#chapter 132 analysis

Let me explain firstly about the scouts’ salute and what it means.

It’s both the action and the words which give ‘shinzō wo sasageyo’ it’s meaning. Translated literally, shinzō is the heart, and wo sasageyo is to dedicate. As to who’s - yours, mine, his, hers - this is inferred from the context of the words. It’s abstract, mainly - more concerned with the action than the owner of the action. At least this is as much as my rudimentary Japanese tells me.

Another thing to note is that ‘shinzō’ is the word used for the physical organ, whereas ‘Kokoro’ is the heart when we talk about it in an emotional or spiritual sense. In light of this, when soldiers salute, it’s not the fortitude of their minds and the spiritual soul that they’re dedicating to the military, it is their literal hearts.

Think about that for a moment.

They are pledging their hearts - the organ that is responsible for keeping them living and breathing - to the military’s cause. In essence, they are pledging to lay down their lives for the cause. If they have to die - if they have to literally hand over their beating heart to whatever fate awaits them - they will do so.

The thud of the curled fist over the heart cements the promise - almost like one is literally saying - yes, here it is, in my chest, and I am giving up ownership of it. It’s no longer mine. My life is no longer my own - it belongs to duty and to the military, even if in the end I have to give it up.

So then let’s take a look at how the final salute between Levi and Hange goes:

(The fact that he calls her four eyes again here will always end me.)

I find these and the following panels especially heartbreaking, not simply because of Levihan’s goodbye, but because of the complex weight this moment holds for both of them, in terms of the ownership they have over their own lives, and the choices they are and are not able to make. It ties into the whole theme of freedom that runs through the heart of the manga.

In Hange’s final moments, it’s never been more apparent how far from freedom both of these characters are. They are not free, because they pledged their beating hearts to a cause, and now one of them must pay up.

Hange realises this. Like in the forest, she’s already made her decision when Levi speaks to her, because she’s true to her duty and she knows that it’s time to give up what she’s always promised she would when the time comes. But she’s terrified, still. Of course she is. This is why she can’t look at Levi. This is why she’s sweating profusely. This is why she tells him to just let her go.

It’s not the titans or death that she’s terrified of, though. How many times have we seen Hange face off with death? How many times have we seen her charge headfirst into hordes of titans without fear or care? Too many times to count.

But now she’s scared. Because something has changed.

No, it’s not death she fears. It’s her own ability to keep her promise - to dedicate her heart and body and life to the Survey Corps if Levi stands before her, looks her square in the eye, and asks her not to.

Hange is scared that Levi is the one thing that will crumble her resolve.

Why?

Because Hange heard Levi’s answer to her private, selfish wish from the forest earlier in the chapter. When Levi, in his typical direct and yet not direct at all fashion, insinuated that while her love for Titans may go unrequited, there are other loves in her life which will not.

Like her love for him.

That is how I interpret that earlier moment - as I said before, the links above are essential reading - and when you look at the moment of their goodbye in light of that, it cuts so deeply.

This is the face of a man warring with his own resolve, just as Hange’s is so close to cracking before his very eyes.

Levi’s expression goes from defiant, to defeated, to devastated. Realisation sets in that they were never free at all, and as people with integrity, neither of them could ever abandon the duty that they’ve pledged their lives to.

Even for each other.

So instead of pleading with her not to go like he clearly wants to from that pained expression, and the fact that he followed her even though she couldn’t bear to face him, Levi instead gives his blessing.

He presses his fist to Hange’s chest because he knows that it really has come time for her to ‘devote her heart,’ to put her money where her mouth is and give up her life for the continuity of the Survey Corps.

The hardest hitting part of these panels is not the way he puts his fist to her chest - not the idea that this is some ‘secret romantic gesture’. Because it’s really not. It’s devastating. What we should really be focusing on is how hard it clearly is for Levi to bring himself to do that - look at how pained he is. What it takes for him to make himself repeat that promise that now chains Hange to her fate - to her imminent death - and leads her living, breathing body away from his.

He doesn’t bring his fist to his own chest because it is not his heart - his body, or his life - that is going to be given up. It’s hers. And he wants to fully acknowledge that. What duty is costing him. Why he really does need to fight on and make what she devoted worthwhile. Sound familiar?

He probably could feel her heartbeat against his hand - a reassurance that in that moment, she was still alive and well in front of him, very physically present. Her whole life still ahead of her, with possibilities and opportunities and choices and freedom. But she gave all that up. She volunteered it readily, and even though Levi could have stopped her, he never would have. Because that’s just not who they were.

As is fitting, the final member of the Survey Corps to sacrifice themselves, and the last salute by Levi, prove to be the things that best encapsulate the idea of ‘shinzō wo sasageyo,’ and the true weight of that promise.

She didn’t want to go. He didn’t want to let her. And although the other characters look neutral or with small smiles, Hange looks filled with longing and pain. Notice how Levi never once says any of it was worth the sacrifice.