Beautiful

beautiful ♡

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MAJOR ATTACK ON TITAN ANIME + MANGA SPOILERS

freedom:

in light of the last chapter of attack on titan coming on april 9th, i wanted to talk about the constant reoccurring theme of the story.

due to the vast amount of people, perspectives and interpretations vary. freedom is something everyone wants but have differing definitions of. when you first think of that word you may think of eren’s true love, the opportunity to express yourself, to become whatever you want to be, and etc. attack on titan displays the various ideas of freedom.

admittedly, i could be wrong because my interpretation of these characters may be different from others.

eren yeager. FREEDOM !!! YEAAA !! but to him, what is freedom? at the start of the story, freedom is living with nothing holding you back, not living in fear of titans. but the existence of titans means never going beyond the walls, lions constantly peering over mice. but his idea of freedom changes after the kiss of true love.

a new understanding is gained. he is blinded by revenge. but is it his revenge or is it someone else’s? ymir, the slave to the king and now a slave to her own misfortune. driven by anger and vengeance of the world. why did she have to be ostracized? why did it have to be her? revenge is freedom in her mind.

carla yeager, a woman who believes that people are born special and not made special. she finds that freedom is being who you are. she doesn’t seek something to make her special. when grisha and sadis talk about the “special” people in the scout regiment, carla scoffs. she portrays a mundane view of freedom.

erwin smith, a man who seeks the truth. what is freedom to him? avenging his father? atoning to the deaths he lead many to? no. it’s to find out the realities of the world that was stripped from the people of the island. although he never fulfills his idea of freedom, he was able to rest. even if he had all of this need to understand, he accepts what he knows. is that freedom? is acceptance freedom? i don’t know myself.

throughout the time when eren had the founding titan, ymir sees eren. ymir understands eren. i believe this story is to depict empathy, not mere sympathy. whether you agree with how eren or ymir or carla or any other character’s viewpoint on freedom, isayama wants you to understand. omg count how many times i’ve used that word.

each character experiences different things, each character responds to things differently, and each character can be seen as human. the variations of people are depicted throughout characters of attack on titan.

the supposedly “last panel” in the first picture above, is a man holding a child saying “you are free”. there are lots of theories on who these people are, but the most interesting aspect, to me, is how that child is free.

in the end, what is freedom? what is it to you?

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MAJOR ATTACK ON TITAN ANIME + MANGA SPOILERS

gabi:

gab is a controversial character. and many don’t like her for her way of thinking and her actions, like people’s reactions/feelings towards floch (i linked that post below). they disregard the fact that they are bias towards the island of paradis people.

through the time span from 2013 to 2019, we’ve only seen the perspective of those who are on the island. as the audience, we understand the hurt, trauma, and many terrible adversities those on the island have gone through, therefore, empathizing with them. we later learn that the marleyans are in charge of that oppression and oppress the eldian on the motherland as well.

gabi, a child in marley, grew up in a place that constantly pushes propaganda onto their people. they made people like karina braun, reiner’s mother, believe those lies implemented into their lives.

we are told that it is healthy to sleep 8-10 hours our entire life, but what if all of a sudden it is proven otherwise? wouldn’t it impact our views? wouldn't some people question what they've been told and be in denial as well?

gabi and falco grew up their entire lives believing that eldians deserve this “repercussion”. how do you blame a child who believed the lies she’s been fed since the very beginning of her life?

falco understands that the marleyans have done much wrong because he was present during the conversation between reiner and eren. he gained a new understanding when “reiner, i am the same as you” was uttered from eren’s mouth. whether it's a blessing or a curse, falco understands the mindset of eren and the reasons of why what happened during tyber's speech, happened.

besides gabi’s way of thinking, people dislike her due to the fact that she killed sasha. i understand the hurt as i was distraught when i read that chapter as well, but understand that sasha also killed gabi’s friends and contributed to eren's attack. i understand that it doesn’t justify murdering someone, but why do people hold gabi accountable and not sasha? reason being point-blank, people are biased towards sasha. she is a lovable character, some would even categorize her as the comedic relief, the twin flame to connie. that’s why it hurt so much.

another point is the fact that gabi's character is parallel to eren. the series began with eren cursing at the titans, wondering why is it that people within the walls live in a constant fear due to the titans existence. they did no wrong. why were they being attacked?

why were the innocent eldians in marley attacked? were they responsible for their government’s actions? weren’t they just as oppressed as the eldians on the island? gabi saw the friends that she grew up with die just as eren saw his mother die. so why do people hate her more than eren? why don't they hold eren accountable? once again, it's due to them being biased.

