Attack on Titan: Truth, Power, and Propaganda - A Video Essay

[@АлинаКостылева-ф2ч]

Agree with most of the video, but I would argue, about "rationality" of Eren's decision to commit genocide. Story many times asks question, whether person does horrible things because he forced into it, or because he chose it himself. That's why we have Reiner/Eren parallel "it's not my history or environment. It's because I wanted to be a hero, and wanted people's respect" (Reiner in declaration of war) - "it's to save the island. But it's more then that. It's because I was disappointed and wanted to whipe it all away" (Ch. 131). And manga straight up tells that this actions are rooted in deep personal complexes of characters, rather then rational decisions

[@skywritingstories17]

I think this is a good point that perspective plays a key part in the decision making of the characters. And I think there could be a good argument that from Erin’s 19 year old, living with a death sentence, perspective could play a bigger part in his decision. I just think it’s the wrong decision to be made in his position of power. But then again, I don’t live in the world of AoT. I might feel differently if I were born on the island.

[@chinyereugwu9431]

Except in the end renier became a truly altruistic hero. Fighting alongside the Scouts to save the world from the rumbling because that was the right thing to do. That was a rational decision

[@anny_draws3023]

I'm actually glad that it is shown that in the end Erens genocide has brought to nothing, but a very short term peace and then island was destroyed by another war.What bothered me is that he still was remembered as a hero, then in reality most Eldians had to be ashamed of him.

[@Jonas-ob2sh]

I mean, people of Paradis were shouting Eren's slogans at the end so it's no surprise they saw him as a hero and it makes sense from their point of view because vast majority still hold onto the culture of despising the enemies outside the walls, titans or otherwise. The extended ending is ambigious in nature but at the very least it's consistent with the theme of humanity continuing to fight no matter what until there is one human left, which Erwin originally said in S3 and Armin brings up again in chapter 139.

[@skywritingstories17]

I think there’s a big message in that ending. That there is no such thing as a final war. That no matter how many people you kill, war is still going to happen. (Which is a bit of a bummer but not un-true to our own world) Peace has to be maintained throughout the generations or else it’s going to fail. And yeah it’s bothersome that Eldians still praise Eren as a hero, but then again that just adds to the realism since we have people praising those who committed genocides in our world today.

[@anny_draws3023]

@@skywritingstories17 well said

[@APrime25]

In the Bible, God wiped the earth clean in a flood & the survivors hailed God as a hero, so from a narrative standpoint this has precedence. All jokes aside, in every warring civilization we humans have had, the guy w/ the most kills is most respected. From a moral point, it’s all bad, but from a militaristic point, an Eren Yeager would be awarded posthumous medals of honor, have multiple statues erected & elementary schools named after him. As for when Paradis was eventually nuked, it’s centuries later AND some kid is about to fall into Ymir’s tree, all over again.

[@trevonw67]

Eh Erens main goal was to ensure all those he was close to could live long lives...everything else after dat was up to chance. Even he acknowledged dat his plan was 100% war-proof it was just da best one out of all da other paths

[@red_fox5209]

Hmmm, I would strongly disagree that Eren is supposed to be the viewpoint of the audience. Especially after the time skip. I mean hell, he's presented as a villain. The final ark is about evemies uniting together to stop the genocide. And the genocide is presented as a atrocidy. Autor even depicts how the rumbling kills children, in horofiing way. I find it really hard to believe that a show, that specificlly makes sure to show all sides and perspective in a conflict. Conflict that is specificly hapening because of state propaganda and circle of violens. Would have right wing massage. In my opinion the two biggest massages in AoT are: Never otherise (racism, nationalism), and that war is horifiing and never the answer. (every war in the series is presented as horifiing, and most importantly is waged for nationalistic or rasist reasons) Personaly I think that the reason for the bad ending has more to do with the time travel bullshit, and how Eren is basically guided by a probhesi. It´s all really strange at the end...

