It's been a long journey. Even this never-ending final season alone spanned four years, although admittedly any other show would have split it into three separate seasons and been done with it.

It's been dark. Seriously dark, starting in Season 1 with a gorefest of ugly creepy giants eating everyone. Every season after that had travelling further from horror and I'd assumed they'd left the genre behind. Well, it's back. Right here, but in a new way that recontextualises the Titan horror and makes it even more depressing. Eren had always been an idiot. A classical shounen hero idiot, admittedly, of the hot-blooded kind you can see in a thousand different anime. Here, though, he's become a hardline extremist. He's still focused on his goals and nothing's going to stop him. This is a disturbing, depressing subversion of a well-worn character type and you don't want to see the results.

If you want cool Titan action, there's plenty of that. From an awesome animated action scene point of view, this season is everything you could have asked for. It's like the climax of an ultra-violent superhero saga, but with giant man-eating "heroes". People return who you'd have written off. Alliances shift. There will be major Titan battles, but in the context of two blood-soaked nations who regard genocide and war as policy options and are capable of fielding conventional armies with enough firepower to defeat massed Titans. There will be executions, machine-gunning and a casual disregard for the value of human life.

So, what's it all about? What's the show saying? The iconography of its two ancient empires is basically Nazi Germany vs. the late Ottoman Empire (i.e. Turkey), but it's talking more generally about oppressive regimes, cynical wars, etc. China, Russia and South Korea all banned (or heavily restricted) this anime. This season also passes acidic comment on blaming one generation for the sins of its forebears. The most "piss off and die" character in this entire show can't let go of the idea that everyone she meets is an EVIL ENEMY WHO DESERVES TO DIE because their ancestors committed crimes. She has her viewpoint torn to shreds and undergoes painful growth. "That was 2000 years ago and you're still playing the victim?"

All sorts of interpretations are possible. It's quite an interesting anti-war treatise, with a lacerating portrayal of racism. There's also an obvious parallel for nuclear holocaust, weapons of mass destruction, etc. However, a religious reading is also available. Generations of hatred because of something 2000 years ago... hmmm, I see a parallel. Ditto for a extremist committing mass murder for reasons he sincerely believes in, with a sort of afterlife.

Will you enjoy these episodes? Well, the extreme action is impressive, but "enjoy" is the wrong word. We see scary, deeply flawed choices. Eren's decisions are particularly explosive. Do his justifications stand up to scrutiny? Can you accept global genocide? Are we still meant to care about him, or has he crossed a moral event horizon to become the Big Bad? It's become a huge show, though. The scale's expanded so dramatically (geographically, politically and historically) that it feels a bit odd to rewatch old episodes. Oh, and episode 80 is a dark ages origin for the mythology... and it's even more disgusting than you'd imagine. Slavers burn a village, cut out tongues and threaten to gouge out an eye from everyone (because slaves don't need two eyes). Little girls are forced to get pregnant and eat human flesh. Overall, this is a shocking ending to a strong series. No one could accuse it of wimping out. What it's definitely not is "fun".

"After that, I'll destroy the world and all our enemies along with it. I'm going to wipe out every last one of them. But this cycle of hate-fuelled revenge won't ever end unless we bury that entire history under the rubble of civilisation."