That Day: The Fall of Shiganshina, Part 2

"I'll kill them all! I'll wipe every one of them... off the face of this earth!"

- Eren vows to kill the Titans

That Day (その日) is the second episode of the Attack on Titan anime. It was produced by Wit Studio and Production I.G. This episode shows the fall of Wall Maria and the start of Eren, Mikasa and Armin's military training.

Overview
The chaos continues in the Shiganshina District while the Titans continue to kill the citizens. Hannes manages to save Eren and Mikasa, but is later confronted by Eren for not saving his mother as well. Hannes tells him that he did not have the courage to fight the Titans. Eren, Mikasa and Armin are put on a boat with more citizens in order to escape the district. At that moment, they see the Armored Titan break through the inner gate. Eren then vows to kill all the Titans in the world. Afterwards, the three friends are seen taking their food rations, and an operation to retake Wall Maria is launched come time after, resulting in the death of Armin's grandfather. After reaching the appropriate age, Eren, Mikasa and Armin finally join the army as part of the 104th Trainees Squad.

Summary
A priest is reading words from his book as people are screaming and running as the Titans roam the District, and is eventually confronted and eaten by a Titan, his book falling to the ground. We also witness a woman running to a dark alley, covering her mouth, and is plucked from her spot, screaming.

In shock, Eren attacks Hannes for abandoning his mother. He insists with a little time, his mother could have been saved. With Eren struggling to punch him again, Hannes explains that Eren didn't have the strength to save his mother, further infuriating him. However, he then says that the reason he didn't save Eren's mother, was because he didn't have the courage to face the Titan. As they are led toward Wall Maria, Mikasa has a flashback of a dead man and a woman before remarking about the familiarity of this event.

Armin is on a ship preparing to leave Shiganshina, scanning the crowds for Eren and Mikasa. When he spots them in a large crowd of refugees, but refrains from calling them when he sees the looks on their faces. Hugo shepherds a group of survivors through the gates, and takes charge in defending the ships used to escape the district. While he and his comrades fruitlessly defend the inner wall, Hannes and another officer debate about whether they should close the gate and abandon their comrades, or leave them open for the comrade's retreat. This debate is short-lived as an Armored Titan appears, crashing through the inner wall and killing its defenders, including Hugo. The gravity of the situation dawns on Eren when he realizes he can never go home again. Seeing the weakness of humanity, he vows to erase the Titans from this world. Eren's father is seen trying to return home while praying for the safety of his family.

In Eren's dreams, he sees his father trying to inject him with a mysterious syringe, as well as the key to his basement, before Mikasa wakes him up. As they leave they leave to get food rations, Eren tucks the key to his basement, hung around his neck by a string, into his shirt. Eren and Mikasa join up with Armin to receive their food rations when they overhear soldiers talking about the food shortage due to the refugees from Wall Maria. Eren becomes angry and attacks one but is saved from a confrontation when Armin steps in on his behalf. He accuses Armin of being weak and not standing up to those who look down on him. However, Mikasa then intervenes and tells Eren that the only thing they can do now is to survive as his mother said because they have no chance of killing a Titan.

The central government tries to rectify the food shortage by having refugees cultivate land, but it is not enough. In the following year of 846, they use the refugees to launch a military campaign and retake Wall Maria, but it ends in disaster with about a hundred survivors from a total of 250 thousand soldiers. The food shortage has improved, but Armin's grandfather is implied to have died in the war.

The trio decide to apply for military training and the next year, are part of the newly formed trainee unit No. 104. As their instructor Keith Shadis is giving them a lecture, Eren reiterates his vow to kill all Titans.

Trivia

 * In the anime, Annie Leonhart can be seen accepting bread in a ration line. Reiner Braun and Bertolt Hoover are also briefly seen when the mission to retake Wall Maria is announced wearing a shocked expression. These three were all members of the 104th Trainees Squad and also are Titan Shifters who infiltrated the walls from their Homeland to find the 'Coordinate'. These are anime-only cameos.
 * The ending theme is played for the first time.

Navigation
Épisode 2 An jenem Tag