Coming off of last week’s emotional episode, it’s simply not fair to compare “Brave Volunteers” to “Assassin’s Bullet”, which makes the latest Attack on Titan episode so difficult to review. The Final Season has been phenomenal so far, action-packed and full of emotion. “Brave Volunteers” is a different kind of episode. Furthermore, it only covers one chapter of the manga, chapter 106. With 16 episodes total listed and scenes from chapter 122 present in the trailer, it will be interesting to see how they pace the rest of the first portion of the season.
“Brave Volunteers” sets the foundation for what is yet to come. We’re introduced to a number of new characters and re-introduced to some of the Marleyans we’ve met in the past two episodes. We get more information about them and their motivation. We also find out, in part, the events of the past four years.
The episode starts out with Armin holding his seashell from the season three finale, talking to…someone. The episode is told from his point of view as he narrates part of what’s happened up to this point, and who better to do that? Armin is the heart and soul of Attack on Titan. He’s pouring his soul out to a certain someone, who is revealed at the end of the episode, and as he said in season three after killing the member of the interior police, he’s not a good person anymore. Now, he’s not only killed military personnel, but civilians, and children too. It’s obvious he’s having trouble with this guilt, and with his growing distance from his best friend in Eren, he has no one to turn to. This is what makes the episode so great. Armin is one of the best characters in the series and to see everything from his point of view is fascinating and makes for a fantastic episode.
If you were hoping for an action-packed episode, you can forget it. This was a transition episode between the events of the attack on Marley what is yet to come. That’s okay though. After the death of such a beloved character in Sasha, we, the viewer, needed some time to breathe. This episode gives us this. With so many flashbacks, it was hard to see Sasha and not think of her lifeless body, and the episode reminds us of this very fact. Her funeral was heartbreaking and we see the emotional toll it takes on the Survey Corps. There’s also a Marleyan who attended the funeral, Niccolo, who is a Marleyan chef. He gets beaten for simply being a Marleyan, but in flashbacks, it is shown that he made food for Sasha and the rest of the group. Presumably, they were somewhat close. This demonstrates the distrust between Marleyans and Eldians, even though some of these Marleyans who came to Paradis over the past four years and who have been helping them still see discrimination. And this goes both ways.
Yelena was re-introduced and we see how she made her way to Paradis Island. Her only motivation for helping Paradis is the fact that she reveres Zeke as a god. This could potentially be problematic, as Paradis Island does not trust Zeke. Years earlier they debated on whether to accept his proposal or not. In the present, Levi confines Zeke to a forest, while Zeke is eager to see his younger brother. Levi is even more eager to keep his promise to Erwin and kill Zeke once and for all. The scenes between these two characters are nothing short of extraordinary, and hopefully, they have some more meaningful interactions as the season goes on. We also see that even three years earlier, Eren was still skeptical of the proposition of peace. He didn’t trust Marley. He also confirms publicly, in front of the military, that he didn’t tell them about how making contact with the Titan that was once Dina Fritz gave him the ability to use the Founding Titan’s power, which is a part of Zeke’s proposal. He confirms that he did this to protect Historia. This may be relevant moving forward, considering the characters have become ever closer as the series has gone on.
The episode intercuts Armin’s narration, flashbacks, the present, and Eren, who is now confined to an ever so familiar cell. This can be a little jarring and a bit confusing to the average viewer, but it works well and gives the episode the emotional weight it needs. It’s revealed at the end of the episode that Armin is speaking to Annie, who is still confined to a crystal. The two of them are now similar, as they both committed mass murder yet felt they had no choice. Armin admits if they didn’t attack Marley, they would have been attacked first. You can feel the isolation and sadness in Armin’s words though. Killing isn’t easy for him, and now, he’s isolated from the one person he could always relate to and count on. It’s tragic, and was the perfect way to frame the episode, from Armin’s point of view.
Eren doesn’t say much, but there are several shots of him washing his hair, and ultimately putting it into a ponytail. He echoes a version of Mikasa’s words, spoken as she sulks at Sasha’s funeral, right before the final scene with Eren: “If die, we lose. If we live, we win.” Eren seems to be trying to strengthen his resolve for what he’s going to have to do to “win.” He tells himself continuously to fight, and if they don’t fight, they can’t win. The episode ends with a final shot of Eren taking a look in the mirror, more determined than ever.
“Brave Volunteers” is an excellent episode, yet it’s not fair to compare it to the last four episodes. It’s simply a different kind of animal. Framing the story from Armin’s point of view was genius. The reveal that he was talking to Annie at the end was great, and made sense story-wise as they did have somewhat of a bond at the end of season one, despite the horrible things Annie did. Armin and Mikasa are both isolated now, and it will be interesting to see how our main characters interact moving forward. It will also be interesting to see whether or not Yelena and her fellow Marleyans turn on Paradis Island, though Yelena’s devotion to Zeke seems like the real deal. Zeke and Levi are itching for a final confrontation, and the stage for that has been set. Eren reaffirms his determination to keep fighting and moving forward. Every main character had a defining moment in a character-driven episode. We’ll see if we get more flashbacks to fill in the gaps between the present and the past four years, but “Brave Volunteers” was a great way to both fill in the gaps and set the foundation for what is yet to come.