The premiere of the last season of Shingeki no Kyojin will bring many things to the table. For starters, it will be the total end of one of the most successful franchises in anime history, but it will also be the arrival of the manga’s most controversial content on screens around the world.
Hajime Isayama he did not hesitate to do this work as he wanted. The scrutiny of fans and all the threats they poured over his head was never a discomfort to him; firstly, because everything happened to him over the Internet, and secondly, because Kodansha gave him freedom when he saw that the project was… well, one of the most successful manga in the history of the industry.
Will Eren end his promise to annihilate his enemies? | Source: MAPPA
The last two years of publication were hard, very hard, for its readers. Throughout 2019, history seemed to have no direction and in 2020, with the explosion of the pandemic, it is fair to say that many of us had no idea what Isayama would do; little by little the parts were taking shape and the apotheosis, cruel and hard ending that we all imagined was reaching its climax.
With at last The Rumbling of the Earth running on the human ground, Eren consummated the founder’s revenge and his own promise to annihilate all his enemies; but it is clear that the author had to come up with a final twist that would end up closing the story … and he did.
The ending, which I will not comment on here because obviously there would be no point in watching the last season, was possibly the most controversial event in the entire history of Shingeki no Kyojin along with Erwin’s death and the use of the serum on Armin.
For many, the ending is enough to ruin the work and the more than 10 years of construction that it took for its author … and that is why if you only watch the anime, you are not ready for this ending.
Shingeki no Kyojin, a story of the human condition and how to resist it
But to the bad weather, good face and, although you may not be prepared for this ending, I want you to remember and take into consideration what it is really about Shingeki no KyojinBecause violence is cool on the screen, but everything has a reason and a background.
Although there are many who deny the political context that Isayama took to build this manga, it is very clear: fascism. The main face that antagonizes humanity is the supremacy that the Eldians have over the other peoples thanks to the power of Titan.
These represent the Japanese and German fascist leaders, who alike abused Jewish, black, gay, Chinese, Korean societies, and virtually the entire region of Southeast Asia.
Shingeki no Kyojin is a harsh criticism of fascism and the armies of the world | Source: MAPPA
The motivations behind this traumatic background are none other than to contrast the war. In our historical record, only war has ended war, paradoxically. Conflicts happen to each other and, just as Europe was built on invasions, Asia was formed with savage empires, and Latin America grew between bloody dictatorships.
Whenever there is war, there is pain. Whenever there is pain, there is courage. Eren’s life is crossed by that courage, from losing his mother to understanding that there is a whole world that condemned them without even owing absolutely anything.
However, within this world there is only one answer to that very darkness: love. The love that Armin, Mika and Eren have for each other, united as children of oblivion; the fact that Erwin, Levi y Hange They profess themselves in their eternal camaraderie, like tools of a machine that they do not understand but blindly pursue until they die; or the one that any group that appears in Shingeki no Kyojin shows.
The lines between good and bad are blurred in all spheres. He who seems to be an enemy always has a motivation, but he who seems not to understand it always is Eren, a protagonist who goes from being a prototypical hero, to personifying all the vices of those who call themselves to “save” othersLike the United States, like Japan, like China, like the Soviet Union.
The iconic meeting between Churchil, Roosevelt and Stalin after WWII | Source: Wikicommons
This same transition can be seen in the audience, which is where everything is divided. There are those who blindly follow the hero’s path despite everything. They turn jaggerists in the same way that there are those who, without hesitation, take Thanos’s proposal as a blessing; on the other hand, there are those who oppose the eternal proposal to solve the war with more war, that path that fascism always offered.
Isayama built a story of chiaroscuro where, no matter who the “good” or “bad” side was, there were always innocents in the middle. Civilians who only know how to suffer the decisions of those who protect their lives in impenetrable towers; in gray palaces, in white houses.
To all this, the only answer is always the possibility of being together. It may sound sterile, romantic, and even silly, but it’s nothing but the truth. In this crooked and broken world, full of abrupt scenarios full of melancholy and loss, the infinite resource for peace is love.
You may not be ready for this ending if, like many, you saw in Shingeki no Kyojin a war story that gives the reason to the one who shakes his fist the strongest. However, you may be ready for the end if, like Eren himself, you can look back on the chain of pain and accept that there is no greater pain than not being able to stop.
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NANI ?, a vlog where we will discuss the central issues on the Asian audiovisual entertainment agenda, mainly from the Japanese industry. Don’t miss it on our channel YouTube.