The Problem With Attack On Titan's Ending

In this video, we discuss the Attack on Titan anime series finale. The release of Attack on Titan The Final Chapters: Special 2/ Shingeki no Kyojin: The Final Season Part 3 marks the end of the 10-year journey! Spoiler alert: it was not as good as many people thought it would be. Tbh it was an uphill battle since the manga butchered it so badly. There's only so much the anime could do to fix it.
Despite its somewhat bad ending, there are still some good aspects to it. We discussed what we thought of the final episode and whether or not it affected the overall rating of the show. Although it was not the ending we wanted, we'll still miss the characters and the world of Attack on Titan!
Chapters:
00:00 The End Is Here!
00:45 The Eren Yeager Problem
01:57 Ymir Makes No Sense
03:03 Fakeout Deaths, Useless Characters and Cringe
04:06 GODLY PRODUCTION & CAST
05:19 The Best Character
06:21 Is AOT's Legacy Ruined?

[@93Litze]

0:45 Eren has the Freedom to do anything HE wants and the Freedom to change the world as much as HE is capeable. This does not mean, that he can change the world as he wants to. He could not see a future without war, because he was not able to think outside of the Box. This ending is the best result HE thinks HE could achieve with his Freedom and Eren knows, that Ending isn't the best, but the only best he could think about. The intro of the Anime gives alot of hints to Eren mindsets: "All I ever wanted to do was do right things I never wanted to be the king, I swear[...] You tell me what have I missed? Still wandering in the deep mist" and this line: "All I ever wanted to do was save your life", is telling us what is his most desired wish. This Intro is telling Eren thoughts and he knows he is missing a Key detail to find the perfect solution, but he is unable to find it. He Does not want to fight, but he wants to protect his friends and he can't protect them without fighting. He can not see a future where his friends can life peaceful without killing. Yes, during the Anime its poorly explained and probably in the Manga even worse. I'm a Anime only as well, but with the Anime ending i want to buy the Mangas now. I consider the Openings to the Anime, so the mindset of Eren is better explained if you really listen to the Text. Imagine your Race is hated all over the world, because it can transform into giant monsters and because of that everyone wants you and your family, friends and relatives dead. Its difficult to find a peaceful way of coexisting. We already life in a world where people get killed because they belive in a different kind of imaginary friend. Now try to find a way where everyone can life without war in a world with Monsterhumans. Attack on Titan has no "Happy Ending", because in war you can never have a Happy Ending. 1:95 I really can't defend Ymir. In a world with a lot of complex Character she is extremly underdeveloped and the worst part of Attack on Titan. 3:05 About the Fakeout Death i was very conflicted. First. I think especially for Attack on Titan a death of a beloved Character like Connie or Jean right before the end could have thrown of everyone and it would not be a bad thing. I also think, that Connie, Jean and the other Eldians where saved and returned to Humans was a sign that everything has now ended and these people where the first normal Titans which could transform back. I totally agree that fakeoutdeaths are bad. I think in this scenario it had the purpose to finally break the curse of the Titans. Its one of the rare momants a fakeoutdeath could be good in the Storytelling, even a lot will not like it. >-- Overall great Video. I enjoyed your thoughts on the ending and i hope i could explain a little bit about Eren's thought process or at least how i think his mindset was.

[@BadTakeRisan]

Thanks for such a detailed comment 🤣. Yeah the Eren thing makes more sense now. I like your interpretation. That being said it’s still somewhat weak writing. A character’s reasoning turning out to be “I couldn’t think of anything else” is never a very compelling idea imo. Tbh I did say that this vid was my raw reaction so it’s not the most thought out lmao. Don’t get me wrong, I still believe a lot of the points I made in the vid. Some have definitely changed. Ymir still sucks tho 🤣

[@jay21789]

W video my guy

[@BadTakeRisan]

Thanks bro

[@BadTakeRisan]

RIp Erwin, him and Levi are definetely the GOATS of this show 🫡😭

[@kermitwithamustache3885]

W video, at last an anime only that has IQ above room temperature and can see that the ending is garbage

[@BadTakeRisan]

Lmaoo thanks man. I’m honestly surprised the ending got received so well. Sure it’s better than the manga but it’s not great.

