Attack on Titan 4x09 "Brave Volunteers" reaction & review
Added 2021-02-09 14:40:48 +0000 UTCHey everyone! Here's my reaction and review of episode 9 of the final season of AoT! In the wake of what happened last week, we get some introspection from Armin in the form of a flashback!!! YES!! Finally, we get to see details on how these Marleyans defected, how our Paradis crew came up with their plans, and most importantly, how Hange was like a delighted child through the whole learning process lol. Also, Nicolo cooking for Sasha.....</3 The scene between him and Sasha's family was really touching! I loved seeing the hope and enthusiasm that Armin had three years ago, but seeing the bleak reality of things has left me not knowing how to feel about such hope...!!!! Great ep, can't wait to see what happens next! Enjoy! ~ MH
Comments
Yes, I agree that the skips are actually fun because it adds to the mystery vibe! It's definitely an interesting kind of terrible lol, I see what you mean. So true about the ship! And about the people of Marley. Hahaha Yelena is a fun kind of crazy/weird! Oooohhh did not notice the hair parallels but you're right! Yeah, there's little moments of hope but it definitely gets you thinking about how to achieve peace in the real world, and just how difficult it is. Yes, I'm really just rooting for bittersweet with some glimmer of hope at this point lol. Hahahah yes Eren has been keeping up with his exercise routine these last few years hahaha! And definitely villainous even if he's not a cut and dry villain as we typically think of one. Thank you so much, I'm so happy you enjoyed my reaction and hope you love the next one! It's up now :D Thanks again for all your encouragement and support!!! ^_^
Melissa Moore
2021-02-16 14:26:07 +0000 UTCSince people have already talked about similar things to my thoughts I will try to keep this short. I love how the story is being told because sometimes time skips are executed poorly but having the mystery of what led to what's happening in the present let's us have episodes like this which fill in the blanks while still leaving room for speculation. Everything has gotten so complex now and I honestly love it even if it's kind of terrible. Also Eren having no trouble carrying this extremely heavy ship is crazy considering how he was struggling with that boulder which definitely weighs less. In some ways the people of Marley are also indoctrinated to their racism. Yelena is kind of crazy and I don't want to be weird but I'm kind of into. Something interesting is Eren had his hair down and has now put it up whereas Gabi always had her hair up and now it's fallen down just more parallels between the 2. I very much agree with you on the small moments that give us hope and then we remember how impossible peace seems much like the real world. In my opinion it's impossible for the story to have what you would consider a happy ending… However I have high hopes for a bittersweet ending where there is a path of hope and peace that unfortunately will probably have been built on a lot of sacrifice and war. I honestly don't really think Eren is a villain but especially with this new hairstyle he's definitely villainous. Also I always forget how ripped this man is LOL. This was a great reaction and I can't wait to see the next one. Keep up the great work. :-) <3
Supermonaman
2021-02-16 07:34:41 +0000 UTCThat's a very good point about Eren's choice to fight from the start!!! And very true about the moment when he and Mikasa first met and were fighting the kidnappers. There's truly lots of meaning behind those words!! Such a heavy concept, but definitely a good point to bring up - how do we resolve these problems?!?! Thanks for all the info!
Melissa Moore
2021-02-13 15:39:28 +0000 UTCAs has been said already, when Eren trusted the previous Levi Squad to fight against the Female Titan, everyone got killed when he could have fought from the beginning and maybe saved them. And now in Marley Eren relied on his friends to fight with him, and Sasha was now killed and Hange says he is not trusted anymore. Armin begins to doubt. Something has give somewhere and we have yet to see how everyone is going to react going forward. At the end there we have Mikasa recall the words Eren told her that saved their lives long ago; "Fight or die. Win... and live." If you lose, you die. Eren also steeled himself with the determination of his own words...."the only way to win is to fight." If you remember this is a direct reference to when Mikasa and Eren first met. When he fiercely saved her life by killing the vile kidnappers that murdered Mikasa's family. Before Eren himself is strangled, he spurs Mikasa into action by saying those same words to her, and she kills the last enemy. We see something in Mikasa activate and she "levels up." Last season, when he learns Kenny's last name, Levi asks Mikasa if she ever had such a moment, and that Kenny and himself had had such moments where they felt tremendous strength and control over themselves, to carry them through battle, because they are all Ackermans. At the end of season 2, before Eren controls all the Titans and they all think they are going to die, Mikasa almost confesses her feelings, and tells Eren that he gave her purpose and showed her how to live, that he gave her strength. Not only saving her, but showing her kindness and compassion when at her lowest point, wrapping that scarf, and inviting her to a new home, it is what made Mikasa love and care for Eren. "Fight or die. Win and live, " the words carry behind them all that meaning for Mikasa. For Eren, how different are those kidnappers from Marley that intended and planned another invasion and to kill everyone inside the Walls, no matter what? Marley wants to kill them all. It's what Ymir knew. It's what Reiner told Eren when he revealed he was the Armored Titan. It's what Bertholdt told Armin in the battle of Shiganshina when Armin wanted to talk. That's what talking leads to. What the author Hajime Isayama is telling us, what he is asking us here in this story is, how do we talk away racism and hatred? How do we negotiate away greed and ignorance? How can we plant in the hearts of mankind what Onyankopon said, "We were all meant to live. We were all wanted."
