Board Thread:Manga/@comment-27321453-20181109001854/@comment-24036697-20181111212423

RuneLai wrote: I guess I'm an outlier as I quite enjoyed this chapter. I liked seeing the military deal with the fallout in the first half and seeing Pixis take over as the new head of the military. Obviously nothing formal yet, but he's the de facto leader right now. He's pretty canny and people respect him.

I also enjoyed Nile and Rogue's arguing, which is something that I think should have been shown in one form or another in previous chapters featuring the Military Police. There's often been a disconnect between Nile's behavior and how other MP officers behave when he's not around. Having Nile and Rogue together is nice in that we actually see the differing POVs at the same time rather than having the schitzo "we're being reasonable/we only exist to get in your way" depending on whether Nile's around.

And Rogue is totally going to turn into a Titan later, given that he was guzzling all that wine from Nicolo. Nile might not have drank any, seeing as he seemed to disapprove of Rogue's drinking and he didn't have a glass in front of him.

The second half was predictable. Obviously Gabi and Falco would meet up with Nicolo given that Kaya invited them along. What I did not expect though was Nicolo's reaction. I didn't realize the guy had forged such a strong connection with Sasha, to the point he would try to avenge her, and I think this was a bit of a misstep.

While it was nice seeing his questioning leading Gabi to spill the beans that she killed her, I think this could have been more effective if we'd seen more of Nicolo and Sasha in the flashback, because Isayama is asking us to believe that Nicolo cared that much for her without showing us that he did. Having him pop up at her grave to meet her family isn't really enough.

But even though it was predictable, it hit all the right beats. Kaya wanting to kill Gabi felt rather strong. I expected yelling and screaming rather than a knife, but served to hammer home the point to Gabi that the world isn't as black and white as she thinks. Considering that Gabi has spent enough time with Kaya to understand her a bit, this probably hurts more than Nicolo trying to kill and Falco.

The spinal fluid reveal was nice, but I have to wonder just how they got bottles of wine with his fluid conveniently mixed inside. I was under the impression the MPs drank a lot, and they could probably polish off a single bottle in one sitting. So just how much fluid is needed to contaminate a bottle? And when did they find the time to do this? Zeke's been under watch ever since he arrived. You're not an outlier. Reaction to this chapter on Reddit has been quite positive. I'm honestly shocked at the negativity this series seems to get on its own wiki.

No story is without its flaws, and AOT is no exception, but this latest chapter has solidified the Marley arc as my favorite arc in the whole series. I think it was excellently handled, and I loved seeing Gabi come full circle and finally realize she was wrong to blindly hate the Paradisians. Hopefully Mr. Blouse's forgiveness and Kaya's display of the same anger Gabi had unleashed against Sasha will finally break the brainwashing.

I'm very concerned for Nile, Hange, Pixis, and Falco, though. All four of them either definitely drank liquids contaminated with Zeke's spinal fluid or drank liquids that could have potentially been spiked (Pixis with Yelena and Hange with Onyankopon).

I also think that Kiyomi Azumabito is in on the Yeager bros' plan.

All in all, one of my favorite chapters. 10/10