The Ultimate Critique of Attack on Titan's Ending

[@Plasmyte]

source on Isayama's philosophy: www.reddit.com/r/titanfolk/comments/n6zphi/isayamas_blog_from_2016_relevant_to_erens/ Mikasa portion starts in the middle of a sentence; full sentence: "Mikasa’s case within the ending has certainly been the most contentious point, even more so now that it goes hand in hand with the resolution of Ymir Fritz, the most important character in all of the story on whom rests the climax itself," Edit: Added a list of the music used in this video to the description.

[@TheObicobiHD]

Appreciate it man!

[@ameliawalker1046]

Only one thing I've got to say to the author himself: Thanks for nothing!

[@manynukes11]

I like how Ymir was waiting for somebody to free her, then Eren came and freed her, then she was still waiting for someone

[@hashakahwantstorepent.4176]

Women eh?

[@Why-sn5gt]

Omg lol

[@53cards92]

To my understanding, Ymir gaslit Eren into becoming the next King Fritz while living vicariously through Mikasa, only to make her kill the person she loves. Horrible ending imo

[@lain5858]

​@@53cards92 Tô Eren become like king fritz he had to be a slaver ower. Not fighting for Paradis freedom 😅

[@53cards92]

@@lain5858 Did he not march his servant titans toward their death in order to subjugate the rest of the world by force? Either way, that’s a stupid statement since Eren doesn’t need to be exactly the same as King Fritz in order to act like the villainous tyrant he became.

[@rahyansuryaramadhan7082]

Historia's Character arc be like : who? -> hm this character seems important -> wow this character is REALLY important -> who?

[@As_Expected_of_Pieck]

@ǞЯƮΦЯiǞ РęПDЯǞgΦП the thing is, she was active as queen, even if not present constantly like the 104th kids, it was her who made the call to reveal the truth to the populace, it was her who was at all of the diplomatic flashback meetings unlike a certain crystal masturbator "peace ambassador" mongo, and she was not present because she was literally about to give birth, so making her wholly irrelevant to the ending was solely a retcon, when the plot was literally shaped around her.

[@lalatui4539]

Oh shoot, didn't know Historia was the main character all along. Didn't know you Yeagerbombers know the story so well.

[@lalatui4539]

@ᴄᴏᴜʀᴛɴᴇʏ ᴡʜɪᴛᴍᴏʀᴇ Half true, but if you don't like Mikasa at all or hate her with a passion. Then you definitely won't like the fact that the ending focused on her. "Mikasa is one of the 3 main characters in the series." Ok cool. "But the ending revolves around her character?" OH NO, i cannot believe it!! Like come on guys, don't be like that. And by the way, Historia was only relevant for 1 arc...

[@b14922]

@@lalatui4539 i agree, historia should have been removed from the story earlier, stupid and completely unnecessary character tbh. Mikasa x eren forever!

[@phrozti188]

@@lalatui4539 "she was only relevant for 1 arc"? Damn... Mikasa was only relevant for... like the ending...? so theirs that take it as u will

[@6godzingisgodme7o-dynamicd3]

I want to believe that the table scene was meant for Eren to push his friends away, not because he wanted to make them heroes, but because he didn’t want them to remember him in a fond light. The last thing Eren would want is his people to praise his efforts. He hated himself so much for even contemplating the idea of genocide, having to kill billions of people, some people that he came to find out were just like him; that it feels almost insulting to think that he would want Mikasa to remember him fondly after everything that had just happened. That’s why I can’t take 139 seriously. Eren chose to do the full Rumbling out of selfishness and obligation, and hated every moment of it. The real Eren would’ve accepted that result, and rejected being celebrated or remembered for it

[@UnknxwnXL0]

Thx

[@mayatokyo6979]

I agree with you on that one. Chap 139 made me angry as well. I get Eren would want Mikasa to still remember him, not to forget about him. But to say he wanted her to still have only him (as a man) in her heart after all the horrible things he said to her in the table scene and the atrocities he committed with his genocide. That's too much.

[@Juswub80]

@@mayatokyo6979 what? That’s why he didn’t say it to her. He knew it was selfish and wrong to think that, but he felt it anyway. I don’t understand this criticism.

[@Juswub80]

Eren’s goal before he began the rumbling and up until after he started it was just to destroy everything. He didn’t know he would be stoped until Ymir granted him the full powers that she had. That’s why Grisha said “Stop Eren” to Zeke. Eren was limited by what Grisha knew at first, so he didn’t actually know he would be stopped.

[@mayatokyo6979]

@@Juswub80 i agree with you on that one. So Eren in path is lying to Armin about wanting them to be heroes from the start. It’s like he made this plan last minute after touching Ymir and knowing he would be stopped.

[@blubblubblup]

one of the best AOT critiques imo comprehensive, stays respectful, and provides actual interpretations based on philosophical and narrative ideas. it's so refreshing to see meaningful thoughts instead of the same pseudointellectual talking points over and over again. this video really tries to interpret the story in a way that respects Isayama's ability to write potentially brilliant fiction. not to be mean, but no sane person should be defending historia's pregnancy as simply a solution to the titanization problem. that is an insult to the efficiency of good writing and the development of historia's character.

[@olpindolean3495]

No amount of anime-onlies/normies will ever convince me that the ending properly concludes the series in a satisfying way.

[@annett_55555]

Anime onlys can never have better takes than manga readers

[@TheDon266]

I refuse to believe people seriously saw Eren killing his own mother for mfking Bertholdt and actually thought "yeah makes perfect logical sense."

[@annett_55555]

@user-wy8ve5nr2n how? They understand stories much better because they read every month/week while anime onlys wait for continuation for YEARS and forget what happened earlier in the shows they watch

[@annett_55555]

@user-wy8ve5nr2n 1) I was talking about manga 2) anime is NOT cartoon

[@kafukwamekemeh]

@@TheDon266 U literally love Eren manipulating his dad to kill the reiss family and claiming it makes logical sense

[@dbelow_1556]

I fucking hate when people say "slave to freedom" or "slave to his will" as if merely acting in your own self interest means you are a slave, it makes all actions slavery, even those which you do for no one but yourself. This interpretation is meaningless, as it includes all and excludes nothing

[@seanzano6634]

I don't know fam it seems like you are a slave to your own free will because you chose to type this comment out of your own will. Or whatever It literally makes no sense

[@dbelow_1556]

@@seanzano6634 Exactly, I mean, isn't it the whole point of free will to take control over your own actions? In essence, you take mastery of your own life, you are free because you have enslaved yourself. If you ask me, that's your only means of being truly free, but apparently no, that also doesn't count because you're still a 'slave' semantically

[@jackmayor3574]

I can understand being a slave to an addiction, but a slave to the desire to be free? Lol, ending defenders are hilarious.

[@APsGTG]

It’s people who (no joke) aren’t free and don’t understand freedom. It’s why the people who make this argument stay in safe little echochambers and spew hatred to people who disagree with them, they can’t be out in the open and intellectually defend themselves, to do that takes coming out of your mental comfort zone and literally being ‘free’.

[@APsGTG]

@@jackmayor3574 one of them told me that freedom is a childish desire. I said ok then let police arrest you for 25 years for something your great ancestors did and see how you react. You’ll want to be ‘free’ then. Exactly how Eren feels

[@birdwithinternetconnection2624]

the one thing I hate the most is in eren and armins talk just a few panels are actually talking about how hundreds of millions people died because of the rumbling and the other ones are that eren hurt mikasas feelings like what

[@birdwithinternetconnection2624]

@ǞЯƮΦЯiǞ РęПDЯǞgΦП what did the people say to defend it

[@quirinoguy8665]

Ah... The scene where I wanted to nuke Isayama's onsen with a colossal shit.

[@deuce5546]

@ᴀꜱᴜᴋᴀ ᴀꜱᴜᴋᴀ What actually makes Armin say that anyway? He already knew why Eren did everything he did before he talked to him, so why does he react to this differently, why is it that before he's hell bent on stopping the genocide and then when he talks to Eren in the boat he's like "oh thanks man you're a real G"

[@thatoneguy-7387]

The most annoying part is that it's Eren hurting Mikasa's feelings that makes Armin so angry that he punches Eren. Not y'know the genocide he did. Then after the Mikasa stuff it's Eren that has to say like "but Armin I did a genocide it was really bad" and Armin's expression is like "oh yeah that". Combined with the original line of "thank you. You became a mass murderer for our sake" it really felt like Armin just didn't give a shit about that whole thing. Then Eren gets a teary eyed send-off like he made a heroic sacrifice even though he just committed the worst crime in human history.

[@mrreyes5004]

*_Honestly, the poor worldbuilding also needs a mention._* Isayama wanted a big global conflict, but we only know the names of literally four nations: Paradis, Marley, Hizuru and the Mid-Eastern Alliance. Who tf even knows what Onyankopon's country is called? Reiner and Magath state that Marley has plenty of enemy nations, but who the hell are those enemies? We literally get no worldbuilding for anything about that. There should've been way more different international factions at play, here. *Tbh it might've been more interesting if there were more nations who were willing to make an alliance with the Eldians of Paradis.* We already know in canon that Marley has a bunch of enemies because of Marley using Titans for war, so it could be a great idea if a few of those anti-Marley enemy nations realize that the Walldians literally have an entire military branch who are trained to kill Titans. Therefore, they actually team up with the Walldians against Marley, and not just for the island resources. To be clear, I don't just mean Yelena's group who did it to trick the Walldians for Zeke's plan. I'm actually talking about foreign governments genuinely reaching out to Paradis with legit offers for an alliance, to show that it's not the ENTIRE world against Paradis. Having several nations become allies with Paradis would make the idea of the Rumbling way more complex and nuanced. If that were to happen, then unleashing the Rumbling would destroy all the people across the ocean who are trying to exterminate them AND destroy all the people across the ocean who trusted and helped them. Originally, those other nations would only be working together with the Walldians because they share a common enemy against Marley. But as the war drags on, the soldiers from those allied nations slowly grow to accept the Walldians as real fellow people and let go of their Eldian racism as they fight side-by-side. That would be a great way to add more nuance to the option of whether to do the Rumbling or not, and it would show the good side of humanity being able to forge new bonds even in the middle of hellish war. Instead of Isayama's depressingly pathetic worldview that he shoehorned into the ending.

[@algorithmgeneratedanimegir1286]

I kind of hate the time skip and greater conflict and race war bent that the series turns to after they leave the walls, but if it has to go that way this would actually be a pretty good direction. I mean, everything about post time skip AoT is absolute dogass. The Marlians, the outside world, Ymir, all of it. It's not even a fraction as well done as the first part of the series.

