Shingeki no Kyojin
Attack on Titan

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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; titans ... invade 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.

Note: This is just me complaining about the ending. I don't think there's anything wrong with being happy with this ending, I just personally didn't enjoy it. Please enjoy my grievances.

Ha ha… what?

Chapter 139 essentially nulled the entire story of Attack on Titan. Now let’s not pretend like Attack on Titan isn’t an incredibly complex story that originally had a really well thought out plot. To finish this story is a great feat. However, this ending really just does not align with the original story.

I would argue that the two main captivating elements of Attack on Titan, is a.) the mystery of the titans, ... and b.) the gruesome reality of war. For example, I find Chapters 86-87 (Grisha Yaeger’s story) particularly chilling because the reader discovers the disturbing acts happening in Marley and witnesses the creation of titans. I suspect that one of the reasons that this final arc derailed is because they were still trying to capture that mystery of the titans but really just had no original content to give us. The explanation of where titans originate from gets wrapped up pretty quickly around Chapter 90. In the last 50 chapters they try to intersperse random titan-related lore and it just convolutes the plot. Ymir Fritz didn’t even originally matter beyond being the woman who connected with the original titan and suddenly that creepy little girl is showing up everywhere. I think the Paths are super both a super interesting concept and look super pretty… But seriously… Do y’all remember that scene in the Deathly Hallows when Voldemort is talking to everyone inside their minds? Yeah, Eren just Voldemort communicated with all the Eldians before starting the rumbling. The scene itself looked cool but I had to laugh while reading it. If the Paths possessed that much power they should’ve been introduced in a more in depth way. If Ymir Fritz was this important and had that much power then she should’ve played a larger role throughout the manga. Again, I think a lot of this was just to keep the titan mysteries alive but the item that shatters it all is that fact that we’re now supposed to believe that Ymir has been keeping the titan reign going because King Fritz didn’t love her.

WHAT? That’s the reason? Unrequited love??
We had 2000 years of titans, deaths of our favorite characters, and the freaking rumbling all because Ymir is emo??

This leads me to my next problem. Mikasa. As far as I understood it, Mikasa’s love for Eren is what led Ymir to ending the titans. Again, this makes literally no sense. But aside from that, Mikasa Ackerman deserves way more screen time then if she’s the one who ultimately ends the titans. I think Isayama does an okay job at writing women. If you really think about it, there isn’t a whole lot of character development because the plot is just too complex and there’s too many characters to fully flesh anyone out (aside from Eren and we’ll address that later). What I wanted from Mikasa is more than just her looking cool and saving Eren constantly. This ending would’ve been so much more meaningful to me if Mikasa and Eren’s relationship had been further developed beyond, “Ereh”. I’m not kidding when I say I felt more emotion during that scene of Petra’s father talking to Levi than I did during any Mikasa and Eren moment. Hell, Erwin and Levi have better chemistry during the “Give up on your dreams and die” scene. Moblit and Hange have more chemistry. If Mikasa was going to put the titans to rest and kill her beloved, maybe make that relationship more meaningful? I don’t know, just a thought.

Next up, Eren’s character development… wait sike actually not character development he’s lying to protect everyone in the ultimate sacrifice. This was the most ridiculous “twist” of Chapter 139, honestly I saw it coming but I was still disappointed to see it really happen. Eren’s complete 180 after the timeskip was frustrating to me at first. I think the reason it was so frustrating though is because it’s so realistic. Eren is not a strong character. He’s mentally weak and consistently inconsistent. He’s going through a “phase”. After seeing into the past and future the way he did I doubt most wouldn’t turn to the “dark side”. Not to mention the introduction of Zeke and creating an entirely separate plan between themselves during their brother bonding time. As annoying as his antics were, I actually think this development was the best choice. But ha ha, who cares?! Because it’s revealed in Chapter 139 that he's just been “playing villain” this whole time. It’s just so dumb.

