Am I going to be the one defending Shingeki no Kyoujin? What a role reversal that would be… But I’m sort of feeling it. I’m seeing a lot of folks dumping on this episode for its outrageousness but I look at it this way. If you’ve stuck with Attack on Titan this long, is it really copasetic to hold it to that standard now? I’m not one of the hard-core fans who think Isayama is some kind of modern Shakespeare or geopolitics genius, but I know that the bombast and sheer silliness is part of why this series is fun. When it’s fun, that is.
So as to what went on this week, it had the subtlety of a sledgehammer (again, see above) but I think it sort of fits with where we are in the story right now. All the distorted facepulls were a bit much at times, and there were a couple of moments when the backgrounds went over all MAPPA for a second. But this was pretty much in situ as far as I can tell. The only thing that was a bit off was Magath’s soliloquy after almost killing Yelena – that felt as out of character as Hange’s last week (well, almost).
Apart from that, I thought this all felt just about right. Naturally the scouts would want to pull off this operation without killing their friends in the process. Naturally everyone else would think that was pretty much impossible. It’s not easy either way – they have the liberate the Azumabito (naturally the Japanese are the only ones smart enough to get the flying boat in the air) and the airplane (well, that’s basically what it is and “flying boat” sounds kinds dumb) from under Floch’s nose. The big bone of contention I could see here was whether the Marleyans would be willing to give the scouts a chance to do this bloodlessly.
Once again the dynamic between Armin and Annie is one of the most interesting elements of AoT. Annie has a right to be a little salty, since it was Armin and his fertile brain that got her frozen for four years. But she also knows Armin is a man of convictions, and does have a way with Quixotic plans. So I could see her pushing to let him take his shot, as hopeless as it might seem. I was also OK with the cadet foursome being unwilling to let Team Marley do the dirty work while they stayed behind with the children (who’ve been sadly sidelined from the action for the moment).
So the good guys gave it a go. Armin came up with a plan, they tried it, it failed. Certainly getting shot multiple times is no fun even for a titan-holder like Armin, and putting bullets through guys he grew up with is brutal for Connie. But saving the world is a pretty big deal, so clean hands are probably not one of the options on the table. There’s a lot of moral ambiguity in this story needless to say, but it’s pretty obvious that Floch is not under that umbrella – he’s a sociopath and to be opposed at any and all times. Things have moved past the point where doing things the right way is possible – now it’s just a matter of trying to execute the least worst option.
Simone
March 14, 2022 at 11:21 pmWas there really a bad reaction? I haven’t seen anything specific – but then again, both in the manga and I suppose now in the anime fandom there seems to be a group that simply dislikes everything in this part of this story because they disagree with the core idea that Eldians have ANY moral duty towards the rest of the world.
Honestly I find Magath’s speech way more out of character than Hange’s. Not necessarily in the content, dude’s gotta have THAT realization at some point, but in the words and the degree of humbleness it displayed. I’d peg him more down as a “harrumph, all right, guess I gotta give you guys some credit” type at best.
About giving a shot to the deception attempt by Armin: it’s true that the Marleyans don’t have much reason to care about the Jaegerist cadets, but there’s no scenario in which avoiding a fight entirely isn’t better than having to take the risks associated with it. Had it worked, it would have been as smooth, fast and safe for everyone involved as possible. Even though they have more firepower, the risk of both having someone killed and having the totally-not-an-airplane blown up is a lot higher if a fight erupts.
sonicsenryaku
March 15, 2022 at 12:40 amAgreed; Now Mageth’s speech, that’s a great example someone is speaking/acting out of character because the plot needs to speed them there. Like you said, his general personality has always had a scrooge-like demeanor, even when he inoccassionally did something nice. Then literally last week, he was as bigoted as one can possibly get, and now he’s all sincere and humble in his articulation?? That’s a bit of a leap, unlike Hange whose conscientiousness for bigger things beyond her and her unwillingness to initially commit war against Marley if it meant risking innocent people has been demonstrated as being a part of her character
Marty
March 15, 2022 at 1:34 amI remember hearing about manga fans being angry over something near the end of the arc, but I would be surprised if of all things NOW is the time for salt.
For all the shit I give SnK, I will give credit where its due. SnK and GoT both kind of teased an apocalyptic event as an undercurrent to the political machinations in the forefront.