[@blubblubblup]

it really feels like isayama forced the rumbling to happen because he wanted to draw it. also why is there so little mention of how ridiculously outnumbered paradis is even after the 80% rumbling? technology is strongly correlated to population AOT has 20th century tech, 1900 estimates say 1.6 billion population being generous and reducing it to 1 billion, 20% of that is still 200 million paradis has around 1 million give or take but no more than 2 million 200 to 1 200 million people who just got completely fucked over by an eldian 200 million extremely angry and scared people isayama really fucked up with this stuff

[@kacperthegamer4556]

My words exactly. I really wanted to see more nations, Eren and other scouts become allies and even friends with other countries to show that both sides are human, make Eren even more conflicted about the rumbling and make us actually care about alliance-traitors victory

[@ahyanali2312]

I am surprised the eldians didnt revolt against Marley since only the eldians cod be titan shifters.

[@nikklon3401]

@@algorithmgeneratedanimegir1286 I think everyone hated the time skip

[@amberlynnsgiganticneck5948]

“yOU just DIDn’T uNDeRsTanD the StORy!”

[@jojomahmoud5752]

nice

[@maxim3939]

well yes, you don’t

[@flyingdragoncar4975]

@@maxim3939 cope.

[@_Circus_Clapped_]

@@maxim3939 Ratio + No Maidens + Skill Issue + Get gud + go touch some grass

[@tronksyggdrassil1863]

@@_Circus_Clapped_ lmao

[@gg2fan]

Thinking back to how I felt during the Reiner and Bertholdt reveal, the Battle of Shiganshina, the basement reveal, fucking hurts. This story gripped me like nothing else I've ever experienced :(

[@chrissyelric7134]

Same, there was truly nothing like it, so many good memories.

[@armored_guy]

Don’t let everything be ruined. You say yourself you made great memories and had great times watching the series so don’t just forget all that.

[@algorithmgeneratedanimegir1286]

Season 1-3 were so good. Why, why did it have to become *this?*

[@shivill2236]

​@@algorithmgeneratedanimegir1286 Isyama's writing has always been inconsistent. Take Zeke's introductory scene where he tries to kill Miche with a horse and then proceeds to ask him questions about the Scout equipment. If he wanted him dead, then why would he be questioning him seconds after the attempt? If he wanted him to be alive then why did he try to kill him before the questioning? Another example of inconsistency comes in the form of plot armours. Such as how Armin & Mikasa survived Eren's second transformation or how Armin survived having his skin burnt off and crashed from 70ft into a building. Aot always had inconsistent writing. It's just that the ending made it obvious.

[@shubhise]

​@@shivill2236Most of those are just nitpicks lol.

[@mtk115]

Isayama made a seinen world with shounen characters then made those shounen characters realize they were in a seinen world then for some stupid reason gave the series a shounen ending out of nowhere that's how I see it

[@jk-kw3jh]

how was the ending shounen

[@P4Z44K]

@@jk-kw3jh It’s actually both technically Armin is the most idealistic character in the series he preaches about peace but doesn’t give an argument about how peace can be achieved normally this would be a shounen ending but the added 8 pages shows paradis getting bombed so this shows armin was unsuccessful thus it shows peace is hard to achieve with idiotic idealism isyama?? Showed this but with an ending like this it feels pointless in 139 it also hints at the continuation of the Titans with Eren’s tree looking identical to ymirs tree so all around unsatisfactory maybe that’s what he was going for? idk.

[@jk-kw3jh]

@@P4Z44K to me I saw it as a consequence of genocide of 80% and how paradis island damned itself with their jaegrist approach and human nature to go war regardless (ofc it's obvious approach)

[@Juswub80]

How is 80% of humanity being killed and the main cast teaming up to kill the protagonist a shounen ending? What shounen have you been reading?

[@mtk115]

@@Juswub80 In the end a bright haired boy talk no jutsued his way to getting what he wanted spewing idealistic BS and not providing an alternate solution to the problem If that isn’t a shounen ending I don’t know what is

[@MrTorsation476858]

It just dawned on me that Armin didn’t really earn anything post Timeskip. He was undeservedly given the figurehead title of savior of the world just because he was the biggest idealist in blind Hope. He offered nothing of substance when it came to a potential alternative. It took literal genocide to occur for all sides to finally come together. The fact that it had to come to that means that Armin’s idealistic talk no jutsu trite failed, and the consequences had to come of that. Unfortunately, it never came. Instead, his efforts are bolstered because he just continues talking. Talk no Jutsus Zeke, Ymir and ultimately Eren by bringing up MIKASAS FEELINGS during a genocide. And it all goes in his favor. He’s treated as a whole Gary Stu in those final chapters. “Because you all lended your strength, we were able to stop the Rumbling”. You can’t get more Gary Stu than that. He did nothing of substance. He didn’t save the world. It was Eren’s plot convenient plan to destroy 80% of the world that miraculously saved his friends for a long time. The racism, war, tension amongst the Yeagerists and Alliance wasn’t solved at all. What benefited Paradis was simply removing 80% of the problem. What a great way to convey to your audience that the only suitable option to solving the world’s problems is to simply genocide it. Because then your idealistic friends can take credit simply cause they monged the hardest. While the characters with actual nuance get sidelined, killed, or narratively assassinated in order for this boring nonsensical conclusion of substanceless idealism gets pushed. Great video man

[@thetrueholybob434]

damn go off I guess.

[@MrTorsation476858]

@Godder Ssj I know that. My point is how the audience is only okay with the genocide as long as their favorite characters got to live. Missing the point of why it even happened to begin with

[@williamconto6977]

That’s a trope in shonen genre, the figurehead is always a hopeful idealist. This series was so far from it ( ripped off from the eternal champion, a novel hardcore as fuck and real life politik inspirations, like the Madagascar plan), and the main character was so out of the box for it ( a niezchean character with a place in the seinen genre, alongside the kinds of Reinhard, Griffith or Guts) that it took its total destruction for it to adjust.

[@P4Z44K]

Exactly

[@justicedunn5502]

Just because someone writes a genocide in a fictional story does not mean they condone it "as the only way to solve the world's problems". That's absurd. Since when are we looking to the genocidal villain of stories for advice?

[@Italian_Isaac_Clarke]

great video, it's rare to find someone who is actually able to pay attention.

[@emeraldpichu1]

Honestly the ending as a whole feels like Madara syndrome. You're antagonist is too op so the only way to beat them is for them to destroy themselves which ends up being very anticlimactic and boring.

[@GutsandBlood231]

That was soo obvious. After watching S4 P1 I immedietely knew the story gonna end with Eren sacrificing. Why am I so smart? I mean probably many people assessed the outcomming like me but they hate that concept and hoped to get a different ending from that.

[@emeraldpichu1]

@@GutsandBlood231 The angry edge boy with a chip against the world sacrificing themselves for the greater good is a trope with that said this was executed spectacularly badly It doesn't really satisfy the edge Lord version of the ending or the hopeful one so you just left with this middle ground of gray paste that is boring.

[@GutsandBlood231]

@@emeraldpichu1 Yeah I don't like how it is executed either but the theme in general is fine. An angy edge boy who understood what you don't do. Your are just a slave of life. Not more or less. He is a fucked up teen which is tragic af, but you want him still to be a sigma. Watch Demon Slayer or Dragon Ball then🤷🏻‍♂️

[@emeraldpichu1]

@@GutsandBlood231 Well technically speaking Erin is more of a victim of his own hubris and the machinations of an unknowable insect God who gives people power for no reason other than its own unknowable amusement. Because Erin's ideology is tied to the attack Titans ideology which is his ideology brought forth from the future into the past making it a causal loop of basically a man child imbuing a literal child with their angst which of course the problem being that because he caused the whole thing through the causal loop it makes him literally stuck with the mentality of a child which is obviously why his whole world view is so protracted and ignorant of the nuances of actual life.

[@Skeiths]

Another idiot spreading the misinformation about Madara's death. Hey dumbass you realize the whole "Madara was too OP so we had Kaguya kill him" is made up and Kishimoto never said that right? He wasn't OP at all, he was already getting clapped by Naruto and Sasuke.

[@cerene11]

This is very well written. I love when people defend Historia from Mikasa stans who bash her and say she's just an irrelevant side character. She's one of my favorite characters. It also bothers me how some people try to defend the ending and claim it makes sense, it's an extremely unsatisfying mess.

[@nerevarchthn6860]

The ending makes sense in many ways but the opposite side is just larger

[@infamouspotato2028]

she's a side character with more character development than main girl (i.e mikasa)

[@_Circus_Clapped_]

​@@nerevarchthn6860 nah bro, wtf happened to the Hallucigenia? no way it would just rely on the "founding" titan as a host, also why was zeke even needed? Eren legit used the founding titan powers with Dina and Historia but on a partial scale, no way you need a royal titan shifter to activate the rumbling, it was clear Isayama was extending it for BS reasons as he never explains why Zeke was needed to touch Eren and why tf does Eren eat the warhammer titan when he can take any form in the final battle, FFS isayama straight up took a dump on the final chapters and the editors just smeared it and tried to make sense of it

[@nerevarchthn6860]

@@_Circus_Clapped_ 1) a parasite always relys on its host survival 2) without zeke eren doesnt have access to paths which is needed to control the titans, historia nor dina knew how to get to the paths 3) your last point doesnt make sense in any way could you rephrase?

[@_Circus_Clapped_]

@@nerevarchthn6860 how was it a parasite? it was chilling outside of Eren's body and back when Ymir fell into the tree 2.) how did Zeke even enter paths? did he nearly have to die to get in... inconsistent writing and 3.) you should understand that isayama shamelessly copied and failed to paste muv luv

[@mamba7160]

these critique videos always get so many dislikes even when they’re respectful. if you don’t dickride the anime and pretend it’s perfect the fanboys write it off as hate

[@learningagain4094]

The critique can be equally as bad as the ending itself. I don't dislike the video, but I found myself disagreeing with a few points here and there; if I disagreed with more points then it'd be only natural to dislike the video. So I don't really get your point.

[@mamba7160]

@@learningagain4094 I didn’t say no one should dislike the video, it’s ratio of dislikes on every single video criticizing AoT that’s telling. no one cares about the quality of the critique

[@123VRa]

Like every anime fanbase lol one piece fans even bully you when you dont have op in your anime favourites list

[@excalibur2772]

It doesn't help this guy is basically saying Eren was justified lol

[@mamba7160]

@@excalibur2772 you don’t have to agree with it I’m talking about that dislike ratio

[@hoorenglish5732]

God, I think Ymir being “in love” with Fritz is probably the worst thing out of the last chapter.

[@Juswub80]

Why? To people experiencing it stockhold syndrome does feel like a powerful love and devotion. You’ve never met anyone in an abusive relationship that swore they were madly in love with their abuser?

