#The Devils of Paradis - Attack on Titan Final Season

[theunfairmaiden]

Thinking about the time Zeke really underestimated Levi and thought turning his comrades into titans would kill him because he wouldn’t be able to kill them. Lmao what an idiot

[alexthegamingboy]

Toonami Weekly Recap 04/30/2022

Lupin the 3rd Part 6 EP#02 - Detective and Crook: Lily faints after seeing Lupin, while he and Fujiko escape Zenigata. Holmes vows to catch Lupin and tells Lestrade how Lupin was involved in the death of his partner, John H. Watson, 10 years earlier. At their hideout, Lupin explains to the crew about the legend of the "Raven" society and its mysterious treasure, who are then surprised to learn his connection to Holmes. When Lily awakes, she tells Holmes that she remembers Lupin from her past. Zenigata and Yata inspect Faulkner's Black Drawing Room, where Lestrade offers to work together to capture Lupin. Holmes manages to track down Lupin and his crew in an abandoned building and warns him to stay away from Lily and leave London for good. He also led Zenigata and the British police to the hideout, but Lupin destroys the building while he and his crew make their escape. Back at Holmes' house, Lily has a recollection of Lupin standing over the body of her dead father and holding a gun. Meanwhile, Albert is recovering in the hospital where his men tell him that Lupin has left England.

Attack on Titan: The Final Season (The Rumbling Arc) EP#28 (87) Part 2 Finale - The Dawn of Humanity: Several months before the assault on Liberio, the Scouts arrived on the Marley shoreline. On their way to visit Azumabito at her home, they witness the persecution received by Subjects of Ymir firsthand after rescuing a young thief named Ramzi from a mob of Marleyans. Azumabito informs the group that Marley has begun cracking down on Subjects of Ymir who escape their internment camps through use of blood tests. Hange hopes to forge peace by allying with the Subjects of Ymir Protection Group, who will give a speech the next day. Discovering that Eren has gone missing, Mikasa tracks him down to Ramzi's home. Eren questions Mikasa's loyalty to him, asking what he means to her, to which she is taken aback and calls him her family. The rest of the group catches up and they spend the night partying with Ramzi's family. The next day at the Protection Group's assembly, the representative of the Protection Group declares that Subjects of Ymir who don't view themselves as Eldian should be freed, while the "devils" of Paradis should be exterminated, which receives unanimous support from the audience. Eren departs and does not contact the Scouts again until the assault on Liberio. Flashbacks reveal Eren meeting Yelena and agreeing to follow Zeke's euthanasia plan while actually informing Floch of his real plans, Zeke telling him that Ackermans are not actually slaves who actually follow the person they save and that Mikasa is devoted to him for another reason, and Historia deciding to get pregnant in the hopes of stopping Eren's plan. Eren tells Zeke that his only reason for killing all life outside the island is so that his friends can live long, happy lives. In the present, the Global Alliance makes a futile attempt with their navy to stop Eren and the Rumbling from reaching Marley. They are easily destroyed by the Titans and Eren declares his intention to destroy the world as he and the Colossal Titans set foot on the mainland.

Shenmue The Animation EP#13 - Shenmue

Assassination Classroom Season 2 EP#19 (41) - Outer Space Time: After training for their mission, Nagisa and Karma are chosen as the two pilots to be sent into space. Thanks to Ritsu infiltrating the security mainframe of the space center, Nagisa and Karma manage to sneak aboard the rocket in place of some crash test dummies as it lifts off into space. Arriving at the International Space Station, the pair manage to convince the astronaut crew members to share their data before returning safely to Earth. Upon inspecting the data, Manami Okuda tells the other students that the chance of Koro-sensei actually exploding is less than one percent with the help of a drug. Nonetheless, the students agree to continue their assassination attempts until graduation.

Cowboy Bebop EP#25 - The Real Folk Blues (Part 1): Left alone by the rest of the crew, Spike and Jet are ambushed by members of the Red Dragon Syndicate. They are saved by Shin, brother of Spike's former subordinate Lin, who explains that after Vicious unsuccessfully tried to seize control of the organization, people connected to him are now being hunted down. Faye has a chance meeting with Julia and passes on a message from her to Spike. Spike rushes to rendezvous with Julia. Vicious escapes his execution and kills the leaders of the syndicate.

Slightly Damned Page 1050: https://www.sdamned.com/comic/1050

[translationandbetrayals]

Shingeki no Kyojin Part II: Context and Story Development

Shingeki no Kyojin Part II: Context and Story Development 

To start, I’d like to write a synopsis for people who may not know what AOT is about. However, the following paragraphs will have spoilers (as well as many parts of my next posts), so you’ve been warned.

AOT follows the story of a 10 year old kid, named Eren Yeager. He lives in the district of Shiganshina, located on the outermost of 3 walls called Maria, Rose and Sheena. People living in this society are believed to be the only people left in the world. They're not allowed to leave the walls because on the outside awaits a permanent threat: Titans. They're some kind of giants, with human-like appearance that feed off of people. As they seem to be the reason why humanity is nearly extinct, the walls protect people from those beasts.

Eren and his friends, Mikasa Ackerman and Armin Arlert, wish to someday discover the outside world.

One day and without warning, the Colossus Titan and the Armored Titan attack and break wall Maria. Due to the chaos and destruction of the district, Eren's mother gets eaten by a titan in front of his eyes. This traumatic situation leads to Eren seeking revenge. Eventually, he decides to enlist in the Survey Corps, a military branch involved in titan combat and outside exploration, accompanied by his friends.

Spoilers ahead:

Now, I'd like to discuss how the story unfolds, because it's great and simply brilliant.

By the first season, the audience is introduced to the conflict and presents the characters. They are led to believe that the story they're watching is another fight between good and evil, humans good and titans bad. 

Season 2 is dedicated to exploring the conflict. This season holds one the greatest plot twists of the story. However, episodes before this big reveal the audience is distracted by other events. We get the reveal that Ymir is also a shifting titan in a scene in which many important characters are in danger. After all the chaos, the story finds a perfect moment to surprise us with an amazing and disconcerting twist: Reiner and Bertholdt reveal their identities as the armored and colossal titan. Then, there’s shock, disbelief and betrayal, followed by an intense fight. By the end of this season, characters as well as the audience are a step closer to the truth about their world.

Season 3 presents the characters with their greatest struggles. The audience as well as the characters get resolution to some conflicts. We get to find out about the founding titan and its importance, Historia’s story, the attic mystery, among others. Most importantly, this season approaches darker themes. The protagonists now know that titans were at some point humans and not only that, but they were eldians just like them. 

  All of the 3 first seasons seem to follow a 3 act structure: the setup, the confrontation and the resolution. However, AOT does not end there as at the moment there’s two parts of a fourth season and a third coming next year. So now, season 4 part 1 introduces new characters as well as a new conflict and also redefines the antagonist. Part 2 explores the conflict and part 3 will handle the final climax and resolution. Season 4 revisits themes that were previously established in seasons 1-3. In the first season, we understand and share Eren’s rage for titas and we actually want him to get his vengeance as it seems deserved because titans are the embodiment of evil in his world. However that exact same conflict would return in season 4 with Gabi as she hated and wanted to exterminate everyone in Paradis because they were devils in her eyes. They’re basically different sides of the same coin. What if instead the show had started stating Gabi’s point of view as it did with Eren’s?

Anyway, I won’t make this any longer. I hope I’ve given a good enough insight of how the AOT’s story develops and how it works its way out to always surprise the audience.

 Francia Durán.

[nanakorobiyaokii]

WELL, MARK ME DOWN AS SCARED AND HORNY.  AHHHHHHHHHHHー(۶ꈨຶꎁꈨຶ )۶ʸᵉᵃʰᵎ

[karu96]

[paracosm-writing]

"𝕞𝕒𝕜𝕖 𝕚𝕥 𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕡"| Reiner Braun

Next chapter

Pairing: Reiner Braun x f!reader

Word Count: -3k words

Summary: It's hard to hate a devil when he's the only one that can stop your pain. In which Reiner finally comes home, and you're resigned to hate him until you realize he's all you have.

TW: NSFW, kidnapping, hostage situation, angst, unhealthy power dynamics, toxic relationship, Stockholm syndrome, slight yandere! Reiner (?), canon divergent, soft smut loool, a little worship/praise kink

A/N: This fic lives in an AU in which:

The Armored Titan can see their own future memories

The Reader was taken to Marley after the reveal in season 2.

This is a multi-fic of just random moments in this scenario cause I can't commit to an actual story since I've got a wrist injury!

You weren't moved into the house until the warriors came back from their last stand in Shigashina, haggard and defeated. Only two men - no, two monsters - Zeke Jeager and Reiner Braun, your husband.

It was still unsettling to call him that. You didn't even get to have a marriage ceremony. Papers were drawn and documents were forged to ensure you had a place in Marley, but it didn't feel right. The one thing you had dreamed about and longed for for so long, ever since you met him in Paradis.

And before you could digest it, the weight of it, he was gone again.

Now the idea of it was brought to life as Reiner guided you around your new home. A small but quaint one on the outskirts of Liberio, so close to Marleyan districts you could almost pretend you weren't considered a devil. A false sense of security for Honorary Marleyans.

Despite its small foundation, the house was wide with two full baths, large bedrooms, and a family room. There was even a third bedroom, only a bit smaller than the rest, and you couldn't help but furrow your brows as you peeked into the room.

Reiner coughed, cleared his throat, and quickly closed the door. "All they had left were starter rooms," he explained sheepishly. "For...families."

Neither of you said anything else about that room. You both knew you wouldn't be needing it.

You followed him down to the hall then, noticing Reiner's shoulders were tense. If this were after training, you'd probably offer to give him a massage, laughed when he tried to hide his moans of relief, and melted into his kiss when he turned around afterward to thank you.

But that was when you were just two kids facing the world together.

"I specifically asked for two rooms," he said, turning to eye you wearily. As if you might attack him or run away. "So you don't have to worry about me."

You opened your mouth to speak but your voice was raw from sobbing the night before when you found out he was coming back. Having destroyed your home, you assumed. But the last stand had been a failure, and that gave you hope.

You wanted to scream, 'How dare you try to be a good guy? Of course I wouldn't want to share a room with you.'

But you were all screamed out, and a part of you still yearned for the idea. For him to wrap his arms around you as you rested on his chest.

If you did, would you wake up back in Paradis? Would this all turn out to be a dream?

He lead you to your room and like all the others, it was bare of warmth. Stripped of life. The twin bed against the wall was plain, with white comforters and pillowcases, a simple wooden desk and a chair against the window. The grey curtains flowed from the wind wisping into the room, the moon's light washing over you both.

If you didn't know any better, you would think this room belonged to one of the warriors. A room built for a blank canvas, a weapon, not a human being.

Wordlessly, you entered the room and dropped the one bag made for you full of armbands and clothes made of strange textures and fabrics on the bed.

You could feel Reiner's eyes boring into your back as you moved to the window. Outside, buildings lazed over the small houses and over those buildings were more of the mainland, more of the outside world...

