Of course the series up until the 2nd half of season 4 was awesome. Even up until the ending was awesome for the most part. Great voices, suspenseful story, really good world building, etc. Attack on Titan is wonderful and one of the best anime ever made. The problems come out in this last chapter. There are many arbitrary bits and I'll start from least bad to the worst part of it all.
The first issue is that the lore is incomplete. It's especially unsatisfying considering the fact that titans were a bit mystery in the show. The reason why this is least bad is because the show became less about titans and more about politics. The method of how titans are created is fairly unknown, not even known whether it's supernatural or not. All we know is that the sand Ymir molds corresponds to how titans or human body parts are made. It is also unknown how Ymir exists in paths even though she had died previously. Reasonably you could assume it's spiritual but it's never really been explained. Hallucigenia is never explained fully other than being the source of life. The biggest issue is that its powers are not explained. The origin is okay. It's also based on the Cambrian explosion so that's cool I guess.
The second issue which is more moderate is the arbitrary bits. Why and how are past titan shifters resurrected? You might notice this ties in with incomplete lore. How does falco grow wings? How does Eren "free" Ymir in part 2 when she was only *actually* freed when Mikasa killed Eren?
The last issue is the most severe. The overall character and plot assassination - turns out Eren was doing all this and not succeeding merely because he was "stupid". Seriously what kind of joke is that? The scene of him crying was corny but whatever it's just one scene. Ymir's love for her abusive partner was just bad. Turns out the whole reason titans still exist is because she's "bound by love" for the same person who treated her like she was inhuman. Many people have offered speculative psychological explanations like Stockholm syndrome. But sadly there's almost no writing that implies she would or should have that. Every scene with King Fritz was just him doing awful things. Bro literally fed her body to her kids. And she loves him SO much she is determined to build Titans for an eternity. How does that make any sense at all??? And her being freed from Mikasa killing Eren makes at least a little sense, but it's corny as heck. Keep in mind this whole thing effects the ENTIRE series because it's the reason titans still exist. Even after Eren killed so many, we see at the end peace is lost and humans still fight. This is much more realistic than Code Geass but it hurts all the more knowing how stupid our protagonist was. Either kill everyone or don't at all. The whole plot literally had 0 payoff.
The first issue is that the lore is incomplete. It's especially unsatisfying considering the fact that titans were a bit mystery in the show. The reason why this is least bad is because the show became less about titans and more about politics. The method of how titans are created is fairly unknown, not even known whether it's supernatural or not. All we know is that the sand Ymir molds corresponds to how titans or human body parts are made. It is also unknown how Ymir exists in paths even though she had died previously. Reasonably you could assume it's spiritual but it's never really been explained. Hallucigenia is never explained fully other than being the source of life. The biggest issue is that its powers are not explained. The origin is okay. It's also based on the Cambrian explosion so that's cool I guess.
The second issue which is more moderate is the arbitrary bits. Why and how are past titan shifters resurrected? You might notice this ties in with incomplete lore. How does falco grow wings? How does Eren "free" Ymir in part 2 when she was only *actually* freed when Mikasa killed Eren?
The last issue is the most severe. The overall character and plot assassination - turns out Eren was doing all this and not succeeding merely because he was "stupid". Seriously what kind of joke is that? The scene of him crying was corny but whatever it's just one scene. Ymir's love for her abusive partner was just bad. Turns out the whole reason titans still exist is because she's "bound by love" for the same person who treated her like she was inhuman. Many people have offered speculative psychological explanations like Stockholm syndrome. But sadly there's almost no writing that implies she would or should have that. Every scene with King Fritz was just him doing awful things. Bro literally fed her body to her kids. And she loves him SO much she is determined to build Titans for an eternity. How does that make any sense at all??? And her being freed from Mikasa killing Eren makes at least a little sense, but it's corny as heck. Keep in mind this whole thing effects the ENTIRE series because it's the reason titans still exist. Even after Eren killed so many, we see at the end peace is lost and humans still fight. This is much more realistic than Code Geass but it hurts all the more knowing how stupid our protagonist was. Either kill everyone or don't at all. The whole plot literally had 0 payoff.
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