[@hoorenglish5732]

@@Juswub80 The thing is Ymir, by all the evidence we were given in the manga, should NOT have Stockholm. Nor is this the same situation as being in an abusive relationship. To imply otherwise is an insult to just about anyone who has ever been in an abusive relationship and had the strength to leave through support of friends and family. And either way, despite Isayama being a foreshadowing genius, it was never even implied she did have some form of love or stockholm for King Shitz.

[@Momsi95]

@@Juswub80 Stockholm syndrome is not even real. It is pop-psychology and was created by police to justify their horrible treatment of victims. But even if it was a real thing, Ymir's relationship with King Fritz do not fit the criteria of stockholm syndrome. In order for it to occur the captor/abuser needs to have moments of genuine love and care for the captive/abused. Meanwhile we see Ymir dying on the floor protecting the King and he tells her that she was born to be his slave. Maybe instead of spouting this crappy argument everywhere to justify this shit ending you do some research.

[@Juswub80]

@@hoorenglish5732 that’s another thing, this is just baseless virtue signaling. Why does acknowledging similarities INSULTING ALL ABUSE VICTIMS. I completely disagree with that. When he said that in the video i was like “HOW?” I genuinely want you to explain how it is because I don’t believe that you can. In the ancient world when women were the spoils of war, that sort of “love” was likely extremely prevalent.

[@Juswub80]

@@Momsi95 see, look at how EMOTIONAL you’re getting, most people defending this video can’t defend it based on its own merit, so you resort to name calling and appeals to emotion. I don’t care what you call it, there have certainly been cases where people (namely women) identify and feel deep affection and devotion for people who abuse/mistreat/hold them captive. We didn’t see every moment between Fritz and Ymir, they had sex a lot as they had 3 kids. A lot of people mistake sex for love, that’s especially true in the time period they lived in.

[@sungod9797]

If Eren was the true father of Historia's child, it would go even further to cement the ideological difference between him and Zeke. What better way to show Eren's philosophical rejection of Zeke's sterilization plan than to be an expecting father at the time? Besides, Historia is the only female character that Eren ever compliments or shows admiration for. She's also the one who reaffirmed his mother's "because I was born into this world" sentiment, by refuting Eren's lament that he should never have been born. Plus, even the story itself seems to imply this relationship exists, given the surrounding characters (especially Jean) teasing him about it, and that scene of Mikasa getting jealous seeing them walking together. Plus, Historia later tells Eren that him saying she was normal (now that her facade dropped) was the first thing that made her have a semblance of happiness again. His statement is one of the reasons she isn't apologetic any longer about no longer having the Christa persona. Historia gets way more development than Mikasa does. I think that the story did imply heavily that Mikasa had some amount of romantic affection for Eren, but there was zero evidence that this was mutual. Eren treated her like a nagging sister the whole series, and treats her purely platonically (in the way an adopted brother would), even in moments where Mikasa seemingly wanted to express something romantic (like the Dina Fritz titan scene where Eren first uses the Founder's power). The series seems to make the relationship seem one-sided, with Mikasa's feelings being unrequited... until the final couple chapters. I don't care about shipping and generally prefer stories where the romantic subplots are kept to the bare minimum necessary for a story to feel human and realistic. The series accomplishes this well, until completely ruining this in the last few chapters. Historia being the only viable love interest for Eren is a matter of simply continuing the setup and themes of the series up to that point, not about my personal like of the ship. Also, it's interesting that Historia goes into labor exactly when the rumbling initiates (something that would make sense if Eren was the father), only for the child to have zero relevance to the final plan (either Zeke's or Eren's). It's a classic example of a setup that has zero execution or payoff, thus being a waste of everyone's time. Why even have the pregnancy subplot in the first place, and why have so many panels devoted to this, if it ends up meaning nothing?

[@mayatokyo6979]

I think it will rather do the contrary. Eren wanted Historia to eat him because his father killed all the Reiss family. Eren felt extreme guilt even for been born from that man who murdered innocent children. So If a child had been born between Eren and Historia that child would have learn about the countless sins Eren committed. That child would feel guilty and wished she was never born too. Her "father" killed, crushed, decimated 80% of the world Billions of people, innocents children babies pregnant women. That child would have to live with the tremendous burden of Eren's sin all her life This is not a life I wish for anyone.

[@MrTorsation476858]

@@mayatokyo6979 again you’re reading this story from a moral lens rather than what the narrative built it up towards By that same logic, Eren’s friends should feel guilt for living out their lives peacefully that Eren created for them through the murdering of billions of innocent children and pregnant women Instead, in the end they thanked him, memorialized him, and hailed him as a martyr.

[@mayatokyo6979]

@@MrTorsation476858 Yes I agree on that last part but Eren wouldn't leave behind a child that would be constantly reminded of his "father" actions/crimes. If Eren had sleeps with Historia and got her pregnant then how could he want Mikasa to still love only him and not be with another man ? Wouldn't that makes him a "selfish bastard"? Ps : I don't hate Eren I pity him a lot. In the end although he made the choices himself. He was still Ymir's puppet, a tool to her freedom.

[@MrTorsation476858]

@@mayatokyo6979 Again by your own logic going off the canon he condemned his own friends future generations of lives thanks to a situation he created for them, and they had to suffer by the hands of the rest of the world The actual canon makes him out to be selfish in this manner only because HE DIDNT FINISH the rumbling. Quite ironic don’t you think? Eren would only impregnate Historia in order to protect her. And he would go so far because he is indebted to her because she saved him that day. It’s only doing what needed to be done to satisfy that dynamic that the own series built up. Idk what to say about the Mikasa plotline but that should’ve been built up better imo

[@mayatokyo6979]

@@MrTorsation476858 man i would really believe you. Because at some point I too thought Eren could have been the father. But The following pages, we got that man 👨 the « farmer -kun » he stays with Historia during the whole pregnancy, he is by her side when she is in labor. And later 3 years after the battle of « Heaven and Earth » the man is married to her and celebrating the birthday 🥳 of the little girl 👧. The nail on the coffin ⚰️for me was the official colored version of Shingeki no Kyojin chapter 139 where the eyes of the child are plain brown (not green or blue)it further prove that Eren is not the father. I guess an ending where after Eren’s death Historia and Mikasa would have raised and loved « his» cute baby girl 👧 together, In memory of Eren could have made sense. But in retrospect it was better for Mikasa to finally move forward with her life. She will always love Eren and that's fine but she's not chained down by her love anymore.

[@StinkiiAlt]

Someone who understands the 50 year plan was never an option. Finally.

[@ThePreciseClimber]

You know, something doesn't add up. The concept of Erdians/Subjects of Ymir as this limited ethnic group. It's been proven (through mathematics and genetic evidence) that every living European today is related to every single European alive 1,000 years ago. Ymir lived 2,000 years ago and the Erdian tribe was very... conquer-y. The chances of keeping Ymir's blood "contained" to a specific group of people are basically nonexistent. All you need is a single random bastard somewhere during the first 1,000 years after Ymir's death and presto - everyone in the civilised world is a subject of Ymir 1,000 years later. I really thought this was going to be the final plot twist of the story - that everyone really WAS equal. There were no monsters, only people. This was all a lie orchestrated by Maré so they would have a fresh supply of titans for their wars. Would go well with the anti-racism message, wouldn't you say? But no, turns out the author just didn't think this through. The problem, I think, is that Isayama clearly based the prosecution of Erdians on World Word 2 era Jews. The ghettos, the armbands, it's all very blunt. But WW2 era Jews are not compatible with this fantasy element. The Nazis had the Nuremberg Laws, their assumptions were based on documentation, not genetic tests. The 3 out of 4 grandparents rule.

[@kyordannydelvalle523]

This is why I get mad when people say that AOT is a realistic portrayal of how war occurred or how it start.

[@_marlow_9]

​@@kyordannydelvalle523it is

[@markopusic8258]

Yeah to be fair I'm willing to go past such intricate genetic technicalities. AOT is after all still a fictional world with differing rules and a story is only going to be as good as its writer. I'm not saying the lack of consideration for the Erdians' purity of blood is good don't get me wrong, but with so much stuff already happening in the story I'm ready to overlook that detail especially if Isayama wasn't aware of this in the first place. Then again... There was arguably something to dig here but it wouldn't work with the current level of worldbuilding, the world as it is couldn't possibly be stupid enough to overlook the possibility of EVERYBODY having Erdian blood and I don't see worldwide hypocrisy to cover the fact to be a realistic alternative.

[@maleexile9053]

Jewish law is very strict on race mixing to

[@nicholasleclerc1583]

Also, there's a CLEAR inspiration for the Rumbling from _The Eternal Champion_ from Michael Moorcock (I mean, read the synopsis on like Wikipedia, and notice how the protagonist is called EREkosë...)

[@devinbookerakanextkobe6201]

The further the story got a away from the EMA concept, the more interesting it became lmao Always found it strange that Hisu was sidelined in the final arcs, cause Yams was trying to regress the story back to EMA

[@pipusmaximus189]

Facts. If Yams wanted to have the ending be centered around EMA, than he should have done a better job with their characterization. Instead he completely wasted them, by going away from the concept of EMA with Reiner's flashbacks, Gabi's arc, Zeke's plan, Mikasa and Armin felt more and more like side characters, as if Isayama completely forgot about them, until he remembered last minute in the final 10% of the story "oh yeah, this story started with EMA, so I'm gonna hand over the ending to Mikasa and Armin undeservedly", and then people are suprised that people didn't like this.

[@samueloak1600]

@@pipusmaximus189 Well, Armin and Mikasa were ever present since the raid on Liberio even if not as focused, I don't think that's a problem

[@pipusmaximus189]

@@samueloak1600 I think it is.

[@samueloak1600]

@@pipusmaximus189 But why?

[@pipusmaximus189]

@@samueloak1600 I said why in the comment you originally replied to lol.

[@jackmayor3574]

Ymir's all encompassing love for King Fritz is by far the worst thing Isayama did in the final chapter. To frame her love for King Fritz in a positive light was morally reprehensible. I couldn't believe he had the gall to do that. If he only implied that she wanted to be loved by him, or really just anyone. That might be ok. But no, she had the purest love for her abuser: "aishteru" the most powerful word in the Japanese language for love. Truly disgusting writing.

[@As_Expected_of_Pieck]

the best part is that Shitsayama chose to depict Ymir in paths of all forms, as a child, when her supposed character thesis is her undying love of King Fritz's physical and sexual abuse. it's almost like this creepy dumb shit was never planned and Ymir was depicted as a child to endear the reader to her, almost like a daughter, and with a pregnant character whose best friend was given her namesake. just pure coincidence.

