#serumbowl

[outrageousandinevitable]

rewatching aot and am heartbroken during the serumbowl because Mikasa and Eren being emotional was bringing Armin back while Levi being emotional was letting Erwin rest.

[amandabe11man]

we finished season 4 of the x-files now and with THAT type of cliffhanger/plot twist-thing it's a good thing we weren't old enough to follow the show as it came out back then. hell, for those watching the show "in real time" so to say, they didn't know that it would go on for several more seasons beyond that point. to them, mulder might've actually continued being dead, OR the show could've been cancelled or something and he would've stayed dead too.

yeah it's decades too late but anyway, to all the x-philes (heh) of old: I'm sorry you had to go on thinking that mulder was dead for a while back then. but you made it. I'm proud of you <3

[beautifully-imperfections]

Did Bertoldt and Erwin have to die for this?

[moonspirit]

i know how u feel about the whole “who shoulda been picked armin or erwin” but consider this..

erwin in the black uniform.. yes.. i admit it.. i think erwin should’ve been chosen.. ✊😔

Serumbowl 2.0 ft uniforms?!!!

...

Listen, listen-

They all looked too lethal in the all-black fits. I agree. All of them. The new uniforms were dangerous for our pure innocent eyes.

But.

If you're trying to get me to choose between Erwin-Commander-Eyebrows-Smith-in-black-turtleneck and Armin-sof-voice-sexy-new-haircut-Arlert-in-black-turtlelneck...

Then the latter would win 😔 My mind's been made up on this since 1996.

[lenok993]

I've just realised one thing or get insight wow i'm slowpoke Mikasa was crying during serumbowl scene right? That means her tears were falling on Levi maybe even on Levi's face. Isayama didn't draw it, WIT didn't animate this detail. But thanks to Newton's law of universal gravitation it's fact

I'M

[onigiri-dorkk]

Today I wrote for—wait for it—7 HOURS. 😭

I feel so proud of myself especially after not being able to write as much or publish anything since , but also…

…equally not-so-proud for shoving a day of work under the rug 😅 It’s worth it sometimes. Shhhh!!

Here’s a rough WIP snippet of what I worked on today towards my most developed longfic WIP: Mikasa confides in Sasha about Levi being distant post-serumbowl

[warm-starlight]

I mean, his violence might be excessive sometimes, but it's rarely unnecessary

It is most of the times unnecessary. It is a learned behavior of course, but still.

He scared Annie into calling other titans to her by threatening horrible torture to her.

He terrified Historia by being violent completely unnecessarily and earned his squad's mistrust

He unnecessarily tortured that Mp guy and still didn't get any info on where Eren and Historia were, while Hange figured it out after reading a book, zero violence involved.

He hit Eren unnecessarily during serumbowl, making Mikasa jump him and escalating the situation.

He tortured Zeke unnecessarily and as a result got himself blown up and crippled.

[momtaku]

Interesting. But what about the short story where Levi sees Erwin in a dream, where he asks him whether he picked Armin "because he was more beneficial to humanity" It always felt like the fans being gaslighted to believe something that contradicts logic and reality, and thus adhering to the shonen agenda of everything being twisted for the sake of the main characters. It bothers me a lot tbh. And yes, Serumbowl in 2023. I'm still not over it.

I'll link to the story as @tsuki-no-ura translated it. “Goodnight. Sweet dreams, dear. Act II: Levi“ came out in the fall of 2019. In story terms, Levi had been exploded, the rumbling had just starting and Eren was off to Pathsland with Zeke. Because the smartpass story was so Armin-centric, I remember people thinking that perhaps it was foreshadowing that Armin would have a pivotal role in saving humanity. Tsuki can explain more about the style it was written in, but I get the feeling it was stranger than most. 

Context wise, as you mentioned, it involves a dream where Erwin expresses concern that he’d disappointed Levi and Levi thus chose Armin to bring hope to humanity. 

As soon as Levi was back in the manga and remained clearly focused on Erwin, people stopped talking about the smartpass story. Unless Isayama writes the 16 pages or so he tossed about in France, chapter 136 and 139 are the final authority on Levi’s decision. While Levi supported the Survey Corps and Armin, his final tearful vision of Erwin and the vets says it all.