David Caine
2021-02-12 15:12:59 +0000 UTCThat's a good point! He's made the decision he thinks is best, and he's sticking with it unwaveringly. I'm glad that Armin is there to lend a different opinion too! Armin's for sure a bright light in the cruel world!!!! Not in the comical way that Sasha was, but definitely :D
Melissa Moore
2021-02-11 15:01:57 +0000 UTCI think an important thing to keep in mind when trying to understand Eren's, choices, is the experience he had when being chased by the female titan. As Levi, told him back then, "Choose... Believe in yourself, or believe in the survey corps and me. I don't know... I never have. I can believe in my own abilities or the choices of the companions I trust. But no one ever knows how it will turn out. So choose for yourself, whichever decision you will regret the least." I think given the knowledge & power he is burdened with; Eren, made the choices he would regret the least. It's great character development in my opinion, because I think Eren, doesn't want to again get his people killed because of hesitation. As depressing as that may be, I am still heartened by the fact that Armin, is there to challenge Eren's, point of view. I think that in a different way from Sasha, Armin, is definitely a bright light in there cruel world:)
TheMoonKingdom
2021-02-11 04:06:14 +0000 UTCSaaaaaaaaammmeee D':
Melissa Moore
2021-02-10 13:34:13 +0000 UTCOMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG just when I thought her last words could not get any more sad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had no idea. Thank you for bringing this to my attention!!!!! Gonna go drown in a river of my own tears now....!!!!!!!!!!! :P Such a great obervation!!
Melissa Moore
2021-02-10 13:30:54 +0000 UTCThank you so much!!! Ahhhh okay! I see, thanks for clearing that up. That's so true about Mikasa and Armin having a hard time understanding that peace wasn't an option here...very true that it's just a matter of time until they're attacked, so offensive is really their only option....! On the other hand, it really is tough to try and come up with another option!!! Seeing Eren so determined is tough for sure. Wish there was any chance for peace here!!!!!!
Melissa Moore
2021-02-10 13:30:06 +0000 UTCI'm still so 😢
Manny
2021-02-10 11:39:02 +0000 UTCI don’t see why Armin having Bertholdt’s memories means he also suddenly got Bertholdt’s old feelings for Annie. Armin’s always been really empathetic and now that he knows their side of things it makes sense that he’d want to talk to her. If he actually does like Annie I’m pretty sure it’s unrelated to Bertholdt’s old crush. After all, wouldn’t Armin also have become a lot more hostile towards Paradis if he really picked up on Bertholdt’s old feelings? And btw, chapter 137 is what came out recently, not 136.
Chelle
2021-02-10 02:04:44 +0000 UTCKeep in mind, Armin might be talking to Annie because he has Bertholt's memories and who did he like? Annie! Also, the shot of Eren firiing the rifle and it cutting to Sasha getting shot really shows that if he doesn't think it's his fault the show wants us to think it was. There are still SO many surprises left. BTW It says there will be 16 episodes but there is no way for the series can finish in that short amount of time. Issue 136 of the manga just came out like yesterday and that felt like the big finale to me, with likely a few issues to wrap up things.
Adam Stinnett
2021-02-10 00:40:14 +0000 UTCRight I think Armin still holds on to hope since he still have that seashell :) (I only watch the anime so no idea what happens in the future but I think we should really start to worry if we don't see Armin & the seashell anymore)
MagnusVD
2021-02-09 19:31:24 +0000 UTCOne thing I noticed when watching this episode, was that it seemed that it was the Military Police that was most anti Marleyans, I'm not saying the scouts wasn't but scouts do it out of practicality while the Military Police seemed more blinded by hate, Also nice to see Historia, Zachary, Pixis & Annie again. Right I don't hate Gabi either I can understand her even but I don't hate. Also a comment I wanted to make but just didn't for a while, I see that Gabi is Mikasa & Eren baked into one, and Falco is Armin (the more thoughtful one) (just my interpretation though)
MagnusVD
2021-02-09 19:29:21 +0000 UTCOne thing I considered which broke my heart a little was thinking over Sasha's last words, and everything that happened over the last 3 years like her meeting Nicolo. Meat in Japanese is お肉 - Ni-ku... was her last word meat or was she trying to say...
James Simpkin
2021-02-09 19:14:07 +0000 UTCGreat reaction. :) Eren talking about the way around the vow to renounce war had something to do with him activating the power when he came into contact with Dina. Zeke is now mentioning that if they have 2 titans: 1 of royal blood and 1 with the founder, this might work the same way. What I found the most sad about this episode was Mikasa and Armin talking to Eren at the shooting range, you could see in their eyes how reluctant they were to accept there is not peaceful option. But they didn't come up with anything. And the time is ticking, we know Marley was planning to try and retake the founder before Zeke's term ends, and if Paradisians want to use Zeke+Eren somehow, that's got a time limit too. It's painful to see Eren so resolved, but as viewers, it's really obvious how hard it is to come up with an alternative.
chavdar savov
2021-02-09 15:39:04 +0000 UTC
