Attack on Titan: Chronicle (「進撃の巨人)
the series' fourth recap movie, retelling the first three seasons of the Attack on Titan series based on the manga by Hajime Isayama.
Overview
In the fourth recap movie, episodes 1-59 of the anime are retold, compiling the first three seasons of the anime into one two hour event.
Summary
In the year 845, over one hundred years after the appearance of the Titans, humanity receives a grim reminder of the threat that the Titans pose. Under the belief that they were safe behind the Walls, a Colossal Titan peers over Wall Maria and breaks Shiganshina District's outer gate. Eren Jaeger rushes back to his house along with Mikasa Ackermann to rescue his mother, Carla Jaeger, who the two children find trapped under debris.
Carla insists that Eren take Mikasa and run, but Eren objects and continues his efforts, struggling with debris. His mother then tells him that her legs were crushed by the rubble, so even if he manages to get her free, she will not be able to run. Eren ignores her implications, yelling that he will carry her. In tears, Carla asks why he never listens to her. The argument is cut short when a Titan is seen moving closer to their position. After more pleading from his mother and the Titan still approaching, Hannes arrives. Carla begs Hannes to take the children and run. At first, Hannes refuses, vowing to kill the Titan and save the three of them. As Hannes charges the Titan, he suddenly stops, horrified at the frightening appearance of this Titan.
Hannes withdraws his blade and runs back, grabbing the two children. With Carla grateful and Eren protesting, Hannes makes a run for it. Carla screams for Eren and Mikasa to survive. Eren, looking behind on Hannes's shoulder, gasps as he sees the Titan move debris of the house away, eyeing Carla. The Titan grabs her and Eren screams for it to stop. It breaks her back with its hands, and Eren can only watch in despair as the Titan devours his mother.
As citizens begin fleeing the district, an Armored Titan appears and crashes through the inner gate, killing its defenders. 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 kill every last Titan in the world.
Five years later, a ceremony is held for graduates of the 104th Cadet Corps, with Eren and Mikasa placing in the top five. Later, the graduates maintain the cannons atop the Wall and Eren feels motivated about humanity's fight against the Titans, when suddenly lightning hits the ground outside of Wall Rose and the Colossal Titan appears, breaching Trost District's outer gate.
The soldiers quickly begin their attempts at dealing with the Titans, not wanting to repeat the hell from five years ago. While the civilians continue their evacuation, the new recruits are preparing to head into action. Armin Arlelt panics, claiming that the Titans can annihilate them at any time, but Eren tries to calm him down.
Running through the district, the recruits find that the Titans are already inside. Suddenly, they are targeted by an Abnormal Titan that jumps at them. Thinking they have evaded it, the group realizes that the Titan had caught Thomas Wagner in its mouth. Before he can react, the Titan devours Thomas, much to the horror of his teammates. An enraged Eren then rushes forward with his omni-directional mobility gear in order to slay that Titan, but is intercepted by another Titan which bites off his leg, causing him to fall down.
Eren's teammates are in shock just as more Titans appear, killing them one after another, much to the horror of Armin, who freezes from shock. Armin is then approached by another Titan that puts him into its mouth. As half-conscious Eren sees all of this, he recalls a time of his childhood when Armin came to him carrying a book containing information about the outside world. Eren's interest grew as Armin revealed many outside world secrets from the book.
Back in the present, Eren grabs Armin's hand, throwing him out of the Titan's mouth. Using a blade as a way to keep the Titan's mouth open, Eren states that he will go to the outside world. Armin urges him to hurry, but it is too late, as the Titan shuts its mouth, biting Eren's arm off while devouring the rest of the body.
Elsewhere, Mikasa senses that something is off. She recalls the day several years ago when Eren had saved her from a group of bandits who killed her parents. Mikasa reflects on how cruel the world is, but despite that, and upon remembering Eren, she realizes she still has a place to call home. As the Titans continue to swarm HQ, Mikasa arrives looking for Eren, but finds Armin, who apologizes to her before telling her of Eren's death. Seemingly emotionless, Mikasa tells Armin they cannot afford to be emotional now and brings him to his feet, then goes to Marco Bodt to confirm that getting into the supply HQ will allow the cadets to escape.