Armin's books...

"Can you close the curtains?" You asked softly, voice sore. “I don’t want to see anything.”

"Of course," Reiner murmured, already behind you in a flash. He leaned over and closed the curtains.

"We can go shopping tomorrow," he said. “Buy you new furniture and anything else you want in your room."

Your mind drifted to the one decoration you'd managed to have in every bedroom that ever belonged to you. From your childhood home, to the orphanage, to the barracks.

The only decor you needed that was now gone forever.

A sketch of your mother.

This monster took you away and he didn't even let you bring a picture of your mother.

Rage brewed within you, so powerful you could go blind, and yet nothing came out.

Instead you stood there, eyes on the floor because you couldn't look at him.

Or you might not survive.

You needed to survive.

Help was coming.

You just needed to stay put, find a way out when the opportunity presented itself, wait for your friends to come for you.

"Y/N, I-" Reiner started again but sighed instead. “If you need anything, I'm here. Goodnight, Y/N.”

He started to retreat, turning on his heel, and oddly enough, your heart started to pound.

"Rei-erm, wait," you called hoarsely and he seemed to turn around in a heartbeat.

Strangely, you wanted to say, ‘I’m scared’. What you would do once you were alone in this strange room, you didn’t trust yourself enough to find out, and yet you couldn’t go to Reiner like you used to. Not anymore.

So instead you composed yourself.“There isn’t a lock on the door.”

Reiner, so firm up until now, regarded you with pity.“Y/N,” he said softly. “You know why there can’t be.”

 It dawned on you then, as you took in Reiner’s firm stance. It dawned on you that there was a possibility you could be trapped here for the rest of your life. The thought sent your head spinning.

You grasped the wooden bed frame to keep from swaying as your vision started to blur with tears. Pathetically, your anger melted into fear, that familiar panic that tormented you since the walls fell, now following you across the sea.

And even worse, there was only one person who could manage to make it stop.

“So you’re telling me I’m trapped here,” you said shakily.

“You don’t have to be… you could make… a life here,” He left off the implication you were both thinking of; ‘with me.’

For a moment, you almost considered it, you almost allowed yourself to envision it. A life with Reiner, the third room that you would never speak of belonging to a child, A real wedding to make up for the horrors Reiner had inflicted on your comrades to bring you here-

No, you wouldn’t go there. You couldn’t.

“Life? What kind of life, Reiner?” You exclaimed, mustering up the strength to spin around and face him. “One where I’m treated like a devil for just walking down the street? Where I have to pretend my entire home isn’t being slaughtered by people like you? You might be able to take that, but I can’t.”

He was stoic, an apologetic gleam behind his eyes, hurt etched on his face.

You resisted the urge to hold him, even as you sensed his pain in the very depths of your core. Once upon a time, you were so in love that one just knew when the other was hurt.

Reiner had held your face in his hands before the survey corps expedition as if you were a precious treasure he'd been searching centuries for as he reassured you, 'If you need me, I'll know.'

Such a thought had comforted you then. When you'd been slammed into a tree by the Female Titan, the rest of your comrades killed. You thought you would die in the clearing but Reiner had showed up just like he'd promised.

And now he needed you, you could feel it, and you resisted every part of you that wanted to run to him.

“Do you think I want this for you?” He said darkly, voice strained. “I hate it too, Y/N, but dammit the right things don’t always feel good,”

He closed the gap between you before you could react, cradling your face in his large hands, hazel eyes teary. ” you don’t know how many ways this could’ve turned out for you, how many ways I’ve had to save you.”

You froze, you were so close that your breaths mangled together. And you longed for him, you longed to bury your face in his chest and sob, but how could you find comfort in the person who’d hurt you in the first place?

“Reiner,” you breathed, tears welling in your eyes, tears you loathed because they weren’t entirely forged from anger. “I will never make a life here,”

You took a step back then, imagining the faces of all the ones you’d lost so you could keep your composure as you looked him in the eye. “And I will hate you until the day I die.”

“Hate me, I deserve it, and I’ll make sure you have a lifetime to do so.”

He started out of the room, leaving your heart and mind in pieces around you. There he was, talking to you about things that you didn’t understand, talking in codes and secret languages. It used to drive you mad on the island and it drove you mad now.

Save you? How was destroying your home and kidnapping you saving you?

You ran to the doorway. “Just drop the act, Reiner! You didn’t save me, you’re not a soldier for humanity, you’re a devil!” You cried. “So stay away from me!”

And then, worn out from trying to be strong, “I-I can’t believe I ever loved a monster like you.”

Reiner paused in the hallway, his back to you. And you saw the way he crumbled even as he seemingly tried to hide it.

“Neither can I,” he said. “I really am nothing but a filthy devil.��

You were supposed to feel satisfied, you were supposed to feel in control, but instead you were left with an ache in your chest. 

Slowly, you closed the door.

Your heart- what was left of it - shattered as it shut and you sank down to your knees in sobs.

Crying without any tears.

Crying for your friends so distant from you now.

Crying for the silly cause you had once believed in. For humanity.

Crying for the devil you once loved.

It wasn't until you went to unzip your bag for the odd, yet soft clothes Marleyans used as pajamas that you found the sketch.

The sketch of your mother.

A treasure that only a devil would've remembered to grab for you that day Wall Rose was breached.

》《

Reiner was contemplating over the rifle in his closet, how it would be so easy to shut down the guilt roaring within him, when he heard the knock.

Loud, forceful, again and again and again. In a frenzy.

He knew that knock.

He sensed what it meant.

Reiner opened the door to you, eyes red, sobbing, gasping for breath. "Reiner," you managed. "Help me, make it stop, please, you're the only one that can make it stop."

Without hesitation, he gathered you in his arms, let you cry into his shirt. And he marveled for a moment at how familiar you felt even now. How your body melted into his in that perfect way as if you were made for him

It was cruel. The one person he’d hurt so badly he couldn’t stand it was also one of the people that still gave him a reason to stay. You needed him, even if you didn’t welcome the idea, even if you loathed it.

Because you had been in his memories, happy and free, dying and tormented. If he left this earth, who would protect you from the doom he foresaw waiting for you?

"Shhh, shhh," he whispered, stroking your hair as you sobbed. Just as he'd done so many times before when you would grow anxious before a mission. "I've got you, sunshine. You're safe here, I'm not gonna let anything hurt you."

His heart pained at the irony of it all. From the very beginning, he'd been uttering soothing lies. Yet he continued because lies were the only way he knew to make it better.

"Just take deep breaths for me okay, baby? I promise you're okay. I'm here. I'm right here."

He felt your body relax, your heart hammering in your throat galloping down to a slow pace.

Your cries turned to sniffles, but you still trembled in his arms, clinging to the collar of his thin, long-sleeved t-shirt. And all was still, and for a moment, you both could pretend that nothing had changed.

“Please, Reiner,” you said shakily then. “Please let me go home.”

He stiffened.

“Please,” you pleaded, voice raw from crying. “I’m begging you. If you love me, you’ll let me go home.”

His arms tightened around you and he grimaced into your shoulder.

“Please-“

“Don’t speak,” he said firmly, swallowing hard. “You know I can’t. This is your new life now, and the sooner you accept it, the better you’ll be.”

Your heart sank, but all you knew to do was to cry into his shirt again, nuzzling your head in his chest as if you could bleed through each other. You never felt so trapped.

“It’s for your own good,” he added, only causing you to sob.

“Please,” was all you could manage, over and over again, hoping he might hear you. See you.

Instead Reiner's hands moved from your back, trailing down to the hem of your shirt as he murmured into the night, "I'll make it stop.”

You didn’t know why you let him undress you, crying into his kiss, gentle and soft, wet with your tears.

Maybe it was because you needed him to fill the hole in your heart. To empty you of the pain and confusion coursing through you. To replace the foreignness of this house with something you knew.

The familiar sensation of his touch.

Reiner might’ve broken you, but he was the only one who could make it stop.

He trailed kisses down your body, from your neck, to your shoulders, your breasts. Then he coaxed you to the bed, whispered, “Let me take care of you.”

For a moment you felt numb, drained from all the turmoil, and then Reiner was between your thighs. You laid there limply at first and yet somehow you started to respond, your hips bucking up to meet him, hearing your moans as if they weren’t yours.

And you welcomed the pleasure, got lost in the ecstasy, because if Reiner had to break your heart then let it be sweet. Because it reminded you of the days of hiding in closets and stealing time near the lake during Cadet training.

“You are, so beautiful,” he mumbled, staring down at you as you writhed beneath him. You couldn’t help but weep again. He’d told you that the first time too, before you knew.

The pang in your heart started to grow more insistent, louder than the fading high. You didn’t want to feel it.

“Reiner,” you gasped.

“I know, baby, I know,” he murmured into your neck, peppering kisses along the hollow all the way to your collarbone. “I’m gonna make it stop, I’m gonna make you feel so good.”

He guided his need to yours until you blended into one. The fullness of him seemed to fill the emptiness of your home. You wrapped your legs around him, pulling him deeper, grasping at the familiarity of being connected.

Reiner thrust into you, deep yet still somehow gentle as if he knew how delicate you were. How fragile. “You’re doing so good,” he whispered in your ear. “You’re taking it all so good, I’m so proud of you baby.”

The rush of pleasure and sorrow was too much for you to think clearly. Tears continued to stream down your cheeks and you dug your nails into Reiner’s back as he quickened his pace, your need more desperate as you both tried to outrun the pain.

He sat you up on his lap, hoisted you up as if you were a god to worship, kissing down your neck to your breasts. And again he wiped away your tears, whispering to you that somehow he could make it okay.

And for one sweet moment, it was okay. It stopped, and nothing else mattered. Nothing but you, and him, and the sweet pleasure rushing through you as he buried his head in the crook of your neck.

You nearly believed you were two cadets fumbling around in the moonlight, nervous and eager and in love. You nearly believed nothing had ever changed.

Then pleasure seeped from your body, ebbing away until you were left with the pain that remained.

You were both panting, mangled in one another, and it was so comforting and yet frightening all at the same time.

Reality was back in the form of Reiner’s eyes of gold staring back at you, gleaming with the tears of a sinner.

“I’ll do anything,” he whispered. “Whatever-whatever you need, tell me what I can do to make it right.”

Reiner knew he was selfish. He needed to believe he was doing the right thing. That he was saving you. That with every bit of pleasure he brought to you, he could make you better, and through saving you he would save himself.

But it was a lie. He couldn’t fix what he had ruined in the first place.

In your silent tears, he heard those same three words, the ones that haunted him, “Let me go,” you managed shakily. “R-Reiner, please.”

He regarded you, the girl who’d he’d watched grow strong through his memories of the island be reduced to a frightened, unsure mess again, just as he’d first left you when he broke down the walls of Shigashina.

The simplicity of being with you was gone, and now he too was reminded again of what he wanted to stop. His reason for wanting to die.

And yet, you were alive. You were alive, and that was all that mattered. That he’d stopped the worst of his memories from ever happening.

