Next week is HUNTER x HUNTER!!!

People who liked the ending: That Levi scene was really good People who disliked the ending: That Levi scene was really good

It's ironic that the world in AOT almost ended up becoming the world it was supposed to be at the beginning of the manga: a world in which all people outside the walls were exterminated by the titans.

Imagine if Eren had just bumped into Historia at literally any point during the academy days

Isayama has said that the Anime is the definitive version and has used the medium to correct things he didn't like about the way the story was presented in the past. I wouldn't be surprised if he took the chance to let the ending breathe more in its anime form as well. That would clear up many of the issues, especially the ones you talked about here.

Levi shedding a tear while devoting his heart was heart to the Survey Corps one last time, was heart wrenching.

Maybe the real Attack on Titan were the friends we made along the way.

My man Erwin couldn't even get his missing arm back in the afterlife, he was the only one saluting with the left 😂

in Lost girl, Isayama explained the concept. " if you want eren to be free , you have to kill him" . it was published decade ago.

Attack on titan was created, hated, forgotten, loved, and concluded all within my lifetime. What a time to be alive.

For me personally, AoT had a 7/10 ending but was a 10/10 series. Definitely had some issues with the final chapter of Attack of Titan (such as Ymir's Stockholm Syndrome and the reversal of Connie/Jean/Gabi's fate) but overall, I'm VERY satisfied and feel like I got what I wanted for the most part. The end of an era. PS: You're totally right on in your analysis of AoT's perception of time (it's very similar to the movie Arrival)

The pacing in the anime between armin and erin fixed so much of this. I watched it without any spoilers. It hit really hard. They added extra dialogue letting the conversation breathe a little.

I saw someone point out in the final scene of the boy walking up to Eren's great tree, the boy exploring the hollow has a dog with him, and presumably goes into it willingly. While Ymir was chased by dogs and on the verge of death. The idea being that even if things repeat, maybe the ultimate fate of the cycle of violence is these minor differences that might mean the curses of the world we leave behind are just a bit better than what we had to fight in our time.

I was about to comment “I wasn’t expecting this until Thursday” and then I realized

Isayama probably will instruct Mappa to extend the scenes to make it more sense in the end. That or make the dialogue make more sense for those who thought wtf was going on in the final chapter

I've had this video in my watch later playlist since the day it released since I was an anime only viewer. Today, I'm coming back to it, purely because I absolutely LOVE your method of analysing and reviewing content

All of this being said, MAAPA's ending (as long as they follow the story) could fix the pacing problems of the last chapter cinematically.

I like to think that one of the reasons why Eren freaked out at the end of the Liberio raid when Sasha died was because he realized that she HAD to, that there was no possibility to actually save her. She was doomed to die regardless of what he did.

It’s kind of funny how Eren managed to get what he wanted, he eradicated all titans.

Erwins speech about them not being forgotten hits hard when you see Jean connie and levi looking at all the people that died along the way. They wont be forgotten. Not by those who still live on and can remember their sacrifice

I think the biggest problem is it was rushed, if the anime can add more scenes to build it I think it’ll be good.

The main reason I think the chapter was rushed was just because Isayama was exhausted beyond measure. As he said, he was too tired to feel sad or miserable while finishing the chapter, which fair enough, he has been doing this nonstop for 10 to 11 years.

I REALLY hope MAPPA is given the chance to stretch this chapter out to make it more digestible and give it room to breath. You put it into perfect words what this chapter suffers from and I really believe that if given the chance, MAPPA can really bring out the potential of this chapter and see that it’s cooked and ready.

Im really glad they beefed up the dialogue and pacing in the anime. I felt it nailed almost everything Iseyama was going for

Started rewatching with this in context and the scene with kid Eren waking crying from a "long dream" hit me for the first time. Holy shit.

I think the most ironic thing about Eren is that although he fought and strives for Freedom, he himself was never free. Forever bound to a single path that would lead his people to salvation, but never him.

Feels like the ending, while a bit flat and not all that well told, doesn't undo the rest of the series, and still retains its own merits to some degree. AoT still seems very much like a series worth reading or watching from start to finish.

After finishing the anime adaptation of AOT, I am very convinced that they watched reviews like this one They made changes and extensions that address all of the constructive criticisms presented in this review and a bit from the Colossal One too. It is actually pretty awesome to see.

Just as Gigguk said the ending of Attack on Titan is what would determine if it was a modern masterpiece , but it does not need the greatest ending in all of existence because all of the story until now was absolutely amazing , it just needs to land on two feet , which in my eyes it did .

Me waiting for HxH review: That's fine, as a HxH fan, I'm used to long waits.

