How Erwin TRICKED Them ALL & Reiner's Blunder - Overanalyzing Attack on Titan & Retrospective

foreign the opening sequence of episode 17 sees another return of armin's narration with it again implying a major turn in history here is just reframing what we've seen before to better fit the context of the larger war going on behind the scenes that were still largely unaware of of course air in plugging the wall is a major win for parody and despite the many lost soldiers their counter attack can now begin in full swing though as in any War such an attack will of course be met with heavy resistance which takes us right into the episode's title the female Titan the implication here is pretty clear as much as Irvin scheme to lure out the malls up to this point seem to be successful they are still operating with incomplete information and so their enemy would once again regain the upper hand as an entirely new variable gets thrown into the mix that of course being a third Titan shifter on the enemy's side moving into the episode itself the scenes we get here are super interesting in how they frame the upcoming Mission we hear that same heroic music we've heard in episodes past of course signaling the Triumph that this entire plan is in the first place [Music] both from Aaron's point of view with him reaching his dream of becoming a scout as well as from the broader Humanities they are making history though what I think is the most interesting part here is what happens once the Titans show up because that music never stops [Music] despite the struggle of the other Scouts we are told to look forward we zoom out from the individual struggles we've seen thus far and focus on the much much bigger picture and so suddenly the once terrifying Titans just become noise which both speaks to us now being in an entirely different League alongside the scouts as well as subtly framing that compared to what we're about to encounter the Titans are indigest noise and as we hear Irvin's commands the tone once again shifts into a even more macro-centric view as we now totally zoom out to see the formation in practice like we already touched on last time this just further separates the scouts from every everyone we've seen thus far because instead of some flashy odm gear moves we focus on the large-scale plan first and foremost to an extent individuals don't even really matter in this plan what we're focusing now is the large scale operation and in the bigger story with those drums of War once again ringing out we of course now also know that all of this is no more than a smoke screen to what they're actually trying to achieve and also in a meta sense notice how we are given a handful of very explicit character locations which as per our ever important Chekhov would indicate that some of these might be worth keeping an eye on something that would be very much proven in just a moment though we then zoom out to see this ever so subtle hovering and floaty shot from a distance almost as if to tell us Armin is being watched and directly preceding that we indeed cut to our men who too senses that something is off and to hammer home that foreboding nature we even see the obligatory murder of crows in story I think it's hard to say whether the implication is that Annie is actually watching them as we never really get a sense of how much time passes here and it could easily just be a cinematic way of conveying that impending sense of Doom but I mean whatever the case clearly as the viewer we already at least on a subconscious level expect something to go wrong very very soon and as we cut to Saw Shop that is exactly what we see as her relay Squad encounters an abnormal effectively right away but not how even now while the music is somewhat uneasy and climactic it never gives off that sense of desperation we got in Trust it's a battle theme sure but nothing about it implies that we're facing defeats or any immediate danger but when you look back at the first time we encountered this sort of abnormal the mission fell apart in mere minutes whereas here even on an open field while Sasha does obviously get spooked we still remain largely calm and collected and the mission just keeps on going in the context of the bigger story is just another reminder that we have had our training Arc we have had our trial by fire and so now we are both more experienced as well as just a little more desensitized to the Titans and like I briefly touched on before it also continues subtly framing regular and now even abnormals as simply noise compared to what we're about to encounter and more importantly what the goal of this entire mission is in the first place on initial viewing this might have seemed as an expedition Beyond the Wall where survival is key with the benefit of hindsight on the other hand we clearly know that all of these subtle framing techniques are just hinting toward the fact that this mission is a mousetrap and we are anticipating a much much bigger enemy and speaking of anticipating larger enemies like some that are maybe 60 meters tall as we cut to nessa's group who has encountered another abnormal we get some really interesting lines about effectiveness of the odm gear effectively he talks about how using the odm gear on an open field is next to useless as there is obviously no buildings or anything else to latch onto first off I think it's just a really cool note on World building as it's sort of a natural inhibitor that just adds to the danger of venturing beyond the walls though secondly it is another subtle hint as to what is truly going on here because yes even if you have pieced together that this whole plan is about baiting someone out you would still think that baiting out a shifter on an open field probably isn't an entirely Sound Idea right so why is it that we are constantly pushing onward almost as if we are trying to reach a certain location and as far away from the walls as possible not to repeat myself a hundred times throughout this video keep this little question in mind though after Downing the abnormal for the first