Attack on Titan 4x05 "Declaration of War" reaction & review

Oh man, did not realize just how detailed they managed to get with connecting the parallels in the music here! Also, definitely lots of other character parallels going on as well. That's interesting, the theory that Eren being the "villain" now is almost too perfect or obvious. And I agree that while it will break my heart to see my "heroes" acting this way (particularly if we get any carnage from Armin, as he is my precious baby boy lol) it's soooo interesting to watch and well written that I both love and hate it at the same time! Good point that being the Colossal Titan might have made Armin taller. Now I'm curious to compare Bertholdt's height from before he got it to afterwards lol. I'm excited and terrified for what's to come! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!!!!!!!!! And thanks for the support and encouragement!!!!! ^_^ ~ MH

Melissa Moore

This is probably going to be a long comment but I will try to not go too long. This is definitely my favorite episode of the season so far even though I am now terrified for what is going to happen next. The music in AOT is probably the best anime music ever in my opinion and is definitely up there with some of the best anime music also warning I am about to go on an AOT music rant. The music during the explanation of the threat Eren presents and when Eren transforms as his own declaration of war is a new version of the song called Vogel im Kafig or Bird in the Cage in English which seems to literally be called The Rumbling by fans. However both of those are based on early tracks from season one which are called Attack ON Titan and XL-TT from the original attack on wall Maria in episode 1 and 2 from season one. It works so thematically well because of how much of a role reversal what’s happening in the show now is. Hiroyuki Sawano the composer for AOT is the best anime composer and any show he works on is better for his involvement. He also likes to use parts of the music I was talking about in a similar but different way in many other musical themes for small parts of songs. Rant over also I might be wrong about some of this because I'm not the most knowledgeable about music I'm pretty sure most of that is right though. I love all the parallels in this episode especially both Willy and Reiner both hating themselves but one wants to die and the other wants to live as well as Eren doing the reverse of what Marley did to Paradis but from another perspective. Also I agree that mystery soldier is Armin the only explanation for why he’s so tall is that because of the fantastical nature of Titans being the Colossal Titan makes you grow taller than you realistically would be expected to grow otherwise. I both love and hate that Eren is going down a darker and more villainous path like I thought because it’s terrifying and upsetting but also extremely interesting and well written. Also I feel like the creator of AOT Hajime Isayama is going to be throwing some twists and turns and more intrigue very soon because of what another anime only reaction channel talked about which I agree with. Which is that things are happening too perfectly to set up Eren as the ultimate villain as well as characters acting in suspicious ways and saying vague and mysterious things which implied to him that there are alliances and things happening behind the scenes that we have no idea about and might be revealed later. Finally I am confident that Reiner protected Falco by transforming but I have no idea what else he is going to do considering where his headspace has been that but still wants to protect people especially the warrior kids. I loved this episode even though it was so intense and I expect the next episode will be just as intense if not more intense. Also there will probably be carnage, chaos and a bloodbath considering how many important people from Marley and around the world are there… Eren’s definitely going on a rampage. This was a great reaction and I can’t wait for the next one sorry for the long comment. Keep up the great work. :-) <3

Supermonaman

Oh dang! I don't think I ever realized just how big the walls were!!! There would definitely have to be LOTS of Titans for that! I'm so happy you enjoyed my reaction, thanks! Really glad to hear that, hope you love my future reactions and thanks again for the info :D

Melissa Moore

Hey Melissa! I found this cool map of the 3 Paradis walls, it really gives you a perspective of how big it is and how long the walls are! I wasn't sure about the whole "millions of Titans" thing like you, but if I were to go off of this then wow, there are probably a LOT of Titans that make up the walls anyway. :P https://i.imgur.com/DxkiwrR.jpg Maybe someone shared it here already but I thought it was really neat! Anyway, really enjoying watching this with you! It's been making the show that much more fun, us getting to relive the episodes again with your thoughts and reactions :P

Rich

Totally agree! Not sure why my comment was deleted haha

Valkyrie Main - I can't see your comment here anymore but I got the email from Patreon about it and wanted to respond! So true that to a degree, there is very little chance for Eren to be able to negotiate/argue his point because of the worldwide hatred for Eldians, but at the same time what he's doing is so violent and aggressive. This show really puts everything in shades of grey and makes it sooo hard to take a hard side/stance for anyone's actions; even though a lot of their motives are understandable, they're never condonable!!! (If that's a word lol.)

