The Disturbing Reality of Attack on Titan

all right let's talk about Attack on Titan a series that is absolutely dominated the anime scene in a way like nothing I have ever seen before topping countless anime best of lists breaking Crunchyroll servers on the regular and being many people's first introduction to anime this is going to be a really gory messed up show huh from the very moment you heard that glorious first op hit you knew you were in for a good time well for the most part anyway and in the decades since it has really grown from a story that I already thought was pretty great into one of my favorite tales ever made and I can remember the exact moment I learned about aot the year is 2014 I am a dunce of a ninth grader making his last functioning brain cell work over time unfortunately some things never change one random day I'd meet my friends in the hallway where we'd always meet and they were playing this cool looking game where they were swinging around and slicing up a bunch of giants I didn't think too much of it until every class I went to was full of people playing this same game everybody was in on this instead of listening to our politics teacher talk about deep state frogs or whatever the hell he talked about the next thing I knew everybody was on nine anime risking the health of their barely surviving MacBooks as is all to watch the show the game was based on from then on news articles blog posts YouTube videos everybody was talking about Attack on Titan the Mania was unlike anything I had ever experienced before and I'm willing to bet a lot of you around my age probably have a similar story it was completely unavoidable taking over Pop Culture like wildfire and now we finally reached the end the show leaving behind one of the most dynamic and captivating stories ever told one that gives us this painfully Bleak reality overtaken by hopelessness and despair but also one where Humanity struggles towards a better tomorrow one where they fight for their dreams and at the heart of it all a group of friends who face the unforgiving world together as somebody that has found himself impacted by this phenomenal tale I think it's only right that I take the next holy [ __ ] this video is how long to talk about this series and just how nuanced of a story it is to explore both the darkest depths of this cruel world and the beauty that shines through it all and to start let's go to Where it All Began before Attack on Titan became the series we know today it would first be a 65 page one-hot manga of the same name this project would be the first official work of a recently graduated University student named Hajime isayama at the time he was a young man in his 20s pursuing his dream of becoming a owner of a scotch tape store wait what the [ __ ] but then he got an even bigger dream one that would motivate him to escape his native oama and experience the outside world a Pursuit that led him to Tokyo in the hopes of becoming a full-time mangaa so isayama would pass this one shot to weekly Shonen Jump which in case you didn't know is where nearly every major Shonen manga called home think franchises like Dragon Ball one piece bleach Naruto jiu-jitsu kaisen and don't think it don't say it don't think it don't say it don't think it don't say being published in a weekly Shonen Jump was pretty much a dream come true for any mangaa especially for isayama who had been reading since he was a kid but unfortunately things wouldn't play out that way a jump editor would tell him it was fine as far as manga goes but it wasn't quite what they were looking for it wasn't quite jump I can only imagine how devastated isayama must have been at this because after all this time chasing his dream all he was met with was disappointment but thankfully isama refused to compromise on his vision while that change might bring it more success it wouldn't really be the story he wanted to tell not only that but he would be giving up on the very reason he wanted to become a mangaa in the first place to earn money while having fun and so isama made the choice to take it elsewhere and in 2009 Batu Shonen magazine would release the first issue of Shingeki no Kyojin otherwise known as Attack on Titan and after selling well over 100 million manga copies and having one of the most successful anime runs of all time I'm going to take a guess and say that the editor over at weekly Shonen Jump probably got fired originally eama planned for the series to last only two volumes but instead it gained so much attention that it kept going and as it gained momentum it would even start to get attention outside of its native Japan picking up fans all throughout the world and with that kind of attention it was only a matter of time before it got picked up for an adaptation it was then announced in 2013 that the recently formed Studio wit would bring us the long awaited anime of Attack on Titan there would also be some pretty big names attached to this project the director would end up being tet suro araki a man most recognized for directing the much beloved Death Note anime he also directed High School the dead which is not relevant to this discussion at all but it's funny damn it [ __ ] I said let go then there was producer George wada who was most well known for having worked on both the Guilty Crown and psycho pass anime I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention composer hero Yuki saano he's composed for properties like one piece prare and Xenoblade but I really can't begin to say just how amazing the score he made for Attack on Titan really is honestly it is one of the best scores I've heard in general and adds so much emotion to any scene in the show and with that they could finally begin the tale of the people inside the walls and how they would advance to change the course of humanity forever and it would all begin on that day the world of Attack on Titan is one that takes place within the walls these pillars that stand is Humanity's last Bastion against the monsters outside if there's one thing about Attack on Titan that really stands out from the rest it's how everything exists in a nebulous ethos oh okay no we're not doing that I'm going to put the dictionary down but what I mean to say is that for every good aspect there's also a bad one so while the walls might have been the very thing that held Humanity together it was also a prison one where the people inside became complacent of the lives they were living giving up on any sort of aspiration beyond the boundaries placed upon upon them and for the rest of the story we see as this world is forcibly changed into one with a completely new identity one that would fight to obtain the future of their dreams and it would all begin on that day the day when Humanity's greatest fears burst through that infallible wall and shattered the peace they once knew people lost their homes their loved ones their hopes and dreams on that day Humanity was reminded that we live lived in their world that we only lived under the illusion of freedom but from This calamity arose a new will a resolve that swore to avenge his kind and break free from the shackles the Titans bore on them throughout Attack on Titan we see the birth of several different resolves that fuel the characters we come to know pushing them towards the outcomes they desire and you're probably thinking Justin like that's a pretty common narrative device come on which you'd be right if it wasn't for how Attack on Titan handles resolve with everything existing in this moral gray it's not about becoming the strongest or fighting for your friends no this is all about survival all about living to see another day even if it means stepping on others along the way so what that ultimately means is that our characters here aren't always good people instead many of them operate on a will of Spite and hatred acting out atrocities in the name of their dreams and no person symbol izes this better than our main character to me Aaron joerger is one of the most interesting characters in all of fiction the story he brings with him is as the kids say Cinema Aaron's dream is one of Breaking Free from the walls he wants more out of life than what's been given to him he wants to explore the world Beyond to see the white snowy Fields the Raging flow of fire the vast Endless Ocean and his key to getting there in his eyes is by joining the survey Corp which the this show makes handy work of showing you is not a good time hell the first time we see the scouts returning from a mission they look like they've been through absolute hell and after that they still had to break the hearts of the families whose children would never come home to most joining the survey Corp was akin to having a death wish but after wal Maria's collapse all Aaron saw was red with the attack Aaron's world was forever changed because it was on this day that his mother would be taken from him lost at the hands of a beast that consumed her with a grotesque distorted smile at that very moment Aaron's resolve would be born he would swear to kill every last Titan from the face of the planet and set Humanity free once and for all I just want you all to know that I've been recording this over the sound of loud ass construction going out out inside my house and it's it's it's taking a mental toll on me man I have to like stop every 5 minutes to make sure you don't hear the sound of like a a giant cat BOS are going through my house there are a lot of characters in Attack on Titan that I absolutely adore and it would be here at this point that we're introduced to a lot of them now that it's been a few years and we've moved on to the recruitment Arc we meet the likes of Riner Brun and berold Hoover both people with dreams of their own that