Attack on Titan, Final Episode Review: An Improved and Beautiful, yet Messy Ending.

Attack on Titan has taken us all on quite the journey.
Over the span of ten years, and with four seasons, Wit Studio and Mappa have animated Hajime Isayama’s story brilliantly.
Now, it’s over.
Going into the final episode of Attack on Titan, I was curious to see how I would feel about the ending compared to the manga.
When I first read the final chapter, I honestly went back and forth on whether I liked it or not.
Then, I sat down and read through it while thinking about what Isayama was trying to say, and I came to the conclusion that the ending was a mixed bag, with plenty of good and bad things about it.
It was for this reason that I was hoping the updated ending, which released months later, would fix some of my problems.
Unfortunately, the opposite happened, with the extra pages pushing my opinion on that final chapter into a negative direction.
I have re-read the series a couple times since then and, while I still love it, my opinion of the ending has only become worse with each read through.
All of this made me hope that there would be some changes to the anime’s ending.
I knew we would not be getting an anime original ending, but I had my fingers crossed that there would be extra scenes or dialogue to explain some things better.
After all, Mappa added an extra scene showing what happened to Grisha’s parents in the previous special episode, which I unfortunately did not get around to reviewing.
Seeing that added scene gave me some hope that there would be new additions to the conclusion.

I was glad to see the fate of Eren’s grandparents confirmed in the anime, even if it was tragic.

So, having now seen the final episode of Attack on Titan, do I think the anime improved on the manga’s ending?
Yes!
Do I like it now?
Not exactly, no.
In my opinion, the ending still has a lot of problems.
However, most of these big issues only appear in the last half hour.
The rest of the final episode is mostly great, with incredible animation from Mappa and a fantastic score.
This is going to be my largest review by a wide margin, so buckle up.
The episode begins where the previous special episode left off, with the Alliance landing on Eren’s gigantic Titan to confront him and stop the Rumbling.
Armin quickly realizes he has to transform into the Colossal Titan to try and locate Eren and Zeke but, before he can, he is kidnapped by an okapi Titan created by Ymir.
The panels of the okapi sticking its tongue down Armin’s throat to prevent him transforming were already disgusting in the manga, but it’s a million times grosser here.
As the okapi takes Armin away, the rest of the Alliance are surrounded by countless Titans, whom Pieck correctly speculates are copies of all the previous Titan Shifters.
Back when this happened in the manga, I criticized it for feeling out of nowhere, but in retrospect I think this was actually a pretty cool writing decision on Isayama’s part.
Realizing the danger they now face, Pieck goes to kill Eren quickly by attempting to detonate the explosives at his head, but she is stopped by a copy of the Warhammer Titan.
Following this, the Alliance are attacked by the copies, including ones of Porco, Marcel and Bertolt, in a thrilling action scene, expertly animated by Mappa.
This ends with everyone in the Alliance cornered, about to be killed, when who should show up to save the day but Annie, riding Falco’s flying Titan with Gabi.

It was cool to see Falco flying after the previous episode foreshaodwed it.

Now safe on Falco’s back, the Alliance discusses their next move, and all regretfully agree that their only option is to kill Eren, much to Mikasa’s horror.
Circling back to Eren, the Alliance splits up, with Jean and Reiner going to detonate the explosives Pieck wrapped around Eren’s neck; Mikasa, Annie and Connie going to rescue Armin; and Falco, Levi and Gabi continuing to fly above.
More amazing animation follows, with the best parts of this section being Pieck’s jet-pack Titan skills, and Mikasa and Annie humorously arguing over which Titan it was that took Armin.
This second match goes about as well as first, however, with the Alliance on the ropes again.
Armin is watching all of this happen and, standing over his own unconscious body, screams at himself about how useless he often feels.
This is probably my favourite voice acting from the final episode, with Marina Inoue giving a fantastic and emotional performance.
Although, despite how emotional this scene is, it has nothing on the cliff scene that follows.
When I watched the previous special episode, I was disappointed to see this moment was not adapted, and I was desperately hoping that it would be in the final episode.
Well, I was not disappointed because this scene is next and it is even more powerful that I imagined it being.
The scene shows a group of thousands of people trapped between two kinds of certain death.
They can either be crushed by the Rumbling, or they can fall off a cliff to their deaths.
As the Rumbling closes in, people are eventually forced off the cliff, one of these people being a mother.
With one last, courageous act, the mother passes off her baby before she falls to her death.
As the next person holding the baby falls, they also pass the baby on, and on, and on, and on.
Countless people all facing their inevitable deaths pass this baby on in what they know will most likely be a futile attempt to save its life.
It is one of the most beautiful and horrifying moments in the entire series, and seeing it in the anime made me tear up.
The visuals for this scene only add to the emotion, with everything being in black and white with the exception of the mother and her baby.
I am almost certain that the way this scene was animated was inspired by the little girl in the red coat from Schindler’s List.
This scene is, without a doubt, my favourite in the entire episode.

