I’d like to add that although all of conflict seems to be cyclical, it’s hinted that it can at least be better. Notice how the kid that enters the tree has a dog companion and they both enter willingly, meanwhile Ymir was running away from dogs and entered the tree out of fear & panic. I thought it was a nice touch.
I like the change in the Levi scene. It shows him trying to help kids that are probably orphans like he was ish. Showing the both Falco and Gabby trying to fix the scars of the war. The old one made it look like everything got fixed asap. The new one showed that it was going to take time to heal
Why did zeke have to die lol? What's up with his fixation on zeke, but not on annie? Ymir was the one controlling the rumbling so his death should have had no bearing on whether it stopped or not.
@@jibsonmadisonLevi feels obligated to Erwin to kill Zeke. Zeke is the reason for Levi's injuries. And Zeke is the reason why Erin could control the titans. Levi doesn't know about Ymir's role in this. He thinks it is still only Erin and Zeke. And killing Zeke at least slowed down Erin.
@@thefrozenfire659 What are you talking about? Did you miss the episode where eren literally freed ymir from her submission to royal blood. Zeke's relevance was nonexistent after that and his death shouldn't have stopped the rumbling.
The pathetic Eren scene humanized him for me, and I was really taken aback at how people ridiculed it. It felt like that scene in Breaking Bad where Walter finally admitted how he committed all those crimes just to feel good about himself - a rare moment of honesty and vulnerability. I had a lot of gripes about many other questionable plot points and scenes for AOT, but this one was one of the better ones to me since it effectively shows the audience that Eren isn't some godlike Machiavellian force of nature - just some kid who had too much power and responsibility and was completely out of his depth.
Why instead of treating Eren's entire personality as a complete mystery that has to have a shocking revelation at the end, didn't he treat him as a human being whose way of thinking was presented to us from the beginning? The truth is I didn't understand what Eren wanted to achieve in the end. I found his plans stupid, his goals contradictory and confusing, and his motivations erratic at best. The character became too blurred, and not because of the idea of wanting to make him a villain, but because of the idea of wanting to keep his personality and goals a mystery until the end. The reveal just feels pathetic, because if you wanted to humanize him you shouldn't treat his development as some kind of plotwist, but treat Eren like any other character within the story, which Isayama didn't do.
About ymir, i think since she was never given true affection before, she just latched onto the closest thing to that, his relationship with king fritz, and due to that, despite all the things hes done to her, she stayed loyal to king fritz for 2000 years. Seeing the affection mikaza and eren shared made her realised that what she had 2000 years ago was not indeed love, and that realization made her finally break tides with king fritzs and rest.
it is a nice explanation but I am not sure if that is possible. Because actually seeing Mikasa killing Eren (her lover) should make Ymir believe more in her love for Fritz :D cause she did not kill Fritz in any condition at least :))) pff why tv series do this to us leave us in limbo and do not give clear explanation
A different interpretation could be that Mikasa loved Eren unconditionally and perhaps unrequited (at least until the very end). Like Ymir, Mikassa was a slave to Eren. Their relationship isn't exactly healthy and many times in the show Eren showed more interest in Historia / Annie. But Mikasa was always obsessed with Eren. So her being able to both show her obsessive love for him while also killing him allowed Ymir to let go of King Fritz and his titan legacy.
@@arashjuly3822wrong she new king fritz was a evil monster, who treated her badly and deserved to die, but she couldn't because she didn't have the courage, so seeing mikasa carried out her act to the man she love, she too much able to finally let go
Unfortunately I believe this is just the cycle that Erin is stuck in and because AOE didn’t happen it will never change he will continue to wake up on that tree with Mikasa asking why he is crying
How do you people get this wrong? Ymir got retconned, simple. She practically wanted to find someone similar to her and made the Eldians suffer for 2000 years to find Mikasa.
Armin doesn't call Eren "pathetic". Rough translation of the Japanese 格好悪い is more like "uncool" and it's much more lighthearted. Eren usually acted calm and collected as his adult self but broke down crying about the thought Mikasa moving on from him. He confesses that he loves Mikasa as well, and always has.
@@archivesoffantasy5560 Mikasa Eren relationship always was mother son kind of relationship. She protected him and watched him grow, he gave her hope and challenged her. And the whole immortal love is more reminiscent of a familial bond than that of a lover. I have a strong feeling Isayama had a mommy issue angle to the main plot.
One other major change happened in the credits: The city that gets built on Paradis island is MUCH larger and more advanced than the manga, and the scene with the bombs droppings happens significantly further into the future in the anime. I think they wanted to make it very clear that Armin and friends' peace mission SUCCEEDED, and there was in fact peace for quite a long time.
Yeah, let's try to justify the absolutely unthinkable position of teaming up with the people who were trying to kill you and everyone you know for being born wrong up until yesterday, against the one person who could and was in the process of stopping them from genociding you and everyone you know... in the name of a potential period of peace. Ah yes, that sure makes all the fear of being eaten alive by weird giants who you didn't even know were enslaved and tortured people of your own ethnicity fade away like it never even happened. Let's hope all the people who you vowed to protect agree, because otherwise you might actually start another war immediately between them - who also happen to be the people paying your salary... to you know... protect them - and your ragtag team of room temperature IQ backstabbers.
exactly!!!!!!! and also mikasa dying in paradise itself under the tree meant that peace mission succeded and even after long time ahead armin (old) visited them
Eren visited all his friends before the final battle (most likely when they were sleeping on the boat). When he visited Mikasa, he showed her the world where they ran away together and before he died, he told her how to kill him (his head was in the mouth), because he knew the next time they would meet, she'd kill him. He also told her to get rid of the scarf and forget about him. After the dreams, Eren used the Founder's power to make all of them forget the dreams. Ymir gave Mikasa a headache which allowed her to remember the dream during the final battle and that's why she said she knew how to kill him. She then killed Eren, but she refused to forget Eren or throw away the scarf he gave her. Because Ymir witnessed Mikasa kill Eren despite her love for him, she was able to realize that she should not have sacrificed herself for King Fritz despite loving him, and by learning to let go of him, she was able to stop being a slave forced to rebuild the titan bodies in the paths realm and thus the titan powers disappeared. Once the titan powers disappeared, Armin and everyone else got their memories back since Eren's mind manipulation wore off and Armin remembered their final conversation. Armin learned Eren's motives, he mainly wanted to make it so his friends would live their lives as heroes that saved humanity from him, similar to the Tybur family. He knew the alternative (which was revealed in his dream with Mikasa) was that Marley instead would destroy the world since they were by far the strongest nation and they would kill off all the other races and kill all the Eldians on Paradise. In the dream, the Alliance and Paradise were fighting Marley for 3 years but eventually lost to Marley. Eren figured, either Marley destroys the world and all his friends die, or he could be the one to destroy the world and his friends would have a better life. Since 80% of humanity died, there would be no one sided retribution against paradise for the rumbling because the outside world and paradise became essentially equal in power. The other reason, because Armin still couldn't believe Eren could go through with the plan to kill 80% of people, was because Eren in his own heart wanted to destroy humanity. All his life, he believed that the rest of humanity outside the walls was dead, and the outside world was a boundless wilderness of freedom. However he found out from the notebook that humanity was alive and people were not free. Eldians are forced to live in internment zones and if they step outside, they get killed. Marley is basically Nazi Germany, they feed children to dogs and commit genocide on people of different races. On top of that, the outside world was constantly at war, people were killing each other all the time. Eren wanted to wipe out this corrupt and evil outside world because that is his character. He is a naive idealistic child who just happened to get a power that was beyond him. He admits he was an idiot the whole time. He knew that there was a risk that his friends wouldn't be able to stop him, and he was okay with the alternative where he kills all of humanity outside of paradise. In the anime, Armin says he will meet Eren in hell because he was the one who showed Eren the book about the outside world and he was the one who gave Eren these ideas and this dream of wanting to be free. So Armin says, he's just as responsible for the deaths of humanity. Armin also is one of the people who understands the horror of killing so many people because Armin transformed into the Colossal Titan on the raid on Marley and likely killed hundreds of innocent people. Armin and Eren were still able to live out their dream of traveling around the world and seeing all the places they wanted to see in the book. Mikasa and Eren were able to live out their dream of being together and escaping from their worries in a cabin (possible for 4 years since time works differently in the paths, the evidence being Eren and Zeke being in the paths for a while but somehow only one second passed in real life). I think the ending was happy for Armin and Mikasa, Eren would have died in 4 years anyways and Mikasa possibly got to spend those 4 years with him. Eren also wanted Mikasa to move on and live her life since he was the one who told her to live in the first place, and so if she did get married (which is left ambiguous) and had a family, and lived to old age, then that's what Eren would have wanted anyways.
i dont think mikasa remarried. when eren finally opens up about his feelings for the first time in the whole show, he tells armin how he of course doesnt want her to move on, and even wants her to spend her life thinking and remembering him, which we see she does. if anyone can see through erens bs it would be mikasa. When they were in the cabin in the woods and eren tells her to destory the scarf after she kills him, when she snaps back she says she cannot do that, tying the scarf around herself. when she kills eren we see erens pov, and we see mikasa is more beautiful through erens eyes. also, mikasa being buried next to him, with white lillys is a symbolism of purity and ever lasting/bonding love with your partner, along with erens scarf. mikasa was loyal to eren the whole show even to the very end of it all. eren and mikasa did get to spend the 4 years in the cabin, which as we know from zeke and eren being in the paths time doesnt or barely moves, the assumption is that he did this when they were on the boat because everyone got there memorys of his visits. we also see eren and mikasa together in the afterlife as she wakes up and hes holding her hand in the official mv, they finally got to be together just not in the place we thought, its also speculated even when eren died he was able to have control in the paths, hence the bird wrapping the scarf around mikasa, a symbolsim that eren was always with her
mikasa finally coming to terms with the fact she had to kill eren was what set ymir free, that she was able to let go and do what she was meant to do, ymir finally realized after watching mikasa and eren that the love she thought she had for king fritz wasnt love, and she was able to let go, hence ending the titan curse. mikasa was able to do the unthinkable to the person she loved most, and ymir realized she didnt feel the same way about fritz
that's the best explanation for ending, Eren already said he had tried multiple times but the outcome was still the same, rumbling. His fate was sealed the moment Armin showed him the book about outside the world as he was a slave to the freedom. He had only two choices ;Marley crushed the Eldians and all his friends or he crushed the world and saved his friends. Lastly, as for Mikasa was married or not, it was up to readers' interpretation. For me, Mikasa died single and they were happily together in an afterlife😭.
Ymir fritz recognizing Mikasa as the one is simple. Ymir couldn't say no to her love with King Fritz, but Mikasa could say no to her love for Eren -- by killing him even though she didn't want to. That's why when Mikasa cut erens head off, she was right behind her. She knew mikasa could do something she never could. Choose the right thing over love.
Ymir literally let herself die to escape from King Fritz. He even ordered to get up and heal but she chose to let the spear kill her. What are you even talking about?
@@DwolfFW did you even watch the show. Like eren said she blindly followed his word because of love. In spite of influencing the deaths of millions (through titans AND eldians expansion) she could never say no because of her love for King fritz. Mikasa could put others before her love where Ymir could not (even if she did allow herself to die). She couldn't allow king fritz to die, but mikasa could allow eren to die.
@@Miguel_Molina Did you watch the show? SHE LET HERSELF DIE. Fritz ordered her to get up and heal but she chose to let the spear kill her. This bullshit about her loving Fritz makes no sense. If she loved him so much then why did she chose to die? What lover choses to abandon thier love when they don't have to? This whole Mikasa/Ymir connection has no basis what's so ever.
@@DwolfFW lol i dont think you understand. she let herself die, instead of letting him die? She had the choice to kill him (by allowing the spear to kill him) but didn't. But she admired the fact that Mikasa could make the choice to kill eren yet love him with all his heart. I encourage you to watch it and again, and listen to the very video these comments belong to lol.
@@DwolfFW titan shifters can regenerate their bodies, but it wont work if they dont want to live anymore. we've seen this in the show before and it concerns Ymir too. Ymir was a slave her whole life and her life was shit, so even though she loved King Fritz and would obey his command to get up, she herself did not want to live anymore, so she could not regenerate. thats the way i see it.
I think the bird scene symbolizes far more than a coincidence. The type of bird in the scene is called a parasitic jaeger. It symbolizes Eren finally achieving the freedom he craved at the end of his journey. There was A LOT of symbolism about birds and freedom throughout the show even in episode 1.
obv it's not a coincidence, we've seen eren control birds and see through their eyes multiple times. even tho eren is dead in the real world he's still alive in paths as the coordinate and he can still use birds to see. the bird at the end was controlled by eren
cart titan being -THE - endurance titan was something that does boost her power level to the one of the others, in the manga she has a cool scene where she launches herself which looks rly cool (was scrolling through the manga alongside watching the episode)
@@jaydee5312 Eh, i woudl say jaw titan is stronger because it has the same agility as cart but much more devastating power. Honestly the only reason why Pieck was useful is cause Ymir didn't kill her after immobilizing her
Your explanation of how love drives people to do unspeakable horrors at 5:46 is exactly why Anakin Skywalker turned into Darth Vader. He was so afraid of losing Padme that he committed atrocities in hopes that he could save her.
Well not exactly, Anakin was driven to those depths of madness because of the Jedi Order and their lack of making him into a Jedi Master because he wouldn't let Padme go. Also he was being manipulated by Palpatine making him believe that the Dark Side was the only way to protect Padme. Eventually he was so consumed by it that he killed Padme by accident which drove him even more mad. If it wasn't for Qui Gon's death, Anakin would more than likely gone the Ahsoka way and abandon both the Jedi and Sith ways
@@Nate2002GameZBy the end, Vader is much better written. I would not call him "basically the anime version of Vader" at all. He has much more depth and his turn to evil makes much more sense
Regarding the minor change on Levi/Gabi/Falco ending, Eren made a point that he was able to flatten out the earth to have the technology regress as with Paradis Island. That means all the fancy buildings and aeroplane should not exist at the time and Isayama might have decided to have them live a rather simpler life.
Right after I finished watching the final episode I went to read the manga version for the first time to see how they compare. Admittedly I was thrown off with the "thank you for committing genocide" line in the manga, and am glad it was removed. I also liked the extra bit where Eren tells Armin he'll see him in hell. It was a somewhat sweet moment despite them literally talking about going to hell together. I also like how they don't confirm heaven or hell exists, just that "if it exists, I'll see you there"
"All humans will, without exception, eventually die." "After they die, the place they go is MU. (Nothingness)" Don't mind me, just quoting two of my favorite lines from Death Note; not really anything to do with AoT 😛 It was indeed a good move to replace the "Thank you for commiting genocide" for a "See you in Hell, if it exists" for the anime.
I mean, they did kinda confirm some sort of afterlife. The place Hange wakes up in and meets Erwin and the others after she died fighting the Rumbling. Didn't look much like a traditional "heaven", but apparently that's where heroes canonically go to.
@@Soaring_Penguin Nah, that was part of the Paths, that connects all eldians to each other. As the anime ends, the Paths are no more, with Ymir finally letting all go.
Honestly that's the best reasoning behind what the whole "Ymir's love" thing was supposed to be that I've heard so far (including from when the manga ended). One slight correction on the Armin vs. Erwin debate section though, Armin _does_ believe in that 'we must become our own devils' philosophy, and is actually the one who first put that philosophy into words, albeit it with a crucial difference in the framing of it. "In order to fight monsters, we must throw away our humanity." Except that Armin has also been very good at acknowledging that their human enemies are, well, human. So he fell into the natural flipside of that philosophy - if it's necessary to throw away your humanity to fight monsters, then it's also true that you must embrace your humanity to fight people.
