I was ready to quit Attack on Titan. I didn't like Willy, thought he was a lame villain. I didn't like what I felt were retcons to the story. I hated how this thing was sooooo drawn out. I didn't like how older Eren was drawn. It lost some of the horror and mystery that the series contained early on.

Then this chapter came out.
I don't necessarily need action to enjoy a story, but this chapter had some great action sequences.
I did not expect the Warhammer titan to look like that. I was expecting some Thor-with-hammers-for-hands type of giant, and instead we get this weird alien looking thing, sleek and slim, with much different powers.

Eren looks exactly like a hybrid of Grisha and Carla. I loved the 104th coming back.
"Eren. Come home."
So what happened?
Eren has become a human monster. He already was killing innocent people when he last fought with Annie, knocking her into that church. It was never really mentioned in the series, or even in the forums that I read. I mean, he's angry at Reiner and Bertholdt for killing innocent people for whatever mission they had, but he's also dozen that, to a smaller degree.

Now, he's done almost the same thing Reiner and Bertholdt did, invaded Marley as a Titan, and killed innocent people in the process. Zophia RIP.

Things don't look for Eren.

Eren and Eldians have become the monsters they were fighting against...
Even Jean was willing to kill a child in order to kill the Cart Titan.

I'm surprised to see Lady Tybur go out like that. I actually wanted to know more about her. I even felt a little sad for her.

We still don't know what Willy and the Tybur family had planned out. The secret of the Ackerman's and the "by product of titan experimentation." Why did the 145th king enforce his will on his successors? What did Ymir really encounter?
What's with the blue flowers?

This manga is gonna go on forever. But I'm not complaining anymore. So many questions I want answered now, and the ride is pretty fun.
But damn, the tone and feeling of the early manga/anime was like this Twilight Zone-like horror story, and now it's gradually become this crazy war epic.

I'm afraid it's looking like Reiner will end up actually being the hero of this story.

The bearded soldier?

My thoughts...

Not as good as the previous chapters.

-Levi still beating the shit out of Eren? Really? I would expect years after that courtroom demonstration Levi's methods would have evolved somewhat. I feel like this was just to show him being "badass." Or maybe it was to stress the resentment the survey corps has towards Eren going alone. But the cheesy smart ass remark ruins the seriousness of it.

-It was suspected by fans that Sasha was going to die. It would have been maybe more of a surprise if they didn't have the group hug and Connie's words. This was like the equivalent of the 80s cop flick partner saying how he's going to retire in a few days before getting shot by the main villain.

-Gabby was able was able to successfully get her and Falco on to the blimp without falling to their deaths? Too forced in order for them to kill of Sasha and have them go with Eren and co.

-How are the Paradis/Walldian team celebrating and NOT keeping an eye out the door of the blimp while they are STILL inside Marley? You'd think they'd have sharpshooters, or Sasha posted with a rifle out the door until they completely leave Marley airspace. This part really killed it for me. Bad writing.

-I'm surprised that the Walldians seem to be going back to their old ways. "Victory of the NEW Eldian Empire!!!!!" So Floch and these new recruits want to be imperialists?

I don't like anyone except for Falco at this point. Kruger killed thousands for a greater good. Eren has killed hundreds for a greater good. Marley does. Eldia did.

I'm guessing Annie has switched sides. Paradis is not going to send all their Titan shifters away and leave their island unprotected. Not thrilled about that, but there's too many hints that she IS alive.

Nah, not the bearded girl. I thought that was kinda dumb actually, since Pieck saw right through that from long ago, so what was the point?

I mean shooting Sasha, then having her live for a little, and just when you think cool, everything's coming together, sure she shot her but now they can be unified, bam, dead. I realize she was scheduled to die a while ago and the editors stepped in to save her, but geez.

I think it makes sense that they reveled in their victory. Nobody had the means to shoot down the blimp, and the only way Gabby and co. got up was by some quick thinking using the anti personnel gear.

I'm not sure they had a choice but to send their full force, I mean, Eren basically went on his own and if they lost him or the titans inside him, they would have been screwed. That's why it made sense for Levi to kick the crap out of him for doing things on his own, which also resulted in a ton of civilian casualties that Eren couldn't care less about. Obviously the plan was to bring Zeke back and the fact that his subordinate was on the first boat to go back to Paradis after the incident meant that it was brewing for a long time.

Yelena being on that first boat does open up a whole new can of worms.

I'm still a little bothered by the way Eren is turning out. He was the guy we identified with. He felt remorse for what his father had done to Historia's family. Now it's hard to relate to him.
Falco is easily my new favorite character, and he's much more the voice of reason. He's explaining to Gabbi why this is all a vicious cycle, and Gabbi's like, "well did you actually see the enemy get invaded by us? Okay then, shut up. They're devils, that's all there is to it."

But if Eren is not actually the hero of the story, if there ends up being any heroes at all, that's actually a bit more sophisticated storytelling. Most of this type of fiction is just good vs evil. Instead, it looks like Isayama is trying to break out of that typical cliche.

Remember how Grisha brought Eren to the Ackerman's house because he wanted him to make some friends? I just thought, Eren is a loner, gets in fights all the time, and his father wants him to be more social.

But then we get the flashback of Eren Kruger telling Grisha, "If you want to save Mikasa, Armin and the other others..." and Grisha asks him, "who are they?"

So was Grisha purposely trying to get Eren to befriend Mikasa in order to fulfill the future memory that Kruger spoke of. Grisha raises a family, and his kid just so happens to make friends with an "Armin." Later on he's the doctor for a family who happens to have a daughter named "Mikasa", which is probably a pretty rare name in the walls.

