#eren critical

[rewritingcanon]

my sister and i just yapped for almost three hours and we were just talking about how genuinely weird people in fandom are surrounding characters who have explicit mental illness. like they can never ever be normal. there are characters who are romanticised and glamourised for their mental illness (eren. wanda. joker. kaneki. nico. almost any danganronpa/ddlc character). characters who are consistently ridiculed for their mental illness either because it simply isn’t getting taken seriously (reiner) or because no one takes the character seriously (armin). and there are the characters that get blatantly outright DESPISED for it (basil, harry potter, korra, gale, also eren etc etc). like yes im seeing a correlation but its still so astounding how selective people are about where they draw the line with mental illness and what traits they can accept.

[mac-n-chees]

why your attack on titan otp isn’t canon

eremika: what tf are y’all doing here you guys are one of the only ones who can say it’s a canon ship gtfo

levihan: you guys are cute aww these guys are like a couple of siblings❤️ cmon y’all levihan are platonic soulmates and erwin smith is RIGHT THERE

eren x annie (anieren? ereani?): touch grass. you saw one interaction and decided they were the perfect couple, this is literally the dramione of aot, the zutara of this anime. just because you’re horny doesn’t mean everyone else is, pls keep ur hormones in check<3

erwin x hange: as i was writing this post the thought occurred to me that someone might ship this and it caused me physical pain but if you ship this ig you’re cool cause i’ve never seen this ship at all so therefore i’ve never been attacked by one of you online so congrats🥳 but they’re not canon cos literally not one soul ships them so whatever

eruri: is this the right name cause ship names in this fandom go crazy sometimes. anyways these the gayest mfs i’ve ever seen and the only reason they’re not canon is cause erwin had to die. doomed ships for the win😻 but you KNOW levi was getting some behind the scenes, cmon y’all

jearmin: hajime isayama is a coward

jeanmarco: gonna be honest, i did not give two shits when marco died. idk how this is a popular ship since marco got clapped in like episode 3. i mean i can see it ig but to me they just look like friends (and that’s probably what isayama was thinking too)

beruannie: one-sided as fuck

erehisu: historia is a lesbian (“oH bUt wHaT aBoUt tHe fArMeR???” she needed a sperm donor and he was the closest one they are not in love)

jeankasa: eremika solos, sorry, mikasa will always love eren (stay sour jean✌🏼)

levi x any of the members of the 104th: they are CHILDREN and levi is a full grown, thirty something year old ADULT, if you ship any of these there’s a special cell in jail waiting for you

mobihan: who even is moblit this ship forgettable as fuck. but i mean its not bad but again isayama hates love and romance so moblit had to die (sorry mobihan lovers)

springles (aka connie x sasha): you guys they’re PLATONIC SOULMATES, and they’re portrayed as such. also niccolo exists you guys sasha and connie are just like siblings

eremin: hajime isayama is a COWARD. you CANNOT TELL ME that the whole “i will stay with you forever” interaction in the final season was not FRUITY AS FUCK, there was so much tension but isayama’s a PUSSY

reiner x historia: historia is a lesbian

pikuhan: you guys have got to stop shipping everyone you see interact

for bonus points everyone tell me the ship you HATEEEEE i’ll go first😻:

aruani✨✨🌈🌈🌙🌙

if you want an explanation you won’t get one unless i get harassed enough thank you and good night

[hubookunaluwawa]

the horrifying realization that someone genuinely knows you

it wasn’t supposed to go this way. it was supposed to be easy. casual. fun. but now, you feel like puking. because the second those forbidden words left his lips while he was buried deep inside of you, after a night of the both of you pretending not to know how the other felt, all hell broke loose in your heart. you were able to keep your composure through the end, but once he cleaned you up and fell asleep, you quickly grabbed your stuff and got the hell out of dodge.

your throat tightens up, and your eyes start to sting as you head for the bus stop. one minute passes. then five, and then ten. and then, as if this night hadn’t been bad enough, droplets of rain began to drizzle from the sky. this bus couldn’t be coming any fucking slower, you think, and you nervously tap the side of your leg, hoping with all your might that he didn’t realize you left, because if he did–

“y/n?”

fuck.