Nah, he's a contradiction of who he was pretimeskip. Because of him Paradis got annihilated by the remaining 20%. Armin came to the realisation that there are evil humans in S3.
@@asuraspath2262 I'm not sure where you got the idea that Armin "realized there are evil humans"? In season 3 Armin explicitly states that they're only fighting and killing other people because those people have different beliefs and ideals than they do, and that they themselves aren't good people any more for going through with the fight. Not to mention that the first time Armin killed someone, he concluded that the person he killed was "more human" than him because that person hesitated to pull the trigger and he didn't. I mean, there's definitely an argument that can be made for Armin being a little _too_ soft post-timeskip - even I think the direction his character went flanderized him just a little bit - but to say he's an outright contradiction of who he was is a bit of a stretch. Also the whole "humans will keep killing each other for as long as humans exist" thing has been a recurring theme of the series, so it's a bit unfair to say Paradis got annihilated because the Rumbling was incomplete. Even if no one was left outside the island, Paradis would tear itself apart in civil war eventually.
I don't think it's that complicated. It's more that Armin could never guess the level of monstrosity Eren could grow through. He needed a monster, but a lesser monster. It's the same with Eren's dad. He believed in destroying Marley untill he saw into Eren's mind and realised the scale of that level of insanity, and then begged Zeke to stop Eren. Attack on Titan is a tragedy, and Armin and his dad are tragic in the sense that their respective words and philosophy influenced Eren into developing his (despite his claim that no one made him like he is, everyone takes influences from others), but neither were ready for what Eren was capable of doing.
@@asuraspath2262 Paradis did not get destroyed because of Armin. Paradis got destroyed because Jaegerists couldn't let go out of the past and decided to live by the word's of Eren. The show very plainly states that you are not responsible for what happens years down the line, as life is about the small moments such as playing catch. Eldia and the rest of the world were on equal footing. If Eldia couldn't protect themselves that's on them.
@@TheGreatestSpy4lifeExcept both ymir and eren (mostly ymir) doomed future generations for INCREDIBLY selfish reasons. I'll ask you this: why did eren HAVE to kill his own mother? Why didn't he save sasha? Why did he let himself be manipulated by ymir instead of fighting for control to be free? Why did the rumbling stop with zeke's death when ymir was the one in control, and by extension, eren? If eren or ymir or whatever could free eldians from the titan curse, why not just get rid of the 13 year curse, buy time for paradis, and avoid a full rumbling after PROPERLY discussing things with his friends? Nothing makes sense because eren at the end is JUST a plot device. He has no agency to his character anymore, and the excuse is he's in a time paradox; that's what we call COMPLETE CHARACTER ASSASSINATION.
I think the problem a lot of people have with the ending is the fact that Eldia is attacked in the future due to Eren not completing 100% of the Rumbling. However, the author’s intent was to demonstrate that no matter what, humanity will always fight against each other. Hypothetically speaking, even if Eren did complete the Rumbiling and only Eldians exist, they would eventually find a reason to fight in a long enough timeline. The case that Eldians fighting Eldians is better than the world fighting Eldians makes no sense. At the end of the day, people will always fight people regardless of their shared or unshared blood/ancestry. The point of Attack on Titan is to show the viewers that humanity will always fight itself - whether it be by difference of race or not. The world is cruel and no Rumbiling could ever stop human hate from propagating itself again in the future. We can see it with our world today, there’s been two world wars already and the fighting still continues.
well said!!👏🏻 this ending is (unfortunately) realistic if you look at what is happening in the world right now. But I think that is also what makes this ending so sad and beautiful in many ways. Imo I think that this was the better option to end aot🥲
The rumbling was never to stop human conflict. It was to eliminate the hundred of millions of people who wanted to eradicate everyone on the island due to their racism. There is a world of difference between people fighting amongst themselves and outside groups wanting to genocide the whole group for something they didn't do.
I mean I don't know how anyone could have seen Eren in the right for this. The Royal Government arc and The Great Titan war proved this already. "Then, once the Eldian Empire ran out of enemies, they began to kill one another. That was the beginning of the Great Titan War. The families who held the eight Titans shed each other's blood in an endless cycle of conspiracy and betrayal." Eldians will fucking kill and murder each other because they are human. We see them have a corrupt government with a secret police force who will kill and silence anyone they deem necessary. They sent out refugees to pointlessly die to "reclaim" the wall maria. Hell the government after the coup was still pretty fucked up.
@@lovebeautyxxxx you call that realistic? Let's be honest the most realistic thing that marley would do is shoot armin and the gang instantly after they killed eren. Or either put them in a jail cell
Eren said he just wanted to flatten the whole world, just because, basically. I think this is because of his preconceived notion that the world outside the walls and the sea was empty. The realisation that the titans were being sent to kill them by humans beyond the sea, who water them for existing, cracked Eren’s mind. Along with existing in the past, present, and future.
This is heavily implied by Isayama's "special" (don't know the correct term, just a few extra random pages that came along with AoT publishing) where Eren is in modern-world's highschool; being depressed and having an apathetic life, then suddenly zombies and havoc, and he is full of life and happy as he is allowed to go wild, only to go back to depression when it turns out it was all a dream. Isayama mentioned back in the day how that short could be pivotal to understanding Eren's mindset. Also the fact that Isayama praised the short manga series Himeanole and admitted he took heavy inspiration from it. The thing is (and AoT tells us this much) Eren was just born the way he is. He has always been that way. He did just want to flatten the world.
@@alokozay300 That's too simple of an explanation. Also I don't think Eren believes in such a simple explanation, like he said, going outside he realised there are good people there too. This is just how someone like Flock would think. Eren is both more complex and more insane than someone like Flock.
I can’t believe people had a problem with the pathetic Eren scene. I thought that was honestly one of the best. Showing his emotions just added some complexity to Eren just solidifying himself as one of the greatest characters ever created
I'm the same age as eren, if i knew i would die soon, I'd be completely panicked and anxious too... I think this is just normal behavior for a guy of his age knowing about all deaths after committing global genocide..
Same, If you look at eren from his Pov - you understand his actions. His mind is wrecked with time skips, he knows he can't change the future and he will commit mass genocide hence he pushes his friends away to make it easier for him, he knows he is going to die soon and zeke too - he doesn't know when will paradise have the chance to initialize another rumbling, he knows that marley is getting stronger everyday and titans are getting weaker. Since he is going to die soon - Historia will probably get his titan but she will never commit to the rumbling. I think Eren is sacrificing himself to take all the guilt and the crazy acts of genocide although he doesn't want to, he just wants a safe future for his comrades.. But no one will have the courage to do what he does - so he knows he must do it
I dont mind eren expressing his love to mikasa, but the way they did it was meh, i mean they could have done it in.a way that armin put him in a corner and he had to admit it, but it was out of no where and it was a cleshe.
@@HamzaKhan-if2mr Eren's latest form is just a child who can't grow up like Ymir. They have been stuck in a state of mind since they activated the power of the Founding Titan.
yes thats the point. you dont have to rationalize love, because its the driving emotion that pushes people forward despite knowing what is “right.” im glad the ending is finally receiving some acknowledgement, because it never deserved the distorted hate it received.
I loved this ending. This episode was just overall incredible. It’s bittersweet to see this show finally end. It’s had a big impact on my life. I’m sad to see it go but also happy that it got its ending and isn’t one of those shows that goes on forever
Seems like a lot of the anime only audience has really enjoyed it. I'm glad! I disagreed with a lot of the criticisms the manga readers who disliked it had (and hope my video dismantled some of their criticisms)
@@thedigiknowas an anime only fan, I really love the ending and couldn’t think of a better way to end it. It kind of baffles me that people hated the ending
it's better to show Levi and the others helping out refugees across the world than them just getting on with life in a city that seemingly hadn't been affected by the rumbling. Gabi & Falco are still with Levi in the anime, not on a farm but replanting a forest. The flock of birds that fly over them while they're replanting is the same flock that fly over Levi and the refugee children he's feeding.
I started watching this show at a time that I was feeling so many of the same emotions that the characters, especially eren, were going through- rage, frustration, grief, hatred, shame, envy, guilt, self doubt, fear, despair, feeling useless, hope, longing, love, determination…I feel like I learned so many lessons right alongside the characters… that it’s ok if I’m not special or extraordinarily talented, that guts and determination go a long way, that it’s good to take others’ advice and work as a team but in the end you have to make your own decisions, that I’m not useless, that it’s better to live your life from a place of hope and discovery than revenge or fear, that you can be scared and still do the thing, that it’s good to be loyal but sometimes you have to let go of things and people you love, that it’s really the little things that make life meaningful… it really made its way into the deepest recesses of my heart and then tore it to shreds 💔 I have never been through war or violence or the death of a parent, thank God, but so many of my ancestors were soldiers, orphans and immigrants and I think a lot of the generational trauma was passed down to me. And I think the feeling of being trapped by fear and angry about it is a universal one that isayama captured beautifully through Eren’s character. I almost think if I hadn’t watched this show I might have ended up like eren, lol. So grateful to all the artists that helped create this masterpiece, even though it did make me cry on the way to work for about a week lol ❤ I will never forget it
I seriously feel the same! Thanks for putting it into words. Especially 10 years has already passed. We have grown a lot. Reminiscing our innocent and passionate younger selves at that time is something I keep dreaming on that helps me hold and move on now that we see the cruel reality
Anime watcher here. Never read the manga. This is my first time witnessing the end of the story. I'm 26. I could understand 15yo edgelords getting wild with puberty testosterone as of why they don't like the ending, but from a humanist, rational point of view, this was just perfect (in my opinion). Mikasa commiting the ultimate sacrifice and thus saving Ymir and all of the world made sense. It was also beautiful to watch. Eren acting as a "child" and thus triggering a lot of people is undeserving honestly. After kissing Historia's hand, our brother spent 4+ years trying to distance himself from his closest allies, setting the stage for what's to come. Being able to finally open yourself up to your best friend and having said friend still accept you despite of what you've done, is a huge emotional relief. Let him vent honestly. Also, him never speaking about his feelings towards Mikasa to anyone (the convo with Zeke wasn't really a deep dive into the topic) can actually lead to a build up of wild emotions. Idk, I liked it.
Nice. I am SO glad to see people responding positively to the ending this weekend. I was baffled when I finished reading it, loved it, and went online to discover many (not all) manga readers absolutely freaking out about the ending.
People expect him to be rational but my boy Eren has suffered so much, he lost almost everyone he cares about and his view on the world was shattered when he found the truth about titans. Furthermore he witnessed himself murdering billions of people (multiple times), even reliving traumatic events from the future and past with the freedom he desires still out of reach. I don’t see how anyone can blame him for breaking down.
Great video. Very thorough. I loved that show, even though it got pretty confusing at times. It’s crazy to think back to how long ago I started watching.
In my reading of AoT's ending I also catch some religious / philosophical undertones that I don't see people mention. Isayama's idea of love (Mikasa's, Eren's, Ymir's) wouldn't be as close to the idea of romantic love we have in most western countries, but rather one closer to the idea of "desire" that exists in asian philosophy and religion. Think of one of budhism's mains axises, the concept of freeing yourself from desire, desiring nothing, loving nothing, to truly be happy. That doesn't mean that desire has to be healthy, or corresponded. Like Mikasa's and Ymir's desire for Eren and King Fritz, they can be pathological, complex, irrational and toxic, but it is still what they desired: to be seen/loved by the that one person. Ultimately, freeing themselves from that desire/love is what gives them peace and true freedom. Eren's desire for freedom works in the same way, he even recognizes he became a slave to it. Pretty much like what budhism teaches, desire shackles you. The things you love the most will make you suffer the most, or make others suffer the most at your hand so you can keep them. I don't think Isayama truly vouches for one or the other, he just presents this classic philosophical conundrum. When thought of in this light, I think AoT's ending makes complete sense and is wrapped masterfully. Thinking of Ymir's love for Fritz as her motivation for 2000 years of servitude is not too easy (although who knows how Ymir experiences time). But if you think about it this way, when Ymir dies she is still an irrational kid trying to simply be loved back by an abusive figure. That's her deepest desire. She knows nothing else, and thus she continues trying to get it until someone shows her there is, in fact, another way. Freeing herself from that desire.
Great video, I loved the ending and the whole final part. I love the "pathetic" scene of Eren finally admitting his feelings for Mikasa. Also, the end credits scenes blew my mind
really reminds us that even though everyone makes him out to be a monster, he still *is* human. god i loved how human this show was, from start to finish. the emotion, the personalities, everything
Thanks so much for this video, I have a much greater appreciation for this ending now. I do think pieces of media should really stand on their own but having everything explained made things make a bunch more sense. I wasn't sure how I felt about it until now. Plus I'm glad they removed that line of Armin thanking Eren from the manga, YIKES.
First video I watch from you. Great voice, calm and soothing. Good pace too. The explanations are clear and succinct enough. Best video I find explaining the ending. You won yourself a subscriber.
The one other detail that was omitted was the "original" lifeform disappearing as soon as Ymir decides to let go. I mean, in one moment Annie, Reiner and Pieck are holding it off for dear life, the next it's just not there without much of a trace at all. It's not an issue by any extent, just could've used a half a second shot I suppose. On Ymir's loving the Reiss king debacle, I didn't have an issue with it. I did wonder all this time why did she submit to him even after gaining the power of the titans and assumed it was because of deep seated "slave mentality", but her having complicated feelings for him and becoming virtually a ghost of self-loathing for not being able to break that feeling for him makes all the sense in the world after she sees Mikasa kill Eren even though she absolutely loves him
#5 - my theory is that Zeek wanted Levi to kill him because he knew it was the way to stop the rumbling, which is what he also wanted at that point. It doesn’t matter if Levi was primarily moved as revenge or if he was being “on mission.”
I thought exactly the same thing, and I don't see anyone talking about this seemingly obvious sacrifice zeke takes. This is also why zeke says "I wish I didn't see you levi" because I don't think he wanted to be killed by levi because of their past (i think zeke secretly admires levi's strength, but that's another topic). I believe zeke wanted to die there, but perhaps by somebody else. In the end, zeke sacrifices himself and takes one for the team.
I seen it that way too, Zeke definitely sacrificed himself, whether it was for himself, Levi, Grisha or even his past sins, he definitely made that decision to stop the rumbling
Personally I'm very glad they didn't change the controversial manga ending, but expanded on it with the anime. That's always going to be the right call to make with direct adaptions. Calls to change the meaning of the story due to fandom backlash helps nobody. My personal issue was there was too much to unpack from one final manga chapter that it felt abrupt and jarring. The extra ~30 mins, after credits and all, was what the anime needed.
@@kingslushie1018 Not sure about the time skip, but it does take place after the main story ends. It's going to be packaged with an AoT art book that's coming out, called "The Fly," and they're saying the release date is next April 30th in Japan.
I watched this episode late so I'm commenting late :p But I saw Eren as a slave to freedom (he says it himself) and Founder Ymir as a slave to love, echoing what Kenny said that everyone is a slave to something. Ymir didn't know any other life than being a slave, and mistook the importance King Fritz gave her and improvement in her position as signs of love. But in her mind, in order to continue being loved, she had to be a slave to the King, continuing to make titans for 2000 years. Eren was the first who taught her that she could be free, and so she gave him her powers. I think she was angry with the world for the suffering she endured, and wanted to end the world, which aligned with Eren's plan. It was only when she saw Mikasa severing the ties she had with Eren, which symbolizes that she could also sever her ties to King Fritz and the world, did she finally rest in peace.
