I think it is a masterpiece even if the ending isn't perfect and is not as good as its peak. I found the last two issues fairly rushed and the endgame with Mikasa and Eren weak, though those two were honestly always the weakest of the main characters and their relationship was always one of the biggest issues of the series to me. The other characters I think all have well-done arcs and evolve in interesting ways. The ending (the world is saved but still destroyed and there is peace but high tension that could lead to war again) is appropriate. This was never going to have a "happy ever after" ending but I think a completely dark, zero hope ending would have been overkill.

I think it's take on genocide, xenophobia/racism, and the never-ending cycle of destruction was really well done. Eren becoming the "bad guy" in the end was the right move, even if the last issue doesn't nail the landing of his turn (I think it should have made Eren more genocidal and not tried to play it that he had some higher reason other than his own belief that destruction is the only option for salvation). It's a series that tackles on major topics and spends the time to dig deep from multiple perspectives. I don't agree with everything the series may say but I find its storytelling to be as good as you can hope for.

For me, I have mixed feelings about it. Even though there isn't any change to Eren's character (his character didn't change, but his motive and the way he does it), his character was absolutely destroyed in the last chapter. The way it ended isn't the problem, but how it was handled was the problem. Eren went from an actual character to someone who contradicts his entire character prior to this arc.
The plot structure was amazing, but it wasn't handled properly.

Welp, I'm not doing a good job at explaining it so this post explains all my disatisfaction: https://www.reddit.com/r/yeagerbomb/com ... ding_to_a/

all of that is fair criticism but I guess I just think the inconsistency and flaws of characters in the story are actually a strength.

i really liked how this evolved from a traditional "good vs. evil" story to a incredibly nuanced, morally ambiguous tale. i like that Erens motivations dont quite make sense to us or to himself because I think that's actually very true of genocidal/authoritarian figures in general. i like that Armin, who initially was supposed to be the true moral compass of the crew, wasn't just wholly good and intelligent and made bad decisions / said things I didn't agree with.

to me the story starts as an extreme and demented take on David vs. Goliath and becomes a story on the complexity of a global human society and how challenging it is to have a just AND peaceful society. i think the core message of the story is that you can have one (justice or peace) but you can't sustain both for long for there is no justice that can be agreed to be everyone. there will always be a imbalance and that imbalance will lead to destruction eventually. how you manage that destruction is what the struggle of human society is about.

that said, I hated the last frame lol. I feel it was just a fan-service frame to give shippers their moment to see Mikasa and Eren together. But their relationship to me is so minimal to the stories bigger message.

I know, but AoT's ending could have been a lot better, have a lot more clear message.
It could have been the ending that will go down to history as one of the best and memorable.
But it didn't. It could've been standing side by side by Code Geass, Gundam CCA, or even Gintama's ending as one of the greats. Instead, AoT will be remembered as "hahah Eren dies and become a brid lol"

And it already does, I remember seeing a fanart of bird Eren f*cking Mikasa lmao

very fair. my take relies a lot of ignoring / minimizing the Eren/Mikasa stuff in the last issue and just focusing on the other elements. But given that the last frame is literally Bird Eren, I'm being very selective in doing so.

Time will speak for itself in the end. It's possible that the focus will mostly be on Mikasa/Eren and not on the other elements I speak of, which inhernetly would mean that the ending failed.

Yup. I'm pretty sure that AoT will be remembered not by its ending because let's face it.
The real ending was the friends we made along the way