want to help Aaron out on his journey especially after seeing how much of a goober he can be then some are not so eager one such character is good old horseface John Kirin who suffers from being the community's punching bag seriously I have never seen so many horse related memes in my entire life holy God I don't know what it is about this fan base but the [ __ ] posting here is unreal I I got a note in here that says play Horse music here but I don't know what that is I'm I'm not even entirely sure I know what Horse music sounds like but quick makes an enemy out of Aaron for being too impulsive and arrogant telling him that his behavior is going to get everybody killed and oh buddy believe you me you weren't wrong there also in the 104th Cadets are characters like Annie lionhardt who character is that she's mysterious and has no problem placing you beneath her heel like the worm you are on the polar opposite end is Sasha blouse who is lovingly called potato girl after she Huffs down a fat Spud in front of Sergeant Lexa Pro here and send her on her way to the great big ho down in the sky alongside them are Connie Christa yamir and Marco together they make up the top 10 of the 104th Cadets those 10 could pick the branch of their choosing especially the coveted military police and even though they could avoid it all and probably live long healthy lives the majority decide that their Destiny lies within the survey core even JN whose m main reason for enlisting was to become a part of the military police decided that he would join his fellow comrades the only real exception to this rule is Annie but we'll talk about her later because before we get to her this would be the moment when the unthinkable [Music] happens leave it to attack on Titan to be the show that completely flips everything on its head to narratively set up a collision course with a brick wall just when it seemed like things were on the up and up like forget the celebration guys our main character is dead in the fifth episode no less like seriously what the hell is going on we're just witnessing the dismantlement of the characters we assumed would carry on for the rest of the story and the pain of grief that the others had to suffer through speaking of which I think now would be a good time to pause and talk about Mikasa for a bit for not having talked about her up until until now she is one of the most genuine and sincere characters I have ever seen throughout media so strong is her resolve and so devout is she to her cause that she has no problem becoming the tragic heroine of the story so long as it means life and prosperity for Aaron it wouldn't be far off to say that her entire world revolves around Aaron no matter what danger they faced she has always been there to be Aaron's Lifeline literally in listing in the military because she worried her brother would get himself killed if she wasn't there behind him to save his ass turns out she wasn't exactly wrong about that there's no doubt that she loves him from the bottom of her heart she had a Devotion to him that all stem from one night where he taught her to stand up for herself and fight because this is Attack on Titan we're talking about she too has suffered from the cruel hands of the world back when Mikasa was a child she would witness the senseless Slaughter of her family before her very eyes helplessly watching as these cold unfeeling people butchered her loved ones and proceeded to abduct her planning to sell her and leave her to the mercy of the underground world but just when it seems like all hope is lost Aaron suddenly appears he tells the men that he's lost and needs help and when he saw the moment he would Maul the men unleashing a ferocious surprise attack against them and taking them all down revealing this deeply unsettling and Sinister side of Aaron as he repeatedly stabs an already dead man I'm sure this isn't foreshadowing anything down the road however the last remaining man would attack Aaron their lives now rested in her hands and Aaron's next words would forever change the trajectory of her life if you don't fight you can't win at that moment her fear was gone and in the next she would attack the man and end this nightmare but now she had no place to go back to no place to call home her world was gone so Aaron decided to invite her into his wrapping his red scarf around her and telling her to come home it's always a look on her face as she can barely muster up the words to speak that I just find the most heartbreaking Beyond those tears was a deeply embedded gratitude ude for somebody she now held close to her heart somebody who took away her weakness and showed her how to stand up for herself so she promised herself that she'd do anything and everything for this person she was forever indebted to she swore to fight because now she had somebody to fight for this was mikas say resolve and if she stayed down now before the Titan she found herself before she'd betray Aaron and everything he's given to her so she stands ready to fight but because Attack on Titan is absolutely insane one of the Titans skips right past Mikasa and beats the other one's ass Bren goes on a killing spree and even punch one of the tiny titans like a football Mikasa is visibly confused but decides to go with it using the strange Titan to pull off their plan and get to the Supply Depot and as that Titan starts to melt down Aon pops out of it to reveal that he had been piloting it like a Mecca but instead of metal it's a massive flesh suit turns out his dad injected him with Titan juice or something in the middle of the night waking up the next day to the tune of poorly aged new metal music that I keep on finding a way to squeeze into my scripts yeah I know they're unfitting no I will not apologize up only to awaken to those Powers after being swallowed by the the the freon Titan which by the way having Aaron erupt out of said Titan for his first transformation is metal as hell while Armen and Mikasa are glad that Aaron is okay the Army isn't super enthused about the idea of there being an impostor among them so they're ready to straight up end these guys if they can't convince them right then and there that they aren't a threat to humanity and this would all lead to one of my favorite moments in all of Attack on Titan but before we get there it's probably about time we got to talking about Armen to put it simply Armen is a wimp he's the anxious and insecure person of the group who always second guesses himself and feels out of place alongside his friends after all he's the weak link that was always running away from his fights and relying on the strength of others he didn't have anything special about him or anything that made him unique or stand out he was simply a burden that everybody had to bear or at least that's what he believed I feel like Armen is a perfect standin for us as the viewers to really put ourselves into this world and understand the Dynamics of this story it's through his lens that I find myself relating to the most that feeling of being the odd one out who actively wants to help those around him but ends up only adding to the weight on their shoulders there's not a ton of media out there that can really capture the essence of This Bitter emotion that Armen embodies believing himself utterly useless and the beautiful thing is that this couldn't be further from the truth all this self-doubt and self-loathing made him lose faith in himself and believe he could never accomplish anything but the reality was that his friends admired him that day when the wall collapsed armen's decision saved Aaron and Mikasa if it wasn't for him hanis wouldn't have been there and they would have suffered the same fate as their mother they tell him that they're indebted to him because of that and if he doesn't want to believe in himself that's fine but if he's not going to do that then he needs to believe in their belief in him in their eyes he was their only hope the truth was that Armen had it all wrong he wasn't a burden to the group no he was the inter piece he was strong in his own way he inspired them and gave them strength and courage that they didn't know they had he moved them to dream big and think beyond the boundaries of the wall because of that they believed in him and there's something so beautiful to me about how this person who just moments ago was wowing in their own lack of self-worth had now found strength and courage through his newly found res resolve showing how sometimes you really can be Your Own Worst Enemy holding these misconceptions about yourself that keep you from your true potential but now he finally felt like he belonged and he would use the strength that only he had to win them the battles that they couldn't and ultimately because he made the choice to step out into the unknown it would lead to Humanity's first Victory against the Titans success sealing off trust and giving them New Hope speaking of which let's delve a little deeper into how Attack on Titan tackles the concept of choice because it is one of the most interesting ways I've seen it handled this is a world of moral gray one where you don't get the pleasantries of right or wrong the only thing that matters is making the choice you can live with and our first introduction to this comes in the female Titan Arc it all starts with Commander Irwin Smith of the survey core deciding that the best course of of action is to put Aaron under the control of everybody's favorite short King Captain Levi aeran and have them do a test run of Wal Maria's recapture he might seem like the kind of guy who wakes up every morning with fresh hatred but in reality he's just a sweetheart this is when the nice ass Titan as Riner would call it would appear it turns out that this