#PLEASE ISAYAMA

[hangeobsessedenby]

🕯🕯HANGE'S CHILDHOOD🕯🕯HANGE'S CHILDHOOD 🕯🕯HANGE'S CHILDHOOD🕯🕯HANGE'S CHILDHOOD🕯🕯HANGE'S CHILDHOOD🕯🕯HANGE'S CHILDHOOD🕯🕯HANGE'S CHILDHOOD🕯🕯HANGE'S CHILDHOOD🕯🕯HANGE'S CHILDHOOD🕯🕯HANGE'S CHILDHOOD🕯🕯HANGE'S CHILDHOOD🕯🕯HANGE'S CHILDHOOD🕯🕯HANGE'S CHILDHOOD🕯🕯HANGE'S CHILDHOOD🕯🕯HANGE'S CHILDHOOD🕯🕯HANGE'S CHILDHOOD🕯🕯HANGE'S CHILDHOOD🕯🕯HANGE'S CHILDHOOD🕯🕯HANGE'S CHILDHOOD🕯🕯HANGE'S CHILDHOOD🕯🕯HANGE'S CHILDHOOD🕯🕯HANGE'S CHILDHOOD🕯🕯HANGE'S CHILDHOOD🕯🕯HANGE'S CHILDHOOD🕯🕯HANGE'S CHILDHOOD🕯🕯HANGE'S CHILDHOOD🕯🕯HANGE'S CHILDHOOD🕯🕯HANGE'S CHILDHOOD🕯🕯HANGE'S CHILDHOOD🕯🕯HANGE'S CHILDHOOD🕯🕯HANGE'S CHILDHOOD🕯🕯HANGE'S CHILDHOOD🕯🕯HANGE'S CHILDHOOD🕯🕯HANGE'S CHILDHOOD🕯🕯

[aot-brainrot-my-beloved]

I need an OVA episode with Eren talking to everyone in the paths like he did with Armin. Please, I really need to know what were his last words to everyone, especially Jean and Reiner and Levi (I don't care that it doesn't work on Ackermans, still want to see it)

Please I just need their last conversation after everything that has happened, I need some more closure!!!

[purestdevout]

you are ugly when you lie.

[leviismybby]

I love how Erwin makes self inserters insecure lolol The fact that you guys have to clutch your pearls makes it very funny. It must be hard imagining a man like Levi with you when everyone, even locals talk about his relationship with Erwin😭 Please you guys should stop being jealous of a fictional Blondie lol

Clutch to pearls? You mean just simply explaning the events of canon? Oh right! Of course that's a foreign concept to you anon, I forgot that canon ruffles your feathers because you have nothing within it to support your ship. 😬

I don't know where you live anon, the locals were Iive talk about Levi and his character but that's probably because I actually go outside and have relationships irl too. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[geegers22]

The irony of Isayama saying he’s not good at writing romantic relationships is that he’s created a story where SO MANY ships are validated.

I think this makes total sense though. In having very few canon relationships, there’s a lot of room to be vague. And with such a dynamic cast of characters, so many possible pairings are possible.

Also having so many characters die opens up many more options for individual characters who have outlived many partners.

Like the fact that “technically” Levi could have canonically had relationships with Furlan, Petra, Erwin, AND Hange is so hilarious to me. Like yeah it would be a total mess of a story line and Levi would be oh so exhausted it’s also not TECHNICALLY impossible.

Cause you know, they all died.

[confusedmothboy]

new aot illustration AND THEY FINALLY DREW MY POOKIE BEAR

please bertholdt one chance is all i ask ill do anything 🙏🙏

[genericpuff]

And with that, 2000 years of history and 10+ years of an animated adaption later, Attack on Titan is over.

I wasn't planning on making an essay post about this but like all of my essay posts, it got crazy out of hand, so here we are. I have a lot to say on it and the more I wrote, the more I realized exactly what the Attack on Titan finale was about. It's cathartic. It's also kind of a big shitpost but not for the reasons you might think.

Spoilers for the Attack on Titan finale ahead! CW: DISCUSSION OF WAR AND GENOCIDE AHEAD!

Now for anyone who knows what I'm about to talk about (and anyone who follows my stuff here), I'm sure you're wondering , what side do I fall on in regards to Attack on Titan's ending? Am I about to talk shit about it? It's very divisive and somewhat inconclusive. It followed the exact ending in the manga which, while expected, was still disappointing to many who had hoped the anime would take some other path.

