#such lovely topics as: 'genocides happen all the time and we can't focus on all of them'

[elizabro]

I would have to say I'm getting pretty good at calmly explaining to people why something is morally reprehensible instead of, say, leaping across the table and strangling them with my bare hands. does take 10 years off my life though

[ofthedarkwoods]

I apologize for the traumatic content I've shared.

I wanna say that this apology is only to the people of Palestine (or to those who are personally tied to Palestine)

I don't want many of you to be remembered in this image. Your culture is truly breathtaking and should definitely be shared. Each Palestinian has beauty and kindness that we truly do not deserve.

Otherwise, I'm not sorry to anyone else.

Before I started sharing consantly and becoming more self-aware of the genocide happening across the seas, I was doubtful at first..

I did look away, and I didn't realize at the time of how wrong I was to do so.

It wasn't until I discovered a post of childern in pieces and finally realized how corrupt and real this is.

I can't find that specific post, but I remember being in so disbelief and so traumatized.

I couldn't take back the moment I saw before seeing what I had seen.

I have certain trauma of my own before seeing those pictures but nothing in my right mind could stay silent about what I saw.

I truely couldn't imagine everyone else in that moment of time was feeling.

I discovered more and more posts every day since then and have been trying my hardest to tell others that this is not normal.

None of this is normal.

Any person with morals clearly sees that this needs to stop.

These people..these children, these women, these men and so many others were filled with so much joy, hope, compassion, culture, are now being slaughtered and labeled as if they are not humans with souls worthy of anything.

I want to apologize again to them it took me so fucking long to realize that I shouldn't be looking away from this, that this is real.

I.. we should be yelling and screaming louder that this isn't the way it's supposed to be.

Your voice can be so loud and so fucking powerful.

They might tell you "what's one voice gonna do" when really protests and million if not billions of post have stated they've been telling millions of people that...

"What's one voice gonna do?"

They know just how powerful words can be, and yes, it might seem like these are all just words on a screen... but if I know anything is that words will turn into inspiration, and inspiration turns to action.

It's still not too late to stop this.

Every one of us has the ability to stop this together.

The boycotting has been working, and I'm so proud of everybody doing their best of their abilities.

Even if it feels like nothing, it still means something because knowing that if we all come together than more and more change will come.

I will keep posting about Palestine and other important topics to focus on because if it has the ability to inspire and change to maybe make the word brighter and better for the people around, then why stop.

So what begs the question now is to those who are "not into politics" or "on neutral sides" not see someone close to you when you look at them?

Do you not feel like you want to embrace them and tell them that they are loved.

To maybe comfort that child who lost their sister, to hold that mother that saw her son being targeted and gunned, to not hold that father's hand as it shakes with grief as his family is left under the home he bought promising them that nothing bad will come to them.

Do you really not see their pain, or do you only see what you want to see.

Seeing and experiencing other beliefs can be so beneficial, but if your one to just lie there and not question anything on the only system you were ever taught I want you to ask yourself this "are you really safe?"

To which "will I also fall victim to their game, they are so desperate to win?"

Because if they can get away with this then it is only a matter of time when you will be the one grieving for the last of your comfort fades away.

This is a warning to all that this is not normal, this is real, and it's only a matter of time before it affects each and every last of us until they get what they so desperately crave.

Fight back now or at least be prepared to say goodbye.

Many of you might agree or pick a fight with me whatever but yes, opinions change, however it's hard to change the way these past months have made me feel.

Stand for Gaza or stand for nothing.

From the River to the Sea Palestine will be free.