Titan is actually their former comrade Annie who conspired against them for reasons they did not know and the choices that had to be made here sucked as this Titan is chasing Aaron mowing down dozens of soldiers in its path he questions within himself what he should do Levi clearly had a plan but he couldn't just sit around While others sacrificed themselves for him his choices were to either take things into his own hands and save the soldiers or believe in his team and keep himself safe as the key to Future Victory seeing this inner monologue Levi tells Aaron something rather surprising he tells Aaron that there's no wrong choice here what's important is whatever Choice he makes that it be the one that he regrets the least later and like many others surely would have he chooses his team he believes in them in their ability they're the best of the best he felt that they could do this and because pretty much every other show we know uses the power of togetherness as their Ultimate Weapon you expected it to work but no in this Reas reality the squad they they ain't doing too good Aaron at this point feels like he just sent his teammates to their death just to save his own ass if he decided to use his own power maybe they'd still be alive maybe fewer people would have met a tragic end protecting him and you can tell this is a moment that really hurts Aaron this should have been the right choice but what he got instead was the worst possible outcome there was no no right or wrong choice there was only the choice that he had to live with for the rest of his life ultimately Annie is defeated after an encounter within walena where she and Aaron tear the place apart and she seals herself off in a crystal shell to avoid being captured but her emergence opened up a whole new can of worms it was now sure that within their ranks had to be more like Annie and Aaron worst of all they had yet to learn whose side they were on or even what their goal was Humanity had been infiltrated and safety was no longer a guarantee even within the walls the battle revealed something nobody could have expected just when we thought we might have had a a grasp on the story it seems like we knew less than we could have ever imagined the truth was only now just starting to unravel which is just kind of insane considering every episode was so dramatic that it each felt like they could have been like season finales but it was all a setup for a much larger piece starting by taking everyone's world and changing them into entirely new people leaving them as victims of this ruthless world but with iron Wills to stand up and face it and I think there's one character that embodies this the best remember good old horse face John well I'd go as far to say that he had one of the most dynamic character changes in the entire series and made him go from some somebody I look at and think oh goody this dingbat into an actually compelling character that commanded my attention whenever he was on screen initially the whole point of his enlistment was to become a part of the military police and live a cushy life within the innermost wall while seen But as he spent more and more time with his idiot comrades something changed it was like the will of all these other people their hopes and dreams were starting to rub off on him but no one person moved him more than that of Marco bot While most others dismissed Jon as the ding as he was Marco saw something more in him he saw somebody who could draw out the potential of others and lead them to Greatness and when Jon realized that somebody believed in him so firmly like that when it felt like nobody else would he dedicated himself to that Vision trying to live up to Marco's expectations he courageous led the other recruits during the trost attack he made those people see what maros saw in him but this is when things turn for the worst because after their Victory Jon would discover Marco's body the grief Jon feels at this moment is really heartbreaking it really feels like this loss made him lose a part of himself but this would not be the end JN would not let Marco's death be in vain as John would say goodbye to his friend in a funeral P he cemented his new dream he would join the survey Corp and live up to the potential Marco saw in him for him I feel like this moment especially captures the spirit of this series in this moment of death there is also life in grief there is also hope its equal parts Bleak as it is beautiful but that said the way attack on Titan tackle grief it hurts man you can feel the weight of every single death as their family and friends have to keep living in a world without them so instead of letting their flame burn out they carry their Wills with them and keep their Spirits alive but not everybody can there are those who after so much pain can't find it in them to pick themselves up and keep up the fight those who have been dealt in unfair Hands by the world and feel like they can do nothing but submit to it giving us this cruel reminder that the world doesn't care who you are at our core we are just as vulnerable as everybody else but that's not all there is to it what matters is how you choose to face that pain do you let it consume you or do you fight it this story is about the fighters The strugglers Who face this perilous world without any guarantee that their fight will be worth it but what they do know is that nothing will change without making that choice in the first place and sometimes that choice won't be easy sometimes it'll feel like you don't have a choice sometimes it'll feel like you're backed into a corner and the only way out is to become the very demons you face the idea of Fate is one that I find really fascinating the idea that there's this set path that you have to walk whether you like it or not how even if you try to sway away from it your future has already been determined and what we see for the next few chunks of this story is how people confront fate how there are those who willingly walk that road feeling as though they only have one way to their Futures and then there are those who fight against it those who won't settle for the Destiny they see coming and decide to take it into their own hands one such example would be Christa and yamir Krista is a lovely girl who always goes out of her way to help others she's the kind of person to always put herself second to get the approval and praise of those around her yamir on the other hand hates you and everything you stand for off of principle alone yet despite having completely different personalities they actually have more in common than they'd think much like Kista yamir had been living a fake life for a very long time she was picked to be a savior but ended up being thrown away by that same group of people she was supposed to lead finding herself stuck as a Titan for countless years before winding up at the walls her story is tragic she was never able to live her own life never able to be the person she wanted to be her life had been stolen from her and there was no way she could take it back but maybe she could give it back to someone else episode 30 takes us back to a time when these two really met man in the middle of a big ass blizzard chista desperately tries to save this [ __ ] pulling him along as she grows increasingly more tired yamir lags behind watching her knowing fully what she was trying to do chista's goal here wasn't to save Daz it was to die there alongside him she wanted her last deed to look like a noble sacrifice trying to save her comrade but yamir already knew the truth was the illegitimate child of royalty a person who was excommunicated from her family made to change her name and forced to join the military where she would likely meet a quiet end and what I think yamir sees here is not only an opportunity to save chista but also to save herself in a way so she tells her to stand up for herself and change her fate making Christa promis that when she reveals her secret she'll live not as the selfless and empathetic Christa but as her true self Historia rice on the other side of Fate though lie Riner and berold after yamir transforms to protect Historia Levi Squad would emerge and help fend off the Titans that had appeared at the castle they found themselves in and finally two seasons in Aaron gets his first confirmed kill against a Titan which is just hilarious however yamir was left critically injured in the process and even though they had just started dealing with the fact that there was another Titan amongst them they had an even bigger surprise awaiting them as revealed in a scarily casual conversation like seriously it was a very oh by the way kind of thing Riner would admit to Aaron that he was the Armored Titan and that barold was the Colossal Titan I talk about this moment a lot because when you imagine a reveal of this magnitude it's just about always portrayed as this Earth shattering moment a revelation that shakes the very Foundation of the narrative and it still is but just in a very different way the way Attack on Titan drops this on us isn't this big Shonen moment it's two people talking to each other rer just wants to have a heart-to-heart with Aaron about how they had to do this how he needs to join their cause while barold is instilled with the fear of God in the background one MC away from [ __ ] a brick in his pants this whole time they had been on a mission they had no no choice but to pursue every day they felt a deep seated regret a vicious guilt that tore them apart on the inside but it had to be done Aaron didn't hear a word of what Riner said all he saw was the people who mentored him who believed in him for so many years and how they were responsible for that day they inspired him to chase his dreams but they