Final lovers 🤝 Final haters Levi scene

People are acting surprised over the ymir thing when we already knew she threw herself in front of a spear to save fritz way before

I'm a sucker for "relatively happy" endings, so I'm mostly happy/satisfied with this ending. The few issues I have are really not deal-breakers. And as other people have said, the series as a whole is a 10/10.

My feelings on the finale are a little split, I feel the last chapter was under whelming, rushed, and I just got pulled out of it. But on the other hand I don’t think that it ruins the story, and at the end of the day the final chapter feels like it wrapped it up in a believable way.

Plot twist this is a dream and aot junior high is the real story

I'd love to see a small video going over the 2 specials that end the series in anime format

Here I am hoping Mark covers the anime endings expansions

I never thought about it 'til now but given how strongly Eren feels about Mikasa, I wonder just how much it hurt him to call her a slave and say he hated her? That scene just keeps on becoming more and more painful.

Levi's last Salut moved me to tears. Years of suffering, fighting, loosing loved ones finally being released.

Honestly, the whole final arc, The Rumbling Arc, was a bit of a mix bag of quality. While a majority of it had decent character moments and events that were profound, it was just marred with issues, plot, character and story wise. However, did it completely ruin the whole series for me? No. I, and everyone else, still love AOT for the story it told, even if it did fumbled its final landing.

Overall the ending was bittersweet and I wouldn't have it any other way. I can't believe I watched it when I was 11 and now I'm 19 in uni, it was absolutely amazing to be a part of this era. Thanks for the memories Attack on Titan and until the last half of the anime comes out, this is farewell for now.

I feel like Isayama has been hit so hard with being rushed. There is NO DOUBT that had the final chapter been extended to 140, the ending would be infinitely better.

When u realize that when grinsha said eren wouldn’t show anything else about the future it wasn’t eren not showing him but really he couldn’t see what happens after cuz there is no successor since Titans are gone

I think Eren killing his mother was a bad change. This is because I had thought we already established the abnormality of Dina's Titan earlier which is why it went for Eren and his family . that she was always going to follow Grisha even after being sent to Pardis. The root of Eren's hatred is really for himself now? Thats what I get from this change. idk that is one of the largest things that bothers me with this ending

"the ending was good because it was meant to show change" the extra pages:

I really hope the anime adaptation will extend this ending, to explain more of the plot points much more in detail and less rushed. Overall AOT is a solid piece of art. Isayama can now go build his spa in peace.

Every time I see Sasha's smile from the last chapter I shed a tear

Ok so hear me out... I acknowledge It still could have been better executed or phrased, but lot of people have a problem with Eren's "I don't want Mikasa to be with another man' outburst', which honestly didn't strike me as that strange, it was the one time since being in his omnipetent state (that I can remember) where he seemed to show genuine emotion, the last time in his life where hell be able to express how he truely feels about her before he dies, these are his raw unfiltered feelings, and aside that I feel anime romance, or honestly a lot of mainstream romance in general frequently paints a lot selfish impulses like possession and jealousy as romantic so this depiction doesnt particularly surprise me, but in a way its oddly fitting. Because well, Mikasa's love for Eren has frequently been descibed as, unhealthy, obsessive, and certainly had her moments of possessiveness and jealousy, literally the entire last arc is her reisting having to kill Eren even though he has murdered SO MANY PEOPLE. So Eren's outburst in a way is him expressing 'My feelings for Mikasa are just as selfish and irrational as her love for me!" And in that way, I weirdly find it kind of fitting. But then again, you know, he did just kill most of humanity so its still ok to give him shit about it

*Isayama Speedrunning all the missing plot points in the last chapter* WITS/MAPPA: We’ll take care of this my dude, Just take some rest in your creation

Editor-san, probably: Let's put a nice little image of Levi's final salute while Mark says I love you and goodbye to the series. That should get people's tears rolling.

if there was some way to boil down totally not marks videos into liquid form and shoot them directly into my veins god knows I'd be living in a crack den by now

Again, such good writing! Loved your take on this. You explained my feelings here better than I ever could. Well done sir and thank you for this!

I just watched the last episode of the anime and I after it ended, I immediately came back to this video. I love the ending, as sad as it was, and this video is an amazing explanation of the ending. Thanks for this man.

Just a quick headup: the line that Armin says in Japanese is badly translated even in the ufficial translation. In japanese Armin says error as "Ayamachi", a word that has similar meaning to "Machigai", "mistake". Both words means "error, mistake", but while the second one has a more "Easy going error meaning", the first one is the word that Isayama actually use. It means an error that is life changing, cannot be undone and that' is morally wrong and unjustificable. This sheeds a much clearer meaning to that phrase in 139, something that is sadly lost in translation.

