>>3926633I feel like Season 1 hurt her characterization considerably, especially for anime-only watchers. To start with, the traning flashback with Eren that first revealed her softer side was cut, despite being a very short and simple scene that worked wonders for humanizing her as an antagonist (I'll never forgive Araki for robbing us of that smile, goddamn). Then came the tunnel scene change, with its horrendously overexaggerated laughing fit, more akin to a cartoon villain's psychotic episode than its intended message - a facade crashing down to reveal bottled-up guilt, anxiety and loneliness, like in the draft provided by Isayama.
> I wonder what she would have been like if someone wanted to be friends with her genuinelyThere most likely were characters who did. We know she was on good terms with Eren and trained his ass regularly, else he wouldn't have learned her techniques well enough to use them against the likes of Reiner. There's several panels of her sharing a table with Mina, who might've been kind enough to her to warrant particular attachment, seeing as Annie apologized to her corpse. I'd be surprised if Pieck and Hitch hadn't tried reaching out to her in their warrior squad and MP days respectively. Even so, she was stated to never have had close friendships. The issue was Annie herself. This is a combined result of her cynicism AND active refusal to form emotional bonds with people she knew she could end up killing the next day, for both her own sake and theirs, no matter how lonely she might've been. We know this to be the case ever since she deplored solder Reiner's sociability. This inner strength is a part of her I really love, though it's depressing she had to utilize it in the first place. BR failed as potential companions as well, her relationship with the latter understandably strained to high heaven with all the shit he pulled, and Bert remaining a wallflower who'd never so much as try speaking to her until it was far too late.
