This was an enthralling episode, so here's an array.
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Episode Breakdown
Eren's Talk With Hange:
After their return from Marley, Hange visits Eren in his cell and hears him talking to himself saying "Fight". Hange tries to get him to open up by reminding him of the first time they met, but Eren seems to not be in the mood.
Although Eren had insisted that there is a better alternative to Zeke's plan to maintain the "Rumbling" by having Historia bear as many royal-blooded children as possible, Hange states that no other option has presented itself.
Hange asks him if he no longer cared about Historia, considering all the trouble he has caused by acting independently of the Survey Corps. Eren does not answer, and instead threatens Hange by grabbing her through the bars, claiming that its of no use trying to contain him in a cell he can easily escape from, as he has the power of the Warhammer Titan.
He then asks angrily, if there is any way, and if there is, he wants to know of it. Hange frees herself and leaves the prison, calling Eren a rebellious idiot. Outside, Hange laments, that making her the commander was Erwin's only mistake before he died.
It seemed as though, Hange still thinks of Eren as an immature kid, or is trying to believe so. She still unassumingly trusts him but is unsure of it. She probably thinks they can contain him easily and that he won't disobey the Survey Corps.
Hizuru - The Azumabito Family:
The Azumabito Family is an influential family that descended from Hizuru's former Shogun clan. A century ago, a branch of the Shogun clan settled on Paradis Island. They are known as the Oriental clan inside the Walls.
Before the Great Titan War, the Eldian Empire and the nation of Hizuru were allies. A son from the Shogun clan (that would later become the Azumabito family) had a close relationship with the Fritz family. When King Karl Fritz moved the capital of Eldia to Paradis Island, that son was invited to stay. He began the "Asian clan" inside the Walls.
When Karl Fritz had erased the memories of the Eldians inside the Walls, the Asian clan remained unaffected due to them not being Subjects of Ymir. After turning against the Royal Government alongside the Ackerman clan and rejecting the King's offer of nobility, the Asian bloodline was evicted from society and hunted down.
By the year 844, it was said that the Asians had been hunted down to near extinction within the Walls.
Kiyomi's Meeting with Zeke & Her Arrival on Paradis:
That's right, Zeke set this up for Paradis as well. Kiyomi Azumabito meets with Zeke sometime between the years 850 and 852. He tells her of his wish for the resurgence of Eldia and how helping him would in turn benefit Hizuru and the Azumabito family.
She is initially skeptical, but Zeke provides her with details about the vertical maneuvering equipment he had procured, elucidating that the iceburst stone capable of fueling the equipment is unique to Paradis only.
Through an alliance, the Azumabito family would be able to take advantage of it to help restore Hizuru's power as a nation. Seeing this as an opportunity. Kiyomi decides to take an initiative towards the cause and give it a shot.
After building the first port in Paradis, they welcome the Azumabitos from Hizuru to proceed with further negotiations.
Mikasa's Talk with Kiyomi:
During the Battle of Trost District, Mikasa Ackerman recalls the time from her childhood when her mother and father were murdered by robbers who were hoping to sell her and her mother to potential buyers in Mitras (the capital city of Eldia).
She is rescued by Eren, killing two of the traffickers before Mikasa kills the third with her awakened Ackerman abilities. After the death of her mother, Mikasa Ackerman becomes the last surviving member of the Asian bloodline known to exist within the Walls.
In a colloquy with Levi before their confrontation with Kenny and his subordinates, Mikasa also mentions how her mother's family lost their home, possibly due to their Asian heritage.
In 852, Kiyomi visits Paradis Island as a special guest, from the one and only friendly nation to Paradis, Hizuru. She meets Mikasa, who is surprised by Kiyomi's similarity to her mother. Mikasa shows her the Azumabito family crest tattooed on her wrist (which she had shown only to Eren), that was passed down to her by her mother and was also told to pass it down to her own children.
She is complimented on this by Kiyomi, who then reveals that Mikasa is the last descendant of a Shogunate branch that had settled upon the island, and is therefore directly related to the Azumabito family.
Historia's Interaction With Mikasa:
After hearing of Mikasa's ancestral revelation, Historia joyfully teases Mikasa about how she showed only Eren the tattoo under her bandage, and no-one else, to which Mikasa gets flustered and starts blushing.
Eren enquires Historia as to why she seemed to be so cheerful, to which Historia says that she was delighted when she thought of how they both have been shouldering a heavy burden since their childhood. She also proclaims that there could not be a better companion to have in that department than Mikasa herself.
Kiyomi's Talk With The Higher-Ups:
In a meeting, Kiyomi goes on to explain a method in which the island would catch up with the rest of the world. Kiyomi explains her arrangement with Zeke to the Paradis military, drooling as she talks about the island's resources, though she promptly cleans up when one of her aides points it out to her.
She then lays out the three procedures by which the island can be saved. Her part is in the second process. Hizuru will work with Paradis to bring its level of technology up with the rest of the modern world.
First Step : The Experimental Use of the Rumbling
Zeke suggests that they should use the threat of The Rumbling to show the world, the danger Paradis poses.
Second Step: Hizuru's Mediation
This step is undertaken to advance Paradis's military to a point where holding "The Rumbling" as a threat will no longer be necessary.
Third Step: The continuous possession of the Founding Titan, and a Titan with royal blood during that period.
This is to maintain the threat of the Rumbling, as it requires the above titans as the hosts.
She estimates that it will take fifty years, which is why Paradis will need their queen Historia, to inherit the Beast Titan from Zeke and bear as many royal children as she can in her remaining thirteen years. This would hold the rest of the world at bay until their technology can catch up, while having Paradis pose the threat of "The Rumbling" to the rest of the world.
