#2 i literally hate floch more and more each episode because he makes me so god damn uncomfortable

[yandereshingeki]

not gonna lie armin looked fucking horrifying in todays episode

[tundrainafrica]

Hi Sav! Hope you’re doing well these days. Anyways, I came to ask for your opinion, to which I hope is alright with you as I enjoy your constant analyses on certain matters in SNK, on a controversial take that I arrived after much thinking, debate, and reflection with myself and others on the basis of character writing is that Floch > Hange. [Please note that it isn’t in any intention of mine to spark any debate or spread hate.] (Pt. 1); TBC—

This really ended up much longer than expected, so I’m hiding my answers to all these under ‘Keep Reading’

Thanks for the ask anon. And sorry for the long wait. I mean this is such a big brain ask when I first saw this my brain kinda went on overdrive like do you want a political analysis on AOT? A philosophical analysis? 

And I found myself thinking, really? Am I qualified to do any of those? 

So disclaimer: 

I'm neither a philosophy major nor a political science major nor do I have a master's or a PhD on anything so my analyses of it ever goes into any of those of realms or any realms in general may appear flawed, may actually seem uninformed for people who actually live and breathe the humanities and the soft sciences so heads up for that really. 

I guess this is a heads up as well for people who do read my analyses to take these with a grain of salt. I try my best not to make these sound like a word of god or anything. I'm just dropping my own takes of this based on my own beliefs, personal experiences, my own stock knowledge and an attempt to just make sense of it. And possibly to help others form their own analysis and interpretations? 

(This is a disclaimer for anything I write really.)

Okay first question...

Floch > Hänge Character Development?

No. Sorry I don't agree with that. I'm a Hänge Stan, I hate Floch but after thinking long and hard about this, I don't think I can rate Floch's character to be better written than Hange. I mean the whole basis I’m seeing behind this notion is the fact that Hange’s character path seemed like a mess? 

Which I guess I agree to a degree. There was no path set out for Hange, or the path which was given to Hange didn’t seem what she was meant for anyway from the start. But I did mention before that the nuances of Hange’s character were more subtle compared to others and I still found her development pretty reasonable and I found the way Hange did react to whatever she was doing, the way she was handling it valid.

But do I consider Floch character development or his overall character to be bad? No I don’t. I think Floch does his part to be a well written character too and if you were going to put me in a situation where I did have to pick, I would put them as equals or Floch a little less in my scale of well-written. 

Because I think their arcs and the developments of their characters have so many parallels that I couldn’t help but just deem them as of equal depth? Just in completely different directions? 

Okay, first things first before I go in depth to as to why I consider both their characters well written, let's ask ourselves, what makes a good character? 

I have always been a fan of characters and overarching plots. I think I have had this talk with people multiple times but I have never been a fan of flash fiction or anthologies. If I wanna get into something, I get in hard, I virtually make friends with all of the characters in my head, I write fanfiction, I hc. And I always have to relate so hard to at least one character before I even say I enjoy something. 

And as a consumer of fiction and a simp for the characters more than the actual plotlines at times, I would consider well-written characters to be characters so relatable, those that develop so naturally that they can evoke emotions in readers, they feel real. And what I consider SPECTACULARLY well written characters as those that not just evoke emotions but do do their part to help me reflect on my views on certain topics and help me refine my views to at least make them a little more nuanced and to help keep me informed on other views so at least I can tackle future challengs, problems and situations with a new way of thinking or with a new perspective.

I mean, in the simplest of words, the most well-written characters are those that can teach a lesson and they do it by helping the readers and the audiences walk in their shoes, and they do it by evoking, sympathy, empathy and almost friendly intimacy. 

And of course, all Hange stans agree. Hange has made us feel things. Tbh, Hange’s death literally made me feel like a lost a pet or maybe even a good friend, I did have a hard time getting out of bed for a few days after 132. So Hange, did touch me in ways that other characters didn’t. So that does mean that Hange’s well written? Right? 