🇵🇸

[edge-oftheworld]

hey girl i saw your friends of friends post - do you think there's a chance maybe they're just being supportive of Palestine performatively now that everyone is on their ass about not speaking out sooner? i know you said 'they're on 5sos time' but isnt that kind of just excusing their poor effort up until now? it's taken so long for them to do anything supportive, Palestine's literally almost gone

:,(

love u just wanted to see your perspective!

hey anon! thanks for this lovely ask. i can't guess what's in their heads and i'm hesitant to either 1) assume the worst when there can be a million reasons someone doesn't get to something straight away, and I don't usually think well thought-through activism comes out best when it's immediately reactive, or 2) say that there's no possible way this is the case when we don't have evidence for that either. it could be the case!

however from what I've seen the kinds of things people have been on their asses about recently have been other things--like crushing watermelons or cancelling sierra or crystal or 'where is calum is he okay' or critiquing having any association with all time low or being mean about other things i don't really want to bring up on here. Like I guess that might've been there but I've honestly not seen a lot of it; I've been here for about a year now and the 5sos fandom still baffles me--like I realise it's probably just a small minority who are mean and kinda petty, but honestly I've not seen a heap of organised activism within the fandom and it has disappointed me a little--like yeah from their perspective they might be reading the comments on it and feeling the pressure from those, but honestly it's been so mixed up with stuff i can't imagine they want to read that I'm not sure that's the message the fandom is sending at all. I hope for the fandom's sake I'm wrong and it's just the negativity bias speaking.

I do also want to gently possibly push back on the idea that they haven't done anything supportive until now; yes they didn't involve friends of friends (i'm not sure why) or really outright say it (which I've got more opinions on, a mix of positive and negative in terms of why i think they chose to do it that way) but they did release an entire tour movie on youtube for us for free, and tell us to donate to help (in ashton's words) 'the children in gaza' with links in the caption--it's a more aussie style of activism for sure when it's less putting yourself on a platform (even if you already have it) to speak about something to try and get people to act, and more use the resources you have to make a practical difference, without being demanding of people or stressing them out with urgency. to me that was something that meant more than performative statements, but not everyone in the fandom agrees on that. all i'll say to it is 1) it was out of the blue and felt like they had kinda just discussed it and been like 'yeah we need to' the minute the tour movie was ready 2) it was back in december and 3) i think they underestimated how broke their fans are and also overestimated how many people would see the 'humanitarian aid' links below a video in the christmas break. i've rattled on about it, i'll always defend that particular action but everyone knows that, the decision to focus on the children and the downstream aid rather than the genocide itself was an interesting one (bound to appeal to the skeptics and more practical but in some ways a copout), but i'm also putting it here because it surprises me how many fans genuinely have no idea all of this happened because literally no one talked about it. I don't know if it's because we have an idea as a society how activism should be like or people genuinely don't know how to address more serious topics (again, no one seems to be talking about the friends of friends thing they're kicking off now either). brandy's been sharing information etc on palestine and evidence of the genocide since october, and michael wore that jumper thing that I forget the name of in what might have been cultural solidarity or a coincidence back on october 13th i think. again, it's not the same. brandy isn't actually in 5sos. decide what to make of these things for yourself.

i'll also add that in general from what i've seen, 5sos are usually not super swayed by fan pressure and more likely to get pissed off by it and become more unhinged as a result or turn it into a joke later (like with the soon saga). not to say that they don't feel it, I think they do, but are more determined to not let it take away from their authenticity than be led by it iykwim? having said that this is something i relate to a lot due to my neurodivergence so i could be very biased on this. I could be projecting. so i'm not sure!! i'm not sure what goes on in their heads. i'm not sure why this didn't come sooner, we can probably all agree it should've. but i do also want to say that i know it's not ideal but sometimes doing a good thing for less than pure reasons is still a good thing. it's just the timing that's obviously the pressing factor here, people are dying, and it's kinda insensitive to be talking about how disabling things like executive function and anxiety can be in activism--but this is another topic and aspect of it I think that not mentioning can sometimes cause an excess of blame to be placed on people who are doing good things that aren't good enough to fix what bad people are doing, rather than the bad people themselves. I know it's not that simple, I know there are systemic parts of complicity we can't really wash our hands of that easily but my point is things like neurodivergence and anxiety are by definition disabling and activism is not a sphere they don't touch. and i can't go and list headcanoned diagnoses for a band I listen to but I also can't in good conscience ignore that this could likely be a factor.

overall i feel like this is a mess of a post because i don't really know yet where the line is between holding people accountable (what even is enough in activism?) and letting them process the trauma we're watching unfold and turn that into action at their own pace. but i do want to say thank you so so much for engaging with what's been a topic that I don't think we're talking about enough but i do care about too. and if you've read this far down such a long post thank you as well, i really appreciate it!