“hey!” you feign innocence as you quickly glance at him, “what’re you doing up?”

“i could ask you the exact same thing,” he returns, his smile masking something foreign… something vulnerable.

“oh, well, yeah, i mean, i have an 8 am class, so i have to head back to my place.” you feel your easygoing facade beginning to crumble as you continue to stare straight ahead at the road. you felt gross, lying to someone you always felt so comfortable around. you just hope he doesn’t realize it before the bus gets here.

“really?”

“yep!”

“i mean, i thought you said you don’t like doing… this…” he motions between the two of you, “the morning before an early class. said it fucks up your internal clock and stuff,” he remarks in a tone that makes it crystal clear he’s not buying a word you say.

you turn to look at him once again, and he’s staring at you with a hooded unwavering gaze that you’d mistake for apathy if you didn’t know him any better. unfortunately, you do know him better: enough to notice that the unfamiliar look in his eyes is blatant fear, as if he thinks you could disappear at any moment. and then, how much he knows you hits you all at once, and you’re left a scared little kid with no idea what to do.

“yeah, i guess i just forgot.” you’d have to be in complete denial to think he couldn’t hear the distinct crack in your voice, fake smile be damned. the two of you stare at each other for what feels like hours until the tears threatening to spill from your eyes make you look away.

“y/n.” but his eyes are still on you.

“mhm?” don’t.

“y/n, please.” only on you.

i can’t.

“i need you to tell me if i just fucked everything up back there.” the desperation in his voice is unmistakable, making you catch your breath. your face falls, and your heart hurts more than you ever thought possible.

“why’d you say it,” you whisper, “why’d you have to go and say it?” and his heart shatters at the brokenness of your voice because it was him who did this shit to you.

“when we started this, we promised it wouldn’t turn into anything. and it was fine when it was just me feeling something, but it won’t work with the both of us–”

“why?” something’s changed. he’s angry. “why won’t it work? why can’t we let it work?”

“because shit like this never does!” you scream, and you can feel everything you’ve been bottling up inside for the past few months escaping your body in one go.

“it never does,” you say with a quiet laugh. “we’d get together, and then you’d get bored with me–”

“i could never get bored with you–”

“–or i’d get bored with you,” you continue while noticing the fleeting look of hurt in his eyes that’s quickly overshadowed by anger, “and then we’d only be with each other out of obligation. we’d be ruining a really good thing just for the chance of something different, so just forget it, because whatever… it is that you feel won’t last,” you say as if it’s the funniest thing in the world while gesturing towards him.

“oh, fuck you.” he laughs, tugging his hair in frustration.

“fuck you!” you retort, delirious from the fact that this conversation is even happening at all.

“no, fuck you for trying to tell me that what i feel isn’t real.”

“okay,” you scoff as you begin to walk away. you don’t know where you headed, but as long as he’s not there, you know it’s where you need to be.

“and fuck you for making me love you! in more ways than just one!”

you freeze for probably the 50th time tonight, and you finally look at him again to see the shine in his eyes as he speaks.

“please don’t disappear when i tell you this,” he practically whispers to you with a once-again fearful look.

and you don’t. you’ve heard your fair share of “i love yous” in your life, and they all meant the same, substanceless, conditional thing. and so, the more you heard it, the less you believed it. you’ve seen relationships–both yours and those of the people you care about–fall apart because people will romantically love those that they don’t even like platonically. so you believed, and continue to believe, that romantic love without a platonic basis is an incredibly common recipe for disaster. you know this, and yet, you don’t think you could run from him right now even if you tried.

