The problem with attack on titans ending was that it seemed like it was rushed, this is meant in the sense that pacing didn't seem right it started to increase towards the end, if the were more chapter perhaps the ending could be more fleshed out
@@KakaOfTheRealMadrid It would have been better if the final chapter has separated into 6 chapters to flesh things out properly.Maybe 3 for the final moments and 3 for the epilogue.
I think that's my only problem with the ending is that the ending for everybody was incredibly rushed. I mean everybody gets like one panel instead of seeing more of what they do after everything, I also wished that Eren and Mikasa had a long conversation after too like they did with Armin
Obviously I’d also love to see a lengthy conversation between Eren and Mikasa but I think we won’t get that, because it would take away from the tragedy of their relationship. We know that they lived together for what seemed like 4 years in Mikasa’s vision, but exactly the shortage of information we get makes it so daunting.
Yeah I think that the story would be more beautiful if the end was Eren and Mikasa living in that dream state, and when they finally say goodbye, it leads to episode one of the series when Eren wakes up and ask why Mikasa's hair is longer. Though this story has a strong theme to tell, about the cycle of humanity, and I do applaud the author's vision to stick to that theme.
lots of super manga fans became enamored and obsessed with “gigachad eren” where he became super quiet and ruthless. they somehow missed out on the fact that he was actively suppressing his emotions and trying to close himself off to the world as a way to cope with what he realized he would have to do
Eren has always been emotional, impulsive and violent (prob why I never fully liked him, lol). He was starting to get better during The Return of Shinganshina arc; after that everything went to sh*t
@@l4zuzis534Again yes and no, Eren is emotional, literally a childish character fighting for his imaginary dreams, he acts like an imbecile since he was a kid, and he loves Mikasa so what do you think he would have reacted? He's not a fucking giga chad, he is Eren Yeager, an emotional character who reacts at the extreme, so if he loves he will love as no one, if he hates he will hate as no one
Finally, a critique that analyzes the work under the themes, message, character dynamics and prism with which the author conceived the work and the ending.
Holy shit, a refreshingly sober, meticulously researched, superbly edited, and thorough as hell analysis on 139. Goddamn it's so cathartic how fair, balanced and charitable you are with not just the ending, but the series as a whole. Effectively undermining so many reactionary reviews of it. Only an anime fandom can gaslight you into thinking you remembered canon/lore wrong. And thank you SO much for vehemently defending my boy Eren. Hearing you spit facts like that was just *chef's kiss*
So poetically put. Thank you so much for you continued love and support. Seeing you so happy makes the months of work worth it. If everyone has time, don't miss the chance to check @Underwhelming Unicorn's content, some greats! Thank you!!!
@@JustAcritic "I don't know why I did it" "Bertholt wasn't supposed to die" "MIKASA FEELINGS MIKASA!!!! WHAT ABOUT MIKASA????" Historia being shitted on. Him crying to a child in advance for killing him and 80% OF THE ENTIRE FUCKING WORLD for no apparent FUCKING REASON. (PREGNANT WOMEN. OLD PEOPLE. KIDS. BABIES TRAMPLED AND SQUISHED FOR WHAT HUH? FOR WHAT EREN TELL US PLEASE? "I don't fucking know" Your boy eren is so emotional that he really killed 80% of humanity in one of the most brutal ways possible and what are his final thoughts ? MIKASAS PUSSSYYYYYYY SHE WON'T BE A VIRGINNNNNN I DON'T WANTTT THATTTTTT WHYYYYYYYY. And Ymir being in love with her disgusting rapist abuser beccause she was in LOVE WITH HIM???? WHAT IS THIS TWISTED SHIT??? YOU CAN WRITE ROMANCE AND STILL MAKE IT MAKE SENSSEEEE. I can go on and on and on. The bad outweigh the good bro. EVEN ISAYAMA HIMSELF THE MAN HIMSELF???? said that he sucks at writing romance and that the ending was changed and rushed and that he could've done better and that he couldn't portray the ending the way he wanted to. It's just sad man all of you defending this shit it's like a dad defending his child for getting beat up in a fight that he started. It's embarrasing for a writer. Isayama is NOT A BAD WRITER. His editor just rushed him and made him change the ending because of the popularity of his series. He was too afraid. He pussied out. His own work became too big for him and he was overwhelmed. He was afraid and looked at fan theories to write his ending. "WHAT DO THE FANS THINK??? WHAT SHOULD I DO TO MAKE THE FANS HAPPY???? FUCK IT LET'S JUST USE AS MANY POPULAR FAN FICS AND THEORIES THERE ARE SO EVERYBODY'S HAPPY AM I RIGHT GUYS?????" ..... Sad to see it end like this. Please I know it hurts and I know you're coping. Analyzing everything to it's core. But just be honest with yourself. The mangaka himself admitted it. It's dogshit and it retconned everything. A story is only good if it has a solid finish. This was beyond horrendous.
@@slick_schlick2879 He's critiquing it, not just defending it. If you don't wanna be civil then don't comment. There's some good things about the chapter before it, 138. You're the one that can't cope yet. And might just be a shot in the dark, but there is chance for AOE. Which will probably be a flip-up of 139.
My favourite aot video. Even though the series isn't exactly a favourite of mine, I agree with everything said here. You made so many good points, especially talking about the way the love is abandoned so often in the series. Showing how characters cast aside their love to be a slave to their ambitions, contrasting how Mikasa was a slave to her love of Eren, differentiating her from the majority of characters in the series and making her the only one who could show Ymir how to break out of an abusive relationship. One of my annoyances with the series was Zeke's extreme and over the top worldview of viewing all life as pointless in 137, with me interpreting it as him always feeling this way, going hand in hand with the conception of the euthanization plan and it being pretty dumb that someone as young as Armin has to explain basic concepts about the meaning of life to an adult. You pointing out that Zeke only developed this worldview after being isolated for a long, undisclosed amount of time makes allot more sense than how I interpreted it, becoming more lost in his own thoughts, his plan to euthanize the Subjects of Ymir evolving into viewing not just their lives, but all lives as meaningless and Armin as the first other person he encounters in a while being able to snap him out of it. Even though I feel like this idea could have been more clearly conveyed in the text, thanks for pointing this out. And like you mention in the video, I feel like this is another example of an idea not being conveyed very clearly, nor with much exploration, along with Armin thanking Eren and the mixed messaging which could be extrapolated in Mikasa breaking free of her love of Eren, yet continuing grieve for him. Also, really interesting point, calling attention to the fact that the series has an almost nihilistic outlook on the endless conflict. This might explain why this aspect of the story and its lack of hope doesn't really do much for me. However I still choose to view the final pages as a proposition that when the world is reset back to where it was when Ymir began the story, there is still a possibility that things could go differently and future generations could end the conflict. Or maybe the fact that the child finds the giant tree when not being hunted by dogs, but rather alongside one shows that the world is already in a better place than before and on its way to breaking the cycle. But maybe I'm being too hopeful with these ideas. Anyway, thanks for helping me clear up some of my feelings on the series.
Holy shit I thought this was a channel with 1,000,000+ subscribers. The way you edit, how you speak, the thought and clarity you conveyed everything was absolutely astonishing! I hope this video blows up more, especially when the anime gets released. This is quite possibly the best attack on Titan video I’ve ever seen.
i agree i thought Invaderz video of "this video will change how you see Eren" was indeed the best one to do justice to the ending clarity of AOT but after watching this video, its The best video for AOT's honest ending review , just sayin to the creator of the channel i loved your video and after halfway i subscribed because of how much clearly you clarify the Foolish rants of Absolute foolish haters of ending especially those who even sent death threats to Isayama, literally shows they learned NOTHING from AOT!!
Amazing content! SnK is also one of my favourite stories I've ever experienced and this is one of the few videos that, in my humble opinion, makes justice to its ending and does not present it in a hateful, unrespectful way. I watched the whole thing and I'd do it again.
Presenting something in a way that goes against it is not automatically invalid. Just as how presenting something in a respectful way does not automatically make the argument itself valid. The only things that matter in the validity of an argument's content is logic and credibility. The pathos (emotional appeal) helps with convincing people, but having only pathos (i.e., being respectful and unhateful) is still just a flat argument.
I was initially lukewarm on the ending as I felt underwhelmed with important conversations being cut so short. And as soon as I saw the additional pages, I came to the conclusion that the story was ruined and everything that came before was rendered meaningless. Fearing AOT would go the Naruto route and create a forced sequel to capitalise on the success of the main series. But I didn't hate it, because I didn't want to hate the ending to the story that I've loved for so long. And I'm glad I didn't. If I had hated the ending, I don't think I would've had the mental fortitude to sit through an hour long essay about it. The way you explained the themes really resonated with me and have given me a new understanding of AOT. My favourite epiphany was the foreshadowing with the praying mantis. The explanation of Historia's ending or rather, lack there of, was also greatly insightful. Thank you for shining a new light on the ending for me. It has reignited my love for the series and will undoubtedly never die out.
@Md Faizan Alam But that is not the issue with the ending is it? They could have shown this exact theme in a much better way. So stop defending bad ending just because it kep its theme doesn't mean it is good. The ending was poorly written. Vharacters were retconned, the payoff was not there that had been there for 124 chapters. What happened in the last arc is tragic as Isayama was forced to change lots of his story but people don't wanna talk about the facts. AoT is GOT version 2.0 The exact same problems lead to a bad ending where the plot went to shit and the characters made no sense. was there good parts? Yes but there was also bad parts. A 5/10 ending is not suitable for a series as good as this.
@@i.k5696 Apparently he was mad at Kodansha. He left without a farewell. Like someone as big as Isayama did not get a farewell. How is that not sus. He also had an argument with his editor. It is clear they wanted him to out Mikasa at the front but he didn't he wanted a brutal ending but they wanted a happy one to sell merch. Isayama foreshadows so many things and he usually follows up on yhe foreshadowing. For once at the end of the manga he didn't. He just made a jarring hapoy ending to a story that never was meant to have a happy ending. We are still waiting for our dark dark ending. This could have been a masterpiece in tragedy writing but it has become a below average shounen. Is this what everyone wanted? Is this the 13 years of Isayama's hard work that we said was going to be a masterpiece for the ages. A step sister necro kiss, a slave girl obsessing over abusers, pointless plots and stupid gag characters? Please stop BSing me. Everyone knows this was a scam. The fans were robbed
@@zub41r75 it is a valid interpretation that everything was ruined e.t.c. But the way I interpret it is that it wasn’t a happy ending, they had to kill their best friend, mikassa had to live on and honestly they are not saved they just definitely get to live for like 100 years. I don’t think it was done perfectly but I still think he tried to say something through his ending.
@@zub41r75 and in Japan the ending was quite well received message wise, there were still complaints about that one armin line but it seems that the message was well received. Idk enough about Japan to take anything from that but either way the same cannot be said for outside it
I don't know what to type here but I really appreciate your work, I do so a lot since Attack on Titan is my favourite piece of story, media and legacy ever! Keep up the good work and much luck with the video trending!!!
A few considerations: Regarding the Ackermans immunity from memory manipulation, I think there isn't any plothole. First of all, as you said, Kenny's dad only talked about "erasing memory" of real events. And it's clearly not the case with Mikasa, since what she sees never happened in the real wolrd. In fact, there is no memory being erased or memory manipulation, neither is Eren looking inside Mikasa's mind. Those "memories" are images created by Eren with the power of the founder, and conveied to mikasa through paths. As he does with Armin, showing him the things he loves and dreamed of as a child, Eren does with Mikasa, sending her the images of what she desires . There is no doubt that Eren can communicate with the Ackermans through paths, as it is shown when he declares the rumbling. Mikasa uses the term "memories" when she talked to Armin only because that was the most logical and immediate way to call them. "Images" would have sounded weird. Moreover, those are not simple artificial images sent to her, but the manifestation of a possible outcome that would have happened if the ciscumstances were different, if Eren wasn't the boy we know. But they are true, because he does love her. Regarding the unclear theme about Mikasa being free from his love but still remaining chained to it, i think that the main point is that after she freely chose to kill him, she also chose not to forget him. And being the main theme of the story that true love requires free will, she is the most free of all since she was able not only to kill him and to move on, but also to make the most difficult choice: keep his memory. One other hint about love bring one of the main theme of the story was also given by Kriger's words to Grisha : "go and LOVE someone inside the walls, or the same story will keep repeating itself". And so Grisha does and we can see that Eren grew up free because he was loved, instead of Zeke.
That’s a really thoughtful elaboration. Do you have any thoughts on the time loop theory? Eren keeps having really long dreams, the first of which is the way we first meet him, waking up asking Mikasa when her hair got so long and crying without knowing why.
I think most people were not upset about Eren being emotional, but rather Eren’s love for Mikasa and feeling like it was out of nowhere. Eren kept moving forward in season 4 without knowing where he would end up, and I feel like most of his emotion came from him being able to talk to Armin. I think this video you made does a pretty good job at looking at other parts of Eren, and yet everyone who doesn’t want to understand Isayama’s message uses the object of “you are objectively wrong”. And I also feel like many people make the argument of “why doesn’t Eren change the future with his power”, but he couldn’t, it was already set in stone, but we know that he still cared about his friends. Whether you liked or hated the ending, I think it’s important to try and understand Isayama’s decision, even if you don’t wish to accept it.
Thank you for a great in-depth analysis. I love the ending but at the same time do not deny that it wasn't handled perfectly, so it was nice to see your balanced approach.
Hey man, AOT ended 6 months ago and somehow someway you’ve managed to make the best, most accurate analysis video of its ending. A damn good job. 👏🏼 👏🏼👏🏼
Really amazing Analysis Man. I hope this gets more attention and more than those certain YTers who instead of actually understanding the ending tries to cherry pick things to show how EH and Eren's character were contradicted.
