Attack on Titan: your opinion on Eren

[Pixelspeech]

I have recently held an Attack on Titan marathon and then proceeded to read a bit of the manga. It's a very good show, but it struck me that Eren was actually kind of a useless prick, pardon my choice of words.

Most of his interaction with his sister consists of him shouting orders at her, varying from "leave me alone and do your job" to things like "cut your hair", and I couldn't recall any time he shown to be nice to her, aside from that one flashback (in which he was also shouting quite a bit). Other characters are treated somewhat better by him, but his social skills remain a bit lacking.


Aside from being loud, he also isn't very good at the whole "soldier" thing, managing to get a ton of team-mates and friends killed and compensating for it with a grand total of 0 zero kills <spoiler= spoiler for episode 8>not counting what he does in his titan form.

What is your take on the character?

 

[hazabaza1]

Standard "ooh I'm so angry at everything grumpity grump" anime character. Which I thought was a positive when

Spoiler

it looked like they actually had the balls to kill off the regular anime protagonist

but that didn't happen. And the series got bad.

 

[Daniel Mop Harris]

My basic view of Eren goes as follows:

RAAA RAAAA SCREAMING YELLING KILL ALL THE TITANS I'LL KILL THEM ALL ANGST ANGST ANGST RAAAA RAAA RAAAA PEOPLE DYING AND I'M CRYING ALL THE TIME WAAA WAAAA WAAAA

Suffice to say I really really hated Attack on Titan. It's got to be the worst medium length anime I've ever watched purely because it teases us and sets up a large number of plot threads and then NEVER RESOLVES THEM.

 

[Zhukov]

Eh, he's a teenage male with an anger-based superpower out on a quest for vengeance.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that's an anime staple. There's probably a Japanese word for it and everything.

Personally I think the story would have been better if...

Spoiler

... Eren had died in Ep5 and stayed dead. It would have been a brilliant bit of misdirection. They set this guy up as the protagonist while also establishing the other characters, then the first battle comes along and they're like, "Nope, titans don't give a shit if you swear revenge through gritted teeth every morning before breakfast. No plot armour for you. You really are just chaff for the mill, like everyone else." Then the story could have followed the much more compelling characters of Mikasa and Armin, both of whom would be crazy motivated by Eren's death. And the audience would have been on the same page since they were expecting this guy to be the hero.

But nope. Superpowers!

 

[Pixelspeech]

Spoiler

... Eren had died in Ep5 and stayed dead. It would have been a brilliant bit of misdirection. They set this guy up as the protagonist while also establishing the other characters, then the first battle comes along and they're like, "Nope, titans don't give a shit if you swear revenge through gritted teeth every morning before breakfast. No plot armour for you. You really are just chaff for the mill, like everyone else." Then the story could have followed the much more compelling characters of Mikasa and Armin, both of whom would be crazy motivated by Eren's death. And the audience would have been on the same page since they were expecting this guy to be the hero.

But nope. Superpowers!

That is something I forgot to mention: the superpower really annoys me. There are plenty of strong and interesting characters in the show, but they are brushed to the side because the zero-kills wonder Eren is a walking McGuffin and THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN SAVE US.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Personally I think the story would have been better if...

Spoiler

... Eren had died in Ep5 and stayed dead. It would have been a brilliant bit of misdirection. They set this guy up as the protagonist while also establishing the other characters, then the first battle comes along and they're like, "Nope, titans don't give a shit if you swear revenge through gritted teeth every morning before breakfast. No plot armour for you. You really are just chaff for the mill, like everyone else." Then the story could have followed the much more compelling characters of Mikasa and Armin, both of whom would be crazy motivated by Eren's death. And the audience would have been on the same page since they were expecting this guy to be the hero.

But nope. Superpowers!

Oh yes, how much more I would've enjoyed this series, or even just finished watching it, if they went this direction.

Spoiler

They could've still had the mystery titan, because he was cool up to the point that you found out he was just a flesh mecha. Maybe have Mikasa thinking it's Eren reincarnated, and others worrying about her sanity because of it.

