Ever since the trailer for Attack on Titan season 4 dropped, anime fans were speculating that the season has a huge time skip. And when the first episode of AOT Final Season premiered, the time skip in the series was all but confirmed. Oh boy, it is a lengthy one.

The following article contains spoilers for Season 4 Episode 1 of Attack on Titan titled “The other side of the sea”. Read ahead at your own discretion!

Time Skip in Attack On Titan Season 4:

Like the title suggests, the first episode of Season 4 focuses on the war between Marley and the Mid-East Allied forces that is happening on the other side of the ocean. The Marley forces have laid siege to Fort Slava, which is the last standing point of the Allied forces. Once Slava has been captured, Marley would be able to wipe out the naval fleet of the Allied forces, granting them victory.

But, from what we see, Marley has been struggling against the opponent even with the power of Titans. In fact, like Theo Magath, the commander of Eldian forces in the Marley army states, the war began because of Marley failed to capture the Founding Titan and lost the Female and Colossal Titan in the process.

The allied forces saw this as an opportunity and attacked the Marley. The war that began then has been going on for four long years. However, Marley is able to capture Fort Slava and win the war eventually, thanks to the aerial attack by the Beast Titan and Armored Titan. And with the Cart and Jaw Titan supporting them from the ground, there wasn’t much that Fort Slava or their anti titan artillary could do.

How long is the Time Skip?

It was confirmed that there is a four year long Time Skip in Attack on Titan Season 4. Meaning, the return of Shiganshina which took place in the year 850 happened four years prior. The current events are taking place in the year 854.

However, if we look back at the final episode of Season 3, the Survey Corps members along with Eren carried went on a scouting expedition outside Wall Maria after six years. This event also took place one year after the Battle of Trost District. The Battle of Trost happened in the year 850. So, the scene where Eren, Armin, Mikasa and the others reach the sea happened in the year 851.

Going by that calculation, there is a three-year time skip. The last we saw Reiner and other Marley warriors is four years ago. Fans had caught on to the time skip part from the trailer, owing to the more matured designs and the change in hairstyles of the characters. Reiner’s aging was quite visible from his shot that we get in the trailer.

Not only that, it seems even after four years, Reiner’s mental scars have not healed as we see him mentioning he is sick of Walls. It would be interesting to see how his split personality develops as the series progresses.

What happened to Eren and Survey corps?

Well, we don’t get to see Eren or his comrades in the first episode. But we do catch a glimpse of a particular character as the ED begins to play. If you have noticed the trailer and paid close attention to the new character designs, you will realise that this person is most probably Jean.

If Jean is there in Marley, then it is highly probable that the survey corps (and even Eren?) are here too. What are they planning? And what stunts did they pull off in the last four years that they managed to safely reach the other side of the ocean without alerting the Marley authorities?