Board Thread:Manga/@comment-27321453-20190108204033/@comment-35822279-20190109052026

Tdfern14 wrote: Freeman1378 wrote: This chapter was another mixed bag for me as I felt it's pros and cons were fairly equal.

Pros:

- The bit with Floch and Shadis was actually pretty great in my opinion as it was nice to see Shadis again and I respect the hell out of him for not submitting to Floch or his followers. I also felt that this was a thematically strong moment showing the dangers of populism full stop, So A+ to Isayama here for strengthening the themes of the series and the strong characterization of both Floch and Shadis.

Cons:

Zeke V Levi 2 was underwhelming to say the least with Zeke's followup plan being laughable and showing a serious lack of awareness on the part of Zeke (Seriously Levi let his best friend die so he could possibly beat you and you think that shit's going to work here?). The fight also lacked tension and memorable moments (Zeke crunching that Titan aside) so ultimately it felt like a whole lot of nothing but I think this fight might be far from over as I think we might see the appearance of one the Warriors or Eren next chapter to make things interesting hopefully.

Mixed:

- It seems like the mystery box is finally going to spill its contents so that's good as Zeke is honestly more like an enigma than a character so any kind of development is good for him on some level but I'm not too hyped right now for the unveiling as I have a bad feeling that the reveal is going to be botched as most of the reveals recently haven't done it for me and considering how dragged out this was it feels like Zeke's entire worth as a character hinges on this moment so the reveal will have to be pretty much flawless (hopefully it's not a "i'm secretly good back story" at the very least). Its not populism but also what happens when nationalism and less obvious extent Fascism gets to the extreme. Floch just became full-on nationalist. However there is some nuance to him. I was actually going to intially going to call it nationalism (This is AOT's philosophy of choice afterall)  but atleast to me populism, fascism, and nationalism are heavily tied together and I think Floch is primarily appealing to populism here to strengthen his natonalist agenda. So overall I think this scene can be read as a double critique of populism and nationalism but I think it's a highly succesful scene because it shows the danger of this way of thinking as the recruits acted on their worst impulses here and Floch's behaviour is reprehensible but it also shows why this way of thinking appeals to some as Floch isn't particulary wrong about Keith or the institutions he represents.