As for Eren... He was an annoying loud-mouth right from the start, but it worked well when contrasted to the dire situation with the titans. All he does is talk big about fighting the titans, yet he's completely powerless to do anything about them. It helped enforce that sense of helplessness and frustration these people are coping with every day.

That is untill...

Spoiler

...we're presented with a flashback that shows an eight-year old Eren killing two fully grown men in melee combat. I don't care if he got the drop on them, it totally goes against the depiction of his character we'd seen up till then; Someone who screams and yells to hide how feeble and useless he is. As well as that whole moment ofcourse being utterly unbelievable, unless his father had secretly trained him in guerrilla combat. And even then... Two grown men? Really?!

 

[Zhukov]

Spoiler

...we're presented with a flashback that shows an eight-year old Eren killing two fully grown men in melee combat. I don't care if he got the drop on them, it totally goes against the depiction of his character we'd seen up till then; Someone who screams and yells to hide how feeble and useless he is. As well as that whole moment ofcourse being utterly unbelievable, unless his father had secretly trained him in guerrilla combat. And even then... Two grown men? Really?!

(Not bothering with spoiler tags here. It's not like it's a huge reveal or anything.)

Personally I didn't find that scene all that far fetched in terms of what a pair of eight year old kids could physically do. Eren cut the first guy's throat while he was leaning down, and hit the second guy with a polearm as he was coming out the door. Mikasa backstabbed the third guy. It's not as if they were having it out toe-to-toe.

But yeah, in terms of what a couple of eight year olds would do, it's pretty silly. Especially given that, as far as I could tell, they'd both led pretty comfortable lives up till then. It's not like they grew up cutting throats in a slum or anything.

Also, yeah, it doesn't really mesh with Eren's established character. I guess the whole scene was just supposed to show how Mikasa got her knack for violence.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Also, yeah, it doesn't really mesh with Eren's established character. I guess the whole scene was just supposed to show how Mikasa got her... thing.

Oh Christ yeah, I forgot about that. The only reason for that stupid scene was to show, in the bluntest way possible, why Mikasa is so fiercely loyal to Eren. Instead of creating an interesting backstory that isn't just 'I saved you from rape, now you will love me'.

 

[Queen Michael]

He's too generic for my taste. That bugs me. I prefer it when the protagonist is eccentric.

 

[Pixelspeech]

I notice a lot of people agree with me here, so at least it's not me against the world here. Still, to cause a little discussion, I wanted to point out some of the things I do like about him.

We've all mentioned that he is angry and vengeful and some extra angry all the time, but at least he is not whiny about it. As much as he sucks at it, he at least puts his frustration to use and his superpower can really help out in that regard. I also enjoyed a scene nearing the end where <spoiler = spoiler for last two-three episodes>he has reservations about attacking a former member of his trainee brigade who turned out to be a traitor. It was definitely his shining moment, for me.

 

[Elfgore]

Hate everything about him. He is your standard OP protagonist when he gets his powers, only losing once in 26 episodes. Other then that he just screams "TITANS" all the time and does jack shit when in human form.

Mikasa and Levi blow him out of the water. Both as characters and in ability.

 

[[Kira Must Die]]

Honestly, I don't really see what the problem is. He's not nearly as "TITANS!!! RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE!!!!!!!" as people imply he is. He seems a bit smarter than that, He's not all talk, he is actually pretty capable at handling himself. He knows when to listen and never seems to stroke his ego or go on and on about how he's gonna be this big bad titan killing machine. Although he has a hatred towards them, he doesn't exerts it at every opportunity. While he's not the most interesting character in the world I don't see what's so annoying about him. Also, consider the situation, why wouldn't he hate the titans? Not only have he saw them kill his mother in front of him, but they're responsible for many other deaths, even his friends. Add the fact that they're dealing with a force that they know literally nothing about, that seems to eat people for the sake of eating people, and I'd say his rage is pretty justified. Honestly, I though most everyone in the show had a hatred towards the titans.