Okay then people might ask, then why didn’t you feel the same way for Floch, that means he wasn’t well written right? No. It doesn’t. Floch did his job. He made people angry. He made people seethe. And I think the fact that Floch made people feel so many things even with his very limited screentime and his very underwhelming achievements (yo, the man had to ride on the main protagonists fame to get anywhere), I think he did amazingly to leave his mark. And although he does leave us all seething while rereading 132 and while reflecting on Hange and meta-ing her death. If we even the playing field by considering the disparity in screentime and depth and overall achievements between the two, we have to admit that Floch did evoke emotions in us and he did make us reflect maybe (ON HOW MUCH OF AN ASSHOLE JAEGERISTS ARE...) and he turned out to be a pretty memorable character.  And maybe he is at least, close to the other characters or even Hange or on par at least in the scale of well written. 

And that’s just the emotions. There are also so many things I wanted to point out about both their developments. If we consider the AOT narrative, it is a huge conglomerate and sometimes it does get messy. I mean Yams as like fifty if not a hundred characters he has to give depth to at a time given the overall plot. And the thing is, he did ease into the story the depth of each character incredibly slowly. 

I have been watching AOT since 2013 for example but I never really started writing fanfiction until last year when I managed to get the whole story in one whole binge. I thought about this for a while and I did read a few reviews on just season 1 and a commonality I found among a lot of reviews was the fact that the characters weren’t… engaging? Most were forgettable and faded to the back of EMA and to a degree, Levi. 

I mean, 2013 me was a Levi simp and I shipped him with Petra because I low key wanted to explore the softie in him before I fell off the earth of fangirling coz college happened. Then I did realize, Season 1 did fail to give a lot of characters as much depth and as much exposition compared to the later seasons (for good reason). I think the whole point of season 1 really was to set the tone, set the setting and introduce the characters. 

More relevant to this essay is the depth of Hange’s characters actually, and the first time I did notice it was around season 2 maybe with the appearance of pastor NIck because that was when we started to see her more serious side. And we started to see that maybe she had a genius and a brain which surpassed even her nerdy and crazy titan demeanor. I mean sure, I did know she was a genius and she had to be smart since Season 1 since she was a researcher and that had been touched on multiple times in Season 1 but the fact that she knew how to lead and the fact that she took the reins when pushed comes to shove, that she could become serious and she could still deliver in times like those, cemented her as a more nuanced character I genuinely liked to explore more.

And Hange’s development was incredibly natural, very believable and it did evoke emotions in me (especially with the later episodes). I’m suspecting that the reason people found it ‘messy’ I guess or ‘all-over-the place’ generally was because as I mentioned before, it was subtle. Hange had no one to talk to, Hange wasn’t the type either to give her own exposition right? When has Hange ever talked about herself in the story? When has she ever justified her actions? 

When has anyone actually stopped to explain Hange’s actions. Like I feel like literally, we have had exposition on other characters except Hange, it’s like even the characters take Hange’s actions for granted. And I guess the reason behind it is because Hange has never done anything too questionable to even need a freudian excuse or a justification and if that doesn’t say anything about how kind hearted her character is overall, i dunno anymore man.

And Floch had some good development to, and I think the reason why Floch had that ‘exposition’ which made his overall character arc and the development more ‘clean’ or ‘obvious’ is because Floch was incredibly vocal about it. I mean with Erwin’s death and his actions and his saying ‘only a demon can lead,’ we get a glimpse of Floch’s ideologies from the start. 

This is compared to Hange. As you noticed in early Season 4, Hange never discusses her ideologies. I mean we know she’s kind hearted and we know she does have preferences like ALL other people. All we got from Hange though when Erwin died and Levi picked Armin was… “I would have picked Erwin too.” and during the actual pivotal scene, she had been too busy comforting MIkasa that we never really get indepth crumbs on how Hange would have picked it. 

It was only natural she would because it was more of the strategic option. But do we get a lot  metas on why Hange would pick Erwin? Not enough crumbs to make it worth while besides we have the strategic reason and maybe the ‘he’s our friend’ reason but Hange just never seemed selfish enough to be like that. Anyway, the only time Hange does explicitly mention her dreams after like early season 4 of her just keeping away from reporters, strategizing as a commander and just… being tired was when the survey corps was actually split up. WHen Hange was put in a position where she had to actively say her own ideologies to get whatever people could be on her side and that was in ch. 126, after the forest scene. 

It was as if with the betrayal, she realized she had to more actively hold on to her idealogy to get shit done because she needed to band together with similar thinkers at least who believed the rumbling was wrong. 

