In Japan, when Attack on Titan Season 4 Episode 16 aired, the episode ended with a short teaser trailer with some major clues about Season 4 Part 2. For some reason, this teaser wasn’t included in any of the English subtitled versions that aired in the United States. You can watch the teaser below, along with a deep dive into what some parts might mean.
This article will have spoilers for Season 4 Episode 16 plus spoilers from the teaser trailer, but the article itself is manga-spoiler-free. Please don’t add spoilers from the manga in the comments. Thanks. 🙂
Here’s the Teaser Trailer We Didn’t See in the U.S.
I really don’t know why this wasn’t shown on U.S. streaming platforms like it was on NHK. NHK also announced the return of Attack on Titan for Season 4 Part 2, which U.S. platforms neglected to include when the final episode of Season 4 Part 1 aired.
Clues from the Teaser Trailer
The teaser trailer has some interesting clues that can give us a lot to think about as we wait for “Winter 2022” to arrive. For example, the image of the person in front of the tree at the end of the Season 4 ending credits is MUCH clearer in the teaser trailer.
Here’s the image from the ending credits, as best viewable:
Notice how fuzzy the person at the end is? Well, the new teaser trailer for Japan clears up who we’re seeing. It’s obviously either a clip from a different scene or just drawn for an entirely different purpose, but it seems clear that we are seeing Eren. It looks like he’s accessing the Constellation aka the Path that connects all the Titans through not just space but also time.
Here’s another picture, showing more clearly what he’s wearing:
I still have this personal theory that Falco is going to inherit Eren’s Attack Titan (and maybe his Founder too) since Falco is more independent and subversive, like Eren. So I’m open to the idea that the Funimation version is showing Falco and not Eren, or possibly even the Founding Titan Ymir.
But there are more interesting moments in the teaser beyond that.
We see images that look like moments from past episodes, possibly with a little bit of new mixed in. This is either just a fancy thing that NHK put together for the teaser, or it’s a reflection of the Path connecting different sets of memories. What do you think?
But this screenshot reveals that it’s not from the show itself, but rather a fun way of showing that more is to come, because it includes the clip of Eren from the Season 4 trailer when he’s putting on the jacket. He actually looked a little different than that in the actual episode.
But let’s back up to the beginning of the teaser and analyze it from there.
Sooo, this image looks like someone floating in water upside down — someone maybe with brown hair?
It looks like gas or air bubbles are escaping out of the person’s mouth as they float down into the water.
This photo seems to confirm it, except what is that to the left?
Ohhhh, it’s nothing, just copy overlayed that’s slowly being revealed. But still, the screenshot does indicate that someone falls deep into the water. Maybe the Founding Titan saves this person?
Then we see a brief clip of what looks like birds falling from the sky, which is also portrayed in the Season 4 intro.
But this screenshot is the most fascinating of all to me. We see hands from many different people pointing at a girl with red hair and very dark, almost blacked-out eyes. Those eyes seem to match the image we saw drowning in the water. I’m going to guess this is the Founding Titan Ymir. Maybe this is what she looked like after she came in contact with the Founding Titan. Remember that the Beast host before Zeke only said that Ymir “touched something” to gain those powers.
I think she looks a lot like the girl that Zeke saw in his vision when he thought he was dying in Season 4 Episode 16.
The girl from Zeke’s vision is wearing similar clothes and has the same headband, but her hair is blonde rather than red.
There’s more after this. We see this character now floating into the water and being met by a glowing spinal cord that is not attached to anything… I mean, how creepy is that? I feel like this has to be connected to the Titans, since sometimes we see their skeletal structure developing first when they’re transforming.
I mean, what?
I’ve always suspected an old science experiment that mankind forgot about led to the Titans. But this looks more alien to me.
Next we see the daisies that Zeke was looking at just before the Titan got him.
And that concludes the deep dive into the trailer. I think we’re getting some pretty major revelations that will make more sense in Winter 2022. I just have to wonder why this wasn’t shown in the United States.
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