Literally, he put into words literally what I've been wanting to say because I actually liked 139 but you can literally get death threats for saying that, it's genuinely insane
@@aidondiaz2668 if the next future generation will be much mature and smarter than when these mfs of hating on creator of this generation, etc. will no longer exists than maybe the future generation will consider AOT as the BEST story ever told!! that is if another story comes that surpasses AOT!!
@@princerawat4297 Yeah I still can't believe the way so many people completely disrespected the author just because they didn't get their way. Hope Isayama is living his best life rn🙏
Probably my personal favorite critique of the ending, specifically because it's, well... And actual critique. Which is ironic because most of the "critiques" I've seen around the ending when it first came were just sugarcoated biased takes or underresearched impressions following the herd. I respect how long you went on around it and gave it specific outlooks and went through exact pinpoints while clearing up your own take. Also a very well structured analysis in general. Big ups my dude :)
Naw fam this critique is cherry picking arguments and replying to them. I've literally never seen anyone say that Eren was never an emotional character. And even tho he is emotional, that doesn't mean that an emotional outburst was in character for him. He wanted Mikasa to throw away the scarf and move on, why tf is he crying about it to Armin? It's pathetic and completely retcons his character. If Eren wanted Mikasa to live a long, happy life like he says, why would he turn around and say she should grieve him for a long time??? "Well that's the point cause their love is tragic". Eren has never reciprocated feelings for Mikasa. And this is just the first point in the video lmfao there's a lot more he gets wrong
@@billy413 Well, I don't want to be that guy, but seeing how you're subscribed to saintitchief discussing anything remotely open-ended with you is probably a lost 'cause of baseless takes... The fact that your statement seems to come from an early assumption of the video without actually watching it whole is a red flag on itself. So respectfully; shush... I could've just said did I ask though lol, but it's' ight...
@@Osama-KIN_TMZ01 bro ur really gonna go through my subscriptions as if that proves anything 💀. I'm also subbed to foxen and he loved the ending. Why don't u create an actual response instead of just admitting defeat in the most pretentious way possible lmfao
@@Osama-KIN_TMZ01 why is it so hard to just have a discussion without being so petty because he subbed to a dude you don't like? I can understand if he started out being an ass but his comment was pretty reasonable...
What a good analysis honestly. The toxicity of that obnoxious part of the "fandom" is just ridiculous, and unfortunately it has spread everywhere. Shingeki no Kyojin is my favorite franchise of all time, and it will remain in my memory for a lifetime, so the only thing I can do is thank Isayama for all these years. Thank you for this review, your content is highly underrated.
Absolutely beautiful video! This is probably the best essay on AoT's themes and ideas I have seen on TH-cam and it really is a true eye-opener. I've actually only seen the ending recently for the first time and I've been mostly feeling very empty because of it and didn't quite know what to think... But in conclusion I think it is a solid ending that has flaws but stays true to most of its cast and themes for the most part. I do think one or two chapters more could have rounded everything up perfectly tho. I can't even begin to imagine how much work it took to make this video so I'd just like to thank you for the time and effort you've invested into this. I think everyone who absolutely hates the ending should give this video a try and see if your analysis might change some of their opinions.
Thank you for this video. You've reignited my love for attack on titan after so much toxic discourse on the ending by breaking down what the ending does well and what it does poorly in a really well done and honest way. I was so burnt out by the ending discussion but you put into words what I've been thinking for a while. Truly fantastic video. You mentioned in your review how the cycle of violence is inevitable and unstoppable, but also touched on reiner's search for forgiveness. Do you think it's fair to say that Attack on titan points it's audience in the direction of saying forgiveness is the only potential path forward for humanity in order to break out of the cycle? I always thought that was what gabi's arc and the scene with the braus family was supposed to represent. Sure maybe that's too idealistic. Maybe it doesn't work. It could never work forever. But, it prevents one from participating and contributing to it.
Thank you for the kind words and happy to see I helped in any way. Also the link you made is interesting. The idealist in me says yes, forgiveness is a way for humanity to break the cycle but not everyone can achieve that or comprehend it due humans being so emotionally driven: as is seen with the reaction to the ending - life imitates art lol. Thank you again so much for you words and question!
A great video! Very well done and you can tell the work that was put into it. Yeah the ending isn’t perfect but I still liked it. You had some great points especially about Historia that I didn’t think about. I’m still mostly lukewarm on Ymir’s ending and the hallucigenia just disappearing for some reason? I guess because it wasn’t attached or did Eren will it to die? Just wish it was a little clearer. I definitely agree that when it gets adapted for the anime it’ll be better. Especially Eren’s breakdown. I never had a problem with it tbh but even still I think having Yuki Kaji’s great voice acting I think will make it land much more than reading will
the hallucigenia was just plot device used by Isayama to show Eren survived getting his head shot off. And it also explains how he couldnt survive getting his head cut off by Mikasa since he was disconnected from the power. I saw it just a power source and a parasite that was only active becuase of Ymir, once she finally decided to be free it couldnt survive any longer, but I would later find a way through Eren I guess
@@manlit7003 i knew that point the ending just needed i guess like 1 more chapter spread since AOT chapter are 40 to 45 pages long, so that every dialogue or message would have properly conveyed BUT regardless the ending is good nothing is ruined about the story at all every main character has a proper and beautiful closer!!
Thank you so so much for the video. As a Japanese manga reader, I was so sad to see so many negative reactions from the overseas fans for the ending. I’m in tears of joy to see a positive review like this. Language is just a factor. I am sure Isayama’s work is appreciated in many other languages. And like you, many have deeper understanding than I do. But, if you read in Japanese, some things are clearer. For example, AoT is a story of Eren because its title says so. The literal translation of SnK is “attack titan”. The ending of AoT was satisfying for me.
@Briana Gonzalez Thank you for the kind words. It’s nice to be reminded that many of you liked the ending. A part of the joy of reading manga is sharing the love with other fans despite our different backgrounds.
Honestly, I felt like you needed to have posted this sooner. This was beautifully constructed with deep and coherent points that show just as much was needed to fully appreciate this tragic ending to this cruel yet beautiful story. Too many people have been influenced by the masses and gaslighted into believing that this amazing well thought out ending was anything but. And honestly with all the toxic negativity to the end made me enjoy the show even less. When I first read it alone, I cried in joy on how phenomenal this ending was. I perfectly understood all the themes Isayama wanted to portray in this story, and I spent countless amount of times sharing my appreciation of the themes of this ending on other social media outlets only to get bombarded with people who lack the ability to understand and comprehend. I became so disappointed in the fandom that I distanced myself from this ending. I felt like I was crazy for liking something so many people violently hated. It didn’t change how much I felt about how beautiful this tragic ending was, but I couldn’t fully enjoy it due to the lack of community support for its ending. I have seen many other TH-cam reviews of this series, but this is by far one of the most comprehensible on the actual themes trying to be expressed. I truely did wish I wasn’t almost entirely alone with my views for the ending. And I also agree that it does have its flaws too. The show should have needed in chapter 140 and have one chapter dedicated to Eren’s philosophies and conversations with everyone, and the last chapter is the official send off. But despite all of this, this was still a phenomenal ending that has its fans still discussing the ending till this day regardless of they like it or not. I would like to summarise this ending with one constant theme that has been apparent though this entire show “A nihilistic pursuit for freedom” this show has always made us wonder if all this fighting is worth it. Many parts of the story has said no. But many has said yes. It’s up to us to decide if it is considering on what happens in this show. And both answers are entirely correct.
Wow Daniel. Thank you. You've made my day. I'm so happy you agree so strongly and are full of passion. I would have loved to release this earlier but I needed to be honest, which meant leaving enough time to put my biases aside and look at the facts first and conclusions later. Also I needed to comb through the entire story multiple times. But hey, it's all worth it in the end. Thank you for watching and the kind words!!!
The same to me. I read it, after the new pages got released. I thought it was a beautiful ending. Also I didn't care about the new pages cuz as he sayed-we already knew it. After that I was like-well, pretty cool ending. Then I decided to watch some reviews, I just wanted to interact and talk a bit with the community about the good series/manga as a whole. Then they punched me into the face. It's like they try to change up your mind. This video got me back to freedom and to my Aot love. Isayama is a genius. Ending is not perfect but still good. The series is still a 10/10
What part made you cry? For something that’s evoked such an emotion, there’s very little substance and assumptions on negative reaction. AOT is a terrible story about racism and ending the cycle of hare. It says a lot and does nothing at the end.
@@KR811 Huh. Good point. AOT says a lot about political philosophy and whatnot, but in the end, it presents no real solution to the dilemma it presents (added pages show that peace had failed, like I get that humans would go to war again eventually but adding those scenes felt like it undermined the sense of peace that was supposed to "break" the cycle of hatred). Or maybe the fact there is no answer is, in itself, the answer? I don't really know. What I do know is that at the end of the day, I'm never going to follow the examples of any of these characters in the ending, and as such, I am left with no satisfying answer. AOT has a lot of takeaways from the other themes it presents (live for yourself, love someone for who they are, not for their usefulness, etc.), but it really bungled up the racism, cycle of hatred part imo.
Incredible video. I too see AOT as one of the greatest pieces of fiction I have ever read/seen. I too liked the ending and your video may have been the best analysis/explanation of it yet. However another factor of the ending that I thought should been talked about more is the topic of "free will vs determinism". Because I think its a very important central theme in AOT. Wether Eren really found "freedom" or what does "freedom" actually mean, I'm curious to hear your thoughts on it.
20:00 I want to preface this by saying that the theory I am about to propose goes against your argument because it would mean that Eren wasn't actually lying to Reiner. Despite this, I believe that your argument was strong and didn't really have any flaws. I also enjoyed the ending despite its flaws, and I am so glad you made this video. The following is a MAJOR detail about Eren that I believe almost everyone missed/overlooked in the ending of AoT. I haven't seen a single other person talk about this on the internet. Therefore, I haven't had any people refuting my claim, so please excuse me if this is off the mark or has inconsistencies that you notice. Starting off in 139, Eren says to Armin, "Getting even my precious friends wrapped up in this battle [the rumbling], without even knowing if you'd survive it". Eren talked about how he forced the Scouts to fight him and still wasn't sure if they would make it out alive. Eren's memory of the future was hazy, and this quote PROVES that he didn't remember everything that he saw during the flash of memories he got when he kissed Historia's hand. To further this point, let's go back to Sasha's death in the Marley arc (Chapter 105). Connie enters the room Eren is in and informs him of Sasha's death. At this point, Eren's expression hasn't changed one bit, he remains straight-faced while the others in the ship are crying. Eren then asks Connie, "what were her last words?". Connie's response was "Meat.", as we all likely recall. It was only after this point when Eren broke down and started cry-laughing. Now this is all up to speculation, but I believe that part of the reason for this breakdown was the fact that this was a shard of memory that he had seen. Obviously, Eren also broke down here because "Meat" is Sasha's catchphrase, but my argument is that Eren asking Connie what her last words were was a way of him confirming what he saw in his memories. The counter-argument that Eren broke down because he loves his friends doesn't apply to it's full extent here, as Eren only broke down AFTER Connie said Sasha's last words. Maybe my example with Sasha's death might be reaching, but Eren's dialogue with Armin in 139 clearly hints at Eren not being able to remember everything from the future. With all of this knowledge, I don't think Eren knew at the time of speaking to Reiner and Bertholdt that he actually had killed his mother.
Even though I'm not a big fan of the ending, I'll give it this: It stuck to the theme that violence will always come back to bite you, on both sides of the ocean. Marley subjugated Eldians and condemned Paradis to fight Titans for a century. This led to the whole nation being destroyed with only a handful of survivors. Paradis became a fascist state named after the man who killed 80% of the planet. This led to the whole nation being destroyed with only a handful of survivors. When I first got into AoT in 2013, I predicted it would end with humanity getting wiped out by Titans because they can't get their shit together. The signs were so obvious with all the in-fighting in the Walls, even when a Titan was literally running at them! Turns out I was right after all, even without a 100% Rumbling and in Paradis' case, without Titans. Thank you for showing the ending in a whole new light @JustAcritic!
Finally an honest analysis that actually took the time to start AFTER the last chapter. I understand that getting a review out just after the last chapter is good for the algo, but it is incapable to talk about the story in context of the ending.
This is so good thank you 🤍 I really liked the part about how the theme of love was represented in the story: as a "lack of it" . It's a very interesting and original interpretation that fascinated me
Awesome video. Congrats on the subs. I'm looking forward to the next part animated as well! There is a good amount of talk about an anine only ending now, which I have my doubts. Either way, as long as the ending is paced well, adds a little more detail, and follows the themes I can't wait to watch the finale!
I think the problem is a lot of the fan base is simply people who like big titan smash kind of shit and they wanted their favorite Titan to get what he wanted
Eren can send Mikasa messages, but he can't erase them. That is probably why he started sending her those memories with both of them in at the shack so late compared to the others since Eren shared everything with Armin back in 131 while he waited until very late in the battle to share his memories with her. He spent his last moments with her in that path dream he created (his last memory is her saying "see you later Eren"). Eren sends messages to Mikasa and Levi directly in 123 and 131. He just can't erase them, also it never shows Levis reaction to Eren talking to him in the paths, probably because Eren didn't have a final conversation with him, while he did with the others.
