Soldier (Episode)

"I have no right to tell you how to live your life. So actually, this is nothing more than a hope of mine.... I want you...to live a life you're proud of."

- Ymir makes a request of Christa

Soldier (兵士) is the 4th episode of the 2nd season and the 29th episode overall of the Attack on Titan anime, produced by Wit Studio and Production I.G.

Overview
At Utgard, the scouts engage the Titans. Earlier, Reiner visits Ymir and realizes she is able to read an unknown writing. When the tower is breached, the recruits are left to halt the Titans advance. After a close call, they barricade a door.

Outside, the scouts nearly finish off the Titans, but the Beast Titan begins throwing projectiles at them, and calls in reinforcements. The veteran scouts are killed, leaving the recruits defenseless and lamenting their deaths. Then, Ymir jumps from the castle, transforming into a Titan.

Summary
Under the moonlight, two Abnormal Titans play-fight with each other as the Beast Titan ascends Wall Rose. Nanaba draws her blades alongside the head scouts atop Utgard Castle, telling the recruits to stand aside as they put their ODM gear to good use. As the recruits watch on, the scouts leap into the fray. Two hours earlier, Nanaba's and Gelgar's team set up camp within Utgard as the horses rest and drink. Henning observes that someone had been at the castle recently, and Lynne proposes the possibility of bandits. Gelgar joins them with a bottle of alcohol, though he cannot read the writing on the label. Gelgar tells the recruits to rest as the top soldiers keep watch, though little trouble is expected from the Titans at night. Christa begins to wonder where the Titans are coming from if no breach was found in Wall Rose, and Gelgar tells her that they will investigate the issue tomorrow.

Christa and Henning observe that Titan activity has been surprisingly low near the Wall given the possibility of a breach. Ymir asks Conny about his village, and he tells her that no one was found, but he believes that they survived. While all the homes were destroyed, no signs of blood or remains were at the ruins. Conny begins to wonder aloud about the Titan he found on top of his home, believing that it strongly resembled his mother. Reiner begins to question him until Ymir laughs out loud, pointing out the absurdity of his mother being a Titan when he is so short. She jokes that his father must have been a Titan as well in order for his parents to "do it," and Conny loses his temper. Some hours later, Reiner visits Ymir as she searches through the supplies found within the castle ruins. Ymir jokes that Reiner does not seem like the sort of man interested in women, and Reiner replies that Ymir does not seem like a woman interested in men. Ymir informs him of her search for food, which may be their last meal. Reiner brings up Conny's concerns and asks for Ymir to continue joking about his worries in order to take his focus away from his missing family. Thinking little of Reiner's request, she finds a can of herring among the supplies and hands it to Reiner. He is surprised that she found canned food in such a place, but pauses after realizing that he cannot read the writing on the can. Reiner looks to Ymir in shock, and she stares back at him as she realizes her mistake. Before Reiner can ask any other questions, Lynne wakes up the recruits to alert them of a dire turn of events.

Atop the castle, the scouts spot a horde of Titans inexplicably moving in the moonlight. The four officers leap into the Titans with blades drawn, and Gelgar cuts the fingers from a Titan reaching up for him. Nanaba lands the killing blow, telling Gelgar that the move was unnecessary and simply damaged his blades. Gelgar insists that it is his way of doing things and demands for the kill to be counted as an assist. Nanaba is amused by his "heroism." Below, Lynne kills a smaller Titan attempting to crawl out from beneath the corpse of Nanaba's felled Titan, and she notices the door has been broken down. She maneuvers to the top of the castle and warns the recruits of the breach, telling them to take any measures necessary to barricade off the Titans before they infiltrate too deeply into the tower.

