Attack on Titan

Attack of Titan is the prime example of how a story –no matter how good it is– can get completely and absolutely ruined in an amount of just a few chapters. That is, if you try hard enough, of course. Attack of Titan doesn’t need any introduction, ever since the anime debut in 2013 it has been one of the most popular and recognizable franchises out there, but in the end, it all boils down to one simple question: is it good? To avoid you all the trouble, the answer is simply no. I have to admit that I used to like Attack on Titan, and evenfor a while it was one of my favorite series, and it was for a good reason. What Hajime Isayama initially presented in Attack on Titan wasn’t a run-of-the-mill shounen, but a superb story accompanied with intricate mysteries and world-building, and while Attack on Titan has never been without its issues, those could be overlooked as the good had far outweighed the bad. But what are we seeing now, however, it’s nothing but a hollow, lame and plain uninspired imitation of what AoT used to be. What happened in Attack on Titan couldn’t be described as anything other than a huge downgrade in writing, showing signs of this as early as chapter 124, but becoming much more apparent in the last 6 chapters, culminating in what in my opinion is one of the worst end of any story I've seen so far. It’s completely nonsensical and contrived without any thematic weight, throwing away any previous build-up or foreshadowing, which it’s not only bad for itself, but also retroactively makes a lot of previous scenes as basically worthless. And not to mention how almost every character in the cast has been replaced by watered-down version of themselves, Eren being one of the worst offenders. While initially not the most developed character (though this is up to debate), Eren had one of the best character arcs in the series, just to be absolutely ruined in the exact amount of two chapters (which also are the last two), making his entire character feel like a bad joke. It's actually quite an accomplishment how much of Eren's character has been destroyed in such a short amount of time. The worst thing about this is that it doesn't only happen to Eren, but to most of the cast. Armin, for example, is another victim of bad writing. After RtS, he remains completely stagnant and even regresses as a character, as he’s shown without any of the determination or development that took place during that arc, but rather appears as a very passive character, reminiscent of earlier parts of the story. Despite that being bad writing, that wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t for how much the story loves his character, despite doing nothing to deserve that. He’s always shown as some kind of messiah that every character loves for no real reason and paradoxically has the most screen time (at the expense of other characters) but the least development. It's insane how much Isayama constantly tries to portray Armin as a genius and a hero just to fails so terribly at it. Then there’s Mikasa, who doesn’t even has any development or remarkable trait other than "Ereh" (and acting cool I guess), and has been like that for pretty much the entirety of the series. Thankfully though, she finally gets some development... but it’s only in the final two chapters. Which of course means that said development is completely rushed and contrived. As for the other characters, they are underdeveloped by the lack of screen time due to the sheer amount of characters in the story, so just a few characters get some significant development. Another problem is how the story (and thus its characters) loves Armin, even going as far as ruining characters that aren’t even alive to begin with for the sake of Armin. The only characters that are an exception to this are the character who dares to oppose Armin, who are pretty much next to none outside of Floch (best character) and some non-characters that no one actually bothers to remember. Anyways, I could go on with the rest of the cast, like how Levi, despite being one of the few decent character remaining, gets very few development or any moment to shine in the final arc due barely having any screen time with his character reduced to muh promise (still like I said before he’s one of better ones), or how Gabi’s characters serves no thematic purpose other than to tell us the exact same thing that Reiner’s character already did just a few chapters ago. Story-wise, things aren’t much better. Due to what happens in the final arc, a lot (if not all) of the themes that the story initially presented are rendered as worthless. While the earlier parts of the story had been of mostly respectable quality, with a clear foreshadowing of future events and a solid theming, there’s no a reason to care about that now as Isayama didn’t seem to care either when he wrote this ending. It was as if after chapter 123 he was replaced with another writer as there is a clear lack of foresight in the following chapters regarding the development of the plot, especially in comparison with the earlier chapters. However, the worst part of this is the number of possible directions the series could have gone, only to ultimately pick the laziest and most predictable story development that the story could have gone. Laziness in particular is a recurrence during the final arc. The characters face no real threat despite the situation they’re in due to how protected they are by the plot, resulting in a lot of situations devoid of any logic no matter how unlikely these situations are and any tension being basically non-existent. Not much can be said about the ending without getting into some major spoilers, but it did its job of ruining whatever foundation the story previously had. It’s also worth noting how unsubtle the symbolism and the """"themes""" are during the final arc. I cannot count the number of times a character has said "I am free" or also whenever a bird appears for the gorillionth time representing freedom (such deep symbolism). Like, it’s ok, we get it, but don't shove it in my face for the tenth time in a row, it's exhausting. As for the art, it’s a mixed bag. The art initially was very mediocre and inconsistent, but with the time it got better and there was a clear improvement, it wasn’t the best of the best, but it was decent. However after a certain point the art got much more inconsistent again with a lack of effort compared to the previous improvements. Said lack of effort coincidentally happens to be reflected in the story, as the best chapters are also those with the best art, while the poorest written chapters have a mediocre art. To say that the final arc is bad would be an understatement. Other than two chapters, there is little good to see. Any share of consistency or logic is completely erased and the attempt of making something of actual substance is left as an afterthought. It makes any previous emotional investment I had with this manga purposeless and I just can't care about anything related to it now. I think it's obvious by now, but I don't recommend Attack on Titan. If you still plan on reading Attack on Titan, then I recommend to read it until 123, then drop it and make up your own ending, as it would be much more satisfying than the ending we got, otherwise don't bother.

