Attack on Titan Season 3 Makes Surprising Mikasa Throwback

Attack on Titan has been a huge hit with fans ever since it returned for the second half of Season 3 as part of the Spring 2019 anime season, and it’s no mystery as to why as it has been full of action. But the action’s not the main draw of the series, and the latest episode dives into some of the biggest mysteries surrounding this Titan filled world. This has resulted into some surprising reveals about the events in the first season as well.

With this venture into the past, fans have spotted a surprising callback to the first episode of the series in a subtle moment between Eren and Mikasa. Check out this comparison below!

In Episode 57 of the series, fans get to see the origins of Eren’s father Grisha. Not only does this result in a shocking answer to why the Titans looked so strange in the first episode, but it results in a shock that wakes Eren up. Turns out that Eren’s been seeing this flashback as a vivid dream, but he has no memory of it. He even asks where and who he is. The lingering emotion from it did linger, however, and he can’t help but cry. So Mikasa asks if he’s crying, and Eren says it feels like he woke up from the “longest dream ever” (though this varies by translation).

This is a perfect mirror to the very first episode of the series. In Episode 1, Eren sees a flash of various images that wakes him up with a shock. He asks Mikasa where he is and how got there, and has no memory of the dream. He tells Mikasa it feels like he had a “really long dream.” The lingering emotion remains, however, and Eren cries. Mikasa then asks why he’s crying.

Not only is this a subtle, but emotional callback to the first season there’s an extra bit of goodness from the anime production as well. When Mikasa asks Eren why he’s crying in the first episode, he hands are holding straps to the wood on her back while two of the pieces stand on each side of her face. In Episode 57 when Mikasa asks about Eren’s crying, her face is in between two bars while her hands are up in the same way.

With the big reveals of the episode answers many of the questions fans have had about the series since it began, it seems there are more rewards than expected for those who have been watching closely the entire time.

Attack on Titan was originally created by Hajime Isayama, and the series has since been collected into 23 volumes as of 2017. It’s set in a world where the last remnants of humanity live within a walled city in order to escape the danger of the Titans, a race of giants monsters that eats humans. The lead character, Eren Yeager, ends up joining the military with his two childhood friends Mikasa and Armin after the Titans break through the wall and attack his hometown. Now Eren, Mikasa, and Armin must survive in a world where they not only have the Titans to fear, but the very humans they are trying to save. You can currently find the series streaming on Crunchyroll, Funimation, and Saturday nights on Adult Swim’s Toonami block.