Thanks for the ask!

[maoam]

Do you like Eremika? I do acknowledge that isayama very much did intended that ship, but i think them as a romantic pair is pretty bland and I personally don’t get the appeal. (But I feel like alot of girls self insert on mikasa and wish to get the guy) Eremika is no way near as bad as NH or SS though of coarse, at least Eren and Mikasa do view each other as someone important.

And just saying while i don’t hate these ships I’m not an eremin shipper or an erehisu shipper either. When it comes to Snk I honestly enjoyed yumihisu and eruri the most, though I’m not like a crazy shipper for them either.

I know this ask is mainly about EM but I will also address EA, EH and some of my issues about the last part of the story. Even with the possibility that one angry snk anon will come yelling at me in my inbox.

I didn't analyze snk the way I did Naruto, and honestly after the serumbowl I lost some interest in the story. I found the Marley arc exhausting despite the fact the Reiner stuff was interesting and it didn't help you had to wait one month to get another chapter that was just another "Gabi and co." fest. But it's only later I started to think it was truly a pretty bad move to introduce 15 new characters in the last part of the story. People followed the main cast, you should focus on giving the main cast satisfying conclusions instead of introducing a bunch of new characters. He already had Marley characters people were interested in and cared about, Reiner, Bertolt and Annie. But he let down all of them.

I never thought EM was particularly romantic on Eren's side, my idea was if it happens it's because he's used to her being around and as a not very romantic guy he'll settle for her. I don’t at all relate to the EM shippers who compare them to Jack/Rose from Titanic (why?) but I didn’t mind it. So I tried to make peace with it after the ending, and find good sides to it. But the more I looked at the last arc the more issues I found. I see sometimes people say Mikasa's character was ruined, but in my opinion Eren, Armin, Reiner, Historia and Annie got worse endings. Mikasa was basically the same she had always been, good in battles but very Eren centric character with no goals of her own. Meanwhile characters like Armin just declined if you compare their writing to how they were written pre-timeskip.

As you said EM is better than SS/NH because the latter two barely have any connection. The issue with EM is they admittedly have no development. While Eren always cared about Mikasa and Armin and tried to protect them from harm since they were his friends, Eren and Mikasa's relationship didn't develop much. The only development they have on Eren's side is that Eren isn't as harsh towards Mikasa after joining the survey corps. The only chapters were you can argue for romance are 50, 123 and 139. Chapter 50 can seem romantic because Mikasa tries to kiss Eren but Eren dodges it and tells her he will wrap the scarf around her. But the scarf represents the moment when Eren invited Mikasa to join his family. As for chapter 123, it can seem as romantic, but the problem is it should have had build up to justify it as a romantic moment. As in the ship should have developed from Eren’s side already before so this could be seen as believable from a romantic point of view. Some people say Eren asked Mikasa what he did to see if the future can be changed, and this explanation makes much more sense, especially considering he was clearly focused on the people he’d soon kill and was crying because of that before Mikasa called out to him.

As for EA and EH, I think it’s possible Isayama is a multishipper. We know he has said seeing doujinshis of his series makes him happy, but we don’t know what doujinshis. There seems to have been funny references to some ships couple times:

This fake preview Isayama drew. Wait Eren’s words remind of something else...

Lol. I find this rude to the Eremin shippers. Isayama didn’t develop Aru/ani AT ALL and then just ripped off his old fake preview to make this awkward “ship moment”? Isayama also mentioned in a Q&A that other cadets think Eren and Armin are “too close”.

There’s also the material where Historia said she will go to the snk exhibition with her boyfriend (and she specifically said boyfriend) and then she is seen with Eren in the merry-go-round. It’s just oddly shippy. I’m not arguing for how romantic these ships are in the manga, I’m just saying Isayama has a weird way of giving this type of ship tease.

Anyway the ending is disappointing in many ways and I find it disappointing how EM shippers defend it so much. Isayama talked so much about how he wanted to give Mikasa something else than just have her revolve around Eren, yet he didn’t do that in the end. Even in the last arc she is revolving around Eren. Historia was completely sidelined and her arc had no conclusion no matter what people claim. Even when Isayama claimed she is one of the needed characters and put on her on the same level as Eren and Armin in an interview. Eren’s character too was just retconned.

