Eren is the best protagonist for a series like Attack on Titan.
A lot of people get frustrated that Eren is slow to jump into fights, like when he couldn’t transform to fight the female titan and when he froze up last episode during one of the Top 10 Anime Betrayals of all time. I think this misses out on a crucial point. Eren is actually very quick to join the action – but only when the situation fits the narrative of a sterotypical shounen. He’s the first one to go after killing the colossal titan when it appeared in episode 5. He saves Armin from being eaten alive while bleeding and missing a leg. Getting revenge for his mother and saving his childhood friend – classic shounen plotlines.
Eren is, essentially, a sterotypical shounen protagonist trapped in a storyline that subverts shounen tropes. He’s in the wrong genre. He views the world as very clear-cut good vs. evil. Humans are good, titans are bad, and humans will eventually succeed because they are on the good side. He believes it, so we believe it too. This is what makes it so shocking when the story deviates from shounen norms. (see: Levi’s squad and how the power of friendship failed to save them)
This is also the real reason why Eren hesitates when it is revealed that his friends were his enemies all along. It’s not because he’s a wimp or because he’s the new Shinji, it’s because his character isn’t prepared for a morally ambiguous world. However, this is what makes him a such a great protagonist for us. While we come to terms with the fact that the world of Attack on Titan isn’t as black and white as it first appeared, so does Eren, right alongside us.
I have read quite a few posts lately about Eren–about how he’s not stupid, how he’s a good person and what his strengths and weaknesses are. And it’s been really interesting! All the more so because I’ve been looking at him from a completely different perspective. This may be an unpopular opinion, but what I find most fascinating about Eren is that he is, in many ways, a shonen protagonist deconstructed, a hero living in a narrative that is not built to support him. He’s trying to live a story that’s just not happening for him, and he wouldn’t be himself if he didn’t try to live it anyway, but the story keeps beating him down again and again.
one of my favorite things about a:tla is that everyone knows uncle iroh. everyone. the blind girl you just added to the gang? had tea with him once. that flower seller? yup. your ten-ton six-legged five-stomached flying bison? probably. that girl on the streets of ba sing se? he sent his nephew on a date with her. a whole tribe of thought-to-be-extinct sun warriors? nbd. your cranky waterbending master? they go way back. that dramatic deserter? your bro’s sword instructor? your 112 year old nuthouse friend? the next avatar 54 years later? sure
finally a conclusion to my inner debate for the past month “is-it-a-troll-arc-and-Shinpachi-hit-his-head-and-is-hallucinating-the-whole-thing-because-it-gotta-be-a-troll-arc-there-is-no-way-it’s-not-a-troll-arc-lmao-so-whose-hallucination-is-it?”
and, well, it’s not a troll arc (senseiiiiiiiiii -_-)
Oh my god, I don’t know whether to be happy or shocked. Can’t believe I binge read gintama for absolutely nothing.
why “for nothing” @thesecretblogger? 🙂 It’s an amazing story regardless of the ending not being immediately upon us, but Sensei is a big big troll and I really think we’re close to the end except that it’s going to be longer than your usual epilogue. :3 (and frankly I’m fine with Gintama not ending too quickly)
My only criticism so far is the lack of Shachi and Asaemon when they were foreshadowed to show up in the final arc, but then again there might be a reason linked to this part of the arc starting now xD
In fact I’m glad that Gintama won’t end on usual shonen tropes with everyone getting married or having kids a few years after the final fight (not that I ever expected that to happen, it’s not Sensei’s style). So, including a final confrontation and issue to solve when everyone was expecting an ending is a good plot twist imo, that’s why I’m not even mad except where poor Gin-chan is concerned.
But anyway even in that way it makes sense, since it’s always been a constant struggle between Gin-chan and Takasugi in the whole story ever since Shoyo died by Gintoki’s hand and, just like what happened with Utsuro, this time again I’m not sure Gin-chan will be able to face him alone, if just emotionally speaking.
(Takasugi is not even going to truly antagonize him, he’s probably just after taking the Tendoshu down for real and that’s why he did what he did, but that will probably lead to a bigger confrontation anyway)
So recently I was thinking… besides the fact that UT gave Ciel an advice that he failed to understand, I’m really wondering if UT’s words in this scene comes from UT the Shinigami,who watched so many records as well as Claudia and Vincent that he recognized when Ciel was about to do the same mistake, or rather fromUT’s own life experience back before he killed himself?
I think I might have mentioned before that considering how…
…UT is actually very good at fighting (+ how Yana said that Shinigamis aren’t particularly stronger than normal humans), it probably doesn’t just come from the training Shinigamis go through before starting to work, meaning that he might have been a skilled fighter back when he was still alive.
So, just maybe, “you only come to realize it when you can no longer support yourself” is not just implying that he watched many people do the same mistake as Ciel over the years but also that it’s something that he experienced and failed to realize back when he was still alive as well…?
And in that case, who knows if “because you possess such great power, you continue to forget more and more the weight of the irretrievable” is not partly the reason why he ended up killing himself?
Totally bringing this post back because the whole thing is so ironic I’m kinda dying.
I mean, UT who (on top of killing himself) literally committed a bloody massacre on the Campania gave Ciel advice…
about taking care of his soul.
So let’s say that (as I proposed above) UT possibly killed himself a looong time ago because he too realized about “the weight of the irretrievable” in his life only when he could “no longer support himself”, well, honestly? It seems the “weight of the irretrievable” concept totally got thrown out of the window when the Campania arc happened.
In other words, either UT learnt nothing from all that he experienced, or he’s just so far gone now that he doesn’t give a single care anymore.
Considering what he said about warning Ciel and the Watchdogs before him, I’d say that it’s more likely to be the latter, which means that he can act as the worst asshole on Earth (Campania arc +++) and it will not become a burden hanging over his head, probably because he’s in such a state that he hardly has anything to lose anymore. ://
It’s true, right? The whole Phantomhive family is dead (although he’s trying to bring them back) except for Ciel who sold his soul to a demon. It seems a lot of his friends are dead. His soul is damned since he killed himself and then deserted. So it’s probably why he’s going all out now and acts terribly.
Still, it’s rather hypocritical and ironic of him to give Ciel an advice he stopped following a while ago, but I guess it can’t be helped. I wonder if Sensei will ever give us details about his backstory…
The butler died? Oh. Oh man. Boy that’s just. That’s awful. Geez dude this is so terrible oh my. Gosh. Whatever will we do. Yeah this is just so terrible. I’m really distraught. Wow. Kinda sucks huh. Man. Gosh. Golly.
Are we going to ignore the fact that while Ciel was at the Viscount’s party, Lizzie attended all by her self in season 1 with no parental supervision??? No mom,. dad or her older brother?
You can bet Ed had no idea (he probably was at Weston) otherwise he would have flipped his shit and gone into a panic attack. xD (we’re talking about a guy who thought his lil sister would get lost just as she said she was going to ask Bravat about fortune telling lmao)
Pretty sure that the reason is that Frances and Alexis are just super chill parents, no need for supervision when Lizzie goes out because she knows how to defend herself. That’s why Ed has to always be in hyper protective mode to compensate, otherwise you never know, she could join a sect.
midnight-in-town 