Review of Attack on Titan: Final Season - The Final Chapters

After all these years, Hajime Isayama's Shinkegi no Kyojin comes to an end. Has the aftertaste of the manga's ending washed away? Let's see... The conclusion of a story as grand as Attack on Titan needs to land. It doesn't matter how incredible the prior 139 chapters are if the last one falls flat on its face. If you weren't living under a rock in 2021, AOT's ending for the manga was controversial, to say the least. Some fans thought it was a beautiful ending to the story and others felt betrayed by what they had just read. When I finished the story, I felt thatI could get what Isayama wanted to say, but the execution and presentation were lacking in places. The conversation between Armin and Eren is one of the most pivotal moments in the franchise. Eren tells us how he feels about everything that has occurred up to this point and why he is doing what he has set out to do. It is a lot of information to process in such a short amount of time. One revelation after the other with time travel elements presented on top of it. If this sequence had more room to breathe, then the story would be better off for it. A prime example is the "Eren meme moment" where he talks about how he feels about Mikasa. This should be a raw emotional moment where we feel for a character we've known for so long and the tragedy of it. However, it comes across as a child throwing a tantrum. I get this is Eren being human and putting his emotions out there for all to see, but the presentation took me out of it. The anime does it a little better, but I do admit it's hard to get over those feelings I felt when I first consumed the source material.

The other controversial aspect of the ending is the fact that some felt betrayed due to Eren's sacrifice meaning nothing in the end. The people of Paradise survive, yes. However, war continues to rage on for generations as society advances. This is the best part of the conclusion and Isayama nails it. Eren has been all about freedom. He was a slave to freedom. The Rumbling was meant to put Paradise on an even playing field with the rest of the world. To give Paradise a chance to be seen as people, not Titans. Eren never fought for something as grand as attaining world peace or ending all war. He fought for the freedom of himself, his friends, and his people. Nothing more, nothing less. So the fact war continues does nothing to betray what Eren fought for. War never changes and war will always exist. What Eren achieved was a future for Paradise as they sought peace in a post-Rumbling world. Is that what the people of Paradise got? No. Does it betray all the work Eren did? No. I can understand how people may not like this material, but I am simply on the other side of the fence.

All in all, I will say that anime-onlys will likely enjoy the conclusion to this story more than the manga-readers did. MAPPA does a great job and you get a little more time with the characters than breezing through 20-30 pages in the manga format. It's a different experience that will hopefully give fans who have come along on this ride a different appreciation and acceptance of the message than what manga readers got two years ago. A journey that began a decade ago has come to an end, give your hearts. SHINZOU SASAGEYO!!!