Characters wasted by Isayama?

Nov 26, 2023 4:15 PM

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Dec 2017

1166

Guys, everyone who has seen Attack on Titan knows that the work is very similar to Game of Thrones, it kills characters when you least expect it and although some deaths are impactful and depressing, I found other deaths decidedly out of place , where the characters could have given more instead of being simply expendable characters:
1-Marco: Although his death was very important for the development of the plot, I was sad to see him die so soon, his relationship with Jean was very beautiful and his character could have given more in my opinion
2-Mike: One of the deaths I suffered the most, killed just to let you know the giant beast in a shameful way, yet his character was one of the most interesting, 2 the strongest man in humanity, he could smell it the giants miles apart and he was the only one who seemed to understand Erwin's true intentions given their solid relationship... a very useful character who was totally wasted 🤷‍♂️
3-Marlo: here instead we had one of the most beautiful tertiary characters ever, his evolution over the course of the work is really beautiful and his entry into the research group in the 3rd season gave me hope for the future, but it was also death Soon
4- Hammer Giant: Here we have a giant who has been seen too little, practically the coolest giant of all, killed in just 2 episodes ☠️, I would have liked to see him much more in action given his abilities (and not so soon under Eren's control)
5- Erwin: perhaps the most squalid of all and the one I suffered the most, he shouldn't have died so soon just when his character shone more than anyone else in Shiganshina, instead he sacrificed himself so much for that useless Armin, given that his death was the most painful one in the last season. What's the ironic part of all this? everyone said Armin should have died instead of Erwin 😂.
It should be noted that these are some characters who in my opinion could have given much more in the show, however deaths like that of Sasha, Hanes and Ymir (dancing giant) I found them perfect for the ending of the characters they showed... .
what do you think?

Nov 26, 2023 4:34 PM

NewestPersonHere

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Oct 2015

965

Not Game Of Thrones, Attack On Titan is more similar to Muv-Luv.

Not going to go too much in depth into it since a lot of AoT and ML fans have made a lot of comparisons~

Erwin is more similar to Isumi from Muv Luv Alternative~

EDIT: Erwin and the drill sergeant are my favourite characters~

EDIT2: I misunderstood your post initially (I initially thought that you can describing how characters are killed off).
In story telling, a lot of writers kill off characters for edge and the deaths have no weight, like in Iron Blooded Orphans, which makes the story edgy.

For AoT, I think it is due to manga restrictions that Iseyama is unable to develop every character. In Muv-Luv, it has 2 prequels and 50 hours to develop every character before killing them off.

I remember Erwin and Sasha having a lot of weight when they are killed off.

I will just make a simple comparison between Isumi from MLA and Erwin from AoT.

Character background:

Isumi is the leader of Isumi Valkyries which served under UN scientist Kozuki Yuuko for her Alternative IV project, some of her assignments are dangerous include capturing live BETA samples for future experiments (to manipulate Takeru into PTSD and develop him into a man).

Erwin is the leader of Survey Corps and leads his man for reconnaissance missions, which are dangerous, due to common contact with Titans.

The similarity being both having to lead teams for highly dangerous operations.

How they die:

Isumi: As part of Alternative IV project, Sumika has to pilot the Susanoo to destroy Hive 21 in Sadogashima. However, Takeru starts thinking about Meiya. Causing Sumika to believe Takeru has cheated on her, causing her to faint, resulting in the Susanoo to crash. Takeru has to evacuate Sumika out of there while Isumi has to turn on the auto-pilot to get the Susanoo out of there because BETA can learn human technology and tactics and counter them, such as creating Laser-class variant which negates humanity’s AirPower. However, Isumi is unable to turn on and have to self detonate to prevent BETA from examining Susanoo units and eventually counter humanity.

Erwin: Beast Titan is ripping apart the Survey Corps, so he leads a suicide charge towards the Beast Titan. Believing that cutting him down will make missions easier for Survey Corps.

The similarities is that both commanders are willing to sacrifice their own lives for humanity.

The impacts of their death:

Isumi: Hayase became the leader of Isumi Valkyries and Takeru is promoted to lead his squadron.

Erwin: Hange became the next leader of Survey Corps.

The similarity is that both struggle with their new leadership roles, which means the their deaths have impact on the team.