I think this chapter should've been focused on those first 20 pages and chapter 140 should've been about the aftermath. Chapter 139 could've ended with the levi scene

I came to watch this after watching the ending of the anime. First thing, I cried during the end. Also Mark I'd like to report that the suplex Gabi gave Falco was instead depicted as a warm childish hug that had too much speed, which is cuter. This video helped me understand the thing about Ymir watching Mikasa be able to let go and how the Curse of the Titans being around was her being obedient, thank you for making that make sense.

We need an update for the ending based on the Anime!

This is a long comment, but I hope someone reads it. I had figured out quite a number of reveals of this chapter long in advance that I hadn't stopped to think how difficult it might be for others to suddenly get them all in 20 pages. For me, it was a constant barrage of "Yes, he's confirming it!", but it's probably too much if you hadn't expected these answers. I'll try to elaborate on why I think it's this way though, even if I would have preferred a double length chapter. I should mention that the understanding of future sight is a little wrong though. It's not like Doctor Strange where Eren can see all possibilities. There's only one future he can see, and it's only glimpses and shards of memories. Back in 121, I began to wonder if this meant that Eren wasn't as free as the story was letting on. I understood that the implications of him being able to alter Eldians in the past meant that he could have saved his mother. He could have changed a lot of things. But no matter how much he wanted to, he knew he couldn't. He was bound by ensuring the future he was chasing would come to pass. Eren himself is a character who chases freedom, but why would you chase something you already have? He once said that the moment he realized he wasn't free was when he and Armin read that book as kids. He saw the look in Armin's eyes, like they could see an amazing dream that Eren couldn't see. Eren notices this very same look when they explore the world together this chapter. Eren is bound by a future he knows while Armin can move towards an unknown future with hope in his heart. The timeline is the way it is because of Eren, and it speaks volumes as to his motivations Speaking for Eren's motivations, I'm surprised so many people thought he would kill his friends. The trauma of losing his mother, Squad Levi, Hannes, and all the others is his most profound pain. Even after he stops seeking revenge, he never stops holding that fear of losing his loved ones. Hannes' death scene in the anime especially hammers it in so deeply. Eren screams that nothing had changed, in reference to Hannes telling him early on that he wasn't strong enough to save his mother. Eren's love for his friends, his surrogate family, is one of the most integral elements to his character, enough that he would stand up to Levi for even thinking of choosing Erwin over Armin. I had wondered why people thought his father's memories had changed him into pursuing his nation's total freedom over his friends. In 89, Eren finishes recalling his memories but is still essentially the same person. It was only once he kissed Historia's hand that everything changed for him, and the rest of the series followed a much grimmer Eren. Without the explanation that came in 121 that he could see the future, the assumption in the meantime became succumbing to nationalism, but I don't think people revised that impression once they learned it was due to him understanding that he was going to kill billions. For the baby, you hit the nail on the head. Back in 107, I had worried that Eren and Historia had taken on the mistakes of their parents and the cycle would continue. You could see them as Grisha and Dina who had Zeke for the purpose of using him. Or you could see them as the royal family who chose to sacrifice themselves to their children so they could continue being tools of King Fritz. For me, the concern was not WHAT the baby would be used for, but if it was going to be used at all. The farmer was intentionally left vague, and many story elements seemingly hinted at a deeper relationship between Eren and Historia, but nothing was ever confirmed even late in the story. And it couldn't be until the very end, because those red herrings kept the mystery box as to what Eren's true motivations and character really were. Eren is the second basement reveal of the series saved for the final chapter. Isayama has said on several occasions that he has wanted his ending to hurt or betray his readers, that those are the works he remembers most. Many red herrings were intentionally included to push readers to certain conclusions when Isayama himself had never outright confirmed anything. The only way he could do this was by revealing everything in one go for the final chapter. You can call Eren whining in the water juvenile, but that is the point. That is him rubbing salt in the wound after pulling the rug out from beneath readers. Even Eren's exaggerated face as Armin punches it is indicative of Isayama's feelings. You just know he had been waiting to do that. It was the ultimate betrayal to readers who thought Eren had become an entirely new person. This was something that could not have possibly been pulled off over two months, so we ended up with a highly compressed conversation. I must admit I wasn't expecting Eren being in love with Mikasa though. I know a lot of people who supported the genocide, Eren killing his friends, and Eren going back to his secret wife Historia and child, and the Mikasa thing is like battery acid on top of a salty wound to them. I'm definitely considering rereading and looking for more on that, but I don't want it to be taken as confirmation bias. I just assumed there would be no romance. But other than that, I had figured out Ymir's motivations, 90% of which are hinted at in 122. It never made sense to me why she just went back to King Fritz after becoming a godlike being and continued to serve him, have children, and even die for him. It's not like Fritz had magic powers, he was just a regular guy, so what was it that kept Ymir bound to his word for 2000 years? Her smile as Mikasa kissed Eren was when I had finally figured it out. If you read this far, thank you.

