Attack on Titan Season 2 Episode 6 Review: Warrior

Revealing, suspenseful, and concise… I love this week’s episode, and the only truly terrible thing I can think of to criticize about it is that it ended too soon. Now, let’s get into it.

Meeting Historia Reiss

“Warrior” decided to take a break from the Christa-Ymir storylines this week, but not before dropping a small bomb with the reveal of Christa’s real, full name: Historia Reiss.

We subsequently learned, thanks to Hange, that “Reiss” is the surname of a noble family in the world of Attack on Titan. While the story still hasn’t made clear what this means exactly, I think it pairs well with this whole notion so far that the government has something to do with… well… everything that’s been going on. 

I’m also looking forward to get to know Historia as a character. Sure, we know Christa Lenz, but the way things have been playing out so far — what’s with Ymir’s cutting dissection into “Christa”’s cheery martyr facade, the glimpses of “Christa”’s true person last episode — have been proving that we don’t really know the darker, much more flawed Historia Reiss. As per Hange’s sentiment, it’s nice to finally meet her.

Reiner Tells Eren the Truth

My reaction to Reiner’s little, very minor, no-big-deal, confession that he’s the Armored Titan and that Bertolt’s the Colossal Titan was much like Eren’s. I mean, honestly. This has to be the weirdest way to reveal something this colossal (pun intended) in the history of animes that are actually well-done. There’s zero dramatic segue. The scene couldn’t have been more of a blink-and-miss set up had Reiner been saying that he ate Eren’s name-labeled yogurt from the Survey Corps’ communal fridge or something (I don’t think yogurt or fridge exist in Attack on Titan, but you get my point). It was so bizarre that I actually stopped the episode and replayed Reiner’s confession three times to make sure that, yes, this is actually how the show chose to reveal one of its biggest plot twists. 

I was originally going to comment on the nonchalant way Eren was taking Reiner’s confession, but then the “12 hours earlier” flashback happened, and all was explained—the explanation being that Hange and the Corps have been suspicious of Reiner and Bertolt all along. Even then, I don’t think Eren ever expected a full confession out of the blue.

I’d like to take a moment to talk about Reiner, because he just gets to be more and more interesting of a character as this season goes on: There is something not right with him upstairs that goes well beyond being a Titan shifter, or whatever secrets he’s been keeping from the rest of humanity. “Warrior” established that he, Bertolt, and Annie have been in cahoots this whole time, but Bertolt and Annie both held it together while he’s clearly teetering between two sides of himself. How? Why? Maybe future episodes will get into it…

The Epic Showdown We Won’t See Until Next Week

In usual anime fashion, the episode left us at a cliffhanger, just as we thought we’re going to finally see Eren’s Titan duke it out with the Armored Titan.

I think there’s something very refreshing about the fact that we have a main character who’s genuinely pissed off about being betrayed, and is ready to show exactly how pissed off he is. Too often, I see protagonists being torn between vengeance and justice, or choosing to believe that the people who lie and manipulate them are actually good people deep down inside, if they would only let the main character save them from themselves…

Huh. Sounds like a show where “Christa Lenz” might be the main character, now that I think about it.

Instead, we have Eren Jaegar, a giant ball of fury hellbent on fucking those people up because screw redemption! Great stuff, I tell you, great stuff.

What Else?

– Sometimes, I wonder why Mikasa isn’t the main main character of Attack on Titan. I know why she isn’t, but she could totally hold the show on her own, right?

– I really hope the next episode doesn’t kill off the momentum by starting with a calm flashback or something like they did in episode 5.