The ending of the kid finding the tree after the apocalypse only indicates that Ymir Fritz wasn't the first to find it, and the kid and dog won't be the last.
I believe that's the case as well. Especially since they said they have to kill Eren because there's no way they can kill that thing. My theory is that whatever it is, it goes to the final resting place of it's last "owner" and awaits the next person that wants to control it.
It was a masterpiece that was ahead of its time. I didn't read the manga and watched the anime.. Damn, how some people say the ending is bad. The ending was really good and of course painful. I'm not saying it's a masterpiece. But it was really good. I think Isayama's main point was to show that no matter how hard you try to achieve peace, there are still some people with endless greed. that destroy peace. Humans can never be in peace with each other forever. Eren thought that by destroying the whole world he could live in peace and tranquility, but it only worked for a while. And in the end credits, they showed that Paradise was completely destroyed. And this show goes on forever. The
The ending was realistic, but it’s not really what the reader/listener wants to see when everything that the protagonist sacrificed for is burnt to ashes. That’s why it’s kind of a bad ending
There were many reasons why many manga readers didn't like the ending. Most of them come back to the fact that those people you read about, complaining, where the ones that discussed too much on Reddit (and similar places) about the manga as it was being slowly published, with plenty of time (1 month) between chapters (like half an episode) to discuss every tiny detail and make their own theories of what would come or what each tiny detail meant. People were going wild with all kinds of theories; and formed some mental images/ideas/concepts of their own on not only how the history should progress or end, but even on how some characters WERE. Lots of people fell in love with "Edgy Dark Eren" and felt betrayed when it turns on Eren was still who he always was: a kid that loved his friends; and didn't really change (most notably hating on his "pathetic" lines to Armin in the dream). Personally, I never disliked the ending, but it let me a litlte down, but only because everything before it was SO GREAT that I was expecting MORE. I loved the Basement reveal; it gave a twist to the whole series. Then, just as I learn "everything" about the Titans and the misteries of the story, Krueger tells us to save Mikasa and Armin, and I'm like "WHAT?". And when we finally see a new mindblowing reveal (it was freaking Eren who brainwashed Grisha!?) that I wasn't even expecting... I lowkey started to expect (and many were on the same boat) a last uber-amazing plot-twist that would turn the whole meaning behind all scenes a THIRD time. But no, the endgame was just what we were promised and being shown. We were already seeing it, but with a little "Yeah... but what's Isayama hiding still?". When no super whole-series alterning last minute reveals came (for a third time, mind you), it was easy to feel a little let down... XD Also, you gotta take into account that if you like the manga SO MUCH that you go into reddit to both write and share and read theories about characters, plot points, future events and tiny details (and mind you, AoT is probably the ONE manga/show you can feel this way about), chances are you will eventually find one that is more suited to your taste or just what you want to expect from the show that then actual ending. So when your favorite cherry picked ending is not the actual one... Yeah. Lots of people felt betrayed or thought the ending sucked, because it wasn't the one they were expecting. Personally, I have watched the ending (anime) 4 times (bad subtitles, good subtitles, two reactions, more to come); and everytime I like the whole thing more and more; but I'm gonna be honest, on my first watch of it I felt like the animation (in several areas, not always) and carrying for details/scenes (again, in some places) could have been way better and not enough love/effort was put into it. Maybe I'm just getting old; or maybe WIT actually did it better; but I felt like the images shown with the creddits were done way better at the end of Season 3; it felt more polished and "magical" in a sense. Wondering what (if anything) will change/improve in the Blueray. Looking forward for it. 11/10 show with 10/10 ending. Just mad it wasn't also an out-of-scale 11 that definied my whole life's meaning. XD
9:14 when i saw people whining about the bird years ago i thought eren at the end would become a bird and escape or smthing and then timetravel back to when he was sitting on the tree. i was shocked it was NOTHING LIKE THIS. ofc its not eren.
Yeah me too. When I first heard about the bird Eren memes, I thought he would literally turn into a bird and fly away. It was just a symbolism, but it seems people were so mad (about the ending not going the way they thought it would) and decided to just shit on it. It's a shame really, the haters are exaggerating on how bad this conclusion actually is.
I think the fair complaint is that it's not a subtle reference to Eren "being there", it's too on the nose. While I agree that it's not at all critical to the ending, I also think it's kind of cringy how forced the idea of a random bird tying a scarf around Mikasa's neck is. Haters are gonna hate and make memes about it, but I believe it's also fair to point it out as a rough spot which could've been handled in a more subtle way. It kind of reminded me of how ridiculous the encounter with Annie eating at the table was.
6:25 personally this scene just felt like eren and armin talking as the normal selves as a pocket universe version of themselves during the time they reached the ocean. this isnt a mere vision in an ocean, but eren has had this conversation long before he started the rumbling.
I thought it was when armin was on the ship after beating the yeagerist when he had this convo because it showed him on the ship after eren said he’d erase his memories
That was my interpretation as well, not just with armin but also the scene he has with mikasa. It seems he talked to all of his friends in the paths long before the rumbling and then wiped their memories
@@awesomestevie27 But don't you see? The Past, Present and Future all happen at once in Paths for Eren. So when he says it happens during the time they reached the ocean, he is technically correct. The best kind of correct!
you are a clown,isayama himself didnt even understand eren by his own words that he gave in a interview until he heard his voice actor so yeah there goes your point down the drain.
What i love about the ending is how ambiguous it was. Nobody even knows who is attacking Paradis, the whole point Isayama was making was even if Eren completed the Rumbling its human nature to kill each other. Civil war coulda broken out and Eldia destroyed itself for all you know
So the part of Ymir's story you didn't cover and that I'm curious about was the scene of Fritz with the spear through his chest. Previously, we had seen Ymir save Fritz's life by taking the spear, but in that scene it looked like ymir didn't step in and as such fritz died. The scene took place right when the curse of the titans ended, leaving me assuming this was simply symbolizing that yamir wouldn't take the spear for fritz anymore after seeing Mikasa sacrifice Eren or if this somehow was literal and tied in to how the titan curse was ended. Any thoughts?
I took it as Ymir thinking "what if I didnt save Fritz and lived a long life instead?" after seeing Mikasa kill Eren. Mikasa is basically Ymir, in that context, and did something Ymir didnt do Because if Mikasa didnt kill Eren, there would be no stopping to his terror
I think what that means is for Mikasa to finally kill Eren represents Ymir not taking the spear and being with her kids. It's about letting go. It's symbolism. Or maybe Ymir did change the past last minute where she doesn't take the spear for the king inspired by Mikasa. That's my opinion. (Sorry for my bad English)
It's exactly that. After seeing Mikasa being able to kill the person who she loved, she realized 1 of 2 things or both, that the "love" given by the king was never actual love unlike what Mikasa shows and/or that she realized that she too can let go of a love when it's the right thing to do. In doing so that scene portrayed that she's no longer willing to take the spear for him anymore and she allowed him to die from her heart
So, the part where Armin says "Thanks" to Eren is actually a Bad Translation case. In the original text, while still controversial, he says something more like "You became a mass murderer for our sake…I promise I won’t let this singo to waste!" Never thanking the man who murdered 80% of the world.
Yeah, it's tough to talk about what *precisely* was said at any given time because you had the original Japanese, the fan translations, the official English translations, not to mention every other language. Having said that, I'm holding Attack On Titan Volume 34 in my hands and Armin says "thank you" in English. Obviously Japanese version takes priority but it is an official English language translation.
I think your point about war never ending is how I mainly interpreted that end, I wasn’t upset like some were and realize that yes war can and still happen unfortunately, like we see now.
the whole thing with ymir suffering for 2000 years because of her love for fritz took me aback at first, but it eventually brought me to tears. i think it's a difficult feeling to wrap your head around unless you've been in (and escaped) an abusive relationship yourself. that kind of love blinds you and leaves you feeling isolated and hopeless while genuinely believing that there's no way out. by killing eren, mikasa overcame the strongest and most loyal love, one we've also seen her suffer for. mikasa is always saying that she's strong and it's generally taken to mean her ability to fight, but i think her greatest display of strength was being able to accept her love and still choose to exert her free will against it. that courage and strength is what finally gave ymir the power to finally free herself (at least that's how i interpreted it)
I honestly loved the part where Eren just straight up says, "he's just an idiot who got too much power"! This basically says that Eren was never supposed to be a hero and those people who worshipped him as the gigachad just never really understood him as a character! In hindsight Reiner was absolutely right when he said that from all the people, Eren should've never gotten the power to control titans. Overall the ending is pretty tragic and this story shows, that a single person, no matter who couldn't just magically save the world!
Yeah I loved that scene at the end of season 2 when Reiner said something like "of all the people in the world, why did the Founding Titan end up with HIM"
He's not even trying to save the world anymore since he couldn't find the future in which his friends are safe besides this way. He just wanted to ensure that his friends live in peace and die of old age.
Fantastic video. This is the greatest breakdown I've seen, most others just spout a bunch of nonsense or flat-out incorrect information. Thank you very much for this. I had already pieced a lot of this together but had a few holes left in my understanding which were bugging me, your perspective helped a lot.
I think it makes sense on why extra ending showed people fighting again and a little kid finding the founding Titan power. Out of the realities that Eren could’ve chose this was the best for his people as he believes history will repeats itself which it does but mikasa and the rest managed to live out their lives which was enough for him ( but in my opinion it still really sad that 80% of humanity had to die so that the last 20% would learn and not repeat their actions which they end doing again :( )
Great analysis of the ending episode. And awesome for showing the difference in the comics. Scratched many itches i have and wanted to understand about the final episode. thank you.
I defended the manga ending for more than 2 years (9th of April 2021) and I was so scared to see more haters when the anime ending would release, but the opposite happened. Way more support! I think all the haters with "Worst ending ever, they ruined it! 1/10", gave the anime watchers a lower standard, so they aren't that disappointed. In fact, a vast majority loves it! And so do I ! Finally peace ...
It absolutely did. When I heard Isayama apologized for the ending I was like omg he botched the ending that bad?? I was expecting something as bad as Game of Thrones where nothing made sense like Reiner kills Eren, Gabi becomes queen of Eldia, or Levi dies off screen.
@@DwolfFWthere’ll be plot holes with any story but I’ve always found the ending of attack on titan to be cohesive and congruent to the expanding themes that have been set in the story since day 1
@@DwolfFWThere a plot holes but those are forgivable given how dense the lore was and the fact time travel was in play. The pacing felt weird and wish we had more time for characters like Jean, Conny and OnionCoupon, but what we got of the main cast showed complete arcs that tied in with the grand themes of the show. Armin was shown as the enlughtened one, knowing when to choose peace and violence whilst still detesting violence and being the brains. Mikasa obtained her freedom by breaking the chains of love, ibtaining the freedom and hapiness eren wanted for her and she deserved. Eren showed that he was a flat character like Goku, not really changing but unlike Goku, he was just wrath and vengeance incarnate, truly a fool with power. We all rooted for eren the first 3 seasons but he truly didnt deserve a happy ending, not in the slightest and the fact that he even got that slight closure at the end felt unfair to humanity. Ill never get the people who cheered on his genocide due to marleyean oppression when he goes onto murder 80% of the world who also suffered from marleyean oppresion and even those who were opposing powers. No one would be fine Argentina destroying every continent other than south america just cause they wanted to get back at Britain, so anyone who says "he shouldve finished the job" to me is probably a young and angsty edgelord, and if theyre older, make me terrified to think those people can vote.
Eren and Armins vision was truly the biggest change. The manga never said Eren went through every scenario to see if Paradis would survive. In the Anime, he states yes I’ve gone through every version and it all ends the same. I feel they added this in for us who read the manga and said “why not just search all possibilities, kill everyone and it’s happily ever after for Eldians”. Well, now we know he’s seen every outcome…Eldians will inevitably clash, bringing destruction and war regardless of the rumble or not. So his choice to do what he did at the end was more justified. I no longer feel like “wth Eren just finished the deed” I get it now.
I agree with your assessment of Eren in the discussion with Armin before he dies. Eren is severely overwhelmed and impulsive. This was shown to us from the start of the series. Heck, Armin and Mikasa had to tell Eren to "buck up little camper" many times in the series. I though this was very true of the character. And, yes, having all of time exist in the same moment in your brain can lead to some overwhelming thoughts. Excellent analysis! Thanks for sharing.
The DigiKnow covering Attack On Titan? I didn’t see this coming! I don’t mind because I love Attack On Titan and your channel. As usual, I agree with your takes.
Thanks for the video! Your thoughts on the movie itself are pretty close to my own, but the part explaining the differences with the manga was very helpful!
Great explanation, I agree with you 98%. I think the ending is wonderful, and I have no problem with the scene of Eren crying but .. from a great Show like AOT, we expect the dialogues to be extremely strong, as they always are I think it should have been changed in that scene to be clear, logical, and strong. I felt like they rushed in many scenes that were supposed to take their time
I mean yea The ending is good but the Manga ending was a bit rushed , that's why many things were left uncleared and people were mad But the anime didn't take as much time as I'd hoped , ig that's just iseyama's decision
I actually think it isn't just King Fritz that Ymir loved but her children and, by extension, their descendants. She got locked into that servitude role for 2000 years... in a way, she was a mother for 2000 years moulding titans.
With how much the series hits on a theme of having "no regrets", showing the bleak outcomes when people allow past experiences and events dictate their choices, I wonder if that isn't a part of Founder Ymir's story. She instituted a penance on herself for taking a spear for someone she ought to have despised and allowed to perish. Founder Ymir struggled with this thought while granting Titan powers to her descendants all those years, following along with Fritz's command to obey because that is all she could envision which would guarantee her descendants' survival. Once Eren offered Ymir the freedom to choose for herself, she allowed all that resentment and anger to manifest in the Rumbling. In the end though, the only way Ymir could find peace was to adapt Mikasa's "the world is a cruel and beautiful place" outlook, accepting her terrible experiences also brought about her true loves in this life, her children.
Something I haven't seen anyone else mention either, Ymir was in the Paths for 2000 years of real world time. Time is stopped or extremely slowed inside the Paths. From her perspective, it was quite possibly billions and billions of years
Enjoyed and subscribed. Great video. I find that one part people in vids are leaving out is that when Mikasa tells him she’ll see him later, it’s a callback to the first chapter of the manga. In the anime Eren’s dream is different than the anime. In the manga it’s him dreaming of Mikasa saying those exact words to him, and he wakes up and comments on her hair being longer now. I haven’t seen a lot of coverage of this - probably cause it won’t register to anime onlys
I feel unsatisfied with this ending but at the same time I don’t even know what else they could have done or what I wanted from it. I’m partially just upset this masterpiece is finally over but I like how you explained Erens temper tantrum. Can someone explain to me why he didn’t just go with mikasa instead of committing genocide? Obviously that wouldn’t be as interesting but i just don’t understand that
if he were to run off with mikasa back in marley, armin and the other eldians would've died plus mikasa and eren would've lived the last couple years eren had left bc of the curse
He would’ve died in 4 years and so would have everyone else including his friends Titan shifters and Conrads.. he wanted everyone he loved to live longer lives which is why he made it so the power of Titans would be no more
This take is what I wanted to see, I knew most anime only's would still love the ending which they visibly do, but I'm happy some realized that even if they changed it, it would basically just be like soul eater or the promised neverland.