I said it even before I criticised EM that EM/SS both attract shippers who want their fave to get what they want, and that it bothered me. So I completely understand what you’re saying. EM does look nice in fanarts, but the conclusion is less than satisfactory. I try to not get my hopes up even if some people are hyping up a possible anime only ending.

[cosmicjoke]

I mean, he kind of contributed the same as everyone else? Even Jean and Connie contributed to saving humanity. Everyone did in their own way. The problem with Armin is that he did a lot more pre time skip (possibly merely preparing for the serumbowl?) and kind of was presented in a way that made it seem he would do way more exceptional things?

Like what?

[dedicateyourmemes]

somewhere, in an alternate universe

[andrrww]

Hi! My first time on tumblr. I’m promoting this fanfic. Sorry if I’m not doing it correctly, because really I don’t what I’m doing. I will work on it with time!

AO3

FanFiction

        ''Professor... How do we know, that there are no more humans, beyond the walls...?'' The syringe almost ended up on the floor, and the one holding it, covered in blood, was immobilized by the question of his dying commander.          'Why do you always have to be so stubborn?' Levi thought. The memories of the first time they met were vividly imposed in front of his gaze. Nothing else could be heard after the battle, yet he did hear his voice from their shared past. It echoed in his mind, but no word was understood. And he tried to grasp its meaning, hypnotized by it, with even his gaze lost in its sounds.          ''If only you had stayed...'' He then was snapped from his daydream by an intense smell. It was that of a dying boy who layed on top of the same roof they were on. It emanated from his scorched skin and flesh. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get used to the stench. And if it were just to make it stop, he would use the serum to heal him. But he couldn't. Because he was just like them. Because he simply cared about something too. Because, for him, they could never be the same. Almost instinctively, he lunged for Erwin's raised arm, gripping it tightly, to inject him with the serum.          ''Just live.''

[micia-posts-stuff]

hey, what kind of relationship did Erwin and Hange share? I just saw this tweet, it said that “Hange never understood him, wanted to give the serum to him and bring him back for another round unlike Levi who loved him so dearly that he chose him over humanity’s need” I always thought that Hange just gave more priority to what humanity needed at that time, just like she was supposed to as a scout, and she was later okay with him not getting the serum because she trusted Levi’s decision. How do you interpret this?

Erwin was Hanji's friend, so of course she wanted to bring him back to life, Levi wanted to bring him back to life too at the beginning, but he changed idea because of some information that Hanji couldn't know because Erwin never told her. And they also both thought the charismatic commander was more useful from humanity, but again Levi knew information that made him change his mind.

[warm-starlight]

I have seen a lot of erur!s say that serumbowl was inspired by some Yuri movie and Isayama talked about this on his blog the day ANSWERS (2016 guidebook) was released. He did post about a scene he drew being similar to this Yuri movie but it seems that it was actually from the School Castes AU.

They always make up shit and lie, so i am not surprised at all.

[jaegerbroshoe]

I find it disturbing that people think Levi would adopt Gabi when she literally killed someone from his squad. Someone he fought alongside with for years and cared for. Zeke killed Erwin and almost the entire corp in RTS and Levi never forgave him. Why would he forgive Gabi? I acknowledge, of course, that Levi had a very different relationship with Erwin than his squad, but I find it very hard to believe that he didn't care about Sasha's death whatsoever.

Well, that’s exactly why it doesn’t make sense how the 104th hold a grudge against Zeke only. If you look at their interactions, they’ve practically forgiven the rest of the Warriors despite the fact that they’ve all (minus Falco) had a hand in killing their loved ones/comrades.

In terms of Levi specifically, I don’t think he’d adopt Gabi, but I never got the impression that he even held a grudge against her for killing Sasha. After all, ever since serumbowl, all he’s done is think about avenging ErwinErwinErwin. Everyone else has just been a passing thought.

P.S. I honest to God hope Levi does not adopt any kid. He’s not fit to be a parental figure given his violent streak. He needs to learn how to communicate first.