[raccoonshinobi]

This goes hand in hand with impaired/neglected reading comprehension - That whatever is read is either taken very literally word-for-word (very usually a simile lost to time or lost in translation) or that the premise of an obvious evil being enacted as a theme in the literature has 'readers' conclude that the author/creator is so illiterate on the idea they write about that they're actively promoting it - instead of it being a formulaic structure leading to reflection on the story's central theme and/or moral ambiguity - where the reader is supposed to decide for themselves what's right and wrong in the story adding more into the immersion and discussion on the subjects.

Or in historical cases, how a person's obsession portrayed in the media is seen as advertisement and encouragement instead of risk and warning - even when the ill practice affected the historical figure's health in the first place... Also the fact that it actually flipping happened and that this part of history should not be ignored. But it being advertised at all MUST mean this figure must be loved for everything questionable that they do...

No matter how much it makes you uncomfortable, censoring the past won't mean that it never happened. Eating disorders existed, bigotry existed and still do, illnesses, various forms of death, genocides, loads of events we find reprehensible now happened back then and we hate them now because they happened back then in times where all were considered normal. And even back then they were frowned upon.

Still you have people who judge immediately from a glance on how wrong/immoral/unsafe/incorrect 'x/y/z' is and YES YOU FIGURED IT OUT THERE ARE SEVERAL THINGS THAT THE CENTRAL CHARACTER IS DOING IN THE STORY/DOCUMENTARY TO SHOWCASE WHY IT'S BAD IN THE FIRST PLACE YOU DING-DONG.

The main issue is that viewers and readers put themselves too far into the media/studies they're consuming and easily find offense on topics that really would make the material frivolous were it removed or omitted.

And otherwise people think that because a documentary is about a certain figure or shows a historical figure doing something dubious, people assume it's to worship and praise that figure. Folks focus and judge on the wrong things so very often, it's worrisome.

It's really the fault of today's entertainment media for making everything depicted feel like it's a new trend waiting to happen.

It's scary to see how the less people are driven to think, the more they believe they know everything and yet either couldn't be more wrong about the things they think they know or can't even bother with the actual context.

And I can't help but notice how this is present in many walks of life. It absolutely DOES make sense why folks think the way they do - most often they don't think. They assume and just trust that whatever they see ONLY exists purely either to cater to them personally or to vex them while misleading others.

Something about this wave of puritanical evangelism in a progressive hat that's gripping the zeitgeist currently recently caught my attention and I think I've figured it out.

I kept seeing advertisements on Instagram about that movie Corsage, about Empress Elisabeth of Austria. The mini-trailer features Vicky Krieps, who plays Elisabeth, being tightly laced into a corset, demanding it be tighter while maids look concerned.

This is par for the course. Empress Elisabeth was famed for her obsession with her looks and her documented fear of fatness that caused both her orthorexia and her chasing an ever-thinner look. I'd be surprised if that wasn't depicted at all.

And yet there were tons of people in the comments bitching about how the movie was "depicting unsafe corseting practices" and "can't you people get anything about this stuff right?"

It gave me pause. Maybe not everyone knew about Empress Sisi. So I responded to one commenter, "but it's truthful. She really did corset like this."

And the response I got was, "Well, they're making it look like a good thing! People won't know!"

And it clicked. It suddenly made absolute sense.

The idea that depiction is equal to endorsement and encouragement is what is currently in the popular belief system.

