Board Thread:Manga/@comment-5774380-20160408232143/@comment-24036697-20160409011753

Neetaku wrote: Fantastic chapter. We get to see the culmination of Erwin's life ambition, and his coming to terms with the fact that he will never get to see it through is probably one of the most emotionally charged moments I've seen in recent memory (certainly the most powerful emotional moment of the manga). Also, I have to say... as much as I hate the plot armor blankie Reiner has wrapped himself in, that scene of him emerging from the flaming wreckage of Shiganshina was just plain badass. I'm hoping for a real slaughterfest next chapter. Now I would like to address some pros and cons from the chapter (these are only coming in the order I think of them):

Con: I... didn't really care about the nameless soldiers who starred in this chapter. They're not even relevant enough to warrant names, and I know every single one of them will be dead within the first few pages of the next chapter. The name of the chapter "The Unknown Soldiers" doesn't help, but I'll address that in detail in a minute.

Pro: I really liked the montage of specters around Erwin, representing all of the fallen soldiers of the Survey Corps, and the unbelievable amount of emotional baggage he must be carrying as a result. Seeing every fallen member, named and unnamed, really put a lot more weight behind Erwin's confession to Levi that simple dialogue probably wouldn't have been able to convey. However...

Con: With the exception of Squad Levi, Mike, and Nanaba, all of the characters included in the specter line-up were either throwaway characters who didn't survive more than 5 chapters (Dita), or characters who survived multiple chapters, but who had such little impact on the story, you never even realized they were there (Keiji). Even now, thinking back, I find myself thinking "wow, Erwin was really close to those guys... too bad I never got a chance to see any of those relationships fleshed out" rather than (what I assume was the intended) "oh man, I can't believe Erwin's been holding all this pain all this time; YOU CAN DO IT ERWIN! FIGHT ON!" If Isayama had spent a little more time with these characters, rather than serving them up as sacrifices to try to convince fans that the main characters were in danger, this scene might have held a little more of an emotional punch than it did.

Pro: Zeke sees an entire army coming straight at him and the first thing he thinks is "LOL, you guys are stupid and about to die horribly". This is the type of threat the series needs. This is what Kenny the Ripper should have been (killed over 100 MPs, but as soon as he runs into a bunch of kids from the 104th, he becomes harmless... Even if he was one of the coolest characters in spite of this handicap he's still waste of potential on Isayama's part).

Pro: Erwin is master at giving speeches.

Pro: So much good character development. If things keep up like this, Eren can just stay unconscious for all I care.

Pro: That final scene of Erwin leading his remaining troops into battle is glorious. The prospect of watching a major character like Erwin getting torn to pieces on panel is what should be the major draw for this series (seriously, giant humans who can't die and like to eat smaller humans? This manga should be one long continuous bloodbath), and although it took Isayama 80 chapters to finally kill off a major character (Marco and Squad Levi don't count, and I am more than happy to explain why to any fans of theirs), Erwin's death makes it well worth the wait.
 * Note: If Isayama brings Erwin back to life next chapter, I am going to start destroying random objects.

Now, allow me to address my statement about this chapter's title: it doesn't work as well as it should (keyword: should). Don't get me wrong, it's definitely an appropriate title, given this issue's focus on the unnamed masses of the Survey Corps (both living and dead), but it's exactly because of the fact that all these soldiers are so unimportant that the title loses some of its weight. This title is supposed to hold a deep meaning; after all, this chapter is focusing on all of the soldiers who aren't lucky enough to be a part of Eren's inner circle. They aren't lucky enough to get the same overpowered plot armor that everyone else does. But the fact that we only just met them, and have only gotten see them over the course of four or five pages, causes some of the deeper meaning meant to go along to be lost. We're supposed to empathize with these mass-produced cardboard cutouts who exist only to die grisly deaths, but we haven't even gotten the luxury of fully meeting them.

Assorted observations:
 * I see Moblit is a part of the deceased character lineup. Hange isn't. Does anyone else think we should acknowledge this?
 * Like I said above: Erwin's entire torso was just turned inside out by the Beast Titan's projectiles. I think it's safe for the wiki to say he's dead.

EDIT: I should just make my own blog where I review the series... A great review of the chapter. I did wanna point out one thing, though. Until Erwin's death is 100% confirmed (i.e., he is visibly shown dead, not dying, or a character who sees him die states it) his status should be left alone (or changed to unknown).