Attack on Titan Episode 72

Children of the Forest

Attack on Titan: The Final Season episode 72 definitely isn’t my favorite episode of the season thus far. It has some important new developments. But overall, it was a slow episode that probably could have been compressed to add more content considering how much of the series is left.

One of the big parts of this episode is how it shows that people with various backgrounds can actually get along despite being taught to hate each other. We’ve been seeing Onyankopon working with Hange for a bit now, but that’s not exactly the same. Onyankopon and Hange were always about different people living in harmony.

Rather, we saw how Nicolo, a Marleyan soldier, fell in love with an Eldian and also protected Eldians he’s come to view as friends. It can sometimes be hard to keep track of who’s what. But Nicolo is an actual Marleyan, not an Eldian who lived in Marley. He’s not the same as someone like Gabi or Falco.

Opposite Nicolo is Gabi. Despite being an Eldian herself, she absolutely hates all (Paradis) Eldians. Another difference between the two is how they view friendships with Eldians. Nicolo doesn’t want it to seem like he’s friends with the Eldians, and so he puts on a front.

With Gabi, we once again see how she doesn’t really think things through logically. Once she befriends Kaya, she suddenly excludes her from her hatred of Paradis Eldians without thinking about how that conflicts with her core beliefs.

And to take this a step further, when Kaya attacks her after learning that Gabi was the one who killed Sasha, Gabi’s response is basically to be the shocked Pikachu meme. She can’t comprehend how someone who she just arbitrarily decided was her friend could hate her for killing someone they cared about.

Who’s at Fault?

One question that came up in this episode is the question of fault for all of the deaths that both sides have suffered in the war. Nicolo claims that Gabi is at fault for killing Sasha, while Gabi claims that Sasha killed people first so she was justified in her actions. Who’s right?

In my mind, they’re both right and both wrong at the same time. Nicolo is correct in saying that Gabi is to blame for Sasha’s death. After all, Gabi was the one who shot her. But we also need to consider that Gabi shot an enemy soldier who had just killed her allies.

Sasha’s father is the one who has the most correct response when he says that it’s the fault of the adults who allowed the war to happen. Technically speaking, Sasha was an adult when she died, so saying that it’s the fault of “adults” doesn’t exactly exonerate her actions. But whatever.

As for me, I think that while Gabi was technically justified in her killing of Sasha, her defense of that killing isn’t justified. I covered this in an earlier episode review, but Gabi’s child brain can’t comprehend how anyone other than her is justified in their actions. To her, there was no justification for what Sasha did.

That’s the big issue with Gabi. Since she didn’t see Marley attack Paradis (which is what started the war) firsthand, she pretends like it never happened. Yet at the same time, she justifies all of Marley’s actions by saying that the Eldians were aggressors 100+ years ago.

Gabi only acknowledges evidence when it backs up her side of the story, which is why I can’t say that her viewpoint is correct.

Zeke’s Bodily Fluid Wine

You’ve heard of Echidna’s bodily fluid tea, now get ready for Zeke’s bodily fluid wine. Which of those would you rather drink? I’m not a tea or wine drinker myself, but I’d have to pick Echidna’s bodily fluids over Zeke’s. Now, if it was a choice between Echidna’s and Eren’s bodily fluids, that would actually be tough.

With respect to Zeke’s spinal fluid being in the wine, it’s possible that you may have viewed that as a bit of a cheap trick. After all, everyone thought that Zeke’s spinal fluid caused paralysis in those who ingest/inhale it, but now it’s been revealed that might not actually be the case. Right?

Well, this is actually a great example of how information is manipulated within the Attack on Titan series. As was stated in this episode, the account of what happens to people who ingest Zeke’s spinal fluid comes from Zeke himself. No third-parties have witnessed it.

Normally, people turn into titans very shortly after coming into contact with titan spinal fluid. We saw this with Eldians in the past, Eren, Armin, and Rod Reiss. However, the spinal fluid of the Beast Titan has already been known to act differently. Zeke is able to choose when those infected transform.

This has always been a thing. It’s not something that was newly introduced into the series within this episode. It’s just that every time we saw it happen in the past, none of the Paradis Eldians were there to witness it — such as the titan bombing of the capital city at the start of this season.

And, this manipulation of information is just one of the things I like about the series. It would have been easy to say that the Paradis Eldians have all the same knowledge as the viewer does as far as various Titan powers go, but that’s not the reality. The reality is that we know a lot more than the people within this world do, and Isayama does a great job of remembering that when writing.

Conclusion

What do you think about Attack on Titan: The Final Season episode 72? Do you think that Nicolo will ever truly side with the Paradis Eldians? Was Gabi justified in shooting Sasha? And did you forget that most of the characters don’t actually know how Zeke’s power works? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of Attack on Titan Episode 73 is available.