Attack On Titan S3: The Other Side Of The Wall

Welcome, one and all, to my latest weekly episode review for Attack on Titan Season Three. Today, I’m looking at the final episode of the season, The Other Side Of The Wall. This episode did a really good job of wrapping up some key points and setting up what will come next. Let’s look at how.

For The People

We kicked things off where we left off, with the Military Police Brigade discussing the findings of the events of the battle at the Shiganshina District. Some members were understandably skeptical about whether to tell the citizens of the Walls. The information discovered was quick earth-shattering after all. Dot Pixis was the voice of reason though. He pointed out that not telling them would amount to deceiving the people. If that’s the case, why did they bother to rise up and overthrow King Reiss? Historia sided with him and said that they are all citizens of the Walls, and this is essentially just returning the memories that King Reiss stole.

This was all over very quickly. Honestly, it could have gone on much longer with the different sides making counter arguments for each other. All that would have done though is slow down the inevitable. The truth needed to be told, and having Historia play a strong leader here and sway the minds of the doubters was the right call.

Reactions to the news were varied, which is also understandable. Some people accepted it, others laughed it off. Some even lashed out at the military and declared it all a conspiracy theory. The fear was summed up nicely by Roy from the newspaper though when he asked what will happen to them all now, as the world will view them as dangerous monsters and want them wiped out. That has got to be a common thread for regular citizens now, whether they outwardly believe the news or not.

For The Survivors

The funeral and medal giving ceremony saw the different internal struggles that are going on for people. Floch instigated the first of these after upsetting Hitch by telling her that Marlo probably regretted being there during the battle. When questioned on this, he said that someone had to tell the truth. Armin tried to step in here and said that he knew Floch was desperate to save Erwin, but that just set him off on a rant.

The key point here was that Floch thinks Armin should have died, and he’s not alone. From what’s said, we learn that everyone who read the report thinks that Erwin should have been the one to be saved. The only reason it didn’t happen is that Eren, Mikasa, and Levi all let their emotions get involved and cause them to make an irrational decision. Eren looked ready to fight, and Mikasa had to step in to calm them, but that just led to Floch saying she was the only acting like an adult because she gave up in the end.

Jean continued to prove himself a reasonable character when he then interjected himself and reminded them that they were at a funeral. Unfortunately, Floch was on a roll by that point and pointed out that none of them stood up to their superiors or tried to stop Eren and Mikasa. All they did was watch. He made a good point too that the Scouts should start telling the truth when they try to get recruits or they’ll end up with cowards like him by accident, and they have a right to choose whether it’s all worth dying for.

The focus then shifted to Armin and Eren’s worldview. Armin thought that Floch was right. He doesn’t view himself as the person to shift the tide. We all knew that would be coming, I think. Armin’s lack of self-confidence is his biggest weakness, but it also seems to drive him to try rising above it. Eren meanwhile had a more optimistic view that nobody knows for sure what will happen in the future. He started to talk about freedom again too but stopped short when he remembered one of the memories of the atrocities across the sea.

Finally, in what I expect will be foreshadowing, Eren started thinking things through when they received their medal. He would easily give up his life if it would change something, but won’t sacrifice Historia. Will he sacrifice himself in the end? I think it’s possible. The scene ended with Eren kissing Historia’s hand and getting a flash of memory of his father visiting the Reiss Chapel.

For The Future

We got a time skip after the ceremony. The seasons passed and, eventually, the Executioner From Hell stopped being used. One year after the battle, the Titans had been cleaned out of Wall Maria, and the refugees were allowed to return. And so, six years after the first appearance of the Colossal Titan, the Scouts resumed their expeditions beyond Wall Maria.

There were some nice visual touches here. With the characters now a year older, our main three have all aged a little. It’s most obvious in Eren, as his hair has grown out and his facial shape seems more pointed now. He himself seems more restrained too. Meanwhile, both Armin and Mikasa have had subtle changes to their facial shapes too to show the passing of time, though Armin is still fairly baby-faced from the front on. I like Hange’s cool eyepatch too.

While the Scouts ride out, Levi confirms that most of the Titans were inside Wall Maria and now that they’ve thinned them out, they’re almost gone entirely. Up ahead, they do find another Titan though. It’s misshapen and can’t stand up, and so has been dragging itself towards the Wall. They leave it untouched as it poses no threat and travel on until they find the area that Eren saw in his memory flashes.

With the exception of Eren, everyone was in awe of what they saw. They start enjoying the sea, and Armin is happy that he was right. Eren though remembers what he saw happening across the sea and points out the big problem they will face. All his life, he believed that there was a sea and that beyond it lay freedom. It wasn’t true though, there are enemies out there. If they go across the sea and kill all their enemies, will they finally then be free?

It was a somber moment to end things on, with an orchestral closing theme and images of war to ram the point home. The whole thing felt very fitting.

Overall

This was really good. It brought everything to the point that it needed to, answered some questions, and pointed us firmly in the direction of Marley. Moving forward, we’ll no doubt have a clash between Paradis and Marley, as well as the continuation of Zeke and his comrades’ arc. I guess we’ll be looking at a mix of human and Titan foes again when the next season lands. In all, I’m excited about it.

So, those were my thoughts. But what about yourselves? Did you enjoy this episode? Do you agree or disagree with any of my observations? Let me know in the comments below.