were the source of his nightmares and one of my favorite bits of Animation from the series seriously having a flash of lightning show their Titan forms before they actually transformed was such a badass idea Riner and Barto transform into the armored and colossal Titans having resolves of their own to protect at this point you really feel like you know dick you just got hit with arguably one of the biggest twist in anime history and are absolutely stunned nobody is who they say they are the the walls are a lie things are breaking apart at the scams and even still this show has even more tricks up its sleeve specifically when the fight against these two Titans spill over into the forest what Aaron and Mikasa encounter there leaves them paralyzed that same monster that destroyed their lives all those years ago still wearing That Hideous twisted smile and moments before suffering the same fate as their mother somebody arrives to redeem himself Hanes shows up promising to amend his mistake from the last time he came face to face with this Titan this time he would put his life on the line the way it should have been to save Aaron and Mikasa and he's defeated Aaron had enough this Titan had taken too much away from him and even if he was powerless at this moment he would fight what awakened within him at that moment was the power of the coordinate calling the other Titans attention and tearing The Smiling Titan apart the next moment Aaron directed his attack towards barold and Riner allowing the scouts to escape but yamir decides to stay behind and takes one last moment with Historia before leaving her to help barold and Riner yamir knew it was too late to save herself she may have been more bound to fate than she thought but if she could save somebody else maybe just maybe it would all be worth it in the aftermath the military would discover that the Titans within the walls were villagers from within transformed against their will not only that but there was another Titan discover that posed a threat unlike anything they'd ever seen before and I mean just look at him he's a [ __ ] monkey Humanity now found itself in the dark more than ever the freedom they chased only seemed like it was getting further and further away but they still held on to hope and chased their future with their key to it Aaron Jagger so if you can believe it here's where things get complicated his story's father Rod rice reemerges and abducts both his daughter and Aaron to return the founding Titan to that of Royal Blood by having his story eat Aaron and considering everything histor has gone through being shunned or abandoned by pretty much everybody she's ever loved you really feel for her at this moment because you get it she's not looking at the bigger picture here all she sees after a lifetime of pretending she didn't exist is an opportunity to be loved and wanted meanwhile Aaron is just having a minor psychological breakdown in the background After he finds out the truth of his p power turns out his dad slaughtered the entire rice family took the power of the founding Titan for himself and then gave himself up to Aaron that one night to then carry on said power learning that his entire Foundation is shaken this whole time he thought he was the hero of the story The One people looked at as their savior from the imprisonment of the world but the path he had made turned out to be formed from a mountain of bodies maybe he wasn't the one leading Humanity to Victory maybe he was the one leading it to its destruction nah that couldn't be it with the truth now revealed Historia decides to take her chance and fulfill her duty to her father that is until she realizes something she had made a promise she was no longer the person who sought the acceptance of others putting the needs and wants of others before herself to appease everyone she could she wasn't chista anymore she she was Historia and she would live under nobody's thumb anymore she was her own person and would make her life as she wanted but Rod got kind of miffed about this and took the Titan juice for himself becoming this big worm looking fell I mean seriously he looks like a walking talking boner and would ultimately be taken down by Historia finally she had cut down the ties that held her down to her past and could now move into her new life as the rightful Queen within the walls and while we've been learning about the royal family we also learn about the banished one the acran family this Arc introduces us to Kenny the Ripper the man who raised Levi he was the one who taught him to fight and survive in the underground getting him ready for a world that wanted him dead but after a while Kenny would dip without so much as a word and unfortunately the two wouldn't meet again until now Kenny now worked for Rod rice as the leader of those who were tasked to take down the scouts Levi included quick break let me tell you the fight they have here is so beautifully animated and so beautifully choreographed man major props to arumi amay for creating one of the most strikingly fluid bits of Animation I have ever seen not to mention the creativity alongside the drama here is just fantastic also fantastic is the giant cat bulldozer outside my house making a [ __ ] ton of noise holy God Kenny seems like a damn near unbeatable opponent until he's accidentally taken out as a casualty of the rod rice boner Titan but before he goes he also delivers one of the most profound moments in the series that I absolutely adore episode 47 gives you a really fascinating Peak into Kenny's character this whole time we saw him as the villain of the storyline somebody who chased down our heroes and swore to end the survey core but the truth was was that he was just another man with the resolve of his own all that time ago when he began his quest for Revenge he found himself before Yuri rice the former king of eldia if Kenny could kill this man it meant that he might not be persecuted anymore all he had to do was strike him down only that's not how things worked out instead the king would beg for forgiveness before Kenny after feeling like the entire world hated him his whole life he could have never expected that this would be the moment where he would not only find acceptance but also a place to belong this moment would touch Kenny so much to the point where the man he had originally set out to kill had now become his best friend he would now devote his life to him moved by his kindness and inspired by his power that respect would make Kenny stay beside the rice family's side even after his friends passing these would be the moments Kenny would reminisce on before Levi with Titan Serum by his side at this moment he could finally obtain the power he was always looking for he could become a Titan right now but he hasn't done it and it's at that moment he gets it why Yuri did what he did why the world works the way it does everyone is obsessed drunken was something that's consumed their lives be it alcohol love any number of things could drive a person mad and Kenny's poison of choice was power he was always chasing the thing taken away from him as he was relegated to the underground always fighting to regain that which was stolen from him you can see the realization on his face this chasy put himself in this dream that he pursued had consumed him so he chooses is to end this curse giving the Titan serum to Levi and sets himself free it took me a while to realize what the story was trying to tell me here but when it clicked with me it really opened my eyes to who Kenny was he was a victim of himself consumed with something he really never needed in the first place because he found fulfillment somewhere else in others despite telling himself he would never make for a good parent he still took pride in raising Levi despite his blood Lust For The King he learned compassion from him there are a lot of intricacies that I really appreciate with this deeply flawed person whose struggles with demons he didn't even know he had until it was too late and this would be a massive contrast to what we see unfold later as all this was going on the soldiers would start to lose a piece of themselves that they would never get back while we've seen the scouts face the Titans countless times they now found themselves targeting each other thanks to the order by rice the people they once called Brothers in Arms were now aiming down sights on them ready to kill or be killed despite Humanity needing to be in a state of unity against the rising threat they were more divided than ever before so when people like Armen have to pull the trigger to save Jon's life it destroys him especially when he discovers the only reason he could react in time was that the girl seconds away from ending Jean hesitated and this moment is when Armen realizes that things could never be the same he was now a different person and not one he was proud of thinking that moment's hesitation meant that that girl must have been kind that she was more human than he was more rapidly than ever the scouts were becoming more and more like the monsters they sought to fight the longer things things went on the more it felt like there was no price they wouldn't pay if it meant achieving their goal meanwhile inside the walls [ __ ] is happening the military would overtake the government in aoup toat I hope I said that right I don't know I didn't look it up but I think I said that right overthrowing The Establishment in favor of the rightful Queen Historia but the whole time they do this the king sits back on his throne menacingly unfazed by those ATT attempting to overtake his authority appearing vexed by the ants in the presence of his divinity it was then at this moment that one of the Nobles kicked his seat and he goes