Anyway, I believe their developments were incredibly natural and I honestly think these developments were incredibly crucial to the story to show one crucial point on society and human nature as a whole. 

Which brings me to my next point: 

 Was it a deliberate decision by Isayama to create chaos in s4? What purpose (like in the movement of the actual plot because it’s obvious that her role is that of a commander of the SC) does her character arc serve in s4? Just to create the Alliance? To bind together the “opposition force” against Eren? To temporarily keep the commander position warm before Armin takes it?

I want to talk about something. I mean this has been weighing on me for a while and I really think to a degree that whatever I noticed could have just been reaching but whatever, I’m just gonna entertain this possibility now and just never talk about it again. Probably. 

There are parallels between Hange and Floch. There must have been a reason behind the circumstances and most importantly the timeline of their death. They died right after the other. Floch had been the reason for Hange’s eventual sacrifice and after Hange’s sacrifice, the final battle did start right? 

And there was a message Yams wanted to definitely give with the death of the two factions of the survey corps: 

The first thing which I thought of was, the two factions of the survey corps died and they acted like the ‘wings of freedom’ to make the final battle possible and to make the plane fly which is a culmination of the whole build up of what the survey corps was in the first place. 

And if I remember correctly, Hange wore the last cloak. She had been the last one wearing the wings of freedom insygnia when she died. If we look back at everyone else fighting post 132, none of them were wearing anything reminiscent of the old survey corps right? So I couldn’t help but think, with Hange and Floch’s death, the survey corps died with them. And the survey corps and their wings of freedom dream died to get the protagonist and the alliance to fly and fight Eren.

And when I thought about this, I was thinking, Hange and Floch must have represented something much more important for the survey corps. When the survey corps had a common enemy in titans they were united. They had a common goal. They had freedom. And when their enemies are mindless giants, there’s nothing much to reflect on. The main emotion the average soldier would probably feel towards the other is disgust right? The thing is (and this is a fairly common message in AOT) when the enemy becomes humans, it gets a little more complicated. 

And lemme try to explain why I think hate runs much deeper when dealing with a human enemy than a mindless eating giant. Some people would think. “They’re human, why would you hate them more than a mindless eating giant?” 

The most general thinking process I would come up with, when trying to make sense of the hate that humans tend to feel when faced with an other which is also human is this: 

“You eat just like me. You sleep just like me. YOu shit just like me. But why don’t you agree with me? Why are your principles all over the place? Why do you not hold the same ideals close as I do? Aren’t we both human? Aren’t we of the same background? The same species? WHY DON’T YOU AGREE WITH ME?”

And this realization that humans can have beliefs in the whole other side of the spectrum, tends to have people thinking THEN YOU MUST BE PURE EVIL. The thing is, when faced with an unknown creature, humans have a tendency to be more open and more accepting with how one navigates the world. But when their enemy is just like them but just navigates the world so differently, humans just can’t stomach it because it’s like ‘I’m supposed to understand this person because I’m a person too... but I don’t’ and I think that’s generally why hate and why ostracization is just SO much more prevalent in humans. 

And that same hate, possibly fueled flock and the jaegerists further in the first place. And before that, maybe that same thought process did lay out the foundation of hate and for calling the Eldian’s in Paradis the island devils. And to makemy point of ‘the more alike, the more hate they probably feel’ who hates the Eldians more than the… Eldians? Right? 

Anyway, yes this hate only exists because humans have different way on how they choose to navigate their beliefs and how they choose to navigate their lives and it is a huge fuel for hate as mentioned above but now, I want to address another point as a good segue to the whole ‘how did Floch and Hange create this faction in the first place.’ 

The chaos was deliberate but at the same time, it was the most natural progression for whatever shit was going on there. When all they were fighting were titans, there was no idealogy to question there was no Otherworldly creature to reflect on. And the thing is, going back to my thoughts above, they were alike yet they were so different which gave them the best environment for a little political tension. 

I mean to prove my point on how much variety there is in political beliefs and ideologies in this world despite all of us being the same race, lemme just drop a simple political compass quiz as a link for anyone who’s interested. I’m not gonna go in depth into that but yes, I’m pretty sure we’re all familiar with right, left, the liberatarian, conservative and everything in between.