So those three words were like hot iron searing his chest each time you said them, but resolution still saturated his own, “I’m sorry, princess, I can’t.”

He saw the desperation in your eyes, frozen there, since the day he’d taken you. “Then you can’t,” you whimpered. “You can’t make it stop.”

You started to cry, squeezing your eyes shut.

So Reiner did the only thing he knew to do, he took you up in his arms and turned you to the side so that you were crying into his chest. His arms wrapped around you as you trembled with sorrowful fatigue.

In the morning you’d get up and go back to your room, ashamed, thinking he was asleep. Neither of you would talk about what happened. Even when you’d come to him the next night, broken, and begging him to make it stop.

FIN.

[aotopmha]

Attack on Titan season 4 part 2 episode 9:

1) Magath's appeal to 2000 years of oppression is comparatively weightless not only because he doesn't know (or care) it was caused by shitty leadership enslaving foreign people, but because it ignores actually relevant present circumstances.

It's not unfounded because the consequences are still there and felt in the present, but blaming Italy for what the Roman Empire did has a lot less weight than blaming them for what the fascist movement did and even then circumstances change and as they change, new conflicts arise dependant on context.

2000 years of history shouldn't be relevant when a nuke is breathing down your neck and you need to act now.

But that history also is actually used as an excuse to do bad, keeps people from acting and most importantly needs to be understood to be learned from, so it should be addressed.

2) Man, the desire to talk is such a true and real component of the conversation in this episode.

Several conflicts in human history would've been much less destructive if the 'force of good' in the conflict wouldn't have been so soft-hearted.

It's like the counter-balance to the actions in the previous episode and Annie points this out perfectly.

If you can't reason with Eren, what then?

In this case, the hesitation comes from personal ties with Eren.

In other cases, it's faith in humanity that things can be resolved by talking or fear of the enemy.

And we've seen the positive and negative consequences to all of these elements in this series.

If Annie and co would've talked during training, perhaps Paradis would've learned of their circumstances before Eren was worn down by his experiences and Erwin was killed. Perhaps then, the more slower approach of building understanding and more allies would've been possible to happen.

There are multiple times when characters trying to reason or hesitating with the enemy have all lead to creating an advantage for the enemy, especially if you look at them in a vacuum.

When Annie didn't kill Armin.

When Eren hesitated fighting Annie.

There was Hange and Jean hesitating to immediately kill Reiner when he was captured.

There's even smaller ones like Jean hesitating to kill a member of the MP attacking the scouts.

But it all made sense from the perspective of their characters.

But the coup lead by Erwin mostly consisted of very smart politics and minimal sacrifices.

And diplomacy is what brought together the current alliance. It has bargaining chips and circumstances backing it, but it worked.

Finally, as said, there was the aspect of people succumbing to fear, which the Jaegerist movement demonstrates in this arc, but has been the main element the story has been emphasising when fighting oppression since the start.

At first it's fear in the face of Titans, then it's fear in face of people who are Titans, then it's fear in the face of an oppressive regime and then it's all put together.

Fear is probably also the biggest motivator in this series.

Nobody wants to fight the Titans because they are scared to die.

Eren is scared everyone he cares about will die.

And then many other elements are thrown in the mix to make a war and the conquest of a nation happen.

Many things can give a country motivation to invade another, to name a few, perhaps its strategic location, maybe resources on the land or even just principles of conquest and the need for greatness.

There are plenty of excuses to draw from: in this story's case it's the standard claim of being attacked first and 'destroying the devils on the island to save the world'.

For a war to happen a country spurs its people with some form of propaganda.

And for that war to be won, hesitation of your enemy because of naivete or fear is necessary, just as much as economic weakness.

In general all of these elements can have so many aspects and nuances to them, I'll just leave what I listed here in relation to this story.

I think these are all great things to bring up because many times people don't really think about all of the bad in people being human, too.

Wars happen because people are people.

This story is empathic to these bad things in humanity as well as the good and I think for this section of the episode, Annie's quote before the events in Stohess is the most appropriate:

"It takes great courage to go against the flow. I want the people swept along the flow to be considered human, too."

Many read this as her trying to excuse her actions, but Annie has made it really clear she doesn't really care about herself that much: she has pretty strong self-loathing backing her reasonings.

In hindsight especially, I think it's about not even necessarily empathising with her, but understanding the position the Eldians in Marley are in.

As human as the bad parts of humanity are, they also shouldn't be something to hide behind or excuse or hand-wave.

That's the tightrope to walk when humanising the bad parts of humanity.

And I think this series generally does a pretty good job with this – and ultimately this is one of the reasons I love this story with all of the issues I take with it.

I just find any story with that kind of framing interesting. Instead of giving bad and good qualities the story values, it says all of it is part of the human experience.

3) I think, once again, this episode also does a pretty good job of balancing perspectives out.

Magath and the Marleyans are given a word and their flaws are listed.

The Eldians are given a word and their flaws are listed, too.

Both of which Yelena dishes out happily and then is also given a few words by Jean.

Pointing out possible self-righteousness is very good in my eyes – it's another separate aspect of the alliance to address because no matter the reason, murder is not okay.

If the story didn't point out this aspect and give that humility to the perspective of the alliance, it could justify Eren pretty easily.

It also balances out the 'save the world' element last episode ended up on.

This is why I don't understand the outrage from certain people about that scene. It's exaggerated to be a point of positivity, but is immediately taken down a notch by the narrative in the following material, which asks, okay, that's well and good, but what does 'saving the world' actually entail here?

The fact of the matter is that almost everyone around that campfire has killed someone, regardless of what their reasoning (and yes, some of them did it in self-defense and absolutely were victims, like pretty much all of the Paradis Eldians), but the important part here is that getting high and mighty about justice could lead to killing that isn't about doing the right thing or self-defense.

And I think Eren is that example. At this point what he is doing is just indiscriminate murder no matter how much it is for his friends.

I said I loved the character and thematic material in this material the most when it first came out and I think, again, this chapter being essentially made into a single episode helped a lot with the pacing of it.

It helped the feelings stew and for you to stay in the moment much more and I think that's probably the biggest flaw of this final stretch of the story.

It often doesn't let you sit in the feelings of a moment.

I'd argue this episode made good material into pretty great material, even.

Yes, much of it was spent with images of trees and very limited animation, but I think from the directorial standpoint focusing on the more abstract helped to focus on the nuances and feelings of the writing.

It's limited animation used in a very effective way in my eyes and as much as the ending of the Evangelion TV series frustrates me, it used this type of directing to create a similar effect.

It just wasn't as effective to me because the dialog was a lot more muddled.

I hope they do this with the ending – add a few points of directorial nuance (like when the tension in a scene rose, the editing became more haphazard) and give some scenes more time to breathe.

I think the ending also needs some additions in the writing itself, but even altering some of the pacing would make a big difference when I look at how much of a difference this episode had just by having a specific style of direction behind it.

Yeah, I honestly kind of actually loved this episode and I did not expect this at all.

[miyanom]

DEVILS PARADISE (part one)

MASTERLIST | JEAN KIRSTEIN X FEM!READER

synopsis: growing up in marley, y/n learnt the devils of paradis are her greatest enemy. though they shared the blood running through her veins, their mere existence led to constant discrimination against y/n’s people. knowing all of this, y/n enlists in the marleyan warrior program; a program designed to turn eldians like herself into titan shifters. however, joining the program leads y/n to the devil’s paradise, and she realises the truth marley so desperately hid from them.

warnings: spoilers for season 4, blood and violence. reader has hair long enough to be tied up, but only in a flashback.

notes: i’m leaning toward this being a 5 part series at most with jean as the love interest, but i’m not too sure, it might be shorter or longer than that!

word count: 2506

"When you become a Marleyan Warrior, you'll make all of us proud here in Liberio, Y/N." Her mother spoke, pulling the child's hair back as she tied it with a crimson red ribbon. "You'll show them that we aren't like those island devils."

Her mother spoke with disgust as she mentioned the Eldian devils of Paradis. By now, Y/N knew to keep silent and agree with her mother about everything.

"You'll become one of the Warriors for me, won't you, Y/N?" She glanced down at her daughter, a stern expression on her face.

Y/N nodded her head, smiling up at her mother. "Of course."

It was a decision completely out of Y/N's hands, she could only train as hard as she could and hope for the best. But in her mother's eyes, the best just wasn't good enough. It was never good enough.

Looking back, Y/N could hear the words "this is the only way" repeating in her head over and over again until she began to agree with it too.

The only way for the Marleyans to see her family as just a little bit more human, was if Y/N were to become one of the warriors.

Earning that red band and becoming honorary Marleyans was the only way to be happy.

Y/N leaned against the wall of the courtyard her and the others in her Warrior training unit were waiting in. The tip of her shoe digging into the ground in front of her as she stayed buried within her thoughts.

With the previous warriors terms coming to an end, she had heard from the army that she was a prime candidate for one of the Titans, it was almost guaranteed at this point considering the Warrior unit had been narrowed down to the 8 of them.

But soon, one of them would be left behind, while the others are turned to Titan shifters.

“Did you guys hear? We’re attacking Paradis Island in just a few years,” Zeke spoke from where he was sitting, before chucking an apple in Marcel’s direction.

“Huh?” Y/N breathed out, raising her head to look over at the older man.

“It’s almost time for us to inherit Titans,” Zeke continued. “Out of the eight of us, they’re picking seven!”

Y/N looked back at the ground for a moment, the 10 year old’s shoulders becoming stiff. Yes, she was almost guaranteed to receive a Titan, but if something happened and she failed to earn the title of honorary marleyan’s for her family…

“Yes! I can finally be Marleyan!” Reiner spoke excitedly.

“Huh? Why so excited?” Porco glanced over at him. “If anyone’s the worst, it’s you.”

Reiner’s head snapped in the boy’s direction, his hands clenched into fists. “Excuse me?!”

“What’s your strong point?” Porco continued. “Your strength? Your brains? Your aim? Combat ability? Nope. The only value they see in you is your loyalty to Marley.”

Y/N kept her gaze off the two boys, knowing Porco was right. The only thing that made Reiner appealing to Marley was his unrelenting loyalty.

One day, that wouldn’t be enough.

“I’ll slaughter the island devils real good for you, sir!” Porco mocked.

Reiner stepped forward, grabbing Porco’s wrist, causing the boy to drop the apple he was holding. “You making fun of our mission?! Or maybe you’re a stray Restorationist?! You are, aren’t you?! I’ll report you to the Commander!”

“Report this, you little shit!”

When Y/N finally lifted her head, Reiner was already on the ground. And Marcel was holding his brother back from attacking the boy again.

“Hating the island doesn’t make you special!” Porco told him. “Have fun waiting 13 years alone!”

Knocking his brother away, Porco began to storm off, causing Zeke to finally stand up. “Let’s go, Pieck, Y/N.” He spared a quick glance at the girls standing near him.

Pieck, older by just a few small years, was much like a sister to Y/N. Looking out for her during their time in the program despite the fact they were possibly competing for a place.

