Attack on Titan Episode 75

Attack on Titan Episode 75

A Noble Cause

I’d like to start off this review of Attack on Titan: The Final Season Episode 75 by briefly touching on the future of the anime. As you may be aware, the 76th episode has been confirmed to be airing in the winter 2022 season. However, I’ve seen a lot of confusion surrounding that announcement.

Many people are really taking that announcement literally and thinking that only episode 76 will be airing then. I can guarantee you that’s not the case. I’ll fully explain why that is in my review of this full season next week. But for now, all you need to know is this:

The reason they only announced the 76th episode is for two reasons. First, it confirms that the TV anime is continuing. And second, announcing “The Final Season Part 2” sounds pretty stupid. There’s more to it than those two points, but I’ll save that for next week.

Yelena apologizing to her Eldian captives from the anime series Attack on Titan: The Final Season
Yelena apologizing to her Eldian captives

Anyway, at the start of this episode, Yelena finally reveals to the main cast what the true goal of the Yeagerists is. We learned about the Eldian euthanasia plan last week. But this is the first time Armin, Mikasa, Jean, Connie, and the others have heard of it.

And, you may have noticed that Yelena’s explanation of the plan got two very different responses. Jean responded with the same criticisms I brought up last week. Even if the plan works, which isn’t a guarantee, it’s not going to stop Marley.

On the other hand, we have Armin who seems to truly believe that the Yeagerists are fighting for a noble cause. However, despite the fact that he was brought to tears, I don’t see Armin agreeing with their method: Eldian euthanasia.

Pieck’s Bluff

Undoubtedly, Pieck was the star of this “final” episode. She first makes her appearance when rescuing Gabi and confronting Eren within the confines of the garrison building so that he can’t transform. I mean, he can, but it wouldn’t be a good idea.

Before I focus on Pieck, though, I do want to mention the relationship between Eren and Gabi. It’s easy to view Eren as a cold person who doesn’t really care about anyone else. However, his treatment of Gabi compared to everyone else indicates otherwise.

Consider how Eren refers to Falco by name. Meanwhile, he solely refers to Gabi as the “brat who killed Sasha.” To me, this distinction shows that he was more affected by Sasha’s death than everyone thinks. He’ll refer to his enemies by name, except for the one who killed Sasha.

Eren talking to Pieck from the anime series Attack on Titan: The Final Season
Eren talking to Pieck

Moving on to Pieck, I really liked the game of mental cat and mouse she played with Eren throughout this episode. Pieck’s goals were to rescue Gabi and also lure Eren into the open so Galliard could attack him. Meanwhile, Eren’s goal was to gather intel on the invaders.

One of the better parts of this was when Pieck threatens to shoot Eren in the head, killing him before he has the chance to transform. Eren calls her bluff because he knows that Marley wants the Founding Titan for itself rather than just wanting him dead.

At this point, you’d think that Pieck lost the battle, but in reality, this just set her up for the next stage of her attack. She acts like Eren figured her out, allows herself to be captured, and pretends to swap sides all so that Eren will let his guard down and head to the roof. And, Gabi’s reaction helped to sell this trick.

Trust in Comrades

One interesting thing about Pieck’s fake surrender is that she does actually mean what she says about Marley. She says that she knows she’ll always be a second-class citizen Marley doesn’t care about. She knows Eldians are just tools to Marley.

And more than that, she appears to honestly wish for Marley to be defeated so that her family, and everyone in the internment zone, can be free. Unlike Gabi, who we’ve seen has been brainwashed by Marley propaganda, Pieck fully understands the truth of her situation.

But, if all that’s the case, why has she not swapped sides? Wouldn’t siding with Eren help to bring about her dream of freedom? Yes. But to Pieck, freedom can also be found in loyalty to one’s comrades.

Pieck smiling at Gabi from the anime series Attack on Titan: The Final Season
Pieck smiling at Gabi

Despite wishing Marley would be destroyed, Pieck is loyal to the comrades she’s fought alongside for all these years. There are her current comrades, of course, but she’s also fighting for the memory of her fallen comrades. If she switches sides now, what were their deaths for?

Beyond that, I don’t think that Pieck views Eren as someone she could ever truly follow for a very similar reason. While Pieck is loyal to her comrades, Eren has betrayed his own. Eren’s comrades are locked up in an underground cell while he stages a coup.

I think to someone like Pieck, Eren’s apparent lack of loyalty is a deal-breaker. Even if he promises to save everyone from the internment zone, his words can’t be trusted.

Taking everything I’ve just said about Pieck into consideration, I enjoyed how she was kind of portrayed as Gabi’s mentor in this episode. As someone who shares the same values as Gabi, she’s the perfect person to change Gabi’s world view.

The Enemy

I’m sure I’ve mentioned it in the past while discussing Eren’s character development throughout the series, but I love how his role has shifted over time. Not only has he experienced a massive amount of development, but at this point, he’s effectively the antagonist of the series.

This isn’t a direction many series go in. Generally speaking, the protagonist of the series remains the protagonist and hero to the end. I guess this is spoiling Code Geass, but that’s the only other anime I can think of that has a similar shift.

But, even in Code Geass, I would say that Lelouch is still the protagonist of the series all the way through. There’s a difference between being a villain and an antagonist. You can be both the villain and protagonist at the same time.

Eren standing off against Pieck from the anime series Attack on Titan: The Final Season
Eren standing off against Pieck

So, what makes Eren the antagonist now? Well, for starters, the series doesn’t exactly follow him anymore. Every season of Attack on Titan shifts the focus slightly. For example, Season 3 was heavily focused on Levi.

In this final season, the focus tends to be split between Eren’s old comrades and the newly introduced Warriors/Warrior Candidates. And if the series is focusing on them, that makes them the protagonists by definition.

While both of those factions are opposing each other in the war, they’re also both being opposed by Eren and the Yeagerists. What do we call someone who opposes the protagonist(s)? The antagonist. Also, you could argue that Eren is the villain of the story at this point on top of being the antagonist.

Conclusion

What do you think of Attack on Titan: The Final Season Episode 75? Do you think the Eldian euthanasia plan is noble? Is Pieck the best girl now that Sasha is gone? And, do you prefer Eren as the protagonist or antagonist of the story? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of Episode 76 is available now.

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