This is one of the most powerfully emotional scenes in *Attack on Titan.*

Back with Armin, after some perseverance, he realizes he is in the Paths Dimension and this leads to his meeting with Zeke, who has been trapped ever since Ymir chose to support Eren over him.
Zeke has completely lost all motivation to keep going, now believing life to be more pointless than he already did.
Armin, however, speaks against this, remembering a time when he, Eren and Mikasa ran to a tree on a hill, comparing it all the wonderful little moments in his life which made it worth living.
As a leaf Armin picks from the sand turns into a baseball before Zeke’s eyes, the Beast Titan remembers playing catch with Mr Ksaver and how this was also one of those little moments which made life worth living.
This somehow motivates the ghosts of past Titan Shifters to appear and help the two.
Armin says this was Zeke’s doing but how Zeke achieved this is never really explained.
Unfortunately, there are quite a few things in this final battle which are never explained but I will get to those in a bit.
In any case, the past Titans, who knew the Alliance, come back from the dead temporarily to help stop the Rumbling.
Among these Titans are Grisha and Kruger, and some fans have questioned their reasons for doing so.
For Kruger, I think it makes sense.
Yes, he would want to free the Eldians of Paradis, but a full Rumbling would also kill all of the Eldians outside Paradis, which he would be against since he wanted to free them too.
As for Grisha, I still find myself confused about his motives.
Yes, he did tell Zeke to stop Eren but Zeke later says that Eren showed Grisha something which made him hand over his Titan powers.
We never see what this was, and the reason for Grisha giving Eren the Attack and Founding Titans and then later helping the Alliance are a mystery.
I just wish there was more of an explanation for Grisha’s actions.
As for his son, Zeke decides that, even though he does not believe his euthanization plan was wrong, he would not mind being reborn again.
With this fitting decision, Zeke reveals himself to Levi, giving the Scout the chance to cut off his head and stop the Rumbling.
While I would have liked it if Zeke had more time to shine in this final episode, his ending is satisfying to me.

It is fitting for Zeke to realize the beauty the world has to offer moments before his death.

Following Zeke’s death, we get another moment which does not make much sense, which is the stopping of the Rumbling.
The reasoning for this is that Zeke’s royal blood was key to the Rumbling continuing so killing him stops it, but the only reason royal blood was needed was because Ymir valued it.
However, Ymir disobeyed Zeke and sided with Eren so royal blood should not be a factor, anymore.
Yet, the Rumbling still stops?
Whatever the explanation for this, Armin is freed and Jean blows up the explosives, freeing the source of the Titan powers from Eren’s body, which seeks to reconnect with him.
To stop this, Reiner holds the creature down while Armin transforms into the Colossal Titan, blowing Eren’s gigantic Titan form away.
In the aftermath of the explosion, the Alliance lands at the fort and the Warriors reunite with their families, only for the creature to still be alive, and for Eren to transform into a Colossal Titan.
The creature then sends Titan smoke up to the fort to transform all the Eldians there so they can help it reach Eren.
And so, Mikasa, Levi, and the rest of the immune Alliance go to fight Eren, leaving Jean and Connie to their fates.
If this had been Jean and Connie’s final scene then it would have been a pretty tragic one, as would Annie reuniting with her father only for him to be immediately transformed.
This transformation also crushes a lot of the rapport Mr Leonhart was building with Secretary Muller, which could have had a lot of hope for the future.
As Reiner, Annie and Pieck hold the creature back from reaching Eren, Armin fights his old friend off, while Mikasa and Levi rush to them.
While they are doing so, Mikasa experiences another headache and seemingly remembers an alternate version of the future Eren showed her, where they ran away together.
Honestly, I do not believe Eren would have run away.
Sure, I think some part of him may have desired to, but he has always been the kind of guy to stand and fight so I don’t think him running away with Mikasa would have happened, even if she had offered.
Still, the scene is pretty emotional, with Eren using this as his goodbye to Mikasa.
After this goodbye, Mikasa somehow knows Eren is in the mouth of his Colossal Titan, which is something else I wish was explained but is not.
Levi blows a hole through Eren’s mouth and Mikasa leaps through to decapitate Eren and finally end the nightmare of the Rumbling once and for all.
Eren’s death is very emotional but I wish the following kiss with Mikasa had occurred in the alternate version of the future he showed her, and not when Eren is dead.

Seriously, the shot of Mikasa kissing Eren’s decapitated head is pretty uncomfortable.

Also, Mikasa remembering the alternate realtiy Eren showed her raises yet another plot hole.
In the manga, I was fine with this moment because I thought Eren was showing it to her in the present, but the anime seems to confirm that Eren showed her this alternate future and then erased her memory of it.
This should be impossible because Ackermans are immune to Titan powers.
As I have shown, there are quite a few plot holes with Attack on Titan’s final battle.
However, despite this, I would still say that the final episode has, up until this point, been very good.
The animation, soundtrack and action have all been spectacular, and there have been some emotionally powerful moments, most obvious of which is the baby scene.
Unfortunately, the episode then gets into adapting Chapter 139 and this is where I think the writing goes downhill.
This is mostly because I believe the following scene is the worst in all of Attack on Titan.
The scene is a flashback, revealing that Eren brought Armin into the Paths when he was on the boat.
The reason I consider this scene to be the worst is because it is full of so many last minute plot twists that are either poorly foreshadowed, problematically written, or recontextualize prior amazing scenes to make them worse.
The first of these twists is the reveal of Eren’s motivations.
Eren reveals that his plan this entire time was to commit the Rumbling so that the Alliance would kill him and become heroes to the world, allowing them to potentially save Paradis.
Was there foreshadowing for this?
Yes and no.
On the one hand, if you look at Eren’s actions from the previous special episode onwards, it makes sense.
Eren allowed the Alliance to come and fight him, rather than stripping them of their Titan powers, and there were multiple points in the final battle where the only explanation for why none of the Alliance died is that Eren deliberately let them live.
However, before the first special episode, there are many moments that seemingly contradict Eren’s supposed motives.
The most notable of these is at the end of Episode 87, where Eren states in his own inner monlogue that he will “wipe out every last one of ‘em.”
Along with these seemingly conflicting motives, Eren’s plan is just too similar to Lelouch from Code Geass for me.
In regards to Eren himself, personally, I think it would have been better if his main goal had been a full Rumbling all along.
I am not saying that Eren winning should have been the ending.
I do believe that the Alliance stopping him was the right call for the story.
But I think Eren would have been a much more compelling character if he had stayed true to what we all thought was his original plan.
Still, at least this twist had some foreshadowing, which is more than I can say for the next few ones.
Following the reveal of Eren’s motives, the next big twist is that the reason Ymir did all of this is because she was in love with her abuser.
I hate this reveal.
When I read it in the manga, it took what used to be my favourite chapter, Ymir’s backstory, and threw it far away from my top ten chapters.
Ymir loving Fritz makes absolutely zero sense.
He killed her parents, cut out her tongue, raped her, used her as a weapon in war and then, when she died, fed her corpse to their children.
And you are telling me Ymir loved this monster?
If we saw Fritz pretending to be kind to Ymir to manipulate her, maybe I could believe it, but we don’t seeing anything like that.
He is just completely horrible to her for all of their time together.
It really ruins a lot of scenes from Ymir’s backstory for me, like the moment when Fritz says he will “reward” Ymir with his “seed,” while she looks absolutely miserable.
This moment made me feel so sorry for Ymir when I first read it, but now I just feel dirty watching it because it makes me wonder if Isayama is trying to say she was secretly happy about it.