My main problem with the ending is at the 10:30 mark of the video, that when the kid and dog walk into the tree, they basically get the titan powers thus repeating having titans on earth, so to me it’s basically that eren tried to get rid of titans for no reason cause they just end up coming back anyway so it’s like what was the point of him even trying to stop people from becoming titans in the first place.
i love attack on titan so much. honestly it like holds a spot in my soul tbh after watching the ending, i really didnt know how to think about it (was going through the 5 stages of grief) and couldnt stop crying lol but tbh, ive come to accept it any it truly is a great ending; a bittersweet one but it's really fitting. if only i could experience aot for the first time again..
Agreed, if I could have one series where my memory was wiped and I got to experience it all over again it would be AoT (especially without having to wait months and years in between seasons this time)
With the Eren and Armin scene that some people dislike. This scene was so gut wrenching and important and I don't get why many people don't see it as a lot more than him just showing he loves Mikasa. We finally got to see Eren in his pure innocent form. He's just a kid that doesn't want to die and he just wants to live normaly and free while being with the one he loves. All this time he's been fighting and fighting, with no choice but to keep moving forward while carrying the fate of the world, his friends, and his family on his shoulders while knowing all along there was no perfect outcome. Also I disagree with the idea in this video that Isayama wanted to knock Eren off his pedestal with the "I'm an idiot" line. imo I think it was showing how hopeless and inadequate Eren was feeling and rightly so, as how on earth is a kid given that much responsibility ever expected to make the "right" choice and how can anyone ever expect that from him as well. He is an idiot, just as any of us could be.
Basically a uno reverse ending of code geass, to achieve that level of peace, cycle of life and death continues, to me this is the most realistic way to interpret human nature, these small but highly impactful moments to determine how you decide to do things in the moment. even with all the data you cant change human nature only direct it.
I'm low-key angry learning that people were mad about "pathetic Eren" feeling selfish about Mikasa. We literally saw the same thing from his Mom when in the final moments she held back her cries wanting them not to leave her. It's understandable, and he even held back by promising Armin not to tell her.
Are you really comparing a person trapped under a roof not wanting to be eaten alive to a man crying about a woman he could have always had but for no reason at all never did anything with? Eren never had romantic feelings for Mikasa throughout the whole show. If he did, then there was nothing stopping him from being with her. She made it very clear that she wanted him since season one. Having him cry like a bitch about it was a disgrace to his character development. There is nothing wrong with Eren showing emotion. Nobody had a problem with him crying in front of Ramzi because it made sense.
@@DwolfFW Eren wasn't just a man crying about a woman. If you want to talk about trapped under a roof, Eren was trapped in an inescapable fate he could foresee but not change, spreads across time all at once. You can't tell me that isn't being trapped. The poor kid had a singular focus from the first episode, and now in his final hours when his purpose is coming to a close, he deserves some slack to vent for the things he didn't have any room for until now.
@@elheber Way to change the subject. I was talking about him crying over Mikasa not about his fate. Like I said, there's nothing wrong with him being emotional. There's a lot wrong about him whining about a woman he could have been with at the drop of a hat. Crying and complaining that he wants her to obsess over him a decade after his death. That's not the Eren we've grow up with.
@@mitchellbooth8435 First off, everyone dies. Second off, Grisha had only 13 years too. In that time he had a family and was a pillar to his community. If Eren truly loved Mikasa romantically this whole time then there was nothing stopping him from being with her. Hell, even though I find it disgusting, Armin made his move on Annie. Annie was going to die in less then a year and Armin was going to die in a few years too. However, that didn't stop them.
For the "pathetic eren" argument i dont think it’s fair to call him a child over that. I think it’s more of a death bed confession, he’s been holding it for so long it’s not really surprising. Compared to how other character handled similar situation eren suffered in silence for too long. Also different persons have their own limits, i know im not good with emotional stuff but i wouldnt call myself s child over it.
The change to the scene with Levi, Gabi, Falco, and Onyankopon is in reference to a new bonus chapter releasing in an aot art book next spring. The cover of this additional chapter has Yelena and Onyankopon planting trees in the background while Levi, Gabi, and Falco sit at a picnic table talking during some kind of a meal break. You can see it if you look up “aot volume 35”
I really loved the ending, but I highly disagree that eren was a child/idiot at the end. In S1 and 2, that is very true. But after the return to shiganshina arc, and him alone causing the attack on marley should prove he is not some kind of idiot. Also, the ultimate plan of Eren feels very weak. Again I dont hate eren being killed or the bombings but the conversation with Armin really soured it for me, since I feel it spoilt a character who we saw develop across 4 seasons.
While I am on the side of, not really liking the ending (not the end itself but more, the road towards it) I think Eren being a wreck in his mind is a good way to explain himself, the way you describe it "he is 5 years old, 19 years old and even 2000 years old at the same time" would make sense for him to be so detached and distant of everything, I would say the "real" Eren Jaeger died in season 3 after reaching the basement, collapsed over a million consciousnesses of a million timelines
This is not the moments before Eren died - he said he would remove the memories of the conversation (to Armin) and will give them back at the end of it. We then see Armin back at the ship next to Annie. The ending shows us the time that Eren spoke to them BEFORE the final fight. That's why you see everyone saying their memories are back at the end.
I've watched a lot of breakdowns and I think yours does a good job at shedding light into the darkness. I think an outcome where Eren completes the rumbling 100% is the true ending. Life is complicated. Love is irrational. There are no solutions, only trade-offs. There are no villains, there are no heroes, but merely actors given scripts to recite in a movie. The innocent, know themselves, they play their part. The guilty, do not know themselves, and when they play their part, chaos ensues.
I see a big topic that people are omitting is that the connections that people have with so many different things and those motivations are things that people WILL defend their lives for; it can be as trivial as baseball or as delusional as freedom; all these can lead to conflict because we all are fighting constantly for survival and for our own ideologies of what allows us to feel fulfilled and connected to the world we have created in our immediate infliuence It’s odd that many people in the comments gloss over this that it is so insignificant and are only focused on the conflict instead of what motivates the conflict
I agree with this, because in the end that’s one of the main ideas that pushes Eren to even commit to rumbling act-to attain the freedom like that of Armin’s book because that’s what makes him fulfilled, that’s what he’s a slave to when he says he’s a “slave to freedom” it’s that particular image of freedom. However because he wants that unrealistic and absurd reality naturally others will be in direct opposition to that because it interferes with their survival and ideaologies that make them feel fulfilled; so they will in engage in conflict with Eren. Adding on to your point I think one of the main messages behind attack on titan is that grander narratives and absolute ideals are always what led to humanities worst atrocities, (like Eren committed in name of his ideal of freedom) living for some abstract ultimate goal so often leads to destruction. People with their own ambitions dreams and philosophies will act accordingly to those desire and essentially do what they want to do because of their nature at the end of they day. Everyone else has to navigate those choices with their own. Conflict will happen because of individuality much like the hedgehog dilemma in Evangelion explains.
to your point about them leaving out a significant part where eren says he would have done the rumbling in its full scale regardless is valid but i think the anime still says he would have but just shortened it. Eren still says in the anime that "i wanted to level everything" and "i wanted to see this site" heavily implying that regardless of the future eren saw with his friends stopping him and it leading to a world without titans, eren would have wanted the rumbling to happen for his own selfish desires. ALSO, in the beginning of that dialogue eren says "i attempt a complete full scale rumbling" meaning that eren was aiming to wipe everyone out but he knew he would be stopped in the process. If eren willingly wanted to stop at 80 percent he would not have said i attempt a complete rumbling
What is this creator seen bc its not the same anime as anyone here???? Eren made paths and tried hundreds of lifes and ways to solve the Marley conflict and in one of those he run away with mikasa, as a what if. WHAT IS HE TALKING ABOUT. The love Ymir for King Fritz was clearly a clingy need for connection since she was wanting when she was watching other couples kiss and get married in her hometown before Eldia attacked it. WHAT THE HELL IS HE TALKING ABOUT? Paradis blowing up in a nuclear accident ARE YOU KIDDIN??? its clear war that happening in the credits with an unknown nation and eventual devastation.
Absolutely fantastic video. Totally agree on the biggest plot points - the Ymir/Mikasa connection and Eren's motivation. Super well said. And super glad they changed the "mass murderer" line. What got animated was 1000x better.
I didnt read the manga. I held my curiosity till this day. After watching the final episode and talking to the manga readers about their motives to hate the ending, I finally figured out why they hated it so much: They didn't understand the end.
It was a masterpiece that was ahead of its time. I didn't read the manga and watched the anime.. Damn, how some people say the ending is bad. The ending was really good and of course painful. I'm not saying it's a masterpiece. But it was really good. I think Isayama's main point was to show that no matter how hard you try to achieve peace, there are still some people with endless greed. that destroy peace. Humans can never be in peace with each other forever. Eren thought that by destroying the whole world he could live in peace and tranquility, but it only worked for a while. And in the end credits, they showed that Paradise was completely destroyed. And this show goes on forever. The
I think i remember a line about being free just before death or something, and it made me think of Eren, knowing he'll die, and when he said he is free. Also the past present and future being all the same to him...
honestly, the scene with eren and armin felt so real. of course armin would feel guilty for being the cause of eren's quest for freedom. also the whole bit about armin and hell hit so hard. he's said multiple times how he's a monster and committed horrible acts. him saying he's going to stay with eren in hell hurts so bad. besides that, i really don't know why people wanted eren to be this emotionless giggachad or something. i love how he showed vulnerability and finally broke down. it humanizes him and honestly makes him a much more complex character.
I take some issue with Armin's guilt comment. If Eren is being truthful then Armin's actions would've had no impact on Eren doing what he did, he would've ended up in the same place anyway. Then the explanation is that it's either Armin not getting what Eren said, which would be silly given that he's presented as the smartest character, or he's trying to take some guilt off of Eren and showing some sympathy which also doesn't make too much sense because he was hating him a couple of seconds ago for killing 80% of the population outside of the walls. This doesn't take away from the fact that Armin also murdered a lot of people, but that has nothing to do with Eren becoming who he is, that was after Eren had already become "hobo Eren". PS: I liked the ending but there are some noticeable weak points / inconsistencies
2:03 But Armin was the first one tell Eren that _“To defeat a monster, you must be willing to throw aside your humanity and all that makes you human”_ This happened back in season 1 when the scouts were fighting Annie in the capital.
Ymir isn’t helping Erin or carrying out his plan, it’s Erin helping Ymir. Always has been Ymir’s story, everything was set to happen as soon as she fell into that tree. All the attack titans’ future memories are Ymir’s story being told. Erin was just a part in it and technically Mikasa was the one who ended Ymir’s story. Everything was determined as Erin said, him saying it was because he’s an idiot and Armin taking some blame and saying they’ll both be punished in hell is just them trying to make some sense of it. End of the day they and all eldians were characters in Ymir story, a story told through all the attack titans memories of the future. We just got to see the end. An ending which Ymir could have had if she just let go of her love for king fritz and killed him. Her children would have got to live long lives just like Eren’s friends ended up having. She started her story by freeing the pig, and she ended her story by freeing the eldians so they could make their own destiny once again. Eventually their destiny lead them to be destroyed but as we see in the end there is still life on paradis even after destruction with the boy and his dog. And that boy may just be starting his own story as he enters that tree once again.
The reason the story does end here is of course that she finally chooses the right thing over love just as Mikasa does which is why Ymir is standing right behind her. It’s what she always wanted, for someone to show her that she was wrong to choose fritz. Mikasa and Eren were much closer to real love than Ymir and fritz ever had but Mikasa still choose to kill eren for the sake of eldians and the world. This was the only way Ymir story could of ended, when she finally is shown to be wrong and let’s go of her love for fritz and dies in the paths thus ending the titans and releasing all eldians from her story. The reason Eren had to become evil and start the rumbling was so he would become a new king fritz basically and there would be a chance for someone who loved him to take him down again for the sake of the world. Mikasa becomes the person Ymir wanted to be as shown in the vision that could have been where Ymir kills fritz/lets him to be killed and takes her kids away. In the end Mikasa was able to do the right thing but never forgot Eren, which what Ymir always really wished she had done and thus this ends her story of the titans and the subjects of Ymir.
I enjoyed ur take on this anime/Manga. U should do it more often Edit: I never read the Manga and I thought the last part was lackluster. But hearing you explain what truly happened makes more of and ending.
I’d like to add that although all of conflict seems to be cyclical, it’s hinted that it can at least be better. Notice how the kid that enters the tree has a dog companion and they both enter willingly, meanwhile Ymir was running away from dogs and entered the tree out of fear & panic. I thought it was a nice touch.
yeah he seems to stumble upon it while exploring.
dog*
@@monisahmed4602 lmaooooo thanks bro didn’t notice it
Great observation. I didn't put 2 and 2 together. There were very few dogs in the series so it should stand out when they're used.
i just posted my comment regarding the cyclical conflict. but never realized this part of the anime. really great analysis
I like the change in the Levi scene. It shows him trying to help kids that are probably orphans like he was ish. Showing the both Falco and Gabby trying to fix the scars of the war. The old one made it look like everything got fixed asap. The new one showed that it was going to take time to heal
I’ll agree with you on that but they could have at least animated Falco’s glow up. Bro aged from 12 to 20 in the span of like, 3 years.
Oh, and Gabi too I guess.
Why did zeke have to die lol? What's up with his fixation on zeke, but not on annie? Ymir was the one controlling the rumbling so his death should have had no bearing on whether it stopped or not.
@@jibsonmadisonLevi feels obligated to Erwin to kill Zeke. Zeke is the reason for Levi's injuries. And Zeke is the reason why Erin could control the titans. Levi doesn't know about Ymir's role in this. He thinks it is still only Erin and Zeke. And killing Zeke at least slowed down Erin.
@@thefrozenfire659 What are you talking about? Did you miss the episode where eren literally freed ymir from her submission to royal blood. Zeke's relevance was nonexistent after that and his death shouldn't have stopped the rumbling.
The pathetic Eren scene humanized him for me, and I was really taken aback at how people ridiculed it. It felt like that scene in Breaking Bad where Walter finally admitted how he committed all those crimes just to feel good about himself - a rare moment of honesty and vulnerability. I had a lot of gripes about many other questionable plot points and scenes for AOT, but this one was one of the better ones to me since it effectively shows the audience that Eren isn't some godlike Machiavellian force of nature - just some kid who had too much power and responsibility and was completely out of his depth.
Also, people seem to forget that at that moment he’s also just a kid, he’s only 19 at that time.
a bad comparison, but a good point.
Also it was stated multiple times during the show that eren is literally the worst person the founders powers could have landed on.
Why instead of treating Eren's entire personality as a complete mystery that has to have a shocking revelation at the end, didn't he treat him as a human being whose way of thinking was presented to us from the beginning? The truth is I didn't understand what Eren wanted to achieve in the end. I found his plans stupid, his goals contradictory and confusing, and his motivations erratic at best.
The character became too blurred, and not because of the idea of wanting to make him a villain, but because of the idea of wanting to keep his personality and goals a mystery until the end. The reveal just feels pathetic, because if you wanted to humanize him you shouldn't treat his development as some kind of plotwist, but treat Eren like any other character within the story, which Isayama didn't do.
@@tehbrooksta8365there was no other way since Ymir chose him
About ymir, i think since she was never given true affection before, she just latched onto the closest thing to that, his relationship with king fritz, and due to that, despite all the things hes done to her, she stayed loyal to king fritz for 2000 years. Seeing the affection mikaza and eren shared made her realised that what she had 2000 years ago was not indeed love, and that realization made her finally break tides with king fritzs and rest.
it is a nice explanation but I am not sure if that is possible. Because actually seeing Mikasa killing Eren (her lover) should make Ymir believe more in her love for Fritz :D cause she did not kill Fritz in any condition at least :))) pff why tv series do this to us leave us in limbo and do not give clear explanation
A different interpretation could be that Mikasa loved Eren unconditionally and perhaps unrequited (at least until the very end). Like Ymir, Mikassa was a slave to Eren. Their relationship isn't exactly healthy and many times in the show Eren showed more interest in Historia / Annie. But Mikasa was always obsessed with Eren. So her being able to both show her obsessive love for him while also killing him allowed Ymir to let go of King Fritz and his titan legacy.
