Attack on Titan, vol. 25 review

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Attack on Titan, vol. 25, Hajime Isayama. Grade: B

Reiner is frozen in fear as the implications of Eren's presence here start dawning on him. Outside, Villy Tiber narrates a stage play for the gathered conquered leaders, initially repeating the old tale that King Fritz had been responsible for the ancient War of the Titans, until the Marle and Tiber factions joined forces to defeat the titans and banish Fritz to Paradis island. But, it's now time for the real truth to come out. Villy claims that because he has the powers of the Warhammer Titan, he has received visions. In these visions, Fritz the First was the true hero that saved everyone by luring the titans to Paradis, and using them to wall himself off from the outside world. He named the three rings of walls after the daughters of the original Ymir goddess (Maria, Rose and Sheena). It's the evil enemy of mankind, Eren Yeager, that killed Fritz and destroyed their era of peace. Villy wants to rally the people the Marle conquered to invade Paradis and defeat Eren. (In the middle of this, we get a flashback of Villy and Magot agreeing to this revision of history to justify the invasion.) During Villy's speech, Reiner cracks, begging Eren for understanding. Eren nods, heals his self-inflicted wounds, and turns into a titan as Reiner attempts to save Falco from being crushed in the enclosed basement.

Magot, at his station surveying the crowds for enemy, receives word that Peek and Porco have disappeared. They'd been approached by a Marle guard asking them to follow him, and it was a trap - they fell down a hole in the floor of one building, with Peek breaking her leg and Porco injuring his arm. They heal themselves. Peek hadn't trusted the soldier, and felt that she'd seen him before (it was Jan in disguise), so she got someone to tail them. The tail locates Peek at the bottom of the hole, and she and Porco are rescued. At this point, Eren bursts from his hiding place up through the stage under Villy, and kills and eats the guy. However, the true holder of the Warhammer power turns out to be his younger sister, and she turns titan and fights Toothy. Warhammer has the ability to create any kind of weapon it wants, from a crossbow to a big squisher hammer. To do this, though, its operator, the female Tiber, has to hide underground and encase herself in a defensive crystal. Eren almost gets to kill her, but the Porco and Peek titans (Jaws, and Armored Carrier) show up and rescue her. Eren summons the Survey crew, who had managed to hide in Eldia and prepared specifically for this moment sometime during the last 4 years. The survey crew go from building to building, securing the neighborhood and killing off all the Eldian and Marle soldiers.

Mikasa dislikes the number of dead children and civilians, and tries to get Eren to stop the carnage with the death of the Tiber girl. However, Warhammer is still going strong, and the tide turns against Eren, as Jeek shows up in Simian titan form. Reiner is missing, and Falco's condition is unknown. In all this, the status of the members of the younger titan-wannabe-squad are as follows: Falco - unknown; Wood - trampled when the audience panicked and bolted at the appearance of Toothy (dying); Sophie - crushed under a chunk of building (dead); Colt - last seen trying to get medical help for Wood (distracted); Gabby - she grabs a rifle and vows to kill the devil Eren (Magot was probably killed in a blast that took out his building). Simian orders Peek and Jaws to wipe out the invaders, while Jan and company are told to all come out of this alive.

Summary: Things escalated fast. All the wordy bits seem to be out of the way, and now we're getting to the big fight scenes. Both sides have loved ones they're trying to protect, so there's probably going to be a lot of disappointment somewhere in here. Still not my most favorite title, but recommended if you like the series.