[@mmallowsmallows2575]

Berserk has rape so it's badly written as well

[@onelaw]

@@mmallowsmallows2575 do they love their rapist?

[@hondshoven8477]

@@onelaw Nope, it's depicted as a traumatic event that breaks the person's mind. Healing them and killing the grapist is the big objective for most of Berserk

[@jackmayor3574]

@@mmallowsmallows2575 That's the worse defense I've seen yet, lol

[@APsGTG]

Haha, updated the thumbnail ay I return to this video monthly, the choice of background music, the accurate and pinpointed commentary, and the assuredness in your voice when describing this convoluted story. One of my favourite all time videos on KZbin man. We appreciate you plasmyte mate

[@kafukwamekemeh]

Same guy who makes his life out of ANR and reddit theories

[@kanekix7074]

@@kafukwamekemeh exactly

[@MrTorsation476858]

I really like this point you elaborate on at 1:42:10. As Eren progressed in the story, so did his world view. Sure his core archetype of freedom never changed, but it became more nuanced and relatable as he began to learn more about the world beyond his home. He grew more antagonistic, but we understood where he was coming from because of his later developments in Marley and S4. We thought Armin would take on a more nuanced role after RtS given that he was built up in that manner based off of his previous feats which displayed of cunning, intellectual prowess. Yet once post-Timeskip comes around he feels a lot more neutered and submissive. Unable to expand his viewpoints beyond “let’s talk”. He seems more fixated on Annie’s crystal and Mikasa’s feelings more than any of the growing issues that the world has presented him, which is why his character falls flat when the story tries to force him into the leadership role towards the end. His ideology is inferior to Eren’s post Timeskip in complete overall scope, yet he’s just supposed to be “right” because he’s the hero (Helos). Mikasa as well shows barely any sign of becoming a more active nuanced character beyond “stop Eren because I want to be with Eren”. It’s such a trivial simplistic motivation that has such little depth to it because we’re comparing it to the other MAJOR factors that exist in this grand scale story. How could a character be THIS INFATUATED with another character who barely shows her any sort affection? Sure we all know Eren cares for Mikasa definitely, but the relationship never went anything beyond simply wanting to protect one another. How is that any different from how Eren views his other friends? The biggest issue is that this is all her character amounts to. Eren. A whole FOUR YEARS had past and she never grew more established relationships with the other characters? Surely there could’ve been a development there during that year when Eren abandoned everyone. Was she really that oblivious to Jeans growing feelings for her during that span? Is there anything that she desires or likes outside of being with Eren? Her fans use her “childhood trauma” as a constant excuse for her lack of development in these areas that other characters have gotten even though they’ve been through trauma as well. Historia as a child was on the verge of suicide for how she was treated, yet she grew into a competent character. So what’s Mika’s excuse? Is Eren really her only family?? What about her other friends Sasha, Connie, JEAN? You know why people liked Sasha? She may have not been the strongest, or the brightest, but she had a charismatic personality. People still hate Gabi’s guts despite her being brainwashed, just because of how much people liked Sasha. A character put into a fucked up world still managed to laugh and smile. While you have Miss OP Ackerman over here who’s only redeeming quality seems to be just slicing through titans because “bAdAsS”. Her relationship with Eren isn’t compelling nor fun to read or follow when there are more important and interesting plot points to engage in within the story as pointed out in this video. EMA was a failure when only one of the characters had established nuanced, interesting viewpoints on the world they engaged in while the other characters had either regressed their viewpoints or never grew/expanded their established archetype from the beginning

[@pipusmaximus189]

Exactly this.

[@isaacmak0496]

Perfect comment. This is why Mikasa is one of the worst characters in the whole story. It’s sad that Isayama could’ve developed her during the WFP arc when he introduced the connections between her and the azumabito family, but it never amounted to anything.

[@termindterguta3514]

even tho i'm against 99% of ending haters, this comment actually makes sense. no straight hate, no clown rage, but only arguments. Mikasa was always one of the worst characters, people defending her are just trying to justifying anything. the only thing i don't agree on is that isayama actually showed us some moments where eren and mikasa were not just friends/close friends. I don't actually see eren going to historia/Sasha and saying "what am i to you? am i family?" and neither " i gonna wrap this scarf for you, as many as you want, now and forever as much as you want". that's not something to say to just a friend. He's talking about wrapping the scarf for her ALL LIFE, you don't do that to "just friends" cuz you need to "wrap the scarf" to your woman. not trying to say that this means isayama did everything good with this ship, he actually did bad...what i'm trying to say, is that there are some huge hints about eren's feeling, but there were exposed in a way that doesn't give the meaning it sould've give. The only one, that actually gives the right hint is eren asking mikasa what he is for her, but as i said, one thing can't justify everything. so yeah, that's actually bad writting but it didn't came from nowhere

[@ni06no]

She doesn’t have to be with Jean tho

[@lalatui4539]

@@ni06no Jean? Because you saw his face or something?

[@Rigar93]

I will never be able to get behind how he concluded Ymir and Historia’s story. Season 2 gave them both so much potential and after the first part of three…it was all downhill. Those two had some of the best scenes in the whole show. Both characters got done extremely dirty.

[@TyroneLDStyle]

I feel like this was the best possible critique of the ending. Isayama really did try to please everyone in the end, which ultimately gave us the most unsatisfactory outcome possible. EMA was a concept that was long past manageable for the series because not only did the themes and narrative of the story grow beyond that, so did the trio themselves (well mostly Eren-who is the literal crux that holds everything together). It logically wouldn’t have worked without some level of contrivance. Which the ending became. Completely utter contrivance that conveys nothing but a shallow desperate attempt to appeal to everyone. A fall from grace of a once incredible plot driven tale

[@filarchni3532]

that is hella true. If onl he had gone with an open ending instead. Sure it would be somewhat disappointing but, better than what we got.

[@williamconto6977]

Nah, he tried to please the majority. With a few overall unneeded screw ups to make even more obvious that he retconed the thing. Is impossible to please everyone, like more than 3/4 of a populace, that’s not gonna happen never in any media or setting.

[@TheObicobiHD]

My feelings exactly

[@samueloak1600]

@@filarchni3532 Isn't it kind of an open ending tho?

[@filarchni3532]

@@samueloak1600 Not really. It's heavily implied the world got it's revenge and slaughtered people in Paradise. It can't be a civil war because I doubt you would want to slaughter the people you intend to rule over. Plus it's too idealistic and silly to think that the racism just goes away cause of armong after witnessing their fears of the eldians realized. By open ending I mean open to whether Eren or the Cring-erhem Alliance win or it is left open at the end of season 3.

[@mr.saucemanxbackupaccount8969]

Lol like you have Eren confronting significant issues like the complexity of war politics, racial tension, parenthood, oppression, freedom for his home, AND genocide with all these different characters While you have Mika’s biggest dilemma being whether she’ll wear scarf or not because her crush said mean things to her

[@rhadamanthys649]

Why Mikasa is so popular is one of my existencial crisis... this character is so boring and uninteresting.

[@Liaison_Verequiem]

typical fanboys as long as shes hot and badass but with a mentality of a child then its ok…

[@javierlopez9789]

@@rhadamanthys649 simp girls are always popular for some reason, same thing happens With Sakura and Orihime, Mikasa gets a plus because she is not useless i guess.

[@NautilusSSN571]

@@javierlopez9789 I can grantee you, if Mikasa was a man and Eren was a woman, everyone would think she was creepy. But since it's a girl the one in the obsessive relationship, then it's cute.

[@fangsilver1977]

@@NautilusSSN571 I hardly doubt that lol. But who knows.

[@ulitmatedangai4934]

I couldn't swallow the Eren and Mikasa relationship, I didn't take it seriously and I didn't like it from the beginning just imagine this relationship is the key to end THE BIGGEST PROBLEM OF AOT AKA THE CURSE OF THE TITANS? COMPLETE NIGHTMARE.

[@billybro1403]

when 139 came out my little bro was just like "did you know Eren annihilated 80pc mankind cuz of Mikasa" and I was like say what🤣 I legit thought he was pulling my leg when he showed me that one panel of Eren whining but lo and behold...shit's real

[@thelmainoah]

I kid you not, i used to ship them until suddenly the end made no sense to me (although i must admit, i only shipped it due to my love for Mikasa, when i realized how toxic their relationship was i stopped)

[@autonomousomen1851]

“EMA came with the sacrifice of all the other better dynamics that came before it” *looks over Historia, Zeke, Reiner, Ymir and even Hange’s cheap conclusions* Yea you might be on to something there lol

[@APsGTG]

@ǞЯƮΦЯiǞ РęПDЯǞgΦП given hanges cheerfully eccentric attitude she wouldn’t have been ruined by the ending and actually would’ve fit in. She was the main driving force for stopping genocide. Her crying after killing Eren would make sense since she cared for him from young (unlike Annie, Pieck, Reiner). Hange is the only character that would’ve suited the ending, but instead was killed. How ironic, Isayama killed the only character that wouldn’t have been butchered by his happy go lucky ending.

[@blazeking52]

Anime only watcher, and I have to say I was having a mental breakdown while watching the final episode. From the ridiculous amount of time squad Levi should have died, to everything just not mattering at all. This ending doesn’t exist to me, Eren destroyed the world and saved paradis, that’s my end

[@APsGTG]

Google “aot no requiem” and read that. You’re welcome

[@danielossaconcha7400]

there's always fanworks! have you heard of AoR? there are various fan versions of the last chapters, some of them are pretty cool.

[@Heylon1313]

If you watched Attack on Titan and expected the ending to go: "They defeated all their enemies and lived happily and peacefully until the end of time", you might as well have watched something else because you didn't get it.

[@danielossaconcha7400]

@@Heylon1313 He did not write that, don't do a straw man.

[@Heylon1313]

@@danielossaconcha7400 I believe I stayed on topic, op said "Eren destroyed the world and saved paradis, that’s my end". Eren did both of these things short term, 80% of the outside world being destroyed is quite close to total annihilation and cripples them a lot, and Paradis had peace for a fairly long time*, it's just that it didn't last forever. If they are still unhappy with that ending they must have wished for basically everlasting peace, which is, in my opinion, unrealistic given what we experienced in the rest of the story. *I would estimate several hundred years judging by the buildings and the size of the tree, although the weapons shown dont fit that as we would expect the weaponry to also be more advanced, but Isayama has a history of getting these details wrong, e.g. stating the walls being 50m, the colossals being 60m and the attack titan being 15m tall, when that is clearly not what he is drawing.

