Attack on Titan: Shingeki no Kyojin

[shinta|hikari]

Eren's first mistake is not listening to Levi's hint when he said that his choice of transforming is not wrong. Instead, he chose to trust all the jerks who were panicking themselves and below Levi in real skills and rank.

If he had faced off against the female titan from the start, Levi would have been there and at the very least that would have bought them enough time for Mikasa to show up after hearing Eren's shout. 3 vs 1 sounds like really good odds.

Even on the second opportunity, he would have had most of the elite team backing him up.

Actually, splitting Eren and Levi up was a really dumb decision. So is leaving Mikasa on the forest border to what, stand around? A fucking noob could have done that.

A smarter commander would have made Mikasa Eren's personal bodyguard. She frigging leaves position to chase after him all the time anyway.

[Kraco]

Eren's first mistake is not listening to Levi's hint when he said that his choice of transforming is not wrong. Instead, he chose to trust all the jerks who were panicking themselves and below Levi in real skills and rank.

I'm sure Levi telling Eren a few times he will kill Eren personally if Eren causes any trouble (that is, turns into a titan) doesn't exactly encourage him to turn into a titan when everybody around him keeps telling him not to.

A smarter commander would have made Mikasa Eren's personal bodyguard. She frigging leaves position to chase after him all the time anyway.

I'm sure they kept Mikasa away from Eren for two reasons: To make Eren even easier to control by being surrounded only by people who suspect him and would be willing to slay him at a moment's notice, with Eren naturally knowing all that. Even a single ally who actually believes in him might have made him bolder. The other reason naturally is that humanity doesn't have a single smart commander. After all, Erwin was supposed to be the smart one, but we all just saw the sad limits of his wits.

[shinta|hikari]

Eren distrusts himself (understandably because he almost killed and even scarred Mikasa), so instead he decided to trust his allies. Trusting your allies is fine, but he should have trusted Levi instead of the minions.

The first reason you mentioned for keeping Mikasa away is flimsy. If anything, having someone (who he almost killed while in Titan form once) he cares about near him will discourage Eren from transforming. At that point, they don't doubt Eren's loyalty anymore (as shown in the communal thumb biting scene), just his control. Your second reason is far more believable.

[Kraco]

The first reason you mentioned for keeping Mikasa away is flimsy. If anything, having someone (who he almost killed while in Titan form once) he cares about near him will discourage Eren from transforming. At that point, they don't doubt Eren's loyalty anymore (as shown in the communal thumb biting scene), just his control.

That's hard to say. Even though Eren did indeed try to attack Mikasa, it's 100% certain Mikasa wouldn't try to hold him responsible even inside her own mind, let alone publicly. Instead Mikasa would likely voice support for any scheme Eren could come up with (excluding a suicide), as long as she would also have a part in it, in order to protect him. Mikasa and Armin trust and believe in Eren, even if Mikasa sometimes acts like a mother... For a young chap there's a world of difference between being alone among people who look down on you or having trusty friends beside you. Looking at it from the opposite perspective if Eren had seen Mikasa or Armin in deadly danger, there would have been no stopping him going all out, titan out included, to save them. A bit surprisingly he could stomach watching strangers and half-strangers getting smashed quite long before deciding to act.

[shinta|hikari]

That's not really surprising. I would probably laugh or at the least be entertained if some random stranger died in front of me, but would probably go berserk if it is someone I actually care about, as rare as they are. I believe Eren is pretty righteous, wanting to save the other squads who he does not even know.

Mikasa does not blindly support Eren. She blindly wants to protect him, so if Eren chooses a risky path, she would oppose it as much as she can. Only if that does not work, like when Eren obsessively wanted to join the scouts, will she reluctantly join him. Funny thing is, Eren listens to everyone else's opinion excluding Mikasa's, when it is clear whose opinion will actually keep him safe.

[MFauli]

1.) Mikasa is a noob, too. Just because she´s ridiculous talented doesnt change the fact that she just finished her education.

2.) It really was a lose-lost situation for Eren in terms of making *that* decision. As is, everyone of his team died. sucks. HOWEVER, had he transformed, maybe nobody would have died (unlikely). Yet, afterwards everybody would hate Eren for "not trusting" them. So even if Eren was capable of having these thoughts, it´d come down to "do i want to be hated or not?"

[Kraco]

Funny thing is, Eren listens to everyone else's opinion excluding Mikasa's, when it is clear whose opinion will actually keep him safe.

Like hell it will. The kings and lords long opted not to fight, living confortably inside the walls - until they now lost one of the walls and a huge chunk of land with it, with tens of thousands of people dying as well. I don't see that overly safe in the long run.

I don't agree on Mikasa wanting to keep Eren solely safe as opposed to fighting, even if she regularly shows a little opposition in the very beginning. She always follows him nonetheless and tries her best to see Eren through it. Someone as good as Mikasa at fighting can't be all averse to it anyway.

[shinta|hikari]

Mikasa clearly prioritizes Eren's safety so she can be with him. She just doesn't want him to hate her more. So when Eren gets stubborn, she has no choice but to follow. If the two priorities ever switch, Mikasa would become Yuno.

Safe in the long run? Eren almost died at least 4x since he joined the army, some of which are even from hands of allies. Normally for soldiers, there is no long run.

[DarthEnderX]

Eren's first mistake is not listening to Levi's hint when he said that his choice of transforming is not wrong. Instead, he chose to trust all the jerks who were panicking themselves and below Levi in real skills and rank.

You're treating it as though Levi was telling him that it was the right decision. I didn't see it that way.

