Attack on Titan came back with so many twists, turns, heartbreak and action.  This episode was beyond exciting and an awesome penultimate episode.  Here are my thoughts on the epic episode 11 of the second season named Charge.

This episode is, hands down, one of my favorite episodes so far of the two seasons and the OVAs with episode 6 of season 2 close behind it.  It was a rollercoaster of a ride for fans’ emotions.  The episode did an excellent job in eliciting fear, excitement, sorrow, pity and awe which is not an easy feat to do in a 20-22 min episode.  The music was on point and perfectly suited for each harrowing and heartbreaking moment in this episode.

And the character development in this was off the richter scale.  There were so many highlight moments for so many characters in this, and so many different facets of characters that we are not used to seeing.  I saw surprising, terrifying and heroic moments from Mikasa, Erwin, Armin, Bertholdt, and Hannes which really made me appreciate the episode that much more.  The definite MVP in this episode has to be Erwin Smith as most fans can agree on.  His badass moments in this episode really showcased just how awesome he really is, and how far he will go for humanity.

The episode starts where the last episode stopped with the Armored titan running from the forest to the open plains with Ymir, Bertholdt and a captured Historia and Eren.  The plains give the unified military force chasing after them a distinct disadvantage as it makes using ODM gear that much harder.  Mikasa, Armin, Jean, Conny, Sasha, and Hannes are riding after the Armored titan through the forest, and are directly behind it.

Erwin and his team are coming around the forest.  As Erwin is coming around, he sees the Armored titan running away.  He does an about face, and orders the group he is leading, which has a large amount of Military Police in it, to chase after the Armored titan.  Unfortunately (or fortunately if I may say so), there are titans hard on Erwin’s team’s heels, a fact that the Captain of the Military Police points out.  He asks Erwin if he is using them as bait to lure the titans, and Erwin says that is not his intention, but we as fans know that Erwin is quick to use even the worst of developments to his advantage.  They too are now giving chase.  This quick thinking on Erwin’s part is what makes him a formidable commander, and is the main reason why the Scout regiment is so close on the heels of the Armored titan.  We see several times throughout this episode the tactical genius that Erwin really is.

The scene then switches to Historia and Ymir as Ymir pulls Historia from her mouth.  Now a very interesting battle begins between Historia and Bertholdt as they fight over the loyalty of Ymir.  Ymir is clearly easily swayed by Historia, and as fans we can see a very conflicted Ymir.  This season we really got nice character development and character backstories especially for the secondary characters.  Ymir finally decides to side with Bertholdt and stay with them as she doesn’t feel that humanity within the walls will stand a chance.  This loyalty is not fully in place as we see later in the episode when she and Historia are confronted by Mikasa.

We then get to see Eren waking up, and the fight for Eren begins as the Scout regiment finally catch up to the Armored titan.  I want to give a shoutout to Hannes as we really got to see a wonderful growth in his character this season.  When we first met Hannes in the very first episode, fans watched in horror as he leaves Eren’s mother behind to die.  This season we see a Hannes that is really determined to get Eren back and is really willing to risk his life for him.  Hannes is the first one to make a strike on the Armored Titan as he tries to cut his Achilles heel.  He does not succeed, but it was the attempt that shows that his determination is real.

Mikasa is another whose character development takes a much more darker turn in this episode.  She had a chance to take out Reiner and Bertholdt before they took Eren in an earlier episode.  Fans can see that this weighs heavily on Mikasa, and we see that Mikasa, as she says in the episode, “has no room in her heart to care for anyone else.”  We definitely see this in Mikasa as she is more willing to do whatever she has to including killing in order to get Eren back.  And she does almost kill Ymir.  If it weren’t for Historia, she would have.  She also, later in the episode, is the first to charge the mass of titans behind Erwin Smith as he leads the charge, and she risks life and limb to get to Eren.  Mikasa is the most determined and terrifying character in this episode in the hunt to save Eren.