[@skywritingstories17]

While I do agree that in season 4 Eren is presented as the villain, he is definitely the viewpoint for the audience in the first three seasons. And yes the show does go out of it’s way to show that war is bad and the multiple sides of that conflict, but I think that’s more to show another message that people don’t really hate other people, they just hate what they stand for. I also don’t think that the genocide was glorified because it definitely wasn’t, I was just inferring that because of Isayama’s personal political beliefs, he might think it was necessary for his story. That’s the part I disagree with. And yes I think I think Isayama wrote himself into a corner with the time travel stuff. Which made the ending a bit too convoluted. Great comment!

[@momumar-qq3yc]

Whole second half of this video went off the rails so hard

[@theodorefigueroa9339]

Eye roll. You are so hung up on the conservative vs liberal arguments you've fabricated in your head youve missed the forest for the trees. Eren is supposed to be a flawed. Character. He's supposed to represent the wrong choice and given rationality behind that choice. Also your "solutions" are hogwash and naive. There was for sure a better solution than genocide but it was never going to be an option for Eren. There's a reason why Armin is the narrator and driving force of hope in the show. If Armin has the founding there's a hope for peace. You are just throwing a fit because you didn't get the Eren you wanted. An that Eren doesn't make sense in the story.

[@skywritingstories17]

Thanks for watching!

[@diamondsfanj]

Really enjoyed hearing your take! Happy it popped up in my recommendations today

[@skywritingstories17]

Thank you! Glad you watched it

[@TheCrowReviewer]

What a chad, great analysis Sky! You earned a new subscriber. :)

[@skywritingstories17]

That’s a pretty Chad thing to do, my guy. Thank you.

[@javierm3022]

Love your videos mate, here before you blow up! Btw I would love to see you talk about the sandman show since you mentioned liking Gaiman! Would love your thoughts on that

[@skywritingstories17]

That is most likely going to be my February video! January’s is nearly complete. And thank you for the kind words!

[@yeetthatmolotov]

What a great analysis and Video Essay. As an Anime Only who really liked the ending I do disagree with the points you made about the show being having a conservative worldview baked into it, in the sense that I think some things might've been misunderstood. So let me explain why I think this show is more antifascist and critical of those same conservative standpoints. While Eren and frankly many other characters throughout the first three seasons and paradis sort of as a whole have many conservative and even protofascist views, these views are also getting challenged through the entirety of the show. As the Scouts learn the truth of the world many of their views begin to shift, seen in their collaboration with the Warrior Squad, while Eren literally not able to let go of the past and the world he envisioned is driven into radicalisation spurned on through self isolation and the refusal to communicate with his friends. I could ramble on this topic for hours and how Eren represents isolated youths that fall victim to the Alt-Right Pipeline. I dont know Isayama's own political beliefs but I do believe that Attack On Titan was created to criticise the Themes central to it's story. Theres so much I want to say I might as well make my own Video Essay about why Attack on Titan is in my opinion one of the best pieces of modern antifascist art.

[@skywritingstories17]

This is a really good counterpoint to my essay and I hope you make yours because I’m really liking your arguments and can definitely see the merits in them. Let me know if you ever end up making that video!

[@cl3mbot147]

This is a phenomenal video! I’ve not heard these takes on the show before and it’s definitely an interesting view to take. It’s really broadened my understanding of the shows message.

[@skywritingstories17]

Thank you very much!

[@lerneanlion]