gabi escaped with falco and went to live with sasha's parents, which prompted her character arc. she began to understand the eldian’s on the island. they were not devils as she was told her entire life. they were mere humans who wish to live in freedom.

later, when she met with niccolo, she then truly understood the weight of her actions. only then did she realize that she contributed to the cycle of hate.

in the recent chapter, chapter 138, gabi turned into a titan, which ultimately led her to death's arms. that in it of itself is really telling of her overall character. at first, i didn’t realize this but she cursed people of the islands for having devil blood and for being devils themselves. she thought that if she sided with marley she would be “honorary marleyan”. after eren’s attack, she realized her perspective was wrong. her efforts to suppress her blood was all for naught.

gabi dying from turning into a titan makes us, the readers, understand that at the end of the day, she is an eldian. through it all, she cannot escape what is in her blood.

in hindsight, i thought it was a mundane ending to her character, but i later realized that it was very good ending to her character. i wonder if at that point, she truly accepted who she is. is it a bittersweet ending, or simply a somber one? it's all up to your interpretation of it.

in the end, all characters within this series have done wrong. evidently, some more than others, but the world isn’t simply black or white. it is a vast of grey and the only choices can make are not right or wrong, but better or worse.

i don’t love gabi but i don’t hate her either. although, i think she is an important character within the story, much like floch. compared to eren, she is a different side of the same coin. driven by revenge.

what i love about her character is that she was able to break free from the cycle of hate to create her own opinions, to break free from what the government has told her to believe. not many have that opportunity or luxury to say they have done the same, whether it be within the story, or real life.

wow i wrote a lot

floch character analysis

freedom analysis

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ATTACK ON TITAN CHAPTER 139 SPOILERS

there are many controversies and “unfinished” feelings that people have about the ending, and i understand the “underwhelming” aspect of the ending of a story with aggressive fights, intense emotion and etc.

some of the concerns i’ve been hearing are eren expressing his feeling towards mikasa, the purpose of historia’s child, people agreeing with eren, and a lot more.

eren:

eren’s actions from chapter 116 up until most of the final moments are of him suppressing his feelings to become the sacrifice in order to gain freedom. that moment reminds the readers that he is still human.

through it all, he is still a nineteen-year-old boy that is in love, yet neglects it because he had a “destiny” to fulfill. he made mikasa and armin kill him, the villain, of the world, in order to implant them with the role of helos. willy tyber’s performance was to explain how it is all a lie. the truth is all fabricated. that moment foreshadows eren’s actions. he pinned himself as the “unbeatable” guy only to be ultimately defeated by the heroes of the island.

he manipulated dina fritz to kill his mother, eradicating the future he wanted to become the future he needed it to be.

the moment eren kissed historia's hand, he saw it all: his death, his friends turning on him, creating a mass genocide, killing eighty percent of the population. through it all, bearing it on his own.

he knew what would become of him, therefore, urges mikasa to find someone new, someone, who can provide for her, something he cannot do.

again, eren exclaiming to armin his love for mikasa is a realistic feeling that provides a humane aspect of eren that had been suppressed for so long. don’t you think that he deserves to be able to a human?

empathy. many are siding with eren after understanding where he was coming from, which is seriously laughable.

yes, eren did that to protect the people he cares about and did it until the end. but are the eighty percent of the human population undeserving of protection then?

did they not have families, friends, and loved ones? did they not deserve this freedom?

who is eren to decide their fates?

i understand that there are a vast amount of people, good and bad, but that doesn’t justify anything. in real life, people say to not think of the people as their governments. is the government’s action towards the island a result of their people? they were consumed with the fabricated lie of the island. the unknown. you can’t really blame them. it's in human nature to fear the unknown. that doesn’t justify their oppressing actions, but understand even you are not perfect, so how do you expect characters in a “realistic” story filled with human nature, to be perfect?

mass genocide, in no way, is justifiable.

historia’s child:

the final arc of historia is quite underwhelming compared to her prior. at first, i agreed. i thought that it is an unnecessary arc that has no purpose. but the more i dwelled on it, i came to a realization. the baby is the symbol of eren’s sacrifice.

the child’s fate was decided before it was even born before it even existed. it was to inherit the beast titan and would, once again, contribute to repeating history, the history of historia’s family. the child would be stripped of the future it could have, being content, being free.

due to the outcome of the story, eren provides the baby with a future of freedom. a future of none of that obligation implemented before. without having to sacrifice their idea of bliss for the greater good.

