Let's see....
Shingeki no Kyojin Chapter 111 Review
Hi guys, first time posting a review here. I admit, I might have lost memory of some of the finer details in the series. Partly due to it being monthly, partly due to it having so much dialogue at times. But I'll see what I can do.
This month's chapter starts with confirmation that Flosch escaped from his prison cell, around the same time as Eren did. In total, there are 100 escapees from the prison, and the general consensus is that these people are responsible for the assassination of the Commander in Chief. All the escapees from the prison have banded together to form a vigilante unit referred to as the Jaegar faction. The same group that we saw Eren regroup with last chapter after his escape from the prison cell, who were all hooded. Hange surmises that the group's function is to arrange a reunion between Eren and Zeke, the end result being a coup d'etat which would install Eren as the new leader of the army. Assassinating Reeves was the first step towards attaining this objective.
Nile (?) proceeds to ask how the Jaegar faction were able to attain their objectives in such a short amount of time, and whether it means that siding with Eren automatically meant they are on Zeke's side. Hange confirms this, saying that trusting in one Jaegar brother meant trusting in the other as well. She adds on that this is probably an effect of the army keeping the fact secret that they were seeking to transfer the power of Eren's Founding Titan to someone else. Nile justifies this decision from the army, saying that he was aware what would happen if they informed the Survey Corps. Mikasa says nothing to this, affirming Nile's sentence that they would probably inform Eren. The common consensus among the army is that part of the Survey Corps are in cahoots with the Jaegar faction. Hange is asked to take responsibility for it.
She counters that she is willing to accept any due punishment, but her stepping down with the current state of things would be downright ludicrous. It was difficult to determine how deep the Jaegar faction ran. The army agrees to this, saying that in that room there was the chance of them being blown up maliciously by the Survey Corps members.
At this point, Pixis enters the room, effectively putting a stop to the fight. He then proceeds to ask Hange how many people are aware of Zeke's location, and Hange informs him that it's the guards with Levi, the soldiers in charge of supply and communication plus her. Immediately, Pixis asks them to be brought over. Possibly an attempt to avoid the information about Zeke leaking into the wrong hands. Pixis then asks Nile how many people are aware of Historia's new residence. The answer is the same as with Zeke, a select few. The bald man says that Eren and his group will try to locate Historia, so all the people who were aware of her current residence should all be placed under protection. He then turns to Armin and tells Armin that they will probably also try to target him on account of his Titan powers, so he should also be protected. The Colossal Titan offers no objection to this, but he tells Pixis that he is the only person capable of leading the army currently.
Pixis tells everyone in the room that the only option they have left is to surrender to Eren. At first glance, this seems like a heavily sarcastic and ironic statement. But he continues and explains his logic, stating that at this point weeding out all the spies and sympathizers of the Jaegar foundation from the army would just bring about too much bloodshed. There was no time for that nonsense, and it was due to that that most of the people had already vacated the military forces. One of the people in the room agonizes about whether there was nothing that could be done then. Pixis explains that he had been friends with Zachary for years, and him, plus the 3 people who died in the assassination wouldn't be happy if they knew the living were trying to avenge them. Nile seems to despair at this suggestion, and Pixis says that they are not going to submit so easily. What they will do instead is have an information exchange with the Jaegar faction. They would trade out the information about Zeke's location. The price to pay for that was letting go the grudge about the Commander's death.
After the meeting, Azumabito approaches Pixis. He apologizes for having let her see that disagreement just then, and she reassures him that it happens in every country. Pixis tells her that they have to go stay at the harbor since he couldn't guarantee their safety there. She agrees that's for the best, before heading to where Mikasa was.
Azumabito tells Mikasa that she should escape to their ship if anything happened. Mikasa is grateful for her worry, but insists she is an Eldian first and foremost. Whatever happens to Paradis, she would still there. The Ackerman then points out that Azumabito doesn't care about her, she is just interested in what profit they can attain from the land. The older woman panics at this, before finally admitting it was all true. Mikasa says that was more reason for her not to side with them, and Azumabito counters her by saying that they would always protect Mikasa because of her mother.
The Survey Corps is spotted later on discussing about Eren's involvement with killing Zachary. Jean asks Hange whether it really is a good idea trusting Zeke and Eren, to which she denies it. Primarily because Zeke probably has other contingency plans in place, being well aware no one in the Survey Corps trusts him. Therefore, before doing anything, they needed to first ascertain what Zeke's motives were.
We then shift scenes to the restaurant, where Nikkolo is talking to another of the cooks. Sasha's family, with Gabi and Falco in tow, show up as expected. Gabi is going under the name Mia, and she seems nervous to be even there. She then asks Kaya in privacy whether there really was a Marleyan at the restaurant, and Kaya reassures her she wasn't lying. Niccolo appears from the kitchen to welcome the Braus family, and Kaya immediately identifies him to Gabi as the Marleyan she had mentioned before. The Marleyan girl asks why Sasha's father was invited to the hotel despite not being a soldier, and Kaya informs her that it's because Sasha and Niccolo were probably a couple. When Sasha died, Niccolo attended the funeral service and asked Mr Braus to eat the food he normally had prepared for her daughter.
Gabi expresses shock at the idea of a Marleyan and Eldian being together. Before she can pursue the matter though, dinner is served. The family moves to the table to eat. The food they are all eating seems to be delicious, to the point of pushing them all to tears. Niccolo then states that they haven't even gotten to the main dish yet, before being informed that some people were there to meet him.The guests turn out to be the Survey Corps. The Marleyan cook tells them that he has some guests currently so he can't attend to them. Hange says that was fine, but states afterwards she'd like a talk with him. Niccolo doesn't refute the idea. He directs them to another room in the hotel, asking them to wait there.
