Who are your top 6 sexiest SNK characters? (Please feel free to include many gratuitous pics, if you have the time).
@daylelight, I’m sorry, first for the delay and second because I could never settle on a sixth person. I raged an internal debate between Pieck, Hange and Mikasa. Mike and Nanaba chimed in. Timeskip Sasha appeared. Willy Tybur. Historia. The list goes on. In my calmer moments, I even acknowledged that Zeke was objectively attractive and if he hadn’t thrown rocks at people I love, he might deserve a spot.
Long story short, I decided to make a list of five, but I’m including my favorite “bonus sexy moment” not involving the characters on my list:
THE REVEAL OF THE OWL
While Eren Kruger didn’t make my top five, I could not ignore this amazing chapter 87 moment. Pushing Gross off the wall, tossing his hat, and calmly declaring his true identity before transforming into the Attack Titan was fantastically attractive.
Without further delay, I present my Top Five Sexy Shingekis. Since sexy is subjective, I expect there will be much disagreement. If you disagree, please make your own list because I want to see it!
TOP SIX FIVE SEXY SHINGEKIS
5. JEAN KIRSTEIN
Jean’s always been a top 10 favorite for me, and I’ve always thought he was attractive, but seeing him post time skip commanding troops, looking amazing and holding tight to his humanity secured him the #5 spot. I’m not sold on the neckbeard, but if anyone can pull it off, it’s Jean Kirstein.
4. REINER BRAUN
I can’t look at post time skip Reiner without first feeling pain at the crappy hand life has dealt him, followed by heart palpitations at how incredibly handsome he is. Sexy is more than looks. His dealings with the warrior cadets have been beyond adorable and provide a glimpse of who Reiner might have been had be been born in a kinder world.
3. YMIR
Ymir was my goddess long before she declared herself to be one. Brilliant, beautiful, brash and filled with contradictions, it was curiosity about Ymir that first addicted me to this series. My interest was rewarded. With the reveal of her backstory the last puzzle pieces clicked into place and exposed a love story more beautiful than I could’ve imagined. I’ll quote Immi here, “Ymir cares very deeply, and she doesn’t want to. Caring, to her, means jumping into a horde of titans. It means doing anything to protect someone, and that means that her life can never belong to just her.”
2. LEVI ACKERMAN
There was an episode of The Office where the employees of Dunder Mifflin got into a passionate debate over whether actress Hilary Swank could be considered “hot”. Levi Ackerman is my Hilary Swank. I don’t always find him hot. I blame the inconsistent art for that, although since serum bowl that’s rarely an issue. Sexy is an altogether different thing. When Levi is in motion, he is sexy. When he’s expressing strong emotion, he is sexy. When his compassion is showing, he is sexy. When he’s a grumpy gremlin sitting on a barstool looking miserable, he’s… well, a grumpy gremlin sitting on a barstool looking miserable and not at all sexy. Still, he gets #2 on my list.
1. ERWIN SMITH
As if this was ever in doubt.
Early in the manga Erwin Smith didn’t interest me. He was the objectively attractive but boring Commander of the Survey Corps. Erwin evolved from “objectively attractive” to “sexy beyond belief” when he escaped the jaws of a titan and continued on to rescue Eren.
In time he went from “sexy beyond belief” to “the character I love more than is reasonable for me to love someone who is fictional”. I blame that on his humility, his kindness, and how he never stopped believing in the good of humanity. My thoughts on that are here and here.
My love for Erwin was rewarded right to the end. Rather than rage at the unfairness of life and dreams denied, Erwin ended his life with a smile and a sincere thank you to those who would continue the fight without him.
Erwin is number 1 on many of my lists: my favorite character in SnK, the sexiest character in SnK, my favorite character in any manga, and maybe my favorite character across all print mediums and genres. He’s the one subject you should never expect me to be reasonable about :)
Thank you for the ask @daylelight. This was hard but a lot of fun. I expect your list next!
I can't help but wonder what the hell the main cast have been up to these last few years. All those warships have reached the island, and... they've just been destroying them? I sure hope they've been more proactive than that. They can't sit around hoping their enemies will leave them alone forever. I hope they've been stealing the ships, maybe taking soldiers prisoner. What do you think?
