Attack on Titan's Ending: Why It Still Divides Fans 3 Years Later — A Fair Look at Both Sides
Warning: this article contains full spoilers for Attack on Titan, including the final episode and manga chapters. If you haven't finished the series, bookmark this and come back.
Attack on Titan ended. That sentence still feels strange to type for the millions of fans who grew up with Hajime Isayama's story across its decade-plus run. The anime's final episode aired in November 2023, adapting the manga's controversial final chapters, and the community's reaction was everything from "a perfect conclusion" to "one of the biggest disappointments in anime history." Three years later, neither camp has convinced the other. This article makes the case for both, as fairly as possible.
What Actually Happens in the Ending
Eren Yeager, having unlocked the power of the Founding Titan, initiates the Rumbling — a global genocide using the Wall Titans to flatten all life outside Paradis Island. His former friends, the Survey Corps, join forces with the Marleyans they spent the series fighting and pursue Eren across the world to stop him. They succeed — barely — killing Eren in the final confrontation in Fort Salta. In death, Eren's Titan powers are destroyed, freeing all Subjects of Ymir from the Curse of the Titans.
The epilogue shows: the world is devastated but begins to recover; Armin leads diplomatic efforts; Historia rules Paradis; and, in a post-credits sequence, civilization has rebuilt itself to the point of military aircraft — suggesting that, decades or centuries later, another cycle of conflict is beginning.
The Case That the Ending Is Brilliant
The strongest argument for the ending is thematic consistency. Attack on Titan spent its entire run dismantling the concept of clear moral categories. The Titans were revealed to be victims. The Marleyans were revealed to be both oppressors and victims. Eren's radicalization followed a logic that the story had been laying groundwork for since his basement — the realisation that the world outside the walls would never accept Eldians, that diplomacy would fail, and that the only way to guarantee Paradis's survival was to make retaliation impossible.
The ending delivers on that logic's consequences: Eren's "freedom" results in global slaughter. The friends he loved are the ones who stop him. And his death doesn't end the cycle — the post-credits make clear that humanity's capacity for conflict wasn't located in the Titans. It was always in people. That is a coherent, dark, and defensible statement about what the series was actually about.
The Case That the Ending Fails
The strongest argument against the ending is execution. The final arc — particularly in the manga — was produced under enormous time pressure, and it shows. Character decisions feel rushed. Armin's role in the resolution (a last-minute conversation with a dying Eren that reframes his genocide as a sacrifice made "for" his friends) requires a level of retroactive interpretation that strains credibility. The tone shifts jarringly between epic tragedy and lighter moments that undercut the weight of what just happened.
Many readers also feel that the ending abandons its thematic complexity in favour of a conventional heroes-defeat-the-villain structure. After spending the final arc developing Eren's perspective as genuinely understandable — even if monstrous — the story ultimately frames his death as straightforwardly necessary rather than genuinely tragic. For readers who had invested in Eren as a protagonist rather than an antagonist, that reframing felt like a betrayal.
What Does Isayama Think?
In interviews following the manga's conclusion, Hajime Isayama has been open about the fact that the ending was produced under pressure and that some aspects did not come out the way he intended. He has also stated that the ending's ambiguity — particularly the post-credits cycle of conflict — was entirely intentional. Whether that ambiguity is the ending's greatest strength or its most frustrating quality depends entirely on what you wanted from the story.
The Anime vs. The Manga Ending
MAPPA's anime adaptation of the final arc made several additions and changes to the manga's ending that the majority of fans received positively. The final episode's extended running time allowed for emotional beats the manga's rushed pacing couldn't sustain, and the animation of several key sequences — particularly the Rumbling's visual scale — gave the ending a grandeur that the manga's art couldn't fully convey under its deadline pressures. If you found the manga's ending unsatisfying, the anime version is the better experience.
FAQ
Did Attack on Titan have a good ending?
Community consensus remains divided. The ending has strong thematic coherence but uneven execution, particularly in the manga. The anime adaptation is generally considered an improvement. Whether it works depends significantly on how you interpret Eren's character and what you believe the series was ultimately about.
Why did Eren start the Rumbling?
Eren initiated the Rumbling because he believed — based on memories from future inheritors of the Founding Titan — that it was the only path to Paradis's survival and his friends' freedom. Whether this was genuine altruism, determinism (doing what the future had already shown him), or nihilism is one of the ending's deliberately unresolved questions.
Where can I watch Attack on Titan?
The complete Attack on Titan anime, including The Final Season Parts 1–4 and the final episode special, is available on Crunchyroll and Funimation. All episodes are currently streaming.