[@siginotmylastname3969]

Re zero started before aot in 2012, it was already popular as a webnovel but got the light novel and anime some years later.

[@BadTakeRisan]

🎯

[@thered4048]

Mikasa has her memories erased or something, but shes an ackerman whos memories cant be changed.... so what gives??? She even states "armin your memories came back too??". and why did killing zeke end the rumbling if he never even asked for it to begind? Royal blood was only needed to get eren there to talk to imyr why would she suddenly change her mind when eren and zeke are gone??? Zeke basically wasnt needed at that point. And yeah it was clearly eren that changed ymirs feelings and she didnt wait for royal blood, eren was the one ymir was waiting on for 2k years, not mikasa. The parallels between mikasa and ymir arent there really. I think Eren getting killed instantly was fine, he obviously did not want to take choice from what little friends he had left I guess that he didnt kill. Whatever. But yeah why did mikasa know in the head, doesnt make sense. And yeah why eren simp, he showed historia more attention than mikasa the whole show. even after zeke tells him mikasa adores him he really doesnt seem to give a single f about her feelings. Eren mikasa feels written in in the last chapter imo.idk. Why did the whole team instantly trust annie? Last they saw her she killed a third of all people in the town with erens fight and a lot of scouts. So why reunite and have a crush on her if she literally tried to kill you a second ago. Doesnt make a lot of sense and feels like poor writing at a breakneck pace. Since eren can also direct titans I guess, he left those titans when he transformed of his former friends and allies, granted they werent yeagerists but. He left them to eat his own friends and people which he wanted to protect, it makes him seem like he really doesnt care about his people at all, and just wanted to kill everything. Speaking of directing titans, why was he so mad then that he directed the titan to eat his mom. This is the ultimate weird flex but okay???? Ending, it felt wrong and like it did not belong. I agree the writing at the end was pretty bad. I only watched all of aot in 10 days, amazing series but the ending really let me down. I have never watched anime before, and I will be sure to make sure they have a good ending in the future, this ending left me hollow and empty after loving it so much. This is my (Im not a writer or artist) experience, and the ending left a lot more questions than answers. Still love the earlier seasons tho

[@BadTakeRisan]

Yeah the earlier seasons were definitely the highlight looking back. This ending isn’t terrible and there were some good parts. Unfortunately it was still disappointing. It really didn’t live up to the level of writing that was showcased earlier on .

[@KafuKemeh]

Why is the major complaint about the ending about Annie when it is carely shown she and Reiner were willing to gain redemption for what they did by stopping the rumbling. Also the main cast also did the same things that they did. No one in the show is flawless.

[@thered4048]

@@KafuKemeh Excuse my ignorance on the final episode as I dont remember it too well at this point but doesnt annie just go eat cake with them? It seems like a chummy reunion if memory serves. like oh wow, I was in prison for a long time but now I can eat cake with some friends haha. They wete at each others throats the next scene though. So.. The final episode basically says what you said, I dont disagree. But the meeting scene feels off. Maybe I am imagining things? Do you want me to rewatch it?

[@BadTakeRisan]

It might be best if you rewatch it. Annie is “forgiven” because they all have much bigger things to worry about. If I remember correctly, wasn’t there a scene with Armin where he explained how they’re all murderers? It’s actually done pretty well imo. So much has changed since Annie was a threat so it’s kinda ridiculous for them to be mad at her still lmao. She killed maybe 20/30 ppl, they’ve all killed hundreds by the time she wakes up. And to top it off, Eren is in the process of killing billions so her “crimes” seem much less severe. Combine that with the fact that they know the context of her and Reiner’s “crimes” with them just being kids forced to do terrible things by an oppressor. It would be kinda hypocritical for our Paradis main characters to still be mad at her. If anything, my problem with Annie was that her romance with Armin was rushed and a little forced.