While I think GOT (at its best, and ASoIF in its entirety) handled the politics far better, SnK actually delivered in its Promise of an “everyone is threatened” cataclysmic event in the form of the Rumbling, unlike the 1-episode disappointment that was The Long Night.
Stewart
March 15, 2022 at 2:22 amMagath giving a big speech like that is indeed out of character and his full on change is definitely rushed but he is really desperate now. He had just heard that the rumbling reached Marely and was already destroying cities. Also his speech implied he was behaving the way he did last episode because if he accepted that the “island devils” aren’t evil then he has to admit that he’s at least partly to blame for the rumbling as the head of Marely’s military if not the country after Willy and the rest of brass was killed by Eren. Even then he had a moment of remorse when he saw Gabi crying and she’s who looks up at right before his speech. Previously he had shown some awareness that Marely methods was flawed as he told Willy that they were just as much devils as the Eldains are ,criticized Marely’s self destructive conquering ways with him. We could’ve more or less reached this development believable if Isayama hadn’t been trying to end the manga so quickly.
sonicsenryaku
March 15, 2022 at 3:49 amOh definitely; the pieces leading to the logical conclusion of Magath’s development have been vaguely hinted at; even the inoccasional nice things I mentioned in my comment above are in reference to the moments of genuine concern Magath shows for Gabi at times and the conscience he seems to have for the way Marley has handled things over the years. However, Magath’s major character flaw is his inability to overcome his pride (pride is a recurrent theme for him it seems); to admit to himself that he’s been going about things the wrong way and has failed many times to outgrow his bigotry. For his speech this ep to not feel a bit out of character (content of what he said isn’t the problem here) we as the audience would need to see in a meaningful way (subtle or direct), the catalyst responsible for Magath overcoming this character flaw and how the results it all would lead him into making the speech as humbly has he did. The catalyst leading to his speech just isn’t apparent or conveyed meaningful enough, so it feels a bit out of character even though it makes sense for him to get to this point given the bread crumbs laid out. One could argue the camping conversation did eventually get to him and that it served as the catalyst, but there isn’t enough there from last week’s ep to substantiate the change (again, the catalyst should be communicated in a meaningful way), and we’re not given enough self-reflection from him this week to see if the camp conversation resonated in some fashion, hence the feeling of narrative character disconnect in Magath’s delivery.
Like you said, it kind of gives off the vibe that Isayama is trying to wrap up a few threads quickly to get to the end. The Connie conflict two weeks ago with trying to bring back his mom was wrapped up quickly as well, but that at least made sense to expedite the conclusion of this conflict given how in-the-moment it was for Connie to kidnap Falco, the fact we as the audience visibly see him struggling with his decision to sacrifice Falco, and the fact that we also know how much Connie cares about his friends. All Connie would need to snap out of his poor decision-making is the realization of where the path was leading him. Once Connie saw his decision to do something morally wrong was going to come at the cost of his friend, he just couldn’t do it. It’s not like Connie couldn’t see he was wrong beforehand, but realizing Armin was willing to sacrifice his life to stop him from fucking things up was the quick reality check he needed; at that point he knew things had truly got out of hand. Sometimes situations in life don’t require drawn-out resolutions or pontificating, and Connie’s dilemma was an example of when wrapping things up quickly ends up being an effective writing tool: it’s in character, makes sense, and continues the story on to its logical path
Guardian Enzo
March 15, 2022 at 7:45 amWhy was Isa trying to end the manga so quickly? What was the rush?
sonicsenryaku
March 15, 2022 at 8:49 amI imagine it’s the same reason most Mangaka in this industry come to after working on a series for years upon years (for Isa he’d been working on AoT for 10+ years at the point of the manga’s ending). As much as you love your work, sometimes being at it for that long burns you out and you kinda want to take a break and/or move on to a new work. I imagine Isa had covered most of the big moments he wanted to draw and felt it was time for the series to end, but perhaps he expedited things a little bit when AoT was in its finally year of publication. I mean, I thought this ep was good and mostly paced well, but I guess we’ll see if there are any real signs of rushing in future eps.
Stewart
March 15, 2022 at 10:07 amBased on comments he made around the time these chapters were coming out in the manga and after the ending he was just tried after writing it for 11 years. While you can see some signs of that in these episodes( how fast the formation of the alliance happened,Magath’s quick change etc)it isn’t that big a deal until the ending itself. It has big revels that aren’t given the proper weight because we just move to the next one and a few things that were just not explained clearly enough and left some people confused. Isayama has admitted he didnt execute the ending as well as he should’ve but he stands by the themes and plot points in it just not how he wrote it. I was hoping the anime would expand on but if we get a movie finale that’s unlikely
It’s been confirmed this part ends with chapter 130 which would leave a movie with 9 chapters to left to cram. I don’t think it’s a GoT bad level ending though( there are some things in it I do like) and it can be improved some with just clearer and better dialogue.
