Good Things about Attack on Titan's Ending

I’ve done a lot of complaining about how Attack on Titan ended, and I doubt I’ll ever truly be over it, given how heavily invested I had been. It’s hard not to watch a narrative masterpiece you loved inexplicably go up in flames at the last minute and not be bitter about it.

But for the sake of being fair I’ll go over the handful of things that I thought were good about the ending.

1. The Rumbling scene with the baby

The Rumbling was one of the most terrifying yet awe inspiring apocalyptic scenarios ever depicted on screen. It sucks that the reason for it happening was changed from being tragic and compelling to utterly nonsensical by the final chapter, but it’s still quite the sight to behold.

And that one scene with the baby was quite powerful. Despite the fact that everyone in that crowd knows they’re about to die, they can’t help but try to ensure that the baby gets to stay alive for at least a little longer. It was a great scene in the manga, and it was even better in the anime.

2. Armin and Zeke’s conversation

The conversation between Zeke and Armin where they discuss the meaning of life was quite good, even profound. On its own it works.

The trouble is that it just kind of pops up without any sort of organic preamble, and it doesn’t justify the nonsense that happens immediately afterwards.

Still, in an ending full of terrible moments, this was a good moment. It would have made a good ending great. As it stands though, it just makes a bad ending pretentious.

3. Mikasa’s dream

This was the only good moment in the clusterfuck that was chapter 138, and it was nice to see Eren and Mikasa get some closure, as well as to imagine a world where things worked out for them.

Of course the strength of this scene is severely undercut by Eren and Mikasa’s character assassinations in the very next chapter. That’s yet another problem with the ending, it’s so bad that even the good stuff is ruined by the horrendous writing.

4. The framing device for Eren and Armin’s last conversation

Like I said, the actual content of Eren and Armin’s final conversation is fucking atrocious. But the framing device and visuals are actually pretty clever. They’re in the paths, and they start out as kids but gradually grow up as the conversation unfolds. As they walk and talk, they start in Shiganisha, and then travel to a volcano, the arctic, the ocean, and finally arrive at the ground trampled by the Rumbling. It’s compelling visual storytelling that would have made a good ending even better. But because of how horrible the ending was it ends up being an entirely superficial aspect that doesn’t really matter. Still, it was a sound idea that might have done some good if the writing had been halfway decent.

5. Presentation

As with most of the story, the anime elevated the material from the manga with improved presentation. The anime ending had great animation, great action, great music, great voice acting, and great pacing. Regrettably, the writing was still terrible, and the "fixes" they included were the equivalent of putting a couple of bandaids on someone with third degree burns all over their body and expecting that to be enough, when it obviously isn't. So as impressive as the presentation was, it can’t make up for a fundamentally broken ending. If you turn your brain off and just go along for the ride the sheer spectacle is impressive. But if you actually stop and think about what is happening, and why it is happening, it all falls apart.

So those were the nice things I had to say about the ending, and I couldn’t even manage that without delving into yet more criticism. But that’s what happens when your ending sucks. Still, to be completely fair, most of the problems with the ending boil down to good ideas that were executed terribly, as well as a couple of terrible ideas that were executed terribly. Really the ending could have been good if it had gone through a few more drafts. As it stands though, it’s a huge mess.

Anyways, this article was a footnote for a video I did detailing ten problems I have with the ending. If you haven’t watched it yet, check it out. Or don’t. It’s up to you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiOgAihwAW4