In just over 10 years, the action-packed anime, ‘Attack on Titan’ concluded with its final episode last Saturday, November 4th.
Finishing off what most anime viewers call a masterpiece of a show, it’s the second half of the final chapters. The 85-minute-long episode follows after part 1, an hour long special, that was released March 4th of this year.
But on USC campus, students like Malik Mixon, dreaded the 9 month wait.
Malik Mixon: I kind of feel like they were milking it, obviously, in my opinion. Like I’m watching. I think the final part, part one or something like that, or is like, I’m thinking, I’m thinking it’s the end. But then like they’re like, Nah is another movie. I’m like, Bro. So now I got to wait another six months or another year just to watch the final part.
But Mixon also sees value in the long wait.
Mixon: I think I feel like that time was like, well, it’s been like it went by fast and I feel like I think they actually put their time into it. So I think it was worth the wait.
Even with the wait, USC students like Joshua Morgan think that ‘Attack on Titan’ is anime perfection.
Joshua Morgan: I would describe it as a heartbreaking philosophical masterpiece. Masterpiece? I don’t know the dude’s name, but it was very dark. But it was very, very good.
Agreed to be one of the best anime shows, others on campus like Mika Shardarbekova, who hasn’t seen the finale yet, but plans to watch later on for her own reasons.
Mika Shardarbekova: I haven’t seen it, but I need to see it to see the finale, because I heard they changed the manga ending, so I just want to see what it is.
Others like USC student and ‘Attack on Titan’ fan, Aditya Thiyag, believes that there’s a difference between the anime and manga when it comes to the final episode like the author’s intentions.
Aditya Thiyag: I believe that his ideas were better translated into an anime format than they were in the manga, which felt a little more rushed.
Described as ‘peak fiction’ by Mixon, USC and ‘Attack on Titan’ holds a similarity in the mantra of ‘Fighting on,’ according to Thiyag.
Thiyag: So the saying, ‘Tatakae’ is a very important one in the world of attack on Titan. It’s mostly said by the protagonist, Eren Yeager, who believes in his mission of, you know, which starts out being killing all of the titans but ultimately can be reduced to I’m fighting on so I can protect the ones that I love. And throughout the entire course of the show, no matter how much Eren goes through, that throughline is still there. That mission, that focus is still there. And I feel like that can be translated to USC students because regardless of what each of us are fighting for, whether it’s something in our personal lives, whether it’s change we’re hoping to create in the world or even in our academics or athletics, I believe that if all of us have that mentality of, you know, sticking to it, fighting on, as long as we’re focused on what we want to do, then the through line of fighting on remains like the focus and remains what’s really important.
Mixon relates to this theme of fighting on.
Mixon: With me as an athlete, I kind of feel like they mean the same thing to some degree. You know, at the end of the day, like, no matter like what life throws at you, you still have to fight on and keep pushing.
Mixon offers advice to those who plan on watching now that it is over and believes that ‘Attack on Titan’ is worth a shot, even if you aren’t someone who watches anime.
Mixon: If you don’t watch anime, watch it because it will make you like anime and give it a chance. Cause I think a lot of it, I think Attack on Titan is the best piece of fiction I’ve ever, like, watched or at all compared to everything that I do watch. So, give it a shot and it’ll change your life.
Here at USC, we say ‘fight on’, but as ‘Attack on Titan’ fans, we say, ‘tatakae!’
For Annenberg Media, I’m Spartacus Smith.