At any given moment my SnK thoughts are about Armin as he’s my fave, so naturally I have thoughts. Predictions? Not so much.
4 years is a really long time for a story like this where so much can happen in the space of a month that making predictions are more like taking potshots with a musket in the dark.
So here is what I vaguely think: Appearance-wise, this boy may take his bowl cut to the grave. And I mean it’s not really a bowl cut, it’s basically Mikasa’s do with a trimmed fringe. I remember an interview, distantly in the mists of my brain that said if he’d wanted to change it he had opportunity to by now but it suits him fine. I think the only thing that might convince him away from blonde coconut-dome is if he had been given rank and felt he need to make a change. The others all kindof let their hair do what it wanted to do and grow it out, and as silly as it is he may have chosen to do the opposite. Hair cutting is a big deal in some Asian cultures (and others, but our author is Japanese) as meaning a new beginning or reinvention of someone or marking a grievous loss of self or another. It’s possible he felt this was appropriate after his new lease on life following the serum bowl fiasco and everyone’s expectations of him being Erwin-high and Higher. Personally and for no other reason, I vote longer hair.
Attitude-wise: I believe he and Hanji worked together to organize Eren’s retrieval, for sure, but I don’t know if he approved of Eren’s mission ( I doubt it). I can’t imagine the kid barfing his stomach against a tree for killing that mp in defense of Jean’s life going “you know what, innocent people are acceptable losses” but also…I can’t pretend that Flocke’s words haven’t settled into him like a gd plague. Or Hanji’s. He’s always been sensitive to his perception of worthlessness, casual suggestions that he die, the words of bullies, etc. I think he perceives his life as no longer being his, that he’d given it up in Shiganshina to defeat the colossal. I can see him pulling in and functioning as a war machine if he felt he had to: to keep the SC assured that he was still a good option for revival, that he is worth something to the SC more than simply being Eremika’s friend (Even Erwin Smith knows he is). They put a fuckton of pressure on him not only to be AS GOOD AS Erwin but to surpass him also. Hell, I’d love so much for him to reappear as the Armin we know and love, but the reality is that from here out, he is only allowed to Shine under pressure. I just don’t think that’s what we’ll be getting. It honestly depends on how he’s integrating the pressure he received. 4 years is such a long time. And he’s always had that darker sense of humor; I just hope he hasn’t become that dictator character the fandom fears because of that whole Araki/Isayama interview. Will he pull a full reversal of his character? Probably not. I cannot imagine his friends letting him do that without stressing the importance of his own ideas.
But then, I know of past friends who are *complete* strangers now. People do change. I just hope whatever plan he has was a bit more elegant than “Eren Smash Theater, Leave Bad Review”, and he’s ready to deal with the worldwide repercussions intelligently. Regardless, I have hope for that.
The Lanky Soldier who went on to drop Pieck and Porco into a trap told Zeke to go on ahead. After chapter 102′s ending, I have been trying to think of an explanation for this that doesn’t require Zeke working with Paradis, and nothing I come up with is convincing. But I think the possibility that Zeke has turned traitor is not so unlikely as it seems now.
Really good analysis on Zeke’s suspicious suspiciousness. For me, the possibility that Zeke is working withParadis but not for Paradis is the most likely aka they both have at least some things to earn by working together for a short while but not becoming exactly allies.
I’ve gotten that vibe lately too, anon. It’s a little disheartening because I’m definitely very much still a fan of him.
The thing about Eren, for me, is that I really doubt that Isayama would have shown us all this struggle that he’s gone through due to the horrors of war and how it’s broken him time and time again, only for him to come out on the other side as a cold and ruthless killer with no regard to how it’s hurting others. In fact, if Eren were still exactly like that angry 10 year old boy we met in the beginning, I’d be a lot more concerned about his behavior now.
In general, I had hoped that Eren and the others would have thought up a much better way to handle this problem. But as it stands now, we don’t know what options they weighed, if they weighed any, or if this is all Eren’s idea and the rest of the SC got roped into it. Personally I feel like there are too many coordinated things going on right now for it to have been Eren’s plan alone to attack.
I think his words to Falco back in chapter 97 are still really important to factor into the person that he’s become and the actions he’s taking right now:
“I’ve been thinking every day since coming here… How did things turn out this way? Ruined minds and bodies, people with no freedom left to them, people who have even lost themselves. What kind of person would want to go to war if they knew they were going to end up like this?
“But there was something pushing us all along, causing us to step right into hell. For most of us, that something isn’t of our own will. We’re forced to by others, or by our environment. But the kind of hell seen by people who push themselves into it is something else. They also see something beyond that hell.Maybe it’s hope. Maybe it’s yet another hell. I don’t know which is is. The only people who do know… are the ones who keep moving forward.”
Japanese reader しんた (via Twitter) created a very useful summary of the new 3DMG design for each character! Information is based on Chapter 102.
Permission to share and translate is given by the original author. Please do not remove credits.
I’ll add my own bit of observation here:
Blade Box
Jean: No (according to Chap101)
Sasha: Yes
Connie: No
Mikasa: Yes
Levi: Yes
Can we take one minute to appreciate Mikasa fricking Ackerman who is ready to launch any type of attack? She is also equipped with the waist skirt and blade boxes, besides pistols and 8-10 thunder spears. I’m so proud of my girl 😭
The
SC started a fire on many roofs in the Liberio District:
That
was the job of Floch and some other members. Civilians
from those buildings should have evacuated by now, though even if
there were any civilians remaining, they should have more than enough
time to escape, since the fire started on the roof. Though, Floch was
being typical Floch and was burning entire buildings…
This plan that the SC is using gave me some Armin
vibes. Because, in ch64, it was Armin’s idea to use
barrels full of oil that burn fast and create a lot of smoke, in
order to create a smoke-screen so they could hide in it:
It
appears to me that the SC plans to create a huge cloud of smoke above
the Liberio district, and the only reason I could think of why they
would do such a thing, is if they plan to escape through the air, using a
zeppelin.
Magath
said to seal off the internment zone, so that not a single SC member
could escape. That is a logical move, and it must be something that
the SC anticipated. So the only way for them to escape would be
through the air. By creating a cloud of smoke above the district, the
zeppelin could potentially land, pick up the crew, and escape
unnoticeable. Or at least, by the time it is noticed, it would
already be to late to make any counter measures.
The
lights that Connie and other placed may be there to guide the zeppelin where to
land, because they won’t be able to see much from above, once the
cloud of smoke expands.
midnight-in-town 