Board Thread:Manga/@comment-27321453-20191208140701/@comment-1327106-20191209044019

I think this was a solid chapter. Not perfect, but solid.

Gabi was good here and we get to see the better side of her; covering Reiner with a blanket and leaving food for him (when have we ever seen Gabi be nurturing before?) before leaving to rescue Falco.

However, I found Kaya being rescued twice from almost the exact same situation was heavy handed, since it's simply a shortcut to get her and Gabi talking again. I did like the panel where Kaya sees "Sasha" has saved her all over again, and I appreciate the sentiment Isayama is going for, in having both girls realize that there is another side to each other that they weren't thinking about, but it's clumsily executed.

I am however, rather sad that the Titan Kaya needed saving from had to be Nile. While I had little hope he'd survive the transformation, now two of my three favorite characters are dead, so all I have left to hang on to is Jean.

Fortunately, Jean does pretty good this chapter. I like seeing him taking charge and leading people, and he has a couple really good moments in this chapter, like his complete and utter disdain for Floch and that one panel where he's equiping his Thunder Spear. That is the kind of framing you do for a badass.

I also liked Shadis saving a bunch of Yeagerist soldiers and berating them at the same time for forgetting all the Titan slaying training he gave them. He might have retired, but he's still got it.

Annie showing up at the end was not a surprise. I saw that one coming when Reiner's hardening was undone at the start of the chapter, though I'm sure that Annie fans are happy that she's finally out of that crystal. She's got a lot of catch up on though, so I'm not sure what sort of role she's going to play in the chapters to come.

Also, since the invasion by Marley is effectively over now, I have to wonder what's going to happen next. The Wall Titans are still milling around the outskirts of the cities so they don't seem to have actually departed for the rest of the world yet, despite whatever Eren said. Also, Eren did not seem to be in command of the regular Pure Titans either (as both Armin and Yelena noticed).

It's possible that Eren is not actually in command of the Founder at all, since he asked OG Ymir what she wanted, and that's what triggered the Walls coming down and the formation of the stego-Titan. In which case, there might still be a lot of negotiating going on that we're not privy too.

I also am intrigued by the fact that Floch is not on Yelena's side, since he's having her and the other volunteers restrained, but I assume he's on Eren's. Since Floch changed while escorting Yelena during the time we expect she made contact with Eren, it's entirely possible he was in on Eren's plan when his friends weren't, because he was one of only people in the position to be. I'm interested in seeing where that goes.

Just when it feels like we're getting close to wrapping up, new things keep emerging.