Jean spots some wine bottles arranged in a shelf next to a wall in the room, and together with Connie, intend on taking some of it. Niccolo gets clearly flustered at the idea, snatching the wine bottle from Jean's arms. The first time he has expressed any form of surprise/shock in the chapter. Which means, there's something about the wine? Maybe this does confirm it was spiked by Zeke's spinal fluid. Jean reassures him that it was just a joke, but Niccolo suddenly brings up the matter of Marleyans and Eldians and that Jean shouldn't act buddy buddy with him. Niccolo then leaves the room, and Connie wonders out loud what was up with him.
Gabi notices Niccolo returning to the dining room. Falco then makes a terrible excuse of needing to use the bathroom, and Gabi follows suit after him. The two kids manage to finally find some time alone with Niccolo. He still seems distressed about the wine issue earlier. The younger girl then spills the beans about them being from Marley. The news shocks Niccolo. Falco tells him that the island will be attacked soon, and Niccolo asks them how two kids managed to get to Paradis. Gabi answers that they got their via a Paradis aircraft, and Niccolo is in obvious horror at this point. He hesitantly asks them if they killed anyone, and the girl gleefully answers they killed a female soldier. She shows no remorse at the act.
The revelation shocks Niccolo (Owing to how close he was with Sasha), and he immediately swings the wine bottle he was holding earlier at Gabi. Falco immediately moves the girl out of the way, taking the brunt of the damage from the shattered bottle. The force was powerful enough to knock Falco out. Helplessly, Gabi tries to get him to his feet, but at this point a fist from Niccolo connects with her face. The resounding impact sends her flying back into the dining room she had been in beforehand. The Braus family is surprised by the sudden intrusion, and Niccolo appears shortly after holding an unconscious Falco in his arms.
Mr Braus asks him what he is doing to Ben and Mia, Falco and Gabi's fake names. Niccolo states that Gabi is the girl who killed Sasha, their daughter. The Marleyan girl and Sasha's parents look at each other, and Niccolo hands Mr Braus a knife. He expects him to kill Gabi in revenge. If not, the cook would be the one to kill her instead. Armin is spotted peeking from a door. The Survey Corps show up shortly after, and suddenly the room is filled with a lot of people.
Jean immediately identifies Gabi as Sasha's murderer. Niccolo is questioned over how two Marleyan kids ended up there, and he suddenly warns everyone to stand back. Pressing the knife he had earlier to Falco's throat, he tells everyone that he was just getting revenge for Sasha. Ironically, this is similar to what happened in the latest Neverland chapter with Andrew holding Alicia hostage. Gabi pleads with Niccolo to set Falco free, and he asks what Falco was to her. He adds on that Sasha was someone he cared about too, and she always enjoyed his cooking. Sasha was the one who saved him, and that was the person who Gabi killed. At this point, Gabi states how Sasha was the one who struck first, so she struck back in response. She had a similar argument in one of the previous chapters with one of the residents of the Braus household. Shamelessly, she tells Niccolo that Sasha had warped his mind and Niccolo needed to snap out of it. Mr Braus asks the cook to hand over the knife. He brandishes the knife a little, his focus on Gabi.
Hange shows up at that moment, asking him to not do anything rash. Mr Braus suddenly breaks out about how Sasha was a hunter, and how ever since she was young her father had told her that life was about hunting or get hunted. The girl's death was simply a case of her being hunted this time, so he did not hold it against Gabi. Instead, he preferred it if the cycle of hatred would be put to a halt. Otherwise the kids would be the one to suffer. Mrs Braus asks Niccolo to release Falco, which he does. Jean and the rest of the Survey Corps immediately move in to restrain him. Mikasa asks Gabi whether she was hurt, and the concern seems to surprise the younger girl. She asks the Braus family whether they don't hate her. Just then, Kaya appears behind Gabi leaping at her with her knife. Mikasa calmly stops Kaya, but this doesn't stop her from hurling all manner of curses and insults at Gabi. The rest of the Braus family, with Falco cradled between them, breaks out into tears.
While restrained, Niccolo tells Hange that he needs to wash Falco's mouth out. Some of the wine from the bottle he smashed against his head earlier probably seeped into his mouth. In disbelief, Hange asks what was in the wine, and Niccolo responds that it was Zeke's spinal fluid. Confirming why he was hesitant on Jean and the others handling it earlier.
Overall thoughts: I didn't enjoy the beginning of the chapter as much, honestly the political aspect of the manga has always been one of the least enjoyable aspects of it. At least to me. This is partly why the Uprising Arc was the weakest story arc in the whole series. It's not hard to follow, it just takes too much time and there are too many complications. The best part(s) of the chapter started from the middle, starting from when the perspective shifted to Gabi. I don't particularly loathe her like the rest of the fandom. Killing Sasha was sad yes, but honestly, we are getting more out of Sasha when she's dead than when she was alive. Gabi is just the female version of a younger Eren, post seeing his mother die. So her relevance to the story is kind of obvious.
The wine getting into Falco's mouth is probably a confirmation that he will be the one to inherit the Armored Titan's ability. Reiner would probably still be alive after the transfer anyway, he's survived more ridiculous situations before.
Chapter rating:7.5/10