Retrospective (Chapter)

"...I saw my students heading south from the fort in Shiganshina. Annie Leonhart was with them. That's when I knew what they were planning...It moved me. How they'd grown..."

- Keith Shadis expresses his pride in his former trainees

Retrospective (懐古) is the 3rd chapter of the 32nd volume and the 129th chapter overall of the Attack on Titan manga, written and illustrated by Hajime Isayama.

Overview
Theo Magath and Hange Zoë discuss a plan to reach Marley before most of the continent can be destroyed by the Wall Titans due to the fact that they do not have enough time to follow the original plan of preparing the flying boat at the harbor. After Kiyomi Azumabito's suggestion, they decide to steal a ship and tow the flying boat to Odiha in Marley where it can be serviced and prepared.

The Armored and Female Titans protect the Azumabitos as they run for the ship, while the Survey Corps fight the Yeagerists to buy time to get the ship's boilers working. Pieck Finger inside her Cart Titan carries several passengers as they overlook the battle occurring. Falco Grice sees that Reiner and Annie are getting overrun and runs into the battlefield, cutting open his hand causing his transformation into the Jaw Titan despite Pieck's warnings. Seeing that the Yeagerists are losing the battle, Floch Forster tries to land a Thunder Spear into the ship's hull to sink it but is shot down by Gabi Braun. Magath stays behind after the ship leaves and joins up with Keith Shadis to destroy the other ship at port so that the Yeagerists cannot follow.

Summary
Daz's body falls into the water as a severely injured Armin Arlert reaches out to the sinking body. Connie Springer looks at a severely injured Armin with tears in his eyes while Samuel's corpse with two bullets in the head and one underneath the eye lies on the floor as Annie Leonhart and Reiner Braun continue to fight off the Yeagerists. Inside the building where the Yeagerists had held the Azumabitos, Hange Zoë is taken aback upon hearing from their engineers that it would require, at minimum, half a day to prepare the flying boat for travel. Theo Magath does not believe they could hold the harbor for that long since the Armored and Female Titans' powers only last for a few hours.

Hange reluctantly concludes that they are too late. With half a day's delay, the Wall Titans could travel 600 kilometers inland from where they make landfall and trample the continent within four days. Even in the best-case scenario, it would already be too late for Liberio. Jean Kirstein worries about the refugees the Survey Corps members partied with. Kiyomi Azumabito is momentarily stunned but presents an alternate plan. She suggests they take one of the ships in the harbor and tow the flying boat to the coastal Marleyan city of Odiha where they can prepare and service it ahead of the Rumbling. Though Odiha will be in the path of the Rumbling, Kiyomi believes it will be possible to get there before the Titans do. Magath agrees to the plan and Hange and Jean split up to inform the others about the change of plans.

Mikasa Ackerman hooks on to the Female Titan in the middle of combat to notify Annie of the change in plan and to cover the engineers while they prepare to board. Floch Forster orders the nearby Yeagerists to shoot the Azumabito service crew, only for the Yeagerists to be killed by Hange and Mikasa. Floch is initially confused over where the engineers are going but he quickly realizes that they are heading for a ship and planning to take the flying boat with them. In desperation, he orders his soldiers to gather all available Thunder Spears and sink the ship.

Meanwhile, Annie and Reiner use their Titans to protect the Azumabitos and Magath while blocking multiple Thunder Spears and gunshots from the Anti-personnel omni-directional mobility gear with their bodies. Realizing that the two of them will not be able to hold out before the ship sails, Falco Grice tells Pieck Finger that he should be fighting with the Jaw Titan. She disagrees, saying that his first transformation will not go well, so instead, she will be fighting using her Cart Titan after she takes her passengers to the ship. However, that does not stop Falco from thinking about Porco Galliard's sacrifice and what he would have done in this situation, which would not be sitting idly, rather he would have entered the battlefield using his Titan. This thought instigates Falco to dash into the fray, ignoring Pieck's reasonings.

Connie helps a badly wounded Armin up to Magath at the gangway to the ship. He leaves his friend with Magath before joining the battle to buy the engineers' time to get the ship's boiler running. As he leaves, Pieck arrives through the water with her passengers; Yelena, Onyankopon, Gabi Braun, and Levi Ackerman.

Elsewhere, on the rooftops, Mikasa tells Hange that they need to help Annie and Reiner, but Hange spots a train full of Yeagerist reinforcements that they will need to stop. Before they can though, an explosion derails the train. Down on the ground, Jean tells Falco to hurry and get on the ship while Falco is busy cutting open his palm with a nail.

The battle becomes more desperate as the Survey Corps tries to protect the battered Titans, which are no longer able to move or see. Pieck's Cart Titan joins the fray and Floch rallies his team to fight against her and their human enemies. During the fight, Falco runs into the combat zone and transforms into the Jaw Titan.

Seeing the flash, Gabi is stunned that Falco has transformed. Meanwhile, Magath exits the ship leaving Gabi in charge and runs down to the harbor where Falco is attacking the Yeagerists. The chaos caused by Falco's Jaw Titan breaks the Yeagerists' ranks, allowing the Survey Corps to get the upper hand. After seeing his fellow Yeagerists dying at the hands of the Survey Corps and Warriors, Floch desperately manages to escape the battlefield and aims a Thunder Spear at the ship's hull stating that he will be the one to save Eldia. However, Gabi shoots his arm from her position on the ship's deck using her rifle, throwing off his aim, and the Thunder Spear plows harmlessly into the water where it explodes, causing Floch to plummet into the water below as well.

Once they are ready to leave, Onyankopon calls everyone to the ship and the group prepares to depart when suddenly, Falco begins attacking the Survey Corps and Pieck with his Jaw Titan. Pieck tries to calm him down, but to no avail as Falco bites Pieck, almost ripping her nape. Magath runs up and asks her to hold down Falco. When she does, Magath uses a blade from the vertical maneuvering equipment to cut Falco out. He praises the boy who becomes unconscious soon after. Magath carries him back to the ship alongside Hange helping an injured Pieck, Annie being carried by Mikasa and Reiner being carried by Jean and Connie. Magath hands an unconscious Falco to Onyankopon. When everyone else gets on board, Magath orders them to leave him behind so that he can "bring up the rear."

After the ship sets sail, some of the remaining Yeagerists try shooting Magath but are stopped by Keith Shadis who had previously derailed the train. He asks why Magath is still here, to which he replies by pointing out the captured Marleyan cruiser in the harbor. Magath intends to get rid of it before the Yeagerists can use it to catch up with his allies. Keith agrees to help.

The two barricade themselves in the cruiser's magazine and Magath prepares to ignite a pile of gunpowder. He advises Keith to leave the ship while he still can, but Keith declines and resolves to stay as he was looking for a way to die as it is. When Magath asks why he chose to help, Keith tells him about how he saw Annie with his other students, and that showed him how much they had grown.

Magath reflects on his own time with the Warrior Unit, and how he trained them to destroy the Walls, only to realize that he would have been happy if they had lived normal lives instead of following orders. Though he might not be proud of himself, Keith says he is proud of Magath and the Warriors probably are too.

As the Yeagerists attempt to enter the magazine room, the two men finally introduce themselves to each other, after which Magath ignites the gunpowder stock by improperly firing Keith's rifle.

While the escaping ship's passengers watch in horror, a large mushroom cloud billows into the sky. The cruiser has been sunk.

Trivia

 * This chapter was originally scheduled to be released on May 9th, 2020, but it was postponed to the next month due to the, becoming the first and only chapter to be delayed since the manga began serialization in 2009.

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