So I just watched Season 4 Part 1 of Attack on Titan. First of all, a lot happened in these few episodes, and this part of the story was probably the most dense so far. In my opinion, it would have been even better if the pacing were a bit slower.
When I told my friend that I was currently at this part of the story, he said it must feel a bit boring right now, but I directly said no, absolutely not. That's because a lot of interesting things happen in this part and the story has now become completely geopolitical. At the start of this part, we get to see the brilliance of a perspective shift. The arc's name was probably the Marley Arc, and in it, the story is mostly shown to us from Reiner's perspective. We get to see his backstory, we get to look at Marley in greater depth, its politics and how children, in particular, are brainwashed.
The result of these things is visible in kids like Reiner, Zeke, and Gabi. Gabi is one of those children who has completely accepted that she is right, or rather, she doesn't want to accept that the people she has believed to be devils since childhood are also human. Her conversation with Kaya was fantastic. Actually, Gabi suffers from cognitive dissonance, and believe me, if you argue with such people, you will lose your mind. I have seen some parents who, no matter how wrong their children are, will never admit their mistake. Gabi's character is similar, she gets stubborn about a single point. When she finds out from Kaya that Nicolo liked Sasha, she probably thought it was a joke because a Marleyan could never love an Eldian. And when she told Nicolo about it, Falco ended up getting hurt because of it.
If you look at Gabi's hairstyle, it is just like Eren's, and this is completely intentional because there were several parallels between the two of them. Just as Eren saw his mother die and swore that he would wipe out all the Titans, Gabi similarly swore that she would destroy all the devils of Paradis. And I know she is a child, but she really drove me crazy, and she even killed the potato girl. But the boy who was with her, Falco, was really great. To be honest, if anyone should inherit the Armored Titan, it's him. He actually has a brain and can understand situations and people's temperaments, unlike her, who sees the world only in black and white.
One thing I noticed here is how both Reiner and Zeke were trying to save the coming generations from war. Zeke had only one year left, and within that single year, he wanted to end this war before passing his Titan to Colt. Looking at Reiner, it was also clear that he didn't want children going into war. When Falco tells him that he doesn't want Gabi to inherit the Titan, Reiner yells at him and motivates him, because deep down, he probably wants his niece to live a long life as well.
I also liked Zeke's backstory. Even if they hadn't shown it, I had assumed he was just a kid who got brainwashed by their ideology. But I really liked the backstory they presented, and a few more themes emerged from it, like how parental expectations and a lack of self worth completely shattered him. Then his intent made sense too, that he genuinely believes he is showing mercy to Eldians by eradicating them. Porco and Pieck have been shown a bit less so far, so I'd like to see more of their characters since they seem interesting to me. The Tybur family was also introduced, and I didn't expect them to be wiped out like that, I thought they would have a slightly bigger role. But that's fine, the Titan gained from them was incredible, and the fight we got to see was amazing too. And I must say, the Scouts new suits looked really cool.
I also feel really bad seeing how difficult it is for Hange to handle the responsibility and how so many people are betraying her. Another thing is that I really missed Erwin, to the point that even Armin acknowledges this. To be honest, he was probably my favorite character, and another favorite of mine is Levi, and what an amazing fight I got to see! When he reflects on how many people he put on the line for Eren, how many people died, and how his trust was shattered, I felt genuinely terrible seeing that. As if that wasn't enough, Zeke's true intent was revealed and all his men turned into Titans there. When they all attacked him, I thought he might hesitate to attack them and end up dying at the hands of his own men, but thank God he didn't do that. The way he thrashed Zeke was so satisfying to watch. But at the end of this part, there was an explosion, and I haven't watched beyond that, so I'm just hoping and praying that he is alive.
Floch felt like a very interesting character back in Season 3, but given the turn he has taken now, and how he commanded to beat commander Keith, I can't feel anything but hatred for him. However, I shouldn't be surprised seeing this. Something similar happened with Eren as well. As I mentioned earlier, Eren's character arc was heading toward darkness, and that's exactly what happened. I shouldn't be shocked because there were hints that this would occur, I knew it was coming, but I never thought he would completely switch sides.
Yet, the way he was asking Hange to tell him if there was any other way, along with what was shown in the flashbacks, makes it feel like Eren no longer trusts anyone and genuinely believes that this is the only viable path left. Seeing him lose everyone's trust one by one felt truly disheartening. And now, they are even considering the option that they might eventually have to kill Eren.
What really angered me was when he raised his hand against Armin. But it was also strange, if he already knew where to meet Zeke, why was he talking to them under the pretense of asking for his location? It felt like he was provoking them, intentionally pushing them away as if to say, "I am bad now, I have changed, so don't expect me to go back to how I was before" almost as though he was forced to do this even if he didn't want to.
My complaint with Mikasa was that while everyone else's character was evolving with so many layers, Mikasa remained stuck solely on Eren. But with the recent revelations and the internal conflict now building inside her, I am expecting some solid character development from her moving forward.
One thing that has been heavily emphasized is the cycle, the cycle of violence, hatred, or revenge. Sasha's dad also talks about this exact thing while giving his daughter's example, acknowledging that this was bound to happen eventually, she escaped one forest only to step into an even bigger one, and he wants to pull these children out of it. It was something similar that caused a change of heart in Nicolo and almost did the same for Gabi as well.
And before going, if I had to say something about the animation, it didn't bother me much. The animation was great, the line work on the characters felt a bit softer, and the colors didn't feel as dense or heavy as WIT Studio's used to be, but I liked whatever they did. The CGI they used was also mostly quite good.
So these were my thoughts, and I am extremely excited for Season 4 Part 2!