oh dinner time already bum ass King gag is A+ and I won't hear [ __ ] from any of you and with the military now in charge they decide to return to the place that started this all to reclaim Shan Sheena the return to Shan Sheena Arc is one of the most intense dramatic and chaotic battles I have ever seen in any media period everything that has been building for the last 50 episodes explodes in a war of attrition it's a fight where it seems like neither side wants this but has to carry on for their survival even still Armen wanted to talk to the people that not long ago were like brothers to him fighting alongside one another and helping each other grow maybe this doesn't have to be solved with Bloodshed maybe all they have to do is just talk but it was too late for that their paths were already made their Fates already sealed in the eyes of the Warriors it was do or die and with that ultimatum sacrifices had to be made if either side was to emerge Victorious for as bold and Brash as Attack on Titan is let me tell you that I don't think I was expecting it to kill off two of its most important characters in one Fell Swoop like this Arn entrusting the mission to Levi as he sacrifices himself and the remaining troops outside the walls is a really crazy moment that embodies just how much these characters are willing to throw away for their dreams it's incredibly distressing having to hear all these people's thoughts moments before their slaughter their dreams their regrets all of it flashing before their eyes as they're struck down it's one thing to see a squad wiped out but it's an entirely different level of turmoil when you get to hear this group of people practically pleading for their lives and inside the walls Armen would sacrifice himself to get rid of the monster that took so much away from them he was tired of being the one always running away always too scared to fight always relying on the strength of others this time it was up to him if Humanity was to emerge Victorious so instead of running he would take the full brunt of the CLA 's attack and drain him of everything he could to ensure Aaron could sneak behind him and take him down the battle was won but now Humanity had lost their Guiding Light and a group of friends had lost their closest companion but as fate would have it they both held on barely Clinging On To Life episode 55 is one of my favorite episodes of the entire series the drama of this episode all comes from one decision we've already reached the massive war War Arc but now we just have one decision that changes everything with both Armen and Irwin alive and Levi with a Titan serum it's all a question of who does he turn into a Titan and who does he Let Die it seems like the only choice that the survivors are even looking at is Irwin after all his leadership had Advanced them this far in the first place he had directed them towards the brighter future that everyone had longed for but on the other side are Aaron and Mikasa both unable to let their friend just die they plead with Levi that they still have so much to do with Armen there was still so much more that they wanted to experience with him and above all that they needed him they simply couldn't imagine life without him but Levi's mind was already set he was going to bring Arn back however this would be when he speaks returning to a time in his memories when he was an innocent child with a spark of curiosity one that would set him down this path but now that innocence was gone Irwin had led countless people to their demise all for the sake of his dream and in this Quest that innocent child was lost what remained was a man Shackled to a Dream from which there was no release if Levi was to bring him back now all he'd be doing is bringing him back to that hell so instead Levi would set Arin free and choose Armen and if you thought Attack on Titan would put the brakes on here after all that then you must not know what show you're watching I think a lot of us had gathered that there were others Beyond the Wall but just how elaborately built the narrative was outside of it I think caught many of us by surprise it wasn't quite as simple as there being another world out there it was more like a world that didn't want them to be a part of it villainized and Cast Away for Centuries by the nation of marlay and it's that place where this story all began where Aaron's father first endured the Injustice that entered him into the cruel cycle of Vengeance that got everyone here in the first place it was his task to lead his people to their salvation to save the subjects of yamir from the Fate that awaited them and to complete his task he would have a child with the last subject of royal descent in marlay Dina Fritz teaching him his ways and using him as a tool for his Vengeance raising this child to understand the world as one of hatred and Malice one that looked at him as something to be trampled over unless he fought back and ironically enough this same child would be the one to banish his parents to their damnation I can't begin to express just how mean this show can be man it's already bad enough that Gia was sold out by his own kid and had to watch his wife being turned into a Titan before him but then they decide to hit me with the fact that Diana is actually the same smiling Titan that took Aaron's Mom all that time ago and if this isn't a Pog moment I don't know what is and just before Gia is turned a man of his past comes along to save him giving him the power of the attack Titan that he'd give to his son a man by the name of Aaron Krueger As Time passed every Titan outside the walls would be defeated and with that they were now able to explore the outside world seeing sights that they had never seen before going out until they reached the point where the eldians were expelled to parody and just a little further beyond that was the ocean after everything they had been through together after all the hardship and suffering they were finally here they had made it to the place of their dreams or so they thought while everybody is taking in the moment reving in the fact that they had finally made it here Aaron stares off distantly into the NeverEnding ocean this place the moment he wanted to share with his friends was right before him but something was still wrong the place of his dreams had become his nightmare because what lay beyond the ocean wasn't the freedom they had hoped for no it was the enemy the people that cast them off to this place the ones that viewed them as the Devils beneath them this was supposed to be the end but it was nothing more than the beginning but there was still hope hope that maybe just maybe if those enemies were gone then they would truly have freedom before moving on to the final season of Attack on Titan because that's fun it's worth noting that this is the season where the series would change hands and go from Studio to Studio mappa I doubt I really need to introduce them but just in case you don't know they're the insane Studio that brought you the likes of Chainsaw man Jujutsu kaisen the second season of Vinland Saga and jerion Ice to name a few needless to say they've got some weight behind their name and this was important because Studio wit felt like they couldn't give the final season the Justice it deserved per kensuke taishi whose name I'm sure just mispronounced right there the producers wanted to take the production of the series even further and mappa was one of the few Studios that could really do that and deliver nonetheless the final season of Attack on Titan is where this series completely flips the entire narrative on its head several years later we find ourselves in the nation of marlay a country that used Titans as their weapons for Conquest it was here that the warrior Titans would call home and return to after their failed mission to bring back the coordinate from parody and the crazy thing was that these Warriors weren't the bloodthirsty monsters parody looked at them as but rather they were just people as it turns out their Beginnings are much more tragic than you might expect the truth was that these people carried a hope one where the subjects could live a life of peace and equality instead of the vicious oppression they had endured for centuries and so they carried out the will of marlay despite the very people in the crossfire being the same as them and even though it tore away at them they held on to that dream maybe the saddest part is that these people are ultimately victim of circumstance they were raised early to act as weapons for the greater good while their families completely forgot to love and accept them for who they were they were forcibly given the resolve of a past generation that carried all this hatred that they then poured into their children leading to the central theme of this season that is the NeverEnding cycle of violence and with their failure on parody it was only a matter of time before that cycle would begin a new things were shifting in marlay they knew parody would not sit quietly after what marlay did to them during this time a young boy named Falco would introduce Riner to this Homeless looking fellow in a scene that is absolutely chilling to watch as the people of marlay learned the true history of their nation and parody above Riner would look on in horror as a demon of his past sat across him the Marlan had been assured that no harm would ever come to them with the power of the founding Titan within the peaceful King Fritz but with that power now taken marlay faced a threat unlike anything they had ever seen a fiend who would stop at nothing to accomplish his desires and his name was Aaron Jagger okay wow this is getting really depressing but uh I'd like to take this moment to remind you that there