@@arashjuly3822wrong she new king fritz was a evil monster, who treated her badly and deserved to die, but she couldn't because she didn't have the courage, so seeing mikasa carried out her act to the man she love, she too much able to finally let go
Unfortunately I believe this is just the cycle that Erin is stuck in and because AOE didn’t happen it will never change he will continue to wake up on that tree with Mikasa asking why he is crying
How do you people get this wrong? Ymir got retconned, simple. She practically wanted to find someone similar to her and made the Eldians suffer for 2000 years to find Mikasa.
Armin doesn't call Eren "pathetic". Rough translation of the Japanese 格好悪い is more like "uncool" and it's much more lighthearted. Eren usually acted calm and collected as his adult self but broke down crying about the thought Mikasa moving on from him. He confesses that he loves Mikasa as well, and always has.
“Always” loved Mikasa.
But these Historia fanatics (shippers) were so delulu.
@@kcx2678yeah that was all fake shit, nothing but pointless
@@kcx2678”For Eren, rather than a lover, Mikasa’s presence is more like a mother to him.”
- Isayama
@@archivesoffantasy5560 Mikasa Eren relationship always was mother son kind of relationship. She protected him and watched him grow, he gave her hope and challenged her. And the whole immortal love is more reminiscent of a familial bond than that of a lover. I have a strong feeling Isayama had a mommy issue angle to the main plot.
@@Iamwhoiamifiammyselfthe quote does sound like you can summarize it with mommy issues. Especially since all of this started when his mom was eaten
One other major change happened in the credits: The city that gets built on Paradis island is MUCH larger and more advanced than the manga, and the scene with the bombs droppings happens significantly further into the future in the anime. I think they wanted to make it very clear that Armin and friends' peace mission SUCCEEDED, and there was in fact peace for quite a long time.
Yes I’m glade that u said that!!
Yeah, let's try to justify the absolutely unthinkable position of teaming up with the people who were trying to kill you and everyone you know for being born wrong up until yesterday, against the one person who could and was in the process of stopping them from genociding you and everyone you know... in the name of a potential period of peace.
Ah yes, that sure makes all the fear of being eaten alive by weird giants who you didn't even know were enslaved and tortured people of your own ethnicity fade away like it never even happened. Let's hope all the people who you vowed to protect agree, because otherwise you might actually start another war immediately between them - who also happen to be the people paying your salary... to you know... protect them - and your ragtag team of room temperature IQ backstabbers.
exactly!!!!!!! and also mikasa dying in paradise itself under the tree meant that peace mission succeded and even after long time ahead armin (old) visited them
Eren visited all his friends before the final battle (most likely when they were sleeping on the boat). When he visited Mikasa, he showed her the world where they ran away together and before he died, he told her how to kill him (his head was in the mouth), because he knew the next time they would meet, she'd kill him. He also told her to get rid of the scarf and forget about him.
After the dreams, Eren used the Founder's power to make all of them forget the dreams. Ymir gave Mikasa a headache which allowed her to remember the dream during the final battle and that's why she said she knew how to kill him. She then killed Eren, but she refused to forget Eren or throw away the scarf he gave her. Because Ymir witnessed Mikasa kill Eren despite her love for him, she was able to realize that she should not have sacrificed herself for King Fritz despite loving him, and by learning to let go of him, she was able to stop being a slave forced to rebuild the titan bodies in the paths realm and thus the titan powers disappeared.
Once the titan powers disappeared, Armin and everyone else got their memories back since Eren's mind manipulation wore off and Armin remembered their final conversation. Armin learned Eren's motives, he mainly wanted to make it so his friends would live their lives as heroes that saved humanity from him, similar to the Tybur family. He knew the alternative (which was revealed in his dream with Mikasa) was that Marley instead would destroy the world since they were by far the strongest nation and they would kill off all the other races and kill all the Eldians on Paradise.
In the dream, the Alliance and Paradise were fighting Marley for 3 years but eventually lost to Marley. Eren figured, either Marley destroys the world and all his friends die, or he could be the one to destroy the world and his friends would have a better life. Since 80% of humanity died, there would be no one sided retribution against paradise for the rumbling because the outside world and paradise became essentially equal in power.
The other reason, because Armin still couldn't believe Eren could go through with the plan to kill 80% of people, was because Eren in his own heart wanted to destroy humanity. All his life, he believed that the rest of humanity outside the walls was dead, and the outside world was a boundless wilderness of freedom. However he found out from the notebook that humanity was alive and people were not free. Eldians are forced to live in internment zones and if they step outside, they get killed. Marley is basically Nazi Germany, they feed children to dogs and commit genocide on people of different races. On top of that, the outside world was constantly at war, people were killing each other all the time.
Eren wanted to wipe out this corrupt and evil outside world because that is his character. He is a naive idealistic child who just happened to get a power that was beyond him. He admits he was an idiot the whole time. He knew that there was a risk that his friends wouldn't be able to stop him, and he was okay with the alternative where he kills all of humanity outside of paradise.
In the anime, Armin says he will meet Eren in hell because he was the one who showed Eren the book about the outside world and he was the one who gave Eren these ideas and this dream of wanting to be free. So Armin says, he's just as responsible for the deaths of humanity. Armin also is one of the people who understands the horror of killing so many people because Armin transformed into the Colossal Titan on the raid on Marley and likely killed hundreds of innocent people.
Armin and Eren were still able to live out their dream of traveling around the world and seeing all the places they wanted to see in the book. Mikasa and Eren were able to live out their dream of being together and escaping from their worries in a cabin (possible for 4 years since time works differently in the paths, the evidence being Eren and Zeke being in the paths for a while but somehow only one second passed in real life). I think the ending was happy for Armin and Mikasa, Eren would have died in 4 years anyways and Mikasa possibly got to spend those 4 years with him.
Eren also wanted Mikasa to move on and live her life since he was the one who told her to live in the first place, and so if she did get married (which is left ambiguous) and had a family, and lived to old age, then that's what Eren would have wanted anyways.
Bro please separate that into paragraphs my eyes can't focus on that wall of text
You got it in full buddy.
i dont think mikasa remarried. when eren finally opens up about his feelings for the first time in the whole show, he tells armin how he of course doesnt want her to move on, and even wants her to spend her life thinking and remembering him, which we see she does. if anyone can see through erens bs it would be mikasa. When they were in the cabin in the woods and eren tells her to destory the scarf after she kills him, when she snaps back she says she cannot do that, tying the scarf around herself. when she kills eren we see erens pov, and we see mikasa is more beautiful through erens eyes. also, mikasa being buried next to him, with white lillys is a symbolism of purity and ever lasting/bonding love with your partner, along with erens scarf. mikasa was loyal to eren the whole show even to the very end of it all. eren and mikasa did get to spend the 4 years in the cabin, which as we know from zeke and eren being in the paths time doesnt or barely moves, the assumption is that he did this when they were on the boat because everyone got there memorys of his visits. we also see eren and mikasa together in the afterlife as she wakes up and hes holding her hand in the official mv, they finally got to be together just not in the place we thought, its also speculated even when eren died he was able to have control in the paths, hence the bird wrapping the scarf around mikasa, a symbolsim that eren was always with her
mikasa finally coming to terms with the fact she had to kill eren was what set ymir free, that she was able to let go and do what she was meant to do, ymir finally realized after watching mikasa and eren that the love she thought she had for king fritz wasnt love, and she was able to let go, hence ending the titan curse. mikasa was able to do the unthinkable to the person she loved most, and ymir realized she didnt feel the same way about fritz
that's the best explanation for ending, Eren already said he had tried multiple times but the outcome was still the same, rumbling. His fate was sealed the moment Armin showed him the book about outside the world as he was a slave to the freedom. He had only two choices ;Marley crushed the Eldians and all his friends or he crushed the world and saved his friends. Lastly, as for Mikasa was married or not, it was up to readers' interpretation. For me, Mikasa died single and they were happily together in an afterlife😭.
Ymir fritz recognizing Mikasa as the one is simple. Ymir couldn't say no to her love with King Fritz, but Mikasa could say no to her love for Eren -- by killing him even though she didn't want to. That's why when Mikasa cut erens head off, she was right behind her. She knew mikasa could do something she never could. Choose the right thing over love.
Ymir literally let herself die to escape from King Fritz. He even ordered to get up and heal but she chose to let the spear kill her. What are you even talking about?
@@DwolfFW did you even watch the show. Like eren said she blindly followed his word because of love. In spite of influencing the deaths of millions (through titans AND eldians expansion) she could never say no because of her love for King fritz. Mikasa could put others before her love where Ymir could not (even if she did allow herself to die). She couldn't allow king fritz to die, but mikasa could allow eren to die.
@@Miguel_Molina Did you watch the show? SHE LET HERSELF DIE. Fritz ordered her to get up and heal but she chose to let the spear kill her. This bullshit about her loving Fritz makes no sense. If she loved him so much then why did she chose to die? What lover choses to abandon thier love when they don't have to? This whole Mikasa/Ymir connection has no basis what's so ever.
@@DwolfFW lol i dont think you understand. she let herself die, instead of letting him die? She had the choice to kill him (by allowing the spear to kill him) but didn't. But she admired the fact that Mikasa could make the choice to kill eren yet love him with all his heart. I encourage you to watch it and again, and listen to the very video these comments belong to lol.
@@DwolfFW titan shifters can regenerate their bodies, but it wont work if they dont want to live anymore. we've seen this in the show before and it concerns Ymir too.
Ymir was a slave her whole life and her life was shit, so even though she loved King Fritz and would obey his command to get up, she herself did not want to live anymore, so she could not regenerate. thats the way i see it.
I think the bird scene symbolizes far more than a coincidence. The type of bird in the scene is called a parasitic jaeger. It symbolizes Eren finally achieving the freedom he craved at the end of his journey. There was A LOT of symbolism about birds and freedom throughout the show even in episode 1.
100%
based
obv it's not a coincidence, we've seen eren control birds and see through their eyes multiple times. even tho eren is dead in the real world he's still alive in paths as the coordinate and he can still use birds to see. the bird at the end was controlled by eren
@@stormdragon2529 we've seen eren control birds???
Looks like a completely different species to me
cart titan being -THE - endurance titan was something that does boost her power level to the one of the others, in the manga she has a cool scene where she launches herself which looks rly cool (was scrolling through the manga alongside watching the episode)
I loved the goofy scene of her running down that war hammer's trident after she was stabbed before she reveals the carts power
Cart is arguably the strongest titan behind Founder and Colossal imo
@@merentorisame
@@merentori absolutely hilarious scene :D
@@jaydee5312 Eh, i woudl say jaw titan is stronger because it has the same agility as cart but much more devastating power. Honestly the only reason why Pieck was useful is cause Ymir didn't kill her after immobilizing her
Your explanation of how love drives people to do unspeakable horrors at 5:46 is exactly why Anakin Skywalker turned into Darth Vader. He was so afraid of losing Padme that he committed atrocities in hopes that he could save her.
This is a good comparison. Eren is basically the anime version of Darth Vader. Never thought of that.
Well not exactly, Anakin was driven to those depths of madness because of the Jedi Order and their lack of making him into a Jedi Master because he wouldn't let Padme go. Also he was being manipulated by Palpatine making him believe that the Dark Side was the only way to protect Padme. Eventually he was so consumed by it that he killed Padme by accident which drove him even more mad.
If it wasn't for Qui Gon's death, Anakin would more than likely gone the Ahsoka way and abandon both the Jedi and Sith ways
@@Nate2002GameZBy the end, Vader is much better written. I would not call him "basically the anime version of Vader" at all. He has much more depth and his turn to evil makes much more sense
I was thinking exactly this!!
@@LSB44446can u explain to me why u think that eren is written worse and vader had more depth? Honest question
Regarding the minor change on Levi/Gabi/Falco ending, Eren made a point that he was able to flatten out the earth to have the technology regress as with Paradis Island. That means all the fancy buildings and aeroplane should not exist at the time and Isayama might have decided to have them live a rather simpler life.
Right after I finished watching the final episode I went to read the manga version for the first time to see how they compare. Admittedly I was thrown off with the "thank you for committing genocide" line in the manga, and am glad it was removed. I also liked the extra bit where Eren tells Armin he'll see him in hell. It was a somewhat sweet moment despite them literally talking about going to hell together. I also like how they don't confirm heaven or hell exists, just that "if it exists, I'll see you there"
"All humans will, without exception, eventually die."
"After they die, the place they go is MU. (Nothingness)"
Don't mind me, just quoting two of my favorite lines from Death Note; not really anything to do with AoT 😛
It was indeed a good move to replace the "Thank you for commiting genocide" for a "See you in Hell, if it exists" for the anime.
imo the message is the same just the writers tried to backpadle with quotes that didnt make any sense in relation what tf was actualy happening
It shifts the blame from just Eren to Eren and Armin. I'd call that a big change
I mean, they did kinda confirm some sort of afterlife. The place Hange wakes up in and meets Erwin and the others after she died fighting the Rumbling. Didn't look much like a traditional "heaven", but apparently that's where heroes canonically go to.
@@Soaring_Penguin Nah, that was part of the Paths, that connects all eldians to each other. As the anime ends, the Paths are no more, with Ymir finally letting all go.
Honestly that's the best reasoning behind what the whole "Ymir's love" thing was supposed to be that I've heard so far (including from when the manga ended). One slight correction on the Armin vs. Erwin debate section though, Armin _does_ believe in that 'we must become our own devils' philosophy, and is actually the one who first put that philosophy into words, albeit it with a crucial difference in the framing of it. "In order to fight monsters, we must throw away our humanity." Except that Armin has also been very good at acknowledging that their human enemies are, well, human. So he fell into the natural flipside of that philosophy - if it's necessary to throw away your humanity to fight monsters, then it's also true that you must embrace your humanity to fight people.
Nah, he's a contradiction of who he was pretimeskip. Because of him Paradis got annihilated by the remaining 20%. Armin came to the realisation that there are evil humans in S3.
@@asuraspath2262 I'm not sure where you got the idea that Armin "realized there are evil humans"? In season 3 Armin explicitly states that they're only fighting and killing other people because those people have different beliefs and ideals than they do, and that they themselves aren't good people any more for going through with the fight. Not to mention that the first time Armin killed someone, he concluded that the person he killed was "more human" than him because that person hesitated to pull the trigger and he didn't. I mean, there's definitely an argument that can be made for Armin being a little _too_ soft post-timeskip - even I think the direction his character went flanderized him just a little bit - but to say he's an outright contradiction of who he was is a bit of a stretch.
Also the whole "humans will keep killing each other for as long as humans exist" thing has been a recurring theme of the series, so it's a bit unfair to say Paradis got annihilated because the Rumbling was incomplete. Even if no one was left outside the island, Paradis would tear itself apart in civil war eventually.
I don't think it's that complicated. It's more that Armin could never guess the level of monstrosity Eren could grow through. He needed a monster, but a lesser monster. It's the same with Eren's dad. He believed in destroying Marley untill he saw into Eren's mind and realised the scale of that level of insanity, and then begged Zeke to stop Eren. Attack on Titan is a tragedy, and Armin and his dad are tragic in the sense that their respective words and philosophy influenced Eren into developing his (despite his claim that no one made him like he is, everyone takes influences from others), but neither were ready for what Eren was capable of doing.