But anyway the point is, people look for different things in any political environment. People look for many different things in leaders. No single leader is going to please everyone. Erwin did get his own fair share of flack because people hated that he was so easily sacrificing his soldiers. Remember in season 1 when the guy called Erwin heartless because he left the body? 

Hange just happened to be on the other side of the spectrum (or maybe she was too moderate. I believe that the far right and the far left have more in common really than moderates vs radicals)

Maybe Hange did have too much of a heart, maybe sacrificing soldiers didn’t come as easily for her. I mean sure casualties are inevitable but I found Hange’s approach to keeping casualties to a minimum, much more proactive than Erwin’s efforts have ever been if you get what I mean. With the raid on Marley for example, I had this convo with my friend on how generally back in the world wars when they sent paratroopers to a place, there was kinda an acceptance that the paratroopers wouldn’t make it since paratroopers are hard to collect. 

But the fact that Hange went through all that as to get lights set up and a blimp there just to save as much people as she can? Compared to Erwin’s expeditions where he just let people die left and right?

And you get the huge culmination of all that when Hange says that freedom isn’t worth the price of the rumbling. And Hange’s road to freedom had been the conventional, safe and slow option of diplomacy. 

(I don’t wanna go into a meta now on whether or not Erwin would have approved the rumbling but he probably wouldn’t but maybe anther time? I dunno?)

So the point is, Hange had a more conservative approach towards the ‘freedom’ which the survey corps has been fighting for so long. And only naturally, not everyone would have agreed to such an approach especially after a hundred years of suffering, after finding out that Marley still wanted to continue the war and especially when they are completely aware that they have the trump card of rumbling right at their fingertips in the form of one Eren Jaegar. So the formation of the Jaegerists was very reasonable and Floch of all people of course who was told to march to his death, who  experienced the deaths of 200 soldiers first hand to an honorary Marleyan, to monsters of the outside world would be the one to see marching to death, to giving away lives for a cause to be reasonable.  

And civil unrest is a fact of life. As long as you get enough people who don’t agree with whoever’s in power, power struggle will exist. And with the variety of points on the political compass, all types of people with different beliefs, ideologies and ways of thinking will exist so by extension, power struggles will always exist and it was only natural that something will have sprung up in the survey corps anyway. 

There’s actually a theory that can explain this. It’s called a social contract theory if I remember correctly. There is a social contract between the powerful and the non-powerful. The powerful has to make the non-powerful at least somewhat satisfied. Because the moment, the powerful becomes unbearably abusive, unwilling to even let the beliefs of the non-powerful to slide, if they never let the people under them get their way at least once, then the non-powerful/ the masses will fight back and we have seen the breaking of this ’social contract’ in action countless times in history.

And that was possibly what happened between Hange and the Jaegerists 

Hange and Floch represented two different ways the belief and the fight for freedom had evolved with the opening up of Paradis. Floch was Hange’s antithesis. A fight for freedom can be violent. But a fight for freedom can also be diplomatic.

And if I do compare it to one discourse in history...

And I think the final To Rumble or NOT to rumble debate is actually very similar to the Revolution vs. Reformation debates which tend to pop up in a lot of history lessons, especially those that discuss post colonialism from the point of view of the colonies. 

I’m from the Philippines which was a colony of Spain, Japan and the US so the reformation vs. revolution debate did come up a lot and I did have to study it. 

We had a really famous reformist during the Spanish period who wrote two books which Filipino students are all required to read in high school. A lot of Filipinos started pointing out how the main character of the book was incredibly similar to Eren. That in the first book, Noli Me Tangere, he was pretty hopeful, tried to build a school, tried to change from the inside out, then he had a character development towards the second book which was similar to Eren’s. 

In El Filibusterismo, the main character, Simuon who is pretty much their Eren, had a plan similar to the rumbling where he planted a bomb in a wedding full of rich people. If I remember correctly, it was a lamp and the moment they light the lamp it explodes. 

There was one character named Isagani who crashed the party and stole the lamp before it could explode. I guess narrative wise, he did remind me of Hange. 

Okay, fine Isagani did it because he had a crush on their girl and he didn’t want her to die. But back when I did watch the play, I remember so many people back then, we’re incredibly frustrated about the fact that the lamp didn’t explode. I remember people were screaming as Isagani ran in and stole the lamp before the bride could light it. As a high school student, I was frustrated too. I kinda wanted the lamp to explode and kill everyone there because all the people in the wedding were assholes the whole story anyway.

Looking back at it. I couldn’t help but think, hasn’t Hange been trying to do the same thing since the start of the story? And I guess when I started to look at the parallels, I thought of the fact that maybe one reason I am so against the rumbling despite everything that has been happening, despite sympathizing so much in the Eldians and even after completely understanding everything behind it is because my favorite characters were also so adamant about it? 

Or it could have been reversed. Would they have been my favorite characters? The ones I’d like to emulate the most if they weren’t against it? 

Anyway, I just wanted to end this long ass essay on positive note but the most well written characters are those that can make us change our views, make us reflect, constantly think and refine our own personal views. 

And now that I think about it, if the show ended anticlimactically with Hange doing something similar to Isagani’s lamp stealing. If Hange just did something before the rumbling even started, maybe I wouldn’t have been as frustrated with AOT as high school me had been when El Filibusterismo ended. 

Maybe because, Hange and her ideologies had already rubbed off on me a long time ago, and if that’s not a sign of a well written character then I guess I don’t know what well-written means then.

[snkpolls]

SnK Episode 71 Poll Results (for Manga Readers)

The poll closed with 176 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please note that these are the results for the Manga Readers’ poll. If you wish to see the results for the Anime Only Watchers’ poll, click here.

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RATE THE EPISODE 172 responses

This week’s episode keeps up the high mark of the previous episodes, with 98.8% of respondents giving the episode a score of 3 or higher (overwhelmingly 4s and 5s). Nice!

It was aight. 

It's cool

8.5/10 

great!

Very rocky imo in terms of animation, as the cracks are beginning to show but overall look like the backgrounds and music choices were top tier.

Really good episode, I was disappointed in the jacket scene but it’s not the end of the world

loved it

It was overall a great episode I loved it. 

🔥🔥🔥

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING MOMENTS WAS YOUR FAVORITE? 174 responses

46.6% of respondents overall were most excited to see Eren meeting up with Floch and the others, with 23.6% of those respondents favoring the scene of Eren putting on his jacket specifically. 12.1% most enjoyed seeing the angry citizens shouting out the Survey Corps motto. 9.8% were thrilled to see Zackley’s death animated. 8% were psyched to see Pieck in disguise at the end, and 6.9% most enjoyed the moment where Hitch caught Armin red-handed trying to touch Annie’s crystal.

YOUR REACTION TO EREN PUTTING ON HIS JACKET? 171 responses

Eren putting on his jacket was a scene many obsessed over when it first appeared on page and many looked forward to seeing it animated. Most of the response choices were focused on various forms of swooning over Eren and his abs. Some (13.5%) stated that they didn’t really understand the dramatism and some others (another 13.5%) simply stated that they did not see much in Eren outright. We’ve gotten a lot of write-ins about comparisons to the pre-animated trailer shot of said scene. More on that in a later question. 

i mean i understand the thirst, but eh

Prefer manga :/

The trailer did it better 

Meh. Better in the trailer and the manga.

TF was that? Well it's still good in its own way. 

YES! YES! YES! YES! Y E S! 

both "HOOOOOLYYYYYY 😳" and "so dramatic and for what?"

Trailer/Manga shot was way better

Manga shot/trailer version are way better. Dissapointed

Trailer looked better :(

Mappa only made Reiner thicc, why Eren is so frain he has 1,85! He is so strong in the manga

I don't care

Manbun.........👀

He can have my babies anytime 😌💅🏻

Not as sexy as advertised; that’s okay, though.

That scene looked weird af ngl. It looked better in the trailer 😔

Me after THAT eren scene: 🤰🏻🤰🏻🤰🏻

Eren makes my dick rise

ON A SCALE OF 1-5, HOW HAPPY ARE YOU NOW THAT WE APPEAR TO BE GOING BACK TO LEVI AND ZEKE’S PERSPECTIVE NEXT WEEK FOR A BIT? 171 responses

Levi and Zeke’s chemistry has been the subject of praise for many, so it’s no wonder that 87.1% of respondents are rather excited to get back to seeing Levi and Zeke again. Wow!