Attack on Titan is a frequent target of derision from those who would dismiss it due to its popularity, but is it really all that bad? Well, the short answer is yes. The long answer is yes, but I do really enjoy vore, which earns it points. God, I wish I lived in the Attack on Titan universe. I would join the survey corps 100%. I’d keep straying from the formation a bit just hoping some hulking female titan would take a hunk out of me. Speaking of female titans, isn’t it weird that of the original 9 titans there’s shit like the beast titan, thewarhammer titan, the armored titan, or the colossal titan, and then there’s the “female” titan. This is explained by the fact that the female titan has no unique abilities, and instead mimics the abilities of the other titans, but what would happen if a male ate the female titan? Does it turn you female? Armin probably wishes he could eat the female titan. I digress. Let’s start with what Attack on Titan does well. Okay, so next I want to talk about the art. It’s quite bad in the beginning, but it eventually becomes serviceable. It is never good. Isayama often neglects to draw backgrounds, even during pivotal conversations, and I sometimes found it difficult to distinguish characters. Despite this, it manages to have pretty fluid and good-looking combat scenes for the most part. And isn’t that what Attack on Titan is all about? Fighting titans, turning into titans, eating titans. Well, not exactly. Attack on Titan is like a hot girl with an annoying voice. Well, maybe not hot, but you know, you’re a lonely guy, you’ll take what you can get and all. In any case, there was altogether too much talking in this manga. The arcs that centered around politics were dull and nonsensical, at least until the end, when the political plotline still makes no sense but is pretty undeniably entertaining. (It doesn’t help that one of the major plot twists of the Royal Government arc is practically recycled in the Marley arc.) The climactic battles were enjoyable enough, although when the mangaka thinks “we can’t win if we don’t fight” is a line worth repeating a dozen times it does lesson my emotional investment a bit. One of the ways Attack on Titan garnered attention early on was by catching its readers off guard. And there are quite a few unexpected events, some more logical than others. At some point, though, it begins to feel like the entire plot is structured around these “big reveals,” and the intention is that the readers will clap every time their expectations are subverted. However, this stops working when the reveals start to feel more like asspulls and the universe’s internal logic increasingly falls apart. At one point, a guy gets wings, and no one is really sure why. Then another guy may or may not turn into a bird. It’s all a lot to process. Armin is annoying. I can say that right? I dislike him quite a lot. Hate him, really. At one point a character lists off a number of clever ideas that Armin has had, in an effort to prove his indispensable value. I was left in disbelief, because while it is true that Armin does 100% of the thinking in the manga and comes up with 100% of the solutions, I attributed this to laziness or carelessness; I never expected it to actually be acknowledged. Eren may be the “he’s just like me” guy everyone uses as an profile pic, but Armin is the one who feels like a self-insert. I will say that Eren’s character development, if forced, was pretty fun. He starts off as a completely typical shounen protagonist, but is eventually mindbroken into becoming the guy from Taxi Driver. Did this make sense? Not entirely. Did I expect it to at that point? Not even a little. Zeke would have been a better protagonist, really, but if anything the series would have benefitted from more of Eren and less of Mikasa and Armin. Mikasa isn’t as bad as Armin, who I loathe, but she is pretty one dimensional. Even Levi (who I am convinced is only so popular because he makes short men feel better about themselves) is more interesting. By the way, why do Mikasa and Levi never talk about both being Ackermans? It’s discussed that this makes them both strong, fast, and cool, but wouldn’t there be at least one moment where they went “oh wait, we’re relatives?” Honestly, Attack on Titan is at its best when it reads like Eren’s power fantasy. I don’t care about this universe. I don’t care about these people. A majority of their planet could be exterminated and I would feel nothing. I don’t care when the walls break. I just want Eren to talk to the mirror more. I wish there was a scene where he put on face paint like the joker or something. All in all, it wasn’t the worst thing I’ve read. 4/10.