I saw this comment in a different video and it really put the "Mikasa/Eren are in love" thing in perspective. "Realistically, with everything going on in their lives, I don't think anyone in their position would have the capacity to pursue a relationship". These are *children* thrown into a war against giant monsters. Their whole teen and pre-teen years are a whirlwind of fighting Titans and eventually finding out the truth of the world, that there are even more enemies than just Titans. Eren *DIES* at the age of 19. Seems like people expected their "relationship" to be more fleshed out and I don't see how that could happen, but It's 1000% possible they loved each other romantically, they really just never had time to act on it. They were always faced with impending extinction of Paradis and Eren's personal goal of freedom at any cost.
eren has faced near death with no clear way out multiple times pre time skip, and not once did he cry about Mikasa and not living a life with her, not even when he found out his time was limited due to titan curse. Eren was also the same person that as a child killed two men to save someone, something most kids in that situation could never think of doing. And it's not like pre time skip wa constant fights for survival 24/7, there was plenty of downtime to flesh this out. Even in volumn one of the manga isayama says Mikasa loves him as a brother, and in an interview called her love "motherly". Even the Dina scene Mikasa goes in for a kiss because it's seemingly their final moments together and eren kinda gets up and away from her, rejecting it. You can have a subtle romance that is hinted at, you just have to actually drop hints like eren and historia. Even during the rumbling with preggo historia, why show that if it's not related to eren at all? the yam man himself says he don't know how to do romance, which is why the best one is in a flashback, niccolo and Sasha. We don't need some sappy shit, but more than just eren being constantly annoyed at Mikasa suffocating overprotective nature.
Many people seem to have forgotten that scene is season 1 where a couple were brutally ripped apart; the girlfriend desperately doing CPR to her bloodied boyfriend in vain and begging for someone to help him even if it's already obvious that he's already dead. When I saw that, I knew that romance can't have a place in AOT because the setting and themes won't allow for the development of romance. Then there are some weirdos who are somehow trying to say that AOT doesn't have a good ending because 'it's endorsing genocide as the only way to FIX humanity.' Which is really stupid because AOT was never about making the best decisions; it's about humans making mistakes as humans tend to do and being individuals with their own interests and dreams to protect.
Have you forgotten the four year timeskip? They had plenty of time to get closer. Sure, they were busy but they could have bonded over their activities in those four years. It's simple really. Eremika wasn't really a super big part of the story, especially post-timeskip. I'd argue that it was most relevant in S2's finale (chapter 50), where Eren found the resolve to fight back against the smiling titan because he wanted him and mikasa to be able to get out of this together. Aside from that, Eremika was just a relationship tidbit that didn't really have a profound effect on the events of the story. It just suddenly gained importance in the ending.
Glad to see someone really acknowledge the true character of Eren. So many normie fans tried to portray Eren as some Lelouch like hero who's using the Rumbling akin to the Zero Requiem in Code Geass even though they are fundamentally different characters in their beliefs and actions. Eren is a perfect reflection of the world he was born in. I'm kinda shocked you mentioned the Braus family but didn't go deeper into the scene where Sasha's father forgives Gabi, a character who is hated despite how well written and fitting she is to the world of AoT and its themes with the story. Sasha's fathers worldviews as a hunter is quite important. I think the misunderstanding from the "simp" scene comes from poor choice of words Isayama used in Eren's dialouge that does not do a great job at making things clear. Other than that, another factor that might have contributed to not properly conveying aspects of Eren and Mikasa's character would be the huge length of the story and the few key scenes often having a huge gap between them where attention is diverted to somewhere else due to other members of the cast of characters getting more emphasis and spotlight, thus Eren getting overshadowed most of the time. This is where I think Isayama could have done much better in execution.
The problem is that even Reiner, Pieck and Annie treat Eren a Leuloch hero (considering that if eren killed 81% of humanity all thier parents would be dad its very odd) in the ending so obviously of the readers also think it.
Easily the greatest attack on titan video on youtube I think you should talked more about the aot fanbase especially the theories such as anr , the blatant erehisu above everything else bias from small portions of the fanbase, etc and how those kind of things negatively affected the manga fanbase which probably might not happen with the anime onlys (Ps: i would to like to know what would your next video be about , thanks 😊 )
Finally a video from a great underated creator which stands as a deep and complex critique of aots ending . It recognises it's flaws but it's also understands aots full narrative and characters to fully express how the developed through the story . Thank you for this masterpiece of a video . Keep being the god tier creator you are ☺️
I'm super curious to watch this. As someone who is pretty neutral on the ending, i was pretty shocked by how toxic the fandom was (in terms of both defending and hating on it)
14:15 - Your point that it was meant to be undeveloped and how "love" is a major theme in in AoT is actually something I hadn't thought of before. Previously, when i went back to examine the manga I had just come to the conclusion that it's very fitting for characters to express their selfish desires before they die and Eren was no exception. That actually adds quite a bit more depth to it for me. I'm just disappointed shipping is a big part of the discourse surrounding the ending. I still just wish he included the kiss in chapter 50 like he considered just so we can avoided the shipping discourse entirely lol 35:27 - It's honestly extremely disheartening that so many can say it glorifies/justifies genocide when this very same fandom was attacking anyone who said the series was fascist and anti semetic after the big basement reveal. And then going even further some of them will say "nothing was achieved" but still saying Eren should have done the full rumbling to solve all the Eldians problems or to "free the children from the forest" when that's the greatest glorification of them all, world peace through means of genocide. In fact, it was these very same claims that forced me to reevaluate my hatred of the ending because I refused to believe a respected author would just insert some gross ideology into their work when it's one of the most popular anime series in the world and since than I have since come to really appreciate the ending a lot. 39:46 - On this subject, I actually think the anime does a better job trying to convey the Jaegerists are very flawed than the manga does. The music, the tone...almost everything about it has a negative connotation considering the use of the Survey Corps' phrase "Dedicate your hearts" and in chapter 110/episode 71 they are effectively demonizing the phrase after killing Zackley and we see another hopeful phrase being used in a negative light in 139. I hope the anime is able to exemplify this when the time comes. EDIT: I was typing this ahead of time, but you did bring up how the anime can improve things later. I've seen a lot of people saying that they're going to take out the scenes with Historia and Eren in 130 because the ending "was obviously retconned" and that conversation proves it but I can't help but feel when the anime comes around the tone of that scene is going to be a lot darker similar to chapter 112/Table scene where he is obviously trying to push someone away and if you look at Historia's reactions she honestly looks terrified. Plus, just before those panels he was just deceiving Yelena about going along with Zeke's plan so he's just reminiscing how he's deceived people. Anyways, i just wanted to thank you for the work you put into making this video. I typically don't watch analysis videos but I saw it linked on twitter and decided to check it. You cleared up some things I still had pause about. I'm glad my love for AoT didn't die with the ending.
Wow. Thank you for not only watching but also for the thoughtful comment. I feel happy that I was able to clear things for you but I'm even happier knowing their are fans like you that are willing to take a step back and evaluate their own opinions. Also, when you said this "I had just come to the conclusion that it's very fitting for characters to express their selfish desires before they die and Eren was no exception." This is in fact correct, but serves alongside what I said. It's not just one thing there is multiple layers to it. Also (again) happy you have the same vision as me to recognise the strengths of the anime medium, and how it can help transfer ideas better. Regardless, thank you for watching and for the amazing comment.
Sorry, but I'm not really convinced. The reason for the apparent hypocrisy is pretty simple. None of us really wanted genocide to be the solution, but seeing that the alliance failed to secure peace in the added pages, it led a lot of us to think that Floch was right and that genocide would have been better. The series should have introduced a different solution other than genocide AND gave it a good ending where Paradis doesn't get nuked. Since Paradis got nuked anyway after 80% of the outside world died, it just seems logically better to go for 100% instead, but this is precisely what is frustrating for us who hate the ending. We DIDN'T want genocide to appear as the more logical choice. We DIDN'T want Floch to be right, at least I didn't, but he is, and that sucks. We DIDN'T want the added pages to undermine what Eren seemingly "accomplished". I don't know about other ending haters, but I don't really feel that Isayama supports genocide, I just feel like the actions taken by the cast were so bad that genocide appears to be a better choice in comparison. As for what Isayama actually endorses in these scenarios, I cannot claim to know, and frankly, I don't really care. What I DO care about is what the characters CHOSE to do, and I cannot morally nor logically support either Eren's or the alliance's actions, least of all Ymir. The entire AOT world got so screwed up because of these "plans". This was literally the worst outcome for both sides in my opinion. Both sides suffered tremendously (80% dead, Paradis bombed), and nothing was truly solved. The end. This video might make it seem like it makes sense, but even if it does, I would have preferred that the story took a different direction, and so I STILL hate this ending. Good for you that you can still enjoy this series, but I cannot. Have a good day.
What actually dosent make sense is that the editors constantly saying how this ending was planned from the beginning, yet there isn't even a strong foreshadowings to most of the things that happened at the last chapter. Erens motivation went from protecting his people and his friends to just "I don't know why", the most shocking thing was how Armin was completly fine with Eren killing his mother and killing 80% of humanity yet gets extremely angry at the thought of eren saying "I hate you" to mikasa even though he clearly mentioned at the beginning that he did it to push them away lol. Erens plan goes from making Alliance the heroes to " I didn't know if you'd survive" to just "I don't know why but I had to", these dialouges happen in the same chapter in like a few panels, which eren keeps constantly contradicting to what his actual plans even were. Also, considering mikasa's choice was everything needed to end the 2000 long years of curse, you'd expect some strong foreshadowing and more meaning development to mikasa yet for some reason, Historia gets her own arc rather than the main character who's result ended everything? Ymirs case is weird becuz that whole love plot point is just....stupid, there are many arguments saying it's Stockholm syndrome, but Stockholm syndrome isn't curable by any way, so saying Ymir actually had genuine love for someone who treated her like shit is just not compelling enough, it wasn't shown that way to the reader, it was more of a master-slave kind of situation, Eren even says it himself "You're not a slave, You're not a God either", even the 80% plan dosent work because the Marleyns are outright ignorant, why would the rest of the world even believe that "some" eldians stopped the rumbling? The cause for their hatred isn't them turning into titans, it's their whole history of 2000 years, and erens rumbling plus the yeagar faction being in control of Paradis island and making eren as their "hero" just solidifies their hatred even more. It's actually funny considering how Eren actually fought with the alliance without holding back while trying to kill them, yet the next chapter they start thanking eren even though he nearly killed their families and killed 80% of humanity?
@@Alvacka97 the video goes into is just to "try" and make sense of things that had no strong foreshadowing and try to make sense using things like " big shards" to justify why erens tantrum makes sense, it dosent go to the logic of why marleyns even considering eldians are "good" just becuz they cannot turn into titans is ridiculous, and you haven't even read my whole comment to even know what the problems even are..
@@doctorlazy2730 Eren having a plan and said plan working out exactly as he thought are two separate things, Eren's plan wasn't perfect, nor was Zeke's or Armin's. That's the point, they're just human beings put in a terrible situation trying to make the best out of it. He had multiple goals, but when those goals crossed over each other (Saving his friend's lives, ending the curse and completing the rumbling, if he completes the rumbling he fails at the first two, but he achieves temporary peace for Paradis), he had to compromise one goal for the other to be accomplished.
@@Alvacka97 Mate, he literally can take away their titan powers, or erase their memories and keep them safe at the island and just do the full rumbling.....
I loved the video. One of my main disagreements though would be about the assumption you made about Titans returning cos of the last page. I don't think that's happening. It's just that the boy will touch the source of life. Doesn't guarantee that it'll give birth to Titans. The Titans being born and the curse is unique to Ymir as is explained by Zeke in paths.
you made a very fair point, something totally random can happen as well, i recently read the chapter "TITANS" and read the ymir talk by zeke after reading it I do think many situations can be different this time. we don't know who the boy is and whats gonna happend to him so noone can say for sure!!
@@princerawat4297 Yes. Chapter 137 makes it pretty clear. Also, Eren's last Titan form has been given an official name by Isayama now. "Shuubi no Kyojin". Has multiple layers but is roughly translated to "The Final Titan". Quite fitting
Just a little something i wanted to comment on regarding the titan powers coming back. Obviously the tree is clearly indicating the power coming back but i believe it's the power that birthed the Titans and not the titans themselves as chapter 137 showed us that they were born out of Ymir's desire for strenght at that moment.
You also need to remember that Eren did not see EVERYTHING in the future, he didn't know about Ymir or what exactly happens when he and Zeke would go into the paths. I also don't think he knew about his involvement with his mother's death as he says that once he gained the founder's power he was able to view the past and future, which is how he got involved. He saw his memories and from what he he could see he was acting emotionless and seemed to not care about his friends.
A big detail that I think a lot of people overlook is that he didn't see the entire future. I think that he saw what was similar to the shards in 120, but with greater detail.
This is the absolute best video I’ve seen on this topic. Congratulations on cutting thru all of the reactionary drivel that has has unfortunately become the widely accepted response to this ending, and creating probably the definitive analysis of its themes. Your critique’s are incredibly on point and placed exactly where they are needed, and your defenses against the more ridiculous arguments from the angrier, more rabidly critical side of the fandom were spot on as well. Listening to someone with an actual high level of media literacy speak was incredibly refreshing.
I know I am late to the party, but I really enjoyed your analysis. I actually remember reading the ending and feeling a sense of tragedy that I could not shake away. I think that you explained well some of the issues as well as the strengths of the storytelling that somehow got lost in some readers. After seeing the Season 4 part 3 animated, though, I am confident that the last episode will give a satisfactory conclusion to the story. Great job!
Gotta say, Historia ending up with Farmer Kun and the baby being /nothing/ except a symbol of the future was still one of the lamest things in the chapter. Only second to Eren sending the titan after his mother
a major plothole is why Eren believes Mikasa is the key to all this, he says he doesnt know what she will do, which makes sense because she ends up killing him and we know he can't look past his death. Yet he still knows that Mikasa is involved with the reason why the titans end? How does he know and how does Ymir know? Its too vague.
