And what would you like to change about it?
Attack on Titan finale spoilers ahead!
Summary:
- The Attack on Titan finale left a lot of people dissatisfied.
- Some suggest that the finale couldn’t be saved even with better execution.
- A number of people believe, though, that the finale itself would’ve been much better with proper delivery.
The Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) anime finale is still a pretty discussed topic more than a month after its release. The manga finale was just like that in 2021 when it came out, and it caused a huge amount of controversy and even some sort of outrage. We already know that thousands of people truly disliked the way the story ended, but is it an issue of the finale itself or more about how it was executed?
The ending itself
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A big number of fans claim that execution has nothing to do with their dissatisfaction. The entire finale looked like an average Marvel movie with the “Avengers” trying to fight the greater evil, which was Eren. The story concluded with a somewhat happy ending, and they think it’s completely inappropriate for a series like Attack on Titan. A complete annihilation of humanity would have been a much more fitting conclusion.
The implications of the Mikasa/Eren romance were also found super weird, since it had never been stated before that Eren reciprocated the girl’s feelings. And now he’s breaking down just because she might find another man after his death? Where did that come from?
Eren’s entire character was turned into a shell of his previous self. And while the anime tried to fix his motivation, it only made things worse. Stating that Eren was an idiot was a laughable decision, to say the least.
The execution
Still, there are a number of people that believe that the ending itself is not the problem. Yes, they might have wanted Eren to complete the Rumbling, but the outcome that we got also has the right to exist. If the pacing were better, and motivations were clearer, a big portion of criticism would disappear.
If Mikasa and Eren’s relationship had been developed more, and given proper attention, the last chapters of the manga wouldn’t feel so out-of-nowhere-ish. Mikasa’s affection was obvious straight from the beginning of the series, after all, so why not do the same with Eren and explore his feelings better?
Eren’s breakdown would also feel more natural this way. And it’s never been about the mere fact of the breakdown, it’s about its reason. We do believe that after an entire season of being emotionless, Eren just had to show his true feelings. We had to see he was still human. But the poor executions and weird motivation for the breakdown led to the scene becoming the most famous AoT meme instead.