#“but platonic relationship-!” SHUT UUUUUP

[jennrypan]

Man. Frenchie has two hands.

And both should be held by Kimiko cuz I'm indifferent to the random guy-- like maybe I was zoned out but they're scenes were just sudden? Like Frenchies only attracted to him but not in love ya know?

Like I love Bi Frenchie but..that should be old news, I thought we knew he was bi--

But I don't really..care for the guy?? Like he popped up and just eh??

[telli1206]

Telli, hello!! I love youuu 💖 For the ask game: C-A-R-L-O-S our beloved! 😘💕 (impossible to resist with an alphabet for choices jdkagjksdg)

Shut uuuuup why are you so cute?? As if I could love you anymore and then you do cute shit like this and make me anyway 💞

C - A ship you have never liked and probably never will.

Ugh, Harry/Jay. 100% with my whole heart. They just don't sit right with me. It's like a good twin/evil twin hooking up with each other, if that makes sense? They're too much alike that it makes it weird. I can't even handle them as exes. They're just antagonists to each other, and not in a flirty/sexy way. They give me the icks together 🤢

A - Ships that you currently like a lot. (They don’t have to be OTPs because not everyone has OTPs.) Friendships, pairings, threesomes, etc. are allowed.

Jaylos/Malvie always, but I answered that for @moorsgrimhilde so I'll add a few new ones here. Platonic: Carvie are the most precious babies ever together, so I obviously love them. Romantic: The Core Four. Their dynamic together is unbeatable.

R - Which friendship/platonic relationship is your favorite in fandom?

I still say Jal for this one. I love how well they play off of each other with their tough exteriors and soft, gooey insides. They care about and want to protect each other but go to hell and back trying to hide it from the other. And their banter is so fun to write. I love them.

L - Say something genuinely nice about a character who isn’t one of your faves. (Characters you’re neutral about are fair game, as are characters you merely dislike. Characters that you absolutely loathe with the fire of ten thousand suns are exempt, as there is no point in giving yourself an aneurysm over a character that you hate.)

There's no one I really hate, per se, but I'm pretty meh about Chad. I have to say though, he was a great physical comedian in the movie, with his actions and facial expressions, so he's very entertaining to throw into fics just to torment. There's something about messing with Chad that's just too fun to ignore.

O - Choose a song at random. Which ship or character does it remind you of?

I was just listening to Matilda by Harry Styles, and I've never actually thought about this before, but it's very accurate in describing the Core Four. You can't blame them for leaving and growing up, and for them creating their own family that always shows them love. They left their family and found love with each other. And now I'll think of that every time I listen to it 😿💖

S - Show us an example of your personal headcanon (prompts optional but encouraged)

I'll forever believe that Mal loves little self-pampering beauty activities like painting her nails and styling her hair, but she hides behind the idea that she does it for Evie. So of course she ALWAYS suggests it when Evie needs cheering up. And Evie eventually catches on and begs Mal regularly to have spa nights in their room, to which Mal *reluctantly* agrees to every. single. time. 😉

SEND ME A LETTER

[kdtheghostwriter]

On the Outside of Paradise

So, you may be wondering why I start this post with a callback to one of the three good parents in this series. As it turns out, Carla’s request to Mikasa - all these years later - continues to hold a great significance in her life.

This was originally supposed to be solely about the 104th train ride in 108. It wasn’t meant to be a character study but...here we are. Follow me!

The important thing you must remember as you consider the conversation the 104th holds on the future of Paradis and the successor of the Attack Titan is that they are, all of them, still very much teenagers. They are very mature for their age, mostly from necessity and trauma, but there simply is a certain amount of emotional nuance that is hard to grasp at that age.

tl;dr - Feelings are difficult.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

OK, stop right there. Because we could go for ages on the implications of these panels but first, a word on Jean. Your boy and mine. My favorite character in this story. He loves his bff Eren just like the rest of the crew. He’s lived and very literally died with him for seven years. He feels the same way about his teammates. Naturally, when the topic of choosing Eren’s successor comes up, Jean volunteers the only way he knows how: putting over his own greatness, in the same breath criticizing Eren, all while hiding his true noble motive behind a wall of classic Jean bravado. It’s a masterclass of deflection and I love every word.

Then we have The Look. Hm. Everyone has already given their two cents on how they interpret this panel and the subtext therein. All I can say is this: If you view this interaction as merely platonic, or something more serious, or nothing at all, congratulations because you are correct! There’s no one "correct” way to decipher this (outside of confirmation from the author himself) but it is objectively true that this moment was shared amongst the group and not just these two people.