Though Historia agrees to the live a life full of sufferings, Eren clearly and furiously declines to Zeke's plan as he believes that the way the plan is to be executed, would only continue to put forward a life full of hardships for people, against their own free will and that is not the way to live.
He says that they shouldn't entrust their fate with the possession of "The Rumbling" and use all the time they have remaining, to assemble a better plan. In 853, the Azumabito family replies that they are not willing to help Paradis Island trade with other nations because they want all of its resources for themselves
Historia's Pregnancy:
Due to Eren's recent actions, counterattack on Paradis by Marley and the rest of world can be an event occurring soon, which only lessened the time they had remaining. This left the higher-ups considering the option of feeding Zeke to Historia but;
Several months after the meeting with Azumabitos, she is revealed to be pregnant and spending her time in an undisclosed residence known only by a select few in military. One MP believes that this development was influenced by Yelena while speculating that Historia's out of wedlock pregnancy with a local who bullied her as a child was to delay her from inheriting the Beast Titan from Zeke Yeager after he reached Paradis.
Some of the MPs believe it to be a selfish act on Historia's part, to have taken such a step at such a crucial stage which is then defended by Nile Dok (commander of the MP, Erwin's friend, whom we have seen in the previous seasons)
Nile defends Historia Reiss and her right to choose the father of her child, when Roeg complains about her pregnancy with a common man and their lack of a wedding. He tells Roeg that they checked her partner's background and he is not the pawn of anyone. The two men debate over Historia's obligation to her country, with Nile saying that they put her in this position because of their coup d'état.
However, he has no proof and Nile refuses to agree with Roeg's proposal that they go ahead with having Historia inherit even though she is pregnant. Nile says that doing so now would most likely kill her child, and possibly the queen as well.
Eren's Friends Are Special To Him:
This was a really wholesome moment. Eren raises a question; Who will inherit his Titan? He has only 5 or so years left. First comes Mikasa, saying that she would inherit his titan, to which Jean counters it with the fact that her being able to transform into a titan as an Ackerman is still not confirmed, and that she has Azumabito issues to deal with. Jean then says he will inherit the titan, while complaining his intellectuality with Eren's, also referring to him as a suicidal bastard.
Then Connie comes forward to inherit Eren's Titan, saying that someone as important and capable as Jean should rather lead the Survey Corps than transforming into a titan. Then Sasha says that Connie is too dumb for such an important responsibility, and that she will inherit it despite of not wanting to. Connie points out the contradiction Sasha posed because Sasha herself is "dumber" than Connie.
Then Eren says that he would not let any of them inherit his titan because they are all important to him, more than anyone else.
This was followed by a silence, and then Eren's red face, as he begins to blush and after seeing him blush, everyone else starts blushing too embarrassingly and Jean asks Eren to do something about the environment he just created. Then Armin says that their faces have turned red due to the sunset.
Jean then says that, sunset is something they can't do anything about, which cuts off to the present Mikasa looking at the sunset outside the window, reminiscing. In the manga, this scene was placed differently.
Eren's Friends Doubting Him:
Connie, Jean, Armin and Mikasa meet to discuss the recent occurrences in Paradis. As the other three discuss Pixis's arrest of the Volunteers, Connie interrupts them, asking if Eren had seemed right in the head to them.
Connie claims that Eren was not acting like himself, and declares that he and the others have to build the resolve to kill Eren themselves if he has started cooperating with the enemy. Mikasa responds to Connie's threat in kind, and Connie asks her if she intends to join Eren in betraying them.
Mikasa protests that Eren still values them, but Connie reminds her that Sasha's death was a result of Eren's acting on his own and dragging the Survey Corps into his attack. He drives his point home by revealing to Mikasa that Eren did not cry when he received the news of Sasha's death, but laughed. Growing angry, Connie demands that Mikasa explain to him what could have possibly been funny about Sasha's death to cause Eren to laugh.
Mikasa grows silent on hearing this. Armin then says that after him, and Mikasa confront Eren and confirm his motives, if they turn out to be in Zeke's favour, the Survey Corps could have the option of using the titan serums they now possess, to feed Eren to someone they find more trustworthy and controllable.
It seems as though only Mikasa and Armin haven't given up on Eren yet completely, but there's a pinch of doubt in Armin's mind. Mikasa, as always, can never think of his intentions being bad even if she wanted to. Hange slightly noticed the change in Eren's behavior but she played it off by thinking of it as an immature thing a person would do during their "rebellious phase".
She does not take his words that seriously because she surely wouldn't expect Eren to break out of the cell. Levi got kind of shocked too when he saw Eren's eyes, that was enough for him to notice the change. The rest are just thinking in a one dimensional way but I don't think I can blame them.
I wish Erwin was alive, his take would be interesting in this situation.
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Production Aspect
They animated the remaining pages of Ch107 and Ch108. I personally feel like they shouldn't have cut off the part where Zeke talks about the reason why he turned on his parents. But that one's coming soon I think. Aside from that, the pacing was fine. They also rearranged the scene of the flashback of Eren calling them important to him, which originally came after when Mikasa tells Connie that Eren still values them more than anything else. I liked this rendition of it too since they probably tried to put up more serious vibes.
As for the animation, the faces looked a bit inconsistent in some scenes (for eg:- Eren's mirror scene when Hange was imitating him, but when he grabbed her collar, it looked really good. Jean's design looked amazing as fuck too. No use nitpicking but overall it was pretty good. OST was well done too, VA top-notch as always.
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TL;DR
Read any heading that piqued your interest but were unable to comprehend with clearly.
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