Anime Review: Faith and Action

On December 7th, the fourth and final season of Attack on Titan (AoT in short) will be released. As the manga comes to a close, fans all over the world are anticipating its animation for the last part of the story. I, as one of the zealous AoT fans, am also looking forward to the new season.

For those who have never heard of it, Attack on Titan depicts a world where people live inside three huge walls, protecting them from human-eating titans. Their military consists of three regiments: the Garrison Regiment, the Military Police, and the Survey Corps, whose job is to kill titans and explore the outside world. With thousands of deaths and sacrifices, these adventurous soldiers have learnt crucial information about the titans in the past three seasons, and now are about to explore the origin of titans outside the walls. 

Besides AoT’s intriguing and realistic story-telling, I always appreciate how each character is depicted as a vivid person. Each soldier has their own experience and reasons to join the military. I have picked three characters who all appear passionate and determined to save humanity, but with personal goals in mind, have treated self-sacrifices differently.

Warning: slight spoilers about the plot and characters

The protagonist Eren Jaeger is probably the firmest soldier inside the walls. Having witnessed his mother being eaten by a titan, Eren developed a strong hatred towards titans and swore to eradicate them from the world. He became a cadet, graduated fifth in his class, and joined the Survey Corps at fifteen, the regiment with the highest casualties.

Eren is harsh to himself, always pushing his limit in training. However, he is also hot-blooded and often gets himself in danger. Over the last three seasons, Eren has learned to think and cooperate with his team, leading to more successful missions. He has grown up, but the goal in his mind is always to annihilate all titans from the world. As their knowledge of titans increased, Eren’s hatred never lessened. Instead, his desire for revenge grew to cover an even  larger group. After all, his goal was rooted in despair and will end in despair. The military helps him get prepared, but he vows to never “sacrifice” his life without completing his revenge.

The Commander of Survey Corps, Erwin Smith, is said to be the most charismatic character in AoT. He is farsighted, decisive, and can afford sacrifices for greater victories. Nevertheless, Commander Smith does not fight for humanity: he only seeks answers to a personal doubt.

As a history teacher, Erwin’s father hypothesized a history of humanity different from the government’s. When some military police soldiers overheard a young Erwin sharing it on the street, his father was murdered in an alley that night. Realizing that his foolishness caused his father’s death, Erwin’s shame turned the theory into a truth, and proving it became his meaning of life. Thus, he joined the Survey Corps to find an answer. It is ironic that Erwin recruits cadets using the slogan “dedicating our hearts for humanity,” while what he really pursues is his own dream. The dream supports him to make bold and even inhumane decisions, but every death adds to his guilt. Unlike Eren, who firmly follows his goal, Erwin is torn between his responsibility as a son and as a commander. He sees no future beyond verifying his father’s theory, as it eventually becomes the only thing he lives for. Although the idea of death has become somewhat a relief for him, he is determined not to give up on his life until the theory is proven.

The oldest of them all is Commander Pixis, the highest-ranking commander of the southern Garrison Regiment. He is an eccentric bald guy, whose odd fantasy is to be eaten by a pretty female titan. Pixis appears in fewer than ten episodes, but he is the only higher-level official who truly thinks for humanity’s best. When the second wall was broken through, Pixis left the safe inner-wall area and hurried straight to the front line. When the soldiers were openly deserting, his speech rekindled their will to fight. Even knowing that the government was incompetent, Pixis believed the ruling aristocrats knew more about titans and could better protect the people than the military. Compared to Eren and Erwin, Pixis is willing to sacrifice himself any time for humanity. He makes bold decisions based on this faith, and death is only another way of serving his people.

These three characters each represent different stages of life, but they have all chosen to fight instead of living comfortably in peace. Death does not have the same meaning for them all, nor does serving the army equal a dedication to humanity. Perhaps that’s why I enjoy Attack on Titan so much: it’s these characters with differences that make them so real, and in turn so resonant, to the audience.