The Hunters

Just as Eren gains the advantage over Reiner, the Armored Titan roars and Bertholdt's Colossal topples from atop Wall Rose, detonating in a storm of steam that scatters the Scouts below. Shielded by the blast, Reiner pins Eren's Titan and bites him free of the nape, while Bertholdt emerges with stolen ODM gear and the unconscious Ymir. The pair escape with their captives as Armin screams after them, helpless.

In Trost, a tipsy Pyxis receives reports that the Titan advance has stopped and awaits word from the survey teams. Erwin arrives, and the two commanders trade dry observations about how the capture of a spy has finally motivated the Military Police to cooperate. Word soon comes from Hannes' messenger: Wall Rose was never breached, and three members of the 104th were Titans all along, news that staggers Jean.

On the Wall, Armin keeps watch over a concussed Mikasa. Waking to learn five hours have passed since Eren was taken, she despairs, and a flashback to a Shiganshina street brawl over Armin's stolen bread underlines how often she and Armin have had to drag Eren out of trouble. Hannes shares rations and his own conviction: Eren has never won a fight, but he has never once stayed down, and he will hold out until they reach him. He vows to join the rescue, restoring the pair's appetite and resolve. Erwin's reinforcements arrive with lifts for the horses, Christa insists on coming for Ymir's sake, Conny refuses to believe the betrayal without hearing it himself, and an injured Hange seizes a map and reasons that the exhausted Warriors must be recovering inside a Forest of Giant Trees within Wall Maria. Eren wakes there, armless, guarded by his former friends as the military rides to intercept before nightfall.

Bertholdt's falling Colossal Titan covers the Warriors' escape; Reiner tears Eren from his Titan and the pair abduct him and Ymir. The Garrison confirms Wall Rose has no breach, meaning the Titan incursion originated elsewhere. Erwin marshals Scout and Military Police reinforcements at Trost while the survivors wait five hours for horses and lifts.

Hannes commits to the rescue and lifts Mikasa and Armin out of despair with his reading of Eren's stubbornness. Hange pinpoints the Forest of Giant Trees in southwest Wall Maria as the traitors' resting place, betting they cannot cross open ground before dark. The closing scene proves the guess right: Eren, limbs regrowing alongside Ymir's, wakes under Reiner and Bertholdt's watch as the rescue force rides out.

The eighth episode of season 2 and 33rd overall comes from Wit Studio and Production I.G, directed by Yūmi Kawai and written by Yasuko Kobayashi, adapting the manga chapter The Hunters. It aired in Japan on May 20, 2017 and in the United States on June 18, 2017, framed by Opfert eure Herzen! and Yuugure no Tori.

The episode's signature line is Hannes' vow to reclaim the old, unremarkable days, however long the road back takes. Its information segment describes the Scout Regiment's field rations, calorie-dense crackers and canned goods engineered to need no fire and, reportedly, to not taste terrible.