According to the certain favorite KZbinr of mine, he stated that what Eren witnessed are not future memories but fragments of realities. And that means he did not only witness what happened in the past and the future at the same time but also experienced them at the same time as well! And since it has been experienced by someone already, it cannot be changed. If it just a vision, then it is possible to change. But if it is experiencing the fragment of reality from the future, it cannot be changed because someone has witnessed and experienced it already. Also, I am happy to know that someone finally acknowledged the idea of "enemy of my enemy is my friend/ally" when it comes to Attack on Titan! But in the end, I guess it really depended on each universe in the vast multiverse of Attack on Titan. In one universe, Eren unleashed the Rumbling. In the other universe, he ran away with Mikasa and died four years later. So I personally believed that there are some universes out there for sure where Paradis joined the Allies in Marley Mid-East War and managed to finally bring an end to Marley's imperial aggression and also an end to the Powers of the Titans as well. And I got one of the best examples for the alliance in our world for you to think and it's known as the Franco-Ottoman alliance. Here's the information: I can say that back in the 16th century in our world, the Franco-Ottoman alliance was very scandalous at the time in the eyes of the Catholic Christian Europe. As for how such an alliance happened between France and the Ottoman Empire, it happened because King Charles of Spain defeated King Francis I of France at the Battle of Pavia and have the King of France captured and imprisoned in Madrid. Worrying about her son's safety after his capture, Duchess Louise of Savoy dispatched a diplomatic mission led by Jean Frangipani to the Sublime Porte of the Ottoman Empire's capital at Constantinople, requesting for help from Sultan Suleiman to help her son regained freedom and to attack the Habsburg. In the Sultan's eyes, the Duchess' letter is basically the recognition by France that the Ottoman Empire is a European nation and the true Third Rome, given the Ottoman Sultan the legitimacy as the European ruler and the pretext to go to war with Hungary, which happened to be ruled by King Louis II of Hungary, who happened to be brother-in-law of King Charles through his marriage with the King of Spain's sister, whose name is Mary. This led to the Battle of Mohacs, where the Ottomans defeated the Hungarians and annexed their country as Budin Eyalet, thus opening the gate for the Ottomans' conquest into Central Europe, specifically at the Habsburg's Austrian capital at Vienna. My point here is that if the Franco-Ottoman alliance is possible in our world, then I believe the alliance between Paradis and the Mid-East Allied Forces is possible as well. I suggested this idea because it is the most common alternative to the Rumbling but yet, not many people seemed to acknowledge it because they believed in what Marley's propaganda said and what Udo said about the Eldians being treated worse outside of Marley despite the obvious fact that Willy Tybur himself said that some nations out there hated Marley so much that some of them have the potential to become Paradis' allies.

[@skywritingstories17]

This is a great take…thanks for sharing this!

[@lerneanlion]

@@skywritingstories17 Do you wanted to know who the certain guy is? Here's a hint. Take a look at the video about Chapter 139 of Attack on Titan with horse.

[@daniaaal]

Oh yes I agree. To assume that full-scale Rumbling was the only solution to end all wars would be very naive and fatalistic, which is unfortunately the stance of Eren who has been burdened by fragments of memories from both past and future (just think about how overwhelming and insane for that sort of information to be accessed to a mere human being. They would lose their minds, just like Eren). There were actually more balanced approaches to the situation, and one of them I believe was the partial Rumbling suggested by Armin. Target military installations and weapons of Marleys and negotiate with former enemies of Marleys such as the Middle East and African nations (Onyankapon's people) so that there would be some sort of geopolitical balancing act going on. It is possible even though it's risky. But at least the bloodshed would not be as much as 80% of humanity.

[@skechers28227]

Main character does not mean hero. Think Helos. He was a lie.

[@skywritingstories17]

Never said he was a hero

[@NoahRogers19980618]

Thanks KZbin Reccomendations, glad I found this. 35th Commment , 85th Like, and 142 New Subscriber. Keep up the great work every single day that you can do so.

[@skywritingstories17]

🥹 That’s genuinely one of the nicest things someone said here. Thank you

[@TheGlenn8]

Bro, that entire part of the video where you try to portray the author as a conserative because the characters in this 18th century (or 20th century depending on the season) world act like people from that time peroid is fucking weird. You even go so far as to list an exception to this and but then decide that that exception doesn't count for some reason. But that's not even the bad part. It's like you completely go out of your way to ignore all the moments where nationalism, xenophobia, and not talking things out is actively condemned by multiple characters on both side of the conflict, which is something you've even pointed out yourself. And the worst part of all is that you use Eren as the authors POV. You know, the character who's actually the twist villian of the story... Also, the universe of attack on titan being deterministic isn't "dumb" it's actually pretty interesting. I can't think of many stories that take place in a deterministic world with some characters being aware of that. Keep in mind that philosophers, theologians and scientists have debated the subject of free will and determinism for literal milennia. One story not taking the "pleasant" side of full free will doesn't make it dumb and it's especially good in AOT because freedom (and how none of us are really free) is literally the main theme of the entire story. I do agree with you on one thing. And that's that it's suuuuper bad writing for basically all of the world's nations except for the japanese standin nation to hate Paradise so much that they almost seem suicidal about it. Like, what the actual fuck. The rest of the world has been getting completley fucking roflstomped by Marley the past 100 years, but lets just allow them to take the founding titan and Paradise's resources because we sure do hate those Paradisians we haven't interacted with for longer than anyone has been alive :) I'd imagine many of the world's nations would be jump at the opportuninty to work together with Paradise to kick Marley's ass.