The reveal of Ymir’s love for the king is probably my most hated of the twists because of how it pretty much ruined my appreciation for Chapter 122.

In my opinion, there was another, perfectly good explanation which should have been used to explain why Ymir stayed in the Paths for 2,000 years.
She loved her children.
We see this later on in the episode when she imagines living on with them.
This should have been the explanation for Ymir’s actions, not this extremely problematic love for her abuser, which was probably only a twist to justify Mikasa’s abrupt connection with her.
This brings me to the next bad twist, which is that Ymir was waiting for Mikasa the entire time.
With the exception of Ymir smiling at Mikasa kissing Eren’s decapitated head, there was zero foreshadowing for this.
Not only is there no foreshadowing, but we also get no explanation.
What we get instead is Eren saying “only Ymir knows” which is a complete cop-out.
This was the anime’s chance to give us an answer for something which was missing in the manga and they blew it.
Not to mention that mirroring Eren and Mikasa’s relationship with Ymir and King Fritz’s abusive one is very problematic, since Eren and Mikasa are supposed to be the main ship here.
The final terrible twist in this scene is the reveal that Eren caused his mother’s death by making Dina walk past Bertolt.
There are so many things wrong with this twist.
For starters, it’s a retcon.
We already had an explanation for why Dina killed Carla.
Dina’s final words to Grisha before she was transformed into a Titan were, “No matter what form I take, I promise I’ll come find you.”
So, when we saw Dina walk past Bertolt, we were not wondering why she did so because we already knew.
Dina sensed Grisha in Shiganshina, went to his house, only to find Carla, and that is when her Titan instincts took over and she ate her.
It was a perfect explanation, and to change the meaning of it removes all emotional impact from Dina’s final words, all for the sake of a such a short twist.
This leads into my second big issue with the reveal, which is how brief it is.
Out of curiosity, I timed how long this twist is focused on before it is forgotten about forever.
Do you want to know how long it was?
Fourteen seconds.
Fourteen seconds spent on a twist which recontextualizes the entire beginning of the story and, as a result, it makes absolutely no sense.
Has Eren manipulated the past before?
Yes, but there was a very specific set of circumstances which allowed that to happen.
Zeke brought Eren into Grisha’s memories using the Founding Titan.
Both Eren and Grisha had the Attack Titan, whose ability is to see into the memories of its future successors.
This allowed Grisha to see Eren’s memories of visiting his own.
And so the two could communicate across timelines through memories.
There was no actual physical time travel.
Dina did not have the Attack Titan, she was just a regular Titan, so Eren should not be able to order her through memories.
Therefore, in order to control her, Eren would have had to physically gone into the past and used the Founding Titan to command her to walk past Bertolt, which is a power that has never been established.
Thus, the twist should be impossible, providing probably the biggest plot hole with the ending.

The reveal of Eren causing his mother’s death was just really unnecessary. If you remove it nothing else changes.

So, as I have shown, this scene has a lot of bad twists, but it’s not just the twists that I take issue with because, up next, is without a doubt the most memed scene in Attack on Titan.
After Armin punches Eren for how he treated Mikasa and jokes about her finding another man, Eren cries about it, saying he wants her to pine only after him for at least ten years.
I knew this scene was coming, and I still cringed into the back of my seat when I watched it.
I think a big part of the reason this moment does not land with me is because of how Eren and Mikasa’s relationship has been handled.
Sure, there have been a few romantic moments between them.
Their final scene togethor in this episode, Eren saying he would wrap Mikasa’s scarf around her at the end of Season Two, and Eren asking Mikasa what he was to her while they were in Marley.
However, these three moments are the only times Eren ever showed romantic interest in Mikasa.
Otherwise, he’s either treating her like family or treating her badly.
Isayama once said in an interview that he wanted to have them kiss in Chapter 50 but he backed out because he was shy to draw it.
Well, I think he should have just bit the bullet and drawn it.
Have Eren and Mikasa be a couple up until the end of Season Three, then have Eren go off on his own in Season Four, pushing Mikasa away, and then reveal it was to protect her in the final episode.
It would have made Eren say how he really feels about Mikasa a lot less jarring.
What also would have helped is a change in dialogue because, to be honest, I just do not think I can take lines like this seriously.
Another thing I could not take seriously was what happened after Eren’s outburst in the manga.
Back in the original Chapter 139, one of the last things Armin said to Eren was, “Thank you. You became a mass murderer for our sake. I promise I won’t let this terrible mistake you’re making be in vain.”
This is, without question, one of the most problematic lines in Attack on Titan, since it makes it seem like Armin is condoning Eren’s genocide.
I know this is not what Isayama intended but it is what it comes across as, which is why I was overjoyed to find that this scene has been rewritten entirely by Isayama for the anime.
Now, Armin actually accepts his role in the Rumbling through how he showed Eren his book, telling his friend that when they die they will both be in hell togethor.
It both managed to be moving and did not skirt around the horror of Eren’s actions, like the manga did.
So, despite this being the worst scene in Attack on Titan for me, I think it actually ends pretty well in the anime.

