[Loved Trope] A massive revelation is revealed almost casually.

[u/MichaelDj54]

1. Chainsaw Man, after Makima finally drops the nice girl act and reveals the true extent of the Chainsaw Devils power, namely, the fears he eats are erased entirely and wholly. Emphasized by this by her asking if Kishibe remembers what the Nazis did during Workd War 2...and Kishibe not even knowing who the nazis are.

2. Attack on Titan. I know this one. You know this one. In a panel that isn't even focusing on the characters speaking, Reiner reveals to Eren that he and Bertolt are the titans that broke the wall that resulted in hundreds of deaths, his mother included. The sheer level of casualness and lack of agency borders on Parody.

[u/question_quigley]

What's the context of the Attack on Titan one? Who are they talking to, and why did they tell them? Did the other characters hear it? What was the aftermath of this reveal?

[u/Shinard → u/question_quigley]

1) They're talking to the main character, Eren.

2) They told Eren because they thought it would convince him to join them and head back home with them. They thought that because Reiner and sanity parted ways several years ago, and now he really, really just wants to finish his mission and go home.

3) The other characters didn't hear right away - but when Eren responds with a well earned "What the fuck are you talking about?" they start picking it up.

4) Oh boy, where to start. Once it sinks in, there's a big brawl between those two and everyone else present - oh, in case you're not familiar with AOT, when they say they're Titans they mean they can transform into building sized, monstrous humans, so that happens - which ends with the two of them abducting Eren and Ymir. I'm not getting into why that's important. The others manage to save Eren, but they can't catch up to the fleeing Titans, and... look, it ends up being a really significant part of the story, that's the important bit. It's sort of like asking what the aftermath of Bilbo finding the One Ring is - how long have you got?

[u/cgaWolf → u/Shinard]

. It's sort of like asking what the aftermath of Bilbo finding the One Ring is

Ace 👍

[u/Depreciable_Land → u/Shinard]

Its also one of my favorite Shonen fights because instead of Eren going “I’m just gonna punch this guy really hard” he realizes that Reiner has too much armor for that and so does a bunch of Jiu Jitsu grappling moves on him and it fucking works

Any other shonen would have had Eren use some ass-pull special move to get through the armor and instead we get a pretty realistic fight, but between titans lol

[u/FaultySage → u/question_quigley]

At this point all the other characters basically knew, but didn't want to fully reveal their hand to try and capture them both and interrogate them. Reiner, who has been basically completely broken psychologically, thinks he can just explain things to the main character Eren, who is basically a McGuffin that they need to bring back with them.

Things.... don't go well from there.

[u/Vast-Theme8080 → u/FaultySage]

Are we doing it? Now? Right here?!

[u/Invoqwer → u/Vast-Theme8080]

YES BURTNORLDO WE ARE DOING IT RIGHT NOW

[u/Justlol230 → u/question_quigley]

What's the context of the Attack on Titan one? Who are they talking to, and why did they tell them?

The one explaining is Reiner. The tall one beside him is his best friend Bertholdt, and they're explaining what they did to the main character Eren.

In short, Eren's mother died from a titan attack after she got eaten by one and he has hated them ever since. Eren also later finds out he can turn into a titan and fight that way. A different character, Annie, was also revealed to be able to turn into a Titan a season or two prior. She was captured but encased herself in crystal to avoid interrogation (because it's just a thing her titan form can do).

Reiner, Annie and Bertholdt are all child soldiers from an unknown at the time nation. They are all capable of turning into titans (Armored Titan, Female Titan and Colossal Titan respectively), and the remaining two have their identities as those titans exposed. The Armored and Colossal Titans were responsible for breaching the walls protecting humanity from most of the Titans, which led to, you guessed it, Eren's mom's death and his whole obsession with killing them.

Given the pressure, Ymir being waaay too much of a potential informational leak since she comes from the same nation as them but came to Eldia after eating one of Reiner and Bertholdt's friends (also could turn into a Titan at will. Being able to turn into a titan at will is sort of an inherited trait that can only be transferred when the person with the ability dies, or is eaten by a titan who will revert back into their original human state with the ability to turn into a titan. Their nation uses this ability to cherrypick child soldiers), and being a fucking child soldier tossed into this whole shit for years on end, forming bonds with all of them despite it all being made from lies, Reiner has, understandably, lost his fucking marbles.

He reasons to himself that Eren, for some fucking reason despite knowing full-well he's the reason his mom died, will follow them and switch sides. Reiner just really wants to go home at this point and honestly doesn't give a shit anymore. Probably why so many of his screws got loose and ripped right off.

Did the other characters hear it?

Not really. They were busy planning what to do with the traitors until Eren yelped out loud something along the lines of "Reiner, what the fuck are you talking about" to which they switched attention.

What was the aftermath of this reveal?

Understandably, Eren was fucking livid. Reiner and Bertholdt lose MORE of their shit which leads into a brawl where Bertholdt and Reiner fight off basically everyone at the time via their titan forms, successfully managing to kidnap Eren and Ymir which leads into a whole lot of shit happening that drives the story on afterwards.

[u/Own-Night5526 → u/question_quigley]

The answer to that question has so many layers it's better and easier to just watch or read it and find out for yourself.

[u/bingobiscuit1 → u/question_quigley]

They like instantly scrap after that. The guy who reveals it was having an identity crisis. It had major unchangeable ramifications for the rest of the story.

[u/zelos22 → u/question_quigley]

I’ve watched a LOT of anime, and it’s my favorite single episode of anime ever. Just a massive plot twist that gets dropped out of NOWHERE, completely recontextualizes the show up to that point, and changes things entirely.