Her decision to kill the person she loved, and refusal to forget him showed ymir an aspect that she needed to see (the beauty and cruelty of the world theme), and Eren showed her that she didn’t have to be a slave. She chose to continue being a slave bc she wanted love (as evidenced by her longingly looking at married people, instinctively taking a spear for the one person who “cared” for her to any degree), but they in tandem through their actions showed that she could be free, could still feel whatever feelings and let go of her security for example, mikasa refused to forget, so she denied eren’s request and carried it out on her own terms, while ymir stayed in paths following the wishes of a terrible man bc it was all she knew, and seeing mikasa go through that sort of thing - especially since Eren was her world/her sense of security, it showed ymir she could do the same. That’s also kinda why I think historia never was the best parallel with ymir, historia is like ymir if she was able to take control of her circumstances herself, whereas mikasa and ymir both share the finding security in other stuff aspect Hopefully this made some sense, I’m typing on my phone so I can’t see it laid out as clearly
my problem IMO with it is mostly pacing , armin/eren and ymir dialogue , i love eren being emotional for like when Hannes died and thought of himself as a failure even after repairing the wall , facing female titan , all this power and couldn't save one person that was important to him in the end and killing the smiling titan the one that killed his mother , this scene was truly beautiful , from the laughing to crying showing how damaged his mentality is, however i wish he a breakdown for everything he has done and how far gone he is with him not even knowing where or when he is at due to the memories and feeling like hes been here and there already , however it was just about mikasa , i dont mind him crying over mikasa but as this being the main breakdown is what ruins it for me , and armin forgiving eren , he already came to the conclusion about eren doing it for them when the rumbling first started and then knew eren was wrong killing innocent lives and arguing to eren in the end a final face to face not about the rumbling after knowing he has to kill eren but it turns into an argument about mikasa feelings , then ymir just simply being "love" ik its supposed to be a mental disorder but i wish they explained it furthermore than it just being "love" such as she was brainwashed , enslaved into thinking she was being loved and cared for as she was a slave then giving a higher status in the eldian kingdom such as the other ymir who was taken in and then betrayed and she came to the conclusion that they couldn't trust anyone ,other than that i love the ending the idea of eren holding it all in , knowing almost everything walking towards his death , chasing a false freedom blinding him , entrusting his friends , the worlds hatred never ending showing that as long as two sides exist war will exist , "if you cant sacrifice everything, you cant change anything" and thats what happened , erens broken mind etc
@high -five This makes sense I agree, but the fucking 139 dialog is confusing, dont armin and eren talk about the table scene and make it seem like he did that because he KNEW was the future was? Or is that just more "I dont know why I just did". Either way ruined the agency eren had.
Just found your channel and I love it! It's so nice to see someone actually analyse and understand the intentions behind the later chapters in AOT instead of just getting upset that the series didn't end in the way they wanted it to.
Holy shit. I'm so proud smart people still exist in this fandom. The ending and aot in general has sparked so many idiots and awful ways of thinking its nice to see someone genuinely care about the source material and isn't just doing it for the ships or some dumb theories like AnR. You've outdone yourself. I've seen the awful takes on Reddit, TH-cam, and Twitter and I'm so thrilled for this video and for someone who has a critical way of thinking rather than being so quick to jump to something to justify a stupid take. Once again, well done
I think it is very understandable how people can dislike the ending somewhat, but saying it ruined a masterpiece is a major overstatement. One thing the AoT fandom was known for was hating on a chapter before it even came out. They were basically praying on Isayama's downfall, and when the ending wasn't executed well they went ham. I definitely think the anime-onlys will have a better reaction to the ending.
Sorry but I'm not sure if it's appropriate to say that not liking the ending = being an idiot. I've seen both sides. Some of the ending haters just spam insults and joke around without critical reasoning, but I assure you, there are others who have legitimate reasons to hate the ending. Just agree to disagree instead of dismissing the opposition as idiots.
Despite having slightly different views of eren than you do, you still portrayed him pretty well and imo you portrayed the rest of the characters even better. Definitely didn't regret watching that, thank you.🙏
I'd actually argue the additional pages give credence to the Yeagerists being RIGHT. Eren not wiping out all of humanity outside of Paradis, and instead letting his friends save the world from him, is what led to it's destruction out of vengeance from the outside world.
It would seem like that but at the very least that’s not the intention and I’m inclined to disagree, I think the point is that the cycle will continue, this wasn’t the end of hatred. Given the details we can safely assume that A they weren’t killed for revenge And B the negotiations went well The point is that humanity will always be fighting with each other and I’m inclined to think that if eren won paradis would have destroyed itself eventually
@@i.k5696 They were preparing for war after the Rumbling though. "Fearing the retaliation of the remnants of humanity outside the walls, Paradis has strengthened its forces" So the outside world did want revenge on them
Tbh Isayama just wanted to write a story about a tragic hero with some historical allegory and we probably put more emphasis on the historical allegory assuming he was trying to say something about our world and I do think it fails on that front in the end and a major reason why people are disappointed. We were looking at something Isayama himself wasn't focused on. I'm still disappointed but I've made peace with that.
Personally, I think the ending is just okay but not at the level the rest of the series was imo, my opinion may change when I see it animated. However, I am not gonna hate on anyone that likes it and this here is a well researched video, here's my like for you. 💯
By far the best analysis of the ending on youtube. After scrolling through so many videos of people mindlessly raging about it, or crying over said videos, this feels fresh and actually well crafted. It was not the best ending, but by far not the worst. Competent enough to still be my favourite piece of fiction yet.
One aspect that I found interesting is the aspect Ymir and Mikasa. The entire story is really about Ymir trying to find someone strong enough to kill her. (omitting all the important plot and themes of course) Everything happened to service Ymir's goal, and the one who seemed to be a slave to love was the one who broke free, while the one who seeks freedom was the slave to this whole scheme. Though this is just one aspect. It's the story's overall theme about humanity's cycle of greed, conflict, and hate and how it plays out that is so compelling. Unless one is oblivious to the core theme, it's silly to expect things to be tied up in a neat little bow and everyone living happily ever after. Much like Eren's a shackle of destiny, the story itself is also shacked to be told in a certain way, and those who pay attention will see how it plays out from a long time ago, or at least not be surprised by what transpired right after the fact.
Just a minor thing, ig, you got wrong...Titan powers aren't hinted to be back, that child is approaching the tree that houses 'source of all living matters'...which takes on the form of whatever the person who comes to be in contact of it...Ymir feared death, wanted an undying body, so the Titans; that child may birth something else.
Uh... that's complete conjecture. Titans are more about power than immortality anyway. And "fear of death" was never her defining feature, it was the "desire for love." So "desire for love" = an army of biological super-weapons? :P
Thank you for this analysis video. I’m sure I’m parroting a bunch of other comments, but I was originally lukewarm on the ending and I am very happy that I have a better grasp and understanding of it now thanks to this video. AOT is my favorite manga/anime and your break down of the ending really complements Isayama’s work and helps perfect the nuances that I originally didn’t notice or brushed over. Wonderful job, and I couldn’t agree more with every topic. 🫡👏
One thing that ticked me off about the ending was that it's never addressed what happens to the millions of colossal titans after the rumbling. Aside from that point, all other ideas of the ending were fine but executed with various degrees of polish. I hope the anime can flesh out these ideas in a satisfying way, without making any fundamental changes to the conclusion of each character arc.
It can be assumed that they were husks like the ancient titans formed on the back of Eren’s Founding Titan, and thus turned to dust when the curse was lifted.
The Rumbling would have realistically destroyed 80% of Earth's biosphere, leaving the planet to die a slow death. As soon as you start applying logic to this, it all falls apart.
@@wasserruebenvergilbungsvirus the rest of the world getting back to carpet bombing capabilities after being shown them lining up for soup kitchens is ass backwards as hell. Even in a 100 years, how the fuck did they get the industry to build bombers when the world was pretty much a wasteland?
On my initial read, the Ending felt really weird. Not only that but I too thought it had butchered Eren's character. Although after a few re-reads it made so much more sense once I had time to fully think about each part of the Conclusion, and I actually really like it now. I think it could've been fleshed out a lot better but Isayama stuck to his guns and made a conclusion that fits with the themes of the story. Something to consider, is a few quotes from certain characters that embody the theme of the cycle of violence and how Eren would never succeed in the long term. "Conflict will never end until there is one human left or less". - Erwin "Do you think this will stop the fighting? All you're doing is making the world smaller". - Kiyomi
Brother Thank you for this video. Honestly I wasn't satisfied with the ending. But this video made me clear about majority of the things. This show is the greatest with out a doubt. The video also made me cry.
I keep coming back to this video because of how good it is. Out of all the critiques I've watched yours is the only one that has really helped me better grasp the themes of AOT. Love the method you used to analyze the manga, you seem to have a very deep understanding of Isayama's story and the points you make are very sound. No far fetched interpretations, confirmation biases or mental gymnastics, just straightforward explanations unlike most AOT reviews (positive or negative) out here that unfortunately get more views...
The story of attack on titan is the best i have seen in any medium In the additional page I wished isayama didn't show the titan tree though it is necessary though to show monsters will still be made But I wish he ended at the bird flying away
Your logic that because his Mom isn’t there in the middle, therefore he loves Mikasa in a sexual or romantic way is flawed. Of course he cares more about Mikasa now because she is alive and more important to him in that moment.
Another brilliant analysis and review! Thank you so much for sharing, and for all of the obviously extremely hard work and effort you put into this. I really loved the ending of AoT, and you perfectly conveyed and summed up all of the reasons why. Whenever someone criticizes the ending now, I'll direct them to your video so they can better understand it. Thank you so much again! I look forward to any future AoT videos you post, you have such a fantastic grasp and understanding of this incredible and important story.
I believe Eren actually didn’t know he would have been stopped prior to initiating the rumbling and gaining the full power of the founding titan, when he kissed Historia’s hand at the medal ceremony he saw memories of Grisha’s past that future Eren sent to him which includes 1)Starting the rumbling 2)Reaching ‘that scenary’ 3)Plenty of vague memories including the ones of Ramzi. It’s only after receiving the founder’s power, he saw the entire timeline(past and future) and Ymir being freed due to Mikasa’s choice. In chapter 139, kid Eren pretends to agree with kid Armin who says he wanted to make them the heroes and that he did it for their sake, but kid Eren just looks away(similar to how in chapter 100, Reiner tells Eren he breached the walls to ‘save the world’ and then looks away and later in that chapter he reveals his true intentions of wanting to be a Hero/doing it for himself and accepting his fate of dying in the hands of Eren), as the conversation with Armin goes on, he tries to reveal the truth that he would have wiped the entire world even if he never knew they would stop him, because he did he did cuz he wanted to(for himself). People try to debunk this claim with the panel where Armin says ‘So, this is what you saw at the medal ceremony’(this happens before he reveals the ‘truth’), however Eren himself doesn’t confirm this, and just mentioned how messed up his brain has been every since he gained the founder’s power to witness the entire timeline, which means that very likely Eren himself isn’t able to understand and differentiate which he saw prior to starting the rumbling and which memories he saw after he initiated the rumbling, because he spent an eternity in paths.
Idk what happened to my comment but I just wanted to ask, where do relationships like Falco/Gabi & Armin/Annie fit into your interpretation of the theme of love in AOT? If I'm following your interpretation correctly, wouldn't Gabi & Annie died in 138? Or do they function under another theme? Curious to hear your thoughts on this.
Well there love story I guess you can call it doesnt work out as the main core of conflict (story) plays out. However, as soon as they leave the military we see that there relationships are possible. They are removed from the events of violence. Thanks for watching!
The problem with attack on titans ending was that it seemed like it was rushed, this is meant in the sense that pacing didn't seem right it started to increase towards the end, if the were more chapter perhaps the ending could be more fleshed out
Isayama admits to rushing towards his end. Like abandoning multiple world building elements that he set up prior.
@@edwardelric2905 i hope and in pray my friend … it’s such a legendary series … hopefully they realize this
It has the materials it needed,but the execution is very shaky because of how rushed,undercooked and obtuse the presentation of these aspects.
@@kylemelo6921 exactly … like the secret sauce is somewhere in there but the execution was trash
@@KakaOfTheRealMadrid It would have been better if the final chapter has separated into 6 chapters to flesh things out properly.Maybe 3 for the final moments and 3 for the epilogue.
I think that's my only problem with the ending is that the ending for everybody was incredibly rushed. I mean everybody gets like one panel instead of seeing more of what they do after everything, I also wished that Eren and Mikasa had a long conversation after too like they did with Armin
Ye agree, could be better the ending, but I still love it
Obviously I’d also love to see a lengthy conversation between Eren and Mikasa but I think we won’t get that, because it would take away from the tragedy of their relationship. We know that they lived together for what seemed like 4 years in Mikasa’s vision, but exactly the shortage of information we get makes it so daunting.
Yeah I think that the story would be more beautiful if the end was Eren and Mikasa living in that dream state, and when they finally say goodbye, it leads to episode one of the series when Eren wakes up and ask why Mikasa's hair is longer. Though this story has a strong theme to tell, about the cycle of humanity, and I do applaud the author's vision to stick to that theme.
Eren wanted her to forget about him , isnt that a point? What long conversation?
@@lanzer22your dream come true. In official ending song itterasshai Mikasa reunite with eren in afterlife ❤
People actually say Eren isn’t emotional? He’s literally the definition of extremely emotional. Wtf
lots of super manga fans became enamored and obsessed with “gigachad eren” where he became super quiet and ruthless. they somehow missed out on the fact that he was actively suppressing his emotions and trying to close himself off to the world as a way to cope with what he realized he would have to do
@@nomorepartiezz I would have thought people would've learned as much considering Reiner did THE EXACT SAME THING
Never over mikasa and literally what about the 80%? Fuck them right?
Eren has always been emotional, impulsive and violent (prob why I never fully liked him, lol). He was starting to get better during The Return of Shinganshina arc; after that everything went to sh*t
@@l4zuzis534Again yes and no, Eren is emotional, literally a childish character fighting for his imaginary dreams, he acts like an imbecile since he was a kid, and he loves Mikasa so what do you think he would have reacted? He's not a fucking giga chad, he is Eren Yeager, an emotional character who reacts at the extreme, so if he loves he will love as no one, if he hates he will hate as no one
Finally, a critique that analyzes the work under the themes, message, character dynamics and prism with which the author conceived the work and the ending.