“i’ve never felt what i’ve felt for you with anybody else. i think about you all the time. like, you’re the first thing i think about in the morning and the last thing on my mind every night. and whenever i see you, it feels like what everybody talks about in the movies and the songs, and it’s like the heavens open up and everything makes sense and my world’s brighter because you’re in it. i’m completely and utterly head-over-heels in love with you.”

he just thinks he is, you try to remind yourself, but this shit isn’t real. it’s just infatuation, a burst of attraction, a trick of the mind. it’ll go away eventually–

“but it’s not just infatuation like you always say.” you mentally curse him for being able to read your mind and peel back your layers so easily, but he takes a step closer to you as he speaks.

“because you’re also the one person i feel most comfortable around. i could be having the worst day of my life and seeing you for a few minutes would make it the best, because everything about you makes me happy! everything! i mean your smile and your eyes and the way you giggle at the corniest jokes and the little crinkle you get on your forehead when i say something dumb and… how you make me feel safe enough to talk to you and know you won’t think i’m crazy, and how passionate you get about the things and people you care about: all of it has me completely obsessed with you, and all i know is that i wanna keep making you breakfast in the mornings and holding you close at night and going on late night drives with you and hearing you laugh because your laugh makes me feel like i’m dreaming whenever i hear it and i can’t help but laugh too because i just can’t believe that, out of everybody on this planet, you keep choosing to be here with me and i just… i love you, y/n. and even if this doesn’t last, i wanna be with you for as long as i’m able, because it doesn’t feel like my love for you is ever gonna go away.” 

and he breathes out the final declaration with a confidence that leaves you stunned because holy shit you’re actually starting to believe him. you can’t tell whether the wetness on your face is from the pouring rain or your own tears. maybe it’s both. but all you know is that, now, he’s holding your heart in his hands. and the scariest part is that he’s holding it with as much care as he’d treat his own heart. no, as much care as you want to treat his. and then, he starts to ramble, which you’re sure you’ve never seen him do (in fact, you’re pretty sure this is the most you’ve ever heard him speak).

you can’t stop yourself from looking at his lips, and the space between you grows smaller and smaller until it ceases to exist.

“i mean, it’s like you’re branded on my heart. you have this insane amount of control over me and i’m constantly wanting to be around you and hold you and make you happy because you feel like home to me but in the best way possible and i just want to be that for you too, and if you don’t feel the same way, that’s completely cool, and we could just forget this conversation ever happened, because you’re also my best friend and i don’t wanna lose you, and i–”

your lips taste sweet against his, and your hands cup his cheeks with a delicateness that makes him feel like crying, and he feels happier than he thinks he’s ever felt because he knows what this kiss means.

you take a moment to break apart, the tip of your nose brushing against his as he chases after your lips, and you desperately proclaim, “i’d never get bored of you either. i love you. i love you. you’re all i want.”

the bus you were waiting on passes you both by, and he meets your lips again, sighing into the kiss with relief. and you both make a silent promise, right then and there, to never let each other go again.

[terrabdectyle]

This happens all the time, i can't even get invested in new stories or characters because anything slightly inconsistent takes me out🥲

[emma-o-yt]

Do Erehisus and Eremikas even like Historia and Mikasa

Reformatted from reddit.

I think that Eremika (Eren × Mikasa) is an okay ship. I appreciate what Isayama was trying to do but the execution was less than pleasurable.

The whole point is that despite being in love with each other, Eren and Mikasa cannot be together. Their goals, their characters simply contradict.

Eren is focused on moving forward, he can't appreciate what was beside him (Mikasa). He can't even think that Mikasa would ever leave him until 139. Settling down, a domestic homelife is unappealing.

Mikasa is controlled by fear, after losing her family twice (first by the kidnappers then the fall of Shiganshina) which is what causes her obsession with Eren. Despite her strength, all she wants is a quiet life. Her arc is about overcoming fear, she kills Eren but keeps him alive with her memories. She gives birth to new life with Jean, starting a new eternal family.

But fuck that shit!

The slutshaming of Mikasa

Mikasa has been shamed by die hard Eremika shippers for "spreading her legs" and daring to find a new man after Eren. All those themes, character arcs, non of it matters to these misogynists.