@@asuraspath2262
Paradis did not get destroyed because of Armin. Paradis got destroyed because Jaegerists couldn't let go out of the past and decided to live by the word's of Eren. The show very plainly states that you are not responsible for what happens years down the line, as life is about the small moments such as playing catch. Eldia and the rest of the world were on equal footing. If Eldia couldn't protect themselves that's on them.
@@TheGreatestSpy4lifeExcept both ymir and eren (mostly ymir) doomed future generations for INCREDIBLY selfish reasons. I'll ask you this: why did eren HAVE to kill his own mother? Why didn't he save sasha? Why did he let himself be manipulated by ymir instead of fighting for control to be free? Why did the rumbling stop with zeke's death when ymir was the one in control, and by extension, eren? If eren or ymir or whatever could free eldians from the titan curse, why not just get rid of the 13 year curse, buy time for paradis, and avoid a full rumbling after PROPERLY discussing things with his friends? Nothing makes sense because eren at the end is JUST a plot device. He has no agency to his character anymore, and the excuse is he's in a time paradox; that's what we call COMPLETE CHARACTER ASSASSINATION.
I think the problem a lot of people have with the ending is the fact that Eldia is attacked in the future due to Eren not completing 100% of the Rumbling. However, the author’s intent was to demonstrate that no matter what, humanity will always fight against each other. Hypothetically speaking, even if Eren did complete the Rumbiling and only Eldians exist, they would eventually find a reason to fight in a long enough timeline. The case that Eldians fighting Eldians is better than the world fighting Eldians makes no sense. At the end of the day, people will always fight people regardless of their shared or unshared blood/ancestry. The point of Attack on Titan is to show the viewers that humanity will always fight itself - whether it be by difference of race or not. The world is cruel and no Rumbiling could ever stop human hate from propagating itself again in the future. We can see it with our world today, there’s been two world wars already and the fighting still continues.
well said!!👏🏻 this ending is (unfortunately) realistic if you look at what is happening in the world right now. But I think that is also what makes this ending so sad and beautiful in many ways. Imo I think that this was the better option to end aot🥲
Well said.
The rumbling was never to stop human conflict. It was to eliminate the hundred of millions of people who wanted to eradicate everyone on the island due to their racism. There is a world of difference between people fighting amongst themselves and outside groups wanting to genocide the whole group for something they didn't do.
I mean I don't know how anyone could have seen Eren in the right for this. The Royal Government arc and The Great Titan war proved this already. "Then, once the Eldian Empire ran out of enemies, they began to kill one another. That was the beginning of the Great Titan War. The families who held the eight Titans shed each other's blood in an endless cycle of conspiracy and betrayal." Eldians will fucking kill and murder each other because they are human. We see them have a corrupt government with a secret police force who will kill and silence anyone they deem necessary. They sent out refugees to pointlessly die to "reclaim" the wall maria. Hell the government after the coup was still pretty fucked up.
@@lovebeautyxxxx you call that realistic? Let's be honest the most realistic thing that marley would do is shoot armin and the gang instantly after they killed eren. Or either put them in a jail cell
Eren said he just wanted to flatten the whole world, just because, basically. I think this is because of his preconceived notion that the world outside the walls and the sea was empty. The realisation that the titans were being sent to kill them by humans beyond the sea, who water them for existing, cracked Eren’s mind. Along with existing in the past, present, and future.
Yeah, I think he wanted the world to resemble what was described in Armin's books. Plank fields perfect for two children to explore one day
I think there is truth to that, but I don’t think that was his only reason to Start the rumbling and maybe he didnt want Armin to feel guilty
This is heavily implied by Isayama's "special" (don't know the correct term, just a few extra random pages that came along with AoT publishing) where Eren is in modern-world's highschool; being depressed and having an apathetic life, then suddenly zombies and havoc, and he is full of life and happy as he is allowed to go wild, only to go back to depression when it turns out it was all a dream. Isayama mentioned back in the day how that short could be pivotal to understanding Eren's mindset.
Also the fact that Isayama praised the short manga series Himeanole and admitted he took heavy inspiration from it. The thing is (and AoT tells us this much) Eren was just born the way he is. He has always been that way. He did just want to flatten the world.
I thought he wanted to flatten it due to the entire world literally declaring war on Paradis
@@alokozay300 That's too simple of an explanation. Also I don't think Eren believes in such a simple explanation, like he said, going outside he realised there are good people there too. This is just how someone like Flock would think. Eren is both more complex and more insane than someone like Flock.
I can’t believe people had a problem with the pathetic Eren scene. I thought that was honestly one of the best. Showing his emotions just added some complexity to Eren just solidifying himself as one of the greatest characters ever created
I'm the same age as eren, if i knew i would die soon, I'd be completely panicked and anxious too... I think this is just normal behavior for a guy of his age knowing about all deaths after committing global genocide..
Same,
If you look at eren from his Pov - you understand his actions.
His mind is wrecked with time skips, he knows he can't change the future and he will commit mass genocide hence he pushes his friends away to make it easier for him, he knows he is going to die soon and zeke too - he doesn't know when will paradise have the chance to initialize another rumbling, he knows that marley is getting stronger everyday and titans are getting weaker.
Since he is going to die soon - Historia will probably get his titan but she will never commit to the rumbling.
I think Eren is sacrificing himself to take all the guilt and the crazy acts of genocide although he doesn't want to, he just wants a safe future for his comrades..
But no one will have the courage to do what he does - so he knows he must do it
@@senox9905 Eren does not really have a age in his mind. His mind is the mind of a kid, pre-teen, teen, young adult, adult all at one time.
I dont mind eren expressing his love to mikasa, but the way they did it was meh, i mean they could have done it in.a way that armin put him in a corner and he had to admit it, but it was out of no where and it was a cleshe.
@@HamzaKhan-if2mr Eren's latest form is just a child who can't grow up like Ymir. They have been stuck in a state of mind since they activated the power of the Founding Titan.
yes thats the point. you dont have to rationalize love, because its the driving emotion that pushes people forward despite knowing what is “right.” im glad the ending is finally receiving some acknowledgement, because it never deserved the distorted hate it received.
I loved this ending. This episode was just overall incredible. It’s bittersweet to see this show finally end. It’s had a big impact on my life. I’m sad to see it go but also happy that it got its ending and isn’t one of those shows that goes on forever
Everyone hates it and I am like "why?"
Seems like a lot of the anime only audience has really enjoyed it. I'm glad! I disagreed with a lot of the criticisms the manga readers who disliked it had (and hope my video dismantled some of their criticisms)
@@thedigiknowas an anime only fan, I really love the ending and couldn’t think of a better way to end it. It kind of baffles me that people hated the ending
@@iangraham-white5717because Eren got cucked
@@aleatheltrashcan478 same, ive been picking a bone with this toxic ass aot fandom. its getting as bad as the mha fandom now.
it's better to show Levi and the others helping out refugees across the world than them just getting on with life in a city that seemingly hadn't been affected by the rumbling. Gabi & Falco are still with Levi in the anime, not on a farm but replanting a forest. The flock of birds that fly over them while they're replanting is the same flock that fly over Levi and the refugee children he's feeding.
Yeah that's a nice point, good take!
I started watching this show at a time that I was feeling so many of the same emotions that the characters, especially eren, were going through- rage, frustration, grief, hatred, shame, envy, guilt, self doubt, fear, despair, feeling useless, hope, longing, love, determination…I feel like I learned so many lessons right alongside the characters… that it’s ok if I’m not special or extraordinarily talented, that guts and determination go a long way, that it’s good to take others’ advice and work as a team but in the end you have to make your own decisions, that I’m not useless, that it’s better to live your life from a place of hope and discovery than revenge or fear, that you can be scared and still do the thing, that it’s good to be loyal but sometimes you have to let go of things and people you love, that it’s really the little things that make life meaningful… it really made its way into the deepest recesses of my heart and then tore it to shreds 💔 I have never been through war or violence or the death of a parent, thank God, but so many of my ancestors were soldiers, orphans and immigrants and I think a lot of the generational trauma was passed down to me. And I think the feeling of being trapped by fear and angry about it is a universal one that isayama captured beautifully through Eren’s character. I almost think if I hadn’t watched this show I might have ended up like eren, lol. So grateful to all the artists that helped create this masterpiece, even though it did make me cry on the way to work for about a week lol ❤ I will never forget it
I seriously feel the same! Thanks for putting it into words. Especially 10 years has already passed. We have grown a lot. Reminiscing our innocent and passionate younger selves at that time is something I keep dreaming on that helps me hold and move on now that we see the cruel reality
And that’s the impact of an excellent series! 😃
nice, short, informative, thanks a lot for being a good content creator!
I appreciate that!
Anime watcher here. Never read the manga. This is my first time witnessing the end of the story. I'm 26. I could understand 15yo edgelords getting wild with puberty testosterone as of why they don't like the ending, but from a humanist, rational point of view, this was just perfect (in my opinion). Mikasa commiting the ultimate sacrifice and thus saving Ymir and all of the world made sense. It was also beautiful to watch. Eren acting as a "child" and thus triggering a lot of people is undeserving honestly. After kissing Historia's hand, our brother spent 4+ years trying to distance himself from his closest allies, setting the stage for what's to come. Being able to finally open yourself up to your best friend and having said friend still accept you despite of what you've done, is a huge emotional relief. Let him vent honestly. Also, him never speaking about his feelings towards Mikasa to anyone (the convo with Zeke wasn't really a deep dive into the topic) can actually lead to a build up of wild emotions. Idk, I liked it.
Nice. I am SO glad to see people responding positively to the ending this weekend. I was baffled when I finished reading it, loved it, and went online to discover many (not all) manga readers absolutely freaking out about the ending.
You put my thoughts in great words. Thanks
Exactly how i was feeling and I’m 28 with the same scenario only having saw the anime
People expect him to be rational but my boy Eren has suffered so much, he lost almost everyone he cares about and his view on the world was shattered when he found the truth about titans. Furthermore he witnessed himself murdering billions of people (multiple times), even reliving traumatic events from the future and past with the freedom he desires still out of reach. I don’t see how anyone can blame him for breaking down.
15 y/o can never understand the essence of the story they're just too immature
Great video. Very thorough. I loved that show, even though it got pretty confusing at times. It’s crazy to think back to how long ago I started watching.
In my reading of AoT's ending I also catch some religious / philosophical undertones that I don't see people mention. Isayama's idea of love (Mikasa's, Eren's, Ymir's) wouldn't be as close to the idea of romantic love we have in most western countries, but rather one closer to the idea of "desire" that exists in asian philosophy and religion. Think of one of budhism's mains axises, the concept of freeing yourself from desire, desiring nothing, loving nothing, to truly be happy. That doesn't mean that desire has to be healthy, or corresponded. Like Mikasa's and Ymir's desire for Eren and King Fritz, they can be pathological, complex, irrational and toxic, but it is still what they desired: to be seen/loved by the that one person. Ultimately, freeing themselves from that desire/love is what gives them peace and true freedom. Eren's desire for freedom works in the same way, he even recognizes he became a slave to it. Pretty much like what budhism teaches, desire shackles you. The things you love the most will make you suffer the most, or make others suffer the most at your hand so you can keep them.
I don't think Isayama truly vouches for one or the other, he just presents this classic philosophical conundrum. When thought of in this light, I think AoT's ending makes complete sense and is wrapped masterfully. Thinking of Ymir's love for Fritz as her motivation for 2000 years of servitude is not too easy (although who knows how Ymir experiences time). But if you think about it this way, when Ymir dies she is still an irrational kid trying to simply be loved back by an abusive figure. That's her deepest desire. She knows nothing else, and thus she continues trying to get it until someone shows her there is, in fact, another way. Freeing herself from that desire.
Great video, I loved the ending and the whole final part. I love the "pathetic" scene of Eren finally admitting his feelings for Mikasa. Also, the end credits scenes blew my mind
really reminds us that even though everyone makes him out to be a monster, he still *is* human. god i loved how human this show was, from start to finish. the emotion, the personalities, everything
Thanks so much for this video, I have a much greater appreciation for this ending now. I do think pieces of media should really stand on their own but having everything explained made things make a bunch more sense. I wasn't sure how I felt about it until now. Plus I'm glad they removed that line of Armin thanking Eren from the manga, YIKES.
First video I watch from you. Great voice, calm and soothing. Good pace too. The explanations are clear and succinct enough. Best video I find explaining the ending. You won yourself a subscriber.
The one other detail that was omitted was the "original" lifeform disappearing as soon as Ymir decides to let go.
I mean, in one moment Annie, Reiner and Pieck are holding it off for dear life, the next it's just not there without much of a trace at all.
It's not an issue by any extent, just could've used a half a second shot I suppose.
On Ymir's loving the Reiss king debacle, I didn't have an issue with it. I did wonder all this time why did she submit to him even after gaining the power of the titans and assumed it was because of deep seated "slave mentality", but her having complicated feelings for him and becoming virtually a ghost of self-loathing for not being able to break that feeling for him makes all the sense in the world after she sees Mikasa kill Eren even though she absolutely loves him
#5 - my theory is that Zeek wanted Levi to kill him because he knew it was the way to stop the rumbling, which is what he also wanted at that point. It doesn’t matter if Levi was primarily moved as revenge or if he was being “on mission.”
I thought exactly the same thing, and I don't see anyone talking about this seemingly obvious sacrifice zeke takes. This is also why zeke says "I wish I didn't see you levi" because I don't think he wanted to be killed by levi because of their past (i think zeke secretly admires levi's strength, but that's another topic). I believe zeke wanted to die there, but perhaps by somebody else. In the end, zeke sacrifices himself and takes one for the team.
I seen it that way too, Zeke definitely sacrificed himself, whether it was for himself, Levi, Grisha or even his past sins, he definitely made that decision to stop the rumbling
I don't think that's a theory. It is quite obvious Zeke wanted Levi to kill him lol
Didn't make sense that he had to die. I figured he just needed to not be in contact with Ereh. Why is he melding into the bones, too... Weird
@@JonahSteps Zeke definitely wanted Levi to kill him and no one else.
Personally I'm very glad they didn't change the controversial manga ending, but expanded on it with the anime.
That's always going to be the right call to make with direct adaptions. Calls to change the meaning of the story due to fandom backlash helps nobody.
My personal issue was there was too much to unpack from one final manga chapter that it felt abrupt and jarring. The extra ~30 mins, after credits and all, was what the anime needed.
Apparently, they're coming out with a bonus volume of the manga soon, about the characters settling down and rebuilding.
@@ryangraff102REAllly? Does it involve the time skip part?
@@kingslushie1018 Not sure about the time skip, but it does take place after the main story ends. It's going to be packaged with an AoT art book that's coming out, called "The Fly," and they're saying the release date is next April 30th in Japan.
I watched this episode late so I'm commenting late :p But I saw Eren as a slave to freedom (he says it himself) and Founder Ymir as a slave to love, echoing what Kenny said that everyone is a slave to something.
Ymir didn't know any other life than being a slave, and mistook the importance King Fritz gave her and improvement in her position as signs of love. But in her mind, in order to continue being loved, she had to be a slave to the King, continuing to make titans for 2000 years. Eren was the first who taught her that she could be free, and so she gave him her powers. I think she was angry with the world for the suffering she endured, and wanted to end the world, which aligned with Eren's plan.
It was only when she saw Mikasa severing the ties she had with Eren, which symbolizes that she could also sever her ties to King Fritz and the world, did she finally rest in peace.