Attack on Titan is not perfect, nothing is. That being said it truly deserves to be considered a modern classic and will go down as one of the most influential series to come out of this medium. (this review will be spoiler free and very vague for those who have not read it) STORY: 9/10 The story of Attack on Titan is unique, one of a kind, and undeniably brilliant. It has its clichés here and there but the overall thought put into writing such an intricate and compelling story is unbelievably impressive. The concept of the series is simple and nothing all that profound; titansinvade humanity, and humanity fights to survive. However, it is soon discovered that this simple premise was not just a one dimensional action packed roller-coaster that it was originally portrayed to be. It was a well thought out, well calculated, and multilayered masterpiece that would be explored to the likes we could've never imagined. Isayama took this simple concept of titans vs humans and effortlessly molded it into a story of politics, racial discrimination, oppression, and many more powerful themes to create a story for the ages. Attack on Titan is able to bring out so much emotion in the reader whether it be through shocking deaths, unexpected plot twists, passionate speeches, and all around incredible storytelling. There is so much more to talk about yet I feel like my words would never do the articulate and beautiful story of Attack on Titan any justice. ART: 8/10 The art in Attack on Titan is great, and fairly underrated in my opinion. Obviously series like Berserk, Vagabond, and Slam Dunk are miles ahead but that doesn't mean AOT is any bad. In fact, some panels in Attack on Titan are surprisingly beautiful especially when it comes to later chapters. I will say the art in the beginning of the series is very mediocre however as the series progresses so does the intricacy of the art. Additionally, the character designs especially of the titans is incredible. Their unique anatomy and uneasy facial expressions make them truly stand out from anything this medium has ever produced. However, the fight scenes are where Attack on Titans art is at its best, and truly is able to immerse the reader in the brilliance of the action. There is so much detail to every aspect of the panels, including movement, expression, highlighting, shading, that all come together to create a brilliant flowing scene. Attack on Titan has some amazing art in it that perfectly fits the tone and atmosphere of the series. Combine this with the unique and realistic character designs and you have the recipe for a beautifully drawn and instantly recognizable series. CHARACTERS: 9/10 Where do I even begin? The characters in Attack on Titan are special, and are able to captivate what a lot of other series fail to do. Each of the characters introduced throughout the series serve a purpose in the narrative which makes it easy for the readers to become attached and drawn to their journey. Love him or hate him Eren Yeager is a fantastic protagonist when it comes to writing and character development. The amount of evolution he gets as a character is a rarity to find in this medium and is truly a sight to behold. In fact, every character in the series has amazing development and all evolve in a way from when they were first introduced. It is truly beautiful to see all these characters grow up together and become more and more unique as time goes on. The characters in Attack on Titan age like fine wine, becoming more intricate and detailed as the narrative increases its complexity. I also find it fascinating how the series doesn’t really have a definitive "villain" as it could really be anyone depending on your point of view. Yes, there are some obvious choices but this dilemma makes the story that much more interesting to read. Not too many series out there can have a lot of characters in their narrative that contrast brilliantly with each other whilst having unique personality traits to make them stand out. The thought put into developing and constructing the characters in Attack on Titan is marvelous and stands out as one of the best. ENJOYMENT: 10/10 Reading this manga and watching the show has been one of the most enjoyable things I’ve ever done in my life. As soon as I was hooked to the series I couldn’t keep my eyes off of the screen and literally shouted on multiple occasions out of pure enjoyment. Attack on Titan isn’t the most thought provoking series out there (which is usually my cup of tea) however if we’re talking from a pure enjoyment stand point, there really isn’t anything that can compete with the sheer brilliance of AoT. OVERALL: 9/10 Attack on Titan is not by any means a perfect series, however it is a god damn good one. If you haven’t taken the time to watch/read AoT please do yourself a favour and immerse yourself in this fantastic series. I was originally skeptical of the AoT as I usually despise “normie” shows and thus assumed it was just another hype piece of trash. However, after seeing Gigguks “Attack on Titan is incredible now” I sat down and easily binged through season 1-3 and fell in love with everything it had to offer. After completing The Final Season I read the entire manga from start to finish and now consider myself a fan of the series. I can’t believe it has now ended after over a decade but I truly believe AoT will go down as a modern classic and be remembered forever. Thank you Hajime Isayama and everyone else involved in bringing us this amazing and surreal piece of fiction that I will never forget. This is my first ever review on MAL. I don’t expect anyone to read it but I just wanted to give it a go and see what happens. So if you have taken the time to read my review thank you and I truly appreciate it! Disclaimer (spoilers): I wrote this before the last few chapters were released where I felt like pacing and delivery fell off. My overall score is now a 7. It's truly disappointing that a masterpiece like Attack on Titan didn't end with the same quality it had been providing for its entire run.