Some of them have even gone on to lie and say that Mikasa is wearing a purity ring and not a wedding ring, because a woman is sinful if she's not a virgin.

The denial that she got married to most likely Jean is insane too. Armin is not that tall and the anime even adds a blurry scene of him in the credits. The hubby is not blonde either, I eyedropped his hair and it's green due to the lighting. Looks like dirty blonde hair mixed with green to me.

They also do the whole Jojo fan thing of creating fake interviews, no Isayama did not confirm that the man is Armin or she is single.

They want her to remain obsessed with Eren for eternity and grieving.

They do not like Mikasa, they just like their ship.

Eren and the aryan waifu

I have a strong dislike for Erehisu (Eren × Historia) due to redditors.

The biggest reason is that it's pure fantasy. The themes, characters, everything was made up. The largest example of mass delusion in modern day history.

They project themselves unto Eren, the chad that after destroying all his enemies returns home an settles down with his aryan wife and child.

Historia can't have any importance except for giving birth to Eren's kid. Ymir is presented as a predator for tempting Historia into lesbianism, Eren fucking her is the cure.

It only seems like they "like" Historia because they despise Mikasa. Mikasa is Asian instead of white, and she will be punished for her love for Eren by being cucked and dying by his hand.

All these fantasises of Historia hating Mikasa, calling her a slave. Historia who in canon jokingly teased Mikasa for her crush on Eren and shipped the two would never.

It is once again pure misogyny.

They can't even keep consistent with supposed themes. They say Eren is doing a full rumbling to keep his child from war yet they say that Eren will restart the rumbling through touching his child, thereby involving her unwillingly with war.

They do not like Eren or Historia, just Erehisu.

Outro

I mean some Eremikas and Erehisus of course, if it doesn't apply to you, I'm not talking about you.

[a0random0gal]

It wasn't really stated when Eren developed feelings for Mikasa, honesty that confession scene with Armin felt forced.

And I always thought and saw Eren as being dense on romance in general. More interesting in fighting and killing than looking at girls

Yeah exactly. One of my main gripes with the shitty rushed finale is this out of nowhere love that Eren allegedly has for Mikasa.

Where did it come from? Where were the hints? How can you possibly tell me that he loved her romantically?

Don't get me wrong I don't think two characters have to aggressively blush at each other for 3 seasons straight before believing they like one another, but this plot twist is bullshit.

After the time skip Eren got more and more distant from his friends as a result of his future memories and the genocide he was destined to commit. He knew Armin and Mikasa wouldn't understand him, so he kept them at arm's length.

When it comes to Mikasa in particular, he showed a lot of irritation towards her, for how she constantly babied him throughout their lives.

I mean come on have you read chapter 112?

( I know he didn't mean it, but still, that's a pretty fucked up thing to say to a person you love.)

Trust is also one of the most important aspects of any relationship. And Eren never trusted Armin and Mikasa with pretty much anything post time skip, which is specifically why he pushed them away!

His love for her has always been platonic, so much so that in an interview from a few years ago Isayama said that their relationship was similar to that of a mother with her child.

But I guess Yams kinda forgot how Eremika worked for 130+ chapters uh?

That confession scene wasn't just forced, it was pathetic. It completely erased who Eren was as a character and replaced him with the cheapest copy on sale at Walmart.

(It's been three years and I'm still salty about that panel how is that possible?)

When it comes to Eren and the concept of romance, well.. Yeah pre time skip he was kinda dense, in the typical Shonen protagonist way, buut after the time jump you can clearly see that it's no longer the case from the convo with Falco in Liberio. Pre time skip Eren would have never reached that conclusion.

(Wow, it's almost as if he understands Falco's struggle of not wanting a girl he loves getting titanized, I wonder if it's supposed to mean anything, uhhh.)