time in this episode we cut to this prolonged silence even as another Titan appears on the horizon the battle theme we had seen thus far with every encounter never starts instead we hear this haunting and ever so subtly building tone which I can only describe as that biblical vibe in Diablo cinematics but that background track is then sharply interrupted by another entirely new track as Annie just Sprints right past them and as NASA's Squad charges in to take it down without ever skipping a beat they are swatted out of the sky as if they were nothing and that dissonant piano just keeps on going and going until it reaches another Peak and those signature lumbering footsteps ring out yet again as Annie begins her March [Music] as per usual both the sound design as well as purely narratively I think the series absolutely nailed that 180 in tone just like with Reiner and bear thought later in the series we aren't even given any room to breathe or think or even register who this might be she just runs up annihilates the entire Squad in a matter of seconds and keeps on going though a smaller thing to note here notice how Armin first says what is she but then corrects himself to no what are they clearly implying that this new enemy is still a part of that same Force fighting against them on the face of it and especially with the benefit of hindsight that seems like a super obvious detail but I think it's important to keep in mind that a line like this was deliberately included to immediately tell you that at least by armin's judgments this is not some Rogue fighter this is still the same enemy they've been fighting against whenever it comes to lines like these I think it's always important to zoom out of story a little and think about it from the point of view of the author why would this line be included is it simply to avoid people making 300 theories and losing focus on the bigger story or is it perhaps the complete opposite and meant to mislead personally I think isayama's writing is particularly strong in this aspects and is exactly why I constantly mention good old Chekhov when talking about plot devices in the series bar may be a few exceptions everything is there for a very very good reason and so even lines like these serve a clear purpose of just telling you that yes this Titan might have come out of nowhere but it is right there alongside the armored and The Colossal but okay my meta ramblings aside we then cut on over to the mid cards which just expand on the formation we're seeing considering how little of Irvin we had actually seen thus far I think this was just there to continue building him up as the brains behind most of what the scouts do with us explicitly being told that this formation was devised by him and it immediately also showed results with less soldiers dying beyond the walls returning to the field though before we snap back to Armin we see that the entirety of the right flank has been completely wiped out and more importantly that the Titans were apparently led by the female Titan which of course begins to hand out her unique power though returning to Armin we see him being blasted off the horse and in classic Attack on Titan fashion we get that uncomfortably long moment of silence where we just hear armin's troubled breathing but what I adore is what we see next because after Annie spares him we get that signature sound effect that we occasionally hear in the series foreign is it's not one you would expect to hear in this context right Armin almost got annihilated but this was not a moment of brutality it was almost oddly peaceful in fact for my fellow Resident Evil fans out there it's almost like hearing that save room's theme because you know that for that brief moments the horrors are over and speaking of which in story this of course also begs the question of why did she unclog him and why did she spare him of course we can now channel our inner attack Titan and the answers are simple but even on initial viewing I don't think it was particularly hard to clock the somewhat dead blue eyes the blonde hair and someone who just so happens to have an odd connection with Armin and clearly pulling a character out of nowhere is like the biggest writing No-No so if this is someone we would have seen already there really aren't that many suspects Left Right clearly this is Annie the the only question now of course is why is she doing this but oh boy after seeing their little Arc in the first part of the final Arc this feels oddly sad but wholesome at the same time at this point I don't care what happens to Mikasa and Aaron and as long as Armin and Annie are happy I am happy this Duo is like literally the only wholesome thing left in the show please he say I'm up don't make this little calm and age poorly and for those of you who have read the Manga please don't spoil me either but of course it's at this point where things become very very interesting because an all-out battle between Marley and parody now begins in full swing we see Reiner ride up asking whether armin's fine and what happens and almost right away they get on their horses and start pursuing Annie's Titan first off the obvious this is a case of Marley managing to pull one over on Irvin because while his plan of luring out the enemy was entirely sound and clearly worked what he couldn't account for is a third Titan who is being fed information by an Insider though number two know how when Armin says it's not an abnormal it's intelligence Reiner is genuinely caught off guard not because he is acting here but because he genuinely does not know that Annie spared him so in his mind the only question now is wait why is he still alive and how much does he know has he figured it out already and if you ask me if Jean hadn't shown up here well I think Armin would have faced a very similar fate to Marco but that then brings us to Irvin's big counter and because every good video needs a narrative I'll title these Urban smokescreen Parts one two however many there are keep in mind that this entire plan was set up with the baits of