As Mikasa is preparing to head for the HQ, the rest of the cadets tell her that she cannot make it to the supply HQ. However, she brags that she is strong and can make it there without needing the others. She calls them cowards and belittles them for giving up so soon. When some try to complain and say she will die, Mikasa acknowledges the risk involved. However, she adds that if she wins, then she will live.
Mikasa kills all the Titans in the way, but Armin notices that she is using too much gas. He realizes she is suffering from losing Eren and by fighting, can distract herself from the pain. Armin's prediction turns out to be true and Mikasa crashes onto the street below. Mikasa thinks about how she has lost her family again with Eren's death, and as she ponders what to do, a Titan begins walking toward her and reaches down to pick her up, but Mikasa suddenly cuts off its finger and evades its grasp. It continues to attack her, but she dodges all the blows instinctively and wonders what is keeping her from letting herself die.
Another Titan appears behind Mikasa down the street, cornering her. Mikasa remembers Eren telling her to fight when they were children and promises to never give up, saying if she dies she will lose her memories of him. As Mikasa raises her blades ready to strike, the Titan behind her suddenly punches the other Titan, repeatedly stomping on it. The mysterious Titan continues targeting other Titans up until it exhausts itself and collapses. As the cadets watch, a figure, who turns out to be Eren, emerges from the mysterious Titan's corpse. He is unconscious, but alive. While the others are in shock, Mikasa quickly goes to check on her friend. She is in shock, but embraces him before listening for a heartbeat, and cries as soon as she finds it.
Eren recalls being in the stomach of the Titan that swallowed him whole. Questioning why the Titans took everything from him, and refusing to give up, he again swears he will destroy them all, with his bare hands. Eren, growing even more desperate and despairing, reaches towards the Titan's throat with his missing arm. Then, suddenly, an enormous arm explodes out of the Titan's mouth, causing it to stumble stupidly, before falling face first. As the Titan lay on the ground, Eren emerges in Titan form from the Titan's back as it rips apart. Desperate for revenge, Eren decapitates the Titan that ate him with a powerful stomp before attacking a smaller Titan with one punch to its mouth, damaging its head enough to kill it. He stomps on the deceased Titan's head repeatedly, consumed with bloodlust to kill all of the Titans.
Eren wakes up, having remembered these events in his sleep, muttering his desire to kill. He then notices the frightened and misunderstanding Garrison soldiers, surrounding them and want to kill Eren, as they believe that he is a Titan. As the situation heightens, Eren appears to have no recollection of his time as a Titan. The Garrison captain gives the signal to fire the cannon at Eren and his friends, prompting Mikasa to grab Eren and Armin and tells them to flee. At that moment, Eren sees his father, Grisha Jaeger's key coming out from his shirt. Looking at it, Eren recalls his father giving him the key, telling him to keep it on him at all times, and then giving him an injection that damaged his memories of that moment. He also remembers the basement of his former home, with his father saying that although it would be an insanely dangerous journey, he must still reach the basement.
Grisha assures Eren that "their memories" will be able to teach him how to use his new power telling him that if he wishes to protect Mikasa and Armin, he must master his new power. With this, Eren instinctively bites down on his hand and appears to catch the cannonball. When the smoke partially clears, it is shown that Eren has partially transformed into a Titan, thus terrifying everyone within range. However, Eren did in fact save Mikasa and Armin by stopping the cannonball with his Titan's hand. Eren's sudden transformation comes as a shock to the Garrison soldiers and Armin decides to put his life on the line and argue for Eren's sake before the Garrison captain, but the man is unmoved. However, the confrontation is resolved with the arrival of Commander Dot Pyxis, who desires to follow the plan which Armin had devised to seal the breach in Wall Rose.
Commander Pyxis announces the plan to seal Wall Rose with a boulder in the city, but the soldiers and cadets are reluctant to follow. Given the dire circumstances, Pyxis convinces the troops to take the risk. Under the command of the Garrison elite squad, Eren approaches the boulder while the other soldiers distract the Titans. However, upon transforming into his Titan form, he suddenly attacks Mikasa. She manages to dodge Eren's punches and much to the rest of the team's surprise, she hangs herself at Eren's Titan face in an attempt to talk to him. Seeing Eren getting ready to launch another attack, Ian Dietrich warns Mikasa to get away from him just as Eren punches his own head as Mikasa manages to evade.