[@skywritingstories17]

Hey thanks for watching, man.

[@TheRichardArte]

I agree with this, i thought the video was going to turn a different direction but it hasn’t so far, video is really interesting tho His talks about conservatism and nationalism i agree mostly with (But that the story is coming from a conservative point of view i completely disagree with, but the show does have many flaws but still my favorite)

[@chinyereugwu9431]

The rest of the world wouldn't work with the Eldians to fight Marley. The rest of the world suffered more under the Eldian [how do think Empires are created? Did you forget that during their 1000 years + domination of the world, the Eldians wiped out more than 3 times the worlds population?] To the rest of the world the Eldians are literal monsters who made the world hell for more than 100 generations. They are the greatest evil the AOT world has ever known. Also the rest of world has been making advances in weaponry. The rest of the world was catching up with Marley so why would they team up with the biggest bad the world has ever known simply to defeat a smaller bad?

[@daniaaal]

I mean, before that 100 years, Eldians have consistently terrorised the world with Titans for over 1000 years. I'm pretty sure that is enough to shape cultures and perceptions of the different nations and tribes around the world towards a race that has been consistently viewed by its victims as the 'devils'. Marley was a new empire that took the place of Eldians, but the fear of titans was presumably very much still embedded among multiple generations of people throughout the world. Just think about how Nazis are seen as a common enemy for people around the world, even though they were only in power for a few decades, less than 100 years has passed in our world and that they are no longer in power.

[@artemis3964]

Nah I think the reason that the rest of the world sided with Marley was that eren made himself the villain they don’t know Marley attacked first all they saw was eren and the rest massacre liberio they sided with the humans rather then the magical demon creatures I don’t think that’s a stretch you have to remember they don’t know the story like us and let’s say they team up and take down Marley the strongest force now they are completely at the mercy of the titans

[@TheOneAndOnlyEA]

Not at all shitting on the analysis, it was actually one of the more thought-out I've seen (kudos!), but I think some points are a little misguided. No matter how bad or unfortunate it may seem, the "conservative" world view that you keep bringing up in the analysis is less a conservative view and more a general human view. The fact of the matter is that the supermajority of humans will have these prejudiced, racist, and so-called "conservative" views when faced with such a catastrophic reality. Regardless of the mangaka's personal beliefs, I will always maintain that Attack on Titan was written to make the reader or viewer uncomfortable. Not so much for the gore and death, but due to the hypothetical realities it makes us face and how uncomfortable those truths make us. I maintain that even the most liberal of liberals and humanitarian of humanitarians would adopt a Marleyan style of oppression towards Eldians if the concept of Titans was a reality. I don't see how one could not, when faced with the prospect of repeating a future of torment and destruction at the hands of giant beasts. The same logic can be applied to Paradis pre-season 4. The reason why most individuals take a laissez-faire approach to literally living in an oligarchical dictatorship is because it brings them some semblance of order. I don't really lend credence to the idea that the mangaka world-built Paradis this way due to his views, rather I believe it is meant to illustrate how humans, when faced with unimaginable hardships, don't really care about equality, equity, or the likes. The causes we rightly fight for in our contemporary society, such as freedom, equality, and justice are mere luxuries when compared to more pressing issues, such as survival. I feel that the most visible marker of Isayama's success as a storyteller (and to an extent, an inadvertent philosopher) is how individuals are quick to judge his political and societal world-building when these very structures have existed in our own world for the same reasons (not titans, obviously, but catastrophic conditions). By labeling Isayama's fictional Paradis and Marley as vile, fascist creations that would never pass in your "civilized" world view, you prove his point, to an extent. Attack on Titan is not some story written by a disgruntled Japanese man consumed by his own conservative beliefs; it is the ultimate litmus test. It is, by far, the most important work regarding mankind's Jungian Shadow of our time. It is likely one of the most important works regarding human self-reflection that will ever be written. Apologies for the paragraph, I just thought it was something that should be said. Cheers.

