To be honest I was never the biggest fan of the ending, though I also didn't despise it compared to most of the community. It was quite a cheesy ending with the main protagonist Eren Jaeger, who turned "evil", making the others realize he was doing everything for them. This wasn't too bad of an ending as Attack on Titan has always been a shounen (for ages 10-16) manga, meaning it should've been expected to have a very generic ending. That being said, the author Isayama could've definitely executed that much better. If you want to see how a good version of that generic "bad guy turns good" plot twist and why AoT couldn't execute it, please check out Jaewoon's blog at The Bowl. To summarize, the twist came too suddenly without any foreshadowing or hints, Eren's final goal never needed him to turn to the dark side, thus making the plot twist seem useless.
It seems like this is the ending Isayama wanted originally, and maybe that's why it was bad and unfitting. I would describe Isayama as an "accidental genius" as his original goal was to just write about the adventure and interactions of the three main characters of Eren, Mikasa, and Armin. However through the story, Isayama "accidentally" made the other characters' dynamic and characteristic way more interesting and developed compared to the main three. The serious and philosophical tone he wrote the story in also may have made the readers overanalyze many ideas that were just supposed to be one-sided. This would lead to many fan theories and interpretations (especially about the ending) that Isayama cannot have because of the publisher's restrictions. He also didn't change anything from his original plan for the well-developed side characters as they did not get a chance to grow and simply just stayed the same from start to finish.
Lastly, and what convinced me to write this blog, is the eight extra pages Isayama added, the "epilogue of the epilogue" finally convinced the remaining fans who enjoyed the ending to absolutely detest it. Not to spoil too much since the official pages haven't even been released yet, but basically, it is revealed that everything Eren did was useless, he failed to save most of humanity, he failed to confess to Mikasa, and most importantly, the only thing everyone thought Eren accomplished at the end: destroying the titans, was proven to be untrue.
Even after all this, I definitely would still recommend Attack on Titan just because of simply how amazing it was before the ending. The soundtrack for the anime is also, in my opinion, up there with the greatest. And though I will no longer consider it as my favorite, it will always have a special place in my heart simply because of the 7 amazing years I experienced because of it. And to end it with a quote: "to the boy who sought freedom, goodbye."
I stopped reading Attack on Titan a while ago, and from what I've read, maybe it was the right choice. The book having tripped up at the finish line is pretty bad, as first and last impressions are the deepest ones. Honestly, the ending of "everything the characters did was completely futile" is one of the worst; it's also why "it was a dream all along" is so unpleasant.
ReplyDeleteYep, the ending was pretty disappointing. I will remember this series as one I loved but I don't think I will be rereading it again like other series I love.
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