 

[Yuno Gasai]

Standard "ooh I'm so angry at everything grumpity grump" anime character. Which I thought was a positive when

Spoiler

it looked like they actually had the balls to kill off the regular anime protagonist

but that didn't happen. And the series got bad.

You've pretty much hit the nail on the head with Eren here, not gonna lie.

It doesn't help that they sold him as a one-trick pony. He harps on and on about killing the Titans, and right when you think he's going to develop as a character, he goes right back to harping on about Titan-killing

Spoiler: Attack on Titan finale spoiler

when he's fighting Annie's Titan form in the "final showdown" of the season.

 

[Pixelspeech]

Standard "ooh I'm so angry at everything grumpity grump" anime character. Which I thought was a positive when

Spoiler

it looked like they actually had the balls to kill off the regular anime protagonist

but that didn't happen. And the series got bad.

You've pretty much hit the nail on the head with Eren here, not gonna lie.

It doesn't help that they sold him as a one-trick pony. He harps on and on about killing the Titans, and right when you think he's going to develop as a character, he goes right back to harping on about Titan-killing

Spoiler: Attack on Titan finale spoiler

when he's fighting Annie's Titan form in the "final showdown" of the season.

Having read the manga, I can at least assure you that one day, in the far future, he'll actually get off his ass and do it for once. Just once, though.

In all seriousness, I can't really imagine he could do much else in life. After you've sworn your vengeance it's kinda hard to start up a bakery in the Trost district with Armin and Mikasa, fighting not the titans, but the famine that is hurting the good townsfolk. T'would be heroic in its own way... until the titans walk in and pound all over it.

 

[Urgh76]

Hate him so damn much.

Way too emotional and stupid to boot. I have not seen him think out anything through once, only driven by his blind rage.

Further on in the manga, when he's with 'those people', he could gain a lot of information by just asking them a few questions.

What does he do? Screams at them in rage, progressing nowhere.

Stupid ass that doesn't make the best decisions.

Spoiler: TITANS

 

[King of Asgaard]

My problem with Eren isn't that he's angry, or angsty, but that he doesn't do anything about it. OK, you're angry at the Titans for what they've done to you, it's understandable. To his credit, he lets this fuel him in the first half of the show.

But then,

Spoiler

after getting his powers, he still can't do anything. Hell, it gets annoying at one point where he's pinned down the mystery titan in the forest (PINNED. HER. DOWN.) and he goes on a ridiculous, circuitous inner monologue which divulges nothing new for about a minute. Then, after he's done, he lunges for her head and misses! Ignoring the fact that you really have to suck at unarmed combat to miss at that range, no shit he missed after letting her plan a counter.

It gets worse later on,

Spoiler

when the titan is revealed to be Annie. I can understand that he doesn't want to hurt a comrade, it's natural. My issue is with when he's resolved to kill her and goes super saiyan, he still hesitates. Why?! She's killed other comrades of his, almost killed him and Armin and has gone on a murder spree in the city. And what's the result of his inaction? Annie freezes herself, meaning she can't be questioned or studied, effectively making the entire plan next to worthless (aside from revealing that there are traitors abound). In other words, all those deaths and damage to the city and hardware losses could have been avoided entirely had Eren sacked up just a tad sooner.

So yeah, I don't like Eren very much. I think he embodies the absolute worst aspects of the show thus far.

Personally I think the story would have been better if...

Spoiler

... Eren had died in Ep5 and stayed dead. It would have been a brilliant bit of misdirection. They set this guy up as the protagonist while also establishing the other characters, then the first battle comes along and they're like, "Nope, titans don't give a shit if you swear revenge through gritted teeth every morning before breakfast. No plot armour for you. You really are just chaff for the mill, like everyone else." Then the story could have followed the much more compelling characters of Mikasa and Armin, both of whom would be crazy motivated by Eren's death. And the audience would have been on the same page since they were expecting this guy to be the hero.

But nope. Superpowers!

Yes! That would have been amazing.