[@lxfj2128]

Isayama really did mess up the writing after ch90. The ending was utter garbage

[@skywritingstories17]

I don’t know about utter garbage but it wasn’t satisfying and reads like he wrote himself into a corner.

[@SpectraPhantom]

I appreciate the deep dive and the deeper analysis was entertaining, however the clear bias of "Conservatism + Capitalism + Nationalism = Bad/Inferior" rhetoric throughout the video was quite surface level and annoying at times. It gives "I don't like these political ideologies, so the story has a duty to call these out and criticize them, otherwise it is flawed" vibes. I respect the opinion and viewpoint tho

[@skywritingstories17]

Thank you for watching. I appreciate you watching it. I don’t think that AoT is flawed for not calling out political ideologies I don’t agree with. I was merely pointing out that it seems like it was written from one political viewpoint, that’s spread out through the entire world of AoT with no one in world arguing against it. I’d be pointing out the same thing if the story was written very liberally and I would call out the inherent flaws in that type of story as well.

[@mwndjddjdhdbbf8408]

Do you need an explanation as to why nationalism is bad? Like, it's not hard to grasp

[@HoneyButter_Biscuit]

I think the problem is that you're confusing nationalism with patriotism. Nationalism often leads to xenophobia and hatred where as patriotism is a love of one's country. Conservatism isn't bad in of itself, only when it's taken to extremes, same thing with progressivism (look at Twitter the last decade). Capitalism is a lot better than other economic systems but that too can have its flaws when big companies take over. Socialism is way too close to communism for comfort, and fascism is basically communism with more focus on the state. (I like to point out the Nazis where social nationalists that hated capitalism.)

[@TheRichardArte]

But that’s the point of stories like these. The show is entirely political if you aren’t comfortable talking about that your either what the show is criticizing or not mature enough.

[@mimkyu718]

Eren did try and change the outcome. He told armin that no matter what he did to try and change it everything came out the same. The ending is quite stupid though. Ymir wanted mikasa to do what she couldn't which was kill the person she loved although eren didnt treat mikasa nearly as bad as fritz treated Ymir. Could'vd had a much better ending in my opinion. I can agree with Eren though. The majority of people would do some terrible things to save the ones they love.

[@sogggy]

To me, Attack on Titan has a mix of, the ending of Watchmen, Edge of Tomorrow and Avengers: Infinity War, only the part where Doctor Strange sees 1 out of 14 million ways to beat Thanos. Eren sees the memories of future and past holders of the Attack Titan. He is able to alter the past to change the future. When you say the Eldians of Paradis should team up with other nations to fight Marley, Eren has already seen that future. It doesn't work out. He has seen all possible outcomes. He is not only trying to save Paradis but also wants to end the Curse of Ymir. If Eren dies he wakes up as a kid under a tree, it starts all over again. It happened when he ran off with Mikasa. Eren died from the curse of Ymir, then woke up as a kid under the tree.

[@chengong388]

What I don't get is whenever Iseyama writes something as an EXAMPLE to show that it's stupid, people use this as evidence that he supports this thing. Eren is the villain of the show! How stupid would it be to assume he's speaking out for the author?

[@skywritingstories17]

I disagree…Erin becomes the story’s villain only at the very end but to say it’s an example of how stupid his actions are is just plain wrong. Erin is never condemned by his own government and like 99% of his own people actually support his genocide. There are only like 6 people by the end who want to stop him. Yes, Erin dies at the end but there are no lasting consequences for anyone else. There’s no equivalent to the Nuremberg trials, no memorials for the millions Erin killed, Paradise is never forced to apologise for the atrocities they agreed with. Nothing after Erin’s death says that what he did was wrong. In universe, Erin is the hero. I can understand someone’s interpretation of the series being that war is bad and never ending but to say it flat out condemns fascism is wholeheartedly incorrect. I mean there are still Eldian fascists in the last episode.

[@chengong388]

@@skywritingstories17 I never said the show flat out condemns fascism. It shows us what fascism is.

[@skywritingstories17]

@@chengong388 True but I think if you’re going to have a story that exemplifies fascism while not really condemning it any way, it looks an awful lot like an endorsement. Now I’m not saying that’s fully what’s happening here but at the very least it lowers the value of the story in my opinion.

