Let's talk abt Armin...
I was rewatching the series, the praise that Armin gets.... is very..... "undeserving". let me say this, he is an overrated hypocrite (much like other characters of aot but more). The most hypocrite out of all. From the beginning Armin is framed as physically weak and emotionally fragile. That’s fine as a starting point — even I love underdogs. And then the problem came when it was framed as "growth".
In Trost he freezes while his squad is wiped out. Eren has to save him and ends up getting eaten for it. Armin’s response is classic survivor’s guilt and “I’d rather die than be a burden”. I remeber the first time when I watched it, it was like he will be the main character. Or at least, maybe Mikasa and Armin will have a good character growth. And the show even tried, but god I was wrong. Throughout the first three seasons, his self-worth is almost entirely externally validated (Eren, Mikasa, later Hange/Levi/Erwin).
See Armin is useful, no doubt, exploiting emotional weakness (Annie, Butterscotch, Eren etc), but as the story progresses, it sounded more of an insist rather an earning. Eg- people calling him a replacement of Erwin's level (GTFO).
THE SERUM
Now this was the point that broke the fandom into two regarding Armin. I was more of the positive ones, but now I am more neutral to neg. So, the story then spends the rest of the series trying to justify that choice by making Armin was a perfect choice. The first thing that came to my mind was levi thinking that he doesnt regret choosing Armin as he saw future in his eyes. In my first watch through, i did cringed a bit but it was alright. but in my second watch, it felt forced. Armin actually did convinced zeke but it was after this. And even if that, Levi didnt know it was Armin who convinced Zeke.
Through S4, what we got is
Constant self-doubt and guilt that never resolves into decisive leadership.
Almost zero meaningful use of the Colossal Titan outside of a few set-piece moments (and even then he’s traumatized by it, which is fine character-wise but undercuts the “he was worth saving” argument).
A complete failure to step into the ruthless pragmatism/ the 'gambler' factor Erwin represented when Paradis actually needed it.
A passive, talk-no-jutsu moralist.
He literally fails to fails to confront Eren in any meaningful ideological way until it’s far too late. The final Paths conversation is especially egregious depending on whether you’re anime or manga — either he delivers a weak moral lecture or he thanks Eren for becoming a mass murderer “for their sake.” Both versions feel like the writing flinching away from actually challenging Armin’s worldview.
And then Hange handed him the command..... why not Jean, who was a better leader? Or Levi, who had the experience of leading squads? Armin gets to be the smart, sensitive, morally superior one without ever paying the full price for either approach.
See, I have contradicted myself multiple times in the post coz when I overthink a lot. But still, most of the things about Armin doesn't sit right with me.