Training Corps

The Training Corps (Kunren Heidan) prepares young cadets for service in the military's three main branches. Graduation rank matters enormously: only the ten strongest finishers of a class may apply to the Military Police Brigade and its comfortable life in the interior, while everyone else chooses between the Garrison and the Survey Corps.

The 104th Training Corps, active from 847 through 850, is the sole graduating class shown in the series, and its Southern Division holds nearly the entire central cast. Four divisions of the 104th operate within Wall Rose, one for each major district, down from the eight divisions the military ran before Wall Maria was lost. Keith Shadis presides over the Southern Division as chief instructor.

Shadis's individual evaluations sketch the class's top talent. He rates Mikasa Ackerman's command of every subject as without precedent in history, describes Reiner Braun as powerfully built, iron-willed, and trusted by his comrades, and observes that Eren Yeager offsets limited natural skill with a sense of purpose stronger than anyone else's. Annie Leonhart's slashing technique is flawless though her solitary nature undermines teamwork, Bertolt Hoover shows great potential but leaves decisions to others, Jean Kirstein pairs superb maneuvering ability with a personality that breeds conflict, Connie Springer is nimble yet slow-witted, Sasha Blouse is fast and instinctive but ill-suited to organized operations, and Armin Arlert falls short physically while displaying extraordinary imagination in lectures.

The Southern Division's final rankings place Mikasa first, then Reiner, Bertolt, Annie, Eren, Jean, Marco Bott, Connie, Sasha, and Krista Lenz. Ymir's skill comfortably exceeds the tenth spot, but she deliberately slacks in the last weeks of training so Krista can secure a top-ten position and the chance to enter the Military Police. Four of the five highest graduates secretly wield the power of the Titans, Mikasa being the only exception. In the end just one of the ten, Annie, actually applies to the Military Police; Marco dies before choosing a branch despite constantly talking about joining, the other eight enter the Survey Corps, and nobody picks the Garrison. Eren graduates into the Survey Corps several days ahead of his classmates owing to special circumstances.

Keith Shadis, once a Survey Corps commander, instructs the 104th Southern Division. Its ranks include Eren Yeager, Mikasa Ackerman, Armin Arlert, Ymir, and the hidden Warriors Reiner Braun, Bertolt Hoover, and Annie Leonhart. Marlowe Freudenberg, Hitch Dreyse, and Boris Feulner graduate in the top ten of other 104th divisions, while Floch Forster, Samuel, and Daz pass through the same class before the Yeagerist era. The 109th Training Corps, active in the years after, is the class the Yeagerists later seize.