Shingeki no Kyojin/Attack on Titan (Manga Discussion)

And now we see what all those chapters spent with the Eldians were for. It doesn't look like this situation is gonna end well for anyone involved. Now apparently most of the Walldians disagree with Eren's way of doing things, but I wonder what the initial plan was, then?

Funny to see that everyone has switched to firearms, but Levi is like "nah, I'm too cool for guns."

"I'm going to kill you, Eren Yeager!

charges towards him with a gun

Still no sign of Reiner.

I continue to be unsurprised at how the Marleyan forces see the Eldians as demons. It's the hypocrisy of the privileged once they realize their upper hand is gone.

Galliard's first thoughts, when being faced by the Eldian forces, are 'are they seriously trying to kill me even though I'm a titan and they're human???' followed immediately by 'they are, they're crazy, and they're demons'. If you didn't know anything at all about just how many hardships they've gone through, it'd be an understandable point of view - what kind of madmen would even attempt something like that?

And ultimately, even if our Scouting Legion has become more morally grey, they are still firmly on the sympathetic side, as highlighted by the last two pages: 'Don't let them escape/annihilate them' vs 'Don't die/survive'.

So from what I understand... the series has shifted away from the adventures of Eren and the gang since that timeskip?

He's only just recently reappeared after a period of And Now for Someone Completely Different

Yeah, we've had a whole pre-arc from the point of view of the "enemy".

And as someone said, "the enemy is dumb: they think we are the enemy, even though it's them."

edited 7th Feb '18 12:03:38 PM by Lyendith

I remember when my sister first read the chapter when the Warhammer Titan was revealed, she jokingly asked "Can we change the name of the Warhammer Titan to the State Alchemist Titan?" After seeing the latest chapter, I think her suggested name fits quite well.

War Hammer is indeed super-hax, and it's a pretty clever trick as well. It seems like Magath knew about about that in advance, and didn't anticipate anyone figuring it out.

Interesting to see the division in the ranks among the Survey Corps, in terms of their attitudes towards Eren and this conflict. Some of them thinking that Eren is wrong, and that slaughtering civilians is going too far......and some that approve of Eren's actions and want to destroy everything. I have the feeling those sentiments are a major source of conflict back on Paradis, what with at least one major leader (Zackley) wanting to destroy the rest of humanity.

Salute for the two nameless Gate Guards. Even though they were part of the system, it seems they genuinely cared about the Warrior kidlets. I guess they're the Hannes to Gabi's Eren.

The cycle of revenge continues, with Gabi now the murderous tyke that wants to kill 'em all to avenge their home and loved ones.

I'm wondering what the "lights" are for, exactly? Setting them up across the town seems to be part of a larger plan, but dunno yet. Confirmed now that the Survey Corps are winging things to some degree, since they're trying to catch up with WTF Eren has done. They obviously had some information going in, at least enough to plan an extraction for Eren and trying to cripple the enemy forces in the process. But Eren is definitely a rogue agent in this whole deal, and they're going to have to scramble to handle the fallout from this.

Still no Reiner and Falco news. I'm sure they're still buried under the rubble, and will either end up having to be dug out afterwards or will show up at a dramatic moment.

So some more things I have noticed panning through the chapter again. I am not sure but it looks like when Mikasa is talking to Eren about his actions that he cuts her off and calls his actions irredeemable. This may of still been said by her though, the speech bubble was positioned oddly.

Another thing is the lights and the fact Eren doesn't hesitate to eat the crystal. Their has been a ton of speculation that the lights are suppose to signal Armin on where to nuke. Eren trying to eat the crystal suggests either two things. Annie was broken out of the crystal and is going to appear soon or Eren (or someone else we haven't seen yet) ate her.

Their is a possibility Armin is among the Survey Corps right now though. Their is a shot of a blond soldier with a very similar haircut to him at the very end of the chapter. We know that pretty much everyone but Floch grew up over the years so whom knows what Armin looks like now.

Also, Gabi charging into the plaza with a gun? Either she is going to end up killing one of our protags or she is going to die the next chapter herself. And there is definitely some credence that she is the new Eren. Her Hannes-like figure (the Gatekeeper) just got sniped.

People are speculating that the blonde with the Survey Corps is the little girl Mikasa rescued waaaaaaaay back in Trost. They look quite a bit alike, and enough time has passed for it to be possible.

In terms of Armin Nuke!, I.....honestly doubt that is what they have planned. Mikasa is upset over Eren killing civilians, and Jean outright orders that they do everything they can to minimize the harm to the residents of the ghetto. He yells at Floch for burning buildings and doesn't want them killing unnecessarily. Dropping a Colossal Titan into that is the exact opposite of minimizing damage. We already saw what happens when the Colossal Titan is unleashed in a populated area, namely that it sets buildings on fire just by touching them.

I am also ??? over what this means for Annie. Unless they are planning to try to recombine all the Titans together, Eren eating Annie would be pointless. He already has pretty much the same power set as the Female Titan, so it would be worthless for him to consume her. (Versus the War Hammer, which has a ton of special abilities.) If she's been eaten, it would make more sense to give it to someone else so they had another usable Titan.