as underwhelming as that for some, it highlights the fact that eren was able to give the future its freedom, something he wanted to obtain during his lifetime.

the end:

eren is in no way portrayed as good, but we are to understand, understand that there is no definitive good or bad. it is to understand the middle ground. to grasp the idea of multiple and different perspectives, interpretations, and etc.

maybe it is predictable, but it truly encompasses the message the story is trying to convey.

in a cruel world, conflict is inevitable, so we have to fight. in that world, there is still beauty and hope. peace may never be truly achieved, but we try to reach as close as we can.

i get that there are more controversies, but i’m literally typing this in class. so maybe later. ahahah

v <3

MAJOR ATTACK ON TITAN ANIME + MANGA SPOILERS

floch:

hatred, disgust, maybe even abhorrence are most of the reactions to floch forster’s character. and that is understandable. people hate floch because he wanted erwin to live, described erwin as a devil, and dissed armin. people hate floch because he didn’t understand what the scouts went through prior to him joining them. people hate floch because he is a yeagerist. people hate floch because he was the cause of hange’s death. and there is much more.

something i believe people don’t realize is that floch is a representation of the audience/reader.

rationally speaking, saving erwin is the obvious choice (at first), but throughout the series, armin’s character had been developed in front of our eyes. erwin is an established character, hence why people are more attached to armin.

after witnessing all of the deaths derived from erwin’s lead, floch grew to despise him, but he understands that erwin is the only person capable to lead.

bias. that is what a lot of attack on titan fans are. and what angers me is that they don’t notice that they are biased.

many proudly claimed that they are yeagerists and are for eren. they say that after three seasons of supporting eren, how are they supposed to hate him now? dude they’re literally floch kinnies.

from that reaction alone, floch embodies the general audience. at first they agree that erwin should be the one to live, then they are in support of eren despite him continuing the cycle of hate. honestly, people are so stupid.

floch provides an opposing view. and i admire him because he strongly believes that it serves a good purpose. he truly believes that working with eren and following his ideals will benefit the world. maybe he is right. but either way, i don’t agree.

even so, i think floch’s position in the story is highly important. without him, we wouldn’t be able to understand the opposing side, whether we agree with them or not.

floch’s character offers a different perspective. people are in support of the main characters because the story is following them. like gabi. people quickly hated on her but disregard the propaganda that has been shoved in her face since she is a child. we’re told that brushing our teeth twice a day is healthy, but then all of a sudden it is not. wouldn’t that confuse you because you’ve been told that brushing your teeth twice a day is healthy?

being open-minded will always be better than being stubborn. trying to understand floch’s point of view is understanding why the majority of the attack on titan fandom his terrible comprehension skills.

so why do people who agree with floch, hate him? they see a reflection of themselves and disapprove of it, but they don’t want to admit it to themselves that they are just as blind as floch forster.

sorry for dissing the fandom. AHAHA ! i just get really annoyed with like 75% of the fandom because they don’t understand the significance of a character, scene, or other aspects of the series. there is always a purpose for each character and moment.

i don’t love floch but i don't hate him. although i do think his character is vital to the story.

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"you should at least curse me at the end"

MAJOR JUJUTSU KAISEN MANGA SPOILERS

i've always wondered what that meant. getou was dying and told gojou that in volume 0. i understood the idea of cursing people, but why curse them during death?

but yesterday night i saw this tweet

and i realized that maybe people curse others with their last words. jujutsu sorcerer or not, curses are placed when the last words of a person are spoken.

in chapter 147, principal masamichi's last words are "it's a curse.. principal gakuganji. a curse from me.. to you." my first reaction to the chapter was confusion because didn't understand the purpose of it, how this chapter contributes to the story. but knowing that final words become a curse, maybe principal gakuganji's life from here on out will contribute to furthering the story.

at the start of jujutsu kaisen, we see yuji's grandfather dying. last words are "when it's your time to go, make sure you're surrounded by others. don't end up like me" in chapter 1. prior to saying that, his grandfather said, "you're a strong kid, so.. help people... just help them".

i'm not sure of the extend of a curse generated from last words, but i do think that concept is plausible in the story.

in real life, people's last words are constantly held in high account if that person is of any importance. taking that concept and putting it into the world of jujutsu kaisen is understandable.

also, yuta cursing rika after her death is another contribution to this claim.

in the end, people's last words during death or last words to someone dying generates a curse.

this realization just makes me like jujutsu kaisen even more. i started reading jujutsu kaisen when gojou's past arc was coming out weekly and was surprised of the thought put into the curse techniques. learning this makes me enjoy the underlying thought put into jjk more.

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