The all out battle between Survey Corps forces and homeland Warriors is heating up in Shiganshina district, where the fate of entire humanity is hanging in the balance.
Commander Erwin Smith spearheaded a recon mission with the purpose of retrieving an item left by Dr. Grisha Yeager for his son, Eren, in his basement underneath the rubbles of their house in Shiganshina. They believe this item will unlock the questions surrounding the nature of the titan and the history of the world. As expected, they were met by strong opposition coming from the Warriors, whose sole purpose is to re-claim the Coordinate Eren currently possesses.
Return to Shiganshina Arc - Part 10
As the Warriors continue to overwhelm the SC forces on both sides of Wall Maria, Smith realized that they are in a make-or-break situation.
With the future of humanity on the verge of collapsing before his very eyes, the valiant commander of the Survey Commander came up with one final mission for his remaining troops, a suicidal attempt to distract Zeke in his Ape Titan form and give humanity's strongest soldier, Levi Ackerman, the opening he needs to inflect a fatal blow on the behemoth.
Meanwhile, things are also starting to get bleak for the Levi Squad in their showdown against Bertolt Hoover / Colossal Titan form. After slamming the Rogue Titan all the way to the top of the wall, Bertolt started to march towards the wall where he's expected to dump burning rubbles at the Survey Corps location.
The Levi squad apparently knew Bertolt's plan from the start. The only problem is they just couldn't come up with a better gameplan. After giving his teammates a pep talk on how important this fight is for the people of the walled city, Jean led Mikasa, Sasha, Connie and Armin in their attempt to use their new weapon, the Thunderspear, against Bertolt.
Unfortunately, the steam emitting from the Colossal Titan body foiled their plot anew. Already out of option, all the members of the Levi squad were left breathless by what they witnessed - the Armored Titan was back on his two feet, and things suddenly turned from bad to worse.
Episode 81 Spoilers & Prediction:
-It's easy to say the Survey Corps are totally doomed after seeing the Armored Titan back in full strength again. If Colossal Titan already managed to overwhelm them by his sheer size alone, what more damage can the Armored Titan can inflict to them. However, there's definitely a twist in the next chapter.
During their flight to the Giant Trees at the Clash of Titans arc, both Reiner and Bertolt made a point not to transform into their titan forms especially if they are overly exhausted or in the process of regeneration as there were risk involved.
The risk they were talking about is the possibility of losing control over their titan form. At this state, Reiner has just consumed a great deal of energy to regenerate his head. Therefore, it's possible Reiner lost control over the Armored Titan for the time being and could start attacking his pal Bertolt.
-If the Return to Shiganshina arc serves as the finale of the Shingeki no Kyojin story as rumored, then a return of another major character is necessary. Annie Leonhardt, also known as the Female Titan, could make her comeback anytime soon. Which faction she will be siding? That's one of the greatest mystery in this manga series.
-Erwin Smith will not die. Yes, his suicide plan is both crazy and brutal, but his character is too much important to be killed. Moreover, I still believe that he's the one who will turn into a titan, thanks to the titan serum left by Kenny Ackerman to his nephew, Levi.
Shingeki no Kyojin chapter 81 will be available in the first weekend of May on Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine.