Here we are at Day 6 of the 12 Days of Anime. Yesterday we looked at a character who possessed poise and grace as she moved through her unrequited love (Sayaka from Bloom Into You) but today’s pick couldn’t be any more different. A shounen protagonist who throws himself at everything with the same bull-headed attitude, it is Eren Jaeger from Attack on Titan.
Now, Eren Jaeger is a character who I really haven’t liked for a lot of the three seasons and yet as season three progressed, I found myself finding a new appreciation for him. Admittedly, I’m not exactly joining the Eren fan-club anytime soon, but season three managed to see him going through some fairly well deserved character development – or maybe he just finally grew up.
Spending a large number of the episodes tied up and gagged was something I initially found amusing because in the absence of Eren yelling at things, it felt like we could finally see some of the other characters in action without him and let them shine. And that was true to a point, but what I didn’t expect was that when Eren finally got to speak, that for once he wouldn’t just be that angry, shouting little boy we’d endured for the previous seasons.
Suddenly, we had an Eren who was reflecting on the power he had and how he’d received. An Eren who was thinking about the long game and while he was also a little defeatest, understood that he wasn’t necessarily the one who was going to save everyone. Yet even at his lowest point, when push came to shove, Eren acted to save the other scouts. Even after that, he didn’t suddenly let it go to his head; instead he remained aware of his own individual insignificance and was working his hardest to contribute what he could.
Yes, season three of Attack on Titan gave me new reason to think about Eren’s character and the journey he has been on. While I’m still not the biggest fan of Eren, and I still don’t like shouting protagonists, it really was like watching someone grow up right before my eyes and the transformation felt natural given the circumstances, and earned, given what he’d gone through. Now I’m keenly looking forward to where his character goes from here, though given it is Attack on Titan I’m guessing he’s got more pain and misery headed his way.
For a character I don’t normally talk about, I really felt this year he stepped up and so I definitely wanted to include him in this list of twelve characters as I counted down to Christmas.
Thanks for reading
Karandi James
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ATTACK ON TITAN JUNIOR HIGH MOFU MOFU MINI TOWEL: EREN
Eren is someone I’m just okay with. Doesn’t stand out much when Mikasa, and Levi are much cooler characters without Titan powers. Not mention the supporting cast that have one eccentric thing about them while Eren is just single minded. Curious to see season 3 for myself since Eren finally does some proper growing into a good character. Now, if the series can stop giving him powers out nowhere that would be nice too.
I really don’t get the mikasa fascination. Sure, she was tough in season one but she has less personality than Wrench and has had very little real impact on the story.
I can’t watch AoT because of this character. Yes, his anger works in the world he is in, but as a viewer? I just wanna kick him in the fucking dick. So far he doesn’t even have any of the growth that turned an annoying shit like Naruto into an actual good character.
He came a fair distance in season three considering season one and two he pretty much had zero growth. I definitely see him in a better light now than I ever did before.
Good to know that he “gets better,” but i dunno if I wanna go through two seasons of bullshit to get there.
Good plan and season two nearly killed it for me. I was very convinced season three would get an episode watch and then I would drop the franchise for good. I was not expecting season three to start reversing my opinion but as you said, you have to get through two seasons first and while season one starts interesting enough, the second half of it is a bit of a chore and season two is not much better.
He makes big changes going forward too (in the manga anyhow). I can’t stand the shouting protagonist who just charges into every scenario either.
Hopefully his character continues to develop over time. He certainly became more bearable in the most recent season.
The shows really about Levi and Mikasa anyhow…
Mikasa has barely done anything except worry about Eren since season one.
I do wonder when Mikasa will give up on trying to save him and worry about herself for once.