I have seen people say that we hate the ending because it didnt have a good ending, or our ships didnt place. No you guys no, the reason why we hate is because of the huge contradictions which happen within the characters themselves. im going to put the facts here. read it at your own pace. HERE ARE THE REASONS, 1. Eren became a simp from the well written character with single minded determination he was. Character assassination at its best. 2. No-one knows Ymir's (founder's) real intentions - What happened to the hallucigenia? Why did she help Eren if he was to be stopped in thefirst place? She wanted freedom from love? Seems kinda contradictory. 3.Ymir loving Karl Fritz doesn't sit right at all. Attack On Titan has always dealt with deep philosophical themes and psychological aspects of humanity and war. Stockholm Syndrome is too shallow for this plot. 4. Reiner character arc turned to a joke with letter they received from Historia. That suicidal guy who gave up nearly everything for everyone around him is given such a cheap end. 5. No-connection with Historian's baby. No connection to farmer - What was the point of her baby besides saving her instead of Zeke? Her character arc is basically over after that. Her dialogues with Eren are meaningless. A better ending would be Ymir getting re-incarnated as her baby free from the curse. 6.No justification to Falco and his dream What happened to Falco? He was focused so much in the anime endings of Season 4 Part. And falco turning into a bird is just plot convenience. 7.Annie got scot free. No guilt or shame. No apologies to Levi and several other people whose families she have trampled. She is implied to casually start dating Armin.. how and why?? 8.The cycle of hatred didn't fully end and proper justification is still off because the alliance thinks genocide is bad, but they can be the victims of it. Which literally happens. 9. Historia going Floch's route after war - I am not very sure about this but Historia seems to be so eager to join the fight and how are Jaegerists responding to the fact that Eren did everything because he as a simp. 10. Floch and several other characters died for Eren who was being a simp secretly - All of them believed in their cause..AOT made me feel that every alliance was right in their own place none is morally superior to other as everyone has faced hardships but all those people Floch, Commander Erwin Smith of all people and so many people - Levi Squad, Miche Squad and Miche, Hanji and everyone died because Eren was too shy to declare his feelings...like what??? 11. How did this guy end up as a dove (bird)?? - Like how?? I get it that birds potray freedom in AOT but this feels cheap..and even his scarf part as a dove feels cheap. 12. Answer me this, First time Eren's head gets detached, he survives because Hallucigenia attaches itself to his head. Second time not only Eren's head gets detached but Hallucigenia is separated from hinm too. He not only survives again but can transform into Colossal Titan for some reason. (How?!)Eren's head is detached twice and Hallucigenia is separated but he still survives again and again, yet the Alliance still thinks their main objective is to severe Eren's head a third time to win. And somehow they're right! 13. Eren doesn't use the Warhammer powers correctly either.. - What is the use of its power other than escaping prisons...He was nerfed big time. 14. Killing his own mother is also kind of out of character for someone whose main objective was to avenge his mother in the first place. Eren : " Reiner, why did my mother have to die?" Reiner : "Idk, you tell me....:" Doesnt make any fucking sense. 15. Eren killed his mom, killed his dad, killed 80% of the world population and killed himself, and what for???? FoR His fRiEnDS To Live LONg happy LiVeS * Armin: "Eren, genocide is terrible why would you even think of doing this" Literally a few pages later Armin: "oh you only killed 80% of the world? Thanks for becoming a mass murderer for us" Wtf 16.Falco having a bird-like titan is a plot device. Every other Zeke's spinal fluid infested titans doesn't have this characteristic and shouldn't be. 17. Reiner moving hos consciousnes through his body is absolute BS. no foreshadowing of this feature. Plot convenience at its finest 18.The Hallucigenia thing isn't explained before the last 2 chapters and there's no established fact killing it will destroy the titan power from the world. Therefore, a massive asspull. It's a nonexistent route and wasn't an option even from the POV of characters in the story. 19.Eren telling Historia his plan would actually be blunder if Historia serves no reason to support it. Beside, she might take preemptive action against it. The fact that Historia fully against it but takes no action about it or taking preventive measure against rising Yeagerist faction is also confusing. 