is a spin-off series of Attack on Titan called Junior High where there is uh lots of cutesy nice stuff uh Armen is in a bunny suit he he's got four cheeseburgers it's all around just a much more pleasant time all right back to the disparity what would happen next is Aaron's assault on marlay just like the attack on Shan Sheena all those years ago Aaron would lay waste to everything taking people's homes lives hopes and dreams all in one devastating strike and probably the most ironic part part of this all is that in all of this destruction he would be the reason for the birth of a new resolve one character important to this season is Gabby a girl who is looked at as a prodigy and next in line to hold the armor Titan she puts in so much work day and and day out all for one reason she wants to prove the worth of the subjects prove that they're on equal footing that they can all live normal lives and escape the persecution of being the Devils but all this effort would come crumbling down at the hands of Aaron with this attack the subjects would undoubtedly once again be looked at in fear all the work she had put in over the years to give the subjects a good name was now tarnished and she knew it so just like Aaron and shean Sheena a new resolve was born within her heart one that promised the demise of Aaron jger and the island devils and the first victim of her assault would be none of other than Sasha blouse in Gabby's eyes Sasha was one of the monsters that took everything from her but in the eyes of Sasha's comrades she was somebody that they considered family the bitter cycle of Revenge had taken so many people yet there seemed to be no end in sight this was only the beginning there was still more to Aaron's plot than just this attack and that plot involved his half brother Zeke joerger until this season we haven't really learned much about Zeke but I feel like he's one of the most interesting characters in this series being born into this world as a tool for his parents' will he always felt unloved by them he never really got the chance to be part of a family and only felt valued by his parents whenever he embraced his role in the eldian restoration efforts he was stuck in a life where he didn't get to be his own person and instead would be made to fight for other people's dreams NE needless to say this made Zeke build resentment towards them but he would find solace in somebody that he could just talk with and Escape it all for a while that person would be the holder of the Beast Titan Tom saver for hours they'd simply toss a baseball around talking about their lives and discussing their Futures one of these days sa would tell Zeke his story how he lost his family because of his Heritage and took the responsibility of the Beast Titan as a means to shorten in his life at that moment recognizing the pain the subjects had endured for centuries they devised a plan to free their people and lead them to their salvation a dream where the Titans were no more with the power of the founding Titan they would change the subject's biology and leave them unable to reproduce slowly phasing them out of existence a peaceful way of getting rid of the eldians that would come to be known as the eldian euthanization plan but just like any other result olve in this series it came with sacrifice to ensure his position as the Beast Titan Zeke would sell his parents out to the military just to prove his loyalty and carry on his mission leading the way for the events of Attack on Titan to transpire in the first place Zeke is honestly another character that I feel for a lot that feeling of needing to meet the expectations that people have on you pushing their dreams onto you without considering what it is that you want to do it's something I think a lot of us can relate to and man it's tough especially when you expect to feel love from them and the only time you receive it is when you be what it is they want you to be that feeling of being undesired and unwelcome in your own home it's an awful feeling and it can really change your outlook on the world for the worse as a result so it's just very interesting for me to watch how a character like Zeke tackles all of this how he finds reason in his life and becomes his own person because of it but also how all that negativity affected that dream into becoming Something warped and twisted how it seems like he never took the time to stop and ask himself what it was he was truly doing here because reality here was that just like his parents he was pushing his dream onto the others whether they liked it or not and all this is what I think makes this season so interesting the entirety of Attack on Titan has always showcased a morally ambiguous world one where there is no definite good or bad but here that line seems much more blurred than ever the person who was once Humanity's Saving Grace was now starting to seem more and more like the monsters they fought against but then again maybe this was all part of an even greater plan maybe this Darkness Aaron had surrounded himself in was all for the betterment of parody even still nobody knew what to believe even anymore nobody knew what cause was worth fighting for all they could do was believe they decided to trust in the person they had always put their faith in that he was doing the right thing even after he hit them where it hurt the most telling Mikasa that he always hated her for feeling the need to be a constant Thorn at his side her need to make herself useful to him he would beat Armen down telling him he was weak and useless praying on the insecurities he had always carried with him all all that mattered right now at this very moment was his dream and Aaron would cast everything aside if it meant achieving it even the people he cherished most God man this this is getting sad at this point I think I just need a quick break to to regroup give me like five I see like five okay we'll get right back into it that's no problem that's not long after Aaron and Zeke were moments away from accomplishing their task inches away from uniting and activating the power of the founding Titan and this would be one of those moments in the show where my jaw hit the floor because Gabby at the last possible second would shoot Aaron with a sniper rifle and complete her task she had successfully taken down the man who tore her life apart and saved the eldians from being erased without them even knowing it yeah right let's not forget what show we're watching come on Zeke still got his hands on Aaron's head and suddenly found themselves in the paths and at its Center was the coordinate where every eldian life stemmed and connected it was here with the original Titan yamir the real one that they could bring their dreams into reality only this is where there'd be a slight change of plans as it turns out Aaron has his own plan and only use Zeke as his key to the paths but Zeke wants to convince Aaron that his way is the right way every grievance stemmed from the man they called their father brainwashing them to become weapons for his his vision so Zeke would take Aaron through their father's memories to prove his resolve but instead of that it was here that an unexpected truth would reveal itself it was in his memories that they would see not the heartless Savage Zeke expected but a broken down husk of a man filled with fear and remorse only being able to do what he did because of one person in his ear that told him to keep going that person was his very own son Aaron after the slaughter of the rice family gisha would see Zeke walking up to him with tears in his eyes all he can do is tell Zeke how he regrets that he never got the chance to be the father that he deserved and failed to see him as the son he should have treated him as and in gre's final plea to Zeke from father to son he tells him to stop Aaron at any cost at this moment everything Zeke believed was shaken it was never his father who was the villain the person pulling the strings all along was his very own brother in desperation Zeke commands yir to continue with the euthanization plan only to be halted by Aaron for centuries yamir had been tied down to the one thing that controlled her every decision her entire life 2,000 years ago yamir was nothing more than a servant to the original ruler king Fritz who would stumble upon a strange power that would turn her into the original Titan with this power she would Aid the king in taking over other lands including that of marlay and ignite the war that led to the subject's persecution in the first place the tragedy of this story is that while King Fritz only saw her as a puppet for him to use as he pleased she loved him devoting every fiber of her being towards him so much so that 2,000 years later she still obeys the command of his descendants out of love for him but Aaron would tell her that this wasn't the only way she didn't have to live her life for anybody else after so much time she shouldn't have to be Shackled to the king anymore for the first time somebody offered something to her that she could never obtain by herself freedom and so she chooses Aaron over the Royal bloodline giving way for Aaron's plan to begin for as much of a banger as the rumbling gives us as an OP same guys that gave us the theme for Yakuza kuami 2 by the way I cannot begin to express just how utterly terrifying the rumbling is after all the foreshadowing and buildup we've had for the last few arcs it all comes together in a way I don't think any of us expected what Aaron decides on to get his freedom is the demise of everybody else bringing with him his own apocalypse and man I've seen countless different animes and Mangus portray their own version of that apocalypse just thinking of some of the most iconic ones brings