Erwin is not killed off for edge if I recall correctly~

EDIT3: AoT and MLA comparisons are interesting to write due to the amount of similarities. Am I the only one who thinks that Eren in S4 is more similar to Yuuya Bridges from Total Eclipse? But I heard from AoT fans that Iseyama mentioned that the writing of Eren is inspired by Takeru. >_<

NewestPersonHereNov 27, 2023 5:06 AM

Nov 26, 2023 4:55 PM

MerLucid

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Apr 2023

I actually don’t feel like any have been wasted. We gotta cut Isayama some slack regardless as juggling so many isn’t easy despite me feeling he’s done em all justice more or less.

Nov 26, 2023 5:17 PM

Astraeus_

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Jan 2021

Annie Leonhart ~My Favorite AOT Character~
Better than Mikasa
●Spoiler Alert●
She had so much potential to be a double edge ally personally to eren since she chooses to abandon her mission from from capturing him and purposely not help her comrade stop him!
I think she had the most potential to be an awesome character in the series than arming and all the other useless characters fan loved like that eater girl!
Her design were top notch with a short hair style that perfectly suits her personality!
When she transformed give of a free Simi dominant vibe send chill up your spine literally!
She had the best Titan design in the series arguably with the Attack titan!
Her Personality is so consistent, it just make u want to love her more! Seeing how she deep in the actions and Plot but doesn't want any of it, just want to live a free normal life is nice!Really want to protect others (society & eren) from the knowledge she holds!
I feel like she was waste when the creator chooses to allow her to be in search by the survey corps and crystallization in the manga!

Note: Ainne is not dead but crystalized! Have a feeling although the AOT story end this month! The Creator is planning to create a sequel with her as one of the main protagonist! An They will try there best to redo her crystallization and bring her back for the sole purpose of revealing the lost information she holds! And Overthrow the thrown, since she secretly has Royal Blood (Meaning She can be Queen)

Nov 26, 2023 5:57 PM

Riz_III

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May 2022

HISTORIA, she got alot of caracter development in seasons 2 & 3 (part 1). She was also one few caracters (if not the only one) that Eren genuinely seemed to trust after he switched up.

Unfortunately all we got of her in the finale was her giving birth and a monologue once the dust had settled.

(And then there is also the love triangle potential...)

Nov 26, 2023 8:10 PM

itzswxzy

Offline

Dec 2022

256

Yes, in fact Id say aot wastes its female characters potentially almost as much as naruto did. If not more, considering that Mikasa is supposed to he inspired from casca from berserk while being nothing alike in personality. Mikasa is more comparable to Sakura yet even Sakura stopped being so obsessed with Sasuke to the point of accepting that he isnt the same guy she fell in love with, while mikasa loves the same guy who didn’t show her affection for over the entire series aside from few inconsistent instances and her entire character just centered around to foil eren, while sakuras character strives off into multiple different aspects from her becoming the strongest female character in her story as well as caring for several other people in her life aside from sasuke and more. I guess u can blame it to the length of both stories but naruto has better pacing than aot did while being longer. Idk maybe wasted potential on female characters in cases like these stem from the fact that the story and plot along with genre of the series just dont add up to being mainline romance and so these female characters who foil and mainly used to substance the protagonist who 99% of time in shonen is a male, end up just being a wasted potential of a character that is purely 1 dimensional.

Nov 26, 2023 9:31 PM

Piromysl

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Jul 2015

11213

Mikasa for a deuteragonist is totally underwhelming outside her signature action scenes.

