Board Thread:Manga/@comment-5774380-20190607184944/@comment-35822279-20190611014513

Interesting to see that the Gabi discussion hasn't quieted down yet but I guess I'll add my thoughts on it. I think the main narrative problem that haunts Gabi is that she's a slave to the plot rather than a Mary Sue which she is clearly not. This is shown by her being conveniently where the plot needs her to be which is a problem shared with others (Ex. Squad Levi investigating Nicolo in 111 and Hange/Floch teleporting to Levi and Zeke right after there big fight)  but she's the most emblematic of this narrative shortfall with everything involving her character happening in a specific and implausible chain of events (Jean gains strategic braindamage in Liberio -> Redshirt #133 is by himself and hooked to the entrance of the blimp -> Gabi/Falco boards and shoots Sasha -> Pair is imprisoned in shoddily constructed and poorly guarded prison -> Pair escapes and conviently meets sibling of person Gabi just killed in a island bigger than Switzerland with a Pop of over or under 1 million -> family meets possible lover of said victim -> confrontation ensues = lazy message). This was obviously done to make the character go through the motions and express key thematic points in the fastest way possible but unfortunately it hurt Gabi's character, the plot, and ironically those same themes because of it's implausibility, rushed nature, and blunt approach when this character arc needed to be handled with sensitivity and played out over a longer stretch of time to allow her character time to breathe. Ultimately I think the reaction to this character is very overblown in both directions as she ironically enough is one of the most squeaky clean characters in the manga with 0 civilian kills despite all the claims of her "Eviiillll nature" and her behaviour is understandable considering her rotten environment rather than being purely malicious for no reason (Ex. Ramsay Bolton from GOT). On the other hand she isn't exactly the most compelling or deeply written character like others on this site say she is as her arc is frequently repetive and rarely deviates from the boilerplate Oscar race drama playbook. I would say that Gabi is somewhere in the middle for me as I like some of her scenes alot but that 107-111 stretch was absolutely brutal with hamfisted moments coming out the wazoo and a painfully bad finale that was so cheesy and unearned that it nearly soured me permanently on the character. Fortunately Isayama slowed it down in subsuquent chapters showing a good level of restraint that was missing before and it pushed Gabi back into being simply an OK character in my books. Not every character is the greatest thing ever or the worst thing ever and that's ok.