OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)After a long fought and seemingly never ending nightmare (including fighting off constructs of previous Titan holders), Eren is finally defeated by the remaining members of the Scout Team. However, he reveals to Armin in his final moments that this was preordained, and that he knew that he would only be stopped after 80% of the world’s population, but with the hope that this would at least preempt any retaliation on Paradis for decades. Upon his death, Mikasa also is able to contact the founder Ymir and remove the power of Titans from the world, which also revives some recently made Pure Titans. After some time, Armin and rest of the survivors return to Paradis (now under fascist Yeagerist rule) to begin the peacemaking process between them and Marley. Mikasa, who has snuck off with Eren’s head, returns quietly to give him a burial under the tree they played around as kids. Eventually, she is buried there too, with the world carrying on around them; everyone continuing the bloody fight for freedom.OUR TAKEFor anyone reading this and hoping for a super in-depth analysis of the ending of this massive and much acclaimed story, I must offer an apology. Tonight, I have three other reviews to do that are due right along with this one, but more importantly, there is simply SO MUCH GOING ON in this special that it is frankly still processing in my noggin. Not just in regards to plot, which felt like it was going a mile a minute to get to the finish line, but also in terms of its themes, both of which are perfectly understandable given that it is the climax of the story that has to wrap up years of plot AND give the final word on all of the overlaid messages that have been compounding and been made further complex with each new twist and turn. And even more than that, the specific way that the story concluded was…well, not exactly a surprise, as I had spoiled myself on certain details back when the manga first wrapped up, but it is a…choice. The way that the story explains (or attempts to explain) the reasons for Eren’s global genocide of millions, if not BILLIONS of people is just something continues to warp a lot of my perception of the story the more I think about it.I will give this the time it needs in a much longer post down the line, though I don’t think I’ll be saying anything someone else hasn’t said about this already in the nearly three years since the manga finished in early 2021. I’d still like to at least give my take on it all if possible and give it the space it deserves. With only a day to really take it all in, I think I can say for certain that the action is exceptional, even for this series that is known for excellent fights. There were several moments where things seemed to slow down, only for some twist to be pulled out and ramp things back up again, with the sudden Pure Titans actually making my jaw drop and genuinely making me think certain characters were going to bite it so close to the end. And I do genuinely like where most of the characters ended up in their respective journeys, having struggled and fought through so much to get to this point. Whether it feels right that all their fighting got them to THIS point specifically…well, I’m gonna sit on that and get back to you.