Lol
@@xxx-us9fjPlz shut up
Holy shit, a refreshingly sober, meticulously researched, superbly edited, and thorough as hell analysis on 139.
Goddamn it's so cathartic how fair, balanced and charitable you are with not just the ending, but the series as a whole.
Effectively undermining so many reactionary reviews of it.
Only an anime fandom can gaslight you into thinking you remembered canon/lore wrong.
And thank you SO much for vehemently defending my boy Eren. Hearing you spit facts like that was just *chef's kiss*
So poetically put. Thank you so much for you continued love and support. Seeing you so happy makes the months of work worth it.
If everyone has time, don't miss the chance to check @Underwhelming Unicorn's content, some greats!
Thank you!!!
Thank you! This video is masterful, seriously, I couldn't agree more. Oh also, that outro was sooooo hype ✊🤘
Definitely charitable
@@JustAcritic "I don't know why I did it" "Bertholt wasn't supposed to die" "MIKASA FEELINGS MIKASA!!!! WHAT ABOUT MIKASA????" Historia being shitted on. Him crying to a child in advance for killing him and 80% OF THE ENTIRE FUCKING WORLD for no apparent FUCKING REASON. (PREGNANT WOMEN. OLD PEOPLE. KIDS. BABIES TRAMPLED AND SQUISHED FOR WHAT HUH? FOR WHAT EREN TELL US PLEASE? "I don't fucking know" Your boy eren is so emotional that he really killed 80% of humanity in one of the most brutal ways possible and what are his final thoughts ? MIKASAS PUSSSYYYYYYY SHE WON'T BE A VIRGINNNNNN I DON'T WANTTT THATTTTTT WHYYYYYYYY. And Ymir being in love with her disgusting rapist abuser beccause she was in LOVE WITH HIM???? WHAT IS THIS TWISTED SHIT??? YOU CAN WRITE ROMANCE AND STILL MAKE IT MAKE SENSSEEEE. I can go on and on and on. The bad outweigh the good bro. EVEN ISAYAMA HIMSELF THE MAN HIMSELF???? said that he sucks at writing romance and that the ending was changed and rushed and that he could've done better and that he couldn't portray the ending the way he wanted to. It's just sad man all of you defending this shit it's like a dad defending his child for getting beat up in a fight that he started. It's embarrasing for a writer. Isayama is NOT A BAD WRITER. His editor just rushed him and made him change the ending because of the popularity of his series. He was too afraid. He pussied out. His own work became too big for him and he was overwhelmed. He was afraid and looked at fan theories to write his ending. "WHAT DO THE FANS THINK??? WHAT SHOULD I DO TO MAKE THE FANS HAPPY???? FUCK IT LET'S JUST USE AS MANY POPULAR FAN FICS AND THEORIES THERE ARE SO EVERYBODY'S HAPPY AM I RIGHT GUYS?????" ..... Sad to see it end like this. Please I know it hurts and I know you're coping. Analyzing everything to it's core. But just be honest with yourself. The mangaka himself admitted it. It's dogshit and it retconned everything. A story is only good if it has a solid finish. This was beyond horrendous.
@@slick_schlick2879 He's critiquing it, not just defending it. If you don't wanna be civil then don't comment. There's some good things about the chapter before it, 138. You're the one that can't cope yet.
And might just be a shot in the dark, but there is chance for AOE. Which will probably be a flip-up of 139.
My favourite aot video.
Even though the series isn't exactly a favourite of mine, I agree with everything said here. You made so many good points, especially talking about the way the love is abandoned so often in the series. Showing how characters cast aside their love to be a slave to their ambitions, contrasting how Mikasa was a slave to her love of Eren, differentiating her from the majority of characters in the series and making her the only one who could show Ymir how to break out of an abusive relationship.
One of my annoyances with the series was Zeke's extreme and over the top worldview of viewing all life as pointless in 137, with me interpreting it as him always feeling this way, going hand in hand with the conception of the euthanization plan and it being pretty dumb that someone as young as Armin has to explain basic concepts about the meaning of life to an adult.
You pointing out that Zeke only developed this worldview after being isolated for a long, undisclosed amount of time makes allot more sense than how I interpreted it, becoming more lost in his own thoughts, his plan to euthanize the Subjects of Ymir evolving into viewing not just their lives, but all lives as meaningless and Armin as the first other person he encounters in a while being able to snap him out of it.
Even though I feel like this idea could have been more clearly conveyed in the text, thanks for pointing this out.
And like you mention in the video, I feel like this is another example of an idea not being conveyed very clearly, nor with much exploration, along with Armin thanking Eren and the mixed messaging which could be extrapolated in Mikasa breaking free of her love of Eren, yet continuing grieve for him.
Also, really interesting point, calling attention to the fact that the series has an almost nihilistic outlook on the endless conflict. This might explain why this aspect of the story and its lack of hope doesn't really do much for me. However I still choose to view the final pages as a proposition that when the world is reset back to where it was when Ymir began the story, there is still a possibility that things could go differently and future generations could end the conflict. Or maybe the fact that the child finds the giant tree when not being hunted by dogs, but rather alongside one shows that the world is already in a better place than before and on its way to breaking the cycle. But maybe I'm being too hopeful with these ideas.
Anyway, thanks for helping me clear up some of my feelings on the series.
Holy shit I thought this was a channel with 1,000,000+ subscribers. The way you edit, how you speak, the thought and clarity you conveyed everything was absolutely astonishing! I hope this video blows up more, especially when the anime gets released. This is quite possibly the best attack on Titan video I’ve ever seen.
i agree i thought Invaderz video of "this video will change how you see Eren" was indeed the best one to do justice to the ending clarity of AOT but after watching this video, its The best video for AOT's honest ending review , just sayin to the creator of the channel i loved your video and after halfway i subscribed because of how much clearly you clarify the Foolish rants of Absolute foolish haters of ending especially those who even sent death threats to Isayama, literally shows they learned NOTHING from AOT!!
Amazing content! SnK is also one of my favourite stories I've ever experienced and this is one of the few videos that, in my humble opinion, makes justice to its ending and does not present it in a hateful, unrespectful way. I watched the whole thing and I'd do it again.
Presenting something in a way that goes against it is not automatically invalid. Just as how presenting something in a respectful way does not automatically make the argument itself valid. The only things that matter in the validity of an argument's content is logic and credibility. The pathos (emotional appeal) helps with convincing people, but having only pathos (i.e., being respectful and unhateful) is still just a flat argument.
@@r.s.7929Go straight in what you want to tell us
I was initially lukewarm on the ending as I felt underwhelmed with important conversations being cut so short. And as soon as I saw the additional pages, I came to the conclusion that the story was ruined and everything that came before was rendered meaningless. Fearing AOT would go the Naruto route and create a forced sequel to capitalise on the success of the main series. But I didn't hate it, because I didn't want to hate the ending to the story that I've loved for so long. And I'm glad I didn't. If I had hated the ending, I don't think I would've had the mental fortitude to sit through an hour long essay about it.
The way you explained the themes really resonated with me and have given me a new understanding of AOT. My favourite epiphany was the foreshadowing with the praying mantis. The explanation of Historia's ending or rather, lack there of, was also greatly insightful.
Thank you for shining a new light on the ending for me. It has reignited my love for the series and will undoubtedly never die out.
@Md Faizan Alam But that is not the issue with the ending is it? They could have shown this exact theme in a much better way. So stop defending bad ending just because it kep its theme doesn't mean it is good. The ending was poorly written. Vharacters were retconned, the payoff was not there that had been there for 124 chapters. What happened in the last arc is tragic as Isayama was forced to change lots of his story but people don't wanna talk about the facts. AoT is GOT version 2.0 The exact same problems lead to a bad ending where the plot went to shit and the characters made no sense. was there good parts? Yes but there was also bad parts. A 5/10 ending is not suitable for a series as good as this.
@@zub41r75 dude he wasn’t made to change story details he was just rushed, ok wait why do you think that since I might be wrong
@@i.k5696 Apparently he was mad at Kodansha. He left without a farewell. Like someone as big as Isayama did not get a farewell. How is that not sus. He also had an argument with his editor. It is clear they wanted him to out Mikasa at the front but he didn't he wanted a brutal ending but they wanted a happy one to sell merch. Isayama foreshadows so many things and he usually follows up on yhe foreshadowing. For once at the end of the manga he didn't. He just made a jarring hapoy ending to a story that never was meant to have a happy ending. We are still waiting for our dark dark ending. This could have been a masterpiece in tragedy writing but it has become a below average shounen. Is this what everyone wanted? Is this the 13 years of Isayama's hard work that we said was going to be a masterpiece for the ages. A step sister necro kiss, a slave girl obsessing over abusers, pointless plots and stupid gag characters? Please stop BSing me. Everyone knows this was a scam. The fans were robbed
@@zub41r75 it is a valid interpretation that everything was ruined e.t.c.
But the way I interpret it is that it wasn’t a happy ending, they had to kill their best friend, mikassa had to live on and honestly they are not saved they just definitely get to live for like 100 years.
I don’t think it was done perfectly but I still think he tried to say something through his ending.
@@zub41r75 and in Japan the ending was quite well received message wise, there were still complaints about that one armin line but it seems that the message was well received. Idk enough about Japan to take anything from that but either way the same cannot be said for outside it
This is one of the best reviews of anything ever!
This deserves so much more views!
Kudos man
Beautifully written and edited video. Great job on this.
wow. you actually massively changed my perspective about the ending. loved this video, keep it up man :)
I don't know what to type here but I really appreciate your work, I do so a lot since Attack on Titan is my favourite piece of story, media and legacy ever! Keep up the good work and much luck with the video trending!!!
A few considerations:
Regarding the Ackermans immunity from memory manipulation, I think there isn't any plothole.
First of all, as you said, Kenny's dad only talked about "erasing memory" of real events.
And it's clearly not the case with Mikasa, since what she sees never happened in the real wolrd.
In fact, there is no memory being erased or memory manipulation, neither is Eren looking inside Mikasa's mind. Those "memories" are images created by Eren with the power of the founder, and conveied to mikasa through paths.
As he does with Armin, showing him the things he loves and dreamed of as a child, Eren does with Mikasa, sending her the images of what she desires . There is no doubt that Eren can communicate with the Ackermans through paths, as it is shown when he declares the rumbling.
Mikasa uses the term "memories" when she talked to Armin only because that was the most logical and immediate way to call them. "Images" would have sounded weird. Moreover, those are not simple artificial images sent to her, but the manifestation of a possible outcome that would have happened if the ciscumstances were different, if Eren wasn't the boy we know. But they are true, because he does love her.
Regarding the unclear theme about Mikasa being free from his love but still remaining chained to it, i think that the main point is that after she freely chose to kill him, she also chose not to forget him. And being the main theme of the story that true love requires free will, she is the most free of all since she was able not only to kill him and to move on, but also to make the most difficult choice: keep his memory.
One other hint about love bring one of the main theme of the story was also given by Kriger's words to Grisha : "go and LOVE someone inside the walls, or the same story will keep repeating itself". And so Grisha does and we can see that Eren grew up free because he was loved, instead of Zeke.
Beautiful
That’s a really thoughtful elaboration. Do you have any thoughts on the time loop theory? Eren keeps having really long dreams, the first of which is the way we first meet him, waking up asking Mikasa when her hair got so long and crying without knowing why.
It was said that her memories were deleted. Even more obvious in the japanese version.
I think most people were not upset about Eren being emotional, but rather Eren’s love for Mikasa and feeling like it was out of nowhere.
Eren kept moving forward in season 4 without knowing where he would end up, and I feel like most of his emotion came from him being able to talk to Armin.
I think this video you made does a pretty good job at looking at other parts of Eren, and yet everyone who doesn’t want to understand Isayama’s message uses the object of “you are objectively wrong”.
And I also feel like many people make the argument of “why doesn’t Eren change the future with his power”, but he couldn’t, it was already set in stone, but we know that he still cared about his friends.
Whether you liked or hated the ending, I think it’s important to try and understand Isayama’s decision, even if you don’t wish to accept it.
Thank you for a great in-depth analysis. I love the ending but at the same time do not deny that it wasn't handled perfectly, so it was nice to see your balanced approach.
Hey man, AOT ended 6 months ago and somehow someway you’ve managed to make the best, most accurate analysis video of its ending.
A damn good job. 👏🏼 👏🏼👏🏼
Really amazing Analysis Man. I hope this gets more attention and more than those certain YTers who instead of actually understanding the ending tries to cherry pick things to show how EH and Eren's character were contradicted.
this is by far the best review ever, thank you!!!
Absolutely speechless. What an amazing review.
Literally, he put into words literally what I've been wanting to say because I actually liked 139 but you can literally get death threats for saying that, it's genuinely insane
@@aidondiaz2668 if the next future generation will be much mature and smarter than when these mfs of hating on creator of this generation, etc. will no longer exists than maybe the future generation will consider AOT as the BEST story ever told!! that is if another story comes that surpasses AOT!!
@@princerawat4297 Yeah I still can't believe the way so many people completely disrespected the author just because they didn't get their way. Hope Isayama is living his best life rn🙏
Probably my personal favorite critique of the ending, specifically because it's, well... And actual critique. Which is ironic because most of the "critiques" I've seen around the ending when it first came were just sugarcoated biased takes or underresearched impressions following the herd. I respect how long you went on around it and gave it specific outlooks and went through exact pinpoints while clearing up your own take. Also a very well structured analysis in general. Big ups my dude :)
Naw fam this critique is cherry picking arguments and replying to them. I've literally never seen anyone say that Eren was never an emotional character. And even tho he is emotional, that doesn't mean that an emotional outburst was in character for him. He wanted Mikasa to throw away the scarf and move on, why tf is he crying about it to Armin? It's pathetic and completely retcons his character. If Eren wanted Mikasa to live a long, happy life like he says, why would he turn around and say she should grieve him for a long time??? "Well that's the point cause their love is tragic". Eren has never reciprocated feelings for Mikasa. And this is just the first point in the video lmfao there's a lot more he gets wrong
@@billy413 Well, I don't want to be that guy, but seeing how you're subscribed to saintitchief discussing anything remotely open-ended with you is probably a lost 'cause of baseless takes... The fact that your statement seems to come from an early assumption of the video without actually watching it whole is a red flag on itself. So respectfully; shush...