[@chengong388]

@@skywritingstories17 If explaining the truth of something is not sufficient to show that it is bad, maybe it was never bad in the first place. The honest man only tells you how things are, they do not have to tell you what to think, that would be propaganda.

[@skywritingstories17]

@@chengong388 But in this particular case, AOT is not showing the whole truth of what fascism and its consequences are. If it just shows a type of government and not the groups of people that type of government hurts, then that's an endorsement by omission at the very least. And an incomplete portrayal of fascism is absolutely propaganda on its own. If we the audience only see the rallies, the force of might, and the staunch nationalism, without ever really showing the horrific consequences of said type of government then how could anyone with little to no historical education come to the conclusion that fascism is wrong? (Granted we do see those little kids in the fezzes get stepped on but there's so little time spent on them as characters that once they die, we the audience, and anyone else in universe no longer cares. Their deaths are really there for just shock value rather than an actual condemnation of fascistic idealogy.) If you don't give people context and insight as to why a fascist government is horrific and ultimately destructive to society, then they will latch on to the pageantry and flawed idealogy and excuse anything including genocide.

[@bloodysweetzombiegirl]

4:30 This is nothing new really, people actually attack people who play the bad guy in soap operas bc they think the role is real. People are bonkers…I haven’t quite cone to terms with that myself, but I’m slowly getting there. That being said, it’s really sad that people really can’t distinguish between reality and entertainment. 😕

[@skepticalbaby7300]

Spectacular analysis that I had to watch it twice. I always struggled to find the themes that fit best with the entire story. The genre switch makes that very difficult so I agree that lies and manipulation are a pretty good fit. I do find the conversative, ultra nationalistic, and even fascistic undertones disturbing. U pointed out the us vs. them dichotomy. I think the early scene with the insects best symbolizes this zero sum mentality. But I would also add the idea of permanent enemies and forever war. I think of the scene with Erwin asking who the true enemy is. The thinking that there will always be enemies, both within and without. After one enemy is gone, then there will be another. Some argue that there is this perpetual cycle of violence, that conflict and not collaboration is the essence of the human condition. But that's simply untrue. Some argue that the story is antifascist, but they really don't understand what an antifascist story looks like. U pointed out the lack of civil institutions on the island. But it goes further than that, almost every character is a soldier. The story implies that only soldiers can be heroes or lead. Hell, even the diplomats are soldiers. No wonder "negotiations" failed. That is the very antithesis of an antifascist story. I just think that centering the story on fascistic villian is irresponsible. In favor of shock value, the author chose this. He wants us to be emotionally attached to the protagonist, the pov character as any good writer. But how could he not foresee that some could not detach once the hero becomes a villian? I mean is the message really if a nation chooses to exterminate 80% of humanity, then humanity can live happily ever after. We don't even see anything of the aftermath or the survivors. Just images of our merry band of enablers. This is an odd anti-war or antifascist tale.

[@skywritingstories17]

Thank you so much for this message! I agree with so much of what you said here

[@supremeleaderfrancisco9062]

Eren not wanting help and saying that the refuses are parasites is clearly just him not liking to be babied the same way he gets upset with Mikasa for always helping him and its funny you leave the part about Mikasa punching him right after saying that out till the very last bit of the video like you said eren is 12 if anything this makes him more of a victim he doesn't know anybetter and him and the lower class people are conditioned by the systems to feel that way we also as an audience know that eren isn't a parasites the same way we know the eldians aren't devils we haven't spent nearly as much time with eren at this point but it's pretty clear that we're suppose to sympathize with him he even cries after being forced to eat the bread maybe he's acting out cause of the death of his mother our beloved main characters even save a refugee child near the end of the series

[@skywritingstories17]

That’s not a bad take actually. I can definitely see Eren acting out more as a response to his mom dying and not wanting to be babied and that he’s been conditioned to think that way about being a refugee from the ruling class. The weakness from that interpretation then becomes that, in season 3 when they overthrow the government, they don’t make economic reform for everyone in the walls a priority. Which doesn’t ruin the series for me or anything, it’s just a weakness in the story. It goes from highlighting an exploitative economic system in episode two, to never addressing it again.

