In 2023, we should expect the final series of one of the most successful anime – Attack on Titan . Season 4 heated up the events to the limit and radically changed the universe, significantly expanding it and showing what is behind the walls. The creators of the title filmed 130 chapters of the Attack on Titan manga. Season 5 plans to reveal the remaining events and show fans heartbreaking scenes.
In this article, we will tell you how Attack on Titan ended , and we will also analyze future scenes in a more detailed way, based on the history of the manga. Read on to find out if Eren can fulfill his vow.
HOW DID SECASON 4 END?
In previous seasons, the walls surrounding the survivors of Paradise have fallen, releasing an entire army of colossal giants . Under Eren’s orders, they set off on a devastating march across the continents, destroying everything that gets under their feet. In such a cruel way, he plans to bring Paradise to freedom – for this he is ready to destroy everyone who lives outside the island. Armed followers – Yeagerists – help Eren with the implementation of his plans.
Meanwhile, Eren’s former friends – Mikasa, Armin, Jean and the rest – are looking for a way to stop not only the unstoppable wall of colossi, but also their leader. To do this, they have to unite with representatives of the Azumabito clan from the kingdom of Hizuru, the remnants of the Survey Corps and carriers of the essence of the werewolf giants.The world’s last line of defense against the colossi breaks instantly: huge creatures emerge from the sea, followed by the cyclopean Founder. The meeting of Eren and former friends who want only peace becomes the final moment of the final series . The last chapter in the history of the world will begin with it.
MANGA ENDING ATTACK ON TITAN
Season 5 reveals the preparations for stopping Eren, the final battle with the Founder, and an epilogue.
The wall of colossi crosses the sea and reaches the continent, ruthlessly trampling the coastal city. It turns out that Flock caught on to the sailing ship, and already before the plane was sent, he shoots through the fuel tank, greatly slowing down the squad. Hange decides to stay behind to fight the approaching Ghoul. The woman appoints Armin as the new commander of the Survey Corps . At the cost of her life, she will briefly delay the colossi and finally meet her long-fallen comrades.
During the discussion of the plan, the squad makes a mental connection with Eren, who admits that he is not going to stop. The only way to stop what he started is to kill him.
The plane with the group of Armin and Mikasa gets to the skeleton of the Founder. Upon disembarking, it is revealed that Eren is creating on his bones the were-titans that have ever existed, including Berthold and Zeke. Eren’s main problem is Armin, and so one of the titans captures him, forcing Mikasa and the others to fight the shells in order to save his friend.
The battle is watched from afar by Annie’s surviving father and Reiner’s mother. Annie arrives on the winged titan Falco to rescue the squad from the Founder’s skeleton and helps them free Peak and Armin.
Meanwhile, Armin finds himself in the world of the Way, where he meets up with Zeke and Eren. Finally, he can talk to the older brother of a former friend. He manages to convince him. Thus, the shells of the titans begin to fight along with the squad, and the colossi stop . Falco takes the survivors to the rock fort, while Armin turns into a Colossus, as does Eren.
Their goal is to capture the ” centipede ” with the power of the Progenitor . To get reinforcements, Yeager turns all the survivors into mindless giants.
Mikasa and Levi attempt one last time to assault the giant Eren, this time succeeding in getting to the real body. Mikasa cuts off his head, killing Yeager and thus finally stopping him.
In the world of the Path, Eren tells his plan to Armin and returns the memories he once stole. Severing the Founder’s head destroys the power of the giants and turns everyone back into humans. Mikasa hides with Eren’s head, wanting to bury it under a tree near Shiganshina, which they loved as children.
Eren, as promised at the beginning of the manga, destroyed all the titans, albeit at a colossal cost. When friends remember that he did it for them and for the whole world, they forgive him to the extent that they can. In the epilogue, it turns out that Mikasa left the squad that became ambassadors, buried Eren’s head and was able to live a long life.
She was buried in her favorite red scarf.The very last pages of the extra chapter show the destruction of a modern city in the place of Shiganshina , a still growing (and huge) tree and a child walking towards it, in a new post-apocalyptic world.