I could've just said did I ask though lol, but it's' ight...
@@Osama-KIN_TMZ01 bro ur really gonna go through my subscriptions as if that proves anything 💀. I'm also subbed to foxen and he loved the ending. Why don't u create an actual response instead of just admitting defeat in the most pretentious way possible lmfao
@@Osama-KIN_TMZ01 why is it so hard to just have a discussion without being so petty because he subbed to a dude you don't like? I can understand if he started out being an ass but his comment was pretty reasonable...
@billy god damn you people really do not understand what retcon means.
What a good analysis honestly. The toxicity of that obnoxious part of the "fandom" is just ridiculous, and unfortunately it has spread everywhere. Shingeki no Kyojin is my favorite franchise of all time, and it will remain in my memory for a lifetime, so the only thing I can do is thank Isayama for all these years.
Thank you for this review, your content is highly underrated.
Thank you!!! 👊
Absolutely beautiful video! This is probably the best essay on AoT's themes and ideas I have seen on TH-cam and it really is a true eye-opener. I've actually only seen the ending recently for the first time and I've been mostly feeling very empty because of it and didn't quite know what to think... But in conclusion I think it is a solid ending that has flaws but stays true to most of its cast and themes for the most part. I do think one or two chapters more could have rounded everything up perfectly tho.
I can't even begin to imagine how much work it took to make this video so I'd just like to thank you for the time and effort you've invested into this. I think everyone who absolutely hates the ending should give this video a try and see if your analysis might change some of their opinions.
Thank you for this video. You've reignited my love for attack on titan after so much toxic discourse on the ending by breaking down what the ending does well and what it does poorly in a really well done and honest way. I was so burnt out by the ending discussion but you put into words what I've been thinking for a while. Truly fantastic video.
You mentioned in your review how the cycle of violence is inevitable and unstoppable, but also touched on reiner's search for forgiveness. Do you think it's fair to say that Attack on titan points it's audience in the direction of saying forgiveness is the only potential path forward for humanity in order to break out of the cycle? I always thought that was what gabi's arc and the scene with the braus family was supposed to represent.
Sure maybe that's too idealistic. Maybe it doesn't work. It could never work forever. But, it prevents one from participating and contributing to it.
Agreed. The toxicity of the fandom really made me dislike the ending for a while.
Thank you for the kind words and happy to see I helped in any way.
Also the link you made is interesting. The idealist in me says yes, forgiveness is a way for humanity to break the cycle but not everyone can achieve that or comprehend it due humans being so emotionally driven: as is seen with the reaction to the ending - life imitates art lol.
Thank you again so much for you words and question!
@@Comicbroe405 glad to know that people can reignite their love for aot after the controversy of its ending .
@@koui4449 Yeah same!
That the same conclusion I got to, too
A great video! Very well done and you can tell the work that was put into it.
Yeah the ending isn’t perfect but I still liked it. You had some great points especially about Historia that I didn’t think about. I’m still mostly lukewarm on Ymir’s ending and the hallucigenia just disappearing for some reason? I guess because it wasn’t attached or did Eren will it to die? Just wish it was a little clearer.
I definitely agree that when it gets adapted for the anime it’ll be better. Especially Eren’s breakdown. I never had a problem with it tbh but even still I think having Yuki Kaji’s great voice acting I think will make it land much more than reading will
the hallucigenia was just plot device used by Isayama to show Eren survived getting his head shot off. And it also explains how he couldnt survive getting his head cut off by Mikasa since he was disconnected from the power. I saw it just a power source and a parasite that was only active becuase of Ymir, once she finally decided to be free it couldnt survive any longer, but I would later find a way through Eren I guess
@@manlit7003 i knew that point the ending just needed i guess like 1 more chapter spread since AOT chapter are 40 to 45 pages long, so that every dialogue or message would have properly conveyed BUT regardless the ending is good nothing is ruined about the story at all every main character has a proper and beautiful closer!!
Thank you so so much for the video.
As a Japanese manga reader, I was so sad to see so many negative reactions from the overseas fans for the ending.
I’m in tears of joy to see a positive review like this.
Language is just a factor. I am sure Isayama’s work is appreciated in many other languages. And like you, many have deeper understanding than I do.
But, if you read in Japanese, some things are clearer. For example, AoT is a story of Eren because its title says so. The literal translation of SnK is “attack titan”.
The ending of AoT was satisfying for me.
@Briana Gonzalez Thank you for the kind words. It’s nice to be reminded that many of you liked the ending. A part of the joy of reading manga is sharing the love with other fans despite our different backgrounds.
AOT is garbage
Honestly, I felt like you needed to have posted this sooner. This was beautifully constructed with deep and coherent points that show just as much was needed to fully appreciate this tragic ending to this cruel yet beautiful story.
Too many people have been influenced by the masses and gaslighted into believing that this amazing well thought out ending was anything but. And honestly with all the toxic negativity to the end made me enjoy the show even less. When I first read it alone, I cried in joy on how phenomenal this ending was. I perfectly understood all the themes Isayama wanted to portray in this story, and I spent countless amount of times sharing my appreciation of the themes of this ending on other social media outlets only to get bombarded with people who lack the ability to understand and comprehend. I became so disappointed in the fandom that I distanced myself from this ending. I felt like I was crazy for liking something so many people violently hated. It didn’t change how much I felt about how beautiful this tragic ending was, but I couldn’t fully enjoy it due to the lack of community support for its ending.
I have seen many other TH-cam reviews of this series, but this is by far one of the most comprehensible on the actual themes trying to be expressed. I truely did wish I wasn’t almost entirely alone with my views for the ending. And I also agree that it does have its flaws too. The show should have needed in chapter 140 and have one chapter dedicated to Eren’s philosophies and conversations with everyone, and the last chapter is the official send off. But despite all of this, this was still a phenomenal ending that has its fans still discussing the ending till this day regardless of they like it or not.
I would like to summarise this ending with one constant theme that has been apparent though this entire show “A nihilistic pursuit for freedom” this show has always made us wonder if all this fighting is worth it. Many parts of the story has said no. But many has said yes. It’s up to us to decide if it is considering on what happens in this show. And both answers are entirely correct.
Wow Daniel. Thank you. You've made my day. I'm so happy you agree so strongly and are full of passion.
I would have loved to release this earlier but I needed to be honest, which meant leaving enough time to put my biases aside and look at the facts first and conclusions later. Also I needed to comb through the entire story multiple times. But hey, it's all worth it in the end.
Thank you for watching and the kind words!!!
The same to me. I read it, after the new pages got released. I thought it was a beautiful ending. Also I didn't care about the new pages cuz as he sayed-we already knew it. After that I was like-well, pretty cool ending. Then I decided to watch some reviews, I just wanted to interact and talk a bit with the community about the good series/manga as a whole. Then they punched me into the face. It's like they try to change up your mind.
This video got me back to freedom and to my Aot love.
Isayama is a genius.
Ending is not perfect but still good. The series is still a 10/10
Very well said
What part made you cry? For something that’s evoked such an emotion, there’s very little substance and assumptions on negative reaction. AOT is a terrible story about racism and ending the cycle of hare. It says a lot and does nothing at the end.
@@KR811 Huh. Good point. AOT says a lot about political philosophy and whatnot, but in the end, it presents no real solution to the dilemma it presents (added pages show that peace had failed, like I get that humans would go to war again eventually but adding those scenes felt like it undermined the sense of peace that was supposed to "break" the cycle of hatred). Or maybe the fact there is no answer is, in itself, the answer? I don't really know. What I do know is that at the end of the day, I'm never going to follow the examples of any of these characters in the ending, and as such, I am left with no satisfying answer.
AOT has a lot of takeaways from the other themes it presents (live for yourself, love someone for who they are, not for their usefulness, etc.), but it really bungled up the racism, cycle of hatred part imo.
First of all thank you for doing this you really made me appreciate the ending more and i honestly think you deserve more subs
Incredible video. I too see AOT as one of the greatest pieces of fiction I have ever read/seen. I too liked the ending and your video may have been the best analysis/explanation of it yet. However another factor of the ending that I thought should been talked about more is the topic of "free will vs determinism". Because I think its a very important central theme in AOT. Wether Eren really found "freedom" or what does "freedom" actually mean, I'm curious to hear your thoughts on it.
20:00 I want to preface this by saying that the theory I am about to propose goes against your argument because it would mean that Eren wasn't actually lying to Reiner. Despite this, I believe that your argument was strong and didn't really have any flaws. I also enjoyed the ending despite its flaws, and I am so glad you made this video. The following is a MAJOR detail about Eren that I believe almost everyone missed/overlooked in the ending of AoT. I haven't seen a single other person talk about this on the internet. Therefore, I haven't had any people refuting my claim, so please excuse me if this is off the mark or has inconsistencies that you notice. Starting off in 139, Eren says to Armin, "Getting even my precious friends wrapped up in this battle [the rumbling], without even knowing if you'd survive it". Eren talked about how he forced the Scouts to fight him and still wasn't sure if they would make it out alive. Eren's memory of the future was hazy, and this quote PROVES that he didn't remember everything that he saw during the flash of memories he got when he kissed Historia's hand. To further this point, let's go back to Sasha's death in the Marley arc (Chapter 105). Connie enters the room Eren is in and informs him of Sasha's death. At this point, Eren's expression hasn't changed one bit, he remains straight-faced while the others in the ship are crying. Eren then asks Connie, "what were her last words?". Connie's response was "Meat.", as we all likely recall. It was only after this point when Eren broke down and started cry-laughing. Now this is all up to speculation, but I believe that part of the reason for this breakdown was the fact that this was a shard of memory that he had seen. Obviously, Eren also broke down here because "Meat" is Sasha's catchphrase, but my argument is that Eren asking Connie what her last words were was a way of him confirming what he saw in his memories. The counter-argument that Eren broke down because he loves his friends doesn't apply to it's full extent here, as Eren only broke down AFTER Connie said Sasha's last words. Maybe my example with Sasha's death might be reaching, but Eren's dialogue with Armin in 139 clearly hints at Eren not being able to remember everything from the future. With all of this knowledge, I don't think Eren knew at the time of speaking to Reiner and Bertholdt that he actually had killed his mother.
Also Eren does not remember everything as he doesn't even recognize Ymir until 120
@@manlit7003 yeah another good point
Great analysis! Thanks for taking the time and putting in the effort to make this video.
Even though I'm not a big fan of the ending, I'll give it this: It stuck to the theme that violence will always come back to bite you, on both sides of the ocean.
Marley subjugated Eldians and condemned Paradis to fight Titans for a century. This led to the whole nation being destroyed with only a handful of survivors. Paradis became a fascist state named after the man who killed 80% of the planet. This led to the whole nation being destroyed with only a handful of survivors.
When I first got into AoT in 2013, I predicted it would end with humanity getting wiped out by Titans because they can't get their shit together. The signs were so obvious with all the in-fighting in the Walls, even when a Titan was literally running at them! Turns out I was right after all, even without a 100% Rumbling and in Paradis' case, without Titans. Thank you for showing the ending in a whole new light @JustAcritic!
Zeke was my favourite character throughout the series.....such a flawless character
Finally an honest analysis that actually took the time to start AFTER the last chapter. I understand that getting a review out just after the last chapter is good for the algo, but it is incapable to talk about the story in context of the ending.
This is so good thank you 🤍 I really liked the part about how the theme of love was represented in the story: as a "lack of it" . It's a very interesting and original interpretation that fascinated me
Awesome video. Congrats on the subs. I'm looking forward to the next part animated as well! There is a good amount of talk about an anine only ending now, which I have my doubts. Either way, as long as the ending is paced well, adds a little more detail, and follows the themes I can't wait to watch the finale!
Wow, just... Wow
I have no words, it amazes me how much thought you have put into this masterpiece of a video
I think the problem is a lot of the fan base is simply people who like big titan smash kind of shit and they wanted their favorite Titan to get what he wanted
Best video ever
A nuanced, honest view, I don't believe this is real. Keep it up, you're a great writer/speaker, thank you.
Eren can send Mikasa messages, but he can't erase them. That is probably why he started sending her those memories with both of them in at the shack so late compared to the others since Eren shared everything with Armin back in 131 while he waited until very late in the battle to share his memories with her. He spent his last moments with her in that path dream he created (his last memory is her saying "see you later Eren"). Eren sends messages to Mikasa and Levi directly in 123 and 131. He just can't erase them, also it never shows Levis reaction to Eren talking to him in the paths, probably because Eren didn't have a final conversation with him, while he did with the others.
This needs more views
I saw this comment in a different video and it really put the "Mikasa/Eren are in love" thing in perspective. "Realistically, with everything going on in their lives, I don't think anyone in their position would have the capacity to pursue a relationship". These are *children* thrown into a war against giant monsters. Their whole teen and pre-teen years are a whirlwind of fighting Titans and eventually finding out the truth of the world, that there are even more enemies than just Titans. Eren *DIES* at the age of 19. Seems like people expected their "relationship" to be more fleshed out and I don't see how that could happen, but It's 1000% possible they loved each other romantically, they really just never had time to act on it. They were always faced with impending extinction of Paradis and Eren's personal goal of freedom at any cost.
eren has faced near death with no clear way out multiple times pre time skip, and not once did he cry about Mikasa and not living a life with her, not even when he found out his time was limited due to titan curse. Eren was also the same person that as a child killed two men to save someone, something most kids in that situation could never think of doing. And it's not like pre time skip wa constant fights for survival 24/7, there was plenty of downtime to flesh this out. Even in volumn one of the manga isayama says Mikasa loves him as a brother, and in an interview called her love "motherly". Even the Dina scene Mikasa goes in for a kiss because it's seemingly their final moments together and eren kinda gets up and away from her, rejecting it. You can have a subtle romance that is hinted at, you just have to actually drop hints like eren and historia. Even during the rumbling with preggo historia, why show that if it's not related to eren at all? the yam man himself says he don't know how to do romance, which is why the best one is in a flashback, niccolo and Sasha. We don't need some sappy shit, but more than just eren being constantly annoyed at Mikasa suffocating overprotective nature.
