What changes happened during ep 28? I binged read the manga so ..
Anonymous said:I would be so grateful if you tell which chapter is the episode 28?
@lumicuous said: I fully agree and I hope so much they’ll animate it the way it is in the manga! Though, I have a question… what changes in Episode 28 do you mean?
I’m putting all of these together again since they are about the same thing ^^.
Like I said in my other post, I didn’t like those changes. The one who got it worse was Mikasa, but the changes weren’t really good for Eren and Levi either, in my opinion.
But well, to make some sense of what I’m saying I need to explain myself a bit more, so let’s start from the beginning!
The scene I’m talking about is from Chapter 37 of the manga, and was animated on episode 28 with some changes.
During this scene, Levi talks to Eren, Armin, and Mikasa and gives them instructions about what to do next, since they’re going to go separate ways. This scene occurs during the cart ride.
Levi first tells Eren he has to succeed no matter what. And just after that he addresses Armin and Mikasa. We got the first part in the anime quite well, so I can’t complain about that.
But in the anime, they moved the other part of the conversation to a scene later on. Levi then talks to Armin in a similar way as in the manga, but when he talks to Mikasa, is when the issues start. This is what originally Levi said to Mikasa:
This dialogue did happen in the anime scene more or less accurately. But in the manga, he continued and told her this:
This part was changed in the anime, and Levi told this to Eren instead.
“And finally… Eren.Learn how to restrain yourself.Don’t succumb to rage and lose sight of the goal.We can’t afford another mistake”.
This… changes a lot of things.
The reason Levi said this to Mikasa in the first place is because how she acted in the encounter with the female titan in the forest. She tried to attack her even if Levi told her not to. For Levi, saving Eren was the priority. He let this very clear to Mikasa during that time, and he is doing it again now. Because of Mikasa’s actions, Levi got injured. What Levi meant with these words was that her attachment to Eren is precisely what can backfire for her and put him at risk. She has to make protecting Eren her priority no matter what, and for that she has to keep a clear head and avoid getting carried out by her rage.
Mikasa is not going to forget about this conversation, and this exchange is going to be very important to her development. Many people did not like this change, and have explained the reasons extensively since then, so I won’t go much into it, since I’m trying to focus on Eren and Levi here.
Because for me, this scene in the manga was also very important for Eren and Levi’s relationship because it showed how Levi always put Eren first, and how he made sure to let clear his safety was the most important thing, just before they separated. He wanted to make sure Eren was protected properly now that he couldn’t do it himself. It doesn’t matter if you see Levi’s intentions as caused by duty, or by personal feelings; it’s a fact that he puts Eren’s safety as the most important thing.
Also, the way Levi’s face changes in the anime when talking to Eren compared with Armin and Mikasa didn’t help either. He speaks to them very calmly, but when it’s time to talk to Eren, suddenly his face gets… (I’m not going to discuss the animation because, lol) I don’t know what’s that, but he’s not happy! Here’s a comparison:
Of course to anyone who enjoys Eren and Levi’s relationship, these changes will be already a sad thing on itself. But what it personally bothered me by this change, (and the whole reason of this post lol) was the fandom reaction, especially by people who haven’t read the manga and get their vision of Eren and Levi’s relationship from the anime only.
And the reason is simple: Why would Levi say this to Eren? The conclussion many people reached was that this was caused by Eren’s decision in the forest, and the death of Levi’s squad.
I completely disagree with this.
Levi gave Eren the choice to do what he thought was best. He has repeated again and again how no one can know the outcome of that choice. Levi would never blame Eren for the death of his squad this way, he would not refer to it as a mistake, or something that happened because of Eren’s rage. I repeat,
Levi would never blame Eren for the death of his squad!
Even more when this has been already discussed between them. Remember this scene from Chapter 32?
So why then, the anime makes Levi talk to Eren like that? The most likely reason and the theory I agree with the most, is that this is because the anime also changed the final battle with the female titan in Stohess, and made Eren lose control, go into berserker mode, etc. So then, it makes sense for Levi to say this to Eren in the anime. In the context on the anime alone, this change is justified, even if this never happened in the manga.
So in my opinion, if I’m going to judge the changes just by that, they really aren’t a big deal in regards of Eren and Levi. I understand that the anime has to make changes from the manga to be able to adapt it, and it’s not going to be an exact copy of it. But, like I said before, the way some part of the fandom reacted to this is what upset me and why I wished they had never made this change.
There are people who think Levi hates Eren because of the death of his squad. Who think of Eren as just a bundle of rage who can’t control himself, it’s always yelling/crying, etc. The anime exagerates this a lot in many occasions. Levi telling him this, with that expression, did not help at all on that regard. I saw comments saying how Eren “is always messing everything up” and “it’s obvious Levi is fed up with him”. And usually those comments are followed by some remark like “how can people still ship ereri omg”.
So yeah… this is why this change is annoying to me, haha.
In the original scene, when everyone is asking Eren if he’s going to be able to seal the hole, Levi realizes he is uncomfortable, pressured, and he speaks to reassure him, he gives him encouragement and motivation, and he does this calmly, without getting angry at him. He never blames him for any mistakes or talks about his rage. That’s how Levi and Eren’s relationship actually is for me, and I hope more people saw it that way, too.