The ending of the kid finding the tree after the apocalypse only indicates that Ymir Fritz wasn't the first to find it, and the kid and dog won't be the last.
I think the meaning is hallucigenia is immortal and eventually someone will always find it. It’s Like God.
@@emrefifty5281 i love the idea because it indicates there are endless encounters in stories never told
I believe that's the case as well. Especially since they said they have to kill Eren because there's no way they can kill that thing. My theory is that whatever it is, it goes to the final resting place of it's last "owner" and awaits the next person that wants to control it.
It was a masterpiece that was ahead of its time. I didn't read the manga and watched the anime.. Damn, how some people say the ending is bad. The ending was really good and of course painful. I'm not saying it's a masterpiece. But it was really good. I think Isayama's main point was to show that no matter how hard you try to achieve peace, there are still some people with endless greed. that destroy peace. Humans can never be in peace with each other forever. Eren thought that by destroying the whole world he could live in peace and tranquility, but it only worked for a while. And in the end credits, they showed that Paradise was completely destroyed. And this show goes on forever. The
you litteraly said that it was a materpiece in your first line and then "i'm not saying it's a masterpiece" on your second line 🤨
I think he meant the series/manga is a masterpiece and the ending was really good (but not a masterpiece). Big difference.
The ending was realistic, but it’s not really what the reader/listener wants to see when everything that the protagonist sacrificed for is burnt to ashes. That’s why it’s kind of a bad ending
There were many reasons why many manga readers didn't like the ending. Most of them come back to the fact that those people you read about, complaining, where the ones that discussed too much on Reddit (and similar places) about the manga as it was being slowly published, with plenty of time (1 month) between chapters (like half an episode) to discuss every tiny detail and make their own theories of what would come or what each tiny detail meant. People were going wild with all kinds of theories; and formed some mental images/ideas/concepts of their own on not only how the history should progress or end, but even on how some characters WERE. Lots of people fell in love with "Edgy Dark Eren" and felt betrayed when it turns on Eren was still who he always was: a kid that loved his friends; and didn't really change (most notably hating on his "pathetic" lines to Armin in the dream).
Personally, I never disliked the ending, but it let me a litlte down, but only because everything before it was SO GREAT that I was expecting MORE. I loved the Basement reveal; it gave a twist to the whole series. Then, just as I learn "everything" about the Titans and the misteries of the story, Krueger tells us to save Mikasa and Armin, and I'm like "WHAT?". And when we finally see a new mindblowing reveal (it was freaking Eren who brainwashed Grisha!?) that I wasn't even expecting... I lowkey started to expect (and many were on the same boat) a last uber-amazing plot-twist that would turn the whole meaning behind all scenes a THIRD time. But no, the endgame was just what we were promised and being shown. We were already seeing it, but with a little "Yeah... but what's Isayama hiding still?". When no super whole-series alterning last minute reveals came (for a third time, mind you), it was easy to feel a little let down... XD
Also, you gotta take into account that if you like the manga SO MUCH that you go into reddit to both write and share and read theories about characters, plot points, future events and tiny details (and mind you, AoT is probably the ONE manga/show you can feel this way about), chances are you will eventually find one that is more suited to your taste or just what you want to expect from the show that then actual ending. So when your favorite cherry picked ending is not the actual one... Yeah. Lots of people felt betrayed or thought the ending sucked, because it wasn't the one they were expecting.
Personally, I have watched the ending (anime) 4 times (bad subtitles, good subtitles, two reactions, more to come); and everytime I like the whole thing more and more; but I'm gonna be honest, on my first watch of it I felt like the animation (in several areas, not always) and carrying for details/scenes (again, in some places) could have been way better and not enough love/effort was put into it. Maybe I'm just getting old; or maybe WIT actually did it better; but I felt like the images shown with the creddits were done way better at the end of Season 3; it felt more polished and "magical" in a sense.
Wondering what (if anything) will change/improve in the Blueray. Looking forward for it.
11/10 show with 10/10 ending. Just mad it wasn't also an out-of-scale 11 that definied my whole life's meaning. XD
@@orchidhealth2097 ending is not a masterpiece
9:14 when i saw people whining about the bird years ago i thought eren at the end would become a bird and escape or smthing and then timetravel back to when he was sitting on the tree. i was shocked it was NOTHING LIKE THIS. ofc its not eren.
Yeah me too. When I first heard about the bird Eren memes, I thought he would literally turn into a bird and fly away. It was just a symbolism, but it seems people were so mad (about the ending not going the way they thought it would) and decided to just shit on it. It's a shame really, the haters are exaggerating on how bad this conclusion actually is.
I think the fair complaint is that it's not a subtle reference to Eren "being there", it's too on the nose. While I agree that it's not at all critical to the ending, I also think it's kind of cringy how forced the idea of a random bird tying a scarf around Mikasa's neck is. Haters are gonna hate and make memes about it, but I believe it's also fair to point it out as a rough spot which could've been handled in a more subtle way. It kind of reminded me of how ridiculous the encounter with Annie eating at the table was.
Completely agree with your "pathetic Eren" interpretation. Nice job with taking a mature and nuanced stance here
6:25 personally this scene just felt like eren and armin talking as the normal selves as a pocket universe version of themselves during the time they reached the ocean. this isnt a mere vision in an ocean, but eren has had this conversation long before he started the rumbling.
I thought it was when armin was on the ship after beating the yeagerist when he had this convo because it showed him on the ship after eren said he’d erase his memories
That was my interpretation as well, not just with armin but also the scene he has with mikasa. It seems he talked to all of his friends in the paths long before the rumbling and then wiped their memories
@@awesomestevie27 But don't you see? The Past, Present and Future all happen at once in Paths for Eren. So when he says it happens during the time they reached the ocean, he is technically correct. The best kind of correct!
Chad Eren is BS. Those who believed that (and kept denying back then) clearly did not read (or understand) the manga and Isayama’s purpose.
you are a clown,isayama himself didnt even understand eren by his own words that he gave in a interview until he heard his voice actor so yeah there goes your point down the drain.
What i love about the ending is how ambiguous it was. Nobody even knows who is attacking Paradis, the whole point Isayama was making was even if Eren completed the Rumbling its human nature to kill each other. Civil war coulda broken out and Eldia destroyed itself for all you know
So the part of Ymir's story you didn't cover and that I'm curious about was the scene of Fritz with the spear through his chest. Previously, we had seen Ymir save Fritz's life by taking the spear, but in that scene it looked like ymir didn't step in and as such fritz died. The scene took place right when the curse of the titans ended, leaving me assuming this was simply symbolizing that yamir wouldn't take the spear for fritz anymore after seeing Mikasa sacrifice Eren or if this somehow was literal and tied in to how the titan curse was ended. Any thoughts?
I took it as Ymir thinking "what if I didnt save Fritz and lived a long life instead?" after seeing Mikasa kill Eren. Mikasa is basically Ymir, in that context, and did something Ymir didnt do
Because if Mikasa didnt kill Eren, there would be no stopping to his terror
Good point, I hope others respond to this
Yep i was wondering the same thing
I think what that means is for Mikasa to finally kill Eren represents Ymir not taking the spear and being with her kids. It's about letting go. It's symbolism. Or maybe Ymir did change the past last minute where she doesn't take the spear for the king inspired by Mikasa. That's my opinion. (Sorry for my bad English)
It's exactly that. After seeing Mikasa being able to kill the person who she loved, she realized 1 of 2 things or both, that the "love" given by the king was never actual love unlike what Mikasa shows and/or that she realized that she too can let go of a love when it's the right thing to do. In doing so that scene portrayed that she's no longer willing to take the spear for him anymore and she allowed him to die from her heart
So, the part where Armin says "Thanks" to Eren is actually a Bad Translation case.
In the original text, while still controversial, he says something more like "You became a mass murderer for our sake…I promise I won’t let this singo to waste!" Never thanking the man who murdered 80% of the world.
Yeah, it's tough to talk about what *precisely* was said at any given time because you had the original Japanese, the fan translations, the official English translations, not to mention every other language. Having said that, I'm holding Attack On Titan Volume 34 in my hands and Armin says "thank you" in English. Obviously Japanese version takes priority but it is an official English language translation.
I have to say the changes made to the Eren & Armin conversation made the ending sooo much better and probably even saved it
Really? You liked that Armin thought he'd go to hell for showing Eren a book? The "we'll be together in hell" part was so cringey.
Thank you for the explanation of Ymir waiting for Mikasa. I just couldn’t understand any of that. Loved the ending.
Glad I could help! And glad you enjoyed the ending like I did. Isayama is pretty brilliant.
I have never read a page or seen an episode of this thing so comment for the Al G Rhythm it is
my mannnn haha
Based
i genuinely love this finale breakdown, straight to the point
I think your point about war never ending is how I mainly interpreted that end, I wasn’t upset like some were and realize that yes war can and still happen unfortunately, like we see now.
one of the best breakdowns, very well put. i agree with you completely 🤝
Eyy thanks! I just wrote and edited the whole video in one session but I had two years to think about it hHa
the whole thing with ymir suffering for 2000 years because of her love for fritz took me aback at first, but it eventually brought me to tears. i think it's a difficult feeling to wrap your head around unless you've been in (and escaped) an abusive relationship yourself. that kind of love blinds you and leaves you feeling isolated and hopeless while genuinely believing that there's no way out. by killing eren, mikasa overcame the strongest and most loyal love, one we've also seen her suffer for. mikasa is always saying that she's strong and it's generally taken to mean her ability to fight, but i think her greatest display of strength was being able to accept her love and still choose to exert her free will against it. that courage and strength is what finally gave ymir the power to finally free herself (at least that's how i interpreted it)
👍🏼
Exactly this 💗
I honestly loved the part where Eren just straight up says, "he's just an idiot who got too much power"!
This basically says that Eren was never supposed to be a hero and those people who worshipped him as the gigachad just never really understood him as a character!
In hindsight Reiner was absolutely right when he said that from all the people, Eren should've never gotten the power to control titans.
Overall the ending is pretty tragic and this story shows, that a single person, no matter who couldn't just magically save the world!
Yeah I loved that scene at the end of season 2 when Reiner said something like "of all the people in the world, why did the Founding Titan end up with HIM"
@@thedigiknow that scene where they are screaming at one another in the trees has so much weight now.
@@wtfRowdy Currently rewatching it and oh boy Eren is literally describing himself in the future.
He's not even trying to save the world anymore since he couldn't find the future in which his friends are safe besides this way. He just wanted to ensure that his friends live in peace and die of old age.
@@Nobodying Didnt eren say he could not even stop rumbling, if he wanted to. Meaning ymir was one to start it. Or am i completely lost here.
Fantastic video. This is the greatest breakdown I've seen, most others just spout a bunch of nonsense or flat-out incorrect information. Thank you very much for this. I had already pieced a lot of this together but had a few holes left in my understanding which were bugging me, your perspective helped a lot.
Much appreciated!
I think it makes sense on why extra ending showed people fighting again and a little kid finding the founding Titan power. Out of the realities that Eren could’ve chose this was the best for his people as he believes history will repeats itself which it does but mikasa and the rest managed to live out their lives which was enough for him ( but in my opinion it still really sad that 80% of humanity had to die so that the last 20% would learn and not repeat their actions which they end doing again :( )
Great analysis of the ending episode. And awesome for showing the difference in the comics. Scratched many itches i have and wanted to understand about the final episode. thank you.
My childhood is really over :(( was great to watch tho also amazing video
This is the most succinct review I've seen so far! Thank you for the clarifications
Glad it was helpful!
I defended the manga ending for more than 2 years (9th of April 2021) and I was so scared to see more haters when the anime ending would release, but the opposite happened. Way more support! I think all the haters with "Worst ending ever, they ruined it! 1/10", gave the anime watchers a lower standard, so they aren't that disappointed. In fact, a vast majority loves it! And so do I ! Finally peace ...
It absolutely did. When I heard Isayama apologized for the ending I was like omg he botched the ending that bad?? I was expecting something as bad as Game of Thrones where nothing made sense like Reiner kills Eren, Gabi becomes queen of Eldia, or Levi dies off screen.
In your opinion why is this ending good? Are you saying there are no plot holes at all with the story?
Sooooooooooo true
@@DwolfFWthere’ll be plot holes with any story but I’ve always found the ending of attack on titan to be cohesive and congruent to the expanding themes that have been set in the story since day 1
@@DwolfFWThere a plot holes but those are forgivable given how dense the lore was and the fact time travel was in play. The pacing felt weird and wish we had more time for characters like Jean, Conny and OnionCoupon, but what we got of the main cast showed complete arcs that tied in with the grand themes of the show.
Armin was shown as the enlughtened one, knowing when to choose peace and violence whilst still detesting violence and being the brains.
Mikasa obtained her freedom by breaking the chains of love, ibtaining the freedom and hapiness eren wanted for her and she deserved.
Eren showed that he was a flat character like Goku, not really changing but unlike Goku, he was just wrath and vengeance incarnate, truly a fool with power. We all rooted for eren the first 3 seasons but he truly didnt deserve a happy ending, not in the slightest and the fact that he even got that slight closure at the end felt unfair to humanity.
Ill never get the people who cheered on his genocide due to marleyean oppression when he goes onto murder 80% of the world who also suffered from marleyean oppresion and even those who were opposing powers. No one would be fine Argentina destroying every continent other than south america just cause they wanted to get back at Britain, so anyone who says "he shouldve finished the job" to me is probably a young and angsty edgelord, and if theyre older, make me terrified to think those people can vote.
this video was well put unlike other explanation vids. thank you
Eren and Armins vision was truly the biggest change. The manga never said Eren went through every scenario to see if Paradis would survive. In the Anime, he states yes I’ve gone through every version and it all ends the same. I feel they added this in for us who read the manga and said “why not just search all possibilities, kill everyone and it’s happily ever after for Eldians”. Well, now we know he’s seen every outcome…Eldians will inevitably clash, bringing destruction and war regardless of the rumble or not. So his choice to do what he did at the end was more justified. I no longer feel like “wth Eren just finished the deed” I get it now.
Damn man, your video is blowing UP
Congratiolations !!
I agree with your assessment of Eren in the discussion with Armin before he dies. Eren is severely overwhelmed and impulsive. This was shown to us from the start of the series. Heck, Armin and Mikasa had to tell Eren to "buck up little camper" many times in the series. I though this was very true of the character. And, yes, having all of time exist in the same moment in your brain can lead to some overwhelming thoughts. Excellent analysis! Thanks for sharing.
The DigiKnow covering Attack On Titan? I didn’t see this coming! I don’t mind because I love Attack On Titan and your channel.
As usual, I agree with your takes.
*10 years at least*
as a reward
Thanks for the video!
Your thoughts on the movie itself are pretty close to my own, but the part explaining the differences with the manga was very helpful!
Great explanation, I agree with you 98%. I think the ending is wonderful, and I have no problem with the scene of Eren crying but ..
from a great Show like AOT, we expect the dialogues to be extremely strong, as they always are
I think it should have been changed in that scene to be clear, logical, and strong.
I felt like they rushed in many scenes that were supposed to take their time
I mean yea
The ending is good but the Manga ending was a bit rushed , that's why many things were left uncleared and people were mad
But the anime didn't take as much time as I'd hoped , ig that's just iseyama's decision
Do you speak really fast or is it slightly sped up? Honest question
Loved the vid and the analysis
I actually think it isn't just King Fritz that Ymir loved but her children and, by extension, their descendants. She got locked into that servitude role for 2000 years... in a way, she was a mother for 2000 years moulding titans.
With how much the series hits on a theme of having "no regrets", showing the bleak outcomes when people allow past experiences and events dictate their choices, I wonder if that isn't a part of Founder Ymir's story.
