The voice behind Eren in Attack on Titan has recently discussed the bond between Eren and Reiner and how this strange oxymoronic dynamic will play out in the final season.
There are a lot of parallels between Eren Yeager and Reiner Braun, regardless of where they currently stand. In fact, despite fighting as adversaries for years, Attack on Titan narrates this tale in a way that makes you develop a strong sense of empathy for both characters. Now that they’re once again at odds with one another, though, we get the feeling that only one of them will get out of this struggle alive.
Reiner is currently leading a surprise attack on Shiganshina, with the aim of capturing the Founding Titan before Eren can utilize its full range of powers and initiate the Rumbling. Both characters are fighting to protect the people they love, and ultimately do what they think is right, never mind the fact that they’ve gone toe-to-toe on numerous occasions and are doing so again, albeit reluctantly in a discernible way.
Yuki Kaji, the actor who has portrayed Eren since 2013, recently discussed the second part of the final season (as translated by AttackOnFans) and how the complicated conflict between the two protagonists will pan out. In his own words:
“Eren and Reiner’s roles are interspersed and they are about to start a battle. That’s where Part 2 begins. In anime, when you read the script, the animation plays a different approach and you have to convey your feelings according to what the sound director tells you,” He revealed. “There are several moments like that during the final season. I imagined Eren in a much stronger way than at the end of Part 1, and I felt how his role makes a big play in the story. The existence of Reiner was a real shock to him. Because he realized that civilization existed both inside and outside the walls. During Part 1, Reiner felt disappointment and conflict because he saw several things he was confused about. And that’s because he actually managed to survive as well, and his soldier’s justice was only trying to achieve peace.”
As to how these revelations at the end of season three affected Eren himself, this is what Kaji had to say:
“For Eren, however, the impact was far bigger. Because it went from a few people to an entire community of people. He had a lot of thoughts when he found out about world history, and he had to see it with his own eyes. Honestly, when I was playing his role in Part 1, I didn’t know how it was going to end. And that was difficult and painful for me. So at that moment when the final part came, as I read my role I felt how he was lost. And in a part of me, my mind and heart were lost just like him. Anyway, I had to play my role to the best of my ability. I had to do it, no matter what.”
Seeing how dedicated the voice actor is to this role, it seems clear that the Survey Corps aren’t the only people to “give their heart and soul to the cause.”