Shingeki no Kyojin // Attack on Titan : I Can Hear His Heartbeat : The Struggle for Trost Part 4

Episode 8

“Shinzō no Kodō ga Kikoeru -Torosuto-ku Kōbōsen (4)-“(心臓の鼓動が聞こえる ―トロスト区攻防戦④―)

With a Titan on side and Mikasa gassed up again its time to try and get back HQ.

At this point there is one character that has hidden a little in the shadows and that is Armin. He’s a easy character to forget about, he freezes when things go bad and he’s not afraid to admit he’s no good at pretty much everything he needs to be if he’s going to follow Eren into the Scouts but he’s always there in the shadow of Eren and Eren’s great rage.

This episode showed just how important its going to be to have ALL the characters using their strengths.

Armin is able to formulate a plan to divert the Rogue Titans attention to HQ where Titans were swarming the place and at the same time the leadership skills of Jean meant that the rest of the recruits were well on their way there too.

This meant that the two forces ended up together, the Rogue Titan taking out the bigger Titans on the outside and the group inside having to face seven 4 meter Titans on the inside. Its nice to see the other characters growing the way they did, when things needed to be done they just did it but they also had confidence in each other. The fact they trusted Armin when he came up with a plan to take out the Titans inside was so important because it gave him the strength to carry it out but it also meant it worked. Everyone felt much more calm when they realised that maybe together they could do it.

Marco also gives Jean a talking too pointing out he’s a good leader because he makes himself one of them, something I’ve said all along. He’s not just preaching at them about how he feels they should act and he isn’t acting like he’s better then them the two biggest problems that Eren and Mikasa has. He did want to join the Military Police because it was safe he also probably didn’t want to be in this position right now and probably wouldn’t have been if Mikasa hadn’t gone but it doesn’t matter because he’s there now.

At no point does the anime shy away from reminding you that death is always a option. No victory goes without losing some of their colleagues and Jean takes it hard, he took charge and couldn’t save everyone but its a lesson he’ll have to learn. I don’t think anyone in charge in this world can keep a whole group alive when faced with Titans and he did a good job just getting them all to where they were.