them going after Aaron right so when Jean rides up and they catch up on what's going on with this new Titan Armin begins to speculate that Heron cloaking came back there was because she doesn't aim to kill right away she appears to be looking for a a certain person proposing Aaron as the obvious main candidates and get ready for this because my guy Reiner casually says Aaron he's in the right flank the one she just passed through and my dude like you just outed yourself and notice armin's reaction here he is entirely caught off guard which begs the question of is he worried about Aaron or did he too just notice the discrepancy because Jean then adds that his plans were different saying that Aaron isn't in the right flank and then Armin 2 confirms that his plans were yet another different version so what we should be thinking here is Reiner's plans said the right flank and Annie's first Target was the right flank that's it we've got him Irvin's plan worked and as if that wasn't enough Armin then deduces that wait none of this makes sense the safest position is the rear of the center that is where he should be and again remember all checkers love why did Armin deduce this now because the next thing we see is this conversation being interrupted and them catching up to Annie picking up on their first encounter Armin of course tells them to wear the hoods and so they all charge in and the music here just seems so so deliberate because we have that iconic colossal theme but there is also that usual Battle Theme it's not entirely Bleak it's not entirely a beat it's a war this foreign [Music] also notice how we get the inner monologues of both Jean and Armin as they talk about trying to slow it down but we don't hear Reiner for what I think are obvious reasons his inner monologue right now is probably just how do I tell her to move to the center Squad I think we've messed up and another fun detail here is Armin saying we're not killing it when the time comes maybe those two can referring to Levi and Mikasa this is super easy to forget but as of right now the fact that Levi 2 is an Ackerman is yet to be revealed so I think all of these constant comparisons between the two are just subtly foreshadowing that though the actual confrontation sequence here is just perfect everything from the music suddenly picking up in full swing to yet another excellent odm gear seen as Jean flies around it is all just so so good and what's also incredible here is what Armin pulls off because after he has blown off his horse he yells out that he told him that he died in the right flank yelling that she killed him which immediately makes Annie freeze because for a brief moment she thinks she messed up did she really accidentally kill Aaron already from Reiner's information he should have been there and now Armin yells out that she did in fact kill him could it really be true but yet again this is a war after all so now it is time for The Other Side to make a move and so while Annie is frozen up Reiner charges in supposedly to slice her nape right away but she is immediately caught and supposedly squished only for him to suddenly spring out of her hand slicing off a few digits and Landing like the legend that he is first off again the obvious if he supposedly a normal human being were to be seriously squished he'd be toast so clue numeral one either this is Titan generation or P was never squished to begin with in the same vein as he lands and his blood of course evaporates off of him but even if he were to have been squished himself clearly that too would just steam right off though what is the dead giveaway here is what happens after because one Annie literally never reacts to any of this she just chills there for a second and just stares at her hands almost as if and number two literally right after this encounter she just goes right around and suddenly begins running right toward Aaron oh you know almost as if a certain someone just inscribed a message in her Palm he got from his much smarter blonde friend I mean yep Jokes Aside she came from the right flank already outing the faulty information from Reiner and now she straight up Acts on the Intel Reiner just got from Armin and passed on to her so at this point we have already got two of our malls effectively figured out but again this is a back and forth we've got a move from Marley so it's Irvin's turn right and with that let us jump right into episode 18 where the opening sequence is another cheeky case of reframing the events we've seen thus far as two very deliberate sides of a war it seems obvious in hindsight but on initial viewing remember that the female Titan literally came out of the blue with no Rhyme or Reason so when we open with Irvin's plan and how they talk about the certain positions that is then interrupted by this deliberate subversion that whole nature of these two sides just constantly trying to counteract one another just becomes so much more clear especially with Iron Man 2 noting in the previous episode that the female tightened the armor in the Colossal are likely In Cahoots as I've mentioned frankly too many times already this whole reframing nature is of course a staple of the series going as far back as the very first episode so with the conflict now really heating up those two sides will just become more and more clear as for the title of the episode a forest of giant trees I think is two pretty self-explanatory because this is over analyzing of course I had to look into all kinds of trees and whether or not Emir emerging with deep spine looking thingy might have had some sort of effect on them but no not really there are plenty of trees in the real world that Eclipse even the 80 meter ones we see here more on the trees later though moving into the episode itself we open with a follow-up with Jean's Trio and hear how Jean's horse ran off and doesn't seem to be coming back first off again I think it's just some really neat World building with how even something as silly as this is a death sentence you survive the Titans you survive even the Titan