Melissa Moore

AHHHHHHH okay, thank you so much for explaining that, so THAT is why Eldians like Willy and Zeke would be so concerned about getting the focus on somethin else so they had time to recover the Founding Titan. It could mean the total extinction/genocide of Eldians period if they don't. Plus they are shifting the focus onto a new "bad guy" like you said. And they'll have lots of help this time. Eep! So true that the overall goal on Willy's part really helps with the Eldian dissemination problem, but completely scapegoats Paradis in the process. Well dang! I have no clue who to root for now!!!! Which I think is the point lol. Thank you so much!!!

Melissa Moore

Ah yes, I actually figured that based on the way everyone was in place like you mentioned, the attack was going to happen no matter what. The "we are the same" line being related to both their personal/selfish motives is a good call as well! Ahhh that is pure gold about the interview, you can see that here so much!!!! As much as I love being built up to believe in a good shonen protagonist, what a great way to turn that on its head. And to be honest it's very realistic - believing you're the "good" guy can lead to some pretty messed up stuff if that's your main moral justification. So interesting to hear Isayama's personal insights about this! Thank you for explaining and sharing!!!

Melissa Moore

Eldian's all around the world are hated. As Udo said the hate for Eldians outside of Marley makes the discrimination they face in Marley seem like nothing. This is what sets up the dilemma. Sure Marley uses them as soldiers and treats them like subhumans but at the very least Marley has a use for them, the rest of the world doesn't. If Marley were to fall there would be nothing standing in the way of the rest of the world essentially just genociding the Eldian race. That's why technology surpassing the power of the titans is a huge problem for the warriors because if they lose their strategical use even Marley will no longer have a use for them. But at the same time if they fight against Marley or Marley is defeated by outside nations, which is what Magath feared since they had made enemies with the entire world and now enemy nations were ready to jump on Marley the second they showed any kind of weakness, which would mean the Eldians would be even more screwed. That's why they desperately needed to reclaim the Founding Titan to reestablish military dominance and secure the safety of Eldians for the foreseeable future. Zeke told them that in order to achieve this they needed a narrator to tell this story in order to get the world on their side which is the role Willy and the Tybur family took on. Rallying the world against a common threat, Paradis Island. By creating a Military alliance with them to take down Paradis. 1. Solves all of Marley's self inflicted problems of being the worlds number 1 enemy by instead shifting the hatred, fear and blame onto Paradis. And 2. Makes capturing Paradis within a year like Zeke said they needed to a lot more possible, since they would now have the cooperation of multiple nations in order to subdue and conquer the island. Unlike Marley's previous failures where they sent 6 of their Warriors who were all beaten back as well as sending 32 ships to scout the island which all went missing. Willy's plan does create a scenario for a much more peaceful and stable world, in which Marley and the Eldians living in it are no longer in perilous danger like they were until now. But unfortunately he uses Paradis as a scapegoat in order to create this sense of peace and unity with other nations.

Doccyy

Transcribing some parts of a interview that I found where Isayama is talking about this too(it's not the same interview I talked before, but he's basically talking about the same thing): (the translation is not very good however, I will try to improve it while writing, but anyway it can still seem confusing, but I believe you can get the message of what he's talking about) "Without knowing it, a person can become an aggressor. For one day thinking he was a victim, he can become a predator. Sometimes it's not good to believe in yourself too much. Everyone has a side inside us that is a cruel person." "About what kind of message he wants to convey to the readers, Isayama says that he simply illustrates his personal frustrations through the manga. That said, he feels that he has inadvertently transformed himself from victim to oppressor during a period in his life. In terms of a story, there are always people who judge the attitudes of the protagonists to be correct, because the actions of the protagonists correspond with their own value system. In Isayama's mind, although humans may believe their actions are right, everyone can become a predator/villain at some point."

Floweyyyy

One thing that I think is important to tell to take into account during the story: - In an interview a few years ago, Isayama commented about how some people follow stories hoping and acting as if the protagonists will always be right because they are the protagonists and this is not always true, but people believe too much in the protagonists and they don't realize how wrong they can be in different situations. He thinks this happens a lot in a typical shonen manga.

