Shingeki no Kyojin: The Final Season - Kanketsu-hen Kouhen

Warning: review contains spoilers
Series experience:
 This is my first time finishing the series ''Attack on titan''!

It's always interesting when a show concludes, some are met with a melancholic appreciation as they realize that all good things must come to an end. Others are met with a flame horizon of anger as fans believe their show should've been done to a better justice. Of course, there are also shows that just never seem to end cough cough One Piece. But that's besides the point.

Short review:

Attack on titan is a Japanese manga series written by Hajime Isayama. An anime television series adaptation by Wit Studio premiered on Apr 7, 2013. The final special aired on Nov 5, 2023.

Attack on Titan can easily be titled as genre-defining. It was one of the few shows that broke the medium of anime through to the Western world, it spanned countless episodes animated with top-tier quality and nail-biting scenes. To many modern-age fans, both eastern and western alike, Attack on Titan was the defining show that represented this genre. However, upon entering its fourth season, AoT became bogged down and slowed, its plot fading from our memory, as of such, its struggle to adapt and conclude the show made it hard for us viewers to retain attention and for the show to retain relevancy.

Review:

I adore Attack On Titan seasons 1-3. That stretch of 5 cours has some of the most climactic setpieces and moments, some of the best emotional beats, and some of the most complex character and story development I've ever seen. Nothing is more thrilling than rewatching these early seasons and going back to a simpler time when it was just the Scouts learning more and more about the Titans and the world that surrounds them.

When the mystery was completely answered at the end of Season 3, I was still hooked. Season 4 part 1 and the first half of part 2 are still quality parts of the show. The new characters that were introduced were interesting, the growth of the characters we already knew was compelling, and the growing moral dilemma concerning the Eldians vs the rest of the world was something I loved thinking about.

My problem with the very last parts of Attack On Titan is that it tries to answer this moral dilemma with a barrage of sudden, unelaborated upon ideas.

There's 3 core things about this sequence that I hate:

1. Eren was responsible for his mother's death. What? Why? And why is this only mentioned once? Doesn't that completely change the context of his entire character?
2. Eren crying over Mikasa. Not only does Eren almost never show Mikasa any kind of romantic love before this moment, he does so in the most embarrassingly unsubtle display. Rather than exploring what his relationship with Mikasa previously represented through the narrative, (i.e. what it means to be free and his regrets for his actions towards his most loved ones) he just kind of cries over her finding someone else to care for. It's weird.
3. The worst one. Armin breaking down into tears and showing Eren gratitude. The insinuation that Eren and Armin are equally as bad makes me mad. Every single horrible thing the main characters are forced to do through Season 4 directly stems from Eren's vindictiveness and stubbornness. Armin's destruction of the sea port during the battle in Liberio was indeed horrific, but that only happened because Eren's plan involved mounting a large scale attack on an area with thousands of civilians. I don't truly think Armin did anything wrong, and the idea that they will 'meet in hell' doesn't make any sense to me.

As for the ending:

The story briliantly shows how no matter what happens, war never changes and the cycle of hatred continues and there is nothing that can stop it, not even the sacrifices Eren together with Ymir and all our cast made, be it the sacrifice of freedom or sacrifice of lives. Even if Eren succeeded at eradicating all of humanity, nothing would change, the titan curse would still exist and Eldians would eventually fight amongst eachother in a civil war just like the humans, it is inevitable.

As a full package, Attack on Titan is a sensational story full of friendship, betrayal, tragedy but also... happiness. In the end the world moves on, the age of titans is no more and there is newfound room for peace and prosperity. There is something so very human about this complex and very well-written story. There were some minor issues here and there but all and all an amazing show with a great ending in my opinion. Whilst not perfect, its mere existence brings me a lot of joy

Thank you for reading. I won't be giving this a score. I don't think a number would be able to properly say anything.