shifter but without a horse you are simply too slow to survive out here just like running out of gas back in trust it just re-establishes that sense of danger you might Overlook on these luscious Green Hills because yes even here there is danger around every corner and another thing to note just like we've talked about with Jean before I also really like how he clearly doesn't want to but he does also begin asking himself so what happens if the horse doesn't return do we draw straws do we leave Armin who is already injured do we leave Reiner he hates himself for even thinking about it but realistically those thoughts would crop up so I just really like that they were being addressed here even if moments later that is of course all figured out with none other than his story of riding up with Jon's horse because of course it's Astoria and this is also another very rare case of those typical anime things in early Attack on Titan as we see all the boys thirst over her a little saying she's a deity an angel and finally I want to marry her and while yes obviously this is just a haha thirsty boy's moments in the context of the bigger story she is kinda sort of their literal Queen right I mean obviously they don't know it yet but you know maybe she already has some of that Queen energy and they just picked up on it who knows Jokes Aside as they all write off everyone is expecting a retreat but instead they see a green flare simply meaning a chain engine course not a retreat we then jump on over to Levi's Squad who are told that the entirety of the right flank has been wiped out and it's right after that that a black smoke is fired off signaling it abnormal and here I think it's important to once again note that no one aside from those who have clearly seen her know about the female Titan's existence so while they might suspect Foul Play and that this is what Irvin's plan is about right now this is just an abnormal to them though speaking of the female Titan we then jump on over to the squad that sent off the signals engaging her in combat and the animation here is also just Top Notch this whole fly around odm gear scene is really cool and the almost JoJo moment of her suddenly jumping up is also a really really cool one but what I think is the absolute best parse is the musical and tonal transition that happens here we opened the sequence with the soldiers all seeing how they'll go for the weak spots and the underlying music is this tense but still upbeat battle chance though just as they seemingly surround her we cut to silence and she jumps and suddenly the music completely changes into a far far darker theme [Music] and they are just all swatted out of the way one by one with her even going as far as to just straight up toy with the soldier she caught and then that horrifying image of her chasing down the final soldier of the squad and kicking him like a hundred meters across the sky is like yeah maybe we shouldn't try to take her head on and as one final Act of brutality we see another pair of soldiers also right up to her only here we don't even see anything we simply hear these chilling bells ring out almost as if to convey that she alone is now passing higher judgments [Music] and with that we get this death note-esque scene of her simply standing amidst the bodies as this biblical chanting begins though in the midst of what might be their darkest hour yet we jump on over to a squad riding up to the forest which nicely leads us into the mid cards talking about the forest of giant trees first off again I think this is just some neat subtle World building with this Force supposedly being a tourist attraction before wall Mario fell though secondly and much more importantly why might we need a forest of specifically massive trees going as far as to specify that some of them are even 80 meters tall seems like an odd thing to add if this huge size wasn't relevant huh well if you were trying to bait out an enemy one which is actually taller than your 15 meter walls 80 meter trees which you can use for insane odm gear maneuverability really seems nice doesn't it with Annie obviously these massive trees turn out to be a little Overkill but keep in mind that even now very very few people know about the female Titan's existence so originally this plan is designed to trap the Colossal the armored or both not Annie and with that we jump on over to Irvin's Squad who two are now entering the forest the others on the other hand are told to stay outside and take interceptory positions with the goal of stopping anything or anyone who might enter and the far more important thing that is conveniently left out leave the forest so in this case Irvin's Squad of strongest and most experienced Fighters keep on going right into the mousetrap they have set up not only that they are heading right into their own home turf where they have a major advantage with the odm gear and to top it all off here there is very little room to disappear sure they may try hiding somewhere in the forest but sooner or later they would have to come out this isn't shigonjinor trust where they could simply slip into the walls in their human form even the illustration used here paints this Forest as a small patch of woods surrounded by a field theoretically there is no way out obviously Irvin is still working with incomplete information so if the Marley Squad really wanted to go all out I mean yeah technically bear told could have just leveled this entire thing with his nuke but based on what they know now this plan is effectively foolproof but of course the others are still never leaded on it so as we jump on over to Jean he once again questions just what exactly is going on here and says that this entire whole mystery they're being led on is just frustrating and once again I love how Jean is just sort of your every man here he starts talking about how there are plenty of stories of certain leaders having mysterious stabs in their back when they turn out to be unfit to lead but as Armin gets worried he of course adds that don't worry I'm not going to