She instituted a penance on herself for taking a spear for someone she ought to have despised and allowed to perish. Founder Ymir struggled with this thought while granting Titan powers to her descendants all those years, following along with Fritz's command to obey because that is all she could envision which would guarantee her descendants' survival. Once Eren offered Ymir the freedom to choose for herself, she allowed all that resentment and anger to manifest in the Rumbling. In the end though, the only way Ymir could find peace was to adapt Mikasa's "the world is a cruel and beautiful place" outlook, accepting her terrible experiences also brought about her true loves in this life, her children.
Something I haven't seen anyone else mention either, Ymir was in the Paths for 2000 years of real world time. Time is stopped or extremely slowed inside the Paths. From her perspective, it was quite possibly billions and billions of years
Enjoyed and subscribed. Great video. I find that one part people in vids are leaving out is that when Mikasa tells him she’ll see him later, it’s a callback to the first chapter of the manga. In the anime Eren’s dream is different than the anime. In the manga it’s him dreaming of Mikasa saying those exact words to him, and he wakes up and comments on her hair being longer now. I haven’t seen a lot of coverage of this - probably cause it won’t register to anime onlys
I feel unsatisfied with this ending but at the same time I don’t even know what else they could have done or what I wanted from it. I’m partially just upset this masterpiece is finally over but I like how you explained Erens temper tantrum. Can someone explain to me why he didn’t just go with mikasa instead of committing genocide? Obviously that wouldn’t be as interesting but i just don’t understand that
if he were to run off with mikasa back in marley, armin and the other eldians would've died
plus mikasa and eren would've lived the last couple years eren had left bc of the curse
@@Lilys0609 that’s what I thought but I wasn’t sure. Tragic tbh
He would’ve died in 4 years and so would have everyone else including his friends Titan shifters and Conrads.. he wanted everyone he loved to live longer lives which is why he made it so the power of Titans would be no more
very tragic😭@@chiefsmackaho42
This take is what I wanted to see, I knew most anime only's would still love the ending which they visibly do, but I'm happy some realized that even if they changed it, it would basically just be like soul eater or the promised neverland.
My main problem with the ending is at the 10:30 mark of the video, that when the kid and dog walk into the tree, they basically get the titan powers thus repeating having titans on earth, so to me it’s basically that eren tried to get rid of titans for no reason cause they just end up coming back anyway so it’s like what was the point of him even trying to stop people from becoming titans in the first place.
Otherwise the ending of attack on titan is fine, it’s just that one thing really.
i love attack on titan so much. honestly it like holds a spot in my soul tbh
after watching the ending, i really didnt know how to think about it (was going through the 5 stages of grief) and couldnt stop crying lol
but tbh, ive come to accept it any it truly is a great ending; a bittersweet one but it's really fitting.
if only i could experience aot for the first time again..
Agreed, if I could have one series where my memory was wiped and I got to experience it all over again it would be AoT (especially without having to wait months and years in between seasons this time)
yeahh! @@thedigiknow
I need clarification on one thing. The Eren and armin convo happened while Armin was the boat en route to stop eren right?
With the Eren and Armin scene that some people dislike. This scene was so gut wrenching and important and I don't get why many people don't see it as a lot more than him just showing he loves Mikasa. We finally got to see Eren in his pure innocent form. He's just a kid that doesn't want to die and he just wants to live normaly and free while being with the one he loves. All this time he's been fighting and fighting, with no choice but to keep moving forward while carrying the fate of the world, his friends, and his family on his shoulders while knowing all along there was no perfect outcome. Also I disagree with the idea in this video that Isayama wanted to knock Eren off his pedestal with the "I'm an idiot" line. imo I think it was showing how hopeless and inadequate Eren was feeling and rightly so, as how on earth is a kid given that much responsibility ever expected to make the "right" choice and how can anyone ever expect that from him as well. He is an idiot, just as any of us could be.
Basically a uno reverse ending of code geass, to achieve that level of peace, cycle of life and death continues, to me this is the most realistic way to interpret human nature, these small but highly impactful moments to determine how you decide to do things in the moment.
even with all the data you cant change human nature only direct it.
Digimon do be looking strange today...
The ending was an emotional rollercoaster
I'm low-key angry learning that people were mad about "pathetic Eren" feeling selfish about Mikasa. We literally saw the same thing from his Mom when in the final moments she held back her cries wanting them not to leave her. It's understandable, and he even held back by promising Armin not to tell her.
Are you really comparing a person trapped under a roof not wanting to be eaten alive to a man crying about a woman he could have always had but for no reason at all never did anything with? Eren never had romantic feelings for Mikasa throughout the whole show. If he did, then there was nothing stopping him from being with her. She made it very clear that she wanted him since season one. Having him cry like a bitch about it was a disgrace to his character development. There is nothing wrong with Eren showing emotion. Nobody had a problem with him crying in front of Ramzi because it made sense.
@@DwolfFW Eren wasn't just a man crying about a woman. If you want to talk about trapped under a roof, Eren was trapped in an inescapable fate he could foresee but not change, spreads across time all at once. You can't tell me that isn't being trapped. The poor kid had a singular focus from the first episode, and now in his final hours when his purpose is coming to a close, he deserves some slack to vent for the things he didn't have any room for until now.
@@elheber Way to change the subject. I was talking about him crying over Mikasa not about his fate. Like I said, there's nothing wrong with him being emotional. There's a lot wrong about him whining about a woman he could have been with at the drop of a hat. Crying and complaining that he wants her to obsess over him a decade after his death. That's not the Eren we've grow up with.
@@DwolfFW wtf you on about, he knew he was going to die, he could never truly be with her.
@@mitchellbooth8435 First off, everyone dies. Second off, Grisha had only 13 years too. In that time he had a family and was a pillar to his community. If Eren truly loved Mikasa romantically this whole time then there was nothing stopping him from being with her. Hell, even though I find it disgusting, Armin made his move on Annie. Annie was going to die in less then a year and Armin was going to die in a few years too. However, that didn't stop them.
Great video! ❤
This translates in real life. We can live in peace for a short time but there’s no ending the war, its a cycle of hate.
This is the best ending to AOT explained. Great job!
For the "pathetic eren" argument i dont think it’s fair to call him a child over that. I think it’s more of a death bed confession, he’s been holding it for so long it’s not really surprising. Compared to how other character handled similar situation eren suffered in silence for too long. Also different persons have their own limits, i know im not good with emotional stuff but i wouldnt call myself s child over it.
Death bed confession is a nice way to put it. I like that.
A BIG THANKS! for such simple explanation.
My final take away, Mikasa got her cheeks clapped by Jean. Guess he was the real winner.
The change to the scene with Levi, Gabi, Falco, and Onyankopon is in reference to a new bonus chapter releasing in an aot art book next spring. The cover of this additional chapter has Yelena and Onyankopon planting trees in the background while Levi, Gabi, and Falco sit at a picnic table talking during some kind of a meal break. You can see it if you look up “aot volume 35”
I really loved the ending, but I highly disagree that eren was a child/idiot at the end. In S1 and 2, that is very true. But after the return to shiganshina arc, and him alone causing the attack on marley should prove he is not some kind of idiot. Also, the ultimate plan of Eren feels very weak. Again I dont hate eren being killed or the bombings but the conversation with Armin really soured it for me, since I feel it spoilt a character who we saw develop across 4 seasons.
Thank you! Was a pleasure to see such a reasonable and balanced view of the AoT story
While I am on the side of, not really liking the ending (not the end itself but more, the road towards it) I think Eren being a wreck in his mind is a good way to explain himself, the way you describe it "he is 5 years old, 19 years old and even 2000 years old at the same time" would make sense for him to be so detached and distant of everything, I would say the "real" Eren Jaeger died in season 3 after reaching the basement, collapsed over a million consciousnesses of a million timelines
This is not the moments before Eren died - he said he would remove the memories of the conversation (to Armin) and will give them back at the end of it. We then see Armin back at the ship next to Annie. The ending shows us the time that Eren spoke to them BEFORE the final fight. That's why you see everyone saying their memories are back at the end.
I've watched a lot of breakdowns and I think yours does a good job at shedding light into the darkness. I think an outcome where Eren completes the rumbling 100% is the true ending. Life is complicated. Love is irrational. There are no solutions, only trade-offs. There are no villains, there are no heroes, but merely actors given scripts to recite in a movie. The innocent, know themselves, they play their part. The guilty, do not know themselves, and when they play their part, chaos ensues.
I see a big topic that people are omitting is that the connections that people have with so many different things and those motivations are things that people WILL defend their lives for; it can be as trivial as baseball or as delusional as freedom; all these can lead to conflict because we all are fighting constantly for survival and for our own ideologies of what allows us to feel fulfilled and connected to the world we have created in our immediate infliuence
It’s odd that many people in the comments gloss over this that it is so insignificant and are only focused on the conflict instead of what motivates the conflict
I agree with this, because in the end that’s one of the main ideas that pushes Eren to even commit to rumbling act-to attain the freedom like that of Armin’s book because that’s what makes him fulfilled, that’s what he’s a slave to when he says he’s a “slave to freedom” it’s that particular image of freedom. However because he wants that unrealistic and absurd reality naturally others will be in direct opposition to that because it interferes with their survival and ideaologies that make them feel fulfilled; so they will in engage in conflict with Eren. Adding on to your point I think one of the main messages behind attack on titan is that grander narratives and absolute ideals are always what led to humanities worst atrocities, (like Eren committed in name of his ideal of freedom) living for some abstract ultimate goal so often leads to destruction. People with their own ambitions dreams and philosophies will act accordingly to those desire and essentially do what they want to do because of their nature at the end of they day. Everyone else has to navigate those choices with their own. Conflict will happen because of individuality much like the hedgehog dilemma in Evangelion explains.
For me, this was a show about childhood friends more than anything, so the emotional beats were on overdrive.
to your point about them leaving out a significant part where eren says he would have done the rumbling in its full scale regardless is valid but i think the anime still says he would have but just shortened it. Eren still says in the anime that "i wanted to level everything" and "i wanted to see this site" heavily implying that regardless of the future eren saw with his friends stopping him and it leading to a world without titans, eren would have wanted the rumbling to happen for his own selfish desires. ALSO, in the beginning of that dialogue eren says "i attempt a complete full scale rumbling" meaning that eren was aiming to wipe everyone out but he knew he would be stopped in the process. If eren willingly wanted to stop at 80 percent he would not have said i attempt a complete rumbling
What is this creator seen bc its not the same anime as anyone here???? Eren made paths and tried hundreds of lifes and ways to solve the Marley conflict and in one of those he run away with mikasa, as a what if. WHAT IS HE TALKING ABOUT. The love Ymir for King Fritz was clearly a clingy need for connection since she was wanting when she was watching other couples kiss and get married in her hometown before Eldia attacked it. WHAT THE HELL IS HE TALKING ABOUT? Paradis blowing up in a nuclear accident ARE YOU KIDDIN??? its clear war that happening in the credits with an unknown nation and eventual devastation.
Absolutely fantastic video. Totally agree on the biggest plot points - the Ymir/Mikasa connection and Eren's motivation. Super well said.
And super glad they changed the "mass murderer" line. What got animated was 1000x better.
I didnt read the manga. I held my curiosity till this day. After watching the final episode and talking to the manga readers about their motives to hate the ending, I finally figured out why they hated it so much: They didn't understand the end.
Great video! Very well explained
I loved the anime ending personally
its the same as the manga..... with very very small changes.
@@puladan9296Not small changes. They added on to the Manga ending, and fixed a few parts.
Same! Great ending to an incredible series imo
it was great, heart wrenching though. i was crying for hours lol
It was a masterpiece that was ahead of its time. I didn't read the manga and watched the anime.. Damn, how some people say the ending is bad. The ending was really good and of course painful. I'm not saying it's a masterpiece. But it was really good. I think Isayama's main point was to show that no matter how hard you try to achieve peace, there are still some people with endless greed. that destroy peace. Humans can never be in peace with each other forever. Eren thought that by destroying the whole world he could live in peace and tranquility, but it only worked for a while. And in the end credits, they showed that Paradise was completely destroyed. And this show goes on forever. The
I think i remember a line about being free just before death or something, and it made me think of Eren, knowing he'll die, and when he said he is free. Also the past present and future being all the same to him...
honestly, the scene with eren and armin felt so real. of course armin would feel guilty for being the cause of eren's quest for freedom.
also the whole bit about armin and hell hit so hard. he's said multiple times how he's a monster and committed horrible acts. him saying he's going to stay with eren in hell hurts so bad.
besides that, i really don't know why people wanted eren to be this emotionless giggachad or something. i love how he showed vulnerability and finally broke down. it humanizes him and honestly makes him a much more complex character.
I take some issue with Armin's guilt comment. If Eren is being truthful then Armin's actions would've had no impact on Eren doing what he did, he would've ended up in the same place anyway. Then the explanation is that it's either Armin not getting what Eren said, which would be silly given that he's presented as the smartest character, or he's trying to take some guilt off of Eren and showing some sympathy which also doesn't make too much sense because he was hating him a couple of seconds ago for killing 80% of the population outside of the walls. This doesn't take away from the fact that Armin also murdered a lot of people, but that has nothing to do with Eren becoming who he is, that was after Eren had already become "hobo Eren".
PS: I liked the ending but there are some noticeable weak points / inconsistencies
2:03 But Armin was the first one tell Eren that _“To defeat a monster, you must be willing to throw aside your humanity and all that makes you human”_ This happened back in season 1 when the scouts were fighting Annie in the capital.
Ymir isn’t helping Erin or carrying out his plan, it’s Erin helping Ymir. Always has been Ymir’s story, everything was set to happen as soon as she fell into that tree. All the attack titans’ future memories are Ymir’s story being told. Erin was just a part in it and technically Mikasa was the one who ended Ymir’s story. Everything was determined as Erin said, him saying it was because he’s an idiot and Armin taking some blame and saying they’ll both be punished in hell is just them trying to make some sense of it. End of the day they and all eldians were characters in Ymir story, a story told through all the attack titans memories of the future. We just got to see the end. An ending which Ymir could have had if she just let go of her love for king fritz and killed him. Her children would have got to live long lives just like Eren’s friends ended up having. She started her story by freeing the pig, and she ended her story by freeing the eldians so they could make their own destiny once again. Eventually their destiny lead them to be destroyed but as we see in the end there is still life on paradis even after destruction with the boy and his dog. And that boy may just be starting his own story as he enters that tree once again.
The reason the story does end here is of course that she finally chooses the right thing over love just as Mikasa does which is why Ymir is standing right behind her. It’s what she always wanted, for someone to show her that she was wrong to choose fritz. Mikasa and Eren were much closer to real love than Ymir and fritz ever had but Mikasa still choose to kill eren for the sake of eldians and the world. This was the only way Ymir story could of ended, when she finally is shown to be wrong and let’s go of her love for fritz and dies in the paths thus ending the titans and releasing all eldians from her story. The reason Eren had to become evil and start the rumbling was so he would become a new king fritz basically and there would be a chance for someone who loved him to take him down again for the sake of the world. Mikasa becomes the person Ymir wanted to be as shown in the vision that could have been where Ymir kills fritz/lets him to be killed and takes her kids away. In the end Mikasa was able to do the right thing but never forgot Eren, which what Ymir always really wished she had done and thus this ends her story of the titans and the subjects of Ymir.
I enjoyed ur take on this anime/Manga. U should do it more often
Edit: I never read the Manga and I thought the last part was lackluster. But hearing you explain what truly happened makes more of and ending.