[@jeff3221]

You briefly touch on it but I don't think the implication of Ymir's actions aren't brought up enough. Ymir, at any point in the 2000 years of war and suffering, could have switched off the ability for Eldians to shift. Ymir also has the ability to see into the future with the paths. SO WHY ON EARTH WOULD SHE NEED TO WAIT 2000 YEARS TO SEE MIKASA BEHEAD EREN IN THE PRESENT WHEN SHE COULD JUST SEE IT HAPPEN IN THE PATHS? She put her people through hell for absolutely no reason. 139 turned what should have been the most sympathetic character in the series into the most stone cold insane plot device in the series. She did not give a single fuck about all the people like her that were raped and enslaved because of HER CURSE, she just wanted to watch some girl kill her stepbro. Ymir had an even greater character assassination than Eren

[@hallo4651]

Ymir never had a charater to be assassinated. She's just a deus ex machina

[@sammotta7787]

💯 by keeping her character vague, Isayama kept his options open.

[@joshholleran9005]

My biggest argument to this is the Dr. Manhattan effect from Watchmen. This character can see events before they happen, and just like Eren, reacts as if they are happening in the present before it actually occurs. However, when the event ACTUALLY OCCURS, Dr. Manhattan responds as if it's the first time he's experienced it. He even gets called out for this because if he already knew it was going to happen, why didn't he just accept it. This is a complicated element which hinders the pay off from Ymir's character because it's not really fleshed out. But I think one could argue just like with erens confusion over what was the last, present, and future...Ymir may not have really understood what was happening until she saw it. The fact of the matter is this plot element could be easily cleaned up if we knew how much Eren and ymir actually see from the future, and how well it meshes with reality itself. If this was just explained a bit more or shown better in the manga, I think it would make more sense. Also no matter what information is gained about the future....it will still come to pass the exact same way. You can't change the future. Eren can't, ymir can't...that's power that is out of their control. The only question that remains is how the future will come to pass...and whether or not someone knows enough about it or not.

[@joshholleran9005]

Also.... technically Ymir doesn't have the founder so she can't see what happens in the future before it happens. My point from all of this is that it could be cleaned up in the anime. Elaboration and more time is really what the ending needs.

[@jeff3221]

@@joshholleran9005 That's exactly what we needed, an explanation as to how much of the future could be seen and why it couldn't be changed. Ymir just flips a switch at the end and boom, no more titan powers. There is zero justification for why this couldn't have happened at any point in history aside from eren saying durrr I can't change the future. That just doesn't make any sense. It's not even a case of making a different choice but the universe correcting itself and the same result still playing out eventually. We just never see anyone try and change the future, only do exactly what they're supposed to do. There are so many ways eren could have easily changed the future by using the founder to control the alliance into just sitting down at Paradis and drinking some wine, or ordering Floch to destroy the boats, etc. Tldr, most of the problems stem from telling us rather than showing us

[@smk087]

Many people think that, as the series concluded with a sad ending, therefore it is so meaningful, perfect, and a masterpiece. But it is not about a sad/happy ending. Many things towards the ending felt forced. Many things didn't feel right compared to perivous seasons. Overall, the ending never felt fulfilling. The death note ending was also sad, yet full-feeling.

[@SPCTR0]

I knew the ending/final arc was gonna be bad when Isayama announced that AOT will have a happy ending due to "demands from fans". Isayama caved in and wrote the ending for the fan satisfaction instead of writing the story as it is. In other words the story got 'corrupted' by the end due to 'demands' from the fans.

[@kaizenproductions00]

I mean was it really a happy ending? Especially after the 8 pages?

[@SPCTR0]

@@kaizenproductions00 Yeah but remember Isayama only added the additional pages because the "fans" were disappointed

[@lermadaniel]

When did he say that?

[@SPCTR0]

@@lermadaniel cant really rembember but i read it on some article a while back

[@superstarrajin4337]

it wasn't even a happy ending in slightest way, it was pure below average

[@APsGTG]

Holy moly. What a video and understanding of this story. I wish I could talk to you one on one about this story man. You earned a sub

[@ramza8355]

Comeback here again, still the best video essay in critizing AoT. Every other discussing plot holes yet you discussing the theme of AoT. I think what summarize this is: personified by Eren, AoT went from a fight against nihilism to giving up on life and embracing nihilism, hence the contradictions in Eren.

[@jackmayor3574]

Eren doesn't embrace anything to be honest. He's just confused, he apparently doesn't know what he wants in the end, despite being portrayed as being resolute all throughout season 4. Turns out he's "just an idiot" that made an oopsie.

[@kyordannydelvalle523]

@jackmayor3574 That doesn't make sense even starting that reason to show he was stupid was starting by having him crying out loud becuase he couldn't handle mikasa being with another man when the dude never in the whole series saw her in that way nor reciprocated her feelings everytime she confess her feeling to him. The issue start from something that eren never once was and ever thought about. For all the reason he could cry about, it just was something he never cared in the whole series xd. From the beginning of the episode eren was already acting out of character. Does not help thar isayama before chapter 169, he stated in interview that mikasa was only a sister to eren only to contradict it with no build up in the other chapter.

[@tygrenvoltaris4782]

​@@jackmayor3574thats a total bs and completely throws every point of his journey

[@jyotirani8187]

​​@@kyordannydelvalle523every point of yours, I agree but when did isayama write chapter 169? Sorry I have a bad habit of correcting people.

[@VeniVidiVici_VI]

This video is everything Ive ever wanted to articulate about the ending. Everything about EMA in the ending felt godawful to me. Specifically Eren's flawed 80/20 plan and suddenly being in love with Mikasa when he never indicated he ever reciprocated her feelings, Armin's being some sort of savior figure, and Mikasa's weird ass fever dream in the cabin where she abandons even ARMIN for Eren( that everyone claims Eren sent to her when absolutely nothing would indicate that he did), etc. It ruined the main trio for me indefinitely and if AnR does it right, Ill consider that the canon ending instead.

[@VeniVidiVici_VI]

@@Spantzcatdog Imho I find AnR did do it better so far. But Im reserving my full judgement fornit until it's finished. I want Eren to die in the end, bc I agree. He should absolutely die at the end.

[@VeniVidiVici_VI]

@@Spantzcatdog i like that a lot better than what we actually got.

[@JuilanXAnime3188]

Yeah ANR that looks why better when the animation comes out iam going to have to Cut the original 139 out and put this in instead with the credits left alone of course ANR is exactly what the official end should have been

[@errwhattheflip]

Late, but this was an absolutely fantastic analysis. It put to words all the many issues I had with the ending which I couldn't formulate properly. You addressed everything on a thematic, character writing, storytelling, etc. level.

[@TheRealLily1]

Great video bro! It makes me sad seeing what the ending did to Eren's character.

[@Magecel]

Most analysis of this series is usually fueled by head canon. But this video is probably one of the best well constructed videos about the series. Sucks that it has such lows views but hopefully that changes soon. Great video overall.

[@JamesOnen]

1:29:35 "Flock ended up being correct even against the writer himself... " But of course :-)

[@seanzano6634]

Floch was incredibly based after all. It was only natural.

[@alexmelling5261]

Floch will continue to be right, forever, as long as the series is over

[@whade62000]

f unironical fascist simps Why do you hate the Fritz love reveal then? If Floch is chad then Karl Fritz Junior is the chaddest

[@quirinoguy8665]

@@whade62000 Because unlike Fritz, he didn't have the finest Eldian drip thus revoking his chad status.

[@samueloak1600]

@@whade62000 What?

[@Doot139]

"I don't even see why there's any divisiveness to this ending" BASED. It's just objectively trash

[@amoy5657]

90% of the fandom loves it tho

[@zosonte129]

90% of the fandom are zoomers who got into their fandom phase with AoT and can't bear to entertain that something they thought had deep themes and metaphors might be accidentally good at best

[@abandonallhope.1040]

I swear you put more thought and effort into this video than Isayama did in chapter 139.

[@daviddedomingolopez8675]

For sure

[@xtragurl6369]

Well it’s kind of clear he was rushed/pressured by his editors and the media

[@ampage6439]

To be fair that's a low bar

[@lmaono1356]

@@xtragurl6369 the curse of being under Kodansha lol

[@errwhattheflip]

I don't agree. It has better results, but Isayama tried so much to satisfy everyone

[@analebeads8967]

Some dude of Twitter made a thread mocking peoples “illiteracy” on Chapter 50. Stating that the moment Eren punched Dina was him realizing that she was important to him. As if there were a multitude of moments prior to that that showed he cared about Mikasa. The reason why he fought back was because he couldn’t give in the Mikasa’s submission of defeat even if it was tempting. And that moment is not even addressed anytime soon afterwards so it’s not like it was some big love confession between them. Eren keeps on fighting cause he was born in that world

[@billybro1403]

idk man Eren seems that type of guy who likes girls but would rather keep himself FrEe and ViRgiN

[@MiregoThe100th]

My personal take on that is, Mikasa before that period of time was always shown watching over and protecting Eren as a older sister type role. Eren's action throughout fighting Dina is reversing their roles, he wanted Mikasa to see him as an equal.

[@God_loves_you_70x7]

This deserves way more views, best analysis of the ending, characters and themes I've seen, and I've watched near enough every aot ending, character and theme analysis on KZbin 10/10

[@rafailbaldal6062]

Unfathomably based analysis. The main theme for AoT was to not start watching a series that has not yet finished.

[@annett_55555]

Well, I watched GOT in some weeks after they ended but it didn't help me

[@wisecontragio172]

HAD TO RETURN HERE

[@corvus8752]

Didn't we all?

[@Erlaxis]

Turns out there were never any stakes. Eveything was planned and executed exactly as it needed to and could not be any different.

[@someoneelse5005]

it's actually a great message for our own, very apparently deterministic universe, but the execution was shoddy... and according to determinism could not have been any different... :D

[@centipedekid9824]

​@@someoneelse5005The universe isn't deterministic

[@aqilshamil9633]

​@@centipedekid9824 that bro over there never learn statistical physics and solid state physics

[@APsGTG]

Many people say that Paradis getting nuked was the worst part of the story, but Eren’s character being slit at the throat was the worst. Paradis being destroyed could’ve been played off well had it been a civil war that brewed between the people that died when the rumbling walls breaking vs the people who said it didn’t matter or something. Since Isayama repeatedly stated that humanity will never come together. But it was instead proof that the rumbling was the only way to protect Paradis as Paradis was completely destroyed by an outer technologically advanced society. But Eren man…… the man that keeps moving forward, the man that fights for freedom since 9 years old, gets reduced to “I don’t know why” “it was Mikasa” and “my head is all messed up”… the man that was ‘born into this world’, the man that ripped his lung open to fight Annie for freedom, the man that showed the rage of a demon in the kings lair and convinced his dad to murder a family, the man that with 0 power left ripped reiners jaw open, the man that traversed his life alone for 4 years straight in order to create the ultimate plan to achieve his rightly deserved freedom, gets reduced to not knowing why he did anything and saying that his brain is fucked up and he doesn’t know anything. Looking doe eyed. As somebody who has been through a lot of shit in my life and fought through hell to literally achieve ‘freedom’, Eren’s character assassination is an insult.