The moment occurs after Eren, in a rare tender moment, forbids his friends from inheriting his Attack Titan so that they can live long, healthy lives. He values them more than anything, tells them this, and finds himself embarrassed for doing so. Feelings are still quite hard.

The significance of the two sharing that moment within the moment has more to do with who they are than what they’re thinking. Eren and Mikasa have a magical relationship. I mean that in the most literal non-shipping way I can manage. You could call them friends, but that short-changes it. You could argue that they love each other, but it’s deeper than that. You would be correct in calling them family, but that doesn’t tell the whole story, either. It’s all kind of a mess, but it’s a mess that’s lasted most of their lives.

My interpretation of The Look is pretty simple when taken in the context. Eren has opened up to his friends and made everything super awkward. Armin diverts the group’s attention away from him but Mikasa pins him down with a sly, knowing look. Ah, so we are your friends after all? to which Eren responds with a Yeah, you’re my friends now shut uuuuup. They have a whole conversation separate from the party without any words. I find that amazing.

Also important to note is that prior to this, the 104th just had a very frank conversation of just how little time Eren has left. Mikasa has come a long way, because instead of brooding over this fact, she allows herself to be happy in the small moment she has with the most important people in her life. It would be easier to be happy about this if it wasn’t just a flashback.

Even if the feelings are romantic - whether or not they are reciprocated in some way - they originate from a place of tragedy. Mikasa’s protectiveness of Eren isn’t merely obsession. It’s duty: tasked to her by a woman she accepted as her mother. Mikasa takes family matters seriously.

This is not unlike another character we know.  A certain someone who fretted himself over his significant other’s whereabouts every waking moment. Someone who cultivated a sometimes professional, highly suggestive relationship with his commanding officer and is still regarded as one of the best characters in the series. Rightfully so! The female soldier, on the other hand, was admonished for deciding to give a damn about the most important people in her life. I wonder why that is? Hm.

It feels weird to say, because we have this conversation anew seemingly every month but... Mikasa is such a subtle character. Honestly one of the best I’ve seen in years, nevermind her gender or lineage. It’s especially subtle when you compare how overt and dramatic her cohorts are at all times.

Krista and then Historia both had a story’s worth of development in back-to-back volumes. She’s hiding her true identity, then she reveals it to her girlfriend, then her girlfriend runs away, then she usurps her father, THEN she becomes Queen! And then she retires to run an orphanage. That’s a lot to happen to a person. And more might happen to her before the story ends, but we’ve seen the major ebbs and flows of her arc.

Mikasa still has major things to do. And a major decision to make.

Connie already propositioned her. Who’s side are you on, Mikasa? Hm? Do you stand with the friends and teammates who have fought by your side for almost a decade? Or do you side with the one person here that takes your friendship for granted and abandons you time and again?

Framed that way, it seems like it should be cut and dry. Maybe it would if we were still dealing with the OG Eren. But we aren’t currently.

We’re dealing with this Eren. More specifically-

This Eren.

I’ve talked before about mental health’s role in the telling of this story. Reiner is Bipolar and suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that has made him suicidal. Eren is often seen talking to himself and is having trouble recognizing dream and reality as no less than four people are screaming in his head telling him how to live his life. The IRL name for this is Schizophrenia. In SnK, Titan Magics are involved but, by definition, this 19-year-old boy is mentally ill.

There are no excuses for Eren’s rash behavior. It is highly doubtful the Survey Corps would have cooked up a plan to abscond with Zeke and/or subvert global war before the Beast Titan’s term expired. However! The Attack Titan going AWOL has now guaranteed a mass conflict. On top of that, Eren rather callously took advantage of his friends’ trust and disregarded their feelings completely. So, what to do with him now?

Connie has already stated his intention. He won’t be this angry for much longer but I still 100% believe him. Armin and Jean are pragmatists and have made their decision already. They don’t want to fight Eren. Like, at all. But they’ve been fighting giants their whole lives and will not hesitate to kill one more just because their closest friend is inside.

Mikasa is the only one left undecided and boy does she not want to decide. But she’ll have to. Isayama has said so several times. In order to reach her full potential, she’ll have to step away from Eren. She’ll have to do it anyway, thanks to Ymir’s Curse. Now, she’ll have to be a lot quicker.

Mikasa Ackerman is the top graduate of the 104th Corps. I have no reason to think she won’t see her duty through as a soldier for the sake of her friends and humanity, but the road to that point will be very difficult.

Too Long; Didn’t Read? The story isn’t over yet. Mikasa has more to do.