[@KafuKemeh]

@@BadTakeRisan i like how her relationship brings out of him saying he is not a good person tho

[@KafuKemeh]

For Eren Yeager it is explained that his mind was messed due to seeing the past, present and future so ypu can see why he is sometimes dazed off and confused. Also Eren has always self criticized himself and his own weakness. For here he is just criticizing himself and the way he chose to murder billions of people instead of finding peaceful options.

[@BadTakeRisan]

From a writers perspective can’t you see how that is disappointing? These characters aren’t alive, they’re written by an author/mangaka etc. Eren did something stupid( the rumbling) and his “reasoning” was that he’s too dumb to find a better alternative? That just screams incompetence from the writer and feels like he had to make up some bullshit to write himself out of a corner. Im not a fan of that style of writing ✍️

[@KafuKemeh]

@@BadTakeRisan i thought the point was that how Eren was justifying himself with reasons doing the rumbling. And with the scene with Ramzi, the mask partially came of to reveal it because of his human nature. I think the point is how eren is just a human being with flaws and a desire to see the sight

[@BadTakeRisan]

Sure that could be the case. It doesn’t change the fact that Eren did the rumbling because he admittedly couldn’t think of any other way. Whether or not that was done by the writer to show that Eren is “flawed” is irrelevant. That’s shallow writing. We’ve known Eren is flawed this entire show/manga. It never needed to be spelled out for us. The reason the writer had Eren admit that is because it’s the only way the story made sense. He wrote himself in to a corner and needed to write himself out. I’m not a fan of how he did it. It’s not about understanding the show or missing some sort of head cannon that makes it all click. I don’t like the ending because I believe it is poorly written.

[@KafuKemeh]

@@BadTakeRisan Also the slave to freedom thing is literally a callback to what Kenny Ackerman said in season 3 where he said "everyone is a slave to something" and what Armin told him in the table scene. Eren became a slave to fate and his memories that he wrote his own story causing his descent to villainy too. I don't think you should take the eren calling himself a idiot too literally tho.

[@BadTakeRisan]

This ending has some of the head cannon inducing convos I’ve ever had. I get we all liked the show /manga before the ending but come on. Being a slave to freedom is oxymoronic. Try looking at it from the pov of the WRITER and not the characters for one second. Also with the whole “I couldn’t think of anything else , I’m stupid” thing with Eren. Why shouldn’t we take it literally? It’s literally the explanation for why he did what he did. So on one hand we shouldn’t take it too literally because it’s kinda stupid. Then on the other hand, I have to take it at least somewhat serious due to its HUGE impact on the overall plot and conclusion of the show. Sounds like cope tbh.

[@MarkusNabokov]

The ending was bad, dude. It's even worse when you've actually paid attention to EVERYTHING that had been established, and keep in mind that Isayama himself ADMITTED he's forgetful about the things he writes. He didn't even bother to re read his own work, and NOT listen to any of the fans wanting Eren and Mikasa "shipped" together, to understand the importance of Historia and how crucial she was to both Eren AND Ymir, the former of who she ends up loving, or she WOULD have if it weren't for bad writing, and her connection to Ymir, which goes beyond just her being of the Royal family. There's so much to say, but this show is not "legendary", dude. It's going to be remembered as "the anime that could have been great", nothing more.

[@BadTakeRisan]

Bro I spent 70% of this vid shitting on the show and you still found a way to disagree lmao. Also a lot of your points are related to the relationship status of characters and not actual plot holes and narrative inconsistencies. Ppl that make these kinda points make the rest of us with genuine gripes with the show look bad. Also, I called the show legendary for what it accomplished viewership and popularity wise. Even tho I thought the ending was shit, you can’t deny its status as one of the biggest anime ever.

[@lincolnhaldorsen5649]

I was anime mostly but I did read the last chapters in the manga on Crunchyroll manga service (it will shut down in December 2023). Manga’s ending was unpopular because Eren died and it made him look pathetic and confused.

[@BadTakeRisan]

Kinda similar to the anime’s depiction of Eren tho lol. Obv the anime did it better but I don’t think that it’s good.