No matter your opinion on the ending, I think we can all agree that this line being removed was for the best.

Back in the present, Armin wakes up, remembering everything and learning of Eren’s death.
It is following this that we get my second favourite moment of the episode, which is Levi’s final salute.
He sees the ghosts of his former comrades and salutes them, a tear sliding down his cheek.
Out of all the characters’ endings, this is probably my favourite.
Levi is the last man standing of the old guard, living on to carry on the memory and sacrifices of his comrades.
More moving moments follow as Jean and Connie see Sasha’s ghost, and Reiner reconciles with his mother.
These happy moments do not last long, however, because, as Mikasa begins her journey back to Paradis to bury Eren’s remains, Muller arrives to hold the Eldians at gunpoint, now scared of them again thanks to their prior transformation.
It is in this moment that Armin steps up in his role as humanity’s saviour, proclaiming that the Titan powers have vanished and that he is the man who killed Eren Jeager.
As for Mikasa, while she is making her way back, she is confronted by the ghost of Ymir, and realizes that she is the one who has been causing her headaches.
To me, this is another blotch on Ymir’s character.
Not only was there no foreshadowing for Ymir causing Mikasa’s headaches, but it also makes her look bad because if she knew Mikasa would free her eventually then there was no need to subject the world to such hardship.
With that, the story then skips to three years in the future, where we see Historia narrating what is happening on Paradis Island in a letter to the Alliance.
We see that Historia has married the farmer and had their child, a girl that I personally like to think she named after Freckled Ymir.
It is also revealed that Paradis’ army is led by the Jaegerists.
Over time, this was something I extremely disliked in the manga because it made Eren look like an idiot.
He trusts his friends to convince the rest of the world to make peace with Paradis and yet he left literal facists in charge of the island.
However, the anime makes a point to note that Eren was an idiot with too much power so I can let it slide.
What I cannot let slide is Historia’s treatment as a character.
She had so much potential in the final arc, and I hate how she was paired off with a nobody and then sidelined with a pregancy subplot which amounted to nothing.
In my opinion, the writing for Historia’s character post time skip spat in the face of her character development in the Uprising Arc.
Think about this, not only does Historia have less screen time than the Warriors’ families in the final arc, but she also has no scenes in the present timeline.
All of her scenes are flashbacks.
That is how little she mattered in the end.
I hated Historia’s role in the final arc back when I first read it, and I am pretty sure I will hate it forever.

Historia deserved so much better than the horrible role she was given in the Final Season.

As for the letter Historia wrote to the Alliance, Reiner is clearly enjoying it, since he sniffs it like a creep.
Reiner liking Historia is not unusal for him, but did the final scene of a character who has had an emotionally powerful struggle with PTSD really need to be a joke?
Still, I am glad that he lived, along with the rest of the Alliance, who are now going to Paradis as peace envoys, fulfilling the role Eren gave them.
We then get what was, originally, the final scene of Attack on Titan, until the extra pages.
Mikasa is resting at Eren’s grave on Paradis, at the tree where the story started.
Her presence on Paradis is a bit confusing to me, I will admit.
I mean, the Jeagerists know Mikasa killed a lot of them, right?
Plus, Mikasa is the only Asian person living on Paradis so she would be pretty recognizable.
Wouldn’t she be in constant danger?
Well, Mikasa clearly feels safe beneath the tree, where she weeps for the loss of Eren.
It is at that moment when a bird appears from nowhere and wraps Mikasa’s scarf around her before departing.
So did Eren reincarnate into a bird, or this is just a random bird doing it for no reason?
Whatever the reason, it does look a bit goofy to me.
In regards to Mikasa, as someone who once thought she was one of the best characters in the series, I have slowly found myself disillusioned with her.
I still like her, but there are so many missed opportunities to develop her.
From her Ackerman lineage, to her relationship with Louise, to her connection with Hizuru, these were all chances to give Mikasa character development.
Instead, she just constantly focuses on Eren, right to the very end, even bringing her new family with her to his grave as the years pass.
Speaking of this, I now have to get into the adaptation of the extra pages, which is another area I feel like the anime improved upon.
In the manga, I hated the reveal that Paradis was destroyed because it looked like it was only about 50 years since the Rumbling, making all of the characters sacrifices pretty pointless.
However, the anime updated it to so that the destruction of Paradis happens at least hundreds of years later.
This makes me feel a bit better about the whole thing.
What makes me feel less better is that the anime kept the implication that Titan powers were coming back, by showing a boy and his dog heading towards Eren’s tree, which has now grown to resemble the same tree where Ymir got her powers 2000 years ago.
While this does tie into the themes of the cycle of violence continuing, I personally don’t like that it removes the victory of Titan powers vanishing forever.
The cycle of violence continuing is fitting for the story, but I wish Titan powers stayed gone at the end.

In my opinion, hinting that the Titan powers will return takes away from the Alliance’s victory.

