Do we like them?

Do we like Reiner Braun?

A character from Attack on Titan (2013–2023)

Our score: 4 out of 10. He's a loyal friend with real courage, but he carries heavy guilt and has done terrible things. We'd feel for him, but we wouldn't fully back him.

Reiner is introduced as a broad-shouldered, reliable trainee soldier. He steadies his squadmates, shows leadership and acts like the big brother of the group. The show follows young recruits who join the military to fight giant Titans after the walls protecting humanity are breached.

Beneath the hero-in-training image, Reiner is a man under heavy strain. He swings between confident leader and anxious, self-doubting soldier, and the story keeps hinting that the pressure on him is far greater than his friends know. That gap between the person he shows and the person he is makes him one of the series' most layered characters.

It turns out that Reiner is the Armored Titan and was sent to infiltrate the walls as a warrior from Marley. He is responsible for a great deal of destruction and betrays the friends he has made. Later he's shown as a traumatized, guilt-ridden man who wants to die, and then as someone who tries to make amends and fight alongside his former enemies.

We score him 4 out of 10. His loyalty, bravery and remorse are real and make him very human. But the harm he does is severe, and sympathy can only go so far when the damage is that great.