#[ nukes the rest of the previous arc and the last few chapters ]

[avinhd15stuff]

Week 4 - Attack on Titan 4x9 + Chapter 137, MHA chapter 301

Alright, this week gonna be a little different cause I’m saving the MHA portion for the end. First I’ll discuss the newest episode of the anime, then discuss the new chapter. 

First off, the new episode of the Attack on Titan anime continues the streak of having a really good adaptation of the manga. We’re now entering what I call the “Manbun Eren” portion of the show, mainly due to his hairstyle and because this section is when he has complete dominance over the story, despite not being featured much in the manga. (As an aside I call the Marley invasion arc the “Hobo Eren” era because he looks kinda like one, and these descriptions come from reddit.) In this episode we see the reaction of the Scouts to Sasha’s death with Mikasa’s standing out the most to me. A bunch of the episode is flashback to detail how the Liberio raid was planned and how Zeke began working with Paradis. It then shows how Eren and Zeke are detained on the Island, the former because he technically was disobeying orders, the latter cause they’re being cautious. Lastly we see that the entire episode was being narrated by Armin to none other than Annie who we last saw in action back in Season 1. We also see the introduction of new characters like Yelena and Nicolo, Marleyans who were sent to the island and joined the Eldian side there. I feel like this episode is a good start to the post invasion arc and characterizes the new Marleyans and Eldians well. Overall there is less CG this time (with the exception of Zeke’s prison in the forest I didnt catch much) which is always a plus in this medium. I look forward to next episode

Now, onto the new chapter of Attack on titan, chapter 137. I honestly had mixed feelings about this chapter when it released on Tuesday, however I feel that I like it better after a few days. The chapter starts of with Armin talking to Zeke in Paths while he is making sandcastles. This sets up the exposition for how titans came to be and what Paths is. Zeke then goes on to explain that people are neither dead or alive while in Paths and that people (so far only titan shifters have come) who are dead in the real world can appear and talk in Paths. Armin and Zeke then use this fact to basically revive the old titan shifters and turn the tide of battle instantly against Eren and the founder Ymir. Zeke pops out from the fouding titan, discovers the meaning of life, then gets decapitated by Levi, stopping the Rumbling. During this commotion, Gabi free’s Armin from the Okapi titan with her aimbot sniping, Jean saves Pieck from the previous Warhammer titan (Lara Tybur, we got her name in the anime) and then reconnects the bombs on Eren’s neck and detonates them, causing Eren’s Titan’s head to fall of and the founding titan’s orignial form to come out to reattach it. However Reiner then grabs it in a hold using the Armored Titan and the Scouts Retreat on the back of Falco’s Flying (technically jaw) titan. Armin then releases the Collosal Nuke transformation to destroy the founding Titan’s real body as well as Eren himself, as the rest of the Scouts watch. 

Honestly, this felt like the biggest asspull I’ve seen other than the end to each Jojo part when I read it the first time. (Araki-sensei takes the cake for those, like the end to each part can be described as one of those play fights you had as a kid where you try to one up each other, ESPECIALLY the end to Part 2.) Now that its been out for a couple days, it still seems a bit intense but the whole revive the dead part is the only part that wasn’t foreshadowed much in the story. Everything else that happened was either directly part of the Scout’s plans or was heavily teased earlier. I am personally looking forward to how Isayama is going to wrap up the story in the next 2 chapters. 

Lastly onto the MHA chapter 301. This chapter provides some background for the Todoroki family dynamic, as well as providing more of Toya Todoroki’s story. The chapter starts with the marriage between Enji and Rei, and how Endeavor’s passion for beating All might lead to the quirk marriage. It then shows how Enji gave up on Toya when it was discovered that while his fire quirk is stronger than Endeavor’s his body’s constitution cannot handle the heat and he burns himself. However, Toya inherited the will to pass All Might and was pushing endeavor to keep training him even though Endeavor refused to protect Toya, actively pushing him away from being a hero. He went on to have Fuyumi and Natsuo in order to discourage Toya but that didnt work, however when the “perfect” child Shoto was born and Endeavor focused more on him Toya tries to get Endeavors attention back, but finally snaps. At the end of the chapter he attacks the rest of the family with his flames in a cliffhanger. I liked this chapter as we get to see more of Toya’s perspective of the family as well as see character development for Enji as well. The next chapter appears to be a continuation of this one and the chances for a timeskip happening soon are low. Honestly after this todoroki mini arc, i expect about 3-5 more chapters before the chance of a timeskip would happen. 

Overall this week was big on exposition and character development in both series as well as in the anime and manga for SNK. The next chapter of MHA is next friday, the next episode of Attack on Titan is tomorrow, and the penultimate chapter for SNK is in early march.