So, since my final impression of the ending is a negative one, I surely think the final episode of Attack on Titan is bad, right?
Well, no.
While there are a lot of things I dislike, the first 50 minutes of the episode are really good, plotholes aside, and there are quite a few improvements from the manga.
I even teared up twice, once during the baby scene, and a second time during Levi’s salute.
And, of course, the animation, score, and voice acting are all incredible.
Overall, I would still say that this final episode is good, despite its many, many short comings.
And, despite not liking how Attack on Titan ends, I would still recommend the series.
The themes, twists and characters are things I will remember fondly for years to come.
Also, having seen the reactions for the final episode from many anime only fans, I know my criticisms of the ending are in the minority.
The vast majority of fans seem to have loved this ending, and I am happy that they do.
So, as fans of Attack on Titan, no matter our thoughts on the ending, I think we all owe a big thank you to Hajime Isayama, Wit Studio and Mappa for bringing us this amazing anime.
Truly, thank you.

ID: Invaded Review: Diving into the Criminal Mind… Literally.

When I heard of the premise for the original anime ID: Invaded, I was immediately intrigued.
A world where detectives can find fragments of a serial killer’s drive to kill at their crime scenes and use this to create an ID Well, a simulated world where “brilliant detectives” dive in to literally explore the criminal mind, all in order to catch them?
It sounded right up my alley and, boy, was it.
Directed by Ei Aoki and written by Ōtarō Maijō, the story follows Akihito Narihisago (Kenjiro Tsuda), an investigator traumatised by a disturbing family tragedy, which gave him his own drive to kill.
This drive allows him to become the brilliant detective Sakaido, when he dives into the ID Wells of serial killers, as he always finds himself investigating the death of the mysterious Kaeru, with the mystery behind her death always leading to the identity of the real life murderer the force are hunting.

The ID Wells are always interesting to see, with each killer’s inner psyche manifesting in different ways.

Once this killer’s identity is discovered, it is up to the team in the real world to catch them, with one new detective, Koharu Hondomachi (M.A.O), having a particular interest in using the ID Well.
ID: Invaded does a great job with its exploration of the ID Wells and the investigation that is taking place in the real world at the same time.
It creates interesting episodes, with each one initially focusing on a single killer as the story progresses, before it branches out to focus solely on the one behind the scenes pulling the strings: John Walker.
These episodes do a good job of getting you into the heads of the killers, although, it should be noted that quite a few of these serial killers are comically over the top.
The anime also makes you feel for the victims as well.
One particular episode has such a masterful bait and switch that it hit me like a train when the rug was pulled out from under us.

Just like Narihisago, we are hit hard with the relization of the big twist of that particular episode.

The show even managed to surprise me by making one of my favourite characters one of the killers, the Perforator (Yoshimasa Hosoya, and I won’t give his character’s actual name, so not to spoil the first few episodes), as I quite liked the progression of his bond with Honomachi.
It’s not all great, though, because I did find the story’s big twist to be entirely predictable, since I pretty much called it right from episode one.
That said, the events surrounding this predictable twist are pretty mind boggling, in a good way.
ID: Invaded honestly reminded me of Inception here with its weird ID Well inside ID Well settings.
The explanation to how all of this was even possible and how it ties in with who Kaeru is was also quite creative and an explanation I really enjoyed.

Along with being creative, the last four or so episodes also bring the feels, with one scene being so emotional that it is difficult not to tear up at it.

Pairing this with the great character growth of Narihisago, Hondomachi and the Perforator, and we have an enagaging show that I would definitley recommend.
Sure, it’s big twist is predictable and it does get a bit formulaic at times, before the last stretch of episodes, but ID: Invaded is still a good time with some very creative story choices in the final half.

Attack on Titan Season Four, Episode Five, Declaration of War Review: The Moment We’ve All Been Waiting For.