Empress Elisabeth was well-documented as going through a well-made leather corset every few weeks because she tightlaced so severely. Her thinnest recorded waist size was 16 inches. She frantically kept herself at 110 pounds on a 5'8 frame. She would fast for days and barely ate when she wasn't fasting. She had herself sewn into her goddamn clothes just to look as thin as possible. You cannot simply overlook this when making historical fiction of her, just like you couldn't overlook Winston Churchill's rampant drinking if you wrote things about him. It is intrinsic to her identity and if you remove it you remove something very fundamental.

And because the trailer depicts this facet of her life, everyone decided that the filmmakers were condoning and even encouraging this practice in real life.

Because they cannot conceive of something just existing. Even in fiction, a depiction of something negative must be proof that the creator thinks it's a good thing. Why else would it be there?

And it was such an enlightening look into how people think. It makes so much more sense.

History, and Sisi's dangerous tightlacing, be damned.

[whatifsandspheres]

I keep thinking back to my freshman and sophomore years of high school. I hadn't even read about Buckminster Fuller. I had only just begun to question the fabric of society and all the social constructs of it. I'm sitting in the library with Shampree, her boyfriend Alan, Julia, and sometimes Esmeralda. Julia's friend. The librarians know us, it's no big deal to them we sit in there almost every day and not even that Shampree sits on Alan's lap. I think Julia and Shampree were trying to get a feel for if they could set me up with Esmeralda? Not sure. She was pretty. I was already more interested in Rose from my Music History class. In love with my "Project" more than anything, though. Shampree basically ridiculed it as a "floating hobo village." Nowadays... I don't see any human population breaking out of these corrals of sheep, cattle, sheeple. There's nowhere to go. The consolation is freeing your mind, "emancipation from mental slavery," but that's something I can't settle for. I need more. Back then I hadn't read the statistics on failed "intentional communities" like the hippie convents of utopian embarrassment. So many failures of prospective communities. I really believed it was possible and assured that any group of like-minded people could co-habitate and constructively work toward a new vision. Now I know it's true, but for even stronger reasons I understand why those people don't exist. I understand by sociology and anthropology and even a tiny bit of a psychology lens why those people are possible and inevitable. But they aren't what the factory farm paradigm is producing and the mass-media indoctrination complex arm of the military industry isn't programming those models in the foreseeable future.

Emancipating oneself from mental slavery is more than just a hot yoga session or a smoothie. It's more than just awareness of racism, it's more than just fucking watching The Matrix once and thinking the fucking Mandela effect is real. It's not that we aren't capable. The state knows we are. The state fears we are. Our wings are clipped, our minds are lobotomized. Our desires are doped, spiked, and diluted. Our core sense of self is tainted by all the things we take for granted and never question and our focus is geared toward lugging burdens which we wouldn't have ever made to begin with-- like mules with blinders on we direct our indignation and mass protests but ignore the time passing and all the other devils in the details. Bucky had a vision of using industry to craft all these new designs of life-improving intention and spirit. One was what he called the "Triton Floating Cities." Except no group, capitalistic entrepreneur or non-profit-- and especially no government, has ever geared that much industry for anything besides the same tired trajectory Bucky inherently worked against until his last dying breath. The same paradigm I have wished to see die and clear the air of its stink so that all the strength of healthy potential can grow under the sunlight it has been blotting out. It's not going to happen. Let's be pragmatic. A gloabl satellite internet network has been on-line and in the sky run by the "world's wealthiest man" (read the hand-picked and propped up military-industry shill. It's not in the hands of the people. Technology is in the hands of capital, it fuels a genocide here, and arms another one over there. Neither of which we can vote against and neither of which we would have willingly paid for. "International waters." It sounds like I'm talking about a barren wasteland. I'm talking about the farmer's left our corral doors open. Glazed over eyes. A million ways it will fail and I don't need to press the topic further.