Many people seem to have forgotten that scene is season 1 where a couple were brutally ripped apart; the girlfriend desperately doing CPR to her bloodied boyfriend in vain and begging for someone to help him even if it's already obvious that he's already dead. When I saw that, I knew that romance can't have a place in AOT because the setting and themes won't allow for the development of romance.
Then there are some weirdos who are somehow trying to say that AOT doesn't have a good ending because 'it's endorsing genocide as the only way to FIX humanity.' Which is really stupid because AOT was never about making the best decisions; it's about humans making mistakes as humans tend to do and being individuals with their own interests and dreams to protect.
Have you forgotten the four year timeskip? They had plenty of time to get closer. Sure, they were busy but they could have bonded over their activities in those four years. It's simple really. Eremika wasn't really a super big part of the story, especially post-timeskip. I'd argue that it was most relevant in S2's finale (chapter 50), where Eren found the resolve to fight back against the smiling titan because he wanted him and mikasa to be able to get out of this together. Aside from that, Eremika was just a relationship tidbit that didn't really have a profound effect on the events of the story. It just suddenly gained importance in the ending.
Glad to see someone really acknowledge the true character of Eren. So many normie fans tried to portray Eren as some Lelouch like hero who's using the Rumbling akin to the Zero Requiem in Code Geass even though they are fundamentally different characters in their beliefs and actions. Eren is a perfect reflection of the world he was born in. I'm kinda shocked you mentioned the Braus family but didn't go deeper into the scene where Sasha's father forgives Gabi, a character who is hated despite how well written and fitting she is to the world of AoT and its themes with the story. Sasha's fathers worldviews as a hunter is quite important.
I think the misunderstanding from the "simp" scene comes from poor choice of words Isayama used in Eren's dialouge that does not do a great job at making things clear. Other than that, another factor that might have contributed to not properly conveying aspects of Eren and Mikasa's character would be the huge length of the story and the few key scenes often having a huge gap between them where attention is diverted to somewhere else due to other members of the cast of characters getting more emphasis and spotlight, thus Eren getting overshadowed most of the time. This is where I think Isayama could have done much better in execution.
The problem is that even Reiner, Pieck and Annie treat Eren a Leuloch hero (considering that if eren killed 81% of humanity all thier parents would be dad its very odd) in the ending so obviously of the readers also think it.
Hello, based department?
u deserve way more than 3k views tbh
Easily the greatest attack on titan video on youtube
I think you should talked more about the aot fanbase especially the theories such as anr , the blatant erehisu above everything else bias from small portions of the fanbase, etc and how those kind of things negatively affected the manga fanbase which probably might not happen with the anime onlys
(Ps: i would to like to know what would your next video be about , thanks 😊 )
Finally a video from a great underated creator which stands as a deep and complex critique of aots ending . It recognises it's flaws but it's also understands aots full narrative and characters to fully express how the developed through the story . Thank you for this masterpiece of a video . Keep being the god tier creator you are ☺️
Thank you so much!!! Those words mean a lot to me.
AOT IS STILL THE GOAT
ISAYAMA IS STILL THE GOAT
ONE OF THE GREATEST STORIES EVER TOLD
I WILL FUCKING DIE AND ROT ON THIS HILL
I'm super curious to watch this. As someone who is pretty neutral on the ending, i was pretty shocked by how toxic the fandom was (in terms of both defending and hating on it)
14:15 - Your point that it was meant to be undeveloped and how "love" is a major theme in in AoT is actually something I hadn't thought of before. Previously, when i went back to examine the manga I had just come to the conclusion that it's very fitting for characters to express their selfish desires before they die and Eren was no exception. That actually adds quite a bit more depth to it for me. I'm just disappointed shipping is a big part of the discourse surrounding the ending. I still just wish he included the kiss in chapter 50 like he considered just so we can avoided the shipping discourse entirely lol
35:27 - It's honestly extremely disheartening that so many can say it glorifies/justifies genocide when this very same fandom was attacking anyone who said the series was fascist and anti semetic after the big basement reveal. And then going even further some of them will say "nothing was achieved" but still saying Eren should have done the full rumbling to solve all the Eldians problems or to "free the children from the forest" when that's the greatest glorification of them all, world peace through means of genocide. In fact, it was these very same claims that forced me to reevaluate my hatred of the ending because I refused to believe a respected author would just insert some gross ideology into their work when it's one of the most popular anime series in the world and since than I have since come to really appreciate the ending a lot.
39:46 - On this subject, I actually think the anime does a better job trying to convey the Jaegerists are very flawed than the manga does. The music, the tone...almost everything about it has a negative connotation considering the use of the Survey Corps' phrase "Dedicate your hearts" and in chapter 110/episode 71 they are effectively demonizing the phrase after killing Zackley and we see another hopeful phrase being used in a negative light in 139. I hope the anime is able to exemplify this when the time comes. EDIT: I was typing this ahead of time, but you did bring up how the anime can improve things later.
I've seen a lot of people saying that they're going to take out the scenes with Historia and Eren in 130 because the ending "was obviously retconned" and that conversation proves it but I can't help but feel when the anime comes around the tone of that scene is going to be a lot darker similar to chapter 112/Table scene where he is obviously trying to push someone away and if you look at Historia's reactions she honestly looks terrified. Plus, just before those panels he was just deceiving Yelena about going along with Zeke's plan so he's just reminiscing how he's deceived people.
Anyways, i just wanted to thank you for the work you put into making this video. I typically don't watch analysis videos but I saw it linked on twitter and decided to check it. You cleared up some things I still had pause about. I'm glad my love for AoT didn't die with the ending.
Wow. Thank you for not only watching but also for the thoughtful comment. I feel happy that I was able to clear things for you but I'm even happier knowing their are fans like you that are willing to take a step back and evaluate their own opinions.
Also, when you said this "I had just come to the conclusion that it's very fitting for characters to express their selfish desires before they die and Eren was no exception." This is in fact correct, but serves alongside what I said. It's not just one thing there is multiple layers to it.
Also (again) happy you have the same vision as me to recognise the strengths of the anime medium, and how it can help transfer ideas better.
Regardless, thank you for watching and for the amazing comment.
Sorry, but I'm not really convinced. The reason for the apparent hypocrisy is pretty simple. None of us really wanted genocide to be the solution, but seeing that the alliance failed to secure peace in the added pages, it led a lot of us to think that Floch was right and that genocide would have been better. The series should have introduced a different solution other than genocide AND gave it a good ending where Paradis doesn't get nuked. Since Paradis got nuked anyway after 80% of the outside world died, it just seems logically better to go for 100% instead, but this is precisely what is frustrating for us who hate the ending. We DIDN'T want genocide to appear as the more logical choice. We DIDN'T want Floch to be right, at least I didn't, but he is, and that sucks. We DIDN'T want the added pages to undermine what Eren seemingly "accomplished". I don't know about other ending haters, but I don't really feel that Isayama supports genocide, I just feel like the actions taken by the cast were so bad that genocide appears to be a better choice in comparison. As for what Isayama actually endorses in these scenarios, I cannot claim to know, and frankly, I don't really care. What I DO care about is what the characters CHOSE to do, and I cannot morally nor logically support either Eren's or the alliance's actions, least of all Ymir. The entire AOT world got so screwed up because of these "plans". This was literally the worst outcome for both sides in my opinion. Both sides suffered tremendously (80% dead, Paradis bombed), and nothing was truly solved. The end. This video might make it seem like it makes sense, but even if it does, I would have preferred that the story took a different direction, and so I STILL hate this ending. Good for you that you can still enjoy this series, but I cannot. Have a good day.
Going through different timestamps on the video; and it looks like it works this time!
Thank you for checking and watching the vid. Your support is much appreciated!!!
What actually dosent make sense is that the editors constantly saying how this ending was planned from the beginning, yet there isn't even a strong foreshadowings to most of the things that happened at the last chapter. Erens motivation went from protecting his people and his friends to just "I don't know why", the most shocking thing was how Armin was completly fine with Eren killing his mother and killing 80% of humanity yet gets extremely angry at the thought of eren saying "I hate you" to mikasa even though he clearly mentioned at the beginning that he did it to push them away lol. Erens plan goes from making Alliance the heroes to " I didn't know if you'd survive" to just "I don't know why but I had to", these dialouges happen in the same chapter in like a few panels, which eren keeps constantly contradicting to what his actual plans even were. Also, considering mikasa's choice was everything needed to end the 2000 long years of curse, you'd expect some strong foreshadowing and more meaning development to mikasa yet for some reason, Historia gets her own arc rather than the main character who's result ended everything? Ymirs case is weird becuz that whole love plot point is just....stupid, there are many arguments saying it's Stockholm syndrome, but Stockholm syndrome isn't curable by any way, so saying Ymir actually had genuine love for someone who treated her like shit is just not compelling enough, it wasn't shown that way to the reader, it was more of a master-slave kind of situation, Eren even says it himself "You're not a slave, You're not a God either", even the 80% plan dosent work because the Marleyns are outright ignorant, why would the rest of the world even believe that "some" eldians stopped the rumbling? The cause for their hatred isn't them turning into titans, it's their whole history of 2000 years, and erens rumbling plus the yeagar faction being in control of Paradis island and making eren as their "hero" just solidifies their hatred even more.
It's actually funny considering how Eren actually fought with the alliance without holding back while trying to kill them, yet the next chapter they start thanking eren even though he nearly killed their families and killed 80% of humanity?
You didn't even watch the video, did you?
Clown.
@@Alvacka97 says a lot when you just outright insult someone for a comic lmao
@@Alvacka97 the video goes into is just to "try" and make sense of things that had no strong foreshadowing and try to make sense using things like " big shards" to justify why erens tantrum makes sense, it dosent go to the logic of why marleyns even considering eldians are "good" just becuz they cannot turn into titans is ridiculous, and you haven't even read my whole comment to even know what the problems even are..
@@doctorlazy2730 Eren having a plan and said plan working out exactly as he thought are two separate things, Eren's plan wasn't perfect, nor was Zeke's or Armin's. That's the point, they're just human beings put in a terrible situation trying to make the best out of it.
He had multiple goals, but when those goals crossed over each other (Saving his friend's lives, ending the curse and completing the rumbling, if he completes the rumbling he fails at the first two, but he achieves temporary peace for Paradis), he had to compromise one goal for the other to be accomplished.
@@Alvacka97 Mate, he literally can take away their titan powers, or erase their memories and keep them safe at the island and just do the full rumbling.....
Wow, I hated the ending when it came out but You changed my whole perspective, I should've watched this sooner
My opinion on the ending has changed drastically over the months
It’s a great ending
Meh
I loved the video. One of my main disagreements though would be about the assumption you made about Titans returning cos of the last page. I don't think that's happening. It's just that the boy will touch the source of life. Doesn't guarantee that it'll give birth to Titans. The Titans being born and the curse is unique to Ymir as is explained by Zeke in paths.
you made a very fair point, something totally random can happen as well, i recently read the chapter "TITANS" and read the ymir talk by zeke after reading it I do think many situations can be different this time. we don't know who the boy is and whats gonna happend to him so noone can say for sure!!
@@princerawat4297 Yes. Chapter 137 makes it pretty clear. Also, Eren's last Titan form has been given an official name by Isayama now. "Shuubi no Kyojin". Has multiple layers but is roughly translated to "The Final Titan". Quite fitting
Just a little something i wanted to comment on regarding the titan powers coming back. Obviously the tree is clearly indicating the power coming back but i believe it's the power that birthed the Titans and not the titans themselves as chapter 137 showed us that they were born out of Ymir's desire for strenght at that moment.
You also need to remember that Eren did not see EVERYTHING in the future, he didn't know about Ymir or what exactly happens when he and Zeke would go into the paths. I also don't think he knew about his involvement with his mother's death as he says that once he gained the founder's power he was able to view the past and future, which is how he got involved. He saw his memories and from what he he could see he was acting emotionless and seemed to not care about his friends.
A big detail that I think a lot of people overlook is that he didn't see the entire future. I think that he saw what was similar to the shards in 120, but with greater detail.
@@sebay1571 Agreed, this is probably becuase it is explained so briefly and vaguly in 139
This is the absolute best video I’ve seen on this topic. Congratulations on cutting thru all of the reactionary drivel that has has unfortunately become the widely accepted response to this ending, and creating probably the definitive analysis of its themes. Your critique’s are incredibly on point and placed exactly where they are needed, and your defenses against the more ridiculous arguments from the angrier, more rabidly critical side of the fandom were spot on as well. Listening to someone with an actual high level of media literacy speak was incredibly refreshing.
I know I am late to the party, but I really enjoyed your analysis. I actually remember reading the ending and feeling a sense of tragedy that I could not shake away. I think that you explained well some of the issues as well as the strengths of the storytelling that somehow got lost in some readers. After seeing the Season 4 part 3 animated, though, I am confident that the last episode will give a satisfactory conclusion to the story. Great job!
Gotta say, Historia ending up with Farmer Kun and the baby being /nothing/ except a symbol of the future was still one of the lamest things in the chapter.
Only second to Eren sending the titan after his mother
I'd say Ymir loving Fritz, her own abuser, was even worse lol. Just my opinion.