Chapter 100, “Declaration of War.”
Pretty much every Attack on Titan fan who has read the manga can easily recall this chapter.
I can still remember sitting in stunned silence after reading it because of what had just occurred.
So, needless to say, I was extremely excited to see one of my favorite chapters adapted in the anime.
Well, having seen it, I can say that Mappa and director Teruyuki Ōmine definitely pulled it off, providing a nail biting delivery for “Declaration of War.”
The episode starts off with a flashback to Reiner, Bertholdt and Annie’s time in the scouts, as was seen in Episode Three.
This time, we have a scene of Bertholdt wondering why the man who hung himself in the settlement chose to tell them his story before he did so, believing it was because he wanted to be judged.
At this point, the scene perfectly transitions to Reiner about to be judged by Eren, as they meet for the first time in four years.
Falco, the sweet boy, has absolutely no idea about the absolute disaster he has unintentionally caused, completely unaware as Eren subtly threatens all the people in the building above them by showing his cut hand, threatening to transform if Reiner tries anything.
From here, we see the build up to Willy’s declaration, as he is visited by the mysterious Kiyomi Azumabito from last episode, who seems to know something, given that she leaves before the festival.
Another interesting scene is between Karina and Annie’s father, where Mr Leonhart insists that his daughter is still alive, which is basically just Isayama’s way of saying, yes, Annie’s in the story, even if she’s not important right now.
The final build up scene before the performance sees Zeke, Pieck and Porco being lured away by a mysterious guard who then traps Pieck and Porco in a hole to prevent them from transforming and trying to stop whatever is about to happen.
As a manga reader, it’s been pretty fun to see fan theories about who the mysterious soldier is.
I’ve heard theories about it being Jean, Connie, and, most often, Armin who has had an extreme growth spurt.
In any case, this trapping scene is very well done, building the tension up nicely, and even providing some humor when Pieck’s panzer unit get jealous over Pieck hugging only one of them.
With the threat of enemy Titan Shifters removed, Eren can now confront Reiner in temporary peace and Willy can begin his last speech.
Down in the basement, Reiner asks Eren why he came here and Eren chillingly replies “the same reason you did” and follows this up by telling Reiner multiple times that he is “the same as you.”
This shows just how much Eren has grown over the four year time skip, going from hot headed to calm, collective, and even reflective over his situation.
He is clearly not the same arrogant character who I couldn’t stand all the way back in season one, and Yuki Kaji does a fantastic job voicing this calmer version of Eren.
Another voice actor who deserves praise for their work this episode is Kazuhiko Inoue, who does a fantastic job with delivering Willy’s lines, during his epic speech.
This voice acting, accompanying the gruesome imagery of the performance, makes for a great use of exposition that keeps the viewer engaged while being fed information.
The information Willy conveys is that the Marleyan version of history is a lie (big shock), and that The Great Titan War was actually ended by King Fritz, who conspired with the Tyber family to make a Marleyan, Helos, a hero, and then fled to Paradis Island out of guilt for what his people had done.
Willy revealing this shows how masterfully he can manipulate a crowd because first he reveals the truth, before redirecting the crowd’s anger at a new threat, Eren Jaeger.
Speaking of, Eren knows full well how much of a threat he is, admitting that he might just end up destroying the world, like Willy fears, because of the millions of Colossal Titans in the walls, which he could potentially control.
Falco is horrified that someone he trusted would use him and becomes even more terrified when he realizes the letters Eren had him send were to his “comrades.”
For now though, Eren’s attention is entirely on Reiner as he proceeds to judge him just like the opening of the episode suggested that he would.
However, this judgement is not what we might expect.
Instead of condemning Reiner, like he did in earlier seasons, Eren is shown to have become more understanding of him, as showcased by Eren telling Reiner to forget his promise to make Reiner suffer, admitting that there is good and bad people on both sides of the conflict.
This is followed by the moment that breaks Reiner completely, Eren telling him that he did what he did because he was a brainwashed kid.
Reiner refutes this entirely, falling to his knees and tearfully admitting that he pushed on with the mission to attack Paradis because he wanted to be a hero and he is to blame for Eren’s mother’s death.
Reiner’s voice actor, Yoshimasa Hosaya, did such a great job with Reiner’s tearful repentance that it almost made me cry.
Reiner’s pleas for death are then juxtaposed by Willy saying he doesn’t want to die because “he was born into this world,” and this very line that Eren’s mother spoke years ago finally draws Eren’s attention away from Reiner, as shown by the subtle widening of his eyes.
Maybe Eren is experiencing some hope that he will not have to go through with his plan?
Unfortunately, any hope Eren might have for peace is shattered because Willy follows this up by proclaiming he wants everyone to help him fight the devils of Paradis.
Accepting what he must do and that he really is the same as Reiner, Eren pulls Reiner to his feet, as we get some anime original content of soldiers approaching the basement door, ready to attack Eren.
One might think upon hearing about this scene that it is a pointless attempt at diminishing Eren’s responsibility for what comes next but, thankfully, it comes across more as a way to build tension, rather than try to justify Eren’s horrific act of violence.
And horrific it is, as Eren transforms then and there, killing who knows how many civilians and even Willy Tyber himself, crushing him with massive his fist, before throwing him in the air to be devoured, like a piece of popcorn.
This scene is just fantastic with a great use of sound and music.
That said, some manga readers took issue with the OST in this scene, 2Volt.
Some took such a disliking to this OST usage that they even harassed director Teruyuki Ōmine over it, to the point that he felt depressed.
Critique a scene all you want but if you harass the people behind that scene, you’ve gone way too far.
Personally, I feel that the music worked great and the people who dislike the scene may have had their own preconceived ideas on how the it would go, making them be inevitably disappointed when it didn’t suit their envisioned scene.
Still, even though I thought this final scene was great, there is one issue I have with the episode but it is one I am not ready to deduct points for just yet.
This issue is that there is a cut scene between Willy and Magath that is crucial to understanding both their characters’ motivations.
There is a possibility that this scene could have been moved to episode six, so if we see the scene there then this won’t be an issue, however, if it’s not there, then I think we are missing some crucial development for both these characters.
Like I said though, I am not going to be deducting any points from the episode because there is always the chance of this scene appearing in the future.
Overall, “Declaration of War” is a fantastic adaptation of one of the manga’s best chapters, delivering the point of no return for Eren brilliantly.

Attack on Titan Season Four, Episode Three, The Door of Hope Review: A Doorway to Misery.