The "happy" ending isn’t happy but it sure as hell isn’t an Attack on Titan ending. All that the readers have known is death and despair. Even the “happy” moments were laced with depressing discoveries. Like finally making it into Grisha’s basement only to find out that our characters are isolated on an island and on the other side of the ocean only lies more oppression and suffering. It can’t even be described as bittersweet. These discoveries suck, it almost feels exhausting. But again, I think it’s realistic. Life... well it sucks, and rarely is something completed without opening another can of worms. But at the end of Chapter 139, we’re given hope. The Eldians are still working for acceptance around the world, but overall things are looking good. The rumbling essentially didn’t happen and Historia is being held captive by her childhood bully and three unwanted children. Huzzah! Honestly I wanted a painful ending. I think something awful happening at the end (like how everyone turned into titans in Chapter 138) would’ve received a lot of backlash but would’ve been so authentically Attack on Titan. The titan issue has been building for 2000 years and escalating greatly because of the Yeagers. It would make sense that the titan reign would end in epic catastrophe with few survivors. But nah, we solved that whole issue by getting Ymir to chill out… Or something? The ending is way too forgiving and feels like a safety play out of fear of getting massive backlash.

*This review contains spoilers*

Ladies and Gentlemen, Hello. My name is Hajime Isayama and today I'll teach you how to write manga.

I must begin by saying that you should not be discouraged. At first glance, it can be difficult, but you only have to write 90 chapters perfectly tied together, with great characters and mystery to the world and titans, fantastic fights that actually serve a purpose with barely any talk no jutsu moments, and perhaps the single most important thing in all of this, Sasha being alive.

What you ought to do afterward is write a timeskip. This is meant for the end-series so we can ... have a "where are they now" segment but there is no need to worry about it because another timeskip will occur in the last chapter as we would have the pleasure of seeing in efficiency how terrible Eren's plan was. The first timeskip is primarily meant as a means of showing Eren becoming this evil incarnate that at no point in the series have we gotten hits about such alteration to his character. The second one is instead a quick reminder of how Yams got worse at writing a proper story without contrivance to its characters. Both are meant for Eren as he's convinced that all lives must be taken in order to obtain "freedom" and in doing so he ought to go against his friends causing an artificial conflict between him and the rest of Paradis as well countless third parties in which for entirely redundant reasons will join Paradis side and go against Eren. From this point onwards, you don't have to write anything decent since it will all depend on which character is to your liking the most and you'll always have to make him or her achieve whatever goal they are in need of. In this case, it's Armin. He's mastered the talk no Jutsu, I dare to say it's his strongest technique. Anyone he's talked to has been convinced to help him do whatever he's wanted to and its limits know no bounds.

With the power of friendship, Armin doesn't give up, not for one moment while he and co-venture towards Eren to stop him but first, we must go a bit before all that because you are clearly asking how all those characters have joined the Paradis side. Because of plot device, they ultimately were there because Eren too changed sides and there was no choice but to help their enemies. The two couldn't stay on one side only since that wouldn't make sense, just like it doesn't make any sense for Reiner, Pieck, and others to help Armin and Mikasa, meant solely as an excuse for "redemption" for some of the characters. Armin succeeds because of course, he did, Eren becomes dove because of course, he did, we never learn much about the titans and the few things we get to throw at us are pure nonsense in an asspull way upon the "paths" was introduced into the story which, for all intents and purposes is the main reason why the second arc of the timeskip is this bad. Historia getting sidelined from the story by getting pregnant off of some random farmer we never know anything about, which it's not the fact the child is not Eren's that pissed me off, but rather that she could've done so much that being someone's whore. To top it all, Eren Lelouch'd his ass out of and acts like he did something important or useful when all he did was fight for something he himself committed. I always knew he was going to do that the moment he becomes evil for the greater good but never wanted to believe it as I knew it wouldn't work with the story itself.