Great review! Very well put!
a major plothole is why Eren believes Mikasa is the key to all this, he says he doesnt know what she will do, which makes sense because she ends up killing him and we know he can't look past his death. Yet he still knows that Mikasa is involved with the reason why the titans end? How does he know and how does Ymir know? Its too vague.
Her decision to kill the person she loved, and refusal to forget him showed ymir an aspect that she needed to see (the beauty and cruelty of the world theme), and Eren showed her that she didn’t have to be a slave. She chose to continue being a slave bc she wanted love (as evidenced by her longingly looking at married people, instinctively taking a spear for the one person who “cared” for her to any degree), but they in tandem through their actions showed that she could be free, could still feel whatever feelings and let go of her security
for example, mikasa refused to forget, so she denied eren’s request and carried it out on her own terms, while ymir stayed in paths following the wishes of a terrible man bc it was all she knew, and seeing mikasa go through that sort of thing - especially since Eren was her world/her sense of security, it showed ymir she could do the same.
That’s also kinda why I think historia never was the best parallel with ymir, historia is like ymir if she was able to take control of her circumstances herself, whereas mikasa and ymir both share the finding security in other stuff aspect
Hopefully this made some sense, I’m typing on my phone so I can’t see it laid out as clearly
my problem IMO with it is mostly pacing , armin/eren and ymir dialogue , i love eren being emotional for like when Hannes died and thought of himself as a failure even after repairing the wall , facing female titan , all this power and couldn't save one person that was important to him in the end and killing the smiling titan the one that killed his mother , this scene was truly beautiful , from the laughing to crying showing how damaged his mentality is, however i wish he a breakdown for everything he has done and how far gone he is with him not even knowing where or when he is at due to the memories and feeling like hes been here and there already , however it was just about mikasa , i dont mind him crying over mikasa but as this being the main breakdown is what ruins it for me , and armin forgiving eren , he already came to the conclusion about eren doing it for them when the rumbling first started and then knew eren was wrong killing innocent lives and arguing to eren in the end a final face to face not about the rumbling after knowing he has to kill eren but it turns into an argument about mikasa feelings , then ymir just simply being "love" ik its supposed to be a mental disorder but i wish they explained it furthermore than it just being "love" such as she was brainwashed , enslaved into thinking she was being loved and cared for as she was a slave then giving a higher status in the eldian kingdom such as the other ymir who was taken in and then betrayed and she came to the conclusion that they couldn't trust anyone ,other than that i love the ending the idea of eren holding it all in , knowing almost everything walking towards his death , chasing a false freedom blinding him , entrusting his friends , the worlds hatred never ending showing that as long as two sides exist war will exist , "if you cant sacrifice everything, you cant change anything" and thats what happened , erens broken mind etc
I don’t think Eren was certain that he had a role in his mother’s death when he kissed Historia’s hand.
@high -five This makes sense I agree, but the fucking 139 dialog is confusing, dont armin and eren talk about the table scene and make it seem like he did that because he KNEW was the future was? Or is that just more "I dont know why I just did". Either way ruined the agency eren had.
Yes thanks to aot for helping me find your channel because I'm about to watch your tlou2 video rn 💀 great video btw ❤🤝
No, thank you for watching and the support!!!
Just found your channel and I love it! It's so nice to see someone actually analyse and understand the intentions behind the later chapters in AOT instead of just getting upset that the series didn't end in the way they wanted it to.
I greatly appreciate your breakdown of this story! I enjoyed all of your analysis very much! Thank you for sharing 😉🤙
This video needs more views
Great analysis
Holy shit. I'm so proud smart people still exist in this fandom. The ending and aot in general has sparked so many idiots and awful ways of thinking its nice to see someone genuinely care about the source material and isn't just doing it for the ships or some dumb theories like AnR. You've outdone yourself. I've seen the awful takes on Reddit, TH-cam, and Twitter and I'm so thrilled for this video and for someone who has a critical way of thinking rather than being so quick to jump to something to justify a stupid take. Once again, well done
I think it is very understandable how people can dislike the ending somewhat, but saying it ruined a masterpiece is a major overstatement. One thing the AoT fandom was known for was hating on a chapter before it even came out. They were basically praying on Isayama's downfall, and when the ending wasn't executed well they went ham. I definitely think the anime-onlys will have a better reaction to the ending.
Sorry but I'm not sure if it's appropriate to say that not liking the ending = being an idiot. I've seen both sides. Some of the ending haters just spam insults and joke around without critical reasoning, but I assure you, there are others who have legitimate reasons to hate the ending. Just agree to disagree instead of dismissing the opposition as idiots.
Despite having slightly different views of eren than you do, you still portrayed him pretty well and imo you portrayed the rest of the characters even better. Definitely didn't regret watching that, thank you.🙏
This was an incredible video. Great job!
Thank you for speaking my mind out loud. In fact I finished the extra page today, and indeed it is beautiful.
I'd actually argue the additional pages give credence to the Yeagerists being RIGHT. Eren not wiping out all of humanity outside of Paradis, and instead letting his friends save the world from him, is what led to it's destruction out of vengeance from the outside world.
It would seem like that but at the very least that’s not the intention and I’m inclined to disagree,
I think the point is that the cycle will continue, this wasn’t the end of hatred.
Given the details we can safely assume that A they weren’t killed for revenge
And B the negotiations went well
The point is that humanity will always be fighting with each other and I’m inclined to think that if eren won paradis would have destroyed itself eventually
@@i.k5696 They were preparing for war after the Rumbling though.
"Fearing the retaliation of the remnants of humanity outside the walls, Paradis has strengthened its forces"
So the outside world did want revenge on them
Tbh Isayama just wanted to write a story about a tragic hero with some historical allegory and we probably put more emphasis on the historical allegory assuming he was trying to say something about our world and I do think it fails on that front in the end and a major reason why people are disappointed. We were looking at something Isayama himself wasn't focused on. I'm still disappointed but I've made peace with that.
Personally, I think the ending is just okay but not at the level the rest of the series was imo, my opinion may change when I see it animated.
However, I am not gonna hate on anyone that likes it and this here is a well researched video, here's my like for you. 💯
Thank you for this video!
By far the best analysis of the ending on youtube. After scrolling through so many videos of people mindlessly raging about it, or crying over said videos, this feels fresh and actually well crafted. It was not the best ending, but by far not the worst. Competent enough to still be my favourite piece of fiction yet.
Absolutely fantastiic video with brilliant analysis, your interpretation is incredible to think about
One aspect that I found interesting is the aspect Ymir and Mikasa. The entire story is really about Ymir trying to find someone strong enough to kill her. (omitting all the important plot and themes of course) Everything happened to service Ymir's goal, and the one who seemed to be a slave to love was the one who broke free, while the one who seeks freedom was the slave to this whole scheme. Though this is just one aspect. It's the story's overall theme about humanity's cycle of greed, conflict, and hate and how it plays out that is so compelling.
Unless one is oblivious to the core theme, it's silly to expect things to be tied up in a neat little bow and everyone living happily ever after. Much like Eren's a shackle of destiny, the story itself is also shacked to be told in a certain way, and those who pay attention will see how it plays out from a long time ago, or at least not be surprised by what transpired right after the fact.
Just a minor thing, ig, you got wrong...Titan powers aren't hinted to be back, that child is approaching the tree that houses 'source of all living matters'...which takes on the form of whatever the person who comes to be in contact of it...Ymir feared death, wanted an undying body, so the Titans; that child may birth something else.
Yep, whatever his deepest desire is it what that “tree of life” will grant him.
Uh... that's complete conjecture. Titans are more about power than immortality anyway. And "fear of death" was never her defining feature, it was the "desire for love."
So "desire for love" = an army of biological super-weapons? :P
@@ThePreciseClimber it was both.
She sought connection and she feared death
Wow you were right that Eren/Armin scene was Revamped. 1:16:21
Thank you for this analysis video. I’m sure I’m parroting a bunch of other comments, but I was originally lukewarm on the ending and I am very happy that I have a better grasp and understanding of it now thanks to this video. AOT is my favorite manga/anime and your break down of the ending really complements Isayama’s work and helps perfect the nuances that I originally didn’t notice or brushed over. Wonderful job, and I couldn’t agree more with every topic. 🫡👏
Amazing analysis and presentation. Bravo 👏🏽
This is possibly the best explanation and analysis of AOT ending man !!! TYSM FOR THE HARDWORK ❤
One thing that ticked me off about the ending was that it's never addressed what happens to the millions of colossal titans after the rumbling. Aside from that point, all other ideas of the ending were fine but executed with various degrees of polish. I hope the anime can flesh out these ideas in a satisfying way, without making any fundamental changes to the conclusion of each character arc.
It can be assumed that they were husks like the ancient titans formed on the back of Eren’s Founding Titan, and thus turned to dust when the curse was lifted.
The Rumbling would have realistically destroyed 80% of Earth's biosphere, leaving the planet to die a slow death.
As soon as you start applying logic to this, it all falls apart.
@@wasserruebenvergilbungsvirus the rest of the world getting back to carpet bombing capabilities after being shown them lining up for soup kitchens is ass backwards as hell. Even in a 100 years, how the fuck did they get the industry to build bombers when the world was pretty much a wasteland?
Im subbing after that! you explained everything in a way I could not to lots of the ending haters! Thank you!!!!! This is incredible!
On my initial read, the Ending felt really weird. Not only that but I too thought it had butchered Eren's character. Although after a few re-reads it made so much more sense once I had time to fully think about each part of the Conclusion, and I actually really like it now. I think it could've been fleshed out a lot better but Isayama stuck to his guns and made a conclusion that fits with the themes of the story. Something to consider, is a few quotes from certain characters that embody the theme of the cycle of violence and how Eren would never succeed in the long term.
"Conflict will never end until there is one human left or less". - Erwin
"Do you think this will stop the fighting? All you're doing is making the world smaller". - Kiyomi
Brother Thank you for this video. Honestly I wasn't satisfied with the ending. But this video made me clear about majority of the things. This show is the greatest with out a doubt. The video also made me cry.
It’s a great ending
I keep coming back to this video because of how good it is. Out of all the critiques I've watched yours is the only one that has really helped me better grasp the themes of AOT.
Love the method you used to analyze the manga, you seem to have a very deep understanding of Isayama's story and the points you make are very sound. No far fetched interpretations, confirmation biases or mental gymnastics, just straightforward explanations unlike most AOT reviews (positive or negative) out here that unfortunately get more views...
I guess Eren did achieve his goal to get rid of Titans, walls and give his friends long lives. It only took 80% of the population and Eren's head!
a small price to pay for salvation
@@hallo4651 Eren: I see this as an absolute win!
Well, I suppose that’s thematically consistent lol
@@annaaquitaine4225 It'd be like if Deku became the #1 Hero because Bakugo went Anakin Skywalker and murdered all the other Heroes!
The story of attack on titan is the best i have seen in any medium
In the additional page I wished isayama didn't show the titan tree though it is necessary though to show monsters will still be made
But I wish he ended at the bird flying away
It's thematically better if you think about it
Good video I think you missed some points but ya nice take on the ending dude.
Your logic that because his Mom isn’t there in the middle, therefore he loves Mikasa in a sexual or romantic way is flawed. Of course he cares more about Mikasa now because she is alive and more important to him in that moment.
Another brilliant analysis and review! Thank you so much for sharing, and for all of the obviously extremely hard work and effort you put into this. I really loved the ending of AoT, and you perfectly conveyed and summed up all of the reasons why. Whenever someone criticizes the ending now, I'll direct them to your video so they can better understand it. Thank you so much again! I look forward to any future AoT videos you post, you have such a fantastic grasp and understanding of this incredible and important story.
I believe Eren actually didn’t know he would have been stopped prior to initiating the rumbling and gaining the full power of the founding titan, when he kissed Historia’s hand at the medal ceremony he saw memories of Grisha’s past that future Eren sent to him which includes 1)Starting the rumbling 2)Reaching ‘that scenary’ 3)Plenty of vague memories including the ones of Ramzi. It’s only after receiving the founder’s power, he saw the entire timeline(past and future) and Ymir being freed due to Mikasa’s choice.
In chapter 139, kid Eren pretends to agree with kid Armin who says he wanted to make them the heroes and that he did it for their sake, but kid Eren just looks away(similar to how in chapter 100, Reiner tells Eren he breached the walls to ‘save the world’ and then looks away and later in that chapter he reveals his true intentions of wanting to be a Hero/doing it for himself and accepting his fate of dying in the hands of Eren), as the conversation with Armin goes on, he tries to reveal the truth that he would have wiped the entire world even if he never knew they would stop him, because he did he did cuz he wanted to(for himself).
People try to debunk this claim with the panel where Armin says ‘So, this is what you saw at the medal ceremony’(this happens before he reveals the ‘truth’), however Eren himself doesn’t confirm this, and just mentioned how messed up his brain has been every since he gained the founder’s power to witness the entire timeline, which means that very likely Eren himself isn’t able to understand and differentiate which he saw prior to starting the rumbling and which memories he saw after he initiated the rumbling, because he spent an eternity in paths.
Idk what happened to my comment but I just wanted to ask, where do relationships like Falco/Gabi & Armin/Annie fit into your interpretation of the theme of love in AOT?
If I'm following your interpretation correctly, wouldn't Gabi & Annie died in 138? Or do they function under another theme?
Curious to hear your thoughts on this.
Well there love story I guess you can call it doesnt work out as the main core of conflict (story) plays out. However, as soon as they leave the military we see that there relationships are possible. They are removed from the events of violence.
Thanks for watching!
@@JustAcritic Thank you for your response! Great review!
@@JustAcritic Annie getting away with mass murders and getting a victim to be her boyfriend does glorify the violence.
This is awesome. Thank you for such a thorough analysis. Watched every second of it. I can’t wait to see how the ending is adapted for the anime.
Great video