Nov 26, 2023 11:16 PM

Khushal_v

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Mar 2021

1369

Leon888 said:
Guys, everyone who has seen Attack on Titan knows that the work is very similar to Game of Thrones, it kills characters when you least expect it and although some deaths are impactful and depressing, I found other deaths decidedly out of place , where the characters could have given more instead of being simply expendable characters:
1-Marco: Although his death was very important for the development of the plot, I was sad to see him die so soon, his relationship with Jean was very beautiful and his character could have given more in my opinion
2-Mike: One of the deaths I suffered the most, killed just to let you know the giant beast in a shameful way, yet his character was one of the most interesting, 2 the strongest man in humanity, he could smell it the giants miles apart and he was the only one who seemed to understand Erwin's true intentions given their solid relationship... a very useful character who was totally wasted 🤷‍♂️
3-Marlo: here instead we had one of the most beautiful tertiary characters ever, his evolution over the course of the work is really beautiful and his entry into the research group in the 3rd season gave me hope for the future, but it was also death Soon
4- Hammer Giant: Here we have a giant who has been seen too little, practically the coolest giant of all, killed in just 2 episodes ☠️, I would have liked to see him much more in action given his abilities (and not so soon under Eren's control)
5- Erwin: perhaps the most squalid of all and the one I suffered the most, he shouldn't have died so soon just when his character shone more than anyone else in Shiganshina, instead he sacrificed himself so much for that useless Armin, given that his death was the most painful one in the last season. What's the ironic part of all this? everyone said Armin should have died instead of Erwin 😂.
It should be noted that these are some characters who in my opinion could have given much more in the show, however deaths like that of Sasha, Hanes and Ymir (dancing giant) I found them perfect for the ending of the characters they showed... .
what do you think?

1. Marco death was important for plot just like you said

2. Mike's death was supposed to show how terrifying beast titan is

3. I agree on this one

4. war hammer titan's death was again important for the plot

5. Erwin was by no mean wasted, he got a respectable death and is still a fan favourite character

Nov 27, 2023 5:58 AM

Dark_Figures

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Apr 2020

Mike was the most harmful, the most shameful, the most "good quality" character thrown to WASTE for NOTHING literally.

Nov 27, 2023 9:57 AM

#10

tan9126

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Sep 2023

whatever a writer dose u can't satisfy everyone 😂 Similarly u can't give every charcter justice even in anime like one piece where the episode are huge it's an issue

Nov 27, 2023 10:17 AM

#11

keinboesewicht

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Dec 2020

209

if every character died only when theyre not important or their character arc was over, that would be considered bad writing.

theres no sense to being mad because isayama killed off good characters. there are many good and great characters that have made it to the end of the story.
the other way wouldve been to have every character be great and their arc completed but as i said, the story wouldve suffered

Nov 27, 2023 3:20 PM

#12

thunderkitten13

Offline

Apr 2022

1508

Erwin was the greatest character in the show because he wasn’t a sniveling baby and a sociopath. He was levelheaded and objective; so of course Isayama had to get rid of the most consistently reasonable character in the show to justify Eren’s genocide.

Nov 27, 2023 5:19 PM

#13

Astraeus_

Offline

Jan 2021

Riz_III said:
HISTORIA, she got alot of caracter development in seasons 2 & 3 (part 1). She was also one few caracters (if not the only one) that Eren genuinely seemed to trust after he switched up.

Unfortunately all we got of her in the finale was her giving birth and a monologue once the dust had settled.

(And then there is also the love triangle potential...)

Have u watched the show! She a witch, controlled by the upper head even went as far to torture eren for the sake of her past and trauma

Nov 27, 2023 5:55 PM

#14

GreatCarerJack

Offline

Jun 2021

383

erwins death was the only way. armin had too much significance to the plot that its in no way a wasted death, erwin with collosal titan would lose his core values as a character, being one of constant loss he wouldnt have had a moral dilemma of how to use his power, armin hating his ability is precisely why its tragic to see him use it.

Nov 28, 2023 7:34 PM

#15

matraph00

Offline

Jun 2023

It think Marlo should have survived instead on another character from the main group. The impact of Marlo’s death wasn’t impactful enough and Connie, Sasha or Jean would have been so much more impactful. And then they can build up Marlo a lot more to fill the hole. Marlo had a lot of potential.
It’s not wrong that Marco died there but we should have gotten a lot more screentime with him. We know he is really close with all the other characters because they spent years together but we didn’t see much of it so it has little to no impact to us and then they keep bringing his death back but like the audience never had time to care enough about him so it always fall flat
I agree that the Warhammer titan died way too quick and in the end, it didn’t get really useful for Eren to have eaten it until the final part. So it could have waited a bit longer to show it more in action. But then I understand that it’s death was used to show the complete dominance of Paradis’s attack which was cool but they maybe could have used the jaw titan to get eaten by Eren but then Falco couldn’t have gotten it during the fight in Shiganshina

matraph00Nov 28, 2023 7:37 PM

Nov 30, 2023 3:41 AM

#16

Threeiece

Offline

Jan 2021

100

I think the only wasted one was the maid (Hammer titan) because the rest of the characters had pretty good endings for the lir respective stories

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Characters wasted by Isayama?

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