I think this point needs to be considered based on the information Mike actually had at the time, not mixing in knowledge from anime viewers.

From what the Survey Corps had seen, normal Titans would attack those in their Titan forms, like Eren in Trost's form and Annie, who were attacked by Titans after screaming.

Therefore, when Mike saw the Beast Titan surrounded by Titans without any of them attacking, he didn't have enough reason to conclude that it was "a human shapeshifter," because he was unaware of this ability.

From Mike's perspective, it might just be an abnormal Titan behaving differently from the others, and he only had about 30-40 seconds before being attacked. Gathering all the information and jumping to the conclusion that

"it can control Titans" was virtually impossible.

It wasn't until the smaller Titan bit his leg that he clearly realized the situation was different from what he had understood all along.

Therefore, Mike's shock is very reasonable, because he had only just discovered the Beast Titan's ability when it was too late, not something he knew beforehand.

The smile he gives here is probably him realising , "oh yes the future doesn't change and if I don't go ahead with my plan , they will fucking anhilate my people and my friends" , also him closing his eyes after hearing the cheering and clapping for LITERALLY GENOCIDE is so so tragic and hits even harder after completing the series

He does smile in the anime and it is subtle but in the manga u can catch that he is realising that "yep I have to do this" , I wish they lingered a little bit and showed his smiling face a little bit more , same with his reaction to hearing "because I was born into this world"

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After I finished watching the anime, I went back and read the manga again. I noticed that some things were changed in the anime. One example is Mike's death scene. Actually, I should say the moments leading up to his death.

In the anime, after the Beast Titan takes his ODM gear and starts walking away, Mike suddenly fights back and shouts at him, even though he is in a hopeless situation (his leg is broken, he has no horse, and his ODM gear is gone). He has almost no chance of surviving or winning against the Beast Titan.

This makes some anime-only viewers think that Mike is stupid or that he is trying to act like a hero for no reason. In the end, he even cries like a child when Zeke turns around and pays attention to him because of his own shouting. Some people have even come up with strange theories, such as the idea that Mike could have survived against those Titans. I see this kind of thing quite often.

However, if you read the manga, you can clearly see that Mike simply picks up his blades and tries to stay quiet. He doesn't shout or provoke the Beast Titan at all. He just picks up his blades to prepare himself for whatever the other Titans might do.

Yet Zeke turns around and immediately orders the Titans to eat him. There is nothing Mike does that obviously suggests Zeke would turn around and do that. It almost feels as though Zeke had already intended to do it anyway.

I wish we saw more of her. I wish we knew what her real name was. I wish she and Historia had that wedding she wanted.

Source: https://x.com/yatoratora95/status/2110287630890074374?s=46

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They would only have four Titans at that point. If I was an enemy nation I would feel VERY uppity at this.

For years, I avoided AOT because I was afraid of its emotional ending, especially Mikasa killing Eren. It was my worst nightmare. But 18 days ago, I finally started watching, and today, it's over. Somehow, an anime I was afraid to watch became somethin incredibly special to me. I laughed, suffered, got attached to the characters, and experienced a journey I'll never forget.

I wish I could watch it for the first time again.

I was afraid of the pain this anime would bring me. Now, I'm crying because it's over. 😭❤️‍🩹.

❤️ ATTACK ON TITAN ❤️

I love them all so much! I'm giving Sasha to my sibling, that's their favorite character. Sasha's potato is removable and Pieck comes with a cane. 😭

Like fuck king fritz bruh, the royal family , the family of founding titan who probably caused the MOST destruction in the eldian empire get to live peaceful life ?? While ymir struggles in the paths and eldian people in marley suffer with discrimination and racism

If that wasn't enough, king fritz's ideology wanted eldians in paradise to die by titan's hands as well ?? Like all those common people , so many of those people's ancestors probably were converted into titans by these royal fucks and now they get to suffer whereas the royal family lives in PEACE

Fuck king fritz's ideology , fuck vow renouncing war , why should all those innocents have to die meanwhile royal people get to live in their castles..

As we all know the first chapter of the manga and the first episode of the anime both include the whole 2000 years title, but before the answer was revealed to us how did people interpret it and discuss/theorize about it back in the day? Or how did anime only viewers interpret it while the manga readers knew about it before it was animated? I only ask because I first watched it this year and couldn’t imagine waiting that long to find out the truth behind the relevance of the 2000 years!

Notice how in most these, the Yeagerists are attacking their comrades?, in fact, they never do any significant damage to the Marley military?

This reddit made my favorite AOT scene into something I could wear. Reddit thread attached. I did have to add Reiner's thumb but the original is in the end of the gallery. Shirt was about $6. DTF sticker to print and transfer to clothes was $1 per sticker. Just ironed it on and washed it.

That side with marlay with wiping out paradise. People say it’s in the past bc it happened 100 years ago but 100 years ago isn’t that especially compared to the 2 thousand years of slavery the world went through. Then people make argument eldians didn’t know n were innocent. Marley doesn’t know that in fact they don’t even know that the titan war was just a ploy between two eldians families. People don’t understand Marley taking eldian empire role isn’t bc Marley is evil it’s that they have Eldians who helped them get out said suppression just to be pawns to another eldian family. If anything the tybur house and Karl Fritz are the problem not Marley or paradise island post mind wipe. But yk this might be a HOT take

Even the way Armin removes his odm gear.. also the fact that muler asks the same question as captain woermann , "Are u humans or titan ??"

Such a nod and a great parallel to the scene where armin convinces everyone that eren is an ally to humanity , It's so poetic that Armin always had to clean up Eren's mess , before his death and even after his death..

The dramatic shift in Eren’s character from hero to genocidal threat stems from Armin acting as an unreliable narrator, who either forgot information due to old age or intentionally sought to protect his best friend's legacy. Throughout the first three seasons, Armin portrays Eren as an overall good guy—occasionally showing his genocidal flashes but quickly painting over them to avoid depicting him as a crazy, suicidal maniac. This biased or flawed framing leaves the audience deeply conflicted when Season 4 finally exposes Eren's full destructive drive. Tragically, because Armin’s narration purposefully obscures Eren's true face and daily life within the Scouts, his genuine personality remains entirely hidden, meaning we can never truly verify what happened back then and are left only with speculation. Other changes like his eye colour maybe due to Armin's loss of memory.