Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part 2 Episode 84

Jean’s Ideal Life

Apparently, Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part 2 Episode 84 was a very polarizing episode online. I’ve seen people saying that it was the worst episode of the series. And I’ve also seen people say that it was a great episode. I think it was pretty average.

Generally speaking, I think the people who express these extreme viewpoints can be split into two categories. The former are those who just want action 24/7 — they probably also love Demon Slayer and maybe another shounen battle series if they’ve watched that much anime.

The latter are your Attack on Titan fanfiction writers/consumers. I see these types of a lot on Twitter. They’re obsessed with the characters at face value, but seem to ignore who the characters are beyond that.

If you’re wondering why the latter group would be obsessed with this episode, it’s because at the very beginning we get a what-if scene with Jean and Mikasa. Yes, that was Mikasa as Jean’s wife in his imagination. And if Jean thinks joining the Yeagerists is going to lead to a peaceful life like that, his imagination is almost as wild as the fanfiction writers.

Really, what do the Yeagerists have going for them currently? You could argue Eren is on their side. But he’s not concerned with what they’re doing right now. So that leaves the Yeagerists with zero of the Nine Titans and a bunch of new recruits who don’t really know what war is like.

All the veteran soldiers either got turned into titans or have joined the resistance. Could the Yeagerists really do anything if Armin decided to transform into the Colossal Titan? No. And that’s exactly why there’s no way they can come out on top, even if Eren succeeds.

Talking it Out

I’ll admit that the majority of this episode isn’t very exciting. It’s a lot of dialogue. And it’s a lot of dialogue that I don’t think really matters to the viewer. It’s important stuff for the characters, though. Imagine if we just skipped this episode and had everyone working together as if they’re best friends.

That would definitely be worse than including it. But, I do think there are probably better ways this content could have been covered. I don’t know what those ways are. I want to say show the scenes that were being discussed. However, that would just turn it into a recap episode.

I’m also not even sure if I preferred the anime’s or manga’s take on this content. This episode covered just one chapter, Chapter 127 (which seems to confirm that there’s going to be a movie after this season). The manga had blank backgrounds for most of the dialogue, so it was a bit bland.

I might have actually preferred the manga’s blandness over what the anime did, though. I can’t say I was a fan of the purple forest background. It just didn’t feel right.

Oh, also, the manga did show Marco’s corpse when he was brought up. I don’t believe the anime did that unless I missed it. It seems like an odd thing to leave out. But maybe MAPPA just didn’t want to waste time having animators redraw that scene in their art style.

This wasn’t just an anime thing, but I also could have done without Hange’s stew being included. I don’t think it added anything and instead just felt awkward and forced to show that “this is a real situation with real people.”

Seize the Port

Our heroes are currently on their way to the port where a “flying ship” is waiting for them. In case you haven’t figured it out, they’re referring to a plane. We even saw it in this episode, albeit covered by a sheet.

The only problem is that the port is crawling with Yeagerists, including Floch Forster. I’m kind of surprised Floch was smart enough to seize the port and take Kiyomi Azumabito hostage. He doesn’t come across as the brightest guy. He’s just a follower who likes to push people around with his borrowed authority.

I see a lot of people who apparently like Floch. I don’t know if they actually like him or just ironically like him. But I think he’s a pretty terrible character. He’s not memorable in any way (I forget he exists each week) and his whole personality is just that he’s a bad guy.

With that said, I do think Floch plays a decently important role in the series. As I mentioned in my review of Episode 83, Floch is essentially Jean’s Yeagerist counterpart. If Jean made all the wrong choices throughout his life, he would have ended up in Floch’s position.

But, I think you can still have a character who represents the dark path Jean could have gone down without making him as insufferable as Floch. Does anyone actually take Floch seriously as an antagonist? I know I don’t, despite the fact that he’s clearly capable of killing people.

I’m also not entirely convinced that Isayama had a good idea of what he wanted to do with Floch’s character. Like, what’s the endgame for Floch here? I can’t imagine any scenario in which he gets an end to his character arc that I find worthwhile.

Even if Floch did something crazy like kill Armin and take the Colossal Titan now, that wouldn’t solve the issue of him being a bad character.

Conclusion

What do you think of Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part 2 Episode 84? Do you want the series to be all action all the time? Or do you prefer to fantasize about the characters? Did the purple forest background bother you? And how do you feel about Floch? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of Episode 85 is available now.