Attack on Titan, Chapter 118, Foul Play Review: So Many Great Character Moments.

After Zeke’s dramatic return at the end of Chapter 117 of Attack on Titan, I thought Chapter 118, “Foul Play,” would end with him screaming, turning all those poisoned by his spinal fluid into Titans.
While this does not happen in the latest chapter, “Foul Play,” it still offers some fantastic moments in its action but most of all in its character development.
There is so much development in this chapter that it is honestly a testament to how great of a writer Hajime Isayama is because it did not make the story feel bloated.
Mikasa, Armin, Jean, Connie, Gabi, Falco, Onyankopon, Nile, all of them got some great moments in “Foul Play.”
My favourite piece of character development this chapter would have to be Gabi’s because she finally acknowledges that the Eldians are not devils but people just like her.
I was glad to see Gabi finally reach this realization because many feared that, when she met up with the Warriors again, she would revert back to her old personality.
Thankfully, she does the opposite of this, even stopping Colt from killing Nile when he runs over to give Falco back to them.
This really shows how far she has come since her introduction because, when we first met her, she would have allowed Colt to shoot Nile without hesitation.
After rescuing Falco, the three hide in a building where Falco admits that he delivered letters for Eren when he was in Liberio, and that he likes Gabi.
This is a surprising moment because Isayama does not usually write romantic scenes so to see him write an intentionally awkward love declaration is both funny and a nice change of pace.
Falco’s declaration also leads Gabi to rip off his armband in a callback to when Falco did this to her in an earlier chapter, once again showing how far she has come.
Gabi and Falco are not the only ones with great development this chapter because Mikasa gets a scene that is clearly a turning point for her character.
She actually leaves Eren’s scarf behind.
The thing she has been carrying around since the beginning of Attack on Titan; the very thing which symbolizes her relationship with Eren, and she left it behind.
However, the way Louise looks at it when Mikasa leaves makes me think it could work its way back to Mikasa through her.
All of the scouts really had defining moments in this chapter, with them all being released by Onyankopon, which I predicted months ago.
Connie is quick to distrust him because he is sick of being betrayed, first by Annie, Reiner and Bertholdt, and now Eren.
Armin, however, wants to hear him out, and Onyankopon says he was never told about the wine and is against the euthanasia plan because “children are the future.”
I believe that he is on the scouts side because, as Armin says, Onyankopon believes they were all created for a reaon so he would not support the euthanasia plan, which is why Yelena did not tell him.
As for Jean, his development is small but pivotal nonetheless because he actually admits to being envious of Eren all the way back in training.
Likewise, Armin points out what we have all been suspecting, that Eren would never be in favor of Zeke’s plan to euthanize the Eldian race because he believes in freedom.
This leads to Armin remembering what Eren said when they reached the ocean in Chapter 90, which apparently makes him realise what Eren’s actual plan is because he says, “no way,” in apparent denial.
This has me concerned because, in that chapter, Eren wondered if they would be free if they killed all of their enemies across the ocean.
If this is what Armin is remembering, then it hints at Eren initiating the rumbling and destroying the entire world outside of Paradis, leaving only his people on the island alive.
This is a very dark theory and it will be interesting to see if Eren would go as far to murder billions of people to keep his friends safe.
Either way, the rumbling is a chekov’s gun at this point and it is obvious it will be fired by the end of the series.
It is just a matter of whether or not that rumbling will be world ending or not.
Speaking of chekov’s gun though, Colt seems to have one of those himself with an apparent Titan killing gun.
Isayama seems to be hinting that this gun will kill a Titan but who is anyone’s guess.
Colt is heading towards Zeke to try and dissuade him from screaming by telling him about Falco being infected but we all know Zeke will not let this stop him from trying to achieve his goal.
This may result in Colt trying to kill Zeke with it but I doubt it will work.
In fact, I find it likely that Colt may die soon because he is near the infected Falco and, if he turns into a Titan and eats his brother, it would make for a very tragic death.
As for Zeke himself, it is getting a little sad how Zeke gets pretty much destroyed in ever battle.
In an admittedly genius moment from Pieck and Magath, they are able to shoot him off the wall, mortally wounding him.
Honestly, the amount of times both Zeke and Reiner have been beaten up in this series is a little embarrassing for them, and another thing they have in common besides their backstories.
At least Zeke got a moment to shine when he destroyed the airships at the beginning of the chapter, which resulted in the glorious panel of the Queen of Crazy Yelena spreading her arms out and marveling at the destruction caused by her god.
Yelena continues to be a very interesting character, due to how absolutely insane she is.
The panel of her glaring at Armin makes it look like she wants to eat his face.
It reminded a lot of Sister Krone from The Promised Neverland series.
Both characters are crazy and have nightmare inducing facial expressions.
Overall, “Foul Play” is a great chapter, where its character development manages to somehow be even more interesting than its action.
With the story looking to set the stage for Zeke’s scream in the next few chapters, I cannot wait to see what the horrific effects of this will be.