[melishade]

I love the way you wrote the latest chapter. It feels less like Eren and Zeke are being judged by gods, and more like the AOT fans are finally giving these two self-righteous idiots a piece of their mind. It's very satisfying!

Despite me liking Attack on Titan, I still have quite a few issues with it, and I've said it quite a few times, either on Ao3 or on this blog. One of the major things being season 4 was rushed and because it was rushed, there were many character moments and build up that Isayama completely missed out on, like the Marleyans and their dynamics or Eren's descent into madness. I think that an extra season would have help a lot of the stuff that Isayama intended for season 4.

That being said:

I've have to really break down, edit and rewrite Primus' interactions with Zeke and Eren multiple times, and I'll elaborate on that in an AOP alternate scene. Primus has also withheld his identity from Eren and Zeke in order to determine their character. If Primus had said that he's Optimus' god, obviously they're going to treat him differently and hide stuff from him, so keeping his origins a secret benefitted him long term. And he was glad that he did considering what he ends up learning about the brothers.

So when Primus does confront them with his identity revealed, he's really just watching them scramble trying to come up with excuses for their plans. Both involve genocide, which he obviously doesn't agree with as a being of creation, which is why Primus removes Zeke's ability to communicate with Ymir, both as a punishment for his crimes, and so he doesn't enact his plan.

Still, Primus does feel pity for Zeke, understands his plight, and considering the other alternative being Eren's plan, he does believe Zeke's plan is the better option. Zeke's plan doesn't kill off the current living Eldians. It just stops them from having children. Which is still a genocide, the Eldian people will die out, but it's a small price to pay for the future of the AOT world. However Primus has seen Zeke show no remorse in his actions when it came to killing for Marley's empire and didn't truly value life and the actual points of living. Zeke's plan simply reflected a deep-seated issue within himself: that he just wanted to die.

However, there's also the issue of Zeke not getting the actual results he wants with his plan, because people are going to be people and will abuse power. From a historical standpoint, I don't think that Zeke's plan would have achieved world peace. It simply would have caused a power vacuum that would have been replaced by another, possibly crueler, power.

Now, I know that people bag on Zeke a lot, and I've done that too, but Zeke has still been dealt a really bad hand, and that is something I have to acknowledge. Zeke's ultimate purpose in living essentially boiled down to wanting to die while also fulfilling Ksaver's plan. But because Primus told and showed him that his future was not possible, he loses any real will to live. At least that's how I saw it, especially since in the main AOT timeline, Zeke didn't really fight his way out of the Paths and made sandcastles until Armin showed up. Zeke had to really be broken down emotionally in order for Primus to consider him a non-threat, and all he had to do was show Zeke the futility of his plans.

Eren however-!

So imagine this from Primus' perspective: you wake up after the war is over and have been revived. You hear a cry from across the universe in an alternate dimension and go searching for it in said alternate dimension. You travel through years worth of memories without having the ability to really interact with the outside world. But then a miracle happens: you meet two humans that can see you completely! One of them is wary of him, but the other is willing to speak with him. He's rather quiet, but he's polite and considerate or Primus' situation. The two even bond for about seven years of searching through Grisha's memories, so much so that Primus even reveals his name to Eren.

But then Primus finds out that Eren had been withholding information that he clearly knew, actively attacked him with he tried to create a peaceful solution, and spoke of his disciple, Optimus, in such a vile and twisted manner even though Optimus wasn't supposed to be here in the first place. And then you find out, through searching through memories, much to the behest of the Primes to not do that, that this teenager not only wants to destroy the world, but kills one of your very first creations in the process.

Obviously, Primus is very pissed off at Eren more than he is at Zeke.

