Edited | Attack On Titan | Ova 8

yea what WanCastro said, this is the MOST LAYEYED complex 20ish min animation. even rewatching it several times, words Do Not Suffice to remark on ISAYAMA's GENIUS writing.

Reggie Azem

I can’t wait either.. ever since 2x6 I’ve been ITCHING to see what you guys think of 3x17 and the rest. We’re so pumped you have no idea

Tristen O'Bannon

aot universe has 1 timeline & it cannot be altered in any way

Shai Hulud

One day you will see the truth. “Everything is still ahead”

Allen Valdes

Lol what? No it doesn't

Maia Brodsky

What does this episode teach us? There are multiple timelines. It’s not over

Allen Valdes

You girls have not idea the amount of foreshadow you just got in this OVA.

WanCastro

Can't wait for the reaction... Also FYI there are 2 more trilogies of this level in season 4🙌

aryan2k2

Tears and rage! Trying to recover with ice cream in bed. We definitely cursed you all for putting us through this at some point in the reaction 😂😭lovingly of course lol 💕

Haylo

to be fair... @haylo @kiss, warning you of the pain and trauma of those 3 episodes would have been a spoiler soo... you're welcome for the emotional damage? lol

Charles Malo

In the first season episode 6 i think, we saw mikasa watch a praying mantis KILL a butterfly. In this storyline, and that's what she said when "i've always seen it but never thought about it, this world is cruel..." . Butterflies are the symbol of evolution and progress and growth. In this story alternatives (canon or not, i wont say :D ) but in this story, they even flashed back to that scene. But her seeing a butterfly is a symbol of "what if", what if the world wasn't cruel and that the butterfly she saw didn't die, and that the "hunters" became the prey (like her dad holding a duck is mirrored by the wolves hunting the bandits etc) And her seeing the butterfly CAN be a symbol of both, the butterfly effect of "what if that ONE incident didnt happen, what would have happened then?", and also, if you think about it, that butterfly was a caterpillar and evolved into a butterfly with the hopes of flying into the world with freedom but it was nipped from the world before it had a chance to fly beautifully (reminds you of anyone at the time ? ;) heh), so that's butterfly is also the symbol of "growing, evolving, changing, starting anew", and in that mindset she was imagining what would have happened if eren and mikasa's young life wasn't nipped in the bud by the bandits, and they got to live without that incident that traumatized them... and yet ultimately, much like a butterfly that spends MOST of its life as a caterpillar trying to survive and grow, once it's a butterfly, its life short lived... and in her dream/what-if/alternate-timeline story that she thought of, eren and her was represented by that butterfly... except she realized that for both of them, much like the caterpillar, they were BORN INTO THIS WORLD for the purpose of evolving and growing and gaining the freedom to fly, and even as a caterpillar, their internal drive would have always pushed them to try to become a butterfly... but not all caterpillar become butterflies... and this was apparent when eren was still stubborn to join the scounts and go see the world eitherway, and he died for it. like the show narrator said in mikasa's voice for obvious reasons of the AoT watchers, in her thoughts, she's thinking that no matter what happens, eren is going to die,, because eren is... (im going to assume they said something like : fighting for freedom etc)... so yeah. you're not far off, and jake's somewhat correct that eren always was representing by flight/birds/freedom, and mikasa by delicate butterflies and flowers, and armin by the deep vastness and infiniteness of the sea of knowledge and eagerness to learn, yet armin doesn't isn't represented by a river, but by a sea that is constantly just washing out like a wave, as it tries to reach the shore). we even see the flowers/butterflies imagery in the time when eren blocked the cannon shot and kept the delicate flower alive (like mikasa), and how the ending of every season always has us flying over some landscape like a bird for eren's story including the VERY first frame of the show ! Either that or the animators saw a pretty butterfly and put it in soooo..

Charles Malo

If dr strange taught me anything in Marvel is that maybe all dreams and "what ifs" are just alternate timelines or "lost storylines" some good, and some are in a cruel world, which is interesting because of the title. But then again, AoT > Marvel soooo.. fight me everyone who disagrees :P

Charles Malo

Lots of tears I'm guessing 😂?

aryan2k2

Dang deep!

