Check out our previous episode review here.
Gonna be honest here – my AoT reviews are so late simply because I am bored with this series.
While I do believe we will get AOE and am patiently waiting for it, the thought of seeing The Alliance and Adventures with Connie and His Titan Mom animated does not make me super excited to be an Attack on Titan fan.
Also…can we please stop with the Eren is the same as Gabi parallels?
Eren and Gabi Are NOT the Same
They are fundamentally two different characters. All the way down to their core being.
I can admit that Gabi, although I don’t particularly care for her, has had some significant character development. Gabi is what, fourteen in the adaptation? Top of her class, a trained sharp-shooter who has been to war, received glory, and has also been brainwashed from a very young age.
Gabi is a child soldier whose very identity hinges on being a ‘Good Eldian’ – so much so that when Pieck (re)infiltrated Paradis and confronted her with their future in front of Eren in episode 16, it took her a while to think about it.
Coupled with her experienced with Kaya and the Braus family, Gabi changed.
In my opinion is it enough? No, but it’s very hard to do years of brainwashing and ingrained behavior – especially for a child soldier. It was much easier for Falco to be understanding because he is a naturally kind boy, and heard Eren and Reiner’s exchange before the Raid on Liberio.
Although Falco told Gabi things weren’t as they seemed before boarding the airship with her, Gabi had to learn the truth for herself. And – there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Then we have Eren, who in every universe in our story canonically wants to destroy the world.
Eren Yeager, who armed with (future memories) murdered three grown men with Mikasa at age nine.
Eren Yeager, who will steal your freedom before you have a chance to steal his – cannot be controlled. Levi even said as much back in season 2 (or 1? Don’t care enough to cross-reference right now) that “Eren is a true monster, and not because he can turn into a titan. No one can bring his mind to submission”.
Yes, while Gabi and Eren share similar physical features, they are not the same personality-wise. Yes, while Gabi was actually created to be a female Eren on the outside, her submissive, easily swayed, child soldier mind is simply not like Eren Yeager – who has continually ripped off his own limbs in our story in pursuit of what he believes to be freedom.
Eren Yeager, who murdered his parents for his freedom – while Gabi would never do such a thing, and became a warrior (amongst other things) to protect her family.
We are all entitled to our own opinions and interpretations of this story, but please really think about how different these two characters are before you see shots of them tying up their hair in a mirror side by side and want to believe that Gabi is the child version of Eren.
It’s kind of worrying at this point, especially when stuff like this comes from people who have read the manga, and adjoining spin-off series and serializations.
We then have this amazing scene of Jean specifically laying out why the rumbling is happening:
Eren refused to sacrifice the island by going along with Zeke’s euthanasia plan, which would have left Eldians worldwide sterile.
Eren refused to sacrifice Historia for Kiyomi’s 50-year plan (which Armin, for whatever reason, was under the impression Eren was doing when the rumbling began, only to realize he is releasing all of the colossal titans from the walls) and rejected the cycle of children eating parents.
(Which plays into the “overcoming the father” theme both Eren and Historia embodied up until a certain part in the series)
Despite keeping his depression and uncertainty to himself, Eren successfully manipulated his half-brother Zeke, the military, and his closest ‘friends’ all for their benefit to see them live (“long and happy”) lives.
Jean brings these great points to everyone’s attention – and no matter what happens next, at least Jean was the one to truly internalize Eren’s sacrifice. And to be honest, this is why despite the awful manga ending, Jean has remained one of my favorite characters out of what becomes ‘The Alliance’.
Given how late I am with uploading these episode reviews, we should be seeing that today.
Anyways, I think I’ll end it here. But, tell me your thoughts.
Do you think Eren is wrong for his decision to commit genocide?
And, do his (little) friends have the right to stop him – at the expense of Paradis?
Leave your thoughts in the comment section below, we’d love to hear from you! Also be sure to follow us for more weekly Attack on Titan the Final Season reviews and discussions!
次のエピソード: Think of the Marleyans
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