Floweyyyy

Eren most likely fucked up with any chance for peace that could have existed until now. The most important people and journalists from all around the world are here. The attack he's doing now will only be used as a proof of what the world already thought about the people in Paradis "The Eldians in Paradis are demons"(even though Willy revealed that they were not a real threat before, but now that a revolution has taken place on the walls and Eren is in control of the founding titan, they become a real threat to the world). And also what Willy said in his speech "Eren threatens the lives of everyone in the world"(and Eren commenting such an attack in a situation like this is just proving his point to the world). Also, I see some people saying that Eren attacked at the festival just because Willy declared war, but the attack would happen regardless of what Willy said... hear me out, there was just no way for Eren to get out of that situation and leave to Paradis without being noticed anymore. Reiner had just seen him there and now Falco also know who he actually his, Porco and Pieck are already aware that something is happening. Also, the whole way that Eren's supposed allies are acting makes it looks like they already know that the attack at the festival will happen, so they have to start to acting already(also, the way Eren speaks to Reiner before Willy declares war indicates that he is there to launch an attack, saying that he is there to do the same as Reiner). Besides all that, the last conversation we had between Willy and Magath indicated that they already knew something was happening in the shadows and they need to do something about it. That's why in this episode we have a scene where Magath says "so it has begun" when he is informed that the warriors have disappeared. They know that the enemies are making their move in the shadows and that something is probably going to happen at this festival(it's the reason why we have Magath already with several soldiers prepared to fight here). (and there are many other things to be used as prove that Eren would attack the festival regardless of what Willy said, but I’m trying to stick to what we have in the anime so far, to not give you any spoilers) About the "we are the same", I want to talk more in detail about this in the future, but notice here that right after Reiner confesses that the choices he made in the past were out of a personal desire that Eren responds "as I thought, we really are the same" in the case of Reiner, the personal desire that moved him was that he wanted to be a hero and respected by others. In the case of Eren it is not the same thing, since he is obviously being a villain here and he is fully aware of that, but he is also being moved by a personal and selfish desire here and that's the probably the major thing that made he see Reiner and himself as the same.

Floweyyyy

Right?!?!?! :O :O :O

Melissa Moore

That's kinda what I was thinking too after the fact!!! Dang! I don't think I realized just how many people Eren took out either, but it's true that this was really a large scale attack that included civilians. Very true, I remember the mention of "rules" of war - this clearly did not follow those! And good point that although Bertholdt and Reiner did the same, they were children and it could be argued they were not as in control of their actions as a full grown adult like Eren would be. Dang!!! Thanks for the explanation!

Melissa Moore

Thanks!!! Ohhhhh I never ever noticed that.....the contrast of their Titan looks, and even the names being "Attack" vs. "Armored" (a defensive implication). Thanks!!!

Melissa Moore

Oh wow!!! Thanks for explaining! That's definitely quite the threat they would have to call upon!!!

Melissa Moore

Ahhhhhh okay!!! So this was their plan to gather up the rest of the world to their cause, giving them time to catch up to the rest of the world. I do remember them mentioning that! So he basically just took the heat off Marley and put it onto the folks inside the walls (Eren specifically). So true that racism would play a key role in that as well. Yikes...!!! Thanks for breaking that all down for me! In a way, it feels like Eren doesn't have a choice....in another way, he just killed a WHOLE bunch of people sooo....!!!! Can't wait to see what happens next!!!

Melissa Moore

Hahahahahaha yes you are correct!!!! :P

Melissa Moore

Right, the whole cellar thing told me it was like "neutral ground" where they could just talk and not have to worry about either one transforming. Dang! Okay, I'm glad someone else agrees it was Armin!!! Exactly!!!! There is no hero and no villain....just broken people trying to get their missions accomplished....very grim!!!