Armin arrives and asks Mikasa about the plan and Eren's state and she tells him that Eren is unable to control the Titan. Believing that Eren coming out of Titan's weak point back then is related to the mystery of Titans, Armin stabs the Titan's nape, leading the blade through Eren's left arm inside of the Titan. Armin manages to talk to Eren, asking him if he remembers his motives for exploring the outside world and Eren answers that it is because he was born in this world, just as he regains control of his Titan and carries the boulder. Seeing Eren heading to the breach, Jean Kirschtein tells his comrades to support him. Eren successfully blocks the breach in Trost. With tears in her eyes, Rico Brzenska is relieved that her comrades did not die in vain and shoots a yellow signal flare as a message that the mission has been accomplished.
Having to deal with the aftermath of the battle, Jean is then seen going through the corpses. Much to his shock, he then witnesses the corpse of Marco.
Elsewhere, Eren suddenly wakes up in an underground jail cell and gets interrogated by the Scout Regiment's commander, Erwin Smith and Captain Levi. Holding the key to the basement of Eren's former house, Erwin tries to confirm whether the basement holds the secrets of Titans, to which Eren replies that it is what his father said.
Erwin questions Eren about what his intentions are, and Eren sadistically replies that he wants to join the Scouts and kill all the Titans. This catches Levi's interest, as he walks forward, and says that he will take responsibility for Eren, not because he trusts him, but because he can kill him if Eren betrays them. Levi then tells Eren that he will accept him into the Scout Regiment.
Eren joins the Special Operations Squad of the Scout Regiment and they prepare him for the upcoming scouting mission next month. The next morning, the Scouts learn that Section Commander Hange Zoë's Titan test subjects, Sawney and Beane, have been killed. As the Scouts wonder who is responsible, Commander Erwin asks Eren who the true enemy is. An investigation is later held but the culprit was not found.
The 57th expedition begins and Erwin leads the Scouts outside the Wall. The mission proceeds as expected until Armin encounters a Female Titan. Joining Jean Reiner Braun, the three confront the Titan to buy the commander time. The Female Titan looms over Armin as Jean tries to attack in order to save him. The Female Titan covers its nape with its hand and Jean realizes the Titan is incomparably more athletic than the normal Titans. As Reiner watches, Jean spins out of control and realizes with horror that the Female Titan is about to grab his ODM wire and kill him. At the last moment, Armin screams out for Jean to "avenge that suicidal maniac," and the Female Titan freezes long enough for Jean to escape. Reiner rushes towards the Female Titan and fires off his ODM gear, flying up by the Titan's face but it quickly grabs him mid-air. As Reiner struggles to escape from the tight grip, the Female Titan moves its thumb over Reiner's head and squeezes. As it happens, blood splashes in all directions from the Female Titan's hand, leaving Armin and Jean completely horrified. To their relief, it turns out to be the Female Titan's blood as Reiner cuts through its hand and makes his escape. Reiner quickly grabs the exhausted Armin and starts running away from the Female Titan
Squad Levi reaches the Forest of Giant Trees and Levi orders everyone to draw their blades just as they watch a soldier appear. Moments later the Female Titan bursts through the trees and swats the soldier behind them, beginning the chase. Eren questions Levi's decision of not engaging and the Female Titan, and his protests get stronger as he witnesses the arrival of more reinforcements, knowing that if they do not help them, they will get killed.
At that moment, Eren realizes that he does not need to depend on the squad as he can fight on his own. Just as he is about to bite his hand, Petra Rall notices it, insisting that Eren promised not to do it unless his life is in danger. However, Levi states that Eren is not wrong and he should do it if he wants to, knowing that nothing can stop him. Levi then presents Eren with a choice - either trust the squad and keep going or believe in himself and go back. Levi, however, states that nobody knows what one's choice will cause so Eren should pick the choice he will regret the least. Eren decides to trust his squad.