Review: Attack on Titan Episode 420, “Memories of the Future”

After meeting on the blue-hued sands surrounding “The Coordinate,” Eren and Zeke take their short time in eternity to wander through their father’s memories. Zeke is confident that showing Eren their dad’s callus past choices will convince Eren to accept Zeke’s position and agree that all Eldians must be euthanized. However, he learns that Grisha’s actions aren’t as one-sided as he thought, and we wonder which brother has the upper hand.

Caution: There are SPOILERS ahead.

“Memories of the Future” takes a step back from the action and bloodshed and provides some breathing room for the characters to reflect, although there are still plenty of twists. Story-wise, I thought this episode was great: it was simple — it’s just Eren and Zeke taking a tour of their dad’s memories — but it was purposefully paced and the reveals hit hard. By the end, Zeke — who at the end of the last episode seemed to have the tables turned on Eren — is knocked completely off balance by both his father and brother. When once he vowed to work against his father’s wish, now he must obey it. “Zeke… Please, stop Eren.”

When he was raising Eren, it turns out that Grisha was not as mindlessly devoted to his goal of restoring the Eldian empire as he was when raising Zeke. In this flashback episode, we get the full context of scenes we’ve seen before. Before, we only saw the decisive actions that led to where the characters find themselves in the present. Now we also see the moments of doubt and empathy that crack Grisha’s resolve. Not only does this add depth to a character who’s mostly been a mystery up to this point, but it also brings new things out of Zeke, who is also a shadowy villain.

It also catalyzes a swap in power between Eren and Zeke, which I personally found to be the most interesting aspect of it. I was a bit afraid that this episode was going to play into a trope; the main character meets the villain in a subspace environment, they argue whose right, so on and so forth. And while it did have that, it managed to defy my expectations, which is excellent.

I also appreciated the attention to detail in pairing dialogue with imagery. For instance, there’s one moment when Zeke is mentioning his “adopted” father Ksaver, and he and Eren happen to pass by a father and son playing with a kickball, reminiscent of the baseball Zeke and Ksaver played with. Touches like that add a lot for me.

Some anime fans might label this a “filler episode”, but if that’s the case, then it’s filled with well-written drama and an entertaining story that fits wonderfully into the larger narrative. Sure, maybe it doesn’t have much rewatch value, but its importance is clear, and it’s well worth the watch.

Grade: B+

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