But I have to ask, could there have been any other way?

Eren committed mass genocide, bordering on extinction of the entire human race. There was no way that he was gonna come out of it redeemed or as a hero, and he knew it. He went straight up Walter White core here and like Walter White, he is not a hero.

The fact that the Marlayans have been constantly going to war with other countries using Eldians as their personal soldiers goes to show that for countries that seek out conquest, there's no target too small or insignificant that can't be marked as an "enemy", and we see that reflected in Eren as well, in his pursuing of "freedom", an ever-moving goalpost that can never truly be satisfied.

The Jaegerists were hellbent on creating a new empire on the bloodshed of Marley - 'an eye for an eye', so to speak.

Nothing was ever going to truly satisfy either 'side' in the conflict of humanity vs. Eldians because such conflicts' origins have been obfuscated in hundreds of years of history, propaganda, and generational trauma that has repeated itself for so long that many don't even know what they're fighting for anymore, aside from one thing - that they don't want to suffer, that they shouldn't have to suffer for the actions of their ancestors, that they want peace and happiness but don't know where to start with taking the first step.

I think people are disappointed in this ending because, let's face it, it's anime, and it's an anime adaption that took years to finish. We always want to see some kind of vindication from stories like these, but I think in having vindication, it ultimately removes the point altogether of what's being said.

As much as we may try to fight it, try to deny it, the course of human history travels in a circle. Conflict will always arise. History is written by the victors, and those victors will be seen as heroes by whichever side they're fighting for regardless of what heinous acts they may have committed to justify their salvation. And after all of that conflict, regardless of the result - time goes on, and new conflicts arise.

But I don't think that means we have to succumb to grief and suffering and that's a point that I'm seeing missed in a lot of the discussion around the finale. There's a very powerful scene between Armin and Zeke, in which Armin talks about how he was born to run up the hill with Mikasa and Eren. He recognizes fully that if his life isn't meant to be long, he can still cherish those small moments that he thinks back on fondly, the moments that defined his life with the people he cared about.

And that's really all life is. Small moments and experiences that stick with us until the end. The very act of being born in and of itself is a cosmic miracle that gives us the chance to experience things that bring us joy and stay with us forever - however short or long that 'forever' may be. We take these small moments for granted when we're comfortable, but we look for them the most when we're suffering.

If I can relate all this to another piece of media that says the same thing - albeit with a much brighter ending - FF XIV: Endwalker also asks a similar question to Attack on Titan - is the only meaning in life to suffer and die? Of course, by its end, we learn that while death and suffering is an inevitable part of life - not something that should be avoided - it shouldn't persuade us to give in to fear and despair as a constant state of being. And I think Attack on Titan goes for a very similar approach, albeit slightly more as a cautionary tale - a nihilistic reminder that ultimately, the losses and victories we find in our current point of history are still just that, a single point, a blip that will be forgotten until it's ultimately repeated, and there's no escaping that.

It cautions us that freedom cannot exist without constant vigilance for war and conflict. It cautions us that our values and core beliefs for attaining freedom, love and happiness can be twisted into a weapon to cause harm, vindication gained at the cost of another. It cautions us that when left in the wrong hands, power can and will be abused by the ignorant while propagandizing itself as "the greater good".

So why not just find the joy that we can? The friendships, the little moments, the things that bring us happiness even if only temporary. Conflict is inevitable, suffering is inevitable, but that doesn't mean life isn't worth living. "Happiness" is not a tangible end point - it's the side effect of living a meaningful life that's true to yourself.

Attack on Titan is over. Some will argue the ending was the only way, others will argue that there could have been another way and that the anime adaption had the chance to change it but still didn't for reasons beyond their comprehension.

But isn't that the whole point? We'll argue. We'll bargain. Many of the arguments made will reinforce our own beliefs further rather than sway us. Many of us will insist there had to be another way, just as Armin insisted that this couldn't have been the only way, that humanity must have had another option. Meanwhile, many of us will acknowledge that at the end of the day, this is the story Isayama wanted to tell, and regardless of whether or not it makes him an idiot toying with his audience and admitting defeat by lampshading it in the penultimate scene of Eren admitting to his own idiocy, this was the power given to him and he used it in the best way he knew how.

Much like in any conflict, there's one thing that unites both sides - the human need for joy, connection, and freedom.