11:44 attention: "i promise i won't let this ERROR go to waste", so armin, specifies that it was an error, does not justify eren for what he did, but understands it; the thing is a little different.

This series will continues to be talk over the years and still will be remembered for the next generation. Aot is definitely a modern classic

The author says that the anime is his stories final product so he could improve the ending conversation between armin and Erin.

Eren thinking he secured all his friends lives: Marley who just developed nukes: Parry this you f*cking casuals!

Both of your videos on this series have really expressed and helped consolidate my own thoughts on my favourite series, and for that I thank you

Tbh I loved the scene with Eren talking about Mikasa... It feels earned, he knows he's gonna die soon, and he just lets it loose... I loved it and felt so sad about his situation 😭

The main problem that I have with this chapter is when Armin asks Eren why he did the rumbling, his response is literally "I don't know." Why didn't he just say that it was to protect his friends and Eldia? It makes him seem like a psychotic maniac when he's not supposed to be.

Rewatching this is crazy. The story is basically a warning to never commit a terrorist attack to avoid creating an Eren. The rumbling was always something that Eren was capable of doing without hesitation.

Thank you for summarising everything in such an unbiased way, it really helps when people feel so strongly about the ending :)

The anime ending was a masterpiece. I literally put off watching this video until after seeing it. That's 2 years Mark.

Remember from The marley arc to the rumbling, Eren's eyes looked dead inside as if he never wanted to do any of this but is being forced to.

On a separate note, props to Editor San! This video's editing was so damn beautiful ❤️

yes, the dialogue between eren and armin seems rushed and stacked, and yet from the characters point of view, it is natural. two lifelong friends who know each other so well, well enough that this would exactly be how the conversation would play out in real life. they needed not to explain every detail in their conversation, because they know and understand what each other was thinking. that's why it felt so genuine to me. this is two friends conversing, not two characters explaining the storys ending to readers. its beautiful.

Great video, man. I share the same passion for this story you do. Attack on Titan has cut deeper into my heart more than any other story has, and I live for stories. I was practically raised on them. That said, as a fellow fan of this story, I think you did a lot of justice with this video. You nailed every aspect of the ending perfectly, in my opinion. The presentation and pacing of the ending could have been better, no question, but the story we’ve witnessed thus far is explained and, while rushed and imperfectly executed, validated. I remember reading the last panel and feeling at peace with the ending. At the end of the day, that’s all I personally wanted. Thank you for the content, man. Continue to give your heart 👊🏻

“The people who push themselves into hell see a different hell from the rest of us. They also see something beyond that hell. Maybe it’s hope. Maybe it’s another hell. I don’t know which it is. The only people who do know...are the ones who keep moving forward” - Eren Yeager

I mean the fact we got the bird eren meme out this chapter already makes it a top tier ending

your reviews always give me a new understanding of those stories

Anyone else here who waited for the anime to finish before watching this video?

Animeonly fans will be saved from the curse of speedruning the manga finale

I feel like the anime is gonna go way more in depth on Eerens reasoning, so the reaction is gonna be way better than the mangas’.

The anime did the ending amazingly in the my opinion, as I have never read the manga. There’s just no reviews of the anime episode right now, so I need an analysis of the ending. The flaws you mentioned in the first 20 pages of this chapter do not seem to fit the description of the anime, cause I nearly started crying during that scene. I was not thinking about logistics one bit, the emotion was done so well thanks to the music.

I feel like the otaku Fandom is the best and worse of us. Also, i feel like popular memes create a huge bias over the fandom's reception of works.