[@jojomahmoud5752]

100% agree with you eren was always a fighter that strived for freedom he kepy moving forward he was a fighter for freedom but got reduced to an absolute idiot they massacerd my boy 😭😭😭

[@blyki867]

This is why people think ending haters are stupid

[@jvctr5977]

Seek for a psychiatrist.

[@jvctr5977]

Seek for a psychiatrist.

[@APsGTG]

@@jvctr5977 shut up u lonely weirdo

[@PKG315]

Watching this after the anime, extremely well written video with good points and analysis, hope more people watch this for perspective

[@Hk_-tu5vq]

This is a video is the perfect example of how you can be so wrong for 2 hours straight

[@goblin3810]

Ya hopefully he can talk people into hating and ending they liked........

[@gamervibes6454]

​@@Hk_-tu5vqYour comment is a perfect example of ending defenders being incapable of refuting the criticism.

[@Hk_-tu5vq]

​@@gamervibes6454 nothing to refute with those trash arguments, not wasting my time on theories from redittors that basically believes: "Eren's the protanist, then he must be in the right, if he doesn't succeed then the story is trash".

[@PartofHistory214]

@@Hk_-tu5vq Wrong. No one cares about Eren being right, they care about the plot being consistent and Eren's character being consistent. Neither is true. They also don't care if Eren wins, it's just that the way the story sets up the ending, it should be logically impossible for him to lose.

[@lerkoz3695]

When i watched the last episode i was so disappointed. And I remember thinking that people hated the ending just for the sake of hating it. Now I'm on their side. And to think that I waited so long for this last episode just to see eren, my favorite character, destroyed Only AOTNR ✊

[@Spantzcatdog]

AOTNR is not even that better either

[@supremeleaderfrancisco9062]

aotnr is still bad, better but still bad

[@Spantzcatdog]

​@supremeleaderfrancisco9062 there are so many ways the story could've ended.

[@mooncrow2447]

In retrospective, the show is sunk for its story from its rushed finale. We just the first to see it before the rest of the fandom. Time kills poor writing always.

[@lando_ch0n748]

The virgin Invaderzz AOT video essay vs the chad Plasmyte AOT video essay

[@Awsomeguy145]

2 mil vs 30k views

[@lordquaz7154]

@@Awsomeguy145 And? What is your point?

[@Awsomeguy145]

@@lordquaz7154 self explanatory stay mad

[@lordquaz7154]

@@Awsomeguy145 Um, you are the guy that started with this but ok. Keep coping.

[@vishnuvardhan-nc4en]

@@Awsomeguy145 more views= truth🤓

[@inferiorinferno8859]

Not only do I agree, but I was thinking similarly about Eren as the father to Historia's baby. Children are the future and what Zeke wanted to erase, so it made such thematic sense. I never actually watched or read the ending because of spoilers and whilst AOT is a very different kind of manga, I cannot unsee the fact that Grisha saw Mikasa as his adopted daughter and how it Usagi Dropped us in its own way with how one-sided Eren X Mikasa felt throughout most of the series. He acted like her brother damn it!

[@amoy5657]

"I'm not your brother" He did say this and didn't want mikasa to treat her like family. I'm sorry are you that dense? I knew they were canon since ep 1."ill wrap this scarf around you." "What am I to you" You're willing to ignore all these and want erehisu? Which would actually be idiotic with no groundwork? 🤡🤦‍♀️ if THAT happened then 90% of fandom who loved aot ending would hate it. That DESTROY historia's character. "We have similar motivations so let's have sex" 😍 If that ain't the dumbest headcanon idk what is

[@Mierezkal]

This is beautiful, it's so nice that there are people who respect the media enough to actually think about it and hold it to high standards rather than just consoom blindly and clap when asked to. Bruh, Raiho pfp? That's too based. Plasmyte, what a man you are.

[@Plasmyte]

The Raidou games are some of my favourites in the Megaten franchise ^^

[@Mierezkal]

@@Plasmyte same, Raidou vs King Abaddon is my favorite MT story period.

[@BrotherCaptain36]

If I can wait 4 years for season 2, I can sit through 4 final seasons for the ANR ending.

[@encouraginglyauthentic43]

Nice work man. It went downhill when Isayama introduced the Grandfather Paradox, for me at least.

[@joey_youtube]

Wdym grandfather paradox?

[@encouraginglyauthentic43]

@@joey_youtube Eren needs the Attack titan to influence Grisha to give it to him. It's like Batman killing his parents so he can become Batman. That's the Grandfather paradox.

[@joey_youtube]

@@encouraginglyauthentic43 ohhhh right yeah I always hated that. One of the main reasons I ended up hating the concept of paths in retrospect tbh. It all seems cool and very brilliant until you start asking questions. Then everything becomes a paradox.

[@encouraginglyauthentic43]

@@joey_youtube Yeah, it was a cool concept, but he implemented it poorly.

[@MrTorsation476858]

@@encouraginglyauthentic43 yea lol. Eren basically wrote his own story

[@mjolnir4829]

Thank you THANK YOU I cannot express how much I am grateful for somebody to finally acknowledge that the world didn't hate Eldians simply for them having titan powers. In all other rants that I've seen this obvious to me issue has been completely omitted as though it was insignificant, and yet Isayama tried to play it like getting rid of the titan powers would resolve rasicm against Eldians! How outrageously naive and insulting to readers' intelligence. Thank you so much for explaining that so that there's no denying the truth!

[@mrcocoloco7200]

What?

[@fabiankunda1365]

What?

[@dodoheadofCentury]

Yes. As was shown in the story multiple times, the world was racist against Eldians due in large part to propagandized indoctrination. Most people blamed current living Eldians for things their ancestors did 2000 years before. This is an obvious show of a viciously hateful and indoctrinated civilization. The fact that they would stop hating Eldians once the titan powers were gone implies that the world was right to hate them for what their ancestors did. Which is a foundationally evil way of thinking. Also, hating someone out of fear is still wrong and a misguided way of viewing people. So I guess Isayama was trying to say that hating people because you are afraid of what they can do is perfectly ok and justified. Or maybe he wasn't ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ this story teller seems to be crippled with the idea of saying anything so he let his grand story end up dissolving into meaninglessness. Great, thanks for wasting my time you fart sniffing grape.

[@mobpego1345]

Huh?

[@minerva9]

Just finished the anime ending. And I agree with your argument at 01:17:18 Isayama somehow wanted Eren to bd a mass m*rder and a martir at the same time, only to his frieds (and to the audience). Thats the main reason behind that dialogue between him and Armin at ch.139, which btw he managed to make it even worse in the anime lol

[@brianachim2670]

Mikasa so made Jean put the wig on.

[@saludsinfiltros6854]

The analogy with the body is sublime. We are missing the neck

[@daikolirae155]

This video is critically underrated

[@ramza8355]

OMG... finally I find someone who can verbalize what's wrong with the ending. I loved AoT and always looked out for a forum discussion or a video essay about AoT. I loved how AoT can poke a heavy theme like Nietzsche's and Schopenhauer's ideas of morality and then put them into a fictional world. But I have been abandoning any AoT related stuff since about a year ago because of the ending doesn't feels right. The ending doesn't feel like AoT at all to me, but I just don't know or to lazy to verbalize it. Don't mind me, I'm going to put a timestamps here for future references. AoT & Nihilism 03:27 What is the conflict/issue of AoT? 08:24 - details 10:15 - summary 11:48 - what is the cycle in AoT? 12:56 - titans are not the issue 13:43 - racial issue as a message is removed The problem in AoT characters (especially Eren) 22:52 - analogy of the problem in AoT characters 24:41 - alliance ending and Eren redemption while still retaining his original motivation are mutually exclusive 27:31 - nihilism as the true antagonist 28:10 - Eren and the will to live (Schopenhauer's) 30:21 - the will to live is the true theme of AoT 37:51 - Eren talks with Falco, is Eren a slave to himself? (my favorite scene ever in the entire AoT) 43:59 - throwing character's motivation vs foreshadowing. And plot holes: Eren changes his motivation? 46:12 - summary 47:13 - Isayama had to handle 2 different Eren's characters 50:47 - Isayama made us to 'assume' to rationalize the ending 52:49 - additional points 55:50 - Eren in the last chapter is letting go of his will to live, which can be said nihilistic. The opposite theme of AoT 1:04:10 - conclusion for AoT themes and other characters foreshadowing & development 1:05:39 - foreshadowing doesn't mean a development 1:09:19 - Ymir character contradiction 1:12:28 - great plot in AoT before the ending 1:26:10 1:29:35 1:32:00 1:44:40 1:46:00 1:47:35 1:48:05 1:51:30 1:58:06 - meta 1:59:10 - big conclusion

[@VistaPoint]

Quality analysis...keep up the good work

[@SantiagoGarcia-mj2vg]

Thanks, seeing so many people praiad that shit ending made me want to make my own video explaining step by step why it sucks, but you alredy msde it

[@shezyam460]

ngl this is probably the greatest critique of aot on this website. while watching santitchief is fun, you pretty much encapsulated why i loved this series to begin with, and why from a storytelling and thematic POV, the ending sucks

[@Samraaaa2]

10:30 THANK YOUUU I FELT CRAZY BC NO ONE WAS ARTICULATING THIS

[@TheDon266]

1:08:06 Now, it made sense why I really hated this panel in particular because you're right. The only logical conclusion that Ymir and Mikasa are the same is if you accept that Ymir never actually cared for her children and continued to love their genocidal lovers a complete contradiction to the idea that Mikasa is actually letting go.