ARE ARMIN’S FEELINGS FOR ANNIE GENUINELY HIS OWN? 173 responses

Armin’s feelings for Annie have been looked at under a microscope for a variety of reasons, which is why we’re asking if you believe that his feelings for her are genuine. A plurality, 49.1% think that they’re a mixture of his feelings for her, as well Bertolt’s. Slightly less (30.6%) believe that Armin’s feelings for her existed since before any of the recent developments. Only a select few believe that he either became interested in her post-timeskip or that his feelings are solely influenced by Bertolt. One person doesn’t think Armin has any feelings for Annie at all. And a few others just don’t care.

Bertmin simping for Annie and that apparently being enough for her to start considering him as boyfriend material is the fucking worst. I hate this shit. It's made me like both characters considerably less.

Uhh Armin where ya reaching?! 

He was interested with her even before it was revealed she was the Female Titan and now that he has Bertholdt's memories, he sympathizes with her too and wants to understand her more so maybe Bert's memories intensified his feelings

His feelings for Annie are mostly his own. Bert's feelings might be in there a little, but the feelings are still Armin's.

CONTINUITY ALERT! EREN HAS HIS HAIR UP IN A BUN IN YELENA’S FLASHBACK. THOUGHTS? 173 responses

Uh-oh, Eren’s hairstyle moment. It would appear that there might be a continuity error with Yelena’s flashback and whatever that means for the timeline. A slight plurality (37%) didn’t seem to care about this, actually. But 33.5% appeared to believe that it was a mistake on MAPPA’s part that might get fixed in the BluRay version of the episode. 16.8% also believe that it was a mistake, but don’t believe it’ll get fixed. 9.8% think that it’s actually a retcon and that Eren’ll have the man bun when Chapter 123 gets adapted in Final Season Part 2.  

I hope it gets fixed because it's bugging me.

I really wish it was like how it was in the manga. Eren looks good with his hair down in his 16-17-year-old phase. Despite the error, it wasn't a deal breaker for the episode.

He looks totally gorgeous with his hair up in a bun, please let this mistake be

Honestly I don’t mind it. It looks great either way.

Eren in a manbun is a total win for me!

WHICH PIECES OF INFORMATION MISSING FROM YELENA’S ADMISSION IN THE MANGA DO YOU WISH WOULD HAVE BEEN INCLUDED IN THE ADAPTATION? 163 responses

As with almost all dialogue-heavy chapters in this series, there are cuts. In this episode, these cuts mostly affected the conversation between Yelena and Pixis. The most yearned for cut material was Yelena never telling Eren to go along with the plan and Yelena saying that she used Floch as a “go-between” between her and Eren. Others also noted missing lines about Yelena wanting Eren to stand up for himself, Yelena stating that Zeke gave the volunteers a hopeful future and the idea that her and Eren came to quick agreement. The plurality (31.9%) however, didn’t seem to mind any cuts. 

WHAT ARE YOU OVERALL FEELINGS ABOUT SOME OR ALL OF THE AFOREMENTIONED DETAILS BEING CUT? 161 responses

There is often a sort of expectation to have everything (or almost every) line from the manga adapted in the anime, so it’s interesting to see how people react to that sort of stuff. An almost 50% of respondents stated that they didn’t really care about the cuts, whereas smaller handfuls of respondents stated that the cuts either took away from the characterization of the conversation, or from the context and timeline-building purposes. 

I'm not thrilled about the cuts, but I understand MAPPA can only fit so much in on each episode, so I'm okay with it

the yelena/volunteers plot has always been wonky and hard to follow

I don’t think it’s a problem, they need to cut certain things. 

i literally never notice but i agree that it makes it harder to piece things together 

Meh

It might seem for anime watchers that Yelena didnt do much, and Floch and Zeke that did the most part, in their own plans. Floch to betray and Zeke in predicting Eren wouldnt be on his side in some way. Yelena helped Zeke a lot to where he arrived in the rumbling 

All of the above

ZACKLEY WALKS OVER TO HIS TORTURE MACHINE IN THE ANIME BEFORE MIKASA ASKS WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO EREN, RATHER THAN GLANCE OVER AT IT AFTER HER QUESTION. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE CHANGE? 170 responses

There was a partially comedic insinuation in the manga that Zackley thought about strapping Eren to his “art piece”. The insinuation is possibly still there in the anime, but in a different form. So we asked how you felt about it. Slightly below a half (48.8%) stated that they thought the subtlety was still there. 18.8% thought the subtlety was lost with the small change and 8.8% believed the change made Zackley seem less unhinged. 21.8% really didn’t care at all. 