One of the few things that genuinely frustrated me when the final manga chapter of AOT came out was that Eren's friends were still treating him with kindness, respect, and even love, even though he tried to kill them and wiped out 80% of humanity. Eren destroyed the world and put many survivors of the massacre in desolate situations. The anime does improve on this a little bit, with Armin having a much more visceral reaction to being told that 80% of humanity is dead. However, what Eren did was genocide to a massive degree, and it clearly wasn't to protect his friends or even the island. It was for his own selfish gain of fulfilling a wish that never really existed. I implore you to watch this video:

Because it provides a really great breakdown of Eren's overall character which is that his main, selfish, desire, is freedom, and he will do everything and anything to get it. Even if it meant his friends and family got caught in the crossfires, even if he understood the struggles of the Eldians outside of the walls, he rejected all of that in order to fulfill his selfish wish.

And this breakdown really helped me write Eren's interactions with Primus a lot more fluidly. Because Primus has seen the goodness within Eren. He knows the good things that Eren is capable of doing, so he's so confused as to why Eren devolved into madness and death in such a short amount of time in his eyes. Primus brings up the fall of Shinganshina and the death of his mother, but Primus knows deep down that doesn't address the issue of Eren's motivation. He feels as though it is something else. So he brings up his friends, Armin, Mikasa, and Optimus to try and figure out the underlying issue. (I'll also break down the Prime voices in another ask and how each of them, and Primus, react to Eren's answers because that deserves it's own post). But Primus just sees Eren dodging the question, refusing to stand down when it came to the concern and safety of the people he cared about. He justifies his actions as protecting them, but Primus knows that none of them wanted this.

It's only when Primus threatens Eren's freedom that Eren confesses his truth:

“I WON’T LET YOU! THAT FREEDOM IS MINE!” Eren screamed in anger, “AND THE WORLD KEEPS TRYING TO TAKE IT! THE OUTSIDE WORLD IS JUST LIKE HUMANITY IN THE WALLS! THE WORLDS BEYOND IT ARE ALL JUST THE SAME! I HATE IT! WHAT’S THE POINT OF ANY OF IT?! EVERYONE IS JUST SELFISH AND I JUST WANT TO SEE IT GONE!”

Eren just wants to see the world burn and achieve the freedom he so desired as a child, and Primus reacts appropriately by calling him out for his childishness and nearly ends his life over it. Because like the video said, Eren hasn't grown or changed. He's rejected the growth that's he's been confronted with and has always been the same person since season 1.

There's a lot more that I can talk about, and this definitely feels like it's me rambling. I'm certain I did repeat some points. However, I don't mind asks regarding chapter 90 and 91 because I really want to provide my breakdowns even further on the topics and ideas I've had.

[aengelren]

He’s perfect.

[bibibbon]

Okay, let's not talk BNHA for now... I just know that you're an AOT fan, too ...

Can I ask your top 5 (or top 3) fav characters from the series? Why love them? And your top 5 fav moments from AOT?

Oh sure anon!

I will keep it short here but my top 5 favourite characters in attack on titan are

Armin alert

Mikasa Ackerman

Eren Yeager

Historia reiss

Hange

My top 5 favourite moments of the series are:

Armin and Eren in the paths

Magath and Keith's deaths (probably my favourite parallels in the series)

Jean and Eren in chapter 137

The meeting between Ymir and Mikasa

Hange's death

[geekcavepodcast]

Final "Might Nein Origins" Graphic Novels Feature Beauregard Lionett and Caduceus Clay

Beauregard Lionett and Caduceus Clay will be the final two Critical Role Mighty Nein characters to have their origin stories told in graphic novel form from Dark Horse.

Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins - Beauregard Lionette hails from writers Matthew Mercer, Marisha Ray, and Mae Catt, artist Guilherme Balbi, colorist Diana Sousa, and letterer Ariana Maher.

"Despite her origins with a “traditional” family, Beauregard Lionett’s penchant for troublemaking was legendary. Outraged by her criminal activity, Beau’s father arranged for her to be kidnapped and turned over to the order of monks known as the Cobalt Soul for some much-needed discipline and direction. But the direction Beau takes--toward the Mighty Nein--isn’t what anyone anticipated." (Dark Horse)

Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins - Beauregard Lionette, featuring a cover by Balbi and Sousa, goes on sale in bookstores on April 30, 2024, and in comic shops on Mary 1, 2024.

Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins - Caduceus Clay hails from writers Matthew Mercer, Taliesin Jaffe, and Kendra Wells, artist Selina Espiritu, colorist Eren Andiolini, and letterer Ariana Maher.

"Generations of the Clay family have tended to the careful rituals in the Blooming Grove. But when corruption begins to creep in on their sacred space, the Clays depart one by one to seek answers. Soon young Caduceus and Clarabelle are the only ones left, and when a dangerous burial quest falls to Caduceus, he must leave the Grove to do the family’s work." (Dark Horse)

Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins - Caduceus Clay, featuring a cover by Gus Allen and Angiolini, goes on sale in bookstores on June 4, 2024, and in comic shops on June 5, 2024.

(Images via Dark Horse - Guilherme Balbi and Diana Sousa's Cover of Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins - Beauregard Lionette and Gus Allen and Eren Andiolini's Cover of Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins - Caduceus Clay)

[harley-rose25]

just me managing to tie my aot obsession into my startrek obsession again. (To be fair that's really not hard) Also, no a partial rumbling would not save Paradis.

Its crazy to me how anti-rumbling and allience supporters will be like "Eren could've saved Paradis by just destroying the enemy military bases. This is proof that he just wanted to do the rumbling and kill everyone" and their evidence/proof of this is basically because Gabby and Armin said so.

Armin: the guy who fapped to Annie for four years, talking bout "if we just talk" but never actually going out and talking with anyone; Part of Paradis' crew of naive idiots who know basically nothing about the world and just sitting around thinking the perfect non-violent solution will just fall from the sky. And Gabby: a child.

It's giving the same intellectual energy as people who think Vulcans actually cant feel emotions or that they literally cant lie.

[themastermarkus]

Why Eren Jaeger should not have been in the top ten of the 104th Cadet Corps:

I don't think the canon rationalization is especially strong: The only thing that he’s singled out for is having a lot of drive due to his fierce desire to kill all the titans, but why is this even unusual? He’s not the only one who had family killed by titans. There should be plenty of angry teens with as much drive and skill as him. It definitely seems bizarre having him be FOURTH overall, just after Mikasa Ackerman and the three characters who have literally been trained as soldiers before. Sure, he later doesn't show himself to be a bad soldier, but nothing about him screams "fourth overall in his class" (though I will admit that there are other weird rankings, like I don't think Connie is better than average either and I'm not sure about Christa being in the top ten no matter what it is that Ymir did for her to get there.)

It's not necessary: Eren being in the top ten literally never factors into his story. He’s singled out because he’s a titan shifter, not because he's a great soldier. Even though it would make sense for the Survey Corps soldiers to have to be from the most skilled of the cadets* it’s the MILITARY POLICE that have the prerequisite of being high-ranking students. Eren always wanted to be a part of the Survey Corps, so being in the top ten was never a part of his dream or story arc. (*though the way it’s written also makes sense, with the idea being that the nobility hoard the power and under-supply the Survey Corps.)

The story would be thematically better if he wasn't: Eren sometimes feels insecure in his abilities but essentially “makes up for it” to other people with his titan powers. Eren not making the top ten is an entirely non-contrived way to reinforce this theme early in the series. It would work into the ultimate plot of Eren being an idealistic, but angry young man who eventually becomes a nationalistic extremist by introducing him as someone who really feels like he has something to prove to his superiors in the military.

[terrabdectyle]

Catra and the Eren yeager of ch139 are realy similar...

Anyway i made this because i thought it would be funny🙂

[autumnmobile12]

This scene was a train wreck.

So they all were pretty sure the Female Titan was Annie before it got to this point, right?  They had a meeting and everything, didn’t they?

And Plan A was capture and interrogate?  Back her into a position where she would have been desperate enough to violently lash out and cause catastrophic loss of life to the military and civilians?  The plan was lure her underground where she hopefully wouldn’t cause much damage?