Interpretations and a possible alternative
But even with obvious problems, the result looks quite logical – both on the scale of the entire Attack on Titan universe, and as part of the transformation of the protagonist. Isayama scrupulously followed the line of development of Eren Yeager, from the very beginning leaving for us landmark markers, suggesting which path he should take at the end. After all, for all its scale and pathos, Attack on Titan was and remains an organic and deeply personal story of a child traumatized by the war, who disposes of the bestowed power in accordance with the depth of the psychological injuries inflicted on him.
Back in the “Female” arc, this character learned the shocking simplicity of the idea: his comrades die if he, as the owner of the power, does not decide to act on his own. Another cross-cutting thought of “Attack on Titan” is that it is impossible to change anything if you don’t sacrifice anything. And it is these two postulates that Eren follows when making the final bloody decision. With his step, the hero accomplishes all the goals set by him back in the first volumes of the manga and episodes of the anime – he really destroyed all the titans (at least for a while) and really gained the much-desired freedom.
Did Eren guarantee world peace by his actions? The open ending of the final chapter allows us to give a completely unambiguous answer to this question – of course not. In the final frames, Paradise, mourning the death of his liberator, is destroyed by enemy aircraft, and the power of the titans, apparently, is already ready to be reborn from the remains of Eren.
This sense of meaninglessness of the protagonist’s actions contains the ideological core of the manga. The reason for hatred and wars never lay in the ability of the Eldians to turn into deadly titans – rather, on the contrary, the titans themselves became the result of cruelty and the materialization of the desire of the weak to defend themselves and survive. The senseless cycle of bloodshed could not end with the story of Eren Yeager – he is not at all a deity and not the bearer of absolute truth. And it would be naive to expect a flat and more specific ending from Isayama’s manga, which has long proved that there will be nothing too simple on these pages.
The ambiguous ending leaves the heroes of history and its fans room for hopes and expectations. This is facilitated by the interpretation of the final events through the mythological basis of “Attack on Titan” – in the Scandinavian myths, which the ontology of the manga looks back in many ways, the bloody murder of the progenitor Ymir lays the foundation for progress and the future of the world. There was a place and a theme in mythology with the cutting off of Eren’s head – there the motives for this plot can be found in the history of Mimir, a giant, whose severed head was laid at the roots of the world tree Yggdrasil (just like in the case of the remains of the protagonist of “Attack”) and was considered a source of endless wisdom .
In 2022, the eternal theme of the tragedy of a small (even in the context of the titanic world of the Eldians) man against the backdrop of colossal destruction sounds like never before, and the end of the story of Eren Yeager seems especially poignant exactly in the form in which the author decided to leave it all. However, the creators of the anime have a great temptation to change the ending and make it more one-dimensional, or even impose a possible continuation on the fans – whether they will do this, we will find out only next year.
Attack on titan : is the dissatisfaction with the ending of the Titans justified?
Ironically, in the finale of the manga, Eren, the protagonist and defender of humanity, turned out to be the initiator of the genocide. With the help of the “hum of the earth”, he ordered thousands of giants to exterminate the enemies of Paradise before the intelligence soldiers could stop him. Another changeling – the killer of the hero was his main protector, Mikasa.
The population of mankind has decreased significantly (as much as 80%), which cannot be said about the contempt for the Eldians. Despite the fact that Eren deprived the descendants of Ymir of the power of the titans, he did not achieve peace, but only gave his people a reprieve. Hajime Isayama, the author of the manga, pointed this out in an extra chapter. Although Eren’s friends have found relative freedom, the wars will continue. Moreover, readers were hinted that the plot could be repeated. A traveler heading for the hollow will perhaps awaken the power of the titans hidden inside the tree on Paradise. History will inevitably resume.
Isayama also left a little joke at the end of the volume. He passed off the entire action of the manga as an action movie that the main characters watched at the cinema. In the bonus pages, both Eren’s reaction to the dispute between friends and the unfortunate Marco, the deceased cadet of the 104th detachment (or rather, half of him) are pretty. However, this “post-credits scene” serves not only as a funny sketch, but also as a sentimental attempt to connect the real world with the fictional one.
Toothy fan reaction
“Attack on Titan” gained immense popularity in a short time and was elevated to the rank of cult titles upon completion. But the greatness of the manga did not cross out the indignation. Most of the community is still confused about the end of the story, and for good reason.