How much of this was calculated and for how long?

And I wonder, did The Owl instruct a young Zeke that it would further help his infiltration of Marley to turn in his own parents, all for the greater good? If Kruger thought it right to torture and kill thousands of his fellow countrymen in order to gain Marley loyalty and trust, in order to one day restore Eldia, why not encourage for Zeke to do the same to his parents?

Present day with Eren talking to himself in mirror.
Flashback to x years ago when Paradis had captured Yelena's group.
within that flashback we get a flashback of Zeke talking to Kyomi about a plot to save Eldia and sell their resources...

It does feel clunky.


I enjoyed this chapter though. Sets up a lot of questions while answering some.

But I really hate the way Gabi is written. She uses 3D maneuvering gear for the first time and manages to get on the blimp?
She does the fake pain thing to get out of the jail cell, and they're only being guarded by one inept guard??? And they're already out free?

It seems like Isayama wants a specific thing to happen, and since he's juggling so many different plot threads and ideas, he sometimes rushes things and ends up using a cliche to get from point A to point B.

I don't like Mikasa being of royal bloodline. Seems like too much of a coincidence. Not only is she an Ackerman who are the result of some kind of Titan science that gives them super powers, and not only is she of the very few Asians within the Walls, she's also royalty?

It was interesting to find out that Eren went AWOl, apparently to protect Historia and in order NOT to repeat the same mistakes (having a Fritz breed just to pass on Ymir's curse to the children).
Even if it means possibly restoring Eldia, he doesn't want to do that if it means breeding like livestock. As a child he said he hated being behind walls like livestock.

I wonder why he's so desperate to protect Historia though?

Some interesting developments.
When asked if Zeke's controlling him, Eren responds, "I am free."

I remembered this is the same thing he said when he was went into his berserker rage Titan mode at the end of the Season 1 anime.
When he's smashing up Annie's Titan he says, "I'll destroy the entire world," and right before he rips open her Titan's nape, he says, "I am free."

I don't remember anyone commenting on that until now.
A lot of people are saying it's the nature of the Attack/Advancing Titan taking control of Eren. That makes sense, since that titan "always strives towards freedom," according to Kruger.
But I was thinking that it might be the Founding Titan that's possessing him. Apparently the Founding Titan, through the Fritz family, was terrorizing nations like Marley. It wasn't until the 145th King made a vow to renounce all war, and made sure his successors would be influenced by his will and vow. Only those of royal blood could take full advantage of the Founding Titan's powers, and yet, ironically, they were bound by the will of their predecessor, the 145th King.

So maybe Eren not being of royal lineage, and not bound by old King's will has "freed" the Founding Titan.

Eren turned complete shit heel in this chapter too.
Supposedly he's always hated Mikasa, and accuses Armin of being controlled by Bertholdt. I'm surprised Armin didn't turn that right around on him, accusing him of being controlled by the War Hammer Titan's host, Lady Tybur.

I thought it was a little dumb how they explained the spinal fluid wine.
I kind of assumed that the captured Marleyan soldiers made the wine once they were there, and contaminated it but...that would be impossible.
But damn, considering all the bullshit that Marley has been pulling on them, sending infiltrators, creating Titans, why would the Eldian military be consuming anything that their enemies brought with them?

And Levi's team that was guarding Zeke was allowed to drink Marley wine while they were guarding him? Sounds pretty irresponsible.

I give the author a lot of credit though. After all this time, he's been able to keep me interested as a reader. Now I want to know what the Tybur's were planning, what Zeke is trying to accomplish, who is the father of Historia's child, what will happen to Falco, etc.
And I'm still waiting on answers to the old questions like, what exactly is the origin of Ymir Fritz's power?

The 104th and the Marley warriors have teamed up, even exclaiming while standing in a circle, "We're going to save the world!"

Remember how Annie was the traitor and massacred Levi's squad? She escaped her confinement and Connie spots and says, "OMG! Is that you Annie stuffing yourself with pie!? Lulz" And she joins the anti-Eren effort, no problem.

Fan favorite Levi got blown up by Zeke, but now it turns out he has a healing-factor, so he's NOT dead and he'll be back to being a his usual total bad ass self again, just with a cool scar over his eye.

Falco got the "Jaw Titan" and looks like a giant Birdman. He does a repeat of Eren going berserk and attacking Mikasa, but this time it happens and gets solved within a few panels. There's not weight to the action whatsoever.

Floch is a mustache twirling villain.

Magath and Keith Shadis instantly bond, and even though he doesn't have to, Shadis decides to sacrifice himself along with Magath. Why? Couldn't Shadis surviving possibly do more alive than dead? Hey, but it made him look honorable I guess? Brave? To just throw away his life unnecessarily?

I give a lot of credit to Isayama for writing and illustrating this thing for like 10+ years without a break, and for the vast majority of it being so well-written. But I think the story has just become way too unwieldy for him. The cracks started showing up when it was revealed that Marley was a WW I-era industrialized society that scent children to carry out an incredibly dangerous covert mission into an enemy nation's territory. And then when it was revealed that there are 9 titans and there official names really are "Cart Titan", "Beast Titan," "Jaw Titan" etc. In both countries, despite Paradis not knowing the outside world existed. But fine, a lot of great story came from it too, including the founding titan Ymir, Marley culture, etc.

But now it's all catching up and everything is feeling like a typical kids action manga but just with gore.