Attack on Titan 4x23 Reaction Extended (YT link below)

"Rumbling, rumbling. Destroying your real estate, real estate," "Remember the time when Eren destroyed all the world's conflict and ended war? I remember," "Annie is out! Annie is loose! She's walking as quick as she can to the nearest computer to binge-watch the last couple seasons," "Night is falling. On Paradiso," "I'm not going to let being stuck in a crystal stop me from character development," "Oh, you don't want to get kissed? Alright, *bye*," "Well, he did a great job with HALF of that," "What, you don't like flashbacks, Hitch? You're in the wrong show," "This looks pretty badass, actually," "That, to me, is just the cost of living well. There is no life and there are no good things without potential loss and sacrifice," "Without meaning, all things become okay," "I can't believe I'm gonna say this, but I miss the days of crackers. And horses. simpler times," "OH-he's fighting. Even though he can't walk so good," "You sort of are only what you do next," "Give him a shoulder pat! He responds well to those," "At least he didn't call her 'Chicken-Leg Titan'," "Honor Erwin's legacy, by kicking ass," "Oh, so this is continuing. We should have never given this man power," "Look at all that c o n f l i c t," "His eyes are literally glowing with purpose," "- people who refuse to live under all this insane Flish-Flosh tyranny,"

Geneva The Weeba

There are so many layers to this story. From the original Eldian king using a child to subjugate the world to Magath doing it 2000 years later w multiple children. Different people. Same actions. In our own world and in so many stories, nations are created by killing everybody and usurping their resources. We're all so used to it. Like it's how it's "supposed" to be but this story does a stunning and simple what if scenario. What if one single guy has the power to be like "No, actually you're not. And in fact I'm personally going to make sure you can't do anything of the sort ever again." It literally forces every other character in the story to drill down to what's most important to them when everything is on the line. It also is so extreme that it has mad recoil back on the land being protected. He's definitely going to be a savior to some and a devil to others. So good!

CRS

"Shes as quick as she can to the nearest computer to binge watch the last couple of seasons" Na she got the cliff notes

R'Mani Leavell

Yeah this is a really important element that I feel is not discussed: The role of choice.

Alex G

I didn't realize it was actually in the millions

Alex G

Yeah that was a really interesting moment for me. It occurred to me... yeah actually they could just sit back and let it all happen. And that would feel so easy and good. At least at first

Alex G

That's where this becomes more than a show for me. Isayama hit on a whole bunch of issues that are really important and, probably by extension of that, really contentious. The ideological battle is happening in the show but also in real-time in discussions about he show. And this is happening only in comments but I would argue that the stakes to the conversation are actually really high.

Alex G

In thinking of the forest metaphor, I realized a connection-- Ymir became the first Titan while literally lost in a forest, running in terror for her life. The 2,000 year cycle began because someone literally and metaphorically got lost in the forest and couldn't find their way back out. Now as Nicolo said, the only way this cycle will end is if people escape the forest.

Steve.

@ Chris Sharpe, good point, I put this in another comment thread but I'll drop it here to since I think it applies to your analysis. I think the ending of this season alludes to what you're saying here. The visuals have a child Eren dreaming of a world without walls, essentially saying he hasn't moved on from his childish dream. Also the contrast between his flowery vision of freedom and the true terror of the reality is striking. Then the lyrics near the end say, "Even if this is a mistake, I will still believe in myself/my strength."

Steve.

OH MY GOD FLOCH WHAT THE FUCK CONNIE PLEASE OMG \gabi sounds weird\ LMAO Kaya pls XD BUT THEY HUGGED AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH BABIES this fricken anime maybe i should just wait for ur reactions instead of immediately going to watch the sos bros reaction cuz then i actually \r e a c t\ here amazing OH OH OH ALSO ANNIE BACKSTORY??????????? OMGGGGGGGGGGG

Brimmy

All Jaegersit talk about sacrifice is all propaganda. Sacrifice has to be voluntary for it to mean anything. You can't force others to sacrifice on your behalf.

ArmdVctr

The reason it is taking so long for the titans to walk past is because of the scale of the rumbling, there are millions of titans all walking southward. Logically the rumbling will be passing them until northernmost titan has walked the entire diameter of the walls; around 467km.