[@supremeleaderfrancisco9062]

Sky Writing Stories ig just seems like by this point the story is busy with so much maybe historia did something that wasn't on screen I wouldn't say it's a weakness just a missed opportunity

[@Kazooples]

When a man who is suicidal murders his family then commits suicide himself, it’s often because the father is narcissistic and cannot imagine a world where his family can live without him, he has to take them with him so they won’t suffer, despite them not feeling the same pain he feels, he thinks they feel it too, that’s what the whole of season 4 and the ending feels like. Even if you somehow excluded the nationalist stuff(it’s impossible to ignore tho), it just got lazy and bad and it felt like Eren’s whole character was basically retconned with his future visions.

[@skywritingstories17]

I agree. I think Isayama might have painted himself into a corner at the end there and didn’t really know how to end the series so he went with the first idea that came to him.

[@Kazooples]

@@skywritingstories17 i think if he’d had other writers who don’t necessarily share his exact ideals, it could have been good, it could have been less genocidal. Another problem I really had, again if we somehow ignore the nationalist stuff, is they didn’t leave ANY mystery, I feel like every good story has some questions left unanswered, not plot holes but just lore, it needs space for theories and headcanons and all that, yknow? The most scared, fascinated, and excited all at once that I ever felt watching it was the outro to season 2, the song was creepy, and it told us “haha you don’t know SHIT” and I loved that, maybe it’s just me, I know people like tying up loose ends but it felt too done and dusted for me in the end. Btw, good video! I forgot to say that earlier, glad I stumbled upon you, it’s nice to see someone discuss the goods and the bads of a show and not trying to justify the creator’s.. well, evilness lol.

[@mrslasher1064]

30:32 virtue signalling starts here Yeah bro,conservatives totally hate refugees and the poor,that's why the majority of global charity organizations are religious based,like it or not you need some level of conservatism in society,just like you need some level of liberalism in society,too many conservatives and not enough liberals creates fascism and too many liberals and enough conservatived creates socialism,in order to have a republic of any kind you need a mix of both,Attack On Titan is literally all about that,the Marleyans are cultural marxists who believe they have a right to take what they want from the Eldians because they were oppressed centuries ago,meanwhile the Jaegerists are in the opposite end of the spectrum,believing strongly that eldians are supierior and wanting to get rid of all other races and establish a global ethnostate,either side left to their own devices creates tyranny,which is why we need both because one keeps the other in check...

[@skywritingstories17]

Conservatives definitely hate refugees and the poor. Look at any majorly conservative government over the last twenty years. George W Bush used 9/11 as a means to strip away Americans freedoms and start 2 illegal wars, Trump put immigrant kids in cages and gave billions of dollars worth of tax breaks to the rich, Sunak’s current Tory government in the U.K. are trying to ship refugees to Rwanda and actually shorted their own currency last year for their rich friends to profit off of while the poor couldn’t afford to turn on their heat, hell even the modern Japanese government has incredibly strict migration laws that border of the xenophobic despite their own rapidly dwindling population. Face it, modern day conservative governments no longer help the common people and only serve to help the rich and the few. Now I am all for balance in governments. Each country has their own unique history, population, resources, etc, and one blanket system of government wouldn’t fit most countries. But it has been a long time since modern conservative governments have operated in service of its constituents. And what does a charity being religious have anything to do with different styles of government? Being conservative is literally against every major religious teachings. Does the idea of helping the poor, sick, and hungry sound like something a republican president would be for? Hell no.

[@momumar-qq3yc]

@@skywritingstories17 why did the video even go in this direction

[@IICheesePizzaII]

underrated

[@skywritingstories17]

The video or AoT?

[@APrime25]

(Comment section explosions) “…Piece of sh!t who doesn’t understand how fiction works.” Me: Well sir, I do say, you’ve got me in the first half…😂

[@skechers28227]

Eren only had one choice. He was the on3 with ALL the power. The power to destroy everything. Yet he was always a slave. He was never free.

[@skywritingstories17]

You can still fight for your freedom without committing genocide. Stop over romanticising an evil person.