[@r.s.7929]

I personally think Ymir (the paths goddess ofc) is the most vile, evil, and all-out messed up character in this series. Like, it's a recurring theme that no one in this series is truly evil, how neither side is fully right or wrong, but are both victims of the cruel world. They make us sympathize with characters that were thought of as truly evil at first, such as Reiner, or Zeke, and even Eren since we know why he was driven to genocide. However, Ymir is an exception. If there is at least one truly evil character other than Karl Fritz, it's got to be her. Think about it. The girl helped Eren kill 80% of the world, all because she couldn't get over her fetish over a dead old fart that abused her 2000 years. So to satisfy herself, she arranged it so that Mikasa would have to kill the man she loved. She literally inserted herself into Mikasa seemingly arbitrarily (some could argue that Ymir always knew Mikasa was the chosen one through paths but idc); she just saw Mikasa and Eren's relationship, and went like "yup, that's me", assigned the Karl Fritz's abuser role to Eren, and then went: "now I'll have her kill him to get over him so that I can get over my own abuser". Yes she had a messed up past and probably got a messed up belief system and world view as a result, but it's pretty hard to sympathize with her knowing that she caused all this crap, all this pain and suffering, over some dumb logic while also leaving Paradis, her descendants, to fend for themselves by just "erasing" their titan powers without properly resolving the conflict that SHE helped instigate. She literally caused a mass genocide and then planned for said genocide to stop 80% of the way, which causes the remainder of the outside world to harbor hatred towards Paradis while also leaving Paradis without their titan powers. It's so freaking irresponsible. You caused this mess, at least help the eldians get out of it. Lol nope. They all got bombed and she got away to the afterlife after fulfilling her fetish. It also almost seems as if she just "used" or double-crossed Eren, hence even more reason for me to hate her. Like, do you think Eren liked what happened to him as a result of Ymir's plan? Also, if you're an Eremika shipper (I used to be one but quit lol), you should be angry at Ymir, rather than praising her and the theme the manga was trying to connect her to with Mikasa. I feel that Ymir USED the Eremika relationship as her plaything for her own twisted gratification, and so if anything, Eremika shippers should HATE the ending. Both Eren and Mikasa themselves should have been mad at Ymir too, if you ask me. Don't be so shortsighted just because the ending made the ship "canon" regarding the mutual feelings of love part, because they butchered the ship soon after lol. Don't forget the Jean and Mikasa thing in the added pages either. To begin with, it was never even a good idea to prioritize ships over the plot. Ymir sucks. She's the one character in this series who really deserves to burn for what she did. Her reasons for doing what she did are so mind-bogglingly stupid that I lost brain cells trying to make it somehow make sense in my head.

[@r.s.7929]

This is what happens when you don't have an Uncle Ben and then you get the powers of a literal god. "With great power, comes great responsibility." Ymir has great power but has no sense of responsibility whatsoever. That makes her a villain. That's what separates heroes from villains. Using their power for the good of others, not for their own selfish desires. Ymir used her powers to fulfill only what she wanted without giving a crap about other people, especially Mikasa. If anything, the only person who she used her powers for other than herself was her ABUSER out of all people. Also, if she saw herself in Mikasa and cared about her, she shouldn't have forced her into this tragic mess.

[@earthing3696]

Um but dude... she was a little girl who was literally groomed by a king.. she affected others but cmon now..

[@makiroll218]

Right? Lol. Eren was like, I’m saving Pardis. Destroys 80% of humanity and then at the end they got fucked up. He didn’t save anyone. Sure they might have not been attacked for a while but he still fucked up the world they live in and then died. Like, you didn’t save anyone 😂

[@La0bouchere]

Eh, disagree. Ymir was obviously completely broken by the cycle of violence, and didn't have any free will until Eren 'freed' her. Her helping Eren is obvious, since the idea of the series is to show how the cycle of violence turns people into monsters (Isayama practically states this to the reader multiple times in the series). Of course she's an absolute monster, if she weren't it would be in direct opposition to the central theme, and her just randomly having a clear mind after being a groomed slave for 2,000 years would just be nonsense.

[@binatog123]

​@@earthing3696meh it's unrealstic potrayal

[@ikhalid1418]

i hated the time travel twist so fucking much. it took grisha yeager, the monster who forced his own son to carry the curse of the titan transformation, to another one on eren's list of victims.

[@ThePreciseClimber]

Yup... And it basically robbed all the character of their free will. You know, I can't think of a single example of time travel being added late into a story and actually being good. It always leads to narrative issues.

[@ikhalid1418]

@@ThePreciseClimber right! we were already aware of how far eren could go. eren influencing his dad, took more from grisha's character than it added to eren's. but you gotta admit, out of context, it's a cool moment, that fueled so many edits.

[@Zero-jr9ct]

Ultimate critique, great work!

[@F7_TeeJ]

I can finally watch this after the anime ending

[@misadique845]

Really hope you make a small update video about the changes

[@gandan1357]

This video is incredible! I am so far on the Nihilism part and I am loving your approach to this!

[@williamleach6195]

This was an excellent critique. This series I no doubt believe will be forgotten once the anime is finished and even with that I can already see the anime only starting to notice the start of dropping quality. It's sad because this series is what got me into Manga & Anime back in 2013 when I was in elementary school and to see it already being forgotten so quickly is rather tragic similar to that of game of thrones. It's sad but somewhat sweet to know how many got more from what the series eventually gave us, I for one would have never have found channels like this that go into the excellent depth of this series and what went wrong.

[@yeetnessthegreater1298]

Eh, wouldn’t say forgotten. Fanart will still be around. I’ll give Aot 2 more years or a year before it really dies out

[@GutsandBlood231]

It won't die out. Got didn't die out. Got established a prequel. Same gonna happen with aot.

[@algorithmgeneratedanimegir1286]

@@GutsandBlood231 Nobody talks about Game of Thrones.

[@indedgames4359]

​@@algorithmgeneratedanimegir1286 Doesnt mean its dead

[@Momsi95]

Excellent video. Made me really appreciate AoT more. Your words on the alt endings also resonated with me a lot.

[@StorieswithBilly]

This was an amazing video, thank you! I have been an anime only this whole time, and this video helped me understand how I felt. After the rumbling started, the episodes started to slowly become less and less impactful, and I could never understand why (I have bad reading comprehension). When I recently watched the final episode... I didn't really have a strong opinion on it. My connection with the characters and story of AoT had weakened after so many years, so I just thought "that wasn't as bad as I thought" The only bad parts I noticed while watching was how boring the action was (Why is nobody dead, why does Zeke getting killed matter anymore, why are some helping that makes no sense), and how disgusting the treatment of Ymir and Mikasa was. But now, I have been remembering what AoT really was, and what it meant to me. I started watching AoT when I first got into anime, and that was in a really shitty part of my life (Highschool, yuck!) I struggled with caring about anything, with seeing any value in my own life. I just wanted to wither away and give up. Now, it's not like AoT cured me or anything, but it was really cathartic. Especially with the first half of season 3, and I think it was because of characters who had very similar struggles to me. That's why I have always liked Eren and Historia, they are still my favorite characters from AoT. Thanks for the video, again. Finding out what was so wrong with the ending has really helped me understand more deeply what I loved about AoT, and can also serve as a warning for anything I write in the future. Lots to think about, thanks buddy.

[@lolglolblol]

to be fair, I had always suspected some form of time shenanigans long before the reveal because it was hinted at at several occasions: - the foreshadowing nightmare at the beginning of the first episode - the title of the first episode/chapter - the Owl knowing Armin's and Mikasa's names

[@Linkingx2]

the owl knowing their names is still such a "plot" hole - it was often said that you only inherit the memories of your succsessor - so Eren gets Grishas and Grisha gets Eren Krugers... but from whom would Kruger inherit their names? Thats completly left open - now one could try to explain it with the Deus Ex Machina "complete controll of time and space" but that makes no sense - as there was actually no reason for Kruger to mention their names - as it never played much of a role and wasnt the convincing factor for Grisha either... And the titel of the first chapter has its counter part in chapter 122? with Ch.1 "to you in 2000 years" and 122 "from you in 2000 years" - so with Ch.1 being mostly about eren and 122 about yimir there is a massiv build up connection between the two - but sike it was Mikasa all along :(

[@olived9560]

@@Linkingx2 They inherit the future memories of their successors, meaning that Eren Kruger had present Eren’s memories, too, I think. Even if it’s not the case, Grisha himself would get to know Mikasa and Armin later on, so that isn’t a plot hole. I do agree it was kind of strange to bring it up, though.

[@Linkingx2]

@@olived9560 Ah sure, and after rewatching the start of S1 - the words he said to Grisha, are repeated by him the moment he turns Eren into a titan... So it could be that Kruger got "influenced" to say that because it was an emotional moment for Grisha. Or Grisha repeated Krugers words to eren... 1. Guess makes more sense, though

[@billybro1403]

the Eren Kruger thing was SO bad. And then the show becoming "Attack Titan". It was no longer "mankind attacking on titan species" it was just "attack titan" like it was such a hack and cheating

[@zainy_inc154]

Great analysis man, thanks for being critical. Criticism of the last few chapters seems to be hard for so many people to accept for some reason

[@nerevarchthn6860]

Well its the same in the opposite so you cant blame them

[@infamouspotato2028]

some people*, if you see official polls then there are many people who like ending but know it's far too flawed and then there are those who think ending is absolutely perfect with no problems whatsover, latter are the one's that need to be addressed

[@Lake-nj5vx]

Great vid! Sums up all my problems with the ending!

[@distantsea]

Here and back again

[@mindflex947]

Long video, lemme get the popcorn Edit: This video is incredible, very thought out and full of passion for the series I can tell you're a real fan who sees it as it is. 100% agree with your thoughts here, I really couldn't have said it any better myself. This is Easily the best and most accurate aot analysis I've seen/read.

[@RaZn-Gurifisu]

great job on this video mate. guess you didn't understand the story still though according to some people 🤣

[@bander-Coolb]

Lol

[@BeyondAnimation]

The beauty of attack on titan is, it's always up to interpretation. People will view the ending differently

[@moisesvirgen7711]

@@BeyondAnimation beauty ??? The ending was hot garbage.. lest be honest fans

[@ashlinthomas4500]

@@BeyondAnimation "up for interpretation" is good sometimes but definitely not for endings. Isayama just got lazy and didn't feel like tying up loose ends and explained plotholes with "only Ymir knows".

[@SoggyTuna]

@@moisesvirgen7711 Not everyone thinks the same as you. You blubbering nimrod.

[@bestgirl2500]

It's a shame vids like these get buried by ending defense videos. Not to say Invaderzzz vid was bad but the fact it has a millionx more views is sad.

[@lalatui4539]

Invaderz knew what he was saying, the true meaning behind Eren and Reiner's conversation in Marley. And what Eren's goal actually was, he didn't tell Ramzi his vision of the outside world for nothing, Eren also said it himself that "It is for Eldia, but it is more than that".

[@hawkxlr]

The hilarious thing is that the Invaderzzz doesn't mention Ymir a single time, despite her being integral to the ending and turning Eren into a glorified plot device to suit her own ends.

[@bestgirl2500]

@@lalatui4539 true

[@bestgirl2500]

@@hawkxlr real, no mention at all

[@GeneralForster]

cringevaderz video *is* bad, don't get it twisted

[@voltgaming2213]

The whole argument about aot being nihilistic is a loose concussion in the story zekes theme was kinda nihilistic but the whole character of eren opposed it and Erwin is an excellent example too Is the destructive dance is some kind of reference to India mythology and the diplomacy was a great reference

[@HeyyyJude]

Armin: Maybe I shouldn't have been revived Me: No wait... you're on to something there..

