MAJOR SPOILERS: (THIS INCLUDES BOTH THE FIRST AND SECOND SPECIAL AS I THINK MY THOUGHTS SHOULD BE COLLECTED IN THE SAME PLACE) Before I dive into everything I had questions about, I would like to highlight the beginning of the first special, being an incredible mirror of the first episode with the colossal titan peering over the wall but instead the people don't even have the protection of the walls to guard them, and we see the destruction of everything and everyone. A very real and raw depiction of the end of the world from the perspective of the civilians. Seeing the kid that Eren breaks down to about the end of the world die alongside his brother in an extremely gruesome fashion was handled nigh to perfection, the tone, the perspective, music, direction, voice work, all of it was amazing. So I would like to give props to this one scene that I did enjoy. And unfortunately I feel as though I don't have enough room to talk much about the first one as much as the second part. (So to give some closure with that, I like some of the first part and most of my real issues come from the second part, yet a lot of these setups start in the first part so I felt it appropriate to batch the two together.) Anyways, onto the real review. I went into this with zero knowledge of what to expect, I've avoided spoilers for the whole time this show has been up, besides a few small details like the first opening and the female titan's existence, but still this ending has left me conflicted whether I like it or I dislike it. Of course, every scene after the final battle made me like the ending less and less. I didn't like that the Jeagerists controlled Paradis Island despite the fact that most, if not a huge chunk of them died via the main characters at the end of the Final Season Part 2, a recontrol of the government would have been more than possible since Historia was still well and fine. Maybe there would be complications over the way the common folk had reacted to the Jeagerists but let it be known that the talk of peace talks comes up, means that there would have been an easy peaceful end to the conflict, but we can't do that because of the theme that the story is trying to tell. But that theme now feels incredibly forced and artificial than organic as with a majority of the plot points the ending presents in its rushed conclusion. The fact that they also turned into a militaristic society that planned to go to war made no sense, they have nothing up their sleeves, sure they had the same population but nowhere near the same level of technology as the rest of the world, plus with the insider information readily available via the main characters it all doesn't make sense. The so called "peace talks" in the post ending was just unnecessary and weird, and the whole thing just makes me confused and angry. And once the credits start rolling it just gets weirder and more unnecessary by the second, especially once you learn that again the cycle of violence continues in the far future meaning the entire story meant nothing. But even this is not confirmed. The parasite Ymir had disappeared without a trace, seemingly releasing everyone of the titan curse, but with the end credit scene, mirroring the tree Ymir fell into, it's still hinting at another cycle repeating. So really, it's just another thing to say "make it up yourself." If the anime full stopped after the two sides came to a full understanding with each other I would rate this an 80-something just out of finishing off semi strong. Instead it chose to try to "tie up loose ends" by giving us an open-ended interpretation of the main characters going to peace talks. Open-ended endings can really work and make a strong final scene, a good example would be Red vs. Blue Season 13, but Attack on Titan makes it less satisfying and more troubling. There is no proper closure to this and I'm properly disappointed. Alright, the actual final 10 minutes aside, the rest of the 2 hours and 20 minutes are good or fine. They aren't amazing or incredible, it's just good. There is no mystery or unexpected outcomes that the show usually tries pulling. The start of the problems was, for me, Hange's death. It felt like it was simply to say, hey we need action and tension for the Rumbling so someone needs to die and there needs to be the urgency of time. So everything the Scouts fought for, all comes down to this moment that has almost no build up or felt personal. Falco's transformation was also pretty plot convenient towards the way the final fight was staged and what position the characters were in. (Although I can let that one pass, as its too small a thing to really diminish a score.) With the position the characters were in, Armin being abducted by one of the War Hammer clones makes no sense because all Armin had to do was injure himself, meaning turning his head in any direction where his mouth breaks, activating the Colossal Titan and freeing himself. Not to mention that Armin is supposed to be the Erwin of the group, being the team leader and strategist but ends up doing just about nothing in terms of strategy for the entire end. And the end bit where the characters become titans was a fake out for shock value that lasted for only a few minutes to add to a "hopeless" situation while we get a giga battle between two piloted mechas. And then there's the discussion of Mikasa, whom apparently is the key to everything. Seeing as she was obsessed with someone who was evil like herself, which yes I can believe that. But I find it hard to believe that in just that broad definition. In 2,000 years, Ymir could not find anyone that fit this pretty broad description? I find that unlikely. Needless to say, there's a lot of small or noticeable issues with characters and the plot, leaving the end unsatisfying with so many loose ends. And I'm not done yet. The rules of the Rumbling. It's established that the founder Ymir has chosen Eren as her host and follows his command, so why is it that when Zeke dies suddenly the Rumbling stops. That makes zero sense, and if the explanation is that Eren does not have royal blood that doesn't explain why the rumbling was activated by Eren's command and not Zeke. And especially when Ymir is still around even after Zeke dies to see to the end of the battle. At the end of the day, even if you could explain it somehow, it still stays apparent that we don't get to know anything, nothing is really answered or explained we just have to watch what's on screen. Maybe I'm being unfair, maybe there was no way of giving a satisfying conclusion but still I can't help but feel disappointed in the way it finished. (Take this paragraph with a grain of salt) Eren's thought process and character at this point, doesn't make much sense or at least raises some eyebrows. The reason for why Eren is the way he is, all stems from his mother being eaten by a titan, where he swears to kill them all. Pretty good motivation, however, it's revealed that he is responsible for killing his mother, the stem of why his one solution to everything is violence. So, that means that if he wanted to, he could have directed the titan that killed his mother, and had let her live. MEANING, the entire series, Eren's motivation and ideology would change, and none of this would have happened. The issue now is clear, that Eren could have chosen another path, even when he mumbles about how the past, present, and future are in his head, he can still change that past, as he clearly already does by letting the titan target his mother instead of Bertholdt. He does insist that his actions are already set in stone, but this action makes no sense to be set in stone, everything inside Eren would reject this decision to kill his own mother. The entire series now has a plot hole that can easily undo everything, and this theme of no other choice is now untrue. At least that's my interpretation of it upon my first watch. I am open to the idea that was presented to me later, how Eren becomes a slave to Ymir and his actions aren't really his own but Ymir's instead which would explain just about all his actions. But everything has become your own head canon, so much to the point of nullifying anything. All in all, so so many issues and problems that made this finale worse. And from a non biased side, as someone who watched this show in the span of a year with no spoilers, this ending was heavily mixed. This finale felt more like forced themes rather than a realistic ending.