The recruits descend the tower, and Reiner takes the lead as he rushes ahead of the others. Bertholdt tries to stop him, explaining to Conny that he has a bad habit of taking the most dangerous jobs. Further down, Reiner cautiously opens a blocked door to check for the Titans' advance. Through the door, he sees one has already made it up the stairs, and he frantically blocks off the door again. The Titan begins to bang on the door as Reiner calls for help, and he begins to wonder if his death is near as the Titan's arm breaks through the door. He remembers a time five years ago when he and Bertholdt were escaping from the Titans, and Reiner was nearly caught. A friend pushed him aside and was caught by a Titan, eaten alive as Reiner and Bertholdt could do nothing to help him. Reiner moves away at the last second as Bertholdt comes to his side with a pitchfork, stabbing the Titan in the face to hold it back. As they keep the Titan back together, Reiner reminds Bertholdt that they will soon return to their hometown. Further up the stairs, the other recruits arrive with a cannon, but with no gunpowder or cannonballs. They shove the cannon down the stairs, sending it rolling towards the door until it crashes into the Titan as Reiner and Bertholdt jump aside. The Titan is immobile beneath the cannon, but the recruits are left with only a small knife in Conny's possession. Reiner tells him not to use it against the Titan, with the risk of injury still being too great. Christa proposes retreating upstairs, but another Titan climbs over the cannon and approaches Conny. The Titan lunges at Conny, but Reiner manages to push him out of the way in time. The Titan instead bites down into Reiner's arm, its grip too strong to break out of. Reiner takes the Titan and hoists it over his head, making his way for the window to jump out. Conny comes to his side, using his knife to cut the jaw of the Titan in order for Reiner to break free. When the Titan's bite loosens, Reiner backs away as Ymir kicks the Titan out the window. The recruits begin to barricade the door properly as Christa uses Gelgar's alcohol to treat his injury. With no bandages to cover Reiner's wound, Christa tears off a part of her skirt to treat the bite, leaving Reiner somewhat aroused. She apologizes for the lack of proper treatment, but Reiner insists that she is helping. In his mind, he insists that he must marry her.

Ymir tells Christa that her finger got hurt in the fight, but Conny tells her to spit on it. He apologizes to Reiner for putting him in danger, and he points out that both he and Annie have had to save his life in the past, saying that he must repay him some day. Thinking back to the day his friend saved his life, Reiner tells him that he was simply doing the right thing as a soldier. Conny asks Bertholdt if Reiner has always been so selfless, but Bertholdt says that in the past Reiner was more of a "Warrior," leaving Reiner somewhat confused. Ymir looks outside and sees that the scouts have slain many Titans in the meantime. Nanaba and Gelgar catch their breath on the tower as Lynne heads to the top to check on the recruits, but a sudden whooshing sound catches their attention. Suddenly, an impact hits the stables, leaving all the horses dead. A second sound is head soon after, and a boulder strikes the top of Utgard Castle, killing Lynne and Henning instantly.

The recruits join Nanaba and Gelgar at the top of the tower, and Conny realizes the Beast Titan is responsible for their deaths. As he looks down from the tower, he spots dozens more Titans approaching. Nanaba observes that the attack seems much too strategic for a normal Titan assault, and that someone has been toying with them from the start. From atop Wall Rose, the Beast Titan roars at Utgard Castle before descending the other side of the Wall.

Nanaba and Gelgar do their best to fight off the new horde of Titans as their gas and blades run low, and Gelgar notes that the tower's structural integrity is taking a toll. They examine their remaining equipment: Gelgar is out of gas and blades, and Nanaba is on her last pair of blades with little gas left. Gelgar prepares himself for death, having seriously injured his head and quickly losing blood. He regrets not having a drink before his death, and he lets himself fall. Nanaba kills the Titan which catches him, but her blades shatter and her gas runs empty. As Gelgar falls into an opening in the tower wall, Nanaba is surrounded by approaching Titans. Within the tower, Gelgar finds his alcohol bottle and opens it for one last drink. As he holds it above his mouth, only a few drops hit his chin. He regrets his cruel luck while a Titan grabs hold of him, and he cries out in anguish demanding to know who drank the entire bottle. His head smacks against the wall as he is pulled out, knocking him unconscious.

The recruits watch helplessly from atop the castle as their commanding officers are caught. Christa throws rocks down at the Titans until Ymir stops her, warning her that she may fall from the tower. Below, Gelgar is eaten by a Titan as a horde fights over Nanaba, who has lost a leg. Delirious and terrified, Nanaba cries out for her father to stop hurting her until her screams are swallowed by a Titan. Conny begins to despair as their future looks grim, and Christa expresses her desire to fight to the death. Ymir scolds Christa, seeing that she wants to use her superiors' deaths as an excuse for herself to die as a hero. Ymir approaches Conny, asking for his knife. She tells him that she wants to fight, though she is not sure of what she plans to do. Ymir returns to Christa, asking her to remember the promise they made to each other during their training days years ago. Ymir says that while she has no right to tell Christa how to live, she wants for her to live her life with pride. Conny's knife in hand, Ymir runs from the tower and leaps into the horde of Titans. She takes the blade to her palm and cuts, triggering the power of the Titans and transforming into her Titan form.

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