Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan) - Manga discussion

[Guido]

Originally Posted by Kanon

I already thought so last chapter, but the soldier's speech in this one seems to further indicate we're heading toward a bullshit peace ending.

Was it really necessary to spend this many pages on the rumbling again? It feels like Isayama is just dragging things out at this point. Wasn't it said the manga would end this year, or was it just speculation?

Read the recent chapter, and I humbly believe that context is necessary to apply into the soldier's speech.

Basically, the remaining Marleyan forces were regretting that their past abuses, eventually, delivered the literal Devil into wreaking havoc and death onto the world. Hence, the soldier's speech can be seen as an act of regret out of contrition and not necessarily of geniune compassion towards the battered Eldians.

It is analogous to someone at death's doorstep and experiencing his or her lifetime flashing throughout an instant and regretting at either not having made good choices thus wasting life away or feeling that dying has come too soon without experiencing other things in life.

Whether be Eldian or non-Eldian it doesn't matter anymore because death is not only certain but also coming for them all and nobody is being spared.

Changing topic, I do agree with Armin questioning Eren whether the latter feels "free" or Paradis is earning "freedom" after the untold destruction he (Eren) has unleashed.
Basically, Armin understanding Eren better than anyone else has made clear Eren's irony for the worst due to the latters' deeds. That is that even after so much death and destruction Eren has brought to humanity he's still trapped and caged within a "wall", and that wall is hatred.

Kudos and praise for Isayama-sensei for such hints and subtle allegories.


Now, the pressing question isn't whether or not the manga is heading for a world peace ending. The pressing matter is who will stain the hands with Eren's blood in order to stop him for good, because the direction is heading full circle back to the beginning. And, that means the climax of the final confrontation will bring the readers back to Eren, Mikasa, and Armin.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Kanon

I already thought so last chapter, but the soldier's speech in this one seems to further indicate we're heading toward a bullshit peace ending.

I hope not. I'd rather Armin and co "win", stop the rumbling for good, only for the world to turn against them and kill every Eldian on the planet. That would feel a lot more earned all around.

[GDB]

How much world is left at this point? The speech sounded like it was implying they were the last humans (doubtful, but that's how it felt). And other than the Eren supporters who got killed during the escape/prior battle, there's a ton of Eldians still on Paradis.

[The Small One]

Originally Posted by GDB

How much world is left at this point? The speech sounded like it was implying they were the last humans (doubtful, but that's how it felt).

I got this feeling as well. And it also kinda looked like the rambling titans are getting even more, beeing in places Like London and Japan at the same time.

I'm wondering something else: It was said, that the attack titan is able to see the future. What are the chances of the author going for a "It's all in Eren's mind"-Ending?

[Jan-Poo]

Originally Posted by The Small One

I'm wondering something else: It was said, that the attack titan is able to see the future. What are the chances of the author going for a "It's all in Eren's mind"-Ending?

"It was all a dream" is the second worst way that a story can end with after "deus ex machina".

[Guido]

Originally Posted by Jan-Poo

"It was all a dream" is the second worst way that a story can end with after "deus ex machina".

Worst possible outcomes to end story:
1. Deus Ex Machina World-Peace ending.
2. It was all just a dream ending.
3. The rumbling stops because the Martha Wayne test is applied on Eren.
4. Isayama-sensei pulling out a "Game of Thrones" a la style ending, although in interviews he said that he would never do that to his audience.

[Anh_Minh]

Not sure how I'd feel about "it was all a prophetic dream, just before Eren decides to go through with it".

[GDB]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

Not sure how I'd feel about "it was all a prophetic dream, just before Eren decides to go through with it".

If we got a full ending prior to said reveal, I'd be fine with that. It doesn't actually change anything in the narrative.

[Ligerleon89]

Spoiler for About the recent chapter, along with my thoughts on it.:

So Historia is in labor, meanwhile the Marleyan people by the numbers are being crushed out to the point that people are choosing death by suicide. Then Armin and his crew shows up to fight Eren in short.

Looking back Eren started out with an intense hatred for Titans due to the death of his mother, and those goals have went from that, to where things are now. And all it took was to see a young girl being shunned, cast out and hunted due to a crime she didn't commit to become The 1st Titan, only to be just used up and literally eaten by her children after her death, by the hands of a king who had no brains in the first place.

Eren did all this so he could stop the harsh treatment of his people by people who feared them, and his world was nothing but the city in the walls up until a certain point. And seeing as Marleyans feared them and wanted the Eldians dead, he started The Rumbling once he got to Ymir and convinced her. And I think I forgotten if anybody came up to Eren and helped him with his internal problems right down to where his hatred started in the 1st place, because that guy was not in a good place from the beginning. And I've seen this before in a character and so much happens even the little things that has something to do with the character's mindset are ignored, and sometimes said character starts something big that gets everyone's attention.

[Blaat]

Can't believe Annie is getting NTR'd.

[Kanon]

I've reached that point where I find the manga so bad I wish it would just end already, and I've invested too much time in the series to just drop it.

[Justice Knight]

Originally Posted by Kanon

I've reached that point where I find the manga so bad I wish it would just end already, and I've invested too much time in the series to just drop it.

same here, 1st they support eren and now they wanna stop him lol. I'm pretty sure eren wants to eat all the unique titan and suicide to end this bullshit titan era. Hopefully eren dont screw his own plans since everything is going his way right now.

[Anh_Minh]

I hope Eren succeeds, if only to know for sure what his plan is.

[Sheba]

Eren going for God Emperor of Dune ending? Seems likely.

[Jan-Poo]

Originally Posted by Justice Knight

I'm pretty sure eren wants to eat all the unique titan and suicide to end this bullshit titan era.

Originally Posted by Sheba

Eren going for God Emperor of Dune ending? Seems likely.

So you guys are saying his plan is to get killed? But what would that accomplish in this case? It was established that even if you kill one of the 9 titans the power just get transferred to a random Eldian person. That really shouldn't change just because one person has them all. I'd call that an asspull, honestly.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Sheba

Eren going for God Emperor of Dune ending? Seems likely.

I love you for mentioning him rather than Lelouch.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Kanon

I love you for mentioning him rather than Lelouch.

On the plus side, God Emperor of Dune had prophetic power, unlike Lelouch. On the minus side, it also had room for people to just move away from each other, unlike AoT.

[Jan-Poo]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

On the minus side, it also had room for people to just move away from each other, unlike AoT.

What do you mean?

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Jan-Poo

What do you mean?

I mean that part of Leto's plan was for humanity - after his death - to scatter and colonize more worlds, far beyond the reach of his own empire. In AoT, there is the sense that the world is too small to contain both Eldians and non-Eldians. There's nowhere one side can run to that the other can't also reach.

Then again, Leto and Eren have to have different aims. Leto was concerned by survival of the human race as a whole. If that's all Eren wanted, he could have let Zeke condemn the Eldian people to death.

[Jan-Poo]

Yeah, if you want to find a "minus side" on the comparison, the completely different aim and situation is what mostly jumps to the eyes. Assuming there isn't something about Eren that we have completely misunderstood, he wants for the conflict to end in some way, which makes him closer to Lelouch than Leto II, whose plan actually involved the birth of new factions that would inevitably come into conflict with the old ones.