And after watching it and letting it sink into my memory for the whole day, I feel like I finally have something to say about the ENTIRE show in general. Because I've never really had anything to say about this show before, and the reason why is because it's just kind of too good, and everything I want to say about it has already been said by someone else, so I'd just be reiterating. Because I don’t think I’m gonna offend anyone when I say this is probably one of the most significant anime shows ever made. I’d say it’s one of the best TV shows ever made but that’s just me. And I could really talk about this iconic moment and that great moment and what they all mean but I feel like that would just take too long. Instead I'm gonna try to bring my own perspective into the mix, because I had never been a long time fan of this show. If you’re one of those people that watched this show when it first started airing, I kind of envy you, because I only became a fan pretty recently.
Attack on Titan first aired in 2013 and became a runaway hit, and I was not aware of this at all. But I was like 10 years old at the time, (I don't know I'm not gonna do the math) and I didn't really give a shit about anime to begin with. Over the years I would begin to hear about it, but I had no interest in watching it because I was like an anime atheist as a kid, specifically during my teenage years. I had this surface level viewpoint that anime was for weirdo nerd losers that I was trying to keep away from. And I thought all anime was just too dramatic for me to take seriously. It wasn't until late 2022 when I finally decided to give this show a fair shake. I remember being in my freshman year of college at the time and I now had a newfound appreciation for anime as an artform. At this point I had definitely known of its existence and heard how good it was, so I went in with really high expectations, and even from the beginning I was not at all disappointed.
In fact, the first season kind of blew me away. When I first saw Eren swinging around like Spider-Man in that epic long take, I was thinking: "Yeah, no wonder this show is so popular, because this goes hard.” But even after that, the show just kept getting better and better until I tried to figure out when it would ever miss me. Whenever I would come back to AoT, I couldn't help but finish the season that I started on in one sitting. That's how invested I was in the story and characters. And if you know me well, I really like when movies or shows or any kind of media are just straight up miserable, and this show definitely scratches that itch. But what I love is that it balances a depressing tone with lighthearted, charming moments. And there’s also some pretty sick action.
And yeah, the story is very engaging and thought provoking throughout and I got hooked pretty quickly because of that. And the characters that the show chooses to focus on are all very believable and interesting, they all have their own traits and motivations. And when someone dies in this show, they fucking die, like you never see them in person ever again so there’s always tension and you're always on your toes at every moment. I would feel bad when something horrible happened to a character and then felt rejuvenated when they were able to get through their pain with sheer bravery and determination. Definitely one of my favorite characters in the whole show is Levi. He’s just kind of a badass and that's all I really need to say about him. And I guess the character I personally relate to the most is Jean.
And the world that this show has created is just really fucking cool to me. I don’t even know how to describe it. It’s like medieval, but it’s almost steampunk in a way. And the show does such a great job at not only giving you cool shounen-esque action but mixing it with political intrigue and moral ambiguity to make it more than just an entertaining action and adventure show, but a philosophical work of art. I’m sorry I’m so corny right now lol.
I also love how they treat the titans like it’s a zombie apocalypse, or like The Walking Dead but with huge giants and people using grappling hooks. This show also happens to have some of the most satisfying animation I have ever seen, it's only made better by the epic music. And speaking of music, it ranges from tear jerkingly beautiful to some real hype shit, specifically with the song "The Rumbling" by SiM which is a straight up banger. As a person who thinks most OP's are the same unless they really stand out like with Cowboy Bebop or Samurai Champloo, when I first heard this song in the OP for Part 2 of The Final Season, I was like: "Oh shit. This song kind of slaps." And even though this genre of music isn’t really my cup of tea, it was just too hype to the point where I couldn't help but watch that OP from beginning to end.
In fact, this whole show is just hype. There were some episodes where I started treating this show like the goddamn Super Bowl, most notably the two Final Chapters of The Final Season. OK, I have to bring up a personal nitpick real quick, but this show might have some of the worst title schemes I have ever seen for an anime. Like they had Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part 1 which then had a lot parts to it, and then they had Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part 2 and Part 3 and then Attack on Titan: The Final Chapters Ultra Edition Extra Soggy Turbo Mode. The way they named these seasons, specifically with the final one gives me a goddamn headache with how overly convoluted it was.
They had shit like Season 4 The Final Season Part 1 and then 2 parts to that part so I'd be Part 1, Part 1 and Part 2 of Part 1, and then recently with Season 4 Part 3 and the first episode is Part 1 of Part 3 of Season Four's Final Season, which means Part 2 of Part 3 is the actual ending. It's so fucking stupid to me is what I'm trying to say. There was no reason to name it this way, it just made things really messy and muddy for no reason. Like they could've just called it Season Four like any normal person would and leave it at that. You would never have to put Final Season there and associate it with a final because it wasn't. It was leading up to the finale which just dropped today. What they should've done was just call the episode that dropped in March earlier this year "Final Part 1" and then the series finale could be "Final Part 2." It would've been much easier for my reptile brain to comprehend. That was just a really silly decision and a big L from the naming department, but everything else was a massive W for me.
