Board Thread:Manga/@comment-27321453-20191108184732/@comment-35822279-20191108203129

I didn't really care for this chapter and felt it was the wrong move following last month's monumental chapter.

Pros:

- The ending was pretty strong per final arc tradition as it nailed the apocalytic vibe pretty well, had some stunning visuals (Ex. Is Eren turning into the Earth Devil?), and Eren's speech set the stage for the finale pretty well.

Cons:

- The flashback was ill timed and added nothing to the story only serving to kill the series momentum dead. The repetitive nature of this chapter was the main back breaker as it repeated the same motifs, scene structure, and character beats of each of the previous flashbacks (Ex. Squad Levi encounters new scenario and is thrilled, Eren mops because he knows about all the sad shit, Mikasa or Armin proclaim he's changed so much, smash cut to the high tragedy of Sasha's death, rinse & repeat) while adding nothing new. This stuff was already covered well when Eren (paraphrasing) said "If we kill everyone over there will we be free?" while crying & staring out at the ocean. That scene nailed the characterization of Eren and the themes of these last 30 chapters. First that scene shows how much Eren had changed with his OG goal failiing to bring him joy and the burden of having to resolve a nearly impossible situation clearly wrecking his mental state. Secondly the scene soundly executes the theme of how far Eren will have to go to save his home as the tears show he clearly doesn't want to hurt innocents while the dialogue enforces that he doesn't know any other way to resolve the conflict. The core problem with these flash backs is there poor placement in the reading order as they should have been placed before Marley as they feel poorly timed in the current narrative because they always break apart the momentum of the current arc while adding nothing to it with this latest chapter being the worst case yet as it goes from the apocalypse to Adventures with Fez Kid which hammers home the same point as the beach scene (Ie. Eren knows he will have to trample upon others freedom for his people's freedom) while barely moving the needle on current events.

Other Thoughts:

- On the topic of the ending I will say that I do not a hundred percent believe that Eren is commiting to the bad route as many similar stories have swerved at the last moment and this series could possibly do the same so I just don't believe it yet. Ultimately I want Isayama to stay the course of having a downer ending mirred in moral ambuigity instead of "The Grand Deception" or a undeserved happy ending because the former is lazy & has been done to death while the latter feels borderline impossible considering how off the rails this war has gone. If you're going to go this far to set up this ending then hopefully you stick to it.

Overall:

- This chapter definitely felt like a weak lateral move rather than moving forward in any tangible respect as it basically equated to Zod's speech from Man Of Steel mixed with a sterile flashback. This was easily the worst chapter of the last 10 and felt like a return to the weaker first half of the Final Arc complete with the narrative spinning its wheels, Mikasa & Armin going through the motions, Jean/Connie/Sasha being treated like props, and flashbacks of stuff that could have reduced by 20 or more pages (the only scene worth keeping in was Mikasa & Eren's brief talk). I don't mind a breather chapter like 120 but this was obviously Isayama spinning his wheels in order to have more time to iron out the real material in the coming months and as a result the chapter was pretty close to inessential in the wider narrative.