[ironwoodprotectionsquad]

Tbh let's just say for a second that ironwood is actually a murderous genocidal fascist evil human being who never cared about anyone at all but himself and the relic (which is definitely not true at all LMAO let me just make that clear), that still doesn't make team rwby's plan any less bad, dangerous, and naive?

Like, man, I can't help to feel like this is what the writers want us to do. Argue all the time about whether ironwood is a big bad evil man compared to team rwby so we don't even think that, on its own, team RWBY made a fucked up decision for literally everyone else. Like if ironwood didn't even exist, or just went along with everything they said, it still would be shitty! And not only did they do that, their hazardous plan was supposed to resolve itself through "trust love uwu" (plot contrivances out the ass) but they couldn't even manage to do that either because team RWBY, frankly, are just not nice people to anyone outside their in group. Did the power of friendship make them refuse to go to the front lines and help fight the grimm alongside the soldiers they help put there? Did it make them threaten and shame an abused 14 year old into doing all their work for them only for them to take all the credit in the end? Hell, even that stupid minor joke of Nora pressing all the buttons in the elevator to inconvenience those two soldiers (probably on their way to die on the battlefield because of team RWBY) was just meanspirited as fuck and not at all funny. Etc, etc.

Tdlr: RWBY fans need ironwood to be a big bad fascist evil dictator because when you look at team rwbys actions on it's own you realize that they're shitty people. But hey, at least they didn't randomly threaten to bomb innocent civilians!/s

That's the thing isn't it? People will hiss and scream about how evil and vile James is but refuse to discuss at all RWBY's actions at all really. Or if they do they just say something like "Well you're wrong" and leave it at that, pretending as if that is a good argument to the issues and flaws people point out. Like someone will point out how in Volume 8 how disrespectful and controlling it was of Ruby to take Penny's scroll to respond to James's call and how it wasn't right to not let Penny respond on her own. Rather then discuss that part of the conversation people will redirect and argue that James was trying to use Penny but...that's not the point of the argument, the point is what RUBY is doing is messed up, James wasn't part of the issue and just happened to be their in a sense. So long way of saying I agree Anon. It does feel like all CRWBY wants is for everyone to be arguing so we don't focus on the bigger picture.

But back to the point. The easiest way for people to deflect criticism is to start pointing fingers somewhere else. Ruby sits around the mansion drinking tea, we point out that's kind of fucked? "Oh so you think James bombing people is okay?" No that's not the point, the point was about RUBY and HER choices not James. He is not relevant to the topic of Ruby sat around a mansion drinking tea and didn't even try to help the soldiers she trapped on the front lines NOR the civilians she claimed to care so much about that she had to sentence the soldiers to death. Or when we point out how fucked it is that Weiss pointed a loaded weapon at an unarmed child to force her way inside a home she was not welcome to enter into they scream "James was after them they had no choice!" or "Nora was hurt they had no choice!" I will admit, I didn't really think about the elevator scene until now but....fuck you're right. Just the added layer of knowing they're about to go out into a fight where they know they will likely die and Nora still decided to further fuck with them at their expense is just.....yikes all around. Being cruel for the sake of it is just not something you should ever be cheering your main characters for doing. And yet the mega fans will laugh at the soldiers expense even if it comes out later that they did in fact die in the battle they went into. They don't want to actually examine the shit the mains pull and would rather point fingers elsewhere then face the music that their precious faves are actually shitty people and that is just not okay.

But as you said, at least they're not a mustache twirling villain right? No need to examine them and their actions any further cuz they're better then James and that's all that matters right?

[aotopmha]

Attack on Titan in 2020

I've sort of dropped doing detailed chapter posts on the series because that type of writing wasn't very fun for me anymore and I have taken a liking to a bullet point kind of approach where I list the elements that stood out for me in the chapter or make a separate post for some specific topic I'd like to talk about in it.

I've started like 10 different posts to attempt to talk about AoT this year and I always end up with incoherent rambling because of all of the elements I'd love to to talk about.