Shouldn’t Plan A have been diplomacy and negotiation?

In this situation, the Scouts should have tried to negotiate.  Offer amnesty for her crimes in exchange for information.  It would have dishonored the people who’d died, sure, but the Walls were in a position where they were in dire need of information.  Sue for peace, compromise, find out what the enemy wants, uphold your end of the bargain (because if another Shifter is captured, you need their confidence you’re going to keep your word,) and most importantly, figure out the Shifters’ motives.  What do they want?

“Remember, whatever the price...I'll beat it! I like living! Tyrion Lannister”. ― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones (or is this line not in the books?)

...

Throughout this part, both Armin and Eren are trying to reason with Annie...

...and Mikasa steps in and says she's heard enough and starts threatening her?

First time I watched this scene, when Mikasa steps up and shouts she's heard enough and there's no point in continuing, my immediate thought was, "What the fuck? We're done talking already?"

Annie wasn't even doing anything. She was just standing there. She wasn't saying anything aggressive. She wasn't even reaching for that ring she used. All she did was confess she found Marco's ODM gear, implying she knows what happened to him, as well as admit she doesn't know why she spared Armin. The ball was entirely in Annie's court. She still had an opportunity to say, "Fine, let's talk," until Mikasa opened her mouth.

If either Armin or Eren had any sense, they should've rounded on Mikasa and told her to sit down and shut up. "If she's not attacking yet, neither are we."

To sum up, the Scouts needed information. They identified a mole working for the enemy. The enemy's motives are at this point unknown. So they needed Annie's cooperation. Nobody is going to cooperate when they're being threatened like that. No wonder she started laughing and chose violence.

As far as I'm concerned, until Annie actually made a move against them (whether it was a verbal threat or shifting into titan form,) they still had a chance for diplomacy. No bets were off until that happened. There was no logical reason to threaten her.

The Scouts shot themselves in the foot that day.

[ariamariastark1]

I hate being part of a secondary character sub-fandom! I will be so happy in the day that I go to the Jean Kirstein tag on TikTok and I don’t find any video made by an insecure ErenxMikasa/Eren Stan putting Jean down and making fun of him because he dares to like and marry Mikasa in the canon! Stop it, ps!

[innocentimouto]

This may only apply to me, but I've come to realize that I have the best grasp of a show after I've watched it at least 3 times and have heard multiple sides about certain debates within the show. A lot of times I've found myself having a very bad opinion on my first watch that I only recognize later is extremely wrong if I had just paid attention to this one episode which point blank disapproves it.

I've also noticed a lot of bad opinions within fandoms come from people watching the show years ago and only remembering the vibe of it. Their takes then usually follow what a stereotypical version would look like

Azula being confident and strong ---therefore needing to be brought down, hating to lose, and older than Zuko.

Katara being sweet--- mom figure, never allowed to vent her emotions, is carrying the emotional weight within the group.

Zuko's redemption---- well-written, showed remorse over his actions, no longer has anger issues.

None of these are really true. Azula needs to unlearn fn imperialism and everything that comes with it, but her being confident and strong doesn't mean she needs to be humbled. She has in fact lost more times than won within the show. And obviously she's younger than Zuko.

Katara is sweet, but she can also get mean. She's totally down for criminal activity and whatever it takes to help people in need. She vents her emotions a lot, like against Toph or with Sokka or even when she snapped at Aang. And she also has fun with the group too. Just because she takes charge some episodes or she comforts others doesn't mean this burden is forced on her. It's supposed to be part of her amazing character but some people have turned into a negative thing

Zuko's redemption... Yeah, I've said this so many times I think people know my thoughts. Basically no, he doesn't have a single scene of regretting his past actions except maybe for when trying to convince the Gaang he changed which isn't good for many reasons this is by far NOT the best redemption arc within media.

Anyway, all this to say I will not be answering any anons about aot at the moment because I did before the anime ended and that was a disaster.