Mers0n

Aahhh another great commentary/reaction

Ijuko

Something that needs to be addressed in discussions about Eren is his personality. People depict him as some mastermind ends justify the means guy. This is still the same Eren as before, however, he’s not some Light Yagami character, he’s a teen who wants freedom more than anything. I think he’s closer to someone like Annie, someone who is selfish in the sense that he willing to turn is eyes away from the carnage to help himself and those he loves, someone who wants to, in his mind, rip off the metaphorical bandaid in order to get everything he could ever want, freedom, and a good life for his friends. When talking about countries and the entire world, strangely, this makes everything seem much smaller. This is magnified by the fact that Eren didn’t know these people existed until 4 years ago. He seems to want what you said (although you said it outside the context of the show), for everything to become as simple as it was before, before the rest of the world came into play. “1 death is a tragedy, 1,000,000 is a statistic” -Stalin

Chris Sharpe

When Floch said “freedom” when he was talking to Jean, I have to say, my heart fluttered a little as I felt what I believe Jean felt. The idea that it is all over is extremely enticing, something that would make the characters ponder the idea of ignoring the rumbling a settling down. It’ll be interesting to see how Jean deals with this.

Chris Sharpe

Amazing analysis, totally agree.

Chris Sharpe

I love how this show doesn’t treat it’s audience like they are idiots. It lays everything out on the table and doesn’t try to strong arm the audience into believing a specific philosophy because heaven forbid someone has a different opinion. Unfortunately, due to the large audience, there are tons of idiots who watch it, from the Erendidnothingwrong crowd who think that Eren is a savior and Gabi is the devil, to those who believe (for some reason) that the show is trying to encourage fascism. I suppose the real final battle is the one on Twitter.

Chris Sharpe

Glad you talked about shadis

We can rebuild him. We have the technology. We can make him better than he was. Better, stronger, faster.

MikeWest

ur reactions are always worth the wait ;)

cuneyt117

To explain the colossal titans still walking, remember that Paradis is a large island, not a city. There are literally millions of collosal titans who have to walk to the shore from walls Sina and Rose, not just Maria. The ones near Trost (the ones Annie and Hitch were seeing) probably haven't even reached the area of Shiganshina yet.

Maia Brodsky

They are Child Soldiers as well as being called "Warriors". The show has its technical categorizations but you can still call the Marleyan warrior unit Soldiers cause they do the same things Soldiers do.

benj

Yeah as a. tree said I understand the energy you have towards Annie right now, but you better be showing that same energy towards Eren, Zeke, even Armin and Reiner who also have killed countless innoccents in the pursuit of selfish goals. I think you're still hanging onto that Petra death harder than anyone else is, but hey, Petra was pretty hot so I understand.

benj

I think you meant to say warriors when you were saying soldiers. You're talking about the Marleyan warrior unit, right?

Maia Brodsky

When Eren first delcared he was going to stomp out the rest of the world, I thought that meant, in terms of the larget story, that he has to die by the end of this — he probably has to be killed for the Rumbling to end, but either way, the narrative of AOT needs to keep its sense of actions-and-consequences in balance by punishing him. I think what this story is setting up in this episode, though is actually possibly a more interesting resolution where Eren might succeed in what he's doing, but then have to return home and directly face the consequences of his actions to himself. Eren 's stated purpose here is to protect his friends. It's probably also what he's telling himself, but it's not just that. It can't just be that — no one could do this for any amount of tradeoffswithout believing in and wanting to do it. I think it comes down to what Floch said to Jean: "this is freedom!" For Eren, the idea of freedom has always been about power vs. powerlessness. He doesn't want there to be places he's not allowed to go, he doesn't want there to be enemies he can't beat, he doesn't want to have to just watch his mother get dragged out of her house by the giant hand of his ex-mother-in-law. This is probably why he's choosing to destroy *everyone* instead of the Azumabito combination of threats+diplomacy, or even the Gabi idea of destroying all militaries and then working something out with the survivors. He doesn't want to cede control outside of himself. But it's like you said in the discussion: you do things for the wrong reasons, and you still can't control everything, so you're just left with the results you didn't want and a deep feeling of shame. I think what this episode is setting up is that, like Armin said, Eren may not be able to be stopped, but there's an equally pressing threat growing on the island. A sort of clear way things could go with all of the principal cast crossing paths is: let's all team up and stop Eren, but what if they don't even get to that point? What if they first have to deal with the environment that Eren created? And what if it's not even that they can't beat Eren, but they can't beat the hatred that he awakened? Even with the power of a few Titans, a civil war/the full military forces of the Yeagerists would be trouble for our cast, especially considering the Jaw is sort of in flux right now and the Armor has no armor. I think more satisfying than Eren simply getting killed, would be for him to get home from his business trip and face what he caused: that the buildings are rubble, and his friends were either killed in the ensuing civil war or by the extreme authoritarian regime that he himself installed. To realize that in pursuit of his ideal of freedom, he basically twisted his homeland into some fascist, Floch-lead nightmare of a state and killed all of his friends. I can even picture something where Armin, being nearly unkillable as the Colossus, is the only or one of the only ones to escape the conflict. "Is this what you wanted, Eren?"