We might not agree on how Attack on Titan ended, but we can agree that it was a hell of a ride, and I hope we can all agree that it was worth riding, even if it wasn't satisfying for everyone in the end. It brought many people together regardless of their backgrounds, experiences, and differences, and connected them through something they all loved for over ten years. And despite how big a part of our lives it was, life will still go on, and we'll move on to other things to watch, enjoy, and argue over. Isayama will move on to whatever awaits him next, knowing fully well that his choice was his own, that he created the series he wanted to create regardless of how people feel about it. We'll all look for our own forms of joy and happiness as life moves on around us, as conflicts come and go.

Isn't that really what freedom is at the end of the day?

[distortedclouds]

I think Annie is cute in her suit in the finale, but I still need it confirmed that my girl never abandoned her hoodie and non-ass hugging pants

Tell me Pieck and Armin had to spend 14+ hours talking her into wearing a suit for the return to paradis because she straight up doesn't give a flying fuck (explains the lack of itchy stockings + sports bra underneath, Armin taught her to negotiate and he has Regrets™) (also explains why she's pissed at Armin and glaring at him the entire table scene)

[dreamingon-forever]

Levi Thinking He Lost Hange ->Hange Thinking She Lost Levi ->Levi Actually Losing Hange

We went from perfect partners that fought side by side for years

To Levi thinking he lost Hange

To Hange thinking she lost Levi

To Levihan wishing for a safe haven where they can live together

To Levi actually losing Hange

[levmada]

the way fireworks are being set off in hita for levi’s birthday

[aengelren]

Chapter 1 // chapter 138 || The first panel s the only one in the entire manga to have a page number, 13. Which was also the span of Eren’s life in the cabin dream.

[bitchimasnake-sss]

eren remembers; everything, everytime, all at once; and so, he can never be free.

[sungkaan]

If I have a nickel for every time I read/watched a character had a future vision where he committed mass genocide and still chose to do it, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird it happened twice.

[anarchicarachnid]

this will get me absolutely no love on this site, but the way tumblrites perpetually and thoughtlessly hate on AoT is a perfect encapsulation of this site's specific brand of leftist discourse lacking critical analysis skills.

Nearly 100% of the time I see AoT, one of the most popular animes of all time, mentioned here, it's someone trashing on it for extremely non-specific reasons, such as "you can say AoT is bad op". there is literally never any meaningful critique or analysis, ever.

and I have a strong suspicion it alllll comes back to the time a couple posts circulated calling the mangaka a fascist for a couple of, let's be real, really weak reasons.

AoT is ab extremely political narrative which depicts bad people AS BAD PEOPLE, and still nobody on tumble dot hell seems capable of understanding the themes whatsoever. Literally if you have so little understanding of the messaging and characters that you think Eren's actions are portrayed as justified in the eyes of the creator, you don't understand the story well enough to trash on it.

The worst thing you can say about it and be broadly correct is that there is a very bad line toward the end that makes it easy to misunderstand what the creator's actual messaging is. But it's a good thing the entire rest of the story is extremely clear about the themes and messages, so maybe you can understand how it isn't all undone because one bad person says a bad thing one time at the end.

I hope at the very least there isn't one single person media illiterate enough to think that the messaging is that genocide is good. Or war. Or child soldiers. Or racism. Or racial oppression. Or eugenics. Like these should be realllllly obvious themes if you paid even the slightest bit of attention.

[onigiri-dorkk]

It's very interesting that it's 2023 and there are still people who say that Mikasa hates Levi/vice versa.

They based that on the few scenes in the first few episodes where Mikasa is angry at Levi beating up Eren in the courthouse.

One, Levi has never once hated Mikasa. He had many opportunities to be angry with her as a captain, but he has never done that. He could have punished her easily just for how she looked at him in the courthouse -- much more for her insubordination multiple times when she was a young soldier.

But then what happens?

When Levi gets injured due to Mikasa not trusting him, acting on her own and not listening to his orders during battle, and him having to save her life, the Scouts lose their captain and best soldier in a crucial time. Mikasa feels the huge weight of that on her shoulders -- she is very aware of how important Levi is to the Scouts and she makes a conscious decision in Season 2 to step up to fill his shoes, to make up for her mistake while he recovers. She now realizes that her selfish actions to protect/be with Eren come with consequences, and it takes her out of her tunnel vision for Eren. She's at this point where she realizes she should have trusted Levi more.

