Attack on Titan Chapter 128, Traitor Review. Old Faces, Dead Faces.

Chapter 127 of Attack on Titan reassured me that the story was heading in the right direction after the not so good Chapter 126.
So, naturally, I was back to being excited for Chapter 128, “Traitor”, which saw the alliance try, and sadly fail, to find a peaceful way to secure the plane and Kiyomi Azumabito from Floch and the Yeagerists.
Of course, failure was to be expected, but I was surprised by the price that was paid for this failure, which was the lives of two characters we had not seen since the very first arc, Samuel and Daz.
I was scared that we might be seeing Hange or Jean die this chapter but no (although their deaths could still happen), instead it was two characters who I highly doubt anyone cared for.
That is not to say that their deaths are a cheap attempt by Isayama to create emotion though, because they did make me feel sad.
However, this sadness was for Connie, who, in the cliffhanger of the chapter, had to murder his two old friends in order to secure the plane that they are planning to use to reach Eren.
Connie snapping left me feeling sorry that he had to resort to this and, sadly, I don’t doubt that he will not be the only one with the blood of old friends on his hands after this battle is over.
All of the 104th will have to get their hands dirty and this includes Armin who, in a shocking moment, is shot by Samuel when he tries to stop Daz from blowing up the plane.
Armin looks to be mortally wounded though, so probably the only way he can save himself is if he transforms into the Colossal Titan.
This means Armin will most likely initiate his nuclear attack next chapter to wipe out many of the Yeagerists, although I don’t know how this will be done without destroying the plane.
As for the rest “Traitor”, it was also pretty good, albeit short.
One of the other big highlights of the chapter was Kiyomi taking down Floch when he tried to kill the engineers who are needed if the plane is going to work.
I did not expect Kiyomi to be a secret badass and it was a welcome surprise that made me like her character a lot more.
Fighting skills is something that she has in common with Mikasa, who crashes into the room and takes out the two remaining Yeagerists in the room, in a thrilling action sequence.
This causes Floch to flee out the window, irking many of his haters because of his continued survival.
Floch is probably still not long for this world though, as this does look to be his last battle, since Eren will be the final foe immediately after the Yeagerists are defeated.
Speaking of Eren, it is revealed that he has actually already reached Marley and probably wiped out every northeast town and god knows how many people.
This was very surprising because I didn’t think Eren would have got this far already.
The startling realization that the Rumbling has already begun its worldwide genocide leads Magath to break Yelena’s arm in an effort to force her to tell them where he is.
This is curious though, as considering how tall Eren is in his Founding Titan form, he shouldn’t be that hard to spot.
Although, Magath wanting to know where Eren’s is is probably Isayama telling us that Eren is going to be somewhere important, but I don’t know where this could be.
In any case, once Magath is talked down from hurting Yelena further he realizes his mistakes and apologizes to the 104th, telling them he was wrong about what he said in Chapter 127, and that they cannot allow the generations of hatred to continue, asking them not to see their foolish actions.
Armin refuses this, however; saying that they cannot pretend to be doing the right thing without dirtying their hands, of course leading to the bloody ending of the chapter.
Other standout moments of “Traitor” include Annie and Reiner transforming into Titans, therefore debunking the theory that the Titan Shifters can’t transform anymore, Reiner finally understanding what Eren meant in Chapter 100, and the Bertholdt parallels in the final, gut wrenching scene.
Then there is Yelena telling Levi that violence can’t be taken away from people, proving that the manga will not end with a completely happy ending, like many have been fearing.
Overall, Chapter 128 was a solid chapter of Attack on Titan that, while short, did a good job presenting character development, action, and a gripping ending.
The fight with the Yeagerists is sure to have more tragic consequences in the next few chapters.