Sasha's Attack on Titan Death Gave Her A Bigger Final Season Role

screenrant.com:

Dying early in Attack on Titan's final season makes Sasha more important than if she'd survived until the very end. In a franchise where smiles are seldom cracked, Sasha Braus was a breath of fresh air in Attack on Titan. Initially catching the audience's attention as «potato girl,» Sasha ultimately became Attack on Titan's chief source of optimism — a fun, selfless, innocent soul who refused to be jaded by the tragedy of her world. Sadly, Sasha's happy-go-lucky persona made her the perfect emotional fodder for Hajime Isayama to kill off.

When Attack on Titan's final season begins, Eren Jaeger is embarking on a solo invasion of Marley that his Survey Corps allies are reluctantly forced to follow. Sasha is among those who arrive in Liberio to support Eren, but as Eldian's forces are retreating, Gabi — a brash young Marleyan Warrior candidate — steals aboard and shoots a bullet straight through Sasha's stomach, killing her. The death of such a bright personality hit Attack on Titan's audience hard (as was Isayama's intention), and as the anime's final battle looms, Sasha remains the only main protagonist absent from the last-ditch fight against Eren's Founding Titan. Sorely missed though she may be, death has actually enhanced Sasha's influence upon Attack on Titan's ending.

Related: Floch Is The Best (& Only) Proper Villain In Attack On Titan

Sasha's posthumous impact begins with her killer, Gabi. After Marley's young firebrand jumped aboard that blimp and started blasting, she strolled away delighted to have killed at least one «Eldian devil» before getting herself captured. In a twist of fate, Gabi later grows close to Sasha's family, who treat her with kindness… even after learning she killed their precious daughter.