to mind things like the third impact from NG and the eclipse from berserk which are both just mind-bogglingly horrifying in their own ways and permeate your soul for days on end the rumbling is another very special one in the fact that it is both a blind attack that doesn't care who you are and yet also one that feels uniquely personal play Back Country by avenge sevenfold I wasn't supposed to say that one out loud bringing with it this myasthma of Despair everywhere they go and this would be especially proven when the rumbling reaches marlay and as we poke our heads deeper and deeper into the NeverEnding abyss and it stares back I'd like to take this moment to remind you that attack on Titan collaborated with a skin care company called Uno that gave us these fantastic little commercials where Aaron and Levi told you how great the company is and you should take better care of your skin all right then let's go back one missing piece of the puzzle that the story presents at this point that's a lot of peas oh my God the scouts had actually visited marlay in the hopes of reaching peace but that quickly became a far cry when they got around to seeing how their people were treated in this country it was awful there was a dee rooted resentment that spans centuries and it was really upsetting to see there's something about watching all this hatred based on sins that this generation of people didn't commit that really shows you how shallow and heartless humankind can be at their worst but there's also a moment here that shows Humanity at their best because the scouts found comfort in their fellow people coming together in what felt like a celebration of life reveling in the fact that while they might not be living the lives they wanted they were still here and they made it this far they could toss away everything for a moment all the burdens and hardships and just be free with one another all except for one at this point in time Aaron already knew that this endeavor would be fruitless he knew this place would be one he would flatten later on so when he sees an LM boy named Ramsay being attacked in an alley he doesn't cut in to stop them after all how dare he consider being a savior here what difference would it make if he saved this boy now if it meant he would only be crushing him later he takes him back to the Elian Camp afterward and here with Mikasa he he can only think to ask her one question what does he mean to her and after a moment's hesitation she tells him that he's family you can see the disappointment seep into Aaron the response wasn't what he wanted but even worse he knew that would be the outcome he thought that maybe if he tested fate it would come back with a different result but just like every other time it played out exactly as it did in his Memories the same memories that crushed his dreams at the ocean instead of the Elation at making his dream come true he felt disappointment if the ocean was here it meant that the enemy was on the other side and his Destiny was reality every last hope and dream would be crushed beneath him and with it the lives that They Carried and as fate would have it he would arrive at marlay in his final moments we would see Ramsay with his brother showing off the money he had been collecting saving it all up so he could take his family out of the harsh camp where they lived and get a new home and as Ramsay is doing this there's a panic in the background the Earth shook as the monsters arrived at the shore destroying everything in their path people would run but it was hopeless and in the next moment we would see the helpless child's life coldly taken there was no Redemption for Aaron all along it was he who renewed The Vicious Cycle of Destruction he sought to free himself from whether he wanted to or not he was always the villain of the story but even still Armen and Mikasa had to save their friend the final battle of this series is a labor of love that shines as quite possibly the most amazing moment of the series for several reasons to begin with the most obvious is that the action here is beyond incredible choreography animation colors sound design everything is just tuned up to 11 and it feels amazing not to mention the scouts fighting against the shells of every holder of the nine Titans is a fantastic way to give us a dramatic fight that feels both impossible and emotional as they see the ghosts of their former comrades I've also got to shout out the moment of armen's capture because it gave me a visual that I have not found the restraint to stop meming in the week since yes I know I'm a child no I will not apologize let's move on what follows is easily one of my favorite scenes in the series the one where arm talks to Zeke in the paths a man who had had such firm resolve before now found himself defeated one who no longer sees the point of life anymore to him it's all a meaningless cycle of life and death so what did it matter if Aaron took out Humanity after all it might actually be for the best maybe the only way to break the cycle was to end everything maybe that was really the only way to reach their freedom Armen can't reach Zeke there's nothing at this moment he can say to change his mind but then he looks down and pulls a leaf out from the sand under him he recounted time in his childhood when he Aaron and Mikasa raced to a tree on a hill in the fall to anybody else this Leaf would mean nothing but to him it was a symbol of a time that he held dear something special that meant everything to him and at that moment Zeke saw the same baseball that he and saver tossed around for hours and hours on end he realizes that life does have meaning that the very fact that we made it here meant that we were special enough that it was up to us to Define our lives and make those cherished moments that made it worth living maybe not everything needed to have a point in all honesty maybe he would be happy just playing catch Forever at this realization the titans of the scouts prior comrades would join their cause and help in the fight against Aaron and Zeke would emerge in rcing the world for one last time as Levi would arrive to strike him down finally completing the task that Aaron gave him all that time ago but it wasn't quite over yet Aaron would emerge again in a colossal form and face off against his former best friend the scouts finally had an opportunity to end this nightmare and the person tasked with striking the final blow would be Mikasa but during their attack she would be taken to a different reality a reality where she told Aaron the truth outside that refugee camp and they went to live peacefully in seclusion in this reality Aaron couldn't bring himself to act out the rumbling and as a result marlay would extinguish the entirety of parody everybody they knew was gone knowing how short of a time he had left he only asked one thing of her when he's gone he wants her to throw the scarf she's worn around her for so many years away to get rid of that precious object that binds her Destiny to his he wants her to live a long life forget all about him and be free but she refuses the final attack begins Armen fights with all he has against Aaron while Levi creates an opening for Mikasa to enter the colossals mouth she rushes in catches one last glance into Aaron's eyes and then [Music] this is it this is the moment where everything becomes clear where the heartbreaking truth finally comes to light and the moment that brought countless different adults to tears self-included to say that this conclusion is devastating would be underselling it because Aaron and armen's last conversation here is the very essence of this series Aaron had taken nearly everything it was his fault that 80% of the world was now gone that Armen and Mikasa had to slay him and save the world that his mother would be taken from him and begin his Rampage in the first place the blood on his hands was something that could never be washed away even by The NeverEnding ocean with Nothing Left to Lose Aaron drops that cold apathetic Veil from here on it was one friend talking to another repenting for the sins he had done he didn't want any of this he didn't want to die he didn't want to lose his friends but it was too late since the very beginning he had been locked into this fate his entire life he was consumed by the thought of Breaking Free from the Captivity of the Walls by being able to live in a world where he could live happily with his friends and family and ironically this Chase would make him bound to a new set of chains the truth was that Aaron had become a slave to Freedom his dream would become a NeverEnding nightmare where he would never be free and even though Armen had a true grasp of the horrors his friend would bring he wouldn't let Aaron go it was now time for armen's truth this was his fault he was the one who gave gave Aaron the dream of freedom in the first place if it wasn't for him Aaron may have lived a normal life where he never had to know the pain that he does now and because of that he decided to shoulder Aaron's sins with him their Fates were tied no matter what punishment awaited them they were going to be friends to The Bitter End embracing for one last time before coming back to a Time past with no memory of that conversation it wasn't until Aaron's defeat that it would all come flooding back this moment where Aaron would let go of the monster he had become and simply be human remembering everything Armen sees Mikasa with the lifeless head of his best friend everything Aron said had come true exactly the way he said it with his defeat the Titans were no more everybody had one final moment to reunite with the people they cared for Falco reunites with Gabby Levi sees his Fallen comrades and and even Riner who had