systematic, and sinister. But this only poses more questions, such as why Reiner and Bertholdt want them to come to their hometown. So many questions can only be answered in 24 minutes, show. And to quote Ymir, \u201cThis situation couldn\u2019t be any s**ttier.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then, Reiner starts talking like a complete idiot. Here\u2019s his logic: since the wall wasn\u2019t broken of any kind, he infers that they both have earned a promotion of sorts, given their high performance and such. Yeah, kind of a big fatal flaw in this plan: YOUR IDENTITIES HAVE BEEN REVEALED. Y\u2019all are rogues, enemies, antagonists, on the other side of the law. There is NO promotion in store, only a jail cell, if they\u2019re both lucky. Thankfully, Bertholdt is more sensible, simply saying that they\u2019re not soldiers, they\u2019re warriors. Whatever that means. And then Reiner\u2019s PTSD comes back into play, remembering \u201cthat fateful day,\u201d and remembering the day when Marco – you know, Jean\u2019s butt buddy – got eaten. So what does this all mean? Well, Ymir infers that his mind and heart are in two different places, a constant stream of contradiction. Still doesn\u2019t make up for treason, but hey, whatevs. Eren, however, isn\u2019t all too kind toward this change of pace, as he\u2019s got some memories of his own. Turns out, Titan!Reiner was there when Eren\u2019s mother got eaten, seeing how they were the ones that breached the wall, all those years ago. And the fact that Eren was lied to, it makes it that much worse.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And so, we go into a screaming match between Eren and Reiner. Not as impressive as their fight from earlier, honestly. But hey, sometimes you just need to blow off some steam. By this point, there\u2019s about four minutes left in the episode, we should be due for a third-act climax and cliffhanger to lead us off. What will it be, for this one? Perhaps nothing too grand, but after some meandering and waxing poetic, Reiner and Ymir find some common ground: protecting Krista. And, again, I have to mention this: Reiner, she\u2019s just not that into you. Let it go, man. But, Reiner gives Ymir one simple question of what she holds dearer: her own life, or Krista\u2019s future? Eren, however, has a question of his own for Ymir: who\u2019s their real enemy? Heck if Ymir knows, that\u2019s her only answer.<\/p>\n

And to cap off this episode, the sight of military flares appear in the sky, with one hour left until sunset. This arc is far from done, friends, we\u2019ve quite a ways left to go.<\/p>\n

Attack on Titan is licensed by FUNimation Entertainment and is simulcast subtitled, Saturdays at 10:30am EDT on Crunchyroll and FUNimationNow, with an English simuldub on Saturdays at 12:30am EDT on Adult Swim, and Sundays at 10:00pm EDT on FUNimationNow.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been a hot minute since I\u2019ve been back on here. As per usual, the humdrum of reality has crept its way back \n [...]<\/a>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1803,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[5,29,218,60,150,219],"class_list":["post-1794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-animation","tag-animation","tag-anime","tag-attack-on-titan","tag-crunchyroll","tag-funimation","tag-spring-2017"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.surrealresolution.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Screen-Shot-2017-06-03-at-6.01.02-PM.jpg?fit=1604%2C906&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8GYHU-sW","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1794"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1811,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794\/revisions\/1811"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}