This year's chapters were 125-135 and this year's episodes episodes 1-4 of season 4.

The anime episodes in particular have given me a lot of food for thought, so I'm just saying fuck it.

I think the biggest misstep of the story for me will forever be the fact that it decided to use fairly specific historical imagery.

The Eldians are clearly supposed to have allegorical equivalency with Jewish people, but the Jewish people were never the oppressors. There weren't any Jewish empires. That's conspiracy theory bullshit.

But on the other hand, the series clearly takes great effort to not stereotype any of the groups it's portraying and gives complex reasons for what both sides do. It's one of the few Japanese series that I've seen not stereotype Middle Eastern-coded people (Ramzi and Halil) or black people (Onyakapon). Everyone are people, it says. It even champions diversity:

(Chapter 118)

It is also very much true that a bunch of fascist states use long-term history as an excuse for their actions:

(Chapter 127)

Nation did X 2000 years ago therefore our conquest of them is justified.

This makes discussion about the series' themes like a minefield.

The people who are very critical about its imagery are right, but the people defending the series aren't wrong, either because it condemns all of those nasty ideas of conquest and hurting innocent people.

You can't have a more clear-cut condemnation of genocide:

(Chapter 127)

If you combine all of these details instead of zoning in on them one by one, to me what the story is saying is that *even if* all of that conspiracy bullshit is true, innocent people don't deserve to be slaughtered no matter the reason because they are still people who have their own feelings, thoughts and wishes.

The story clearly gets the baseline, but fumbles the details. I decided to look up some more discussion surrounding this these past few days and I just wish there was more good faith discussion about it. A lot of it feels like a moral superiority contest.

I think it's these kind of flawed stories that actually deserve detailed scruitiny over stories that are rotten to the core because they are *almost there*. Talking about them is a good topic starter in what to do and not to do in a story like this.

Speaking of rotten to the core, I think the absolute highlight of the chapters this year is Eren and some of the chapters this year finally gave me a pretty clear picture of what is going on with him.

Context from 123 certainly helps, though:

(Chapter 131)

This is about Eren's perspective. He can't accept the destruction of Paradis.

It's not that this solution was inevitable looking in from the outside (which is one of the interpretations I see around for Eren's actions), it's that *Eren* can't see any other way out of this except the most extreme because of all of the horrible things he has seen from the outside world. It is very similar to the way suicidal people can only focus on the negative.

You can tell them everything is going to be okay, but those words won't reach them because their mind won't let them and loops them back to those negative thoughts.

Eren can't see the ice cream or silly clowns. But he can see how the other Eldians in the league of Eldians are willing to push Paradis under the bus. He can see how Grisha's sister was killed. He can see how racist and cruel Marley is towards the Eldians in Liberio (and how the people have racist leanings towards other nations, too).

He can only see those bad things. But he also understands how everyone outside of the walls are human just as the people inside of the walls are.

So he is torn to pieces by guilt.

He doesn't want to do this, but he can't see any other solution.

This is why I also think he can't rob his friends of their agency. He is fighting for them to have a good future:

(Chapter 133)

(Chapter 131)

What really stood out to me on a revisit is that Eren considers himself much worse than Reiner.

I've seen criticism on how the story pushes the narrative of both sides being the same and this detail is really important to me because this is the story acknowledging that what Eren is doing is worse and gives all of the following exchanges about this the context of it being a similarity in principle.

Both sides have killed for what they think is right and have to deal with how they have killed people. This is such an important detail in the Uprising arc, too, where Erwin firmly acknowledged that overthrowing the government might not actually be the right choice by him. It was simply what he saw as right. On a narrative level this avoids absolute truths and preference of one character perspective over the other and once again makes it about individual perspectives.

The theme of individual perspectives is so ingrained in this story at this point in my eyes that it's another cornerstone in understanding what is going on with Eren to me.

I think it's great.

