Was it all worth it in the end?

I have been waiting for 10 years at least for the ending of Attack on Titan (haha funny I know). I have not feared to make public my negative opinion on the ending to its source material however I decided to give the anime a try and boy was I surprised, the ending still missed the mark however I feel I have to give Mappa some praise. My positives and negatives will be split into three different parts The Good, The Bad & The Ugly.

The Good:

I did like the extended scenes such as Gabi and Falco redeveloping the land after the rumbling.

I did like the fact that Mappa presumably with the help of Isayama did extend the conversation between Armin and Eren in Paths, the manga version felt rushed but this felt more fleshed out it still did not hit the mark with me personally (which I will explain later) but I can still appreciate that they at least tried to demonstrate that Armin did not instantly thank Eren for committing genocide.

The cliff baby scene was done brilliantly, it gave a greater sense of peril than the manga with the baby in color whilst everyone else around was in black and white, it gave a sense of unease and peril to a bleak situation. For me this scene surpassed its source material.

Levi's conclusion still remains the most satisfying part of the ending.

The Bad:

The Eremika ship has been part of AOT fandom for years, romance in AOT was something I never really cared for however unlike some I never felt hatred for the ship being confirmed in the ending's of the manga and now its Anime adaptation. My problem is with how it is done, for me it felt that romance/love became a plot point right at the very end almost feeling as if it was shoehorned in. We get a few glimpses of romance between Eren and Mikasa throught the series such as when Mikasa is seen clutching her scarf when Eren is protecting her from the titan that killed Carla. The next inkling, is much later on when Eren asks Mikasa if she has feelings for him which she does not admit to. From that point on, I thought the series had moved on from a potential romance though as we find out in the ending this was not to be the case. Out of the blue, Eren breaks down in front of Armin acting like a complete fool stating, 'No I don't want that! Mikasa finding another man?! I want her to think about me and no one else for the rest of her life! Even after I die...I want to be at the front of her mind for a while! Ten years at least!!' the execution of this reveal is done terribly. I really wanted the anime to do this reveal justice in a way that showed Eren loved Mikasa but due to his pursuit of freedom (something that is mentioned throughout the series) he could never be with her and the world was harsh for not letting that happen. Instead of this, our last ever image of the MC that was part of us for ten years or more will forever be a pathetic loser that has no clue what he was doing or why he was doing it.

I am all for some cast members being kept alive however AOT really does treat us like fools. How on Earth, are we expected to believe that miraculously none of the Alliance die and none of their family die considering the predicament they were put under. From Onyakapon surviving a plane crash to Reiner surviving a practical nuclear blast and hundreds of titans attacking him. In the ending we see everyone including Jean, Gabi and Connie turn into pure titans as a way for the Rumbling to continue, we are even treated to an emotional goodbye between Jean and Connie as if this will be the last we ever see of them. This moment is butchered as in the space of ten minutes or so all is good again! It just gives a sense of plot armour like you would see in a series of the Shonen genre. For me personally, this kills the ambiguity and bleakness of the series, AOT was always supposed to be a tragic series but the ending seems to go against this norm. It can be argued that Eren wanted them to live so they could be heroes but throughout history we have seen those die in war that are still treated at the highest regard. For me, Eren keeping all his friends alive opens up a lot of plot holes, he could have easily made it so Connie's mother was human again or all those that drank Zeke's wine but he chose not to. How would any of these actions have affected the outcome of the Rumbling?

Armin thanking Eren was still done terribly, the anime tries to expand on the scene but the line still feels out of place. In what world, would you thank someone so quickly after they massacred 80% of the world in a global genocide? Eren does not deserve any sympathy and the fact that the Anime decided to add an even more stupid line where Eren says he only started the rumbling because he was an idiot, this fails to explain anything and makes Eren look even more of a prat than he already is.

The Ugly:

Eren's so called plan is still the ugliest part of the ending. So what was Eren's plan? In his pursuit of freedom, Eren brutally kills 80% of the world in a horrific genocide, in doing this only the Alliance could stop him, meaning that the Eldians would no longer be perceived as devils by the rest of the world but rather heroes for putting an end to a mass genocide. For Eren, this would provide peace to Paradis for the time being and he decided to leave the rest to the smartest person he knew in Armin. This would never work and can be explained in two reasons; reason number 1, let's face it Eren left Armin in an impossible situation, for years Eldians were perceived as devils and suddenly the world is supposed to forgive them just because they stopped a fellow Eldian from wiping out all life? How would Armin be able to convince 20% that remains that a) they mean no harm & b) try to explain to a world that has been educated on the idea that Eldians are devils that they are not? When looking at real life situations we can see that this would be difficult throughout history it was perceived that women were second class citizens and in many ways today this stereotype still runs rife. There is no logical way that Armin on his own could convince 1.4 billion people that Paradis is a peaceful state. Eren left Armin in a horrible situation that he had little chance of resolving. Furthermore, the anime also confirms Eren's plan to be a failure as Paradis does not receive peace. In the credits, we are treated to scenes such as buildings being blown up by planes and military attacking the island. This shows the world waging war on Paradis and that Eren's horrific means of intimidation was for nothing as Paradis did not receive a prolonged period of peace.

In conclusion, the ending tries to leave a message of war and hatred being an inevitable turn of events. Eren could have changed this at any moment but instead chose to follow a path of freedom that he did not understand and in his own words was an idiot for doing so. Eren a character that was seen throughout the series as someone who never gave up suddenly took a defeatist approach to something he spent his whole life chasing, freedom. As we say goodbye to the series that played a big part of our anime journey, all we are left wondering is was it all worth it?