To me, it seemed like he was saying "Transforming isn't wrong, neither is trusting us. There is no right or wrong, there's just the decisions you make."

If he had faced off against the female titan from the start, Levi would have been there and at the very least that would have bought them enough time for Mikasa to show up after hearing Eren's shout. 3 vs 1 sounds like really good odds.

Even on the second opportunity, he would have had most of the elite team backing him up.

Like I said, I have no problem with him trusting them the first time. But when that trust he placed in them turned into a complete clusterfuck failure, he should never have let them talk him into trusting him a second time.

I blame Pleadingeyes McTreepancake, for getting him to do it twice.

Actually, splitting Eren and Levi up was a really dumb decision. So is leaving Mikasa on the forest border to what, stand around? A fucking noob could have done that.

Remember that Mikasa IS a noob as far as they're concerned. She just joined, like, last week. She's a very skilled cadet, but still just a cadet.

[shinta|hikari]

Levi said exactly that. Make your own decision. Eren initially wanted to transform, but instead, he got convinced by the pleadingeyes of his team. He should have followed through and believed in both Levi's advice and himself.

I understand that she is a noob, but she has more than proven what she is capable of during the last attack. Moreover, she is ALWAYS running after Eren and not following orders. Why not just place them together? A better commander would have taken that in consideration and ignored the usual process and placed the proper people in the proper places. It was an understandable decision to group Mikasa with the other new recruits, but it wasn't the best.

[DarthEnderX]

I understand that she is a noob, but she has more than proven what she is capable of during the last attack.

But that was before she even joined the Corps. They might not even be aware of how awesome she is yet.

[shinta|hikari]

That would also be proof of a sub par commander. You get a new member who is top of her class, AND a close friend of the transforming titan and you don't ask about or read reports (there are reports, it is military after all) about her skills and achievements?

Mikasa has saved (when she forced that asshole merchant into the gate etc.) more people and killed more titans in her 2 weeks than most of the scouting legion in years of service.

[DarthEnderX]

Maybe, but those are just reports. It's not the same as actually seeing her in action.

[shinta|hikari]

Most of upper brass decisions are based on reports. They are not always on the field, and even if they are, they can only see a small part of the field. Erwin didn't see Eren turning into a titan but he believed it easily enough.

[DarthEnderX]

Right. But reading a report that says "Cadet Mikasa killed several titans during the defense of Trost" is not the same thing as seeing her go all crimson ninja death valkyrie with your own eyes.

[DarthEnderX]

[HorribleSubs] Shingeki no Kyojin - 22: 1080p | 720p | 480p










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So, yeah. Levi is on a completely different level.

When Pain goes all Sonic the Hedgehog, it's incredibly stupid. When Levi does it, it's the coolest thing ever.

[David75]

Like everything else in that anime, you always have limits.
Levi might be incredibly fast and skilled, his body still has limits.
My only question is how can he wald after spraining his ankle.

Now regarding those tears, I wonder what Levi thinks about them.

[DarthEnderX]

I gotta say, I'm really annoyed that the Survey Corps has to turn Eren over because the mission failed.

Now regarding those tears, I wonder what Levi thinks about them.

Probably that it's intelligent, which he already knew.

I wonder why she was crying. Was it just pain, or is she really upset that she failed?

[MFauli]

im sure you can make up explanations, but still ... if Levi had engaged in a fight from the beginning, (almost) nobody would have had to die. And also retreating when the female titan was that crushed was just dumb as hell. Oh no, his ankle. He´d still be strong enough, and he had Mikasa assisting him.

Again, you can make up excuses (Levi couldn´t have fought from the beginning since the FT wasnt as tired; he retreated because of his injury; etc.), but it´s still so unsatisfying. sigh.

Also, if our assumptions about who the three special titans are, are correct, I hope it gets resolved very soon. It´s frustrating to think that these monsters are walking amidst those scared, terrified soldiers. Well, maybe next episode is about that already, since Armin seems to have figured it out. fingers crossed.

[Buffalobiian]

I wonder why she was crying. Was it just pain, or is she really upset that she failed?

She cried for the same reason that the Recon Squad feels down about - Operation Failed means that the sacrifices were for nothing. You can somehow justify the body count if you got results, but to fail means that they were wasted more or less. She failed in her objective to capture Eren which she perceived was for the greater good, while the Recon Corps failed to capture the female titan which they also thought was for the greater good.

And also retreating when the female titan was that crushed was just dumb as hell. Oh no, his ankle. He´d still be strong enough, and he had Mikasa assisting him.

It's important to work out what you have to do, and focus on accomplishing that. When you become greedy and yearn for more, you risk losing what is really important to you. Levi showed that in how he acted. Mikasa almost died while trying to kill the titan when it wasn't necessary. The body-retrieving pair demonstrated right afterwards that when such greedy actions backfire, it can be catastrophic.

Small, steady steps as they say.

I feel that Armin has the potential to become someone like Erwin. He's smart and had a vision for venturing outside the walls. The thing that was holding him back was his physical weakness and his lack of balls (that latter part comes with being smart and being able to perceive risks). With this expedition, it seems he's capable of going through with the best possible actions and hardening his will. He currently lacks charisma, but that will come when he hardens up. It's not like Pixis was the most appealing person, and it seems Erwin is so elusive to most people that they wouldn't really follow him for his sake anyway.

Usual anime trend would put Eren as team leader though due to his passion, with Mikasa following him with great skill and even greater devotion, leaving someone like Armin to deal with strategy and Jean to lead the city defence/administration.