The raven haired girl took Y/N’s hand, gently pulling her along to follow after Zeke. It was a habit Pieck had taken up after noticing Y/N’s tendency to space out when things got too quiet.

“Don’t cry too long or the Commander will chew me out,” Zeke called back to Reiner, who remained in the dirt.

Y/N glanced over her shoulder as Pieck continued to pull her along, her eyes falling onto Reiner as Bertholdt helped him onto his feet.

Becoming a Warrior was a privilege, Y/N knew that. But why would anyone want to shorten their life to a 13 year term dedicated to fighting Marley’s enemies?

Y/N didn’t want to die in 13 years, she’d rather take the hatred from Marley for the rest of her life, like many others had done before her.

If she had a choice, that was exactly what she would do. But it was too late now.

In a few years, she would be an official Marleyan Warrior, headed for the devil’s island to attack their self imposed century long quarantine.

Y/N’s eyes flickered up to the sky, as a bird flew overhead leaving her to wonder what the island devils were doing in this moment.

Did they really deserve what was coming?

The weeks leading up to Y/N being sent to Paradis all passed by in a blur, whether it was the shock of finally being an honorary Marleyan or the memories of the former host that kept her awake at night, Y/N wasn’t sure.

All she knew was that she was on Paradis Island, headed with Reiner, Annie, Bertholdt and Marcel to break through the wall that kept the devils safe from the Titans Marley had filled the island with over the past century.

Did they really deserve what was coming? Did they deserve it? Did they-

“Y/N, can you?” Bertholdt held the can in Y/N’s direction as he whispered.

Y/N carefully took the unopened can of food from his shaky hands, peeling it open before handing it back. She had been doing it for him the past few nights, his hands too shaky to even open a simple can as it came closer and closer to the day he would kick through the wall.

It couldn’t be easy being the successor for the Colossal Titan, a god of death.

“You alright?” Y/N questioned quietly, taking note of the fear in his eyes.

Bertholdt quickly averted his gaze, letting out a hum as he nodded his head.

He was always quiet like this, and Y/N found it oddly calming. It was a nice difference when compared to the louder members of their unit back in Marley.

It was nice because it reminded her of Pieck, who had stayed behind with Zeke to protect Marley while the others attacked Paradis.

“We didn’t cover much ground tonight,” Marcel commented as he poked at the fire with a stick.

“Can’t do much about the clouds.”

“Will the King really not use the Founding Titan, even if we break the wall?” Bertholdt asked, remembering what they had been told in preparation for their mission.

“What’s the use asking now?” Reiner glanced at him. “Trust Marley’s research.”

Y/N stares at the fire in front of her, one hand coming up to rest against her forearm, right where the material band showing her status would be sitting if she were back in Marley.

It felt weird to not have that constant reminder that she was nothing but Titan shifting scum.

“That’s right. We can’t turn back,” Marcel nodded. “Tomorrow, we reach the wall… and then…”

Y/N remained silent, a shaky breath falling from her lips. Right, tomorrow they would be breaking through the Wall. They’d come face to face with the people they were sent to kill.

It’s not like they haven’t done it before, they were sent to destroy an enemy base as part of their Titan training.

But those people had been actively trying to harm Marley… the devils hadn’t done that in over a century.

Reiner’s eyes scanned the group, a shocked expression painted over his face. “Huh? What? Are you having second thoughts about killing the devils? Have you forgotten what they’ve done?!”

Y/N hugged her legs close to her chest, refusing to look in Reiner’s direction or answer his question.

It was impossible to forget the sins of the Eldians, it had been drilled into their heads for years now, after all.

Reiner stood up quickly. “We’re the world’s chosen Warriors sent to punish the island devils!”

Marcel averted his gaze. “I’m sorry.”

“Huh?”

“Reiner, I’m sorry. You were never meant to be chosen as a Warrior,” Marcel continued.

Y/N’s head shot in the boy’s direction, her eyes widened. She couldn’t say it was a surprise, no, Reiner was the weakest of the warriors in their unit.

Maybe it was a shock?

Marcel’s voice came out like it hurt him to finally admit it. “I talked you up and criticised my brother to influence their decision. I… just want to protect my brother.”

Tears began to fall from his eyes. “I’m sorry, Reiner… I’m sorry!”

Y/N turned to see Reiner’s frozen form, unmoving and engulfed by shock— it was the same thing he did when he watched Marcel get eaten by a Titan.

Frozen, unmoving, and engulfed by shock.

Y/N could still hear Marcel’s screaming, as the other warriors ran for their lives.

Her chest felt heavy as they finally came to a stop, her knees giving out beneath her as she fell to the grass. Teardrops falling against her clenched fists.

How long had she been crying for?

She couldn’t tell, not when she was too focused on escaping the mindless titan that devoured Marcel before their very eyes.

She choked back the sob that threatened to fall from her lips as she realised what they had done; they could’ve saved Marcel, they should’ve saved Marcel, but they ran.

And they lost the Jaw Titan.

Marley was going to kill them, they weren’t even going to reach the end of their 13 year term. They were going to die for failing the mission before even reaching the walls.

Would it even be worth it if they came back with the Founding Titan but not the Jaw Titan? They’d still be left with the same number as before.

Y/N’s eyes widened when she felt a hand press against her back, though she relaxed just slightly as she realised it was Bertholdt.

He looked just as terrified as her.

As Annie caught up to the group, she immediately kicked Reiner, causing the boy to start screaming as he moved away in fear.

“Not bad,” Annie spoke, her voice coming out almost breathlessly from the running. “This is a first. You actually beat me… in a long distance race…”

Y/N wiped her tears away as she pushed herself up, looking back in the direction they had come from.

“If we took out that Titan we wouldn’t have lost Jaw,” Annie told Reiner. “Shit! Now Marcel’s gone for good.”

“They said there wouldn’t be Titans this far out,” Reiner whispered.

“We’ve gotta go home,” Annie averted her gaze. “Let’s find Jaw and leave. They would’ve changed back to human. Besides, without Marcel to lead, this mission is doomed.”

“Do you… do you think they’ll just come willingly?” Y/N breathed out, still trying to catch her breath.

Though just as Y/N moved to follow Annie, Reiner began to yell. “We can’t!”

Y/N turned around, her eyes widening as Reiner held his outstretched hand in their direction. “We can’t go home! We’ve gotta continue the mission!”

“Oh, yeah…” Annie’s eyes narrowed in his direction for a moment. “If we go back now, you’ll just get eaten by the next Warrior.”

Reiner began nodding his head.

Y/N looked away from the boy, biting her trembling lip gently. Porco was the next warrior… he would see Reiner’s memories, see his brother getting eaten…

“You think only I will?” Reiner spoke up, causing the other three to turn back to him. “That only I’ll get the blame for running away? You guys are certain you won’t get eaten, too?”

Y/N swallowed the lump forming in the back of her dried throat, an uneasy feeling returning to the pit of her stomach as she stared at Reiner’s grim face.

“Catching Jaw won’t be easy either. If they used its power and ran, our titans could never catch up.”

“They can’t control it right after becoming-”

“You controlled the Colossal Titan, no problem!” Reiner cut Bertholdt off. “Anyways, we’re doomed at this rate! Without the Founding Titan, there’s no going home!”

He was right, Y/N realised. None of them could catch up with the Jaw Titan, and if they returned empty handed, they would all die.

“Back there, if you were a fraction as calm as you are now, we wouldn’t have lost Marcel or Jaw,” Annie stated. “But you’ve got no problem intimidating us to save your own ass, huh?!”

Walking back toward Reiner, she let out a shout as she kicked the boy in the face, sending him flying backward onto the ground.

“How about you come clean to Magath?! Tell him, “it’s all my fault!” Honorary Marleyan, my ass!” She shouted, continually kicking him over and over again. “Chosen warrior, my ass! Marleyans, Eldians! They’re all liars! Everyone only thinks about themselves!”

Y/N remained silent, knowing Annie was right. The predicament they were in now could’ve been avoided had Reiner remained calm back then.

Marcel died saving him, after all.

If Reiner had just sucked it up, if he just didn’t let what Marcel said get to him, they would’ve been long gone before the Titan even woke up from its slumber.

“Should we… should we stop her?” Bertholdt glanced at Y/N.

Y/N stared at Annie who kept kicking Reiner in her anger, before she looked to Bertholdt and shook her head. “Annie’s right.”

“If you feel guilty, just die! Take all the blame and die!”

With that, Annie began to walk away, leaving Reiner face first on the ground, blood pooling on the grass beneath his face.

A perk of being a Titan shifter was that they could all heal from wounds like that.

Y/N’s eyes widened as Reiner pushed himself up, jumping at Annie and holding her in a headlock. “Reiner is dead,” he spoke. “If we need Marcel, then I’ll be Marcel.”

Y/N’s throat went dry once more as she stared at Reiner in fear, her hands shaking at her sides.

“Please, stop this…” Bertholdt muttered, tears falling from his eyes as he watched.

“This is the only way we’ll be able to go back home!” Reiner kept his grip on Annie. “Let’s go back… together… to our hometown!”

[peachbearies]

Waste it on me. E.Jaeger

═════°∴,*⋅✲══❏══✲⋅*,∴°═════

𑁍┊synopsis: Eren knew he didn’t have long to live, and time is really of the essence when the world is dying to end. So he tried to push y/n as much as he could, so he could become a monster without accepting her love.

𑁍┊Genre(s): Angst

𑁍┊Pairing: Eren X F! Reader

𑁍┊warning(s): minor anime/manga spoilers from season 4; cursing, toxic behavior.

A/N: I had this song on shuffle waste it on me by Steve aoki and thought about eren (I needed some comfort after the past chapters of AOT, minor anime/manga spoilers)

𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞. Was the last thing on Eren's mind the farthest from it. All his mind was filled with was. Fight. Fight until you can’t fight anymore. Kill all your enemies. Freedom. It was all engraved in his mind. How could he have time for any linearity? Sitting in Marley pretending and being undercover just to reach his half brother 𝐳𝐞𝐤𝐞. Wasn’t something he was opposed to doing.

But what else could be done? He thought. The lengths he went through to achieve the freedom he always promised. From promising to kill all titans, to finding his fathers cellar, now to killing his enemies for it. Only to realize that has changed too. There are devils on both sides, each person pushes themselves into a hell to survive, for pleasure or for freedom. Eren didn’t like the thought of deceiving people .

But the unthinkable is usually the answer. Now here he was sitting in front of his old friend after four years since their last attack and attempt of stealing the founding Titan on paradis he trembled throughout his veins. “E-eren? W-what are you doing here?” “For the same reasons you had,Have a seat Reiner” eren’s voice trickled fear into his body, his hand dripping In crimson liquid silently threatening Reiner he could change at any given moment. Obeying his orders Reiner sat down in the chair, the nauseous feeling in his chest with the pang of fear in his lower back, Falco is a very observant boy he quickly realizes something is wrong after seeing Reiner fearfully obey Kruger's order to sit. “well I think I should leave now” falco acknowledges

Eren looked over at the boy “no you should start and hear this” , falco getting the aura of Reiner’s fear.