Being Reiner sucks.
I’m sure that’s a thought that passed through many viewers’ minds upon watching the third episode of Attack on Titan‘s final season, “The Door of Hope.”
Directed by Kōki Aoshima and Hiromi Nishiyama, the episode details the many, many, many times that life has kicked Reiner to the ground and then spat on him for good measure.
If you hated Reiner in prior seasons for his actions, then you may find it rather difficult to hate him after what we see him go through, as “The Door of Hope” is primarily a flashback episode to Reiner’ time as a Warrior on Paradis.
Before the episode gets to that point though, it starts off with Reiner’s humble beginnings, as his mother revealed to him as a child that his father was a Marleyan and the only way they could all be together was if they became honorary Marleyans.
This motivates Reiner to become a hero to the world by slaughtering the “island devils” so that both his parents will be proud of him.
However, this is easier said than done because Reiner is by far the weakest out of all the Warrior candidates, as pointed out by Porco.
This causes Reiner to go full brainwashed indoctrination mode, accusing Porco of being a Restorationist sympathiser, which results in him getting punched to the ground, not the last time this will happen in the episode.
Unfortunately, it is also here that I have to state one of my criticisms of “The Door of Hope”, which is the soundtrack used for this scene.
The music itself is great but it doesn’t suit the scene at all, being more fitting for an action scene than a dialogue driven one and this drew me out of the moment.
Still, the scene makes up for it with its showcases of Annie and Bertholdt, and the symbolism.
Bertholdt helps Reiner to his feet, showing his good nature that would later be corrupted by what he does on their mission in Paradis as the fearsome Colossal Titan.
This is contrasted by Annie, who seems well suited for the Female Titan already, crushing a bug under her feet, just like she would go on to crush the numerous Scouts who got in her way when she tried to capture Eren both times.
With this characterization done, the scene then transitions into some fantastic symbolism when, while Reiner looks up at the Wall separating the Liberio Eldians from the Marleyans, on Paradis, presumably at the same time, Eren looks up at the walls separating him from freedom.
Both are trapped by walls and both are now given the opportunity to move forward past them. Reiner now has the motivation to become a Warrior so he can achieve his goal of becoming an Honorary Marleyan, and Eren is being approached by Armin with the book that will create his motivation to strive for freedom, no matter how far he will have to go to achieve it.
Following this great piece of symbolism, showing how similar Eren and Reiner are, we then get the first of many scenes that are improvements from the manga.
The first of these is the recap of six of Marley’s Titans, as we see them destroy an enemy nation’s military with a display of each of their powers and a description of their users.
The way this scene is edited with the files of each Warrior, followed by their power being shown, and this all ending with the portrayal of the Colossal Titan’s nuke attack as a “god of destruction” is way more intense than it was in the manga.
Another step up comes when Marcel is eaten by Ymir, which is framed like a scene from a horror film.
This moment came after Marcel revealed to Reiner that the only reason he became a Warrior was because he spoke up for him while criticizing Porco to the military, which he did to save his brother from shortening his lifespan by inheriting a Titan.
Marcel revealing this before he dies saving Reiner is just another in a long list of Reiner being kicked while he’s down, both figuratively and literally.
Figuratively, when he first meets his father only for him to call him and his mother a devil and run away from him, and literally, when Annie almost kicks Reiner to death after they lose Marcel.
The latter scene is particularly brutal, with some fantastic work from Annie’s voice actress, Yū Shimamura, in a scene that tells us so much about Annie’s mental state, being the least brainwashed of the trio, recognizing that both Marleyans and Eldians are liars, and only wanting to get back to her father.
However, it is following this great scene that again tops the manga, that we get a scene where the manga is clearly better, this time because of cuts.
The moment where Reiner, Annie and Bertholdt destroy the walls is almost completely cut, with old footage from season one primarily being used.
Annie’s involvement in destroying the wall, Bertholdt looking up at it upon arriving, and Reiner’s desperate fight to protect them in the chaos, is all cut for the sake of time.
Yet, while it is disappointing to see that these scenes have been left out, they are not essential to understanding the story so it is not a massive loss.
Thankfully, other, more important scenes are not cut, like the one with the villager who kills himself in the settlement after telling the Warriors his backstory.
This moment with the villager is important because it is his backstory that Bertholdt uses as their cover when he and Reiner are first introduced in season one, creating another rewarding find for viewers upon rewatches.
Another cool moment comes with Kenny making a brief cameo, as Annie tracks him to try and find the Founding Titan, only to realize this was a big mistake because of how dangerous Kenny is.
With some quick thinking and some good old kicking, Annie manages to evade the Ripper and report back to Reiner and Bertholdt, causing Reiner to decide they need to breach Wall Rose, leading to the attack in Trost.
Before cutting back to the traumatic present, we get one more symbolic scene between Eren and Reiner, as Reiner, after realizing he sees himself in Erne, encourages him to keep moving forward, a piece of advice he will sincerely regret giving later on.
Then we get another improvement on the manga, in the most gruesome of ways, with Reiner’s suicide attempt in the present.
Coming into “The Door of Hope”, I was concerned that this scene would be censored based off the trailer.
Nope!
They showed the whole thing in disturbing detail and even add things, like Reiner’s gasping after he thankfully decides not to go through with it because of a miraculous unintended interruption from Falco.
And Falco’s reward for unintentionally saving Reiner’s life?
Well, running into the most dangerous person in the world of course!
The reveal of Eren in the final moments of this episode is fantastic, with some stellar voice acting from Yuki Kaiji and great added symbolism with the tree behind him.
The build up to this scene was also great, with the previous episode hyping up his appearance in a subtle way that some anime only viewers picked up on and others didn’t.
It is in his conversation with Falco that Eren lays out the very themes of the episode, as he speaks of those who push themselves into hell for hope or just for another hell, and that the only ones who know what lies beyond are those who keep moving forward.
Well, Reiner has been trying to push the door open on hope for a while now and got nothing but misery, yet Eren seems determined to find hope, even if he has to go through hell and drag everyone with him to get there.
Overall, “The Door of Hope” is a great Attack on Titan episode that does a fantastic job of showing the suffering of Reiner and what comes of it.
It looks like we have only one more episode before we get to the adaptation of the amazing Chapter 100 and I, honestly, cannot wait.
Hope you all have a merry Christmas.

Attack on Titan Season Four, Episode One: The Other Side of the Sea Review – A Fantastic New Beginning.

WARNING: MAY CONTAIN MANGA SPOILERS.