Jake the Movie Geek

Just watched them today 😭💔

Haylo

Dear Mikasa, When two hippos fall in love, they marry and procreate. And that's how babies are made 😍 👉👌👶

TOOKIE

Feeling spoilt with this post xx

rina.

Didn't you ever wonder what was Dr Yaeger going to the Ackerman's family before? It's hinted that the mom was indeed pregnant (nitting and sewing and talking about passing along a family symbol and crest to mikasa's own children one day and the joke about how do we have children etc.) And notice something interesting: in the story that we saw before this what-if scenario, every single time that Eren asked Mikasa what will you do, she ALWAYS said that she will go wherever he goes (if you go to scouts, i go to scouts, if u go to military i go to military, if u go front line i go front line etc) and that's all in the story where eren saved her life. But in this one, for once, eren asked her "What will you do" and Mikasa genuinely was "shocked" and "i dont..know?" almost like she never had a purpose before until eren became part of her world. When she finally wished to be by eren's side, her mom suddenly had a medical confition that forced her family to live none other than near eren's house next door, where the boulder fell. She thinks that she caused her mom to be sick with her wish to be eren. If that world story kept going even past the incidents with eren, the parents would have died anyway to the colossal's boulder flying onto the house that they'd have had to live in, they were doomed no matter what. The trip that eren and armin took mirrors armin's parents getting on a hot air balloon to fly and dying too. Oh and the reason eren took a worse beating when the scouts came back is that in the story that we saw first, when eren acted out, STRONG mikasa, the one that had to step up to kill her bandits, she stepped up and yanked eren back and yeeted him into the wall herself and eren didnt antagonize those people more because mikasa was there to stop him from going too far. But when she is the sweet mikasa, not hardened by life, she's the same girl that froze in front of bandits and she didnt do anything to stop them from hitting eren or stop eren from being too hot headed... and what happened? Eren paid the price with his own body. The mirror faced person's lines of "i am no one and i am everyone" interesting line and like haylee said, there's so many parallels to what could have been, and anything could have happened, but nothing could have happened, and what mikasa could ever think about in terms of a perfect timeline, was also a doomed one to her in her mind, she was about to give up to the titan when eren died and had that convenient migraine inducing flashback to keep pushing forward. In that moment she also felt like with eren being dead, she was no one. she lost her identity, her purpose..., but eren's will power to Tatakae (to Fight!) and always pushing forward, it's also a reminder to her even when eren "died" and she couldnt be with him here, she kept on going to keep his memory, before realizing that there was a larger plot at play,... that the world is cruel, but it's also beautiful, and she's part of it, and she wasn't no one, but she was someone, much like how eren was someone to her... and then BAM eren shows up as she's wishing to be with him, and saves her from that titan. And yeah, it felt like someone's life flashed in front of their eyes, to see what could have been, and ultimately realizing that the what could have been may not have been better, so do what you can do with the current life and "what if" that you're living, no matter the shitty hands that you were dealt earlier... because while it isn't a good hand... who knows... it could have been much MUCH worse.

Charles Malo

Right. It wasn’t an alternate timeline. It was a what if story

Jake the Movie Geek

I’m not sure. I always took it as a bird represents Eren and a butterfly represents Mikasa

Jake the Movie Geek

The amount of foreshadowing in this Madd my brain explode,every line has so meaning,this is why this show is a masterpiece

Michael Plays

Is the butterfly 🦋 like a metaphor for the butterfly effect?

James Williams

Oh it’s getting real now…. The next couple of seasons are about to be enlightening. This OVA just made me appreciate this show 5x more.

Ram

"I was so confused, and then it all made sense" is kinda the overarching theme, really!

Jonathan Charles

Yeah dude come on delete this shit, such a needless comment

Sean Carroll

Yay ! OVA’s!!

Charlyy

I'm guessing yall hv watched 3x16,17 and 18 by now?

aryan2k2

Can’t wait to talk about all this without spoiling

Green Hog

Uhhh… I feel like this is deeeep spoiler territory. I feel bad for them if they see this comment

Kevin

PKS

This was a nice surprise 🥰

Frits__

I was not expecting an episode today thank you so much 💜💜

Sydney（＾ω＾）