Read my previous thoughts:
I had put this review off for a while.
Not that I wasn’t excited to read this, but honestly – I just kind of forgot what was going on in the AoT no Requiem manga.
It’s weird.
Although it makes me angry, I am not ashamed to admit that Shingeki no Kyojin is my favorite manga series, and Attack on Titan is up there on the list of my favorite anime.
But the fandom – my goodness this fandom pisses me off so much with the constant bickering back and forth about unimportant things like ships, Isayama-sensei’s personal ideology, and Mikasa Ackerman’s character development of all things.
In all honesty, I literally tune out anything to do with Attack on Titan on my Twitter feed and even sometimes Reddit due to all of the crazy theories, arguments, and “hot takes”. And because I have been actively tuning out discussions online and just rewatching certain parts of the canon series…I totally forgot what happened in this fanfiction/ doujinshi.
Hence, I read it all over from scratch – and AoT no Requiem is still a wonderful thing. ☺
AoT no Requiem Part 3 Review
I’m glad Part 3 was called Commander, because it was nice to see Commander Armin’s ideology explored from a new angle.
Is it right? Well…no, I would still lean toward Eren’s Rumbling if I lived in their world but…it was interesting to see, to say the least.
If anything, reading this chapter made me realize just how much the current commander’s ideology influenced the Survey Corps in the main story.
We had:
Keith Shadis, 12th Commander of the Survey Corps and a complete and utter failure at inspiring his regiment.
After a particularly painful failure outside of Wall Maria, we see in both the AoT anime and SnK manga that Shadis breaks down in the streets, claiming that the mission was a complete failure – stunning distressed onlookers.
Erwin “by any means necessary” Smith, 13th Commander of the Survey Corps who became the devil Paradis Island needed, and died before learning the truth of their world.
Erwin sacrificed an arm, closure on his father’s unsolved murder, and even countless comrades all in the pursuit of Paradis’ safety and freedom.
Thanks to Hange, innovation regarding titan science in the Survey Corps was at an all-time high, as was morale at the prospect of retaking Wall Maria and its territory back from the titans after humanity had suffered so greatly.
The scouts even got a send-off before they ventured off to Shiganshina District – something that had never happened in their known history.
Hange “the idle” Zoe, 14th Commander of the Survey Corps who quite frankly, was completely in over her head.
Which is understandable…although it was frustrating to read about and watch, Hange first and foremost was a scientist. A mad one, at that.
So, when things went from capturing and studying live titans to kidnapping and torturing a Priest of the Walls for much-needed evidence for a coup d’etat to overthrow the puppet government and install someone (Historia) loyal to their cause and uncovering the truth… I can understand that being overwhelming.
I understand Hange promising to tell Paradis Island the truth about their history and erased memories, and then later as things changed ducking and running away from the press by simply saying “no comment”.
What I cannot forgive, however, is the idleness of letting Paradis Island’s options dwindle away.
I cannot forgive Hange for recognizing that Eren would never sacrifice Historia, and then being surprised when he refused to cooperate with the military’s plans.
I cannot forgive Hange recognizing that Eren is right, but quite literally saying something to the effect of “but genocide is bad, mmkay” to Jean when confronted with the entire world banding together to decimate a small island whose technology is still regressed at least by one hundred years.
I know I’m beating a dead horse here, but I cannot forgive Hange for losing touch with reality so badly that the Yeagerist thrived while hiding themselves amongst the Survey Corps – and she never once noticed the traitors in her midst.
This is not the Hange we knew from previous seasons, but one who was too stubborn to look forward, blinded by her own idealism of the past under Erwin.
It was this refusal to adapt that created the situation we see today: Eren’s (former) friends and Squad Levi turning traitor to their own people and country – despite Eren (and Historia) having the love of the people, and the Yeagerist as Paradis’ last defense.
Before Erwin died, he mentioned to Levi that the next agenda for the Survey Corps would be to eliminate the threats outside of the walls. Had Erwin still been alive, he would have led (alongside Eren) the Raid on Liberio.
Erwin Would Not jail and then try to befriend Prisoners of War from an enemy army and believe there’s hope when, what, maybe three of them decide they are tired of being jailed and want to help build a train?
Then, we have Armin.
Armin Arlert, 15th Commander of the Survey Corps after the previous commander decided to commit suicide by way of colossal titans.
And man, what a disappointment Armin is/was.
Going from someone who put his life on the line to save his friends, and quite literally died when facing off against Bertholdt to defend his homeland….to a man who holds sea shells, and speaks lovingly to a crystal holding the enemy solider he helped expose on a daily basis.
Armin, who said (paraphrasing) “Someone who can’t sacrifice anything, can never change anything! In order to overcome a monster, you must be willing to throw aside your humanity” has now decided to sacrifice his homeland, his friends, his comrades, and his character development for people like the woman he exposed in season two.
The woman who hid in a crystal for years in-universe and upon waking up, literally said to Hitch point blank that she would do it all again if it meant going home to her father.
Meaning, Annie would break down the walls and indirectly murder Armin’s grandfather – his only remaining family – again by way of a forced ‘reclaim territory’ mission.
Annie would kill Squad Levi again if it meant going back home to Marley and living like a second-class citizen to see her father.
Annie would destroy countless buildings and innocent lives again in Stohess District if it meant she could return to being oppressed and used as a tool by Marley.
All of the other Warriors feel this way, as well.
They do not care about Paradis, or Eldians on Paradis.
The people working with the Survey Corps now are only doing so because they know they cannot beat Eren.
To be quite honest, I was surprised by Zeke’s line about “idealism amounting to nothing”.
It almost seemed like Zeke was building sandcastles, lamenting his existence, and roasting Armin for being so naïve that the world would change, and spare them just because they betrayed their own country.
While Armin is giving his self-righteous speech to Zeke about having “seen people change” did you notice in the flashback panel it was just Hange and the one dude who helped her with the train, Onyankopon (who was impartial to begin with) and Niccolo, who was depressed over being a Prisoner of War and fell in love with a pretty girl who loved eating his food?
As Eren – current god of the AoT universe who can access memories of the past and future events yet to come – (continually) keeps trying to point out to Armin – a few good interactions will not erase 2000 years of hatred overnight.
The entire world hates Paradis Island.
Paradis Island is the threat Pixis alluded to earlier on in the main series.
The threat that would bring the world together in one singular goal: the annihilation of Armin’s people, and hometown.
I’m starting to rant again, so I think I’d like to close this review on Zeke’s final words to Armin before his body was recovered from Okapi: ” …Are YOU prepared to pay the price your cause will demand from you? Or, will it CRUSH you instead, like all the others? ”
Short answer: No, Zeke – he’s not.
I guess we’ll find out exactly what Armin’s price will be in AoT no Requiem Part 4.
But, tell me your thoughts.
Do you find Armin to be a hypocrite?
Was Zeke right about Eren abandoning both of them?
And…
What was Jean’s sacrifice toward the end of the chapter?
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Loved the read! I also think its really interesting how Armin’s words about seeing people from different sides come together also applies to his POV of the Rumbling arc as well. From his end, he’s eaten meals with and fought alongside people who were his bitter enemies for the past 15 hours on a hopeless bid to, in Connie’s own words, “save the world”, and now we’ve lost Jean because of it.
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Yes, lots of overlap between Armin (and his hypocrisy) in both the manga and doujin. I really wish Jean had joined the Yeagerists. It would have made so much sense…
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