The moment we were all waiting for is here, and what a glorious yet heart-breaking moment it is! Attack on Titan or Shingeki no Kyojin is one of the most popular as well as one of the highest rated anime of all time. It is hard to believe that it has been 10 years since it first came out and took the world of anime by storm. It is often referred to as the Game of Thrones of anime as it presents a dark and twisted world full of grey characters with mostly justified motivations, as well as multiple realistic and relatable subplots. But like all things in the world, good or bad, it also had to end and so it has. While it really hard for dark and twisted tales like these to end in a satisfying manner, AOT has done an absolutely brilliant job and aside from a few fans, most will be pretty happy with the finale. Read on to check out our in-depth analysis of the finale but proceed carefully as major spoilers follow below!
Attack on Titan Delivers a Finale Every Series Can Learn From!
Episode Rating – ★★★★★
Manga fans who disliked the ending might not be pleased to know that Attack on Titan finale doesn’t change it at all, apart from a few minor sequences. The previous special ended with our protagonists, all surviving Eldians, and all surviving people of Marley ending up in a single united stand against Eren and the Rumbling. While the previous special was devastating in every sense of the word, this one doesn’t feature as much death and destruction. It largely focuses on our main protagonists vs Eren and the Founding Titan, with a few sequences of massacre tuned in the background. The Attack on Titan Finale is split into three chapters namely Chapter 3: The Battle of Heaven and Earth, Chapter 4: The Long Dream, and Final Chapter.
Chapter 3: The Battle of Heaven and Earth pits our heroes against endless physical embodiments of the dead titans. In their quest to stop Eren, Armin comes up with a plan to turn into the Colossal Titan and blow Eren and the Founding Titan apart but ends up being captured and trapped in the “Path”. While others try to rescue him, he struggles with the idea of failing the world and his friends who chose him over Erwin (something fans still debate about). Much of the episode is action centric and we see the resolve of our protagonists as they refuse to give up even after being injured and nearly killed many times. We also see Annie, Falco and Gabi join the fight which basically assembles all our favourites together. Obviously, they are overwhelmed by the enemy, but this where the Armin steps up, breaks free of his doubt, and finds Zeke in the Path.
Chapter 4: The Long Dream sees Armin and Zeke uniting and calling upon the memories of their fallen titan friends to dib the scales in favor of our protagonists. By the way, the conversation about life, death, and purpose between Zeke and Armin was so incredibly well written that it ended up being the highlight of the special. While this chapter offers Zeke some much needed character redemption, it isn’t enough to make up for mass slaughter he’s conducted, Therefore, as expected he gets his head chopped off by Levi, stopping the rumbling once and for all. This is followed by Armin transforming into Colossal Titan and blowing up Attack Titan and Founding Titan. However, just when you think, its finally over, we learn that both of them survived the blast and if they combine again, Rumbling will start once again. As expected, Mikasa steps up and our heroes manage to stop them, as Mikasa proceeds to decapitate Eren.
Chapter 5 aka The Final Chapter showcases the aftermath of all these events as well as Eren’s plans right from the beginning of the series. We learn that Eren kept telling his plans to Armin at various points in time on the Path but made him forget all these conversations only to make him remember everything after his death. During these beautifully written conversations, we learn that Eren wanted them to kill him so that the humans could see them as heroes, but ultimately concludes that it all led to nothing. He apparently was a slave to his freedom and proceeded to level the playfield by stripping Eldians of Titan powers and eliminating 80% of humanity. We also learn that Eren played a crucial role in killing his own mother because it was a necessary event in his larger scheme. He also reveals his feelings for Mikasa and wishes that she misses him for a while but eventually moves on. This part was way better handled than the manga and this the part where we see the majority of changes.
Some other changes include the heartfelt conversations between Mikasa and Eren at the cabin. As for the number of additional scenes, they were definitely less than what most people were expecting. One other added scene involved Falco and Gabi planting seeds towards the end of the episode. Also, Armin’s infamous words about his friend being a mass murderer were smoothened out and elongated hence making them less controversial. Anyways, at the end, we also learn that the reason Yimir blindly followed whatever King Fritz said and was bound to make titans out of sand in the titan realm, was because she loved King Fritz. Mikasa killing the man she loved will allow Yimir to realize how to let go of love, and be free and escape the cycle of her making titans.
The episode ends as three years later, we see that Mikasa under a tree where she had buried Eren in Paradise and continues to live there. Paradise considers Eren a hero and massively builds up militarily in order to protect themselves from the rest of the world. Meanwhile Armin, Jean, Reinner, and the other former scouts and warriors (though not Mikasa) become ambassadors for the rest of the world and go on a diplomatic mission to Paradise to try and make peace. But the episode doesn’t end here as the credits and post credit sequences contain some necessary epilogue which leave basically no scope for more AOT sequel. Mikasa gets married to a man who is implied to be Jean, though it is never explicitly mentioned if this man is Jean.
She is shown visiting Eren’s grave with her husband and children and eventually grandchildren. During this time the forest were Eren was buried gets transformed into a large city. Mikasa eventually dies and is buried with her red scarf. Later planes destroy the city that was built in the forest where Eren was buried. Some people have interpreted this to mean that Paradise has been destroyed but we only see this one city being destroyed so we don’t necessarily know the fate of Paradise. The fallen buildings of the city soon decays and the area becomes a forest again, implying that several years have passed. Then a boy with a dog who looks like he could be a descendant of Jean and Mikasa walks towards the tree where Eren is buried.
Final Verdict – Attack on Titan is certainly a force to be reckoned with both visually and conceptually and this splendid finale cemented its place as the best anime series ever made. It provides a satisfying ending for each and every character and the only one who wouldn’t be satisfied with the ending would be Yeargerists.
If you have any questions regarding Attack On Titan, feel free to ask in the comments below and stay tuned. As usual, like, subscribe and share our articles as we here are trying to build a community of people High on Cinema!
1 thought on “Attack on Titan Finale Review and Ending Explained + Changes From Manga”
Comments are closed.