Eight years on, the day she was stolen from us.....
The day these hideous images first leaked onto Tumblr, and with them Attack on Titan from that day forward became a relentless attack on a beloved character's entire legacy.
Eight years since we lost Sasha, everybody. Eight years since Assassin's Bullet first emerged on the internet.
Truly one of the WORST moments in manga, and in turn one of the worst moments in anime. A completely senseless turn of events that robbed us of one of the story's best characters, the one who provided the only real levity and humor in a story that was so goddamn grim.....A disgusting stunt that made Attack on Titan virtually unwatchable for me.
In eight years my hatred for this chapter has not lessened. I still remember how sickened I was, how furious I was when this all unfolded. Seeing Sasha suffer like that and given such an ignoble exit, with so much she still could've given us completely denied to us is still one of the worst things I ever have seen in my life. For so long this chapter and the images of Sasha bleeding out, those gave me nightmares. This goddamned thing never stopped replaying in my head. Sasha was more than just the Potato GIrl, she was one of the most HUMAN characters still left in the story, the one who had pushed through so much Hell in spite of her fear of the Titans......We were not even given the courtesy of seeing her kill a Titan outright even as she grew into the warrior her friends and family needed her to be.
Instead Hajime Isayama chose to act dishonorably, and like he has with so many other characters and like with Ymir before her, failed to recognize the massive potential of his own characters and revealed his true colors to us in the form of GABI BRAUN....
There's nobody who hates Gabi Braun more than me, and I challenge anybody to come forward and prove me wrong. To have to acknowledge this BITCH's existence, she is still without a doubt in my mind the worst thing that ever happened to Attack on Titan, and if not for her and her presence perhaps I could have forgiven a lot of the other stupidity and contrivances of a story that went totally off the rails in its final act. But I cannot, because this unnecessarily toxic and overpowered little bastard child took over the entire story and made it all about herself. And everything having to do with Sasha after that was all to justify her presence, all at the complete expense of what made Sasha such a valued presence in the story and what made her a character worth rooting for.........What reason do any of us have to root for Gabi eight years later? Having never faced any lasting justice for the many acts of murder she's committed? All for a forceful redemption arc for somebody who until Chapter 91 DID NOT EXIST?
There's absolutely nothing anybody can ever say that will make me sympathize with Gabi Braun. It all comes back to the bottom line, I do NOT want to follow this character. And the suggested parallels between her and Sasha are utter horseshit, I still can't get over how the story went so far as to suggest they resembled each other, which is just disgusting to dwell on. And how not a single person held it over her head over what she did, not even Connie of all people.
The disrespect for Sashs and for what she gave us, and what she COULD have given us, could not be more transparent. And that extends not just to Isayama, but to the fans who STILL defend his decisions. None more so than those who still try to sell Gabi's "character development" as a legitimate part of this story.
"Children of the forest", it remains such a hollow crock of bull when applied to Gabi. The only reason she even hesitated in her bloodlust was because she was one smartass remark away from being gutted like a pig.
The closest we ever got to any real justice in a story who's ending offered none whatsoever. And a big reason why AOT's finale does not work. Why its ENTIRE final act in the timeskip does not work. I would have cheered anyone who had removed this plot tumor from the story.
It made me come to hate so many characters I had previously genuinely loved; Mikasa, Artur Braus, Kaya, Connie, Jean, every character became less watchable no thanks to Gabi and to how every character ultimately dealt with Sasha's undeserved fate. After all she went through, all her terror at the Titans, all she did to protect her friends, it all felt like a massive betrayal.
And as I've said before, it didn't have to play out this way, if you want to have a redemption arc for such an unnecessary and forced character, it should not have had to come at the expense of a character who had all the groundwork to be a major player in the finale, one who gave some genuine humanity to the story.
Not even Hange Zoe with all of her quirkiness and eccentricity could keep me invested after Sasha's excruciating end, every solitary frame of that scene has been too deeply burned into my mind.
Long story short, you know how the saying goes:
A little memento from a friend of mine, who knows better than anybody else out there how much people hate Gabi's guts. Hate the character, not the actor.
Sasha was taken away far too soon, at her expense and at ours. With all the bullshit that is Attack on Titan's entire timeskip arc, Sasha was one of the only ones who could've possibly made it more bearable, and her connections to Kaya, Connie, Mikasa, Eren, Niccolo, her own MOTHER would not have felt so cheap. We're owed for the utter waste of character growth here, all of it wasted on a literal tagalong who nobody liked to begin with. Assassin's Bullet is and always will be a major injustice. And the moment Attack on Titan became unwatchable.
Remember Sasha Braus for all she is, all she was, and all she could have been. If she had just been given that chance. Because no character deserves a second chance more than Sasha.
She could've been so much more. It was all right there.
Do not let Chapter 105: Assassin's Bullet go unanswered for. Because Sasha deserves better.
There is no Attack on Titan without Sasha Braus.
