This review contains spoilers for both the Attack on Titan series and The Last Attack film.
Attack on Titan has reached critical success as one of the most popular anime series since its debut in 2013, with its masterful world-building, soundtrack, animation, and voice acting. The creator Hajime Isayama’s skillful storytelling reveals no more than what he wants his audience to know, making for an addictive binge watch with nuanced characters and intellectually stimulating narratives of war and peace.
The film Attack on Titan: The Last Attack was released in American theaters on February 10, 2025, as a cinematic rendition of the series finale released in 2023. The two-and-a-half-hour culmination of episodes was well worth a rewatch on the big screen for its powerful visuals and soundtrack. With the benefits of surround sound, the thunderous booming of the titan stampede was awe-inspiring, yet terrifying.
Although controversial for its graphic violence and depictions of oppression, the show provides a compelling meditation on the cost and meaning of freedom. In a post-apocalyptic world where ruin and death run rampant, Attack on Titan builds characters that are human and relatable. In the show, the last remains of humanity are forced to live within three concentric walls built to protect humans from large and dominating human-eating titans. The history of humanity is largely unknown before the walls were erupted by a titan attack, but through a patchwork of tragic incidents, human efforts to defend themselves from titans seem futile and laughable in the face of the bloodthirsty monsters. Through the crises of losing family members and having their peace be swept out from underneath them, the main characters’ struggle for survival is both desperate and deeply human.
Eren Jaeger, the show’s central figure, grew up as a curious and hot-headed boy with an intense desire to leave Wall Maria within which he had been born and raised. Prior to experiencing the first attack, the only exposure Eren had to the Titans’ terror was via the Survey Corps, a group of soldiers who ventured beyond the walls to explore and kill titans. His desire for freedom was fueled by his hopes to join the Survey Corps, despite his mother’s objections. The last time Eren speaks to his mother, he insults her “stupidity” in accepting their cattle-like nature when she urges him to stay inside the walls. Her effort to keep him from joining the Survey Corps, however, dies in the toothy jaw-encompassing grin of the titan that eats her during the titans’ attack. A monumental incident in Eren’s life, his mother’s death solidifies his resolve to wipe titans off the face of the planet and restore humanity’s freedom.
Eren’s adopted sister and soon-to-be love interest, Mikasa Ackermann, swears to carry on their mother’s will to protect Eren even if she has to join the Survey Corps. Her love for Eren blossoms after their childhood meet-cute where he saved her from her kidnappers that had murdered her parents. Mikasa’s character arc is unsatisfying for fans, given her lack of growth and unconditional chasing after Eren. However, she was granted a colossal role in the Last Attack with the liberation of Ymir, the progenitor of all titans, which was condensed into the last episode of the 4-season-several year-spanning show with minimal foreshadowing.
Although Eren’s feelings for Mikasa are addressed in The Last Attack, his final confession was sudden and out of place given his lack of prior affection towards her. It seemed to only enhance the futile nature of his final moments, where he appears helpless in stopping his momentum of world destruction.
The Last Attack follows the series of events that occur after Eren attains access to the Founding Titan along with his established Attack Titan, transforming his dream of eliminating titans into eliminating all threats to his island of Paradis. His desire for freedom remains steadfast after realizing that the world outside the walls is ruthless to his people. Upon gaining the power of the Founding Titan, Eren initiates a stampede over all living beings with the Rumbling. Fighting against an avalanche of odds, an assortment of old friends and enemies join forces to stop him.
The Last Attack grapples with the morality of fighting for the people you love versus sacrificing them for the greater good. The devastation by the Rumbling is shown in gut-wrenching montages: a baby in red passed away from the edge of a cliff by a greyscale crowd trying to escape the titans; wild animals fleeing in hoards; families clinging to each other and praying at altars. The devastation is awful, but glimmers of resilience and unity appear in family, community, and faith.
The sole narrative in the story that provides relief, albeit temporary relief, is the call for peace by the Marleyan commander Müller in the watchtower. He finally acknowledges that the world created titan devils with their hate, and that the adults are as responsible for the survival of humanity as the soldiers. He calls for peace and reform in a rare moment of humility that emphasizes the cyclical nature of violence.
In the end, 80% of humanity is slaughtered in the Battle of Heaven and Earth. With the strengthened resolve to choose morality over personal desire, Mikasa becomes the one to stop Eren, and grants the surviving Scouts and Warriors a fleeting chance to call for peace. She lays Eren to rest under their tree, which survives the bloody march of violence eons into the future. The instantaneous ending to Attack on Titan is surely no single solution for war, but warns against laying power in the hands of a select few. One can only hope that true liberation means more than being a slave to freedom.
Tejasvi Patil is a contributing writer for Arts and Culture at The Triton.