'Attack on Titan' Ep. 20: A Fit of Rage Unlike Any Other...

     Never in my entire life have I felt such varied and simultaneous emotions as I did at the end of episode twenty of Attack on Titan. As I've said before, those "To be continued..." screens are absolute killers. I was literally on the edge of my seat, hands over my mouth, waiting as the "camera" panned around the mysterious hooded figure, when...

BAM! DENIED!

     I threw off my headphones (an $80+ piece of equipment, mind you) in a fit of rage as I slapped my hands over my face and groaned loudly. I slammed my fists on the armrests of my chair, stood up and jumped up and down, and ran to the bathroom and screamed inaudibly (you know, tried to go super saiyan without all the yelling). Then something amazing happened: I threw my hands over my mouth again and began giggling like an adolescent school girl. I thought to myself, "THIS SHOW IS SO AWESOME I CAN'T EVEN HANDLE IT RIGHT NOW!" Happiness washed over me. I literally lost it. I couldn't even use the bathroom. And you know what? I ain't even mad... (Spoilers: Up to Ep. 20!)

     So, now for some speculation, or rather, reinforcement of previous speculations. While these haven't been 100% expressed in the show, they were hinted at rather strongly, which is tantamount to saying, "This is legit."

FACT 1: Someone in the Survey Corps is a spy
      This we had already speculated, and it's said many times throughout the episode. We believe the spy is Reiner Braun. The only thing he says in this episode is this:

As a thought, not openly to the others...

      This could be taken as a thought of surprise and concern for his fellow titan, Blondie. Cannons might not be the most effective weapon against titans, but they could slow it down well enough for someone to swoop in and get the kill. However, that may be reading too much into it.

FACT 2: There is, indeed, someone inside Blondie
     Although who it is remains a mystery. The episode started out with Blondie captured and with Levi and Mike trying to cut the person out of her. She has an ability to harden the skin on her hands, which easily breaks the super-hardened steel swords.

     So what do you do when you can't cut the person out?

NOW WE'RE TALKING! (Coincidentally this is the "dem eyes" shot...)

     Of course, Blondie ain't having any of that. She calls up her friends to come save her...

TITANS! ASSEMBLE!

FOR THE HORDE!

     And by save her I mean eat her...

Not sure if that was part of the plan...

     Although the titan was eaten, Erwin knows better about the person inside...

     Then this person shows up, all hooded and mysterious...

     We believe it to be Annie, but the artists do a good job of not giving us any facial or body features for us to recognize.

The "nose" is covered up the entire time...

     The "Annie is Blondie" theory is still very strong though...

FACT 3: Whoever she is, she's definitely after Eren
     She goes straight for Eren's group and redirect them away from the others to deal with him directly. In fact, the minute the hooded figure showed up, I knew what was going to happen. I just didn't think it would be so... gruesome.

'Tis but a scratch!

     It all happened so fast... like the "To be continued..." screen a few moments later... HRUMPF!

     There's only five or six episodes left, and I definitely don't see them wrapping the whole story up in those episodes... which means we're gonna' get a season two! HUZZAH! Either that or they'll rush the story through to a conclusion... or just leave it open ended...

I'm not hearing this... I'm not hearing this...

     Normally, I would be worried that a show wouldn't be picked up for another season, but I think it's safe to say Attack on Titan has been such a popular anime that I'm pretty sure we have nothing to worry about. Except for the inevitable cliff hanger at the end of the season, that is. *Sigh*

     If you want to read more speculation about the show, here's where it's at:

ATTACK ON TITAN SPECULATION THREADS