do anything I just need to vent realistic basically if you were putting your life on the line and you were just being led in circles even after encountering yet another absolutely history changing event in the female Titan's appearance I think it's perfectly normal to just be worked up about not being told what's going on keep in mind that in the 100 plus years of History they have the colossal and armored were an absolute first that quite literally changed the course of history and now yet another one of these shifters appears more has happened in the space of five years than in the past 100 I mean sure his rational brain understands that there must be an ulterior motive and that there is something far bigger going on here but he himself clearly knows that I am not the bad guy here though when Jon asks Armin what he thinks about this whole thing he too says that he really doesn't understand and while he does speculate the goal here Heap can't really piece together the full plan just yet by now if they know about the female Titan Irvin surely must have gotten the information too so is the plan really to confront her head on we then jump on over to Levi and Aaron where Aaron too just ask for at least some sort of pointer as to what is going on here first off believe I also knows the trees telling Aaron to use this unremarkable brain to look around and think how they might be useful though secondly and much much more importantly we see that even on the Levi Squad no one here aside from Levi himself that is is still fully aware of what is actually happening which would later beg the chilling question of if Irvin is so cautious so as to only let a handful of people in on the plan is he anticipating an even further retaliation from whoever is trying to wipe out parody he constructed all the plans so the sudden he'll turn from attacking the right flank and switching right to the center should certainly raise suspicion as to which Squad was given a certain piece of faulty information right well there is a very good reason why Reiner and Bear chart would later be split off from Annie though some of these more immediate thoughts of the scouts would be covered in the next couple of episodes so we'll leave that for then long story short clearly these thoughts are already on everyone's Minds here this level of secrecy is largely unprecedented even for Irwin cutting back to Armin he has gone through the method of elimination and arrived at only one very ominous conclusion Irvin does indeed plan to confront the female Titan here and now and so they are effectively an alarm system that keeps things from both leaving the forest as well as entering normal Titans will be drawn to them meaning that no extra enemies will pour into the forest as they're confronting the shifter not only that the trees also offer some pretty decent protection as no normal sign would be just able to suddenly yoke them from the trees which of course also allows the remaining forces to recharge a little in case anything goes wrong we would of course see some of the signs begin to climb trees and whatnot but it's not really something that'll catch off guard and so with the alarm system sets and the plan laid outs we return to the Levi Squad where a black smoke signal is fired off and as Levi says dry your blades it'll happen any moment the music once again does a complete 180. as we swap from those uneasy strings to this chilling chanting as a scout flies through the woods only to be swatted out of the way like a fly and now that booming scratchy horror music kicks in painting what is almost a boss encounter as they simply try to outrun this new entirely unknown enemy and in that classic Thriller like climax the music just keeps on going up and down up and down the absolute best part here Aaron gets a little too comfortable thinking that oh you messed up you're chasing the best Titan Slayers Humanity has to offer but when he turns around he is met with a very chilling realization because Levi does not give any command they simply keep on moving and when he does speak it is not a battle command rather he just tells them to cover their ears as he fires off an acoustic rounds and all that's very ambiguous and admittedly cliffhangery knows those are episodes 17 and 18. another couple of great ones with a very thrilling lead up to the entrapment of the female Titan so the next couple covering the climax of Irvin's Mission should also be an absolute blast seems kind of wild to me how close we are to wrapping up the first season already but this last stretch of episodes should be an absolute ton of fun to cover so with that I hope to see you back as we continue over analyzing Attack on Titan and that's the video I've said it a million times and I'll say it again it is still absolutely wild to me how many times the show just blatantly showed us who the true enemies are though yep I am very excited to get into the climax of The Sark and with that I want to say a massive thank you to our current patrons and YouTube members who allow me to produce even more of these for you all and let's also give a warm welcome to the newest members of the team Malcolm Timmy Kobo real Jed ralucci and Jordan last name without you there'd be a whole lot less of my rambling so seriously thank you thank you other than that I want to say thank you very much for watching I hope you have a great day and hopefully I'll see you in the next one bye bye

Channel: Korotos Mystery Shack

Views: 143,662

Keywords: Koroto's, Mystery, Shack, Korotos, Koroto, AoT, Attack on Titan, Shingeki no kyojin, SnK, female titan, erwin smith, erwin vs female titan, female titan arc, erwin plan, erwin explained, female titan arc explained, erwin plan female titan, ep 17, forest of giant trees, ep 18, season 1, overanalyzing aot, overanalyzing attack on titan, overanalyzing snk, aot overanalysis, retrospective, aot retrospective, aot over analysis, aot explained, aot foreshadowing season 1, aot

Id: d8HD3AcmwSw

Length: 31min 8sec (1868 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 21 2023