Guardian Enzo
March 15, 2022 at 10:13 amI mean, Isayama is basically a sloppy writer so that sort of fits with the underlying trend. I’ve always thought AoT plays a lot more like a LN than a manga in some ways, and this fits that impression.
sonicsenryaku
March 15, 2022 at 1:57 pmWow; that’s pretty humble of Isayama to admit that; whatever the end was, I hope to see it polished up if he did indeed fumble it. All in all, I still think we’re heading in a pretty good direction. Even the Magath stuff I thought still worked, even if it did feel a bit out of character the way the speech was delivered. I think the nature of the speech speaks well to his growth and has a narrative punch to it, but I would have liked to seen the realization be nurtured a bit more before showing him present himself so respectfully to people he couldn’t have given two shits about insulting last week, whether or not the cause of it was him deflecting his own guilt.
If a movie is what we’re getting to wrap things up then bring it on; I dig anime films, both for what they bring to the medium and how they serve as a way to ease the burdens of a shitty production schedule even if movie productions aren’t exempt from awful scheduling. The sakugabooru blog wrote an excellent piece a few years back on production issues in the anime industry and how film releases are being used as a way to kind of assuage those pesky problems. I know the wait might be gruesome for some fans, but I kinda dig how film finales leave a certain ephemeral impression on a series overall quality when nailed just right. The disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya is one of my favorite films of all time (directed by arguably the best director who was working at kyoani before that unfortunate arson attack; Yasuhiro Takemoto may you rest in peace) and its an example of a film whose quality feels so emblematic to what the series was and is. It felt conclusive without necessarily being the conclusion of the series, bringing a gravitas to the narrative that in retrospect, only felt possible in movie format. There’s a major benefit for even fans to have an AoT movie, even with the wait. But who knows, maybe we might get OVA’s instead. Only the future will tell
Marty
March 15, 2022 at 11:07 amThis talk about writer burnout honestly makes Oda and One Piece that much more impressive in retrospect. Say what u will about the story, but I don’t think anyone can doubt the passion and creativity are still going strong 20+ years into the publication.
I’m assuming that’s one of the reasons so many Shounen writers are opting for relatively shorter stories nowadays, but it doesn’t feel like that’s the case for Oda.
sonicsenryaku
March 15, 2022 at 12:05 pmOda eats, breathes, and sleeps one piece and has made no qualms about admitting that. The man is constantly in his writing chair, probably on account to his iron will and balls of steel weighing him down to it. Dude couldn’t leave his writing desk even if he wanted to
Guardian Enzo
March 15, 2022 at 12:37 pmAnd I don’t blame newer mangaka for wanting something different for their lives.
Bakuman, if anything, underplayed the mental and physical strain a weekly serialization puts on a mangaka – much less one who does both the story and art.
Stewart
March 16, 2022 at 2:34 amIsayama acually is humble and has admitted to his shortcomings as a writer serval times. The direction it went in wasn’t the problem. The execution was just sloppy but it can be improved. There is definitely nothing wrong with anime moves and a movie is definitely better in some ways. There are some scenes in chapter 131 that would probably lose a bit of the impact if they were censored and the final battle will probably be easier to animated that way. I just hope it’s a long enough movie so that the last nine chapters aren’t rushed though. Aot chapters are long and the last five episodes have just adapted one chapter each( which is actually a good pace imo).
Marty
March 16, 2022 at 2:44 amUnless it’s a 2:30-3 Hrs. Juggernaut, I doubt things won’t get rushed. As rare as anime films are to be that length, I feel SnK would be the ONE genre they could do that for, if only to give it the BANG ending they would want a decades-long anime production of this magnitude.
sonicsenryaku
March 16, 2022 at 11:14 amWhile it is rare, if the production feels like the length is necessary to tell the story in its most complete form, then there’s a chance it could happen. To use the example again, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya was a large LN and needed the 2hr and 40 min runtime to tell the entire thing. I imagine if the production committee thinks it would make the most money, they’d probably be cool with supporting a nearly 3 hr AoT movie. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see