Apr 20, 2021
Spoilers Later in this review
I have been reading Attack on Titan for nearly a decade. I am not that big of a shounen fan, I've watched Dragonball and have the physical manga series, I watched Naruto pre-shippuden, watched some Bleach, Hunter X Hunter, you know, the basics. However when I first read Attack on Titan it was just differrent. It felt like I was reading the Chimera Ant arc extended from HxH. It was visceral, weighty. Characters died and stayed dead, and sacrifices had actual impact. Or at least, that's what it felt like for quite some time.
Quick things:
1) The art is nice. It evolves
...
over time but by the end of the series becomes quite decent. It is nowhwere near the level of detail as something like Berserk or Gantz or several 90s manga I can think of, but it has it's own style that you grow accustomed to.
2) The story is interesting, as in it sucks you in with several mysteries as long as you are willing to see how they play out. This is not a detective manga, but it has it's thriller moments.
Those are the positives.
*Spoilers below*
I started thinking I would write about the early series or each arc's pitfalls but instead I will just give my thoughts on the ending because honestly I believe that if you agree this ending is horrible, and you understand why, you will agree there is very little enjoyment to be gained reading this knowing the purpose of the events unfolding in the story. The movie Shutter Island involves a reporter visiting an island to uncover its secrets while being stalked and harassed by its mysterious denizens, culminating in a shocking twist that plays out like the optical illusion where if you look at the figure spinning, some people see it spinning in one direction, and others the opposite direction. All of the puzzles pieces are given to you and you can clearly see the image, however the completed puzzle only forms a small part of an even larger image and it is left up to the viewer to theorize on what that larger image could look like given the completed puzzle you have laid before you.
Attack on Titan is not this. In Attack on Titan, the personality, character, motivations and desires of the main character are washed away in the final moments and replaced with something almost the opposite of the man we followed post-timeskip. Several manga have deplorable protagonists that are still compelling despite their characterization as a villain in-universe. Light Yagami, Lelouch, Alucard are some examples of characters that are clearly evil and yet we follow the story through their eyes. We come to understand their desires and even sympathize with their plans for world destruction and domination because we say "yeah I get why they're doing it. I wouldn't do it myself but to each their own." Eren was one of these characters. He had a goal that drove him to massacre millions of people to see the world that he strongly desired to see come into existence. You got the sense this guy is on a mission and will sacrifice everything to complete it at all costs.
Then 139 came. 139 said screw all that. All those thoughts of wanton destruction, revenge, murder all in the name of saving his country? They were a lie. A facade that he projected onto not only his companions but also the 4th wall for some reason, so that he could unleash the ultimate keikaku and trick his pals into killing him in the exact universal configuration so that this 2000-year old loli with Stockholm Syndrome would break her connection with her abuser and that would somehow manifest as the disappearance of all Titan Ex Machina powers.
It is also implied that all of this was foreseen by him the moment he received these memories nearly 40 chapters prior, and did nothing because.... well, here's the thing actually. Here's the reason so many people are upset by this chapter: we don't know why. We get no indication of why he never chose to do things differently or if he ever tried to do things differently. Nowhere is it explained if he had any choice in the matter to begin with. Don't get me wrong, it is stated that the events that occurred were "inevitable", but does that mean that every facet of history was predetermined? From what point, when Ymir gained her powers or when Eren gained the FT? Who created this predetermined path, and if characters must follow it, doesn't that mean that no one in Attack on Titan has free will, and therefore every single event is outside of their control? If you read this manga you will never get any answers for this.
Now, there are many who like this ending. And that's fine, but here's the thing you should be aware of: if anyone ever tells you something like "what Isayama intended was..." or "the characters actually wanted to..." No. Do not listen to them. No one, not you, not me, not them, no one can possibly know what Isayama's intentions were for any single scene that occurred in the final chapter with such little information present within. One bombshell panel reveals Eren sent a titan to eat his mother so that another villainous character wouldn't die. Did he also plan to motivate his younger self? Does he have the power to influence the past or just titans from the past? Dina was already dead when he gained access to Paths so can he also influence dead titans? Remember: NO ONE has answers for ANY of this and anyone telling you otherwise is lying to you. The only text presented indicates he knew one character shouldn't have died and therefore diverted a titan somehow to his mother. One running theme you will find with those that like this ending is they will adopt some interpretation of events that coincides with motivations that align with their feelings and understanding of the characters, and use that to patch and explain the glaring plotholes presented in 139. They might state that Eren had gotten so caught up in his desire for freedom that he even convinced himself he was free despite seeing the memories 40 chapters ago. Some say that Eren can't see all of the future, only fragments. Some say Ymir chooses what to show Eren, and others say that Ymir herself controls Eren. No one will ever know the truth because unlike Shutter Island, we are missing puzzle pieces and will never know if the final puzzle was a complete picture or a part of a larger whole.
After finishing 139 I can confidently say that I cannot re-read any part of this story knowing it was either entirely pointless, out of the characters' hands, or worse, all manipulated to please a character with very little prescence outside of their own isolated backstory. It's like if you watched a series where it was revealed that all of the deaths could have been avoided if some guy had just asked a girl out. It's juvenile and no longer has that sense of mystery. Some things got an explanation, whether or not you'll find them satisfying is another game entirely, but many things are left unexplained. The origins of the powers, the mechanics of the Paths dimension, even the true motivation of the real villain is given a vague "only she knows why..."
In short, save your time. If you want to read a shounen with a villain protagonist, read Monster, Code Geass, Death Note, or Hellsing. If you want something with a tonal shift, read Hunter X Hunter. If you want something where people die, read a seinen. And most importantly, if you just want two random characters to ship, read a shoujo manga or a romance, or a harem manga.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
