Attack on Titan 4x19 | FULL UNCUT Reactions

David Caine

When Zeke and Eren were saying "Euthanize" and "Euthanization" plan, it was their shared idea (or so Zeke was fooled) to euthanize the FUTURE Eldians that would be born. Sometimes some people thought it was referring to killing all current Eldians. Like Zeke told Levi before blowing themselves up, he doesn't view it as killing, but saving them all from the future deaths that Titans would inevitably bring to innocents. It all goes back to that scene of the old janitor in the tower throwing a bucket of water at young Zeke and his parents, telling them they should not be breeding and bringing more children into the world. Like all proper maniacs, Zeke is self-hating, and we have come to understand him and sympathize after learning of his "terrible" father and childhood. Likewise though, Grisha just wanted to prevent Eldians from suffering a cruel fate like his little sister, murdered, eaten by dogs. Although just an animated show, the current themes and the turn this show made in this phase all harks back to humanity's worst and most cruel tendencies, alluding to Nazi imagery and ethno/religious/political/nationalistic conflicts, it does an effective job of making it feel real and substantial and personal in the weight of both sides, resonating all the more one is aware of current events, which are really old events, never ending in a cycle that always repeats. Even more impressive that it does so amid all the fantasy/supernatural/scifi elements that we love from anime. And like Storm said, I think I begrudgingly agree that perhaps Zeke's plan is the more humane answer, maybe the more sensible and compassionate. People that are not born don't have to suffer. Paradis Island would eventually die out, and with the threat of the Rumbling they would have kept the world from attacking. But Marley was already planning to invade anyway for their own selfish interests, take the Founder, and Willy had riled up the world to attack as well. And Eren did not want Historia to become a Titan nor her children, and cannibalize each other through generations, so he had no choice, because he was born into this world.