Anonymous asked: What do think has been happening inside the walls during the four year time skip?
In four years Paradis has seen 32 warships filled with technology, information and quite likely, disenfranchised Eldian soldiers seeing freedom for the first time. I absolutely think Hange and team are taking advantage of this and learning all they can about modern warfare. I think it’s also likely some of the Eldians on board have become sympathetic to the cause of the Walldians. Four years is plenty of time to build trust. Some could even be back in Marley acting as spies.
As much as I dislike the time skip, it does provide possibilities that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. Hange has an armada of new toys at her disposal, but so does Isayama. He gets to redesign the characters and reinvigorate the snk world. I’m anxious and excited to see both of those things.
About the animal part in the OP, it got me thinking. Maybe it could be a reference or symbolism, either of evolution or at least the idea of dominant species, biologically speaking, as in "titans rule now", and all "previous rulers of Earth", dinos, reptiles, big mammals, marching with Beast Titan. Of course it could also be to deliberately confuse the anime-only watcher of thinking titans origin has something to do with other animals (as in, genetic engineering), but i dont think so. Thoughts?
The images that happen just prior to the running of the beasts are almost certainly symbolic. @ghostmartyr screen captured most of them in this post. Each image involved the hunt and the hunted, prey and predator.
This is a long standing theme in the OPs. The first, “Guren no Yumiya”, was all about the distinction between the hunter and the prey. It started by asking “Are you the food? No, we are the hunter!” The refrain repeatedly states “We are the hunter!”. So the connection is there.
But the imagery is also reminiscent of chapter 6 in the manga when Mikasa’s father brings home a bird he’s killed for the family to eat. It’s remembering that scene and recalling her observations of nature that Mikasa has the realization that the world is “cruel but beautiful”. Another common theme.
That’s where my understanding of the OP ends. In showing everything from elephants to dinosaurs to whales, they may be depicting how that situation hasn’t changed, how since the beginning of time the world has always been cruel but beautiful.
My friend @daylelight posted some meta that offers another good explanation, writing in part:
Seems pretty obvious to me that they represent the outside world and all the things the Walled World is ignorant of, which is why they seem to be running with the beast titan. He is also of the outside world. The main characters’ goals include seeing that world and all its wonders (like these wild animals), the ocean in particular (marine animals), and learning about their history (the dinosaurs).
I like this explanation a lot! You should go read the whole post!
I have a few more asks about “the running of the beasts”, I’ll include them here
Anonymous said: Do you think the dinosaurs in the OP may be there to represent the Marleyans? As in a long forgotten enemy and struggle coming back to attack the people in the walls?
Maybe? This ties into what @daylelight said about the outside world.
ask-eren-plush said: Hi momtaku! What are your thoughts on the Beast Titan running with beasts and dinosaurs in the new opening titles? I can’t help but think of “The Animal Fair” rhyme: “I went to the Animal Fair. The birds and the bees were there, The big baboon by the light of the moon, Was combing his aubern hair. The monkey fell out of his bunk. Slid down the elephants trunk; The elephant sneezed and fell on his knees, And what became of the monkey, Monkey, monkey, monkey, monkey.”
I legit laughed at this. I can’t unthink this now :DD
Yo, so I know you were saying for a while that you think the Reiss and Fritz families are different. That thought hadn't occurred to me, but your arguments were convincing enough. The new translation of the most recent chapter you linked someone to a bit ago has a line mentioning the possibility that the Fritz family isn't using their real name, seeming to support the same bloodline theory. I have no firm belief either way yet, but I wonder if that would change your mind at all (if it's correct)
My fellow meta writer @etoincognito has been answering some asks relating to this and at one point she included a table flipping gif because it’s all very frustrating. I agree with her sentiment, “every time I think I’m sure about the Reiss/Fritz thing, there’s always something that makes me doubt it.”
Because I’m so unsure about it, I included the bloodline question in my snk 89 chapter poll. I find that sometimes “ask the audience” is a good way of getting the truth. In this case, with more than 600 responses, it’s almost evenly split. 44.4% think Fritz and Reiss are the same bloodline, 48.2% think they are different.