Melissa Moore

He got snapped like a twig 😳🙀

Manny

My best guess for why the disclaimer is on this episode in particular is because this is a literal terrorist attack by Eren. I remember reading somewhere that if a work of fiction has political violence or something like it, it needs a disclaimer specifying it as "just fiction" in case it be taken for direct commentary. I think that's why Metal Gear Solid 2 has a similar warning. I recall it being much more obvious in the manga, but Eren killed dozens of non-combatants just by transforming and destroying that housing building. I think this is why there's a scene in the first episode of this season where Falco tries to help a heavily wounded soldier, and Gabi asks if "following the rules of law" is supposed to be his selling point. This tells us that the concept of a "moral war", with agreed upon conditions for fair and equal engagement between nation-states (such as "do not target civilians or noncombatants") exists within this world. And Eren just shattered them. Additionally, he did so with full cognizance of what he was doing, not to mention being a free-thinking adult. None of which was true of Bertholt and Reiner when they broke the walls.

Derrick C. Shields

Yes, you are getting things right about Isayama(it's the autor, in case you don't know his name) putting Eren as a villain and Reiner as a hero. I will comment more about this and the episode later, but there is a reason why Isayama made Eren's titan looks like a demon while Reiner's titan looks like a knight in a armor. Eren being the titan who "attacks" and Reiner being the titan who "defends". 👀

Floweyyyy

Thank u Jeager. Please sort out ur family members :) XOXO

Ahmed Alnajar

There are around 5000km/3100 miles of wall on Paradis as a conservative estimate, with every inch of the walls shoulder to shoulder with colossal titans. That's a conga line of colossal titans stretching 1/8th the way around the world, or the distance from the USA to the UK. In short, the Walls of Paradis Island are like they have a nuclear arsenal to threaten the whole globe and the guy who had the button but you knew would never press it is gone and some radical element you have no idea about now has that button.

James Simpkin

Marley was under danger of falling behind other nations, their superiority and military advantage eroded as Titan powers fell behind to the new technologies and weapons, and the advent of aerial warfare. Soon bombs of immense destructive power would prove Titans irrelevant in combat, and thus Marley would lose its relevancy and global influence. Marley knows it has to catch up, but in the meanwhile only the absolute power of the Founding Titan would buy them time in their ever dwindling supremacy. Willy Tybur was able to counter this by uniting most nations of the world against a newly reinvigorated threat of global annihilation. Eren is made to be the devil, the monster that would likely attack and destroy the world, and revealing the truth of Marley, Paradis and King Fritz made it easier for the nations to come together against the Eldians of the island. At once and unexpectedly Marley to the world is no longer an enemy to be feared as much, but an ally, and this buys the nation time to catch up to the rest of the world in military technological power and capabilities. Racism against the people of Paradis made all this easy, and it spares the Eldian diaspora in other nations, if for a while, because Eldians in the world won't have a future if they don't have a use as living weapons anymore. There was never a possibility of a pact with Paradis, there was never the option for peace due to pragmatic and political reasons in the world stage. And Eren had promises to keep and enemies to destroy.

David Caine

The colossal titans they talk about are the ones inside the walls on Paradis Island. Not within the walls, but literally inside the stone structure of the walls. Remember at the end of season 1/beginning of season 2 when Annie tried to climb the wall and ripped a part off and you could see a face that looked kinda like the colossal titan? Then the priest guy told them to cover it up and Hange threatened to drop him off the wall if he didn’t explain the presence of a colossal titan inside the wall? Those colossal titans. And remember, the walls on the island are still really long, so there are lots of these colossal titans. Now, I always thought that it was far fetched to say that there are “tens of millions” of them, but there are still a lot of them.

Jaeger

yeah that reminds me of what Armin use to say that sometimes they need to abandon their humanity to be able to win (and here we see Eren crush a house full of innocent civilians)

MagnusVD

oh one more comment I just thought about At least it seems that Eren is doing the eating now instead of being eaten :D

MagnusVD

“I keep moving forward. Until I destroy my enemies.” God i really thought eren and reiner mightve teamed up until i heard eren say that. Lol so crazy. It seems eren has decided that nothing is to high of a price to pay for freedom. Sad but understandable at the same time. This show is so good!!!

Jacob

when I first show this I thought the reason Eren had choose that location was to prevent Reiner to transform since due to that we are in Reiner's home country now he will care about the people. Yeah my theory is that that was Armin too Also yeah very tense episode & after this episode I felt like there is no good person anymore just that now Eren & Reiner are just on two different sides of a war

MagnusVD