Introduction
On April 8th, Attack on Titan’s last manga chapter, “Toward the Tree on the Hill” was released, bringing an epic conclusion to the manga. Despite all the hardships, deaths and other struggles that occurred throughout Attack on Titan, it has all been resolved in the final chapter. This review will be diving into the story of the final chapter and my personal review of it.
Chapter Summary
The chapter began with Armin Arlert and Eren Yeager – the latter being the protagonist of Attack on Titan – in the mythical realm known as the “Paths”, an otherworldly dimension that connects all Eldians together – the people of which Eren and Armin belong to. The boys talked about Ymir Fritz – the first Titan and common ancestor to all Eldians – as well as why Eren did what he did throughout the past, what Eren did – called “the Rumbling”, which wiped out 80% of the world’s population – and Eren’s love for Mikasa Ackerman and his remorse for not being able to live his life in the real world with his friends. As Armin was to leave the Paths, Eren wiped his memory of his visit to the Paths.
After Armin came back to the real world, Armin got up to the sight of Mikasa holding Eren’s head in her arms like a mother holding her baby. Meanwhile, around them, those who were turned into Titans – essentially larger versions of themselves with animal-like intelligence only – were turned back into their regular, human forms. As Eldians returned to their regular human forms, they reunited with their own families and friends, on the same ground which was just their battlefield. After the happy reunions, however, Marleyan soldiers – traditional enemies of Eldians in the past and present – aimed their guns at the Eldians, however Armin diffused the situation by protesting to them that if Eldians could be titans now, they would be using their Titan powers to defend themselves from Marleyans, and they are not.
In a flash forward 3 years past Eren’s death, Historia Reiss – Queen of Paradis Island, the home of the Eldians – had her child, whilst refugee camps had been setup to help those affected by what Eren Yeager did to the world, and the Yeagerists created a new army to defend Paradis from its own enemies. Whilst Armin, Annie, Jean Kirstein, Reiner Braun and others are onboard a ship as part of a mission for peace talks on the way to Paradis Island, Mikasa sits by the same tree Eren used to nap under as a child, which is now the same place she buried him. Mikasa monologues to herself, as if she was talking to Eren, and a bird comes by Mikasa. The chapter ends with the bird wrapping the scarf around Mikasa and then the bird flying away, with Mikasa expressing gratitude for Eren, for wrapping her scarf around her.
Review
Attack on Titan’s final chapter brought a very satisfying and complete conclusion to the saga. Whilst it left some questions unanswered – such as what happens after the peace talks, or how will Mikasa live on after losing the one person she cared for the most – it has shown that the protagonist of Attack on Titan, Eren Yeager, got what he wanted – freedom. Whilst Eren may not have freed the world from war, he freed them from the power of the Titans, and the Curse of Ymir, which is a rule that those who can become titans willingly – also known as Titan shifters – cannot live longer than Ymir Fritz did when she got her Titan powers, which limits Titan shifters to live only 13 years after gaining their powers. The panels illustrate the powerful and subtle emotions the characters were feeling well, and the story overall in this chapter was a masterpiece, leaving me nothing less than well satisfied with the conclusion of the story. I give the final chapter a perfect 10/10 score.
