The Devils of Paradis – Attack on Titan S4 Ep 6 Review

Check out last week’s episode review here. 

Wow, I think this is actually my favorite episode of the season thus far! 

Seriously, I’ve watched it about ten times now. No exaggeration.   

I did finally notice the CGI, but honestly it doesn’t bother me much.  

And since we got that added scene of Willy with his kids, in addition to the moved around Magath-Willy carriage confirmation that he knew his fate – I sort of have some faith that the Zeke scene I was upset about being removed last week might come back next episode. And yes, I did just write a run on sentence.  

All these days later, and I’m still far too hyped to care. 

I really like what MAPPA (and Isayama-sensei) did with Willy Tybur.  

I always liked his character, but adding in his wife, kids, and even a few shots that pointed towards his sister (“the maid”) being the war hammer titan was great. 

There have been so many jokes online surrounding his sister, who remained unnamed in the manga. So given her upgraded character design for the anime adaption, the war hammer titan was given the name ‘Isabella’, after her resemblance to the mother in The Promised Neverland.  

It’s cool that we learned her name was Lara Tybur, but she’ll forever be Isabella in my head now. 

Wow, though. Willy really left his kids like he was going to get milk and eggs from the local shop because he heard Eren Yeager was pulling up to make pancakes. 

 That’s crazy. 

It’s also crazy just how…brutal and POWERFUL ODM gear is. I think it’s because: 

1. We always see ODM gear used against titans, who are much faster than (most) human reflexes can comprehend. 

2. Since titan’s don’t come out at night, (normally) we never see the scouts or Survey Corps for that matter operate in the dark. 

Coupled with the new uniforms and the densely packed buildings in the Liberio district, it made for a deadly combination.  

There was this really great sequence (who am I kidding, they were all great but this one in particular -) where bombs are raining down on the replacement troops just as Sasha swings in and uses the smoke as cover to snipe the Marleyan gate guards that were close with the kids.  

Before succumbing to their inevitable death and endless doom, one of the Marleyan soldiers was like 

 “Where are they coming from?” 

“ABOVE?” 

And then it’s just this wonderful cut to them being sniped by Sasha before they can even finish their sentences. Cinematically, it was poetry.  

You have these regular people who have done nothing but suffer and cower in fear inside three grand stone walls for one hundred years. Their memories erased, never knowing anything of the outside world. 

Three kids inside those walls dreamed of going to the sea, only to realize years later they were surrounded by it the whole entire time.  

What they wanted was always there, just outside of their view because of the walls. 

We’ve grown up with them. Experienced their highs and lows. Their traumas and triumphs. 

We loudly sang ‘shinzou wo sasageyo’, dedicating our hearts each week during the show’s opening, sometimes forgetting it’s an anime. 

And along with the characters, the audience is told through somebody else’s memories that what lies across the ocean, is danger. 

Then, we go across the sea. 

We meet kids who had nothing to do with the endless hate and prejudiced world they lived in – same as Eren, Mikasa, and Armin. Same as the rest of the military kids who grew up knowing nothing. Their memories literally stolen by an (arguably masochist) king who took away his people’s free will. 

Then, four years later (the number four having a connotation of death in Japanese) – we re-meet our teenage soldiers and they are absolutely trained, top-tier military brass. (Remember: most of the Survey Corps died at the Battle of Shiganshina) 

We know that this was not easy for them. We saw all of those struggles, those failures. Our hearts broke when our favorite characters died, when their lives were taken too tragically, too soon.  

Cut to the dark of night, the endless whistle of ODM gear crushing into foreign rooftops. A cut to an explosion here, a menacing glare there. 

Then we have Sasha, our potato girl who we all adore – ruthlessly killing a Marleyan guard. We can see her mental process even though no words are on screen: “Okay he was a soldier, but this looks like just a kid. Maybe I should leave this be” before Connie shows up and they completely ignore what they deem a non-factor down below. 

Because although the “Devils of Paradis” are completely fucking Marley, they do not kill kids. 

Just as with the War in the Middle East, Marley uses children to take their enemies off guard. No one would suspect a child would be caught up in a war. 

Even those whose title in Marley denotes irrationality (like the gate guards) realize that war is no place for children. 

Unfortunately for Sasha, she unknowingly let a soldier live.  

Who is seemingly taking all of this personally, and cycling through the various stages of grief in barely twenty minutes. To be quite honest, Pieck is supposed to get the Cart Titan strapped up in 10, so it’s maybe only been 5-7 minutes at most. 

That little soldier is going to be a problem, in the long run. 

Moving onto other problems, you can catch a glimpse of the tensions ‘of ideology’ brewing between Jean and Floch this episode. Floch says something about Eren being the Devil Paradis needs (akin to Erwin Smith way back when) and Jean just completely disagrees. 

This, sadly, is going to be an ongoing theme. 

Also, I want to take the time to mention that Floch Forster is my favorite character in the Attack on Titan series. Which is amazing, considering I hated him last season…but also serves as a testament to this epic story and it’s writing. A new character that has not formally been introduced yet, (Yelena), is a close second as my other favorite.  

I can’t wait to talk about them both, more. 

Just a heads up, I might end up calling Floch ‘King Floch’ in all of my future reviews, because I seriously just have the utmost respect and love for his character. He fills me with patriotism each and every time he is on screen…and thankfully he should be scheduled for a good amount of screen time ☺. 