“But you guys finally found each other—“ his words getting cut off by a panicked Reiner “just do what he says, stay there it’ll be over soon”

“I wanna apologize to falco for delivering those letters, they weren’t to my family, but to my allies right here in Marley” he spoke as his legs regenerated through the steam of smoke

“The founding Titan is now in the possession of a rebel that will disrupt the peace here in Marley his name” Willy takes a pause “Eren Jeager, and he posses both founding and attack Titan, and he is a threat to us in Marley” Eren deadpans at Reiner “yeah” his stoic tone starts off “I am the bad guy, but the warrior candidates that destroyed my home inside wall Maria were also the bad guys” putting more fear into Reiner he asked Reiner. “Why was the wall breached” to which Reiner replied “to achieve the founding Titan and save the world”

｡ﾟ•┈୨♡୧┈•ﾟ｡

For a brief second the room is suffocating with revenge and fear “did you come back to kill me?” Eren looks at Reiner with a blank face. “No, I’ve seen both good and bad here in Marley so I don’t blame you for what you did, you were just brainwashed as a kid I understand what you went through”, falco in the background worried as he realizes this is Eren Jaeger the rebel eldian

As Eren is talking about his experiences in Marley, he turns to Falco and says that past the oceans and inside the walls of paradis people are all the same; there are good people like him, and those who are wicked and act selfishly for themselves. the chair flying from under Reiner as he pleaded for Eren to kill him

breaking down in guilt, accepting responsibility and regrets for his actions against Eren and those living across the ocean on paradis.

Helping Reiner to his feet, Eren sternly says “ I now understand what you did, and realized that you and I are the same, and I will continue until I’ve wiped out all my enemies” emitting a spark of yellow haloing around his frame, Reiner grabs a confused falco to protect him from the blast be hardening. Eren breaks out of the building and kills Willy, further flinging himself onto He flings himself on top of the military high command in the crowd, killing them and other innocent civilians. The war emerges and he attacks it before it can fully transform. It appears he has the upper hand until a hardened pillar impales him.

｡ﾟ•┈୨♡୧┈•ﾟ｡

Soon later Eren achieved the war hammer Titan by using the jaw Titan as a nut cracker. Now he possessed the 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐤 , 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐧. Later a turmoil occurs, kicked by Levi, handcuffed, berated by hange and Sasha is dead. After returning to Paradis, Eren is taken to a cell underground in accordance with his arrest. As he cleans himself up, Eren mutters that Paradis needs to continue fighting.

That’s when hange walks in attempting to make small talk and get information from him. ‘Why did you attack?’ ‘Why’d you get us involved?’ Is what hange wanted to say instead they got choked up by Eren grabbing their shirt and yelling for them to make up a better plan. Hange left his cell finding his girlfriend standing outside with her fingernails up to her mouth. “You know you’re not allowed to see him right? Specially now, Eren is a wanted criminal for mass genocide” hange checks her.

“I’m aware” she bows her head “I just wanna talk, just to hear his voice and why he did it, I just wanna feel his heart, I wanna know if I could trust him” she whispered, hange sighing internally they became soft with her, they watched her grow, from be afraid of the world to being afraid of getting lost in the world, to believe with her sweet demeanor she handled Eren's snarky attitude pretty well.

Damn if you do, damn if you don’t hange thought “fine, go but the moment he puts his hands on you, you call for me okay?” They remind her, nodding she runs for the door hange looks back at her “I hope we can trust him y/n” they mumbled. Opening the door she looked at eren’s chiseled chest and abs, seeing the water drip from the sink to the floor, creating tiny ripples. On a normal day she would tease him on how good he looked, but it wasn’t the atmosphere for that, Eren gave her a side-eye with a small ‘tsk’

“So they sent you huh? , what do you want? Answers? Or are you here to grill me with assumptions too?” Eren finally faced her, in his heart it broke for her the way her eyes were looking at everything but his. But it had to be done, if not him who else was going to make the move? “If you don’t have anything to say I suggest you leave” his monochromatic tone made a tear drop down her face.

“I just wanna know why? Why’d you do it? Did you have to do it?” Eren looked her in the eyes, his eyes were no longer the jewel green she loved, they were dull, almost greyish, she wasn’t staring at the boy who wanted to kill all titans, he was now the boy wanted for a mass genocide. She thought she knew Eren, and knew that he based his actions on logic, but this felt like an ulterior motive. “Eren.. you took the lives of so many people today, and I’m all for fighting against our enemies but—“

“You’re full of shit you know that y/n?” Eren chuckled “so it’s alright to fight our enemies but no bloodshed? What else our we supposed to do huh? Pray for a miracle? Get on our hands and knees and ask them to stop hurting us? You’re a fucking idiot y/n” she was shocked by the way he was treating her right now, what changed him to be this outrageous person? “Excuse me?” she defended herself “you’re mad at the wrong person right now Eren I should be cursing you out right now!, you think killing innocent fucking people is going to solve your problems? You’re a fucking idiot if you think that!” her tears burning her chest as they dropped.

“What is the matter with you?” her eyes looked into his dull forest eyes, without giving it a second thought he replied “I've changed, and I've adapted maybe you should too” without anything more to see he turned his back towards her, she felt his love for her slipping from his soul. “Eren... I'm sorry whatever you're going through” sighing she leans against the wall “god I wish I knew what you were going through, and I'm sorry for thinking you would ever stay the same” getting up she heads for the door. Eren wipes the tears from his cheeks letting out a heavy sigh once the door closed.

“I'm sorry for not loving you enough, I wish I could tell you everything. But you'll find out in time, hope you'll be happy afterward” eren whispers looking towards the wall of his escape.

“I really do love you, y/n. I'm sorry to disappoint you”

[theunfairmaiden]

This scene absolutely broke me.

Still don’t know if I’ll ever finish/change this or if I’m content with where it’s at ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[shi3mihaza]

No, AoT is not fascist

I’m sure we’ve all of us at this point have heard of many claims about attack on titan being fascist and not just on here on tumblr but on other social media’s as well. 

Back in 2019 an article titled “the fascist subtext of Attack on Titan cannot go overlooked”.  Having read this article multiple times and being a long time fan who’s re-read the manga and looking as deep as I can on this situation I’ve come to the conclusion of... No.

I’ll be explaining why I think that... there is one thing this article did indeed get right though. It has heavy ww2 imagery because anyone saying it doesn’t would straight up be lying to themselves.

Ok lets get into it

Of all the things about attack on titan is I can say is that it has shown no indication of being pro-fascist.

If we’re to start it off we should at least do it starting with Marley, the nation of Marley is shown to be a living hell for eldians. 

They were treated like trash got to the point where they were fed to dogs. The oppression doesn’t end there either and gets expanded upon in season 4 with the Marleyans manipulating the eldians by using the sins of their ancestors to justify 

However one of the worst parts of it all is the fact that they use the eldians to fight their wars and they even have child candidates who train and inherit the titan power to fight their war, it’s not like they because they want to, they fight because they need to. 

Eldians aren’t even treated like humans they’re treated like animals.  Which is one of the reasons why some of the characters feel the need to fight, it’s so that they can win the war and finally get the treatment of a human person. 

For other characters such as Gabi, Falco, Udo, and Zofia and at first Reiner want to fight due to how much propaganda they were filled with at a young age. Marley oppressed the Eldians using fascism and this was never once shown in a good light, this is supporting fascism how??

There are a lot of victims of Marley’s propaganda like Gabi or Reiner but let’s talk about Gabi first. 

Gabi is a 12 year old child solider who was raised with Marleys horrible propaganda for what was her whole life.  With this she hated eldians more than anything.

Repeatedly calling them devils and even became so absorbed within the idea that the arm-band is the only thing that separates her from the eldians on paradis, so when Falco takes it off so that they can blend in on paradis she get irrationally angry, to Gabi that cloth determines her place in world, it means everything to her. 

Gabi was narrow-minded and stubborn and refused to believe anything that went against the claims of the Marley. 

When she finally met a good person on paradis she used the argument again while on Marley no one might’ve questioned it and the argument even worked however when Kaya heard of this she snaps and retaliates with question, one Gabi could not use the same excuse for... she didn’t have a answer. 

The world Gabi knew was shattered. As her time in paradis went on this view shifted from a narrow-minded and stubborn view to one where she learns the wrongs of her actions. 

When admitting to killing Sasha, Kaya makes an attempt to kill her but she’s protected by Mikasa some who was also close with Sasha. 

While past Gabi probably would have made some racist remark like “I knew you were devils !” or would’ve left her for dead, she doesn’t and instead she winds up saving Kaya and admitting to be a devil herself while feeling regret.

Similar to Gabi, we have Reiner who believed he was a “good eldian” and that he had to atone for his sins. When he inherited the armor he was sent on a mission to paradis and just like Gabi the more he was around everyone the more his world view began to shift. 

If AoT was fascist yams could’ve made it so that Reiner didn’t have any regret for his actions, but he does when he was there he made friends and met people that were good people, good people that lost people they cared about because of him, not only does this make him feel guilty during the 4th season he’s completely broken and has suicidal tendencies. 

He only has one reason to live by this point and it’s to protect the ones he cares about. Similar to Gabi he was Narrow-minded and stubborn and refused to believe anything that went against the Marleys claims, but when he saw it first hand that they’re not like the people Marley painted them to be it makes Reiners character arc take a shift, and as the series goes on it shifts continuously.

As for the yeagerists they’re a group of people who believe that Eren will be the one to stop this oppression against them by destroying the world by committing mass genocide. From there they can build the Eldian empire and anyone who resists will be killed...

The yeagerists is what happens when you get consumed by revenge so much so that they even think of it as a reason to justify a global genocide.

However, literally none of this was glorified. 

As the manga goes on you will see how corrupt this group gets from beating up the commanders, betraying their very own military, and to the extent of killing those who resist.

The manga may have shown where they’re coming from yes. However, this is never shown in a good light, because it’s just like the Marley, they’ve become so consumed into their mistreatment and hatred to the point where everyone outside their walls doesn’t deserve to live. 

These characters feel that their action are justified with the simple reason that “Marley started it first” they without even knowing became the evil they swore to destroy.

That’s supporting fascism how???

To conclude the answer is, no AoT is not fascist. All the fascist characters either go through a character arc where that fascist world view is completely broken down and learn that it only causes pain or they just straight up die. No fascist in AoT stays a fascist. 

All fascists in AoT are never portrayed in a good light and always evil. Does it have fascism in it ? Yes. Is it ever shown to be the answer to anything ? No, never.