[@skechers28227]

@@skywritingstories17 no one over romanticized him. The fact remains that Eren never had an option. Ymir set him on his course 2000 years before the story even started. Or it started with the King. HOWEVER you place that pin, Eren did what he HAD to do. He only had maybe a year or two left because of the curse. Then he would have been sacrificed to Historia just so she could be sacrificed later on.... his purpose wasn't to half way solve the problem. Or leave it for someone else to clean up after he was gone. He was trying to stop the war and the curse. I'm not excusing him. What he did was awful. REGARDLESS, in terms of ending that war, it was the only option given to him. That or just give up and die.

[@skechers28227]

I mean... how many times do you need that story point shoved in your face before you understand it. Levi lays it out flat: You can keep fighting. Or you can give up on your dreams and die. It's a shit choice. But it's the one you get.

[@skywritingstories17]

But kill or be killed on a global scale is a false dichotomy. Countries like Marley and the rest of the world can be restrained into peace with only the threat of destruction. Similar to how countries with nukes are treated in our own world. I.E. North Korea Eren didn’t even try to negotiate or make an example out of Marley for the rest of the world to take his country seriously. And unless you’re saying that Eren has just been a pawn of Ymir this whole time, saying he didn’t have a choice is over romanticising him and his choices. He absolutely had a lot of better choices to choose from and opportunities to make those better choices but he didn’t.

[@skechers28227]

You're giving him powers of observation that Eren was not privileged enough to have. As far reaching as Eren's sight was, he didn't have what we as a reader have, which is the big picture or at least what the author has given us. You can say Eren didn't try to negotiate. Ok... how? His leverage was what? A threat? Marley was coming anyway, even if Eren did nothing. Eren didn't even have the authority to push for anything UNTIL he seized power. We don't even know Eren IS controlling the wall titans. Armin can sit around and theorize about partial rumblings all he wants. I don't think that's how it works. Once the rumbling starts, it starts. Period. But anyway. Seriously WHAT was the solution. Remember your solution must also end the curse, the war and keep Armin and Mikasa alive. Those were the only terms Eren was willing to accept. And no. He wasn't a pawn of ymir. He was a pawn in the cycle of violence however. And cycles keep going unless you stop them.

[@Ivy-fk8op]

Hello there idk if you’ll see this but I would love to see your opinion on BBC Sherlock ^^

[@skywritingstories17]

Ohhh that’s a good one to do! Long story short. Great opening season, diminishing returns every season after that, terrible ending. But it would be fun to do a deep dive for sure.

[@IAKTKST]

38:10 Bro that is literally Erens entire character, the want to be independent and strong all the while relying on others is literally half his motivations. This entire segment is really stupid in my opinion, anybody sensible could see that the “conservative” actions are obviously immoral and wrong. Stop trying to make unreasonable narratives about the author

[@konoyaagida]

I wonder just what was in Erwin's basement🤔

[@skywritingstories17]

Better proofreading I bet lol

[@konoyaagida]

Lol all good my guy.

[@BlueSky-bz9vn]

Bro if you look at Japanese real dub what they say is different from English dub so this video is meaningless

[@skywritingstories17]

Thanks for watching!

[@thecascade1440]

AOT is globalist propaganda using trauma-based mind control. Nationalism, imperialism, monarchy, and fascism are all shown to be horrific through the entire series. It’s only the recognition of everyone being human and that we should all unite together that is praised time and time again mostly through Armin. Despite the show’s complexity and the depth of the story the political messaging is relentless. I found it grating and predictable by the end. If you think this show is conservative or nationalist then you’re not the target audience. You either can’t grasp its meaning or you’ve already been won over by globalism so badly that anything that remotely resembles nationalism offends you. This show is to convince nationalists to become globalists. That’s it. Also, I’m not a conservative or nationalist myself. Both sides of the political aisle are twisted and any governance by human beings is doomed to fail.

[@skywritingstories17]

Are the globalists in the room with you right now?

[@starshooter4902]

Great video! AOT has so many themes and points that can be seen differently by everyone. I recommend watching this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/fmeqnol5eZyWrs0 it has a interesting perspective on what eren may have experienced when he touched historias hand. Subbed 👍🏼

[@skywritingstories17]

Ohh very interesting. Thanks for liking the video!