a. tree

Yeah they're the only senpais we have

Alex G

I think this episode cemented in my mind that I not only Dislike annie but I absolutely hate her. I don't hate her to the point where i think she should be murdered in cold blood but I wouldn't shed a tear if she died. I would have given her sympathy points if she had shown some remorse for what she did knownig that Marley had a litertal Gun pointed to her dads head if she didn't do what they said. It wasn't until the end where she said and I quote "If it takes me back to my father, I would do it all over again" Excsue me? How Selfsh can this person be out of years trapped in that crystal did she not think there were plenty of things she could have done differently? No she clearly said she do everything the same which means she LITERTALLY learned nothing from this entire experience. You know who also had a father to get back to annie?! PETRA! Seriously annie whole character disgust me.

John Carrizales

Ah I see. That's interesting

Alex G

Absolutely. As I said it resonates on a personal level to me because people very close to me have articulated that very thought and it's a tough one to grapple with.

Alex G

I don't know why it hit me when I watched this reaction, but I got the realization that Hange & Levi is all that is left of the old scouts (Although I guess technically we can count Keith Shadis as a surviving member of the old scouts too even if he quit)

MagnusVD

fun fact: hitch doesnt look different because of the studio change, she just had a big change of looks in the manga that mappa is honoring

Miniko

watching reiner bert and annie murder Marco in coldblood is STILL the worst thing I have had to witness in the show. For some reason it just hits harder than watching Eren genocide the whole world or Eren/Armin murder innocents in Liberio. The fact they, with there own hands, feed a friend, a comrade, that they were sleeping, eating, and living with for years to a titan, and just seeing it all animated with marco screaming out "Why?!?! Why Annie?!!?". Goddam i dont think ill get over that scene.

benj

ikr, would be super awkward when some random old women appears out of the titan and connie just murdered a child for no reason

benj

I really hope Connie doesn’t feed falco to that random titan that is not his mom

Sean Carroll

I'm really happy to know that someone else appreciates Shadis and his development as I do as not many people do, he had arguably one of the most relatable lives and beliefs I've ever seen from a fictional character, and other than the Gabi saving Kaya with Sasha's spirit and legacy, Keith's comeback of triumph after believing he was special and great, but failed, let people die, and lost his dreams and hopes, and feeling like he couldn't accomplish anything worthwhile, his moment of saving the kids who beat the hell out of him, and truly went above and beyond the call of duty to do the right thing despite his mistakes, and self-pity. Keith has become a beacon of hope for me and my life and really has become one of the few people who fell in the darkness but managed to make it out of it and become true heroes so far in this show like Erwin, the whole Braus family and even potentially Gabi, at least in my eyes. Hope this was articulated well enough.

Trey Goldsworthy

Just in case you didn't realize it, Marco was the friend who Annie, Reiner, and Bertholdt let die, while Marcel was their friend who was the Jaw Titan before Ymir and was eaten by her before the Warrior Trio broke the wall, and was Porco's brother.

Trey Goldsworthy

kitty cameo <333

vee

Yeah the tides are in his favor and violence will easily take over. At root Floch feels terrified to me, still reeling from that Zeke incident way back when.

Alex G

9am Goodwin upload?!? Can't watch this for a little while but I sure am excited. The Armin and Mikasa scene easily takes the cake for best scene in this episode imo, also the Floch and Jean scene. Floch has turned into such a menacing and interesting character, obviously I hate his actions and motives but damn is a cool character, just living off the power high like nobody else, its an amazing portrayal as to what happens when you give a gun to an idealogical extremist like him.

benj

Ooooooh Yeaaaaah

SirLagginton