Love is in the air! But there are also sadness and distrust mixed in.
Episode 10 provides the viewers with more insight on the happenings before and after the assault on Marley. As it turns out, the nation of Hizuru, led by the Azumabito clan, is the first country to offer aid to Paradis, though not without a great price. They are the reason for the island’s rapid advancement in technology and society, and while they naturally have an ulterior motive, our heroes have no choice but to accept their demands.
And this poses a dilemma, as one of Hizuru’s suggestions is to make Historia a Titan just like what her father wants and eat Zeke, allowing her to inherit the Beast Titan. Combined with Eren’s Founding, and Paradis could use the Rumbling as a deterrent until they are technologically advanced enough to counter Marley’s inevitable offensive. However, Eren is vocal about his concern in sacrificing Historia, rather strongly, and further events lead to a shocking twist: Historia chose to have a child with her childhood friend.
Perhaps the biggest revelation here is Mikasa’s true ancestry, and how her lineage is tied to the Great Titan War itself. For the first time, she is no longer just a major character whose only role is to save Eren; rather, her identity is just as important as Historia. This unveils some of the mystery surrounding her character, making her even more interesting than she already is.
The saddest part about this episode is how past and present seemingly contradicts each other, particularly Eren’s behavior. Before the assault on Marley, we see him truly caring for his friends and even voicing his resolve to never pass the Founding and Attack Titans’ powers to any of them. There is also the banter between Jean, Connie, and Sasha as to who would inherit Eren’s powers, which makes for a comical and hilarious scene.
But that was before, and with Sasha’s death, everything has changed. Eren is getting closer to becoming a true villain, evident when he briefly manhandles Hange, leading to a sad scene of our eccentric commander doubting her capabilities. Moreover, Connie and the gang no longer trust Eren, and even Armin is thinking of having someone from the Corps eat Eren to gain his powers.
Things are now slowly descending into the path of despair and tragedy as episode 10 shows us the aftermath of Eren’s attack and the resulting death of Sasha. With only 6 episodes left, we are finally nearing the end of Attack on Titan’s story. Friends are starting to turn against each other, and the hero we once admire seems on the verge of losing the last shred of his morality just to save his people.
Episode score: 8.5/10.