In the Uprising Arc is where we really see Mikasa's perspective to Levi/leadership really change, which also reflects her inward growth. She's placed in Levi Squad. When ordered to fight and kill Kenny and team, all the Levi Squad doubt Levi's orders and think he's cruel. Who's the first one who steps up and listens to Levi's orders immediately? Mikasa. She's the first one to say yes, and she doesn't even question it -- she goes in for the kill.

When they gather and reflect about their first kills, Jean, Sasha, Connie and even Armin are still apprehensive about what they were ordered to do. It is Mikasa who tells them that they need to make the choice to trust Captain Levi, and that they should trust him.

In the same arc, Levi is shown many times as being able to calm Mikasa down and stop her from acting impulsively, and she listens more. In battle, she is his literal right-hand soldier and enters the battlefield/crystal caverns with him first and by his side. Mikasa is to Levi what Caven is to Kenny. They are each others' most trusted and skilled and respected soldiers -- Levi can rely on Mikasa to live and carry out everything, and vice versa.

At this point, clearly they don't hate each other. If anything, they've gotten so much closer with a quiet respect and bond, and this happened in the absence of Eren.

Ackerbrawl sounds violent but they both held back from hurting each other -- even though they both had reasons to fight for that serum, they didn't actually. And it's easy to conclude it's because even just as comrades, they are important to each other. She served some time behind bars with Eren, but it was only because that was a formality -- Levi had mentioned when they were up on the walls that he was fine. Again, he had reason to be pissed at her, but he never took that route. He's very gracious with Mikasa.

Fast forward. Marley shit. That's four more years of Mikasa being Levi's right-hand. Do y'all REALLY think she would still hate him at this point? Really? Mikasa is now a high-ranking military soldier and has now been Levi's right-hand for more than five years. Then Eren disappears and leaves them. Mikasa never stopped being Levi's right-hand -- she must've been devastated when Eren disappeared, and in my opinion the only ones who can keep her in check while she deals with her emotions are Levi and Armin. 100% they got even closer.

They battle in Liberio together; Levi entrusts Mikasa to battle with Eren, and when things go awry with the Jaw, Levi swoops in and saves everything -- he was keeping watch on things. When they get back on the airship, Levi kicks Eren and reprimands him again -- Mikasa doesn't do anything because she trusts Levi more than she feels the need to protect Eren at that moment.

I don't even have to describe the rest. They go into battle of heaven and earth -- Levi and Mikasa are the final ones left. They save each other. They support each other. They aide each other. And they successfully killed Eren and saved what was left of the world together. Mikasa goes from distrusting Levi and his leadership, to trusting him the most. Levi goes from distrusting Mikasa's decisions, to trusting her to make the right decisions on her own now for him to support.

AND they survived together. AND they're shown to reunite again after war.

Now how in the flying fuck do people, in 2023, still say that Levi and Mikasa hate each other? Because I am not seeing it. The only reason people say that is to try to discredit shippers but the reality is there is sooooo much depth there.

Those are some fucking good crumbs, I gotta say!!

Long live Rivamika, bitches

[transboykirito]

another thing snk has made me realise relative to sao is that it really is so wonderful, if a little bittersweet, when an author knows when to end a series. sao has been ongoing for more than twenty years now, and reki himself has said his ideas have changed so much and we see that now in how he’s handling this supposed final arc — remember when war of underworld was the end? — and adding new retcons to change the story.

i respect the hell out of isayama as an author for planning how he needed snk to end before he started publishing it, and for the fact he acknowledged that by the end he was burnt out and needed a break, even if people were still hungrily demanding more from him and the story.

i love reki’s writing, i do. i love unital ring — i’ve expressed multiple times it might be approaching aincrad for my top three — but i see how the story is collapsing in on itself under the weight of retcons, changed decisions, not having a planned ending, and continuations that have divorced the series from its origins.

i love sao, so much, i’m loving all the callbacks and tying up loose ends in unital ring. i’m excited to see how everything plays out and of course i’ll be sad when the series ends — it’s been part of my life since i was a child, i’ve grown up with these characters and their world, and it means the world to me. but as much as i love it, i hope the ending will be able to match the amount of content, story, characters and simply put, time, that the series has taken up in reki’s life, in fan’s lives, and in the world.