[@NeutralOffensive]

Analysis was already excellent on its own. The atmospheric SMT music in the background was the cherry on top. The Nocturne and DDS tracks fit especially well I think.

[@Choreza]

Dovakhinn solos 🦧

[@Linkingx2]

"I will move forward until my enemys are destroyed" "move beyond hell" and then eren is just like na fam sorry I cant do this anymore - without "cleaning" up the outside world, without ever realy seeing beyond hell - he just rolls over and dies, I mean - if we want to go the matry route, *if* , then he could have pulled a SPOILER CODE GEASS Lelouch and just put on an act to die and then life somewhere with Mikasa etc. in secret, there is the entire world open for them to flee towards...

[@DT25659]

Saintitchief gonna love you

[@Requifeasance]

2 hours is wild

[@littlesneets8026]

i think, the biggest issue here, is that Isayama went for 139 chapters to do the whole "13 years 9 titans" reference, when clearly the story he was setting up deserved at least 200 or more to do these characters justice, AND polish them up. i'm not a writer myself, so i don't know how i would write my characters, but in the very least, limiting your story to so little chapters to fully delve into depth all the important information would not be the first start.

[@jackmayor3574]

Authors and showrunners that limit their stories based on specific number of chapters or episodes in a series or season always fall flat on their face. Like how David and Dan really wanted Game of Thrones season 8 to be the final season, and they only wanted 6 episodes for it.

[@ramza8355]

Sadly, this what business has done to our world. We no longer have stories that the people of the future could call masterpieces. And the worst thing is we can't even stop it. The best we can do is to promote independent arts.

[@littlesneets8026]

@@ramza8355 you know what I blame? Consumers, and Producers. Both play hand in hand with the constant drive for products to be delivered faster, with 5 star quality, and exceeding all expectations, ironically only to disappoint those expectations. The consumers love the media they CONSOOM. it's fun, exciting, so of course they wanna see more, no Biggie. But, then they get a little too greedy. They want it NOW, they want it IMMEDIATELY, and thanks to how most social media and apps work, their attention spans have probably shrunken so it's no wonder they lose hype after a week. Then there's the producer who capitalizes on the hype of dedicated consumers, offering all deals, etc, and rushing projects and making them unnecessarily flashy or homogenised to popular trends and tropes to appeal to the consumer's demands. And then, bam. Final product is hurt, and ends up disappointing many people. It's a problem between the consumer and producer that goes hand in hand.

[@sylo_dreams]

And here i was thinking i was insane for thinking the ending was trash and some things in the show's ending made no sense. IF YMIR FRITZ'S story was a drawn out drama story, she'd definitely rebel towards the end and use her titan powers to run away or kill her oppresors ajd free all her slave friends

[@nerevarchthn6860]

Dont worry the ending is poorly made it feels like he was rushing random ideas he had until he ran out

[@ramza8355]

Don't worry, you are not insane. The quality of a story/entertainment is not necessarily correlated with the people preferences. A story can be bad even if the majority of people like it.

[@Yusei5ds0707]

Eren didn't have to kill his friends to complete the rumbling. In fact confronting his friends after finishing the rumbling would be way more interesting.

[@supremeleaderfrancisco9062]

cant even imagine what he would say to them lol

[@Yusei5ds0707]

@@supremeleaderfrancisco9062 Exactly.

[@yokuutsu9097]

​@@supremeleaderfrancisco9062 "My W key broke." "Eren what the fuck dude"

[@jyotirani8187]

Probably his friend's words after rumbling would be, "Eren, you became a mass murderer for our sake, thank you."

[@t-ro6176]

The part said about the alliance is a part everybody needs to watch

[@PotatoDonki]

Determinism is probably a great choice when you decided the ending years ago and have no idea how to write it into being. The author himself decided Eren’s fate, so why bother writing character development that takes him to that ending, when it is already decided? Just say some god took him over and he has no choice but to enact the future he saw. It’s supremely lazy writing, honestly. It’s kind of hilarious how perfectly Ymir can be a stand in for the authors inability to complete the story.

[@lxfj2128]

The best critique on how bad the last few chapters were this video will be unpopular because society these days are dumb and just eat whatever they get. Last chapters were embarrassing no way isayama didn’t ruin the manga unless it really was an aoe. I’ve ranted so many times so I won’t bother putting how bad the last few chapters were. But I agree with all ur points. Don’t listen to these ending defenders they clearly don’t care about the story if they like last few chapters.

[@issamakarid9050]

eat whatever they get ? xD ur still young for life u still dont know nothing about life its the oppisite this is 2022 not 1950 where people we're nice

[@voltgaming2213]

@@issamakarid9050 you are ranting instead providing a logical argument and I think its great people are nice

[@salarino1493]

Ah yes the tried and true "If you like something I don't your an idiot and also smell."

[@dnflrz7926]

Hate how this video will get less attention then the video defending the ending

[@MrTorsation476858]

Fr. This needs more views and attention cause unlike those videos, this one actually tells the truth bar for bar, word for word

[@shawnellesmith]

That why it needs to be shared.

[@reaperplayz9158]

Sometimes truth can't win y'know

[@shadowsenpai7151]

people can't accept that it's bad so they will watch anything that defends it and tries to make sense of it

[@Kaledrone]

@@reaperplayz9158 It doesn't win most of the time, literally try to get the average person's opinion on literally anything imaginable and most of the time they will have the wrong opinion.

[@Mariana.11]

The Best and most complete analysis of the ending of aot so far. Sincerely, congratulations. I'd like to add something to the Ymir Fritz part that I personally didn't really heard from anyone till now and it has rounded my head since i first read the ending... Ymir Fritz's point is what bothers me the most. Not only because of how absurd, forced and far-fetched it is to reduce her to being a parallel to Mikasa, but also because her story as such (before Isayama pulled this whole "wohoo Stockholm syndrome" maneuver out of nowhere) was the basis of the conflict of the entire story of aot. Let's recap, before the ending the story of Ymir Fritz was about: -A little girl who entered the forest and found herself caught in a war. It's thanks to her that we see what really happened 2000 years ago and it's thanks to her that we see the worst side of Eldia, we see how that nation that is now oppressed was for a long time the oppressor. Now it's thanks to her that we can understand the hatred from the rest of the world better, we can now understand Gabi and her indignation towards the Eldians of Paradis, her indignation towards Kaya, better. Yes, the people of Paradis are still victims not only of a world that wants to annihilate them for sins that their ancestors committed and that should not correspond to them, but also victims of their own ignorance. Because King Karl Fritz took away their memories, (and apart from the fact that stripping someone of their memory is also a way of stripping their freedom) therefore they don't know that Eldia is also guilty of this great conflict that began 2000 years ago. They (the jaegerists and most of Paradis' population) believe that they have always been the only victims and that is why in the end, instead of acknowledging guilt and wanting to end this conflict once and for all, the Jaegerists are now preparing for another war. it's simple _"Those who do not know their history are condemned to repeat it."_ -*_"If you want to be loved you have to be someone who always puts others before yourself, just like Christa."_* It was Ymir's individual desire to free the pigs, and for following her own desires she was punished. Then she gains the power of the titans, it's used for the benefit of her nation and because of that her only purpose becomes to serve the Eldian people, and now everyone "loves" her for it (not just King Fritz, her entire nation, which makes me question even more why Ymir was only infatuated with King Fritz, if she only wanted to be loved or have a bond with "someone", Why that person has to be only King Fritz? no answers for that). Ymir only lives for Eldia and that's why now everybody loves her and treats her as their goddess... But still, we don't see her being happy or satisfied at any time, cause her god power has only rewarded her for being a slave to someone else's will... At the end of the day no matter how much they say she is a goddess, she is actually a slave, a faker (just like Freckled Ymir). If you live for others you will be rewarded but if you live for yourself you will be punished. This idea ruled Ymir Fritz's life so much that even when she decides to die and finally be free, King Fritz punishes her by making her a prisoner of the paths to continue serving Eldia for eternity. So to conclude, by connecting Ymir Fritz only with Mikasa you are not only denying the other clear parallels she has not only with the freckled Ymir but most of all with Historia, whose whole life was based on the fact that to live she had to pretend to be someone good who always thought of others, pretending to be Christa instead of Historia until Eren told her that he always preferred her real self (which is exactly why Eren is the best person to free Ymir Fritz). But you are also preventing the story of Ymir Fritz from serving as a lesson to end the conflict between the people of Paradis and the rest of the world. Because everyone in this story can identify with the pain of carrying the sins of past generations, of sending children to war, of the fear of killing or being killed, but not everyone can relate to or understand "the agony of love" (not even Eren, since at the end he says that he can't understand Ymir's heart... And honestly, me neither).

[@kafukwamekemeh]

Mikasa and Ymir serve as a anthesis to each other The panel in 122 we see of Ymir is her looking at the king kissing a woman and that scene is literally brought up in chapter 137 where it shows what Ymir really wants Eren freed Ymir from her slave mentality and allowed her to make her own choices Ymir saw Mikasa kill the one she loves and to treasure the memories and her wishing she did the same for her children and let the king die

[@Mariana.11]

@@kafukwamekemeh I think you didn't understand what i wrote or didn't read it well. I have heard that "explanation" you are trying to give me a thousand times and it was on the same one that I built my first comment.

[@kafukwamekemeh]

@@Mariana.11 Are you basically one of those 100% rumbling would solve conflicts and that it is necessary for eren to inpregnate Historia to suit the TheMes

[@Mariana.11]

@@kafukwamekemeh when did I say that? I'm just questioning founder Ymir's character, I never mentioned anything about the rumbling or its purpose. Neither touched the pregnancy topic

[@blubblubblup]

@@kafukwamekemeh all the buildup for mikasa/ymir parallel happens in 1 chapter. _the 1 final chapter._ this is the kind of thing that should be developed and foreshadowed for a _long time,_ like it was with the eren/historia/ymir/lesiban ymir parallels. if all the evidence is in the same chapter as the reveal, than it comes off as a last minute retcon. especially if a strong explanation was already present. just because it "makes sense" doesn't mean it's good writing. for a finale, it has to tie in with the preexisting themes and ideas of the story.

[@shawnellesmith]

This video needs to be shared more.

[@sammotta7787]

Unfortunately it won't be, bc the popular narrative is that the ed was a Shakespeare level masterpiece, and that the ppl who criticize it just didn't understand the story.

[@uzumakinaruto-gg7tf]

Good video man keep up the great work 👍