But "I made a carbon copy of a book with thousands (if not tens of thousands) of names, overnight after looting it and planting it from a bank offscreen while you weren't watching" is pure bullshit because at that point you basically have fucking superpowers.
Yeah, pretty much, the sheer logistics of the process is just too expansive when you consider the implications. They'd need to match the weight, texture, etc of the notebook on top of perfectly replicating his handwriting.
It makes me wonder if that was just a lie, it might track with Near using the Death Note. They just steal the book, write Mikami's name and that he doesn't notice the book is fake. Either way it's not a very good plot point.
I think the ending would've been better if Eren actually succeeded in wiping out the rest of humanity and then go back to Paradis to face judgement from his friends, I say this because weirdly enough, Total Non-Eldian Death was the only viable and logical solution to Eren and the people of Paradis, the other 2 possible solutions are Zeke's plan of just cucking out and dying and Armin's meme idea of just politely telling the rest of the world that the Eldian race isn't a race of demons and then hope to be taken seriously and get invaded immediatly.
The Rumbling being carried out to completion would be more satisfying, but almost too simple, even with the interesting dynamics of Yaegerists vs traitors and Eren's personal relationships being strained. I suspect that's why Isayama complicated things, to be different and spice things up with a discount M. Night Shyamalan twist.
to me, the most bizarre thing is how the final scenes of the ending prove that wiping out the rest of the world was the correct choice because Paradis gets destroyed and some random kid is about to obtain the power of the Titans, heavily implying that everything that happened before will happen again because the cycle of violence remains unbroken.
I've seen some YouTubers