And Armin also had an interesting character development in this episode.  To back up, the Armored titan is running away with Bertholdt, Eren and Ymir.  He is besieged from the titans that Erwin cleverly brings with him.  This puts Reiner in a difficult position.  Later, after Mikasa and Erwin are injured, Armin confronts Bertholdt and pulls a move that is relentless and brilliant.  Armin knows that you have to being willing to sacrifice everything if you want to win this war of attrition, and what does he sacrifice?  In this moment, his better self.  Armin, knowing of Bertholdt’s secret love for Annie, uses this to distract Bertholdt in a move that made most fans cheer and think that Armin was a little cold blooded for it.  He basically lies to Bertholdt and Reiner, and tells them that they have Annie in an underground facility where they are mercilessly torturing her.  Now as fans we know that Annie is in her crystal prison and is by no means being tortured, but Armin knows full well that Bertholdt and Reiner do not know this.  His use of psychological warfare was brutal and effective.  It gets a reaction from both Reiner and Bertholdt which leads to them allowing their emotions to take over, and they make a mistake.  That mistake costs them Eren who is saved by the one and only Erwin.

And let’s talk about Erwin.  Fans of the anime had always known that Erwin was a smart and capable leader, but this episode really shows that he is willing to risk life and limb (literally) for humanity.  Erwin’s epic arc in this episode was phenomenal.  As I mentioned earlier, Erwin was the first to turn a bad situation (titans chasing his unit) into a beneficial one when he leads the titans on a chase after the Armored titan.  At some point his unit are no longer behind Mikasa’s unit.  Fans were assuming he was just right behind her, but there is actually a scene where we do not see his unit or a mass of titans chasing them behind Mikasa’s unit.  The reason being:  Erwin adroitly circled around the Armored titan and got ahead of him while he was distracted by Connie, Mikasa and the crew.  In an epic match of chicken, we see Erwin leading his unit (and their titans) towards the Armored titan.

Reiner, not being able to stop, decides to run right through the horde of titans.  He is able to hold them off for awhile, but then is taken down.  Protecting Bertholdt and Eren under his hands, Reiner can not do much to fend off the titans that dog pile him.  Erwin sees this and knows that this is the time to charge.  In a short, but rousing speech, Erwin orders everyone to charge through the melee of titans towards the Armored titan and save Eren.  He then leads the charge as any good commander would.  This leads to probably the most epic Erwin moment in the history of the show. While leading the charge, Erwin raises his sword up and orders them to advance.  A rogue titan snatches him off his horse by his extended arm.  His men look up in horror as they watch their beloved Commander being swept away by the titan.  Instead of screaming out in pain or for help, what does Erwin do?  He orders them to advance.  This was by far my favorite moment in this episode and really solidified my love for Erwin.

The Scout Regiment do advance and are getting demolished in the process, but Mikasa makes it through the titans with Jean by her side.  She gets to the Armored titan, who has now uncovered Bertholdt in order to push the titans off him. Mikasa sees this and makes a move to go after Bertholdt.  She comes close to getting him until he jumps out of the way.  It is in this moment we as fans watch in horror as Mikasa is caught by a titan and her ribs are crushed.  Luckily, Jean saves her.

At this point, Armin uses his knowledge of Bertholdt and Annie that I spoke of earlier.  This distraction was critical because it gave Erwin enough time to have a tourniquet put on his arm and use his ODM gear to get up to Bertholdt without Reiner or Bertholdt seeing him.  He slashes Bertholdt’s chest, cutting the straps that held Eren to him and frees Eren with one arm.  Mikasa saves Eren and I assume someone saves Erwin as well because he orders a retreat.  This scene really was the icing to the epic cake that was Erwin this episode.

Did the episode end there?  Oh no.  There was so much more that happened.  Reiner loses his mind, whether out of rage for what he heard was happening to Annie or for losing Eren, and starts throwing titans at the retreating Scout Regiment causing mass mayhem and death.  Mikasa and Eren are unhorsed in a flower field much like the field they were first introduced in in Episode 1 of the series.  As the debris cloud begins to disperse, they see a huge titan coming towards them, and to every fans horror and excitement, who do they see?  The smiling titan who killed Eren’s mother in episode 1.  And that was how this episode ended.

To say this episode is epic is an understatement.  This was by far my favorite episode of the Attack on Titan series to date (even if this review is coming out a bit late).  There was so much that happened and so many things that I absolutely loved about this episode.  Stay tuned for my review of episode 12 of the epic Season 2 of Attack on Titan which will, hopefully, be out soon!