[miss-owl-eyes]

hey!! Don’t feel pressured but when is the Pieck fic due to come out? I’m so excited!!! :9

That’s actually really funny, because I just finished writing it! Sorry it took awhile, I had a Hange one I had to brainstorm as well! @thatonesaltysailor

⋇⋆➶Don’t Go➴⋆⋇

⋇⋆➶Pieck x fem reader, smut➴⋆⋇

❀𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘓𝘪𝘯𝘬❀

❀𝘈𝘖𝘛 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘓𝘪𝘯𝘬❀

══✿══°˖✧✿✧˖°══✿══

❗️SEASON 3 SPOILERS❗️

Content: makeout, fingering, slight mommy kink, friends to lovers

♡ 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘶𝘵 ♡

══✿══°˖✧✿✧˖°══✿══

Nothing would have prepared you for what happened to you- not only was there an attack on paradis by the beast titan, but now attacks from Reiner and Bertholdt. A few of the other scouts along with yourself watched as Hange nearly slit the throat of the traitor, Reiner. Blood leaked from his throat and you could only watch as the commander let his rest against a wall next to you, his once-was friend who couldn't leave him like this.

The silence only lasted a few seconds before a quadrupedal titan just off a wall, opening its mouth and jumping at the two of you. Your eyes widened and you clung to Reiner's shoulders as the red-eyed beast came closer, most likely to kill you.

The darkness faded to a dim light as your eyes opened slowly. You were in a room you didn't recognize. Sitting up, you patted your chest, checking to see if you were in heaven, but you weren't. All you had on was your white shirt and a white jacket with a red band on the left arm.

Your surroundings had made themselves aware, the room was made of stone and eggshell white walls with wooden floorboards and a matching wooden bed. The room looked familiar.

There were two faint voices outside the closed door, it sounded like a man and a woman. Curiosity got the better half of you as you inched out of the bed and came close to the door to listen.

"We need her here, she has information for us." The female said, there was a tad of desperation in her voice. "I know you want her to live, you need to consider the possibilities of risk. She could betray us and everything could be blown." The male's voice was calm and tactical, slight worry in his voice. "You're lucky I didn't kill her when she was passed out..." a chill ran down your spine, you could've been killed? Just where on earth were you?

"She's not... she's not just some island devil, Zeke," the male was named Zeke, apparently, "she's Y/N, I know she is, they look almost the same." A sigh left Zeke's lips, and you could only assume he had his hand against the bridge of his nose.

"And what if she is? We can't do anything about it... chances are they've stripped her of her old personality? She's not the Y/N you once knew, Pieck."

And then it clicked, why the room looked familiar, why the jacket looked familiar; you were in Marley. Pieck was your old childhood friend from 10 years ago, back when you were 11 years old. The two of you were best friends, the only females that were friendly (Annie wasn't, we all know this). You two planned to be warriors together, to "kill the island devils" and "bring honor to the females of Marley". It was a silly dream, but back then it's what gave you hope, the hope you had before you left.

No more did you want to sit and remember your old life, you wanted to see Pieck, see how she looked, how she was. The door let out a creek that halted the conversation between the two as you peeked out. The pair stared at you, eyes wide and you only looked back. "Hi, it's um.. it's Y/N.."

the silence was deafening, their eyes were trained on you as yours were on them. "Well I sense some tense energy here," Zeke finally spoke up, breaking the icy silence, "I'll leave you two to talk." He walked away, leaving only you and Pieck together. She was gorgeous to say the least. Long, beautiful black hair, a tired expression on her face that had satisfaction written all over it, and a crutch under her arm.

Moving to the side, you offered Pieck to come into your temporary room. She agreed, placing herself on the end of the bed and falling backwards. You sat down in your spot from earlier, still faintly warm.

"It's nice to see you, Y/N... it's been a few years, hasn't it?" Her voice was smooth and sweet, it was comforting in its own way. "It's nice to see you too, Pieck..."

The silence returned, you knew the questions that were coming, where did you go, why were you on Paradis, etc etc. It didn't take as much time as you wanted it to, you knew Pieck would be the one to ask first. "Y/N, why did you leave me alone..?" Her voice was sad, her eyes were sad looking into yours.

"I left because I was tired of the life here. I was weak. I couldn't fight, I didn't want to throw my life away and live for only 13 more years just to defend this island! So... I snuck on one of the boats, and left." You honestly admitted. It was hard, seeing Pieck's face turn from sadness to pain. You never meant to hurt her, you were a selfish child back then, you didn't know.

"Y/N..." her voice was lower, eyes looking everywhere but yours, "I missed you. I wanted to know where you were, I needed you here. I didn't mind taking care of you, I just wanted you with me, to become a warrior with me! I wish that you-" the thoughts ran wild, you couldn't listen to more. You regret it enough, becoming friends with the "devils" and leaving your hometown friends. You cut her off before she could continue, "Why do you care so much Pieck? Why did you care so much? I was weak, you carried me everywhere, I wouldn't have survived training if you weren't there! You should have given up on me a long time ago!"

Warm tears began to seep down your cheeks, it was painful. Painful to see your old friend be in so much pain because of you, listening to her wishes from all those years ago. You didn't want to hear it anymore, you didn't want it. No longer could you help yourself as the tears fell onto the bedsheet below you as you weeped in front of Pieck, your hands moving up to cover your face.

The darkness you could see was removed by Pieck's hands pulling your hands away from your eyes. The two of you made eye contact, her soft, gray eyes staring into yours, hands still interlocked. "Y/N, I liked you back then. Not only as a friend, I loved you," her hands squeezed yours when she said the word "love", "I didn't want you to go because I had a crush on you... I wanted to be a warrior together so we could be together and die together, just be together-!" There was a certain sparkle in her eyes as she spoke about her old crush on you.

"Y/N, I know you're a changed woman like me, but I haven't abandoned my feelings for you. I knew you were comforting Reiner, I knew it was you, so I took you. It was selfish, but I couldn't let you go again." All you could do was stare in awe, the woman you were best friends with loved you, and she never stopped loving you either.

No thoughts ran through your mind, only the pure confidence to do something. You wrapped your arms around her and pulled her into your chest. In no way did she hesitate to wrap her arms around you and look up into your eyes. "Pieck, I've loved you too. I missed you every single day." You stroked underneath her chin while she looked up at you. Happiness was all she could feel, seeing you again, holding you, loving you, it was too perfect. "I love you, Y/N, don't ever leave me again."

No words were spoken, only the longing stare into each other's eyes, passive smiles on your faces while you giggled. Now that you knew Pieck felt the same way you did after finally being reunited, there was only one thing left on your to-do list.

Reaching down and holding onto her chin, you leaned down and pressed your lips against hers. Without hesitation, she pressed back, her lips moving in sync with yours. Her hands wandered up and down your sides, yours tracing and tracing circles over her back. Her lips were sweet and soft, it was almost like her lips were made for yours.

Only a few minutes of kissing and feeling each other up passed, but even in such a small amount of time, your shirts, skirts, and jackets were in a heap of clothing. Hands ghosted over each other's sides, pulling and groping at flesh and each other's breasts while tongues brushed over each other and tangled together. The two of you were in an embrace of only yourselves, it was pure bliss.

One of Pieck's gentle hands slid underneath the waistband of your undergarments, tracing her fingers up and down gently. Her tongue slid underneath yours before pulling it into her mouth again. A quiet whimper left your lips as her finger gently rubbed small circles at your sensitive clit. Your bare chests rubbed together, creating a warmth between both of you.

"So cute, so precious to me, my dear Y/N..." Pieck purred, completely engulfed in pleasuring you after all these years. Her index and middle finger traced over your entrance and pulled her fingers away quickly, licking off the juices. A light moan escaped when she moved it back down, making eye contact and nibbling your lower lip.

Pieck had a special way of teasing you, she would just barely graze your pussy while nibbling your lip, heavy on the eye contact too. She's always been confident and determined to get what she wanted, seeing you unravel under her only by two fingers was no acceptation to the rules.

"You know, I always liked taking care of you, Y/N," she said, staring at your collarbone and licking her lips, "it almost made me feel like a mother..." you caught on. You weren't sure if you had the right idea, but testing the waters seemed to be a safe bet in your lust-driven state. In a poor attempt to try to see what Pieck was referring to, you let out a breathy moan, "ah, m-mommy..."

The satisfied chuckle and light-hearted smirk that danced across Pieck's face told you that you were correct, the dominant side of her showing itself to you. "I'll take good care of you, my princess~"

Two fingers slipped back and forth your entrance, so close to entering, yet so far. Pieck was completely aware of what she was doing, knowing that her praises would mix perfectly with her teasing fingers. Seeing your flustered and needy face only spurred her on, wanting to make you finally feel good.

The tip of her index and middle finger pressed and softly penetrated into your entrance, pressing against your wall and making you gasp. Pieck only latched her lips to your neck, gently kissing and lightly sucking. The soft noises that you let out encouraged her to move and scissor her fingers inside of you, touching and rubbing every corner and crevice of your walls.

The fingers inside of you along with the wet, sloppy kisses trailing along your neck slowly brought you to your pleasure. Pieck's fingers rubbed against the soft flesh inside you roughly and quickly with the curl of her fingers. Instead of moaning, all you could do was gasp, unable to be loud due to her lips latched onto your windpipe.

The pleasure that built up gradually was more noticeable, the way you rutted your hips against her fingers and squeezed your eyes shut. "M-mommy, please..." Pieck smiled, watching you trip over your words and you helplessly swayed on her fingers. "Go ahead, I've wanted to see this for years." Even during moments like these, she never failed to make you smile with her witty comments. Nonetheless, you did as told, finger-fucking yourself as she only watched and smiled, admiring your glowing beauty as your orgasm rode itself out.

Your body relaxed quickly, panting and attempting to catch your breath while shiny due to the slight layer of sweat. Pieck admired you and your body, not caring if anyone heard or saw what you two did. She threw an arm around you and pulled you onto her chest. "I hope you know that later you're coming to my room and we're going to do this all over again." You smiled and held onto her sides, legs tangled together. "I know Piecky, I wouldn't have it any other way.”

[oncerpotter2018]

DEFENDING GABI...!

"Hatred was part of your training"

- Eren Jaeger

I love this quote from Eren as it begins to form and shape my understanding of these characters. That within these walls were children made to learn that nothing beyond their walls were nothing but demons. For Gabi, she had been taught her by her parents, her aunt and her society that beyond those walls were devils that must be destroyed to save the world from their bad blood. She had been conditioned to kill, attack and to get rid of these so called 'devils' and it such as sad reality that it still happens today.

What made me realise was that Gabi isn't a bad person, she just grew up in a bad world. Gabi was taught how to hate and fight from beginning. And I understand that what she did was unforgivable, unjust and unfair, but we later learn that during the restaurant scene with Sasha's parents, her father told an important lesson. That he taught his daughter the means to hunt and kill before letting her go to socialise with others. She killed and died as consequence. He sheltered her from the reality of war and pain so when she finally was able to go out into the world she was learnt to kill to protect what was important to her. In the end it only end up with her dead as a result of how she was taught to survive.

But this isn't me saying her actions weren't right, what she did was that she killed in cold blood. But if we were placed in her shoes, the horror of seeing your friend being crashed by debris and another friend being killed on impact by the rush of a human stampeed, I would be horrified to. I'll be angered, frightened and want to seek revenge. What I saw was two worlds, like two side of a coin, never seeing each other, not knowing who each other was until they finally come face to face and they only saw destruction and war. Deaths of innocent lives. Like I said, I don't accept her behaviour but I am a human being, I understand the pain and the anger and the emotions that she must have felt.

