User blog:Gourgeist/Shingeki no Kyojin Chapter 63 Review: Chains

Summary
Chapter 63 was released yesterday, and it's time to write a review. Overall a good chapter, plenty of new details revealed, although at the same time we're still pushed further into the black hole called mystery. We have two new Titan Shifter forms to enjoy, obscene mechanics of torture and a final front.

Two all-new Titan Shifter forms revealed!
Despite it being a story told by Rod Reiss and not something to directly push the story, we now know of two new Titan Shifter form—Grisha, who was revealed to be a Shifter last month and Frieda Reiss, who was also speculated to be a Titan Shifter last month. Coined the "mysterious woman", she appeared in Eren and Historia's dreams and has the ability to wipe their memories. She was gathered in the Reiss family chapel and fought with Grisha and apparently contained an "invincible power", but wasn't experienced enough to use it. Grisha easily overpowered her, killed her and ate her and slaughtered the remaining Reiss family (except for Rod, who managed to escape and Historia, who wasn't there) to steal the "Titan's power".

Two new interesting Titan Shifter forms: Grisha, who is bulky and considerably unproportionate, and Frieda, who is extremely muscular and has dark rings circling around her pupils. Her muscular lining is quite similar to that of Annie's, something worth noting. At first glance she looks similar in appearance to Historia, with the long blonde hair and almost identical facial features.

Grisha's Titan form is the most interesting to me, however. Definitely an original concept as, prior to the release of Chapter 63 a day ago, I couldn't for the life of me imagine another possible Titan Shifter form. He looks similar to the Greek gods you find in mythology, and remarkably similar to Poseidon. Luscious, wavy long hair and a rugged beard with pointy elf ears.

Grisha and Frieda are both freshly original concepts that were a joy to read, and I'm excited to see more action of them. That is, if any of them appear again, as they're both supposedly dead (though, with Rod's plans, anything seems possible).

Erwin, Pixis and Zackly
This arc has set in stone my feelings about three central characters: Erwin, Pixis and Darius Zackly. Firstly, Darius: notably one of the most infamous characters in all of SNK now due to the panel you see to the left. The tube is attached to a former government official's genitals, meant for defecation and subsequent consumption of his own urine and feces. A torture device set up by Zackly himself as retribution for the years of governmental oppression on the people living in the Walls, such as sending out 20% of the population (roughly 250,000) to retake Wall Maria in conscience of them all also being massacred by the Titans responsible for wiping out 10,000 civilians in Shiganshina.

Despite this seemingly well intended decision on Zackly's part, Pixis brings up a good point: was the revolution a good idea after all? Zackly at first glance appeared as a well-rounded individual who placed duty over his own life, but recently stated that he values his own life more than the people and those that fight to protect him. After revealing years of internalized hatred for his higher-ups, he appears to enjoy forcing them eat their own poop, and this forces Pixis to question whether the revolution was a good idea in the first place. This makes me wonder if there is a civil war to come, but seeing as we just finished up the uprising (as Pixis notes), political matters appear to be the least of our concerns with Titans still the issue.

New sides for three characters this arc has definitely been the most interesting: Erwin and Darius have both openly admitted to valuing themselves over humanity (despite Erwin's character being 50% made up of his resolve to sacrifice himself), and Pixis, who shows discontempt at Erwin for the new revelations. Now that I firmly dislike both Erwin and Darius, it's good to know I can finally like Pixis as he seems to be the only pure character left at the moment. I shouldn't have been surprised however, as the head of my favorite military branch, the Garrison.

Reiss Memory-Erasing Ability and Ackerman Energy
One of the most mysterious parts of the story now is supernatural abilities recurring in some of the characters. For example, Captain Ackerman revealed his new resolve after receiving a sudden surge of power, and Levi asks Mikasa if she has felt the same sensation in her life before. She recalls the moment when the robbers killed her parents, something very unique as it was always noted how unrealistic a little girl breaking knife and floor is. This, paired with the Reiss ability to erase memories, confirms SNK's bias to the supernatural means and not anything natural.

What do these two things have in connection, I wonder? Ackerman surge of power and Reiss memory erasure? Hopefully something that will be cleared up soon, though with a new chapter in January, we can't look forward to any answers any time soon, but that does leave plenty of time for speculation and all that.

What did you think of the chapter? Like/dislike? Since there won't be another chapter until the rest of this year, Happy Holidays and enjoy!