been raised in the cycle of hatred meets his mom the first thing he thinks to tell her is that he's no longer the Armored Titan expecting that she would no longer see any value in him but instead she was glad she was wrong the entire time she didn't need whatever it is she thought she needed all she ever needed was him I'm not crying damn it you are while Aaron had taken nearly everything he would also leave behind a world where everybody could start a new in the aftermath however all everyone can think about is Aaron they wished he would have thought about himself instead of sacrificing it all and entrusting the future to them they were afraid of what awaited them but just like every time before They Carried Hope on that same Battlefield Mikasa would meet with yamir maybe the only one that could understand why yamir would do so much for somebody she loved and just like her she had to let go after all those years of servitude to the king Bound by her love for him it was finally time she let go and rest and with that all that was left now was to go back into the world and rebuild it just as Aaron had promised this event would not end conflict parody would brace itself for the inevitable retaliation that would come in due time while the remaining Scouts and warriors come together in an attempt to maintain peace they don't know if they can do it but they decide to do what they've always done and fight for their beliefs after all Aaron would never be the one to end the cycle the world they now lived in wasn't a product of one sole man's dream it was a result of everybody's choices every single decision made by every person had led to this very moment in other words we were all to blame we had built a world where a person like this could exist but now there was an opportunity to set things right it was now up to everyone to bring about the world that they wanted but before our story ends there's still one last goodbye to be made we find ourselves at Aon final resting place the tree on the hill where Aaron Armen and Mikasa held many Cherished Memories Mikasa finally had the chance to grieve the loss of the person she loved more than anything he was her world and now he was gone the only thing she want is to be able to see Aaron again and that's when he responds the final piece of this ending shows a tree where Aaron rested growing as Generations past and countless conflicts arose after enough time a child would find the tree with a new opening promising that the cycle continues there are a couple of series over the years that have had a hard time saying goodbye to seeing their world stories and characters for the last time is heartbreaking after you've grown so attached to them and it's crazy for me to think that a series I found out about because of some game my friends were playing in high school would be the one to move me so much the story of Attack on Titan is dark and frightening one that shows you the cruel side of humanity in a way that no other Series has it's a place where everything exists in gray one that reminds you that Mankind's greatest threat is and always will be itself how the pursuit of our dreams can be the very thing that leads us to our ruin hell at first I thought the Titans were meant to be some kind of divine test for Humanity to see if they could unite like pixus said and take this threat down but in instead what the Titans end up being our living breathing Testaments to our failures we're not perfect nor will we ever be but at the same time that's not what we should be either Attack on Titan reminds us that the darkness around us isn't what defines our life flawed as we may be life is a precious thing that allows us to experience moments that make it worth living and I never thought a series about goofy running Giants would be the one that would resonate with me so much it's also pretty clear that I'm not the only one Attack on Titan has impacted it's just just a kind of story that grips people in a way like not much else can there's a fondness there and attachment so much so that even mikas as Japanese voice actors found herself getting emotional after a last line so I'd like to thank hajim isayama for making this story you know it's kind of funny looking back on it the story of him chasing his dream to be published and weekly shown in only to be confronted by disappointment is quite a familiar story at this point as a matter of fact I find it so interesting that during an interview when he was asked what character he resembled the most his original answer was Armen the person who inspired hope and his friends and carried them to Victory but as of late he has felt like the person he resembles most is actually Aaron saying that he was part of an inner me that I didn't really want to see isayama has talked about some of the darkness he's faced in people that actually inspired him to make this series in the first place the number one incident was one where he encountered a drunken man when he was working at an internet cafe the inspiration here is dealing was something that you couldn't get through to something that didn't care about you or who you are and while this concept would become the Titans I think what it actually boils down to is the idea of humanity itself being this overwhelming Collective that can't be reasoned with each one of us carries that same Darkness deep within us that we pretend isn't there but even still we're here even if it means we go up against what feels like unwinable odds we still fight what this boils down to is a story about Humanity how there are those who struggle for their dreams and then those who struggle in the Wake Left Behind creating a cycle of hardship that never ends and when someone tries to break that cycle this is the kind of story we get there's something so heartbreaking about Aaron's Journey what he always longed for was freedom from the boundaries placed on him he was never satisfied with being stuck in a cage because he wanted more and with a tragic event in Shan Sheena he would lose one of the most important people in his life from the monsters that pillaged his home home all that mattered now was exacting his revenge on the enemy so when he decided everybody outside the walls was his enemy it was like watching Aaron become the very same monster he vowed to end renewing the cycle in his own Rampage without even attaining the freedom he so desperately craved instead in his Chase he would become ens snared by the idea how ironic in that his quest for Freedom he'd be enslaved by it living solely for the hope that maybe one day he could finally be free but what ended up setting him free was being released from that chase in the process granting so many others a second chance and I feel that the best example of This Is Mikasa one thing I had tried to find an explanation for is how it was that Mikasa was able to cast everything aside and deal the Fatal blow to the person that she loved most I mean from the very start all she ever wanted was to save Aaron the way that he saved her and then it hit me that that's exactly what she did in her last act to him she was able to save Aaron from himself granting him that long desired freedom and releasing her from his bind but even still she wouldn't let go she was no longer bound by her tie to Aaron it was now her choice to live with him in her heart carrying that same scarf until the end of her days where she'd laid next to Aaron and with all these events you realize the beauty of it all this is a story about living for every moment of sadness there's celebration for every heartbreak there's new love to be found I think there's a lot of people here who kind of missed the point with the ending because it seemed like people wanted a definitive conclusion one where either Aaron was simply the villain of the story that wiped out all of humanity or others who wanted a moment of redemption that saved the character we once recognized as the hero the truth is though that real life is never that simple it's a complex thing where sometimes you don't know what to feel or how to react all you can do is try to push forward holding dear those precious memories that make you advance towards the future and if that isn't the essence of humanity I don't know what is I'm I'm not going to lie here right this is probably my fifth or sixth revision of this script and I could I could go on but I think it's good to just ended here I'm not even joking the original script for this video was something in the ballpark of 2 and 1/2 hours long so trust me when I say I could go on and even with that I still couldn't find a good place to talk about how the armor Titan was actually based on Brock Lesnar and God damn it this wouldn't be a c Justin video if there wasn't at least one wrestling reference I guess what I want to say is that beyond the horror of this show of which there is plenty of there's a message that resonates so firmly with me the world is only as dark as you let it be but when you look for it the world can be so beautiful it gives us an opportunity to make those Cherished Memories in the first place and with that a reminder that no conclusion is the result of any one person The World Is A Place full of people making making choices that are backed by the people that they used to know in love and based on the people that they used to know in love so even though it may seem impossible the world can be changed all we have to do is [Music] fight

Channel: Cynical Justin

Views: 173,898

Keywords: Cynical, Justin, Movie, Analysis, Review, Attack on Titan, Eren Jaeger, Mikasa, Ackerman, Levi, Armin, Armored Titan, Colossal Titan, The Final Season, Beast Titan, Rumbling

Id: IrZxhZk8Hp0

Length: 85min 45sec (5145 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 29 2024