Why is this a question?

The glance was funny as fuck in the manga, but might have been awkward to pull of in the animation

They're blown up tho, does it even matter?

DID EREN KNOW ABOUT THE BOMB? 170 responses

Whether Eren truly knew about the bomb is a bit unclear to this day and with how it endangered Armin and Mikasa. A plurality (40%) believe he knew about the bomb, but did not know about his childhood friends meeting Zackley. Slightly less (30.6%) think that Eren did not know about either the bomb or AM meeting the Artist. A minority (7.1%) does believe that Eren knew about both the bomb and meeting and 21.8% simply aren’t sure!

Even if he didn’t know, he obviously doesn’t care either way.

THERE IS SOME DEBATE ABOUT WHETHER EREN’S JACKET SCENE WAS BETTER ANIMATED IN THE PROMOTIONAL VIDEO OR IN THE EPISODE ITSELF. WHICH DO YOU CHOOSE? 170 responses

Here we go… The elephant in the room… Which Eren abs scene did you prefer? The Promotional video or the actual episode? A somewhat slight majority (57.1%) seemed to like the version seen in the promotional video more than the episode itself versus the ones who preferred the episode’s style (42.9%).

THE EPISODE MARKS THE BEGINNING OF FLOCH’S ACTIONS AS THE VOICE OF THE YEAGERISTS. HOW ARE YOU FEELING ABOUT IT? 170 responses

Floch has always been a controversial character and the developments seen post-time skip have not been any less debatable. You may floching love him or floching hate, but he’s here and he’s staying for a while. A plurality (48.8%) notes that although they may not personally be a fan of the character, they truly do appreciate the nuance his appearance gives to the story. Just over a quarter (25.3%) stated that as big fans of the character, they’re looking forward to all the screentime the Flochster will receive. In contrast, 20.6% despise the man and his questionable haircut and are also dreading the showcase he’ll soon receive.  

I hate Floch and will cheer again when he dies, but I enjoy his character.

I detest Floch but I'm not dreading all the screen time he'll take up.

Since he died in the manga, my hatred for him has cooled down somewhat now that I'm watching the anime.

I am once again asking for you to shut the fuck up, Floch.

WE KNOW NOW THAT EREN DID CONSPIRE WITH FLOCH TO BETRAY ZEKE TO ENACT THE RUMBLING. STILL, DO YOU BELIEVE HE DID IT BECAUSE HE HAS THE SAME BELIEFS AS FLOCH, OR WAS HE JUST USING FLOCH AND THE YEAGERISTS AS A MEANS TO AN END? 161 responses

An overwhelming amount of respondents (87.6%) stated that they believe Eren never truly saw eye to eye with Floch and his ideology and that Eren was simply using Floch as a means to an end. In contrast, 9.3% truly do think that Eren was ideologically similar to Floch and the “New Eldian Empire”. A select few thought you couldn’t just say one way or another. 

They both wanted to protect Paradis

DO YOU THINK IF THE YEAGERISTS, BESIDES FLOCH, KNEW ABOUT THE FULL SCALE RUMBLING BEFOREHAND THAT THEY WOULD WILLINGLY FOLLOW EREN? 167 responses

The majority (53.3%) feel that the Yeagerists would see a divide if they knew beforehand that Eren wanted to initiate the rumbling, with some sticking around for the cause and others possibly leaving because it’s too extreme. 25.1% believe that they all would have fully supported the rumbling in the name of their own survival. 15% believe that every Yeagerist already knew about the plan to commence the rumbling, and only 6% feel that they would most certainly have betrayed the Yeager brothers (and Floch) if they had known. 

I don’t know, this is a loaded question and I’m tired.

