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Beauty Will Save the World

This chapter visually contrasts Eren’s version of the world and of freedom with Armin’s. Not to sound ridiculous, but the seagull is making the same “flying” pose as Eren when he declares he is free (and Eren is also depicted as “flying” above the clouds).

The seagull appears from the opposite side of the panel and is white, in contrast with the dark colors Eren wears, showing again that Eren’s version of freedom differs from Armin’s.

Eren has become a child and a villain, and he’s miserable. You can call that freedom if you want to, but I don’t think it is endorsed by the framing of Eren being a literal child seeing the world in bold black and whites, and children being literally murdered at his order.

But he thinks there is no choice but to be cruel.

In contrast, we have Annie and Armin opening by discussing healing (the first line is “have your wouns healed?”), romantic feelings, and the fact that they are both monsters and good people. There is an adult nuance there, emphasized by adult!Armin seeing child!Eren:

Annie again points to the inevitable decision Armin and Mikasa will have to make: to kill Eren. She’s challenging him to take the final step to become an adult.

Interestingly, seagulls are the first shot of the entire anime:

Armin’s version of freedom is flying, is discovery, is human connection even in the middle of horrific war, while Eren has cut himself off from all honest connections with people. The contrast between Armin/Annie and Mikasa/Eren is pretty striking: Armin draws closer to the girl he likes, and Eren brutally hurts Mikasa by attempting to gaslight her into hating him, because he hates himself. That Armin appeared in the paths dimension as an adult (and is the narrator) again hints that his version of of freedom is the one that will win in the end.

If Armin wants a future, if he wants Annie to have a future, he has to kill Eren.

That’s cruel. Adult nuance: cruelty and beauty, monsters and good people coinciding.

However, I am still quite sure Mikasa will remind Eren of the beauty in the world before the end, and I have hope Eren will make a beautiful choice in the end (somehow ending the titan curse). I don’t write this hating Eren--I ache for him, in fact. He’s in pain, he’s unhappy, he hates himself, but he’s refusing to protect the beauty of the world. I just hope his last choice is in protecting his loved ones’ desire for discovery and futures.

#snk meta #snk 131 #aot 131 #aot meta #aruani #eremika #snk theory #eren jaeger #armin arlert #annie leonhart #mikasa ackerman #aot theory

Chapter 131 Discussion

FREEDOM IS EREN’S PRISON

*Manga spoilers ahead*

This will be a long post, bear with me.

Woke up to see Chapter 131 is out and I felt sick and disturbed after reading it. We are entering the end game and the tension is real...

The irony...

At this point, we got a clearer view on Eren’s ‘rumbling’ motive. It is no longer ‘saving the Eldians’, but his own selfishness, his own obsession.

He knew what he is into. He knew that his decision on mass-killing is wrong. He’s trying so bad to justify his view “This is the right thing to do” “There are no other way”. He’s trying to ease his own feeling of guilt. This is human emotion, Eren just had it the more ‘extreme way’.

But this panel, somehow it just showed that he had the power to change the future, which he rejects. He forces himself to believe that the future cannot be changed, while in reality, he was the one who choose ‘that’ future to happen.

He saw Ramzi (the boy from the market) got bullied in the alley and chose not to save him because he felt guilty for things he hasn’t even done yet. This shows that he is not trying to change the future, he is not trying to do a ‘greater good’. He felt he is/will be a monster, so why bother acting like a good person? It’s sad to see that he hated himself for it. He is capable of feeling emotions, yet too blinded by his obsession.

Next panel - The Rumbling Scene

These made me sick, to point I felt like throwing up.

I really felt like I was on that setting, running away from the sea of titans. Seeing all those Eldians and non-Eldians running away was suffocating. Who’s Eren trying to save?

Then Eren’s confession. It felt like someone is pouring gasoline on fire.

HE WAS DISAPPOINTED..

He was disappointed that there are humans outside the walls, which is a very absurd way of thinking coming from someone who was fed on a knowledge that ‘humanity has gone extinct outside the walls’. At this point, he is irredeemable. Personally I think he felt conflicted on the inside, doing what’s right vs what he wants.

Child Eren looking towards the wall just gave a whole new meaning. For me, somehow the walls symbolizes Eren himself. He is caged by his own obsession on freedom. He was trapped in his own mind. A child sees the world in black and white. As you grow up, you got to see that there is a ‘gray area’, there are things to compromise, that the world is full of possibilities. However, Eren sees the world like how a child sees them.

I first thought that Eren was only blinded purely by hate. But this chapter shows that it is not solely on hate that keeps Eren moving, it is his ‘dream’ and jealousy. Kenny’s last word “Everyone had to be drunk on something to keep moving on” hits me, again.

He is jealous that these people outside the walls (Eldians & Non-Eldians) gets to taste ‘freedom’, that they are the most free. Jealousy is a common trait for a child, but as we grew older we start to become rational. However, Eren is stuck on this phase, not wanting to grow up. I think this is why child Eren is the one who narrates his ‘mind’ out loud.

Next Panel - Armin

It was nice to see Armin and Annie’s interaction. I wasn’t able to enjoy it 100% with the stress I got from the previous pages. Armin and Annie are adoooorableeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! But I felt like it will be tragic, both of them being a titan-shifter with the 13 years Ymir curse......

Okay back to the topic.

Armin knew that he has done tons of irredeemable things, that he is not a ‘good person’, that he has became a monster a long time ago. But he is not using it as a reason to do more ‘bad choices’.

Yes he is disappointed that the outside world was different from what he believed in. It was different from the book that he read. But he grew up. He acknowledges that things doesn't always end up the way he wants it to be. He’s disappointed but he believes that there are still other things that they don’t know yet. There is still a bright future ahead of them, despite the conflicts they’re having now.

Here we see the contrast between Armin and Eren’s perspective. Eren got stuck in his black and white world. Whereas Armin believes that there are other possibilities, that there are something more, a lot of things they haven’t explored. This as I explained before, shows that Armin grew up, but not Eren.

I think it’s clear that Attack on Titan won’t have a ‘happy ending’. I don’t see Eren coming out alive from this war. Armin who narrates the story from the beginning of the story, might be the one who survives from this battles. It will be a bumpy road ahead and it’s gonna be a tragic ending for sure.

Despite the stress this chapter has given me, I want to say that Isayama did an awesome job.

Note. Its interesting because Armin’s perspective is more likely to be the ‘lead character’ point-of-view, whereas Eren is the ‘second-lead’ or the ‘lead-antagonist’ point-of-view. Yet in this manga, we see it the other way around.

WAIT I JUST REALIZED SOMETHING... THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE OUT ON OCTOBER? SO I HAVE TO WAIT FOR ANOTHER 2 MONTHSSS??? UGH THE WAITTTTT

Pretty sure the wait will be worth it! We’re entering the end game everybody! Brace your seat! Isayama’s gonna rockkk our world!

Edit: next chapter is coming in a month, apparently Chapter 131 is on September Issue, so Chapter 132 will be on October Issue! My bad :p

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