Warning: the following contains minor spoilers for the ending of the Attack on Titan manga.
Attack on Titan is constantly compared to the HBO series Game of Thrones, and for good reason. Both are adaptations of books, and both are seen as gateway series for outsiders to their respective worlds (anime and high fantasy). Similarly, the manga version of Attack on Titan has an ending that’s almost as controversial as that of the HBO show.
The ending to the Attack on Titan manga has been widely panned by fans who see it as a horrendous conclusion to an otherwise great series. The finale to Game of Thrones’s eighth season had a similarly disappointing reception, making their comparisons reach an ironic crescendo. Here’s how these two properties compare and contrast when it comes to enraging fans with the finishes.
Attack on Titan and Game of Thrones Were Siamese Successes and Failures
As mentioned, Attack on Titan –especially its anime incarnation — has been a massive hit for both already existing anime fans and those who had never really given the medium much thought before. Helping to usher in the current global wave of anime popularity, the series spawned all sorts of spinoffs and merchandise over the past decade. Similarly, Game of Thrones did the same for high fantasy, with its political intrigue and seeming disinterest in too much wizardry and dragons helping to attract those who would otherwise turn their noses up at the genre. Interestingly enough, the characters in Attack on Titan were even based on the cast of Game of Thrones.
For the most part, the popularity and widespread love of Attack on Titan has continued to this day, though there’s one area where it faltered. This was in the final section of the manga, principally the series’ ending, which completely upended character arcs and even made some elements of the series seem all for naught in the end. The same thing happened to Game of Thrones, with its entire final season following a downward trajectory in the show’s quality. This culminated in a series finale that’s become a cultural touchstone on how not to do a series finale, with the last episode of the series outright panned by legions across the world. Though this would seemingly make Game of Thrones even more like Attack on Titan and vice versa, there’s a notable difference between their disappointing endings.
Attack on Titan’s Manga Ending Was Even Worse Than Game of Thrones
In the case of Game of Thrones, its quality had already begun to tumble dramatically by the end of the fifth season. By that point, there were no longer any available books in George R.R. Martin’s series, leading to the showrunners winging it from there on out — and failing miserably. As awful as the show became, especially in its final moments, this decline in what had made it work previously almost made some sense. With Attack on Titan, however, the manga was the source material, so the manga’s creator himself messed things up with his ending for the series.
This ironically creates another similar situation between the two franchises, though it’s a reversed issue. Fans of Game of Thrones who want a better ending for the series can at least look forward to Martin providing such a satisfactory finale in the books. With Attack on Titan, the anime offers the chance to see an improved version of the manga’s ending brought to the small screen. After all, the final episode of the beloved series doesn’t release until 2023, and the showrunners hopefully took note of how maligned the manga’s conclusion was.
In the end, even if this conclusion is better than what came before, it will be in the adaptation and not the source material. Thus, it’s very easy to argue that Attack on Titan’s manga had a far worse ending than Game of Thrones. In fact, that series has at least redeemed itself with the already much more well-received prequel, House of the Dragon. With Attack on Titan, however, the original version will always have a terrible sendoff.
Leave a Reply