wasn't it revealed by Eren that Armin visited Annie's crystal because he ate Bertolt and thus he experiences some of the feelings Bertolt had, including his romantic feelings for Annie? I shipped aruani for a long while, but I kinda dont get why people are so excited for them now when, IF Armin has some sort of "special" reaction to meeting Annie again, it's because he's sensing or remembering BERTOLT's feelings for her, not because he likes her himself :/ that kinda blows
Edit: Oh wait, sorry. For some reason the ask box didn't show me your whole question.
WARNING: The following is LONG.
I personally think Aruani has existed way before Armin ate Bertholdt. Thus I believe if Armin does have a "special reaction" to Annie, it is genuine on his part and not because of Bertholdt. However, I just think the development that happened between Armin and Annie that led to this "special" moment was shown off screen. And just because Eren claimed something in ch 112, it doesn't mean I am going to take it at face value.
First, let's think about Annie's character. Annie appears to be a quiet, self-seeking, cold person, especially at first glance. I mean, dang, in chapter 96 after Reiner tells her that if they go back empty-handed, they might all die, she literally kicks him to the ground and violently attacks him, just because she doesn't want to be killed. She wants him to take all of the blame when they go back to Marley and die in their place, instead of accepting that she was partly at fault as well.
All we usually see is Annie being this distant person who seemingly kills with no remorse, and who doesn't want anyone to get in her way
For Annie, it was always about saving her own hide and getting back home. She even admits this to Armin when they are talking during their gear inspection. She always stayed in the background and laid low. She wanted to do whatever was necessary to fulfill her promise to her father. At least, that's what it looked like. Then we have this:
I think this says a lot about what is actually going on in Annie's head. I think when Annie first got to the island, she wasn't planning on being buddy-buddy with anyone just because she viewed them as evil people and because she didn't want to grow attached, lest her mission become compromised. Yet despite all of her efforts at maintaining distance, she still grew to care for them (I'll show you why I think that soon). She couldn't understand why she would still care for them despite her greater efforts, but I think that with this care, grew her guilt for knowing what she was about to do to all of them. And it REPULSED her to see how flippant Reiner and Bertholdt were being about it. Here were two people who were always promoting interacting with these "devils" and who outwardly appeared to genuinely care about them, yet behind closed doors, they hated them and plotted to betray them. I honestly believe it confused and sickened Annie.
I think these mixed feelings that lingered within Annie ultimately revealed themselves through her actions when they were in the middle of actually carrying out their plan. It showed that she DID care.
Anyone can see how conflicted she was about Marco. She didn't want to do it. Going back to her not liking to take the blame, do you see how she demands Reiner why does she have to do it, and tells him to get Bertholdt to do the deed instead? It's because she doesn't want the blood of a comrade to be on her hands. Not someone she cares about. Then Reiner pointed out that she had saved Connie just moments before. She didn't have to, but she did. This event happened after the Marley trio had their discussion about breaching Wall Rose. Annie already knew that casualties were going to be made. So why did she react the way she did? Why did she save Connie? Why was she so conflicted about Marco? It's because Reiner was right. She DOES CARE.
But that was when her allegiance was thrown into question, and as we know, since Annie's number one objective is to return home, it appeares that she gives up her conscious in order to put her mission first. She helps Marco to be eaten. It would make sense for her to follow and stick to this line of thinking, right? It's for her own best interests, and the interests of the other warrior cadets with her.
Some could claim she did follow this line of thinking up to a point. She killed Levi's squad and killed those who were pursuing her in the fields during her chase for Eren without a blink of an eye. Though she didn't kill Jean, I think it's needless to say, the killing intent was there. In her fights with Eren, she never held back and it would have been stupid to let him just get away because he was their main purpose for going there in the first place. She wouldn't even want to appear to be holding back, because if her allegiance was questioned and Reiner reported this to Marley, her promise to her father would be as good as dead since they both would have probably been murdered.
So if we take this all into consideration as to how Annie thinks, why does she allow Armin to live?
Like seriously, it makes no sense and it is pretty counterproductive. Armin is known to be highly intelligent. Not to mention he is the ENEMY. So why would she allow such a risk to live on?
Because Armin is the closest person to Annie outside of Reiner and Bertholdt. That's the only conclusion. They must have interacted with each other quite a bit in the survey corps (or at least, more than Annie tended to hang around others) and created a strong bond (though whether this is romantic or not can be debated) for her to go this far out for him. And I have evidence that supports my theory to this (unfortunately I can't provide photos for all due to Tumblr telling me there is a maximum of 10 photos per post).
But first, I want to point something out. And this goes a little bit towards the aspect of your question nonnie where you spoke of Bertholdt's feelings influencing Armin's. My question is: why? Why does it have to be Bertholdt influencing Armin? Eren is convinced that he himself is not controlled by the previous Titan Holders. He said this in ch 112 when Armin and Mikasa were trying to say HE was controlled. The more I think about it, does this mean Armin may not be controlled? If Eren has the ability to break free from the influence, then why can't Armin?