I am counting on Gabi surviving for a while, simply because she's a literal reflection of Eren. A confrontation feels necessary down the line, to drive home the point that they are stuck in an endless Cycle of Revenge. That Eren has inflicted the same suffering on a kid just like him, and it's going to keep going until they actively do something to break the cycle......or the Eldians are wiped out.

edited 7th Feb '18 4:18:03 PM by harostar

I wonder if Hanji could take Annie's power...

What this does tell us is that they apparently found a way of getting rid of the crystal, since Eren didn't seem to consider it problematic.

Hot damn that was indeed a chapter. Time has been very kind to Jean, pony boy has grown into a mighty stallion. And Sasha as well, she can look down on me any day.

Flock, once again, can fuck off

Lol Porco about to get his shit wrecked and we’re now two Titans short (and one inactive) of a full reunion. Unless Eren ate Annie.

And on that note, how long till we learn what Zeke’s zekrets? The dumbass was excited to see him, but Pieck and Magath both seemed a little suspicious at his arrival.

edited 7th Feb '18 5:34:10 PM by TheAirman

I am honestly kinda annoyed that Porco didn't at the very least get torn up really bad before Pieck saved him. I think it would be really interesting for Marley to see just exactly what sending Titans did for the Walldian soldiers.

I think Eren can bite through the crystal and he has no concerns with killing lady tybur which explains why he didn't try it with annie.

Yep, they're definitely going for the Armin nuke.

At the very least, they're going to hold the place hostage and threaten to nuke it if they don't get their demands met but most likely they're just going to nuke the place.

Jean literally just gave on order to minimize civilian casualties. He wouldn’t bother if they were simple going to nuke everyone anyways, unless he was using the logic of “save more resources later,” but he clearly wasn’t.

It’s possible they could threaten a Colossal Drop as a deterrent tactic, but I don’t buy them actually doing it. They’ve already experienced one once before, and it destroyed nearly everyone and everything around them. Doing one with themselves in the Ao E is suicidal. I’m thinking the lights are a beacon for say, an airship to evacuate on.

edited 8th Feb '18 1:05:26 PM by TheAirman

Exactly my thoughts.

Deploying Armin makes no sense, based on the information we have so far. Jean, Mikasa, and Sasha have all demonstrated opposition to needless killing. Jean's orders were explicitly to minimize damage to the Internment Zone and avoid harming civilians. Mikasa was visibly shaken and tearing up over Eren killing civilians. And Sasha made the decision to spare Gabi when she was taking out troops.

They are currently trying to gain control over the situation, but also actively showing internal conflict over the issue of the Liberio residents.

The Colossal Titan is not an urban warfare unit, any more than a nuclear weapon is one. It is a weapon of mass destruction, used for overwhelming force. As we saw at Shinganshina, it burns buildings simply by touching them and cannot operate within urban areas without destroying everything around it. If they were intending to use Armin, then Jean and Mikasa's What the Hell, Hero? moments this chapter make no sense.

So the lights are likely something else. Maybe an updated version of the Signal Flares, used to communicate things across a distance? Marking areas that have been cleared and blocked off?

My assumption is that Armin will be used for battling the Navy, even with the Anti-Titan weapons I doubt there is very much they could do to him and a nuke in a battleground like that would be more ideal then Liberio.

Still, we haven't seen him yet so it's a big unknown on were exactly he is and what he is going to be used for.

One thing I will say that is strange is Zeke's entrance. I have a high suspicion that a third party is involved in this fight that is not Marley as we still have no clue what Zeke was doing nor the Asian Diplomat we saw getting away from the festival. There is also the loose end of that soldier that trapped Pieck and Porco as it's pretty clear they were not Jean or Connie and even then it's really odd how they left no one to watch for Pieck and Porco escaping. There has to be another plan going on here.

Wouldn't Armin be a sitting duck against the navy's cannons? Unless his heat can melt the shells before they reach him…

I agree that deploying Armin would probably be a tactical misstep at this point, but at the same time I kinda want to see him in action.

Yeah, I agree that Armin would be better used against forces outside Liberio, like the approaching naval forces.

We already know that he's been involved in destroying Marley's ships off the coast of Paradis, so he's got experience dealing with them. And Bertolt demonstrated that the Colossal Titan can destroy Thunder Spears, so it's a logical conclusion that it could similarly cause artillery to detonate prematurely. I wouldn't be surprised if the Colossal Titan can hurl things like the Beast Titan, since both have long and thin arms that would be suited to throwing.

I think his high body temperature and steam would make it pretty hard to hit him. On top of that his Titan's body atleast looks like it is made of dense muscle so I imagine not many things can pierce it unless you do what he did against Bertolt.

Makes me wonder if the Colossal Titans in the walls have bodies that work the same way. Although a large horde of Colossal Titans is indeed pretty scary of a thought even if they can't individually last in an extended fight.

Ehhh.

The razor like blades of the soldiers ripped Bert's nape fine. I see no reason a tank missile or other explosives would not blow his neck to bits. And thus the human inside. Unless WWI missiles could not aim that high?

edited 10th Feb '18 12:32:04 AM by SilentColossus