Oh, there’s just so much to talk about this episode, and I’m already on page three in the word doc typing this. I don’t want to make this too long… 

I enjoyed Mikasa’s entrance. You can totally see her growth from gingerly wielding 1-2 thunder spears to wielding about three on each arm here.  

I noticed online that a lot of people are making fun of her appearance, which is a shame. Admittedly, I did think she was a boy when I first saw her in the manga post timeskip, but she’s just super muscular. People were even calling Floch fat, or pudgy. But in the manga…everyone is ripped. I think even Eren has a ten pack, haha. 

Plus, it takes muscle and lots of core strength to fling yourself off of buildings and into the air like it’s nothing. Of course the Survey Corps wouldn’t be as scrawny as the Marleyan titan shifters, or Eldian military personnel in Marley over all. 

Yes, in retrospect Paradis Island may have more access to food than the Marleyan soldiers, but at the same time their methods of training are different.  

The Marleyan soldiers (aside from the Warrior Canidates) are literally trained (or drugged) to just be cannon fodder.  

There is no skill to their regiment.  

It’s literally just show up, run at enemy, sacrifice yourself for the good of the Fatherland, die. 

“Oh, you’re still alive? “ 

“Lucky you, you get to serve the Fatherland in our next upcoming war.  

It would be your honor, naturally. After all, you don’t want your family to take a trip and experience your Paradis, now do you?” 

Then the Warrior Candidates are trained but basically, when it comes down to it if there is a pinch they are meant to sacrifice themselves for the good of the Country of Marley.  

As opposed to Paradis, who is (and was) foraging wild terrain, mapping the island in surveys, dodging titans, learning the environment and how to use it to their advantage with ODM gear… 

Which is why Porco had a piss-poor reaction to someone actually attacking him in his jaw titan form. 

In his arrogance and comfort, he truly believed that nobody could hurt him. And for the most part, he was right. 

Titan’s in Marley don’t fight one another.  

Remember in season three when Reiner got his ass handed to him by Zeke offscreen before that fateful Battle of Shiganshina? Marleyans, and Eldian Marleyans for that matter have no immediate experience dealing one on one with titans – wild, shifters, abnormal, or otherwise. 

They have no training protocols, or strategies to enact. 

Which was kind of the whole point of: 

Zeke mentioning that the four-year long war was a result of he and Reiner’s failure on Paradis (in episode 1) 

Udo’s meltdown and tirade about the state of the world’s hatred towards Marley, the Marleyan military’s incompetence, and the usefulness of Eldians after titan’s become fully obsolete 

The meeting of generals in the dilapidated building on the woes of their dwindling titan warfare tactics, and the issue of no current-flying titans. Although, Eren did totally fly this episode, so I’m sure that red star general died happily… 

Reiner’s meeting with the military brass where he tries to instruct them on the Paradis Island fortifications and best possible places to breach the wall, and is essentially shooed out of the room because he made them think too hard 

Magath’s entire character from introduction to now. Continually pointing out Marleyan incompetence, and the sheer stupidity of those around him 

Magath (in not so many words) begging Willy to please do something about it 

Willy acknowledging the military is trash, but basically saying that it left the Tybur family’s hands long ago 

Willy and Magath striking a deal to group and kill off the useless military officials at the festival, and allowing Lord Tybur’s influence to posthumously allow Magath to rebuild the military as he sees fit… 

But, I guess many people missed the memo that Marley’s military is trash, the whole world hates them for their reliance on Eldian devils in warfare, and Marley is too drunk on colonization to change it or even care enough to.  

Instead, let’s focus on Mikasa’s abs and how muscular the trained elite teenage soldier is, and how the obsessed waifu fanboys can no longer rule 34 or 42 her without guilty faps. 

Continuing on… 

Porco having a bunch of Island Devils swinging from buildings like Spider-man with the full-on intent to murder him right then and there made him cognitively dissociate. Levi swooping in and cutting his jaw before he could even blink gave him a flashback and Ackerman PTSD at the same damn time. 

I have nothing against Porco, but honestly his ego needed to take this beating. That arrogance might be the death of him, one day… 

Anyway, I’ve gone on far too long. I am super excited about episode 7.  

Especially since episode 6 ended earlier than it did in the manga, so we should get a few more anime-original scenes and extras. And hopefully, that Zeke Yeager reaction scene I really wanted to see.  

Otherwise, I’ll riot! Haha. 

Only joking. Kind of. 

Anyway, what were the highlights of the episode for you?

Do you believe Eren committed War Crimes in Marley? Were his actions justified?  Did the Survey Corps have a plan when they arrived to raid Liberio in Marley?

How did you feel seeing the squad again after four long years in-story? 

And, where the hell are Zeke Yeager, Reiner Braun, and Falco? 

Leave your thoughts in the comment section below, I’d love to hear from you! Also be sure to follow us for more weekly Attack on Titan the Final Season reviews!

We are also creating AOT-inspired merchandise for fellow fans, drop by our Redbubble store if you have a chance – you get cool gear, and it helps support the blog! 

Recommended: (spoilers) Hallucigenia – the Primordial Spinal Creature from Attack on Titan – Anime Anthology 

Recent Shingeki no Kyojin manga review: ch 136

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