As well as that, the moment between Kaya and Gabi touched my heart. Seeing those two young girls, from two different worlds collide in such a way back in to where she used to live and seeing these two have a very philosophical argument is astonishing. Each one trying to convince each other different things at once. Kaya was trying to convince Gabi that they did nothing wrong, that she just wanted someone to believe her, to help her understand what she and her mother and her kind did wrong. While Gabi was trying to convince Kaya about how, even if it was so long ago, she still believed in a outdated ideology.

Everything Happens for A Reason

I have learnt that everything happens for a reason. The reason in being that actions leads to consequences. How if Eren hadn't attacked their home town, if he hadn't started that attack then Udo and Zofia would have still been alive, Sasha would have still been alive, those innocent people would have still been alive. But if this event hadn't happened as it should, things wouldn't have changed, Gabi wouldn't have left the walls she had been confined to live in. She wouldn't have met Kaya and Sasha's family, she wouldn't have experience that there were good people, innocent people in Paradis too. So, I do believe that everything does happened for a reason, that Sasha's death was the consequence of one's actions, but it also was a reason for change, for letting go, for moving forward because by the end of the day she and Gabi are human, that Gabi is a child that can still be saved.

I watched the season final again and the more I watched it the more I understood Gabi in a new light. Even in the first round of watching it, I didn't love what she did but I will not condemn a child to more hell because of her broken ideologies. I can't forgive her but I will not have the moral instinct of killing a child, even fictional ones, just because she grew up learning to hate the world that wasn't her own. What I am saying is that for me, the world is cruel, it is pain and angry and clouded with negative thoughts. The world becomes toxic with the judgments of others upon those who they never have met before.

So listen, when I say I am defending her, I am defending her for the reasons of being just a flawed human being, a child who is impressionable to those above her and would believe in anything they say. Because killing Gabi won't solve anything, it would only lead to more chaos and death. Killing Gabi won't bring back Sasha. It won't bring them any peace because their moral conscience will be ringing that a child's blood is in your hands. Even Mikasa stopped Kaya from killing her, even Sasha's father didn't want to kill a child born to be blind by the reality of this cruel world. What I am saying is that I can't forgive her for her sins but I will not condemn her for being human who had only known the means of hatred of the unknown instead of being taught to at least to understand one human being from another. That there is still time to save Gabi from the dark future that she will face if she continues down this dark path.

The lesson that Gabi taught me was that when you shelter a child for the harsh reality thinking you are protecting them from the evil nature of the world you are only hurting them in the process because when they eventually go outside the walls you put up they'll only know what you taught them.

More Attack on Titan Season 4 analysis coming soon until Part 2 comes out..

[deadpanglossian]

My thoughts on AOT S4 episode 66:

How can an episode make me go 'wow' and crying at the same time????

I mean, when Pieck and Panzer unit was under attack by the scouts, I was like 'Wow Sasha!' then crying when they totally defeated Pieck and the guys. I am proud of the scouts but I feel sad to see Pieck defeated.

I was so hyped at the sight of Armin!!! As expected, the colossal titan has the best boss music. When Armin said 'So this is what you saw, Bertholdt', I feel a hint of sadness in that but also.. KARMA TO MARLEY!!!

Honestly, I still don't get why did Marley sent 4 kids to Paradis to retrieve the founding titan when they knew that the king would never unleash the rumbling for his vow of denouncing war. Probably out of greed? Wanting the founding powers for their own agenda? But yeah, whatever reason it is, KARMA TO MARLEY!!!

Aaanddd HANGE!!! I was so happy to see Hange again!! I can't help but wondering how would it be if Erwin is alive when Hange said Armin is possessed by Erwin's ghost. Wait, it would be exactly like that right?

Finally we hear Levi's first line of the season!!!

Seeing beast titan crushing some rocks actually triggered my ptsd from battle of shiganshina. Ugh, damn you, Zeke.

"SASUGA PIECK-CHAN~ SONO TOORI DA YO!"

Yo, forreal forreal the beast titan was defeated that easily by Levi???????

Actually, I thought that the beast titan would somehow be an ally, at least to Eren (remember the baseball glove?) but seems like he isn't? He ordered them to defeat the scouts there and then right?

I actually wished that warhammer titan can do more than that. Warhammer titan is such a badass (except for how badly concealed the shifter's body was)

Eren changed into titan for the 3rd time in the battle!

Porco tho.. he shouldn't have been so full of himself and made fun of Reiner. See?

I love how Porco got one glance of Mikasa and knows that she's the other Ackerman.

Ah, porco the nutcracker. Now I understand the memes lol

Falco is a sweet kind boy 🥺 I was actually scared that Jean might really kill him but he hesitated and missed the aim.

Magath can be a demon, but he seems to genuinely care about Falco & Gabi. Yeah, he confuses me.

I feel really bad for Reiner 🥺 He lost the will to live but still have to fight.

The armored titan looks a bit different? The armor on his face looks different than the usual 'iron man' style and in some parts the armor got spikes.

So we'll get to see another Eren vs Reiner?

Another amazing episode! My day is made. Will do another watch soon. Also, THANK YOU MAPPA!

From the preview of next episode, seems like they are retreating. As I was hyping about another Eren vs Reiner, they explicitly mentioned that Reiner would be defeated in the preview lol.

I'm actually really curious to what happened in the 4 years time skip and what made the scouts decide to attack Marley and what do they plan to gain fom this. I doubt it's only a retaliation for what Marley has done to them. Like Magath said last episode, they should've known full well that attacking like this will only strengthen the world's hatred for the devils of Paradis plus, they played straight into Willy's plan. But even if they don't attack first, eventually enemy forces will attack them too. Maybe something like, eventually they would be at war so might as well do the first strike? In one scene, I think Jean pointed that the cart titan's main body is exposed and it made me think that one of their objective is to capture the titan shifters.

I'm in constant battle with myself about reading the manga or wait until season 4 ends. Since the battle is coming to the end, I'm considering to continue reading the manga.. but.. hmmmm

Update:

After rewatching, I think there is still a possibility that Zeke is working along with Eren & co.

In the beginning, Zeke said “Eren Yeager wa ore no teki janai” which literally means “Eren Yeager is not my enemy”. But it was subbed as “Eren Yeager is no match for me”. Well, it can be translated as that as well but that could be a hint?

When the Marleyan army was in awe at beast titan, Magath expression is a bit.. idk.. different? He had doubts with Zeke’s loyalty in episode 61. I think Magath has incredible judgement because he could guess that enemies are going to attack them on the night of the Festival. So, maybe his doubts are right too?

Then Zeke said, “Come out, Levi. Time is running out right?” or something like that. It can mean something like, come out and pretend to slay me because it’s time for whatever plan they have.

Levi did sliced his nape after that and used grenade to blow it up. That could be a diversion or something. Although it’s awesome that Zeke is defeated that easily by Levi, I still think that it was too good to be true.

This may be just overthinking on my part because when Levi sliced beast titan’s nape, he looked incredibly angry. Of course he would. I would as well lmao. If they are working together, Levi must be holding back from killing Zeke but that killing intent is real. Another thing I noticed in the preview, the scouts are pointing guns at Eren with Levi walking towards him like WHAAAaattTT is happening???

[hei-ch0u]

Oh boy. Here goes... Shingeki no Kyojin Final chapter (139) thoughts and analysis ✰

Well, where do I even begin to accumulate my thoughts on the final chapter of Shingeki no Kyojin? Even after some time to reflect and read the chapter many times, over and over - I’m still going to struggle to form this analysis. But, alas I shall try my best despite this.

I appreciate anyone who takes the time to read this and understand my own views of the final chapter. Proceed with caution - ⚠️ spoilers ahead ⚠️

This chapter and ending overall has left me with a love/hate relationship with the overall tale in full. I’d even go as far as saying it has tainted my view slightly of the entire series in one way or another and I will never look at it the same way I did - as much as I wish I could. My reasoning for the love/hate relationship I have will come, but, I want to start off by saying that despite it’s ending I will always appreciate this story and Isayama for his work, even if I myself don’t approve of his steering towards the ending.

It is just like I said in my theory, the thing we all need to recognise with this story is that the characters we love and have cherished, were never going to get exactly what they desired and if anything this chapter is a clear indication of that fact. It has been a story that was paved for a bitter, somewhat ‘bittersweet’ ending (yes, I hoped it wouldn’t be in the form of ‘that’, but it was). It is just as Mikasa said - “The world is cruel and merciless, but it is also beautiful”. This tale became the typical embodiment of humanity and how ruthless it can be.

Again, like I said in my theory, it was heavily foreshadowed that Eren was playing devil’s advocate and might have to sacrifice his freedom in this life to save the ones who meant the most to him. We heard hints in OST’s such as My War, Red Swan, Vogel Im Kafig, among others…

“Angel playing disguise with Devil’s face”

“I’ll cry for you in a dream”

“All of my kingdom, for your return, I’d let it burn!”

“Spread your wings, which are dreaded in blood”

“And eternity as you, fly to heaven”

“Like a fallen angel”

“Looking down from above I feel awful”

“Every living being dies someday, whether we are ready to die or not”

“Is that the angel who flew down from the twilight sky?”

“Is that the devil who crawled out from the crevice?”

“Tears, anger, compassion, cruelty, peace, chaos, faith, betrayal.”

It was foreshadowed, all of those things in the last example is humanity in a nutshell. The use of birds to symbolise the dead was shown on multiple occasions. Hell, even in the Levi ova, his friends are shown as 2 birds above him as he continues forward. It didn’t shock me that Eren’s soul was represented or “reincarnated” in the form of a bird - simply because birds are the most free creatures on our planet, they can fly over land, sea and maintain the air around them. Realistically, we should’ve analysed the birds presence more (it was even implied in the opening trailer for season 4. Falco awoke to a bird flying above him, we saw the bird present many times in even past seasons and don’t get me started on how many times it was present in the manga). Our Angel was Eren. He was a fallen angel - a slave to the story and what it means to be human, to feel deeply and make sacrifices. He was never a monster, just a pawn in a wicked game.

For a split moment of initial shock, I let the “judging a book by its cover” ideal kick in. After calming down and having access to proper translations, again I can’t say I love this ending or hate it - it has the bittersweet notion that was intended, but it was also lukewarm. It is not perfect by any means, there are some plot holes and loose ends that could have been tied up by extension. However, Isayama maybe intended for it to remain open for interpretation. Something of which, I’ll reveal what I personally took from the ending.

