Charge

Bursting from the Forest of Giant Trees, the Warriors flee across the plain: Reiner in Armored Titan form, Bertholdt riding his back with the unconscious Eren, and Ymir's Titan carrying Historia in its mouth. Erwin instantly improvises, ordering every soldier to follow him while the pursuing Titan horde chases their horses, steering the monsters like a weapon.

During the chase, Ymir levels with Historia. She joined Reiner and Bertholdt hoping the Warriors would pardon her for eating their comrade years ago, and she grabbed Historia purely for her own sake, since the girl's family ties to the Wall church make her valuable. Historia answers that she will stand with Ymir regardless. When the recruits catch up, the confrontation turns raw: Jean's jokes about Bertholdt's sleeping habits collapse into fury, Conny asks whether their shared dreams were lies, and Bertholdt, weeping, admits the deception while insisting the two of them truly saw the 104th as comrades. He still refuses to release Eren.

Erwin's horde arrives and buries the Armored Titan under a mass of clawing bodies. Mid-charge, a Titan's jaws close on Erwin's right arm; he keeps shouting the order to advance even as he is dragged off his horse. Mikasa reaches Eren but is caught and crushed in a Titan's grip until Jean intervenes. The decisive stroke is Armin's: he fabricates a story that Annie is being tortured around the clock in Utopia District, and Bertholdt's anguished lunge at him breaks his cover. A one-armed Erwin flashes upward and cuts Eren free. As the Scouts flee, Reiner hurls Titans after them like projectiles, unhorsing Eren and Mikasa, and from the settling dust emerges the Titan that devoured Carla Jaeger five years earlier.

Erwin converts the Titan horde into a pursuit weapon and rallies Scouts, Garrison, and Military Police behind the chase. Ymir confesses her selfish motive to Historia and receives her loyalty anyway. Mikasa's blades break on the Armored Titan's fingers as Reiner shields Bertholdt, and her ultimatum forces Ymir to stand down.

Bertholdt's breakdown lays out the Warriors' divided hearts; Erwin loses his right arm mid-command yet returns to sever Eren's bonds after Armin's cruel bluff about Annie exposes Bertholdt. Historia elects to leave with Ymir for her sake, Reiner resorts to throwing Titans at the retreating column, and the episode closes on Eren face to face with the Smiling Titan.

The 36th episode overall, eleventh of season 2, produced by Wit Studio and Production I.G, directed by Hiroyuki Tanaka and Yasuhiro Akamatsu, and written by Hiroshi Seko. Its unusually broad manga basis pulls from That Day, Children, Someone, and Charge. Japan aired it on June 10, 2017.

The information segment observes that certain Titans hold special powers, citing the Colossal Titan's scalding steam and the Armored Titan's plating, origins unknown at this point in the story. Erwin's bellowed order to advance toward Eren serves as the episode's defining quote.