Bah, I didn't want to bump this thread. But since it's the only place to openly discuss spoilers, what the hell. SO I've been really perplexed by this shows mythology. Specifically, I don't understand why Episode 1 is called "To You After 2000 Years". I always figured it was just a shoddy translation, or the best interpenetration for the phrase in English. And I'll be honest, the show has so much shit going on, that I pretty much forgot some of the finer details in the first episode.
But after having a lengthy discussion with a friend, it occurred to us that Eren did in fact, actually see a future vision in his "dream" sequence. At first we thought it was just a general vision of his fears. But then we went back, and he clearly sees not only the Smiling Titan, but he also sees his mother being eaten (it's the same animation). So what the hell. It gets even more bizarre, when this sequence has deliberate shots of various things (one seriously looks like the scout's squad being wiped out in the giant tree forest, which happens later on). It would certainly make sense why Eren is crying, and doesn't know why (because he's either seeing something that will happen, or has already experienced once before, and his current self is still innocent etc.).
Even stranger, in the Manga this sequence isn't even there. However, it does show a close up of Mikasa which looks like she has shorter hair and says "see you later". Eren then wakes up to Mikasa (who now has longer hair) and says something bizarre like: "It's gotten longer, hasn't it. Miksa, your hair". And Mikasa is completely perplexed by his random comment. THIS is more of a stretch, but one could say that Eren saw Mikasa from the future when her hair is short and she's in the military. I admit this is a stretch. And don't really offer it as anything substantial. But more so to note, that while the Manga doesn't have the actual dream sequence, it still eludes to Eren saying something strange, that even he doesn't know why he said it. And the first title of the Manga is the same as the Anime. (Note: The manga title is slightly different. It's called "To You, 2,000 Years From Now". And oddly, in the Netflix/Crunchyroll releases the subs of the episode have the title as "To You, 2000 Years In the Future".)
Let me be the first to say, I don't want to believe in a future/time travel plot. To be honest, I'm not a fan of it. I always wanted the show to stay grounded (ie. Titan's were created by a chemical component etc. Rather it be something genetic or magical. But I can't deny that, this isn't exactly the show to be shocked if they do end up going with some weird shit that is more fantas).
ANYWAYS, enough talk, I'll just post the screen shots frame by frame of Eren's vision:
Code:
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/2dLa4za.jpg[/IMG]
(Obviously this is a Titan, nothing really noteworthy here).
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/XOrXkAp.png[/IMG]
(No idea who this is, or if it's just a random person being killed by a Titan)
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Xncy0Ea.png[/IMG]
(Here he is getting picked up)
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/L2tMJ3D.png[/IMG]
(This one just looks like where Eren and Mikasa are currently sitting, so this doesn't strike me as too odd. This COULD just be a
random dream of Titans invading them.)
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/QuIBOtE.png[/IMG]
(This man looks really strong, no idea who he is. It seems specific, as we get a close up of the side of his face).
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/jxwtsO0.png[/IMG]
(Here is one last time, looks like he's being sliced through in the sequence)
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/YkdhrG1.jpg[/IMG]
(Looks like a royal outfit, and the head and arm is missing? What the fuck. Now this is where I think it gets strange.
The other stuff I could see us saying, well it's just Eren imagining the horror of his current town being overrun.
By why is this shot so specific. And why would he even think about this kind of thing? And in a general sense,
it doesn't really convey to us anything (like the Titans at the Windmills could easily just be Eren having a fear
that the Titans have breached his homeland. But this...what)
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/4mfKOag.png[/IMG]
(No clue what this is, just a bunch of kid toys. No idea what house it's in. If it's the same house as the royal suit,
by the fire chair. Hard to tell, because the fireplace makes that scene look more red. I can't recall the royal symbol,
so not sure what the symbols are on the sheets/tapestry here).
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/1pElcR3.jpg[/IMG]
(I'm conflicted on this one. At first I thought this was a vision of Levi's squad being wiped out. I forget how many were
slain in the forest, was it more than 5? Less than 5? I only see 5 here. But what makes me think it's not, is the fact that
they were wearing their green cloaks. However, the jackets are definitely from that squad. So I guess this could just be
some random shot of people in that overall squad being wiped out. The other thing is, Levi's squad all died in different areas
and weren't all in one shot. So I would rule them out. I guess this could go in the "general" category of Eren imagining
general horrors of an attack. He did want to be a scout afterall, even that young of an age. So I can't say whether this shot
holds that much significance, but still thought it was rather interesting!)
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/WDnxPUN.png[/IMG]
(No idea who this is, a wasp on the eye...)
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Vmm2FXQ.jpg[/IMG]
(This is clearly the smiling Titan that kills Eren's mom).
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/asLO0Lh.png[/IMG]
(This is harder to tell unless you watch it. But this is clearly the same animation as Eren's mom
being picked up by the smiling Titan. I've compared the two side by side, and it's definitely her. It's the
most specific thing out of all this, and it's what ultimately wakes Eren Up.)
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/td1qTcp.png[/IMG]
(And there we are)
I'm not trying to convince anyone of some grand theory of time travel, or Eren being able to see into the future. In fact, I would prefer if that was not the case. But logically, I just can't reason why they would have this specific scene in the first episode, and why the first episode would be titled the way it is.
If all of this has been debunked, then sorry for wasting your time. But please let me know if it's ever been figured out why the first title is called what it is, and why Eren was able to see what was about to happen (I mean, if the Author ever commented in an interview. Or if the translation is just shoddy. I'm willing to accept that, it's just a random dream sequence that just happened to get things right. But the episode title + the dream sequence just seems odd to me).
Anyways, I know this is more for the Manga. I post this in this thread, to see what you guys think, and if you see any connection to this in the manga anywhere. On that note, the latest chapter had that weird sequence where Eren sees a girl that looks like him, which looks like a fancy place. Some speculate it's his real mother/sister. Either way, while not future related, this series sure likes to deal with memory doesn't it.