DO YOU THINK THAT, IF THE STORY ENDS PEACEFULLY, MIKASA WILL HAVE A ROLE TO PLAY IN HIZURU? 170 responses

While this plotline may not be going anywhere in the manga (or so it seems), the reminder of its existence is brought to light again as we revisit these older moments from the manga. 32.4% feel that Mikasa wouldn’t leave Paradis behind to start a life on Hizuru. 23.5% think that she wouldn’t leave Paradis behind, necessarily, but will still have a role to play in Hizuru. 21.2% think it doesn’t matter because Isayama has completely discarded (or forgotten) about this plotline. 12.4% don’t know what to predict (if anything) and only 8.2% believe that her future lies in Hizuru beyond the main storyline.

The last two options plus me not caring. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

hizuru is already rumbled, gone, but she will continue the azumabito clan in paradis

Is no one else gonna question Kiyomi's hair being sucked into her skull??? HELLO MA'AM???

Hizuru is likely flattened

WHICH SCENE FROM THE PREVIEW ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO? 171 responses

Episode 72 has already broadcasted as of the completion of this poll. For scenes that were most anticipated, 35.7% were most looking forward to seeing Levi and Zeke’s interaction in the forest. 33.3% most looked forward to Niccolo leaning straight from Gabi’s mouth that she is Sasha’s killer. 18.7% highly anticipated the Blouses learning about Gabi killing Sasha, and 9.4% were looking forward to Gabi/Falco and the Blouses gathering at Niccolo’s restaurant. Only a small amount were looking forward to Niccolo protecting Jean and Connie from drinking the wine.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE?

Man the animation was gonky 

no levi </3

So many faces of Niles are weirds !

Let hange aloneeeeeeee and happy, please

I have no word for this, but I feeling good

Shit is getting really real now! 

Everyone talking about Eren’s abs and I just wanna say the music in that scene was amazing!

I loved how it was all neatly put together and fast moving

Armin looked so good. Homie walked from point A to B and i SCREAMED. Thank you. 

i wish they included eren's warhammer escape from the prison, besides that solid episode all around, the people chanting 'dedicate your hearts' gave me chills 

I can't stand Hitch at all but MAPPA made her really pretty. Re: The jacket scene The trailer version was pretty much identical to the manga panel. But I liked the version that made it into the final episode too. People have been so ridiculous about MAPPA ""ruining everything"" this season, they should stop watching if that's how they feel. I thought Eren looked great and found the sun shining on his abs funny. The scenery was better in the episode, imo. I hope they don't cut Jean's line about booze not caring about what race you are. Lmao

Meh. It's not bad of course, I just find the rythm weird and I don't really feel many emotions watching the episodes. And I was so thirsty for the jacket scene, and it turned out weird too.

Mappa pls stop drawing eren like shit he is gorgeous in the manga

MMGH SOON!! LET'S GOOOOOOO

You friccin moron, you just got zooked!

i miss eremin </3

Wish they had shown how eren used his titan powers to escape.

I'm so not looking forward to the controversy that's gonna be reignited during the EMA talk scene. I'm actually dreading it, but we'll finally get the Levi vs Beast Titan scene so I'll be fine

112 will destroy ships 

I felt the animation was flawless as usual but the script was kinda boring, I expected more of these aspects: -Yelena, it was bland with the cuts -Hange, they cut something I cant figure what in this Yeagerists coup act that turned her scenes a little bit lacking? Idk something -Again the soundtrack in the episodes is so silent. The only episode so far I liked the ost beyond the Opening and Closing themes is Reiner episode. I miss the melodrama of Witstudio osts

Eren putting his jacket on in slow-speed whilst talking at regular speed is fucking trippy

Just happy to see Hitch!

It was slow and mainly plot driven. I enjoyed it despite the changes.

goddamn is that a hella well-animated explosion

more abs please

Great episode. Really ridiculous how many people overreacted about the jacket scene. It's ok to perfer the way the trailer did it but to those who say Mappa is ruining the adaptation because of minor things like this, calm down. 

I wish the jacket scene was better But over all the ep is pretty good

Boring, but then again so was this phase in the manga.

I really like the VA they chose for Onyankopon! His voice is very warm and genuine, which suits his character well

The sunset was so aesthetically pleasing 

yoooo just read ch. 138 and im crying in da club :(

These MAPPA episodes have been a low point for me. I’m trying to enjoy them because I love this story but it feels like a chore.

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 161 responses

Thanks again to everyone who participated!