I was one of those fans greatly disappointed by the finale. *THANK YOU* for _not only_ being patient with us, but for ALSO explaining each and every aspect of the ending in meticulous detail. I appreciate the fact that you spoke about both the things that _worked,_ AS WELL AS the things that _didn't_ work. *BUT YOU DIDN'T STOP THERE;* you went one step further than most other KZfaq critics and explained exactly _why_ certain things "didn't work" in the finale. For example: your gentle explanation concerning Eren's sudden passionate declaration of love for Mikasa being simply put in the "wrong place" *makes sense.* ... although I wish that Isayama had put in a little more subtext to illustrate that Eren felt SOMETHING other than sibling affection for Mikasa prior to this. (I know most people point to the "what am I to you?" scene as validation to this, but I wish there had been other moments). • I also appreciate the fact that you explained the significance of Mikasa having to be the one who klled Eren. I never noticed the parallels between her and (founder) Ymir until your video. The handling of Mikasa was one of the things I disliked. I wanted her to be there at the end along with Armin and Eren. It was always the 3 of them. It felt ..WRONG to me, not including her. • Finally, I'm STILL a little irritated concerning the whole "Historia's baby" plot. I was expecting the baby to be more significant...it feels like they played up the importance of the pregnancy and baby; that panel space could have been given to more character development in establishing Eren's feelings for Mikasa or his motives, but your explanation makes sense. *THANK YOU* for not treating disgruntled fans as "less than". I know many other fans might look to that vocal percentage of fans who disliked the ending and turn up their noses at our anger. At our core, we are just hurt fans who feel/felt let down by the ending, who didn't understand the points Isayama was trying to get across. I STILL don't agree with some of the decisions made in the finale, and I feel that it was rushed, but your explanation has DEFINITELY softened my dislike of it. After viewing your vid, I wish that Isayama had maybe been given more time, (and more pages) to tell his ending. I believe this would have helped make things NOT feel so cut and paste and from left field.

I feel that this chapter will do greatly better when it gets animated Considering manga is restricted to pages, and still pacing, this chapter, all animated, can resolve some of the chapter nuances that are needed to be resolved So I think, of course

Now the obvious question...what u think about them extra pages??

2 years. happy to be here finally.

The execution of the chapter was the only thing that made me mad. Not the things that happened but how they happened. It felt so damn rushed.

I would like to say I liked the ending but not the execution. I think another 2-3 chapters fleshing out more details and showing more character interactions could have made this perfect.

I think the point of Eren's childish outburst about Mikasa is to show his fragility and humanity after making him seem like the grand orchestrator throughout a lot of the chapter.

They have months now for Isayama to take some constructive criticism, improve the ending and give that for Mappa to animate. He always was heavily involved with the anime and now has a chance to improve upon the final chapter.

”Fritz and Ymir’s romantic adventures Episode 1: Walking the dogs” Calling it.

It can’t be exclusively me who foresaw the fact that the attack Titan’s powers in of themselves could only result in one scenario whether the bringer of it wanted it or not

I always save your reviews of shows and watch them after I just finished watching that show as it acts as a good way to sort out how I fell about a show and get what I truly want to take from it at the end. This was an amazing story and your review, as always was interesting in my opinion, keep up the good work! btw, I would say your best video series so far that I've seen was the dragon ball full review, you really went into great detail there and it really helped me understand the nuance of the story as a whole, so thanks for that!

this video has made me decide to rewatch this entire thing and reread it as well Ty for this explanation it has made so much sense

"You became a mass murderer for our sake." should be a meme.

I know it sounds silly but the japanese version is worded way better and it hit emotionally very well. The only parts that hit well in the translated english version are the ones that didn't have much text. Like Levis scene and the last scene with Mikasa. They really didn't nail the nuances in the translation in my opinion. Of course having a better translation wouldn't change the ending completely but I think it plays a bigger role than many may think... Because the ending is really well received in the japanese community.

Its kind of messed up that genocide was completely justified in the end

Great review and perspective on the last chapter I ended up feeling the same about it when I first read it but all in all I too still love Attack on Titan. Awesome work on the colossal review and shout out to all that contributed to it including this video as well.

I'm just at the 4 minute mark, but I got the feeling that, rather than Eren seeing each possibility, he just got nonlinear deterministic time: the future is as unchangeable as the past, if you experience them all at the same time. Watchmen's Dr. Manhattan's curse, all given to an unstable 15 year old boy. EDIT: And you brought him up! In any case, the most apt parallel for Eren's character is that, once he touched Historia's hand, he was pretty much in what may be Interstellar's black hole. He could only do what had always been that way. (Determinism being accurate to our universe scares me, and I REALLY hope time has another axis where it branches; many-worlds theory soothes a bit of that existential dread)

When reading this I found my self pausing on certain panels and digesting them. I think the problem is that people read things at a different pace. At no point did I think anything was rushed or silly but maybe that’s because when those impactful moments happened I just stared at the panel and lingered upon them.

Mark you are an inspiration I was expecting a month or something with no videos after this but next week your starting hunter hunter what a god

Can finally watch this video now