I just finished Attack on Titans and I feel sad.
I remember watching the first season when I had just started college back in 2013. It was the first anime that had my jaw on the floor the entire time, and I watched the first half of the season in a single sitting.
What drew me in was how many characters were getting killed like ants. As a sucker for realism, it was a massive dopamine hit for me.
Fast forward 13 years, and I’ve spent the last few weeks rewatching the series from Season 1. I just finished the final episode. I feel empty and sad knowing I won’t see these characters again. There wasn’t even a truly happy ending, especially after I discovered the post-credit scene with the boy and the dog.
The characters are so believable, layered, and complex. After Season 3, I couldn’t even figure out who I was supposed to root for. Eren? Reiner’s side? It was a mind-blowing experience.
The ending, where Eren chose to wipe out four-fifths of humanity, should have felt cliché to me, but his reasoning was believable. It made me think that maybe half of us would do the same thing, even knowing what would happen. He isn’t your typical hero. He starts as a hero, becomes an antihero, and eventually turns into a villain, yet by the end you still sympathize with him—and with everyone else. There really is no true antagonist in this show.
I wanted everyone to make peace and live in harmony. Ultimately, it felt like watching your own children fight and kill each other over nothing. You can’t help but cry for them.
FYI, I got even sadder when I Googled anime similar to AoT, only to find most Redditors saying there really aren’t any. The closest recommendation was Fullmetal Alchemist, which I’ve already watched and, for me, still isn’t as good as AoT.
At 33, I honestly feel like I’ve watched the greatest anime of my lifetime, and I may never watch another one quite like it.
Goodbye, AoT.
Goodbye, Eren and friends.