20.Historia gives the power of the island into a Yeagerist, a far right wing group of the Island, is a massive fck you to the world's peace. Historia is against mass genocide so much that she gives the strongest nation on the planet into a hardline fascist group that would likely subdue everyone in the name of restoring Eldian Empire. 21.There'll be no guarantee of peace, instead there is a heavy clue war still goes on. Making certain group seems like a savior doesn't make them automatically cleansed from their stereotype and wrongdoing of the past. 22.Historia choosing a childhood bully over anyone else to cum inside is just for a shock factor and a massive edgy writing. It should've been doujin's theme instead. 23.Eren achieves nothing, the world is kinda worse at this point, and the story killed the plot and characters. 24.Mikasa's character doesn't develop even a little bit. It would be better if she disconnects herself from Eren just like what he wants. But no. She's creepily still simping over a corpse and a grave. 25.Mikasa being a center of everything and not Eren for Ymir's freedom against 'love' (which is established just in the very last chapter, therefore an asspull) is nonsense. 26. At first, the reason why he had to do the rumbling was clear for us. In the final chapter, Eren doesnt even fucking know why he had to do the rumbling. 27. paradis is an island near the marleyans. the marleyans are just right beside it. how come eren says hes done with 80% of the world. like how ? how come the nearest land is safe and yet he still says he completed 80%. BS. 28. Eren suddenly like Mikasa even tho in the manga there's even no crucial point that build up their romantic interest. Hell, even Eren and Historia will more make sense than this cringey crap. 29. In Ch. 123 made it clear that, Royal blood is only required toreach paths. Ymir has all the powers. Royal bloods can only command Ymir to do something, but after Eren frees Ymir from chains, the influence of Royal blood becomes meaningless,as Ymir stops listening to Zeke's commands. Then how did Zeke dying stops rumbling, when he never had any authority over rumbling to being with? If Zeke had the ability to stop rumbling and he never wanted Rumbling, why didn't he just commit suicide before 80% of the world was wiped out? Why was he waiting for Dr. Armin Uzumaki's lectures? 30. Mikasa is an ackerman the founding titan powers shouldn't affect her. Since you guys have forgotten, her father is an ackerman and the mother is an Asian. If you guys have paid attention to the damn dialogues. The MINORITY GROUP will be unaffected by thr founding powers. The ackerman shouldn't be in the paths nor their memories manipulated. Chapter 65 read it 31. All life and infrastructure in between the Marleyan continent and Paradis has been destroyed, the plane crashed, train tracks gone, and the airships destroyed. They'd be royally fucked, stranded in the middle of nowhere... that kind of ending for the alliance is just dumb. And I don't think anyone would be coming to save them - unless you think Kiyomi can magically return to her ruined country in a timely manner and secure an airship to fly across the world to pick them up. ANDDD THEY'RE MAGICALLY APPEAR ON PARADIS AGAIN. 32. The biggest running problem with the alliance is that they're ignorant, short-sighted, and unmotivated to solve the bigger problems. They've already explained (through Hange) that the death of Paradis is inevitable after the Rumbling is stopped. They have not once even thought about ending the titan curse or freeing Ymir. They don't know all of what we know about Eren - about how he can see the future and how he manipulated Grisha through his memories to take the Founder and give it to him. Having the alliance get what they want, AKA killing Eren, stopping the Rumbling, and saving humanity, solves exactly none of these problems. For those crying fans that think" wow eren is a hero, i cant believe what he's done for his friends" Please tell me this: What is accomplished narratively by his death, does it solve a single problem in the story that needs to be addressed? Paradis is even in a worst condition then before. The Paradis is gonna be the number 1 target for the world to destroy. After what Eren's done. All their families got stomp. They're not gonna like that. Paradis will not stand a chance even with 20% of the world left. And Paradis literally gets mowed down by the world there goes so much so for saving paradis and its people. Now don't tell me " The cycle of hatred" And "war always happens " Guys guys eren had the power to wipe out memories, manipulate them with the founder(remember karl fritz doing the same, no you guys won't because you guys don't pay attention) the peace could have been attained but yams bailed out big time.