It’s finally here!
After over a year of waiting, Mappa has delivered the first episode of Attack on Titan’s final season, “The Other Side of the Sea,” and, boy, is it a good one.
Honestly, coming into this episode, I had concerns.
There has been a number of leaks about production hell at Mappa with how complex the character designs are so I was worried the animation would suffer.
However, Mappa and directors Yūichirō Hayashi and Jun Shishido thankfully pulled it off, delivering a fantastic first episode that gave me a new appreciation for Chapters 91 and 92 of the manga, which the episode adapts.
Directed by Kaori Makita, “The Other Side of the Ocean” picks up four years after the defeat of the Warriors on Paradis, introducing us to a whole slew of new characters, starting with Falco (Hanae Natsuki), an Eldian warrior candidate caught in the middle of the final battle of a war.
The opening scene introducing him and his brother Colt (Masaya Matsukaze) is fantastic, with the ringing of Falco’s ears, the intense music, and the brutal imagery of the brothers’ fellow soldiers being cut down in a hail of bullets.
The war the two are involved in is Marley’s attempt to defeat the Mid-East Allied Forces by destroing their forces at Fort Salta; the Mid-East Allied Forces being a series of countries who banded together to attack Marley after they were defeated at Paradis four years ago.
This information is delivered to us in admittedly shoddy exposition, with the convenient excuse of Falco losing his memory due to a probable concussion.
Thankfully, it is a brief scene so it is not too much of a problem.
Also, this does give the episode time to introduce its other new characters, Gabi (Ayane Sakura), Udo (Ayumu Murase), Zofia (Yumi Kawashima), and Commander Magath (possibly Yukitoshi Hori), all of whom are greatly adapted from the manga.
Gabi is especially well done, with Ayane Sakura bringing the character to life perfectly because I already can’t imagine another voice actress playing her and I’m probably going to hear her voice whenever I read Gabi’s lines in the story.
Following these introductions, Gabi reveals she, Falco, Udo and Zofia are being considered by Magath for the role of the next Armoured Titan.
It is after this that we get the Final Season OP, “My War” by Shinsei Kamattechan.
Honestly, on my first listen, I was kind of unsure about it but, after repeat views, I think it’s a great opening for the Marley Arc, with amazing lyrics, and some chilling visuals towards the end.
I suppose my biggest criticism of it would be that it does occasionally use repeated shots of explosions and I think there should have been some variety.
Once the OP closes, we get the the beginning of the epic battle, with Gabi coming up with a plan to take down the Armoured Train, which is a threat to even the nine Titans, all by herself.
This plan goes off without a hitch, with Gabi destroying the Armoured Train before Falco dives in to protect her from machine gun fire.
He needn’t have tried though because the new Jaw Titan, Galliard, who has one of my favourite Titan designs, shows up to save them.
We also get a look at the Cart Titan, which has had its own upgrades in the four-year time skip, with machine guns mounted on its back to shoot at oncoming soldiers.
It is during this time that Falco saves an enemy soldier, only for him to call the Warrior candidates “devils,” showing how strong the hatred for Eldians is outside Paradis, even from their own people, as Gabi so obviously displays by how brainwashed she is into hating the Paradisian Eldians.
Then, we get the most epic moment of the episode as, in a perfect adaption, Eldians are parachuted down from an airship carrying Reiner (Yoshimasa Hosoya) and Zeke (Takehito Koyasu).
The latter lets out a vicious roar, turning all of the falling Eldians into Titans, who crash down onto Fort Slava to a great soundtrack, which we saw a hint of in the final season trailer.
Reiner jumping down and wiping out the Mid-East Allied Forces’ soldiers with the help of Galliard, then protecting Zeke from a navy bombardment, followed by Zeke destroying that navy, were all moments that left my jaw on the floor, in terms of their quality.
One slight criticism I do have about sequence is the CGI.
Basically, almost all of the Titans in this episode are CGI and, while this looks great on some Titans like Galliard and Reiner, it looks a little off for the Beast Titan in certain shots.
However, this CGI is certainly nowhere as bad as WIT’s CGI Colossal Titan and it did not lessen my enjoyment of the events so, even if the quality of the Titans remains the same throughout the rest of the anime, I will be completely fine with that.
Following the end of the battle, we get the ED, “Shock” by Yuko Ando, which is another banger and has plenty of cool symbolism for upcoming events.
An intriguing anime only scene accompanies this song, which appears to show Jean having infiltrated Marley, hyping up a future battle that I hope is done justice with the adaptation.
This was not the only anime only scene in this episode though because there were multiple ones and, in my opinion, almost all of them improved the adaptation.
There were the anime original portrayals of the horrors of war, like traumatized Eldian soldiers, including one kissing a locket supposedly containing a photo of his loved ones, a squad of what appeared to be forced suicide bombers, and a single soldier climbing atop countless corpses.
Then there’s the added set pieces, like when Reiner has to destroy a second Armoured Train, which he then used to destroy the enemy canons, when in the manga there was no second train and Reiner used a radio tower to destroy the canons.
Another interesting change is the character redesign for Koslow.
In the manga, he looks like a normal guy but they adapted the design in the adaptation, making him pudgy and ugly, probably to make him seem like an evil caricature.
Thankfully, Koslow is a minor character with no importance in the plot so this character design change is not one I particularly mind.
What is definitely the most interesting deviation from the manga, though, is Falco, while concussed, saying that he dreamed he was flying around with a sword, fighting Titans.
This is quite a shocking change because it seems to be heavily implying that Falco is seeing the memories of one of the Scouts, most likely Eren’s.
If this is true, then this anime only scene may be crucial to predicting the manga’s ending, which I will discuss in my predictions for Chapter 136.
Overall, “The Other Side of the Sea” is a fantastic start to the final season that I actually think surpassed the manga, with its great adaptation of the source material and brilliant anime original scenes.
I was a bit worried about the adaptation going in but Mappa definitely proved themselves here and I hope they can keep up the quality in the 16 episodes to come.
Yes, I did say 16, because that seems to be how many episodes we will get, based off leaks, at least for now.
Since this is nowhere enough chapters to fully adapt the story without it being rushed and thus poorly adapted, this would spell certain doom for the final season were it not leaked that the pacing of this season will be around two chapters an episode.
Given this, the pacing will most likely be fine and we will probably get a second part of the season months from now, or maybe a movie or two to finish the adaptation.
No matter what happens though, I hope Mappa can keep up to the standard they have set with this episode and deliver a fitting final season to my favourite story of all time.