[@lincolnhaldorsen5649]

My favorite characters are Ymir Fritz, Eren Yaeger, King Fritz, First Reiss King, Willy Tybur, Historia Reiss, Floch, General Calvi, and General Theo Magath. They seem confident, powerful, committed to their ideologies whether pacifism or imperialism or love or nationalism or freedom.

[@BadTakeRisan]

Damn that’s a wild list of favourites 😭

[@jackgoodall6865]

I was going to explain what being a slave to freedom means but no I guess we just blame the author for having some complexity in the story and giving the viewer something to think about.

[@BadTakeRisan]

Exactly 🎯

[@jackgoodall6865]

interesting, I was actually using something called sarcasm. Did you change your opinion on how you view did aspect of the ending?

[@BadTakeRisan]

Lmaoo

[@thered4048]

It gave me something to think about definitely, I think I should not have watched the ending lol. Dont get me wrong there were some good themes, but there were also loose ends and stuff that doesnt make sense writing wise.

[@jackgoodall6865]

So we agree theirs good themes, that was the only part of the ending I was adressing in my orignal comment. Glad we agree.

[@RhettThompsonFilm]

1. Eren does it need to be 100% explained? If there’s complexity and confusion of why he did it is the point. And about changing the past, he didn’t really. He already had done it. The time travel here is a deterministic type where the future is as set as the past. He explains a lot how he tried and wanted to change things but never could. It’s also very well explained that a vast majority of the Chad Eren personality was a facade. 2. You say Ymir is cliche? Why? You never make any arguments or provide examples of why. Ymir needed to be shown that someone that could completely love someone and still be able to recognize and act when they needed to when said person had gone too far, something Ymir never did but deep down wished she did. And man I really hate sentences like “it’s just bad”. You gotta really prove that or just say you didn’t like it. 3. Fake deaths, I think this is kind of a personal choice. Many people wanted a happier ending (it’s still dark af) but I just disagree. I thought the happy ending was fine and probably better than just killing almost everyone. I like you mentioned some good stuff at the end though.

[@BadTakeRisan]

1) My main issue with Eren is that he’s literally an idiot. The reason he’s doing all this is because he couldn’t think of an alternative. That just comes off ass lazy writing. A character saying they did something because they couldn’t think of anything else is very reflective of the author’s ability. 2) I said why she’s cliche in the same segment. The reason why she’s done all of this for 2000 years is because she loved him. For a series as complex as AOT, to have the founding titan entire reason for functioning to be love is just simplistic , cliche and BAD (imo of course ). It was all there in the vid bro. 3) While I disagree , I can see where you’re coming from on 1 and 2. This one tho? Come on man. Fake out deaths have been a standard example of bad writing for decades now. I get you like the show but you gotta be fr. This was one of my favourite shows for the past 10 years and as biased as I am , I can still see that this finale had major issues . Thanks for watching and commenting tho. Regardless of whether or not we agree I think it’s pretty interesting to see other ppls perspective 🤙🏾

[@ConstantinDOSSOU-vy1zo]

1) Time Travel in SNK is perfect exemple of a bad time travel. It was no coherent and told nothing. Also actions of Eren are so stupids and don't make any sens . 2 ) Ymir is litteraly in worse character of all times. The author doesn't make effort to explain correctly his mind and she destroyed many moments in the show.

[@RhettThompsonFilm]

@@ConstantinDOSSOU-vy1zo not true. SNK time travel is the only way to do a non-paradoxical time travel. Just because they aren’t spelled out and you didn’t totally understand them doesn’t mean it’s bad. Also the point about Ymir what? You can’t even refer to her/him by consistent pronouns, how am I supposed to respond to that?

[@ConstantinDOSSOU-vy1zo]

@@RhettThompsonFilm " SNK Time Travel only way to do a non paradoxal time travel" ? Are you serious ? SNK has most paradoxal time travel I never Saw in a fiction. Create a Time Travel without to give clear rules is excactly perfect method to fail. Ymir who destroys the story. It is not obvious ? In the end ? The Ymir who is the worst character I never saw and author didn't even try to explain her .