The first reason is you, Eren
One of the main complaints about the end of the manga was the “drain” of Eren. Not only was the hero killed easily and quickly, they also showed his emotionality in a slightly ridiculous way. Before the “trembling of the earth” the hero was cold-blooded and apathetic. A weighty load of visions burdened him, and he also deliberately moved away from his loved ones. But in the dreams of friends that Yeager came to before his death, Eren behaved frankly and even unrestrainedly. This can be explained by the human essence, age, feigned detachment. But the fans were still not happy with the “hysteria of the selfish imbecile.”
And the second – all your dreams of the freedom of Paradise
An important remark was that the genocide did not lead to anything concrete, and the theme of freedom was not properly disclosed. The world shook itself and returned to the original status quo, except that it became smaller. Then why are most of the iconic characters in the grave (the stomach of the titans)? Eren’s plan worked, but did it lead the Eldians to freedom? And did it sound like “I will destroy 80% of my enemies”?
The third is all your words, Isayama, that you did not write
The main complaint about the ending of “Attack” is the lack of answers. What really motivated Ymir’s love for the tyrant king? Where did the power of a titan come from? What is the nature of centipedes? Why didn’t they show the death of the Ymir soldier? Why did the shell titans gain the will of the dead in the final battle? Why were there exactly nine main titans and did they receive just such abilities? And why was it impossible to do without genocide and just take the power of the giants?
The fourth reason is the lies of the previous battles
Many fans were extremely upset by the final battle and even felt cheated. Fights, especially before the timeskip, were always portrayed in rich and detailed, radiant pathos. But the “boss” passed unnoticed and seemed to be without much difficulty, although, despite Eren’s suicidal plan, the opposite was expected. At the time of the “rumble”, the younger Yeager had the strength of four titans (including Zeke stored on the rib) and Ymir. With such power, the battle could have been long and epic, but in reality it turned out to be crumpled and short. But what was the potential!
The fifth reason is the pain that caused Mikasa and Eren’s unexpected love to die
Mikasa’s key role also raised many questions. The girl was able to free Ymir from the slavery of love, showing that even such a strong feeling does not justify genocide. Because of this, the progenitor saved the Eldians from the power of the giants. But before killing Eren, it was difficult to connect Ymir’s feelings for the tyrant king with the ability to transform. Moreover, the dream that Mikasa remembers after the beheading and Armin’s dream vividly describe Eren’s reciprocal love for Ackerman. For many fans, the hero’s feelings seemed nothing more than fan service, because until the final events in the manga, hints of reciprocity were drawn vaguely.
Hammer of war of opinions: is the ending so bad?
And yet, even taking into account all the claims of the fandom and the “piano” of the finale, the ending of “Attack” cannot be called unambiguously weak. It seems important to look at it from all sides and pay attention to the obviously strong aspects.
So Isayama is a genius because…
…gracefully showed the cyclical nature of human history. Prosperity, progress, war, hard times, and so on in a circle. “Attack on Titan” is just a small chapter in the history of a world that works on the same principle as “ours”. She states: people are greedy, selfish, but they know how to love and strive for happiness. The human essence guarantees that neither hell nor goodness can reign on earth forever. And so it will always be.… worked through the plot and knew the nuances from the first page. The author used the circular composition in the manga itself, emphasizing with this technique the idea of the cyclical nature of the story as a whole. This is especially noticeable when you get acquainted with the material drunkenly, and not ongoing. The confusion from the first pages is remembered and kept throughout the reading of the manga, and at the end adds a sense of meaning.
… beautifully outlined the role of a person as a unit in the theater of global events. History is not dry facts, it is, first of all, people with their goals, fears, sins and dreams. And this cannot be neglected. It is people who write the book of life and decide how everything will turn out in the end. Also, the author throughout the entire manga pushed the reader to simple but important conclusions: there are no villains. There is no place in the world for dividing into “good” and “bad”. And the ending clearly emphasized this idea.
… used understatement and an open ending as an anchor. Of course, not everyone liked it: most needed to get all the dots over the “i”. But the silence of the whole truth made me cling, discuss, argue, and this created a stir around the title.
… contributed to the discussion about the meaning of being. It may seem trivial, but for Isayama, life itself is more important in life. It consists of routine moments that need to be noticed and grabbed. After all, when looking at them, they turn out to be precious. For the author, life is full when there are close people, blue sky and a selfless dream in it. All these thoughts are simple, but simple words are the most important.
