Why Attack On Titan Needs To Change The Manga’s Ending
Attack on Titan is one of the most badass anime shows ever created, and it understandably commands a fanbase all around the world. That fanbase is eagerly awaiting the finale, but manga fans have known exactly how the adventures of Eren Yeager and the terrible Titans have ended for a long time now. Trust us: the anime needs to change its ending from what we saw in the manga or all those fans are going to react the same way Game of Thrones nerds reacted to the series finale.
How The Manga Ended
If you don’t mind spoilers about the Attack on Titan manga ending, here’s what you need to know: Eren decides to revive Ymir and obtain the power of the Founding Titan, and he goes so far as to initiate The Rumbling. This sends relentless Titans marching over the course of the planet, wiping out more than 80 percent of the world’s population.
Thanks to the rest of his plan, most Titans turn to dust, and those that were once human transform back; Eren achieves his goal of ridding the planet of Titans and keeping his home of Eldia safe, but he ends up dying at the hands of his friend Mikasa.
That’s the official Attack on Titan Manga ending, but why are we so convinced that the anime needs to make some changes? The most obvious answer is that this ending turns Eren into a psychopath who is very difficult to root for: he’s a genocidal monster that wipes out most of the world, all in the name of ending wars and keeping his homeland safe. But it’s impossible to ignore the writing on the wall that Eren was ultimately much more dangerous and destructive than the Titans he hates ever were.
We’re not sure what’s crazier: that Eren thinks the world won’t hold his homeland responsible for his genocidal crimes or that he thinks everyone will want to make peace with a nation that just unleashed a magical superweapon to wipe out the vast majority of their citizens.
The Attack on Titan manga ending also makes us look at the rest of the cast of characters in a new way. Armin, for example, is ready to forgive Eren, and he even seems thankful for the fact that Eren became a mass murderer in order to save their people.
It seems the manga wants us to see this as a noble self-sacrifice on Eren’s part, but we can’t exactly admire his self-sacrifice when he’s busy trying to sacrifice most of the planet in the name of his master plan.
Perhaps the final nail in the coffin of Attack on Titan’s manga ending is that Eren made the world a much worse place in almost every way.
And we can’t emphasize this enough: the Attack on Titan ending makes it clear that Eren’s master plan is as stupid as it is insane. In the (likely inevitable) case of future conflict, Eren appointed his friend Armin to establish peaceful relations between Eldia and the rest of the world.
We’re not sure what’s crazier: that Eren thinks the world won’t hold his homeland responsible for his genocidal crimes or that he thinks everyone will want to make peace with a nation that just unleashed a magical superweapon to wipe out the vast majority of their citizens.
Perhaps the final nail in the coffin of Attack on Titan’s manga ending is that Eren made the world a much worse place in almost every way: we see Eldia become a fascist state, and we see how the Shiganshiana they grew up in has been destroyed by conflict and is now reclaimed by nature.
It seems everything Eren fought so hard for has been horribly transformed or destroyed, leaving behind a world completely unworthy of the countless lives sacrificed to create it.
Still, there’s hope that the Attack on Titan anime ending may differ from the manga and be a real crowd pleaser. The decision to split the finale into multiple parts could theoretically give everyone involved more time to come up with an original ending. If not, though, then fans might hate this ending as much as they hated the live-action Cowboy Bebop.