I also really appreciate Annie and what was done with her in this chunk of chapters.

(Chapter 127)

There has been this narrative going around that proposes that the story is in Eren's corner too much. But these chapters are nothing but questioning Eren and Annie is one of the main voices in this. It's the Marleyan girls, really and I think this is a very necessary part of making the narrative work. Once again, it separates the narrative and character perspective.

It says that the Paradis side caring is about character perspective, not what the narrative sides with and Annie is even sympathetic to Mikasa in that instance.

She gets it. Unexpectedly, I think Annie might play a bigger role in taking down Eren than expected. Her character arc about deciding to no longer go with the flow because she doesn't want any more tragedy to happen is basically calling for it.

(Chapter 128)

Another element I've seen brought up is the fact that nobody seems to address the Bert-sized elephant in the room, but some of our characters are certainly thinking about him.

This is such a thematically strong element and really interesting because Connie joined the military to make his mom proud and be a good soldier. This is the motivation behind his claim when he says they are going to save the world. But what does becoming a good soldier mean, exactly?

Well, apparently possibly gunning down people you care about.

This moment is so good because it's another moment where the idea of glory in war is taken down a peg.

The moment with Connie declaring they're going to save the world is so often criticised, but it is actually turned on its head in 128. There is no heroics in this. This is actually Connie's big "killing a person" moment because it strips away the final bit of comfort in killing in war, the excuse of killing for good moral reasons.

It is also a wonderful complex evolution of the series' themes. Trost was about fighting monsters. In the Female Titan and Clash of Titan arcs some of those monsters turned out to be human. In the Uprising, Return to Shiganshina and Marley arcs all of those monsters turned out to be human and here in the War of Paradis arc, everyone is human and the only separating system is what everyone views as right.

I really hope the anime will let this chapter breathe a little bit more.

Moving on, I guess it is time to address the rumbling.

I love it as a horror spectacle.

(Chapter 130)

And I really I think it needs to be non-CG when animated. CG is fine in spectacle battles, but not in horror settings because it is too clean.

The rumbling needs to be disgusting and dirty.

Chapter 132 gave me one of the few moments in which I truly cared about Levi. I think him telling Hange to dedicate her heart was a very good moment to cap off their relationship. He sent another SL commander to fulfill their duty.

The speech about hatred in chapter 134 also stood out to me. I think it definitely should be fitted in there somewhere in this, but I also see a bunch of criticism for it.

I want to point out that this is the side of present Marley talking here. It's the military dictatorship.

It's the Nazis. I think the Nazis should feel regret for exploiting innocent people and admit they're wrong.

I also like how the horrors here are undoing the brainwashing and showing the truth to the citizens.

I guess you could read it as heavy-handed, but it is also something that needs to be addressed and in principle, it's not wrong.

I'm also going to put a mention of Historia here. I've talked about how this is my biggest and most glaring problem with the series because of how thematically unfitting it feels, but I've also talked about it in many posts. I wanted to focus more on other stuff in this post.

So now, we make it back to chapter 135.

I think having stewed on it for a month now, I like the element of mindscrewing our cast with the Titans of the people they love is the strongest element of it. It's making them face their personal traumas and we also get some great character moments and payoffs from it.

Mikasa ended off the year in a very good note in my eyes.

Even this deep in the story, this chapter left me in a situation where I have no idea how things might turn out.

I might have rough ideas, but not anything specific and that's fun.

Well, this is it on my retrospective.

2021 is confirmed to be AoT's final year of publication as volume 34 is set to be the story's final volume.

Those who hate the story can finally be free of it and those who care for it, can look back on it with fondness and sadness and many other emotions and evaluate.

It's been 7 years for me. What a wild ride.

So, I'm asking everyone, what are some of your observations on AoT in 2020?

Is there anything you'd like to add or do you have any observations or counterarguments for anything I've said?

I'd be curious to see what everyone else thought of AoT in 2020!