Speaking of "Final," I should probably talk about the finale now that I've gotten all that out of my chest because I feel like I have more to say about this topic than any other aspect of this show. As a person who hasn’t read the manga, I wasn't exactly sure what the big hoopla was with it being “divisive.” I actually checked the anime and manga endings and compared the two today, and they're practically the same except the anime had a couple of tweaks and additions and a few other minor adjustments but nothing major. The story beats are basically the same for the most part. At first my theory was that people just wanted a 100% happy conclusion where the world is just perfect by the end. But then I looked into it, and I realized people were mad because they wanted a 100% genocide outside the walls including the deaths of the main characters besides Eren. So basically people wanted an Evangelion type ending. And while that does sound neat, I think the ending we got was probably the only one I would accept for this kind of show.
If Eren had told Armin like; “Oh there’s gonna be no more war, famine and violence for the rest of time,” then this show would be dogshit. A show like this shouldn't end with sunshine and rainbows. If it did it would be a complete tonal disconnect from everything we had seen in the show so far. I really like how this show ends with the world just being in a constant cycle of peace to war and back to peace again. Because honestly, why the fuck would everyone in the whole world just be immediately kumbaya with one another after The Rumbling almost killed everyone? And our hero's victory to defeat Eren was kind of pointless because there's just gonna be more war and suffering for many years to come, you know, just like real life. The world of this show you could interpret as a parallel to our real world.
I just find it really frustrating when some people take things at face value without really analyzing what they're seeing. Because at face value it is frustrating, but then again, THAT'S THE FUCKING POINT, LIFE ITSELF IS FRUSTERATING-you know what you get the idea. This whole series is supposed to be showing the true nature of humanity, that even though we are all flawed and can never attain true peace, we can still hope for it cause you never know what happens in the future. To quote Mikasa: “The world is so cruel, but it’s also very beautiful.” And why do people think that Eren needs to still be alive by the end of the show? At this point Eren is the main villain so he kind of deserves death at this point, especially when he later reveals that he destroyed 80% of humanity.
And going back to Eren, his death at the hands of Mikasa is one of the most moving death scenes I have ever seen in an anime. Anyone who says Eren died like a little bitch is a fucking idiot that probably just wanted him to stay alive and somehow miraculously get his fairy tale ending with all the remaining characters, or just be the last person standing on Earth, which again does sound cool but I loved it just the way it was.
And it’s a small thing, but I like how this show begins and ends with Eren and Mikasa at that tree together. There’s just a lot of really good satisfying moments in this last episode and of this final season in general while still being bittersweet overall. Sorry if I’ve sounded a little ignorant during this explanation, but this ending didn’t really bother me all that much-for the most part, there are some moments that are a little bit shaky if you really think about it but if you’re willing to overlook it you’ll be just as satisfied as I am right now. If you didn't like it being depressing and not positive, well then I don't know what to tell you anymore, and if you didn’t like the ending not being a 100% genocide from Eren, then go read or write some fan fiction or whatever, because this is the real conclusion whether you like it or not.
If I actually had to force myself to find some things to criticize about this show, I'd say that there are some expositional scenes that could be cut down slightly shorter for my liking. And I also think Eren as a character does leave a little bit to be desired, mostly during the beginning of the show. He's a very cut and dry character, and it works in the context of the series at that point, but he never really becomes too complex until the final season. I'm not complaining about how he didn't grow as a character, because that's exactly the point that this show is trying to get across, that Eren never really developed and only stayed a spiteful child who's mad at the world no matter how old he got. I'm just saying that I kind of wish there was a little bit more going for him at first instead of just basic shounen motivations. But all the complaints that I do have are pretty minor and they don't ruin the show as a whole for me.
It also has me thinking about which epic, grand scale series I love more, either this or Code Geass because they do have their similarities. If you haven't seen Code Geass I won't try to give any specifics or spoil anything significant about anything even though that's kind of hard to do with a show like CG but I feel like it's the only way to get my point across so I'll do my best. Basically, CG ends somewhat similar to how Attack on Titan ends, except in CG it's more optimistic. But in AoT, it's more realistic.
I kind of accept it in CG because it's a more colorful and cartoon show, while AoT is going for a more real and human approach. I think both shows execute their ideas and endings very well, but as of now I'm starting to lean a little bit more towards Attack on Titan being my new favorite epic, grand scale anime. I haven't seen Code Geass in a very long time and I haven't rewatched it since then, but maybe I'll come back to it sometime and compare that and AoT together to see which one is the best one to me.
As for Attack on Titan, while I do feel sad and a little empty that’s it’s all over, I am very thankful that I got to experience its end once it released. And you know, this show really does mark the end of an era for anime, because it might be a very long time until another anime like this becomes more than just a popular anime but a cultural phenomenon that is known across the world, even for people who don’t watch anime. It sure as hell holds a special place for me and I look forward to revisiting it someday. So I'd probably give the whole series of Attack on Titan a 9.5/10. It was good, enough said.
ORIGINALLY REVIEWED ON 11/05/2023
