Well, that’s everybody of consequence pretty much accounted for. With one notable exception of course, and it’s an important one – but I suppose that’s a revelation that will happen soon enough. We’re reached a nexus point in the story now, and there’s no going back from here for anybody involved. I find myself kind of rooting against everybody at this stage, but I think that’s probably the point.
What Eren decided to do here – kill a bunch of civilians and child soldiers as a political act – is certainly terrorism by any definition of the word. But it’s seemingly very effective in this instance. Willy and his Marleyan accomplices thought he’d get a leg up by willy-ingly sacrificing himself, but he didn’t reckon on just how nihilistic his enemy was (because of course his enemy wasn’t who he thought it was – at least in terms of who he was answering to). And honestly, in the context of this story with its allegorical stench, terrorism is practically a minor misdemeanor.
What seems clear to me is that Eren is basically right in one sense – neither side in this conflict deserves to prevail. You have to pretend you slept through history class (or have actually done so) and that your moral compass is broken not to be horrified by the implications of that, but in the context of this story it’s an undeniable fact. The Marleyans and their fascist system are clearly rotten to the core, but are the Paradisians any better? Eren doesn’t seem to believe so and I can’t see any reason to disagree with him.
There are individual good people on both sides here, to be sure, but they’re pretty much chum at this point. Watching the War Hammer and the Attack titan go at it it’s hard not to draw the conclusion that the world would be better off without any of them. There are still many questions about what Eren’s endgame is, but the broad shape of it is becoming clear. And while it nominally seems to make him the final boss of this series, I’m not sure there’s any reason to root for him to fail.
It’s worth noting that to me at least, MAPPA seems to be doing a pretty good job with the action sequences and in fact, with the visuals generally (I’d even argue that the cinematography may have kicked up a notch). I’m not someone so vested in the series emotionally as to be horrified if it were otherwise, but I don’t see a huge dropoff here – the last two episodes have looked pretty damn good, in fact.
ibtachi
January 18, 2021 at 11:35 pmNot going to lie this episode was deeply uncomfortable viewing for someone who spent a good chunk of my childhood in a country where terror attacks were rampant.
Putting reality aside for a moment — credit where credit is due, MAPPA did an effective job portraying Eren’s attack and it’s aftermath as harrowing (rightly so). If its a “pox on both your houses” that we’re getting, then I’m thankful that MAPPA seems committed to showing us a compelling argument for why escalation into mutually assured destruction might be the best outcome for this world.
Derrick
January 18, 2021 at 11:47 pmit’s scary how violence begets violence, reinforcing despair and animalistic mentality.
Orion Taylor
January 19, 2021 at 4:49 amAs a character, I like post-timeskip Eren more than pre-timeskip Eren. He’s not nearly as annoying as he used to be. This episode, he was able to calmly analyze the situation and immediately pinpoint the warhammer titan’s weakness. He goes straight for the jugular, not even letting Lady Tybur complete her transformation before launching an attack. He has the conviction to stick to his uncompromising principles, no matter the cost. Post-timeskip Eren is kind of a badass.
It really sucks then, that this narrative presents the false dichotomy of “kill or be killed”, in an attempt to color an act which is very clearly evil as some shade of morally gray. Eren just murdered a bunch of innocent bystanders in cold blood. In any other narrative, there would be no question that he is the villain. Here, however, this act is one of calculated necessity: a preemptive strike to cripple the enemy’s strength before they can assemble the forces of the world to exterminate the protagonists. Last episode, Eren even waited to hear how the crowd would respond to Willy’s speech, as if to give them an opportunity to back out of the conflict before doing what he felt was necessary. “What Eren did is unforgivable… but he had no other reasonable alternative”: Isayama wants to have his cake and eat it too.
Guardian Enzo
January 19, 2021 at 7:41 amRick Steves (it seems surprising but it isn’t, really) has a very interesting documentary on fascism in Europe where he gives a definition of what fascism is. It really fits with Isyama’s worldview to a T, like it or not. This kill or be killed mindset is a big part of it.
Miyu Fan
January 19, 2021 at 7:08 amYeah I don’t understand the animation complaints because I thought it was fine. And if people want to complain how they adapted panel by panel I’m pretty sure WIT Studio did the same for the last seasons too. What did the fans expect from MAPPA who juggling a lot of big series at the same time, ufotable level of animation?
Anyway AoT has always been enjoyable when it’s focused on the journey, but it’s the endgame that always disappointing.
Guardian Enzo
January 19, 2021 at 7:43 amEspecially when you consider that Isayama has been writing the manga as a storyboard for the anime for years, quite openly. As you said Wit adopted the same practices.