All the troubles Eren went through, all the people he killed, were just for his friends to live happily ever after. Instead of removing the titan course and finishing what he initially wanted to, he follows the most bullshit route and makes peace for a few generations... slightly for his friends to live their miserable life in complete serenity and with this in mind, the descendants to be inevitably killed. There is no point in taking so many lives when everything remains the same and what Eren has fought so far becomes useless because his goal was suddenly retconned when he confessed his "love" to Mikasa all of a sudden. Especially when you murdered 80% of the population and would've taken a mere couple of hours to exterminate the rest and finally be free of the burden. Even if Eren had somehow died because of that, it's still a better outcome of what we've got although it needs to once again be mentioned that what led to that would've been abominable regardless. It can't get out of character than this, and it makes no sense either given how Mikasa got to suck Horse's dick anyway. I wonder what Dove-Eren must've felt when he saw Mikasa getting fucked by the only person he didn't want to fuck her. I bet it's not sitting well with him.

"Thank you Eren for turning yourself into a mass-murder for our sake"

If you want more proof that Armin is the most hateful character, here you go. Eren is the worst character, but Armin is someone you would hate the moment he opens his mouth. When Armin mastered the talk-no-Jutsu it was as clear as day that he was going to succeed in convincing all of the previous enemies into joining his side to take down Eren, which he does, and that he had a plan into making Eren stop but think about it, why would Eren stop and how would Armin make that happen? Apparently, Armin never thought about the consequences, and the whole reason why he did all that in the first place was that it was against genocide, that there had to be a better option to put an end to this and in the last chapter he goes "Thank you for killing all them fuckers". What could have possibly happened between his determination to stop Eren and the last chapter that made him accept Eren's behavior and get along with everything he's done? Armin who is not only the brain of the trio, but was always been morally right, and looking back at everything he's always made the right and acceptable decision to put an end to something but in the last chapter he comes across as disingenuous and a piece of shit with virtually no fucking reason that let him to the settlement.

As for tradition, a good lead female in shonen is hard to come by and Mikasa is no exception. You won't certainly hate her as much as Eren and Armin but will sure get on your nerves with her stoic persona throughout. In the early series, she's got something to work with and her strength was admirable so for all the good reasons she was reliable in that department. I always liked her early on but looking back it's clear Yams either didn't care much about her or perhaps wasn't able to give her more stuff to do as the story went on, which I find extremely odd given how in the post timeskip she was suddenly given more importance than before but ended up being a leftover until the last two chapters gaining the determination to do the thing she should have done a long time ago. Mikasa is a bit awesome in her own way, but she has no ambitions of any kind and comes across as Eren's shadow. It is clear that she has had mental issues since she was a kid from the accident she and Eren had and her affection for Eren is due to this, but Yams does not look into this with the possibility that she may recover one day. Eren seemingly hating her was an excuse to make her grow and act on her own rather than following in his footsteps but she does nothing the entire time besides feeling sad at Eren's sentiments towards her because Yams never gave a shit about her.

I haven't talked about the rest of the characters but really, what there is to talk about? They all suck because the writing sucks and the story shifted from average (Marley) to the worst thing (War for Paradis) in a dozen or so chapters and it destroys everyone's solid characterization they once had. The transition from Eren becoming evil and after meeting Ymir was awful and the premise itself was bad, to begin with, because it didn't build up to characters that would eventually join the Paradis side to defeat a common enemy. It does this by assuming that everyone is fine in the first place, while that couldn't be feasible in any way. Yams wanted to give the characters more depth but clearly couldn't work with the way they were presented in the first place and also goes against their characters as previously they wanted to defeat Eren as quickly as possible without taking out everyone and yet waste time for trivial stuff. A "goal" of any of the characters who weren't on Eren's side, vanish because the final moments of the story is them trying to reach and take down Eren and in the midst of all the chaos down there, it's impossible to get any devolvement, and they don't, so Yams had to put Floch as a mini-boss before the final event as a means of showing the "cooperation" of the two sides of which couldn't work but the shitty writing proved me otherwise.

Which is better, the journey or the destination? The answer is both. But can everyone get that luxury? Unfortunately not. What one must do to get near to said luxury? Make the journey be worth the destination. If the AoT story had followed this thought of mine, it would've made sense. What was only needed is a linear thread to follow and find its end without splitting into different directions because you wanted to make it a more compelling approach to your story. You could, but why risk it when you had the answer right in the palm of your hand?

Eren died a virgin. That's all you need to know!