One thing I am surely certain of, is that I can hold my hands above my head and say this chapter 100% embodied my love for my favourite character - Eren Jaeger. He had such a tragic outcome, he did it all for his friends and loved ones. He was never free, not in life and partially not in death. He was a broken child, in a broken world with a broken fate of shouldering mass amounts of responsibility with no idea of how to change or control the past, present and future. To witness your best friend talking of all the things he was going to see, yet knowing you wouldn’t be there to see it yourself. To know the girl who was there for him forever and always, could never be his to cherish. He had no freedom to do so. To live the life he wanted to, he would have died anyway. If he had ran off with Mikasa, he would have damned his friends. The life he wanted was not feasible, therefore he chose to sacrifice his desires so his friends could live long lives, unlike the one he was damned to. He was a character who was torn along all sides of the coin. Torn between his desires, his duty and his self - all while experiencing memories from all angles. He was not a monster or a psychopath and I won’t let others spit on his name due to their lack of analysis and empathy. He is human. He is allowed to feel. He isn’t pathetic for wanting to live, for wanting to be with his friends or the girl he loves. He is 19. Can you really say you wouldn’t feel the same? It is natural to be frustrated at your life being ripped from under your feet at such a young age. He was damned if he did, damned if he didn’t. Look at his face in paths when he talks with Armin, he is devastated and he had no solution.

However, I do believe he will be reunited with his friends once more. After all, the scouts were reunited in death, so why shouldn’t he? His friends will not live in vain, his sacrifice will mean something. They will live their life to the fullest and find peace in life and then in death - they have Eren to thank for that. Another misconception I want to pick out of the fandom is that they did not condone genocide, they did not thank Eren for ridding the population of 80%. Armin states it as an “error”. What they did do, was acknowledge Eren’s sacrifice for them to live and that they understood it’s not what he wanted himself, but that due to unseen forces. - did he really have a choice? It is not by any means perfect, but it gives them freedom to live out with the walls - was this not Eren’s dream? To be free, not confined within the walls by Titans. He did exterminate all titans, that is one goal Eren Jaeger accomplished. We don’t know the full extent of the power of the attack titan or the founding titan, this is one of the open plot holes. Eren himself explains this, he himself has no clue and his head is a mess - is it any shock that his head is a mess? People would go crazy over less. He was a pawn in a story with no happy ending. At least not for him.

Even in the bird reincarnation theory, I hope he is happy and free. Free to roam the skies, perch upon the tallest mountains, titter along the grass banks of the world and watch over his comrades, his friends, the ones he loves deeply… The tragic protagonist I will always remember. (Especially as one who was done so dirty by his author)

There was so many routes this manga could have taken, fan theories proved this and I do think the ending could have been executed better. We were not getting a happy ending, it is not happy by all means. Those characters left have to live in the aftermath, aware of their friends sacrifice and all he had to put himself through for them to live the lives they themselves desired. My favourite quote will always be:

“Don’t pity the dead. Pity the living”

Mikasa lost her family in more ways than one, she has to live a life where she didn’t get the one person she desired more than anything, but I believe she will move on and Eren will be by her side the entire time until they are reunited in death. Levi is the same, he lost everyone and whoever his love may have been - Erwin, Hanji, Petra (who knows). Either way, he didn’t have those loved ones around in the end. But, he no longer has to fight for survival and can spend the remainder of his time resting until the day in the future he can be reunited with his comrades, friends and even kick Eren a big one, ruffle his hair, tell him its okay and tell him all the things he wanted to tell him like he said. Armin lost his best friend, he held the burden above his head that he himself killed Eren and not Mikasa. However, he has an abundance of friends, he has Annie and he can travel the world like he desired - like Mikasa, he will have Eren by his side for the remainder of his time.

Jean can meet the woman of his dreams and have the children like he desired, knowing that even in their silly quarrels - Eren was loyal to him always. Connie can have his mother back, his family and move on. Reiner can live, not die like he once desired and live on knowing of Eren’s sacrifice, that he wasn’t a monster himself. He is free from the curse, as is Annie, Pieck and Falco. The warriors have their families back. Gabi and Falco can be together unlike their comparisons, sad, but fitting. They are in Paradis, a place we never expected them to be in the end, advocating for change alongside Onyakapon looking after their elder, Levi, alongside them. On Eren’s death anniversary, it is implied they all return to his grave to be together, none of them are alone like we initially thought. Mikasa is not alone in Paradis since it is implied that Levi, Onyankapon, Gabi, Falco, Historia even… still live amidst the walls - I think it would be wasteful to assume such a strong character secludes herself after the love of her life’s death. She does not have to love another man, she can choose to live her life for herself, a long one alongside her friends. This manga has never necessarily needed to have love stories, they are implied, but not needed. For life itself is the embodiment of their freedom.

This above is the rosy way of looking at it and it’s what I personally will take from it. I overall think it is terrible writing and use of dialogue - there’s no denying it. I myself as a writer and artist would have done it differently. Isayama has created a manga with a tragic story that reveals the raw, tainted feeling of what it’s like to be human. We all want things, we all have desires…but we don’t always get them, no matter how hard we try, some will slip from our grasps. That is life, no matter the universe. Yes. But, I do think in ways Isayama did taint and obliterate Eren as a character. This I am disappointed in. It is a typical author ideal of damning his protagonist and the sad thing about being a stories protagonist - you risk being ruined due to being written so complex initially that the author loses sight of how to conclude your arc respectfully. I believe from what we have been shown, he would not have accepted his death that easily and would fight for another way. Although, I cannot blame him as I myself would have felt defeated, suicidal and depressed at learning everything he did after his contact with Historia at such a young age. Remember, how you are brought up in an already cruel world is key - he didn’t stand a chance. But alas, I still feel he would’ve fought. This Eren is not the Eren we saw the majority of the manga, but then again he did change and I feel so sorry that the Titan power had that effect on him.

This is the character development true Eren stans are enraged with. TATAKAE! Fight the attack titan, fight the founding titan, fight against your cruel fate - don’t succumb to defeat. There is always another way. I don’t accept this version of Eren, due to the development we saw built by Isayama of his character, I can’t. It leaves so many gaps among other plot reveals. I don’t see what was accomplished. Eren’s being, his life, was a ploy to keep the other characters we care about alive, but at what cost ? If I was Eren’s friend, I would go forward like he wanted me to, but I could never forget the burden he bared and what he had to go through and what he did to achieve that outcome for me. I would forever be sad. I would be living in a world much like this one, lacking in peace and serenity and above all is that not what we all desire in one way or another? He did not necessarily know the Dina titan would go for his mother, but he had to direct it away from Bertholdt since in the timeline it was not his time to die. Always remember the theory of time, one thing changed, drastically changes the outcome. He did not want civilians or people within Paradis to die, it became collateral damage and no one would be able to fight for some time because of the 80% notion. He gave them time to live, time to change things to the best of their abilities and experience all they possibly could. They became the ‘heroes’, but again, at what cost?

Now, to the plot holes and answers I feel needed to be present for the story to knit together in a better way. This will be less “paragraph” based and more pointed, since…well these things were not explained. Majority of potential foreshadowing was swept under the rug like it meant nothing to bring about the lukewarm feeling I was talking about.

The alien like hallucigenia, what exactly was its purpose? It’s reason for being? It disappeared and ceased to exist. No mention of how it came to be. Even Ymir just vanished. Everything ceased to exist and Eren himself couldn’t understand Ymir’s reasoning other than being able to witness love. This seemed to be cop out on Isayama’s part.

Historia’s pregnancy was heavily implied and emphasised on within the manga, making readers think it meant something (when a creator zones in on these things, its usually for further plot reveal) Her character development was destroyed and she deserved better. She sidelined herself and stayed away till the final moment where it is implied she and Armin will become the negotiators of a new world, all while housing tyrants (Jaegerists). Again a further implication of Shonen manga and its poor interpretation of women.

The conclusion to Ymir and Eren’s particular character arcs was shocking and this can’t be dismissed. We needed both their sides of things to explain more. It lacked real conclusion and didn’t match up to past events or character development. This chapter should have purely been an Eren POV with the ending moments of how the scouts moved on. Of course this couldn’t have been done in 1 chapter, hence the recognition that this manga needed ‘more’ and it wasn’t enough to tie it all together. Another flaw in Isayama’s writing and continuity.

The Ackermans? Don’t get me started. My theory again will entail my rage about this one. Did the Ackerman power cease to exist like the titan curse? What is their origin story? To imply the Ackerman blood concept in all its parallels and foreshadowing to not even have the 2 remaining characters from said bloodline talk about their shared experience in thorough detail is such an abysmal hole in plot. Especially with it being heavily emphasised throughout the entire manga.

I barely saw any signs of Eren being in love with Mikasa? If this was the case, then it should have been shown in the manga and emphasised like isayama did with many other things that eventually had no meaning. I always viewed their relationship as very toxic to both sides and needed amending. So for Eren to suddenly turn round and say he doesn’t want her to be with another man....I find this a very bad continuation and completely disregards how Eren has been the past 138 chapters. Why was it so hard for him to say these things even before he made contact with historia and unravelled it all? Was it the power of the attack titan preventing him?.... (below)

The attack titan and founding titan, explain how it works. Why does Eren himself not fully understand yet he embodies them? Why could he not have flipped the switch? Why could he not ask for help? Explanation is needed.

All the time loop links diminished to nothing other than Eren’s past, present and future…yet its implied in many characters even in their childhoods mentions of things they could not be aware of. How can it merely be coincidence?

I wholeheartedly believe that this was not the initial ending of Shingeki no Kyojin, specifically because I and a few others I’ve seen noticed the shift in the story around 10 or so chapters ago. It seemed to be going in the route of a few particular fan theories and then suddenly (quite drastically I’ll add) shifted into this ending. I can only theorise that Isayama changed his original ending along the way to please editors and readers in different ways. In interviews past, he has completely contradicted things he has said about the manga and its ending with what he has produced in the final chapter. When you look at it from a marketing point of view as a selling point, if Isayama had killed certain characters like “Levi” for example or left the ending dark as it possibly could have been (something I wouldn’t have put past yams to do) it would be bad from a marketing point given the likes of Levi is the targeted favourite of the series (even with being a side character) and editors would heavily warn him of this.

People are saying that it’s Isayama’s story and editors won’t have influence - you’d be heavily surprised how much the editing team can have influence, especially when a story of this magnitude becomes so popular. I do think in ways, Isayama gave up. As an artist even myself, its very abundantly clear when a fellow creative loses drive and how the concept of something becoming popular can influence you to become bored and look for a way out. Hence, the clear signs of the story coming out as rushed, its all there, the loss of continuity, the holes in plot and even though Isayama’s art can be inconsistently coherent - some parts of the past few chapters weren’t at the full potential we saw previously. We watched him get better to suddenly somehow revert? That to me seems like a creator who had just had enough and maybe in the end chose to veer off his original plan.

Alas! As I said, I will always love Shingeki no Kyojin despite its ending and loose ties, it holds a place in my heart and has been a favourite of mine since my school days. Being an adult now In her 20’s and experiencing the many troubles of what its like to be human and a creative can sympathise with the struggles and stress Isayama would have been under all these years as his manga gradually became the phenomenon it is now. As it is our favourite characters time to rest and move on, it is his also. Although the story is not where I and many others hoped it would go, I still thank him massively for giving me characters like Eren Jaeger, Levi Ackerman, Mikasa Ackerman, Armin Arlert… the list goes on. Thank you for embodying why Eren was my first and last favourite character. Goodbye Shingeki no Kyojin.