I think Eren's wording here is a bit interesting, "IF memories play a major role in forming who a person is, THAT means part of you has become Bertholdt." And the fact that Eren asked Armin straight out if it was Armin or Bertholdt's will. These two things to me further implies that Armin still has a choice and still has a part of himself inside. He can be like Eren and not be controlled by every little thing he does. I also think readers look too much into this scene. You have to understand that on this page, it is Eren who is doing most of the talking. We are seeing things from his perspective. Eren is someone who is motivated by freedom and his loved ones. He thinks that both aren't free and he can't accept that both Mikasa and Armin are willing to not have their freedom or allow others to not have freedom (*cough* Historia and her kids "cough*) because they are worried about peace and no more bloodshed. Eren isn't like this. After going to Marley and seeing what the world views them as and how the world still wants to destroy them, he views it as a "kill or be killed" situation and no longer sees a peaceful option for them. He is tired of Mikasa and Armin not seeing the truth of the matter; they have to destroy everyone else if they are not to live like cattle anymore. We've seen since Eren was a little kid how he feels about being trapped. No, the 50 year plan doesn't cut it for him. He wants everyone he loves to have the right to a free, non-sacrificial life. So for him to see that his friends who he is doing this all for is not wanting to do it, well, I think it makes him LIVID. He literally cannot understand their point of view, just as they can't understand his, and that's why what was said was said. He is finding excuses for them, when in truth it's just their beliefs. They don't believe in doing genocide and killing Innocents. Here is PROOF Eren doesn't understand his friends and is speaking out of anger. Eren is wrong about one thing. Armin in the past HAS resorted to "just talking" and "backed' the enemy (I feel like in a sense Eren is using the term "backed" in a warped way; Armin does not want him or anyone else to be killed by Marley and he doesn't agree with Marley's actions. He just doesn't want to approach his enemies with Eren's aggressive manner. But from Eren's pov, that's the same as "backing the enemy"). He did this when he didn't rat out Annie right away and then when he still wanted to approach her through peaceful means. This is BEFORE he ate Bertholdt.
So I don't think we as AruAni shippers should put so much faith into what Eren said. His words MIGHT ring truth, but it doesn't automatically mean he is right about Armin's feelings for Annie being Bertholdt's. And I think the rest below supports that Armin felt something for Annie before he ate Bertholdt, and/or at least knew she liked him.
THE ARUANI THEY-LIKE-EACH OTHER- EVIDENCE
-First, let's talk about one of AruAni's first moments. The gear inspection scene. Annie asks Armin if he is joining the Survey corps and he answers yes. Ok, so there is several things I would like to point out here. The fact they are standing next to each other. What was mentioned earlier in this post? How Annie isolates herself. And no, you can't say they were told to stand by each other in alphabetical order, because Connie is right there too, and his last name starts with an 'S' for Springer (and you can't argue they went by first names because then Bertholdt would be there too). This isn't the first time we've seen Annie standing right beside Armin.
I can't remember which chapter the above takes place but it does. You know what this tells me? It apparently was common for them to be hanging around one another. Anyway, continuing forward, when it is confirmed that Armin is joining the corps, Annie looks visibly saddened. Why? Well we can make an educated guess. Because she knows what is going to happen soon and that there's a chance Armin is going to die, just as Marco had and this time she won't be able to step in and save him because if she does like she did with Connie, it could mess up the mission and bring her allegiance into question again. And his death would be on her hands. Yet she doesn't try to warn him or anything, just gives him somewhat of a backhanded compliment by going on to say how weak he is, but that he does have guts. That's when Armin goes on to say something that surprises her. He says she is kind. She asks why, and he goes on to say how she doesn't want them to join the Survey Corps. To Armin, this makes sense because most soldiers who go into the survey corps die. I think this goes to show how Armin really looked at Annie. Most people thought she was a cold, distant chick who could kick butt. But he saw past her fake facade to see her true self. A girl who actually cared. Maybe a little too much. And the way they talk so comfortably in this scene...I don't think this was just something Armin picked up on. I think he had been observing Annie for a while and in their moments of being around each other, he noticed this about her. If someone asked me in what part of the series I think Annie started to like Armin, or maybe her crush began to develop into something more serious, I would say it was this moment. I think Annie began to feel something for Armin because he was this kind kid who despite his own weakness and faults, he didn't want to give up and would try his best to fight for what he believed in, something Annie wasn't able to do since the longer she stayed in Eldia, she wasn't sure what she quite stood for anymore. She was just a person who selfishly did things for herself; Armin was not. Beyond that, he seemed to understand her and see through her more than anyone else could.
Unfortunately this was also the time that Armin realized she had Marco's gear. This to me is more telling. After having that sweet conversation, Armin sees this and what does he do? Nothing. He doesn't call her out on it or report it to the corps. He waits until a month later before he reveals he had a suspicion it was her all along. But why? When Annie asks this question, he gives a response way too vague for my taste. He says he couldn't believe it. Why couldn't he believe it? Maybe he could, but he didn't want to. Why didn't he want to? Because he had feelings for her and the person he had feelings for, well, he didn't want to turn her in and also because he didn't want to believe she would hurt him like that, especially if she returned his feelings. Before I go into as to why I think Armin was aware of Annie's feelings, I want to point out that Armin (and Eren) was not trying to attack Annie when they tried to make her go underground. In fact, they were both trying to just talk and not fight, but then Mikasa interrupted their pleas and threatened Annie first.
Wow this is really getting long. I am running out of time for today, so I will continue my answer to this soon under a "Part 2". I hope to include more photos as evidence for my argument too, under the second post since I can no longer under this one. Sorry for the long rant lol. But I just hope out of some of this, you see why I disagree about people saying it's Bertholdt and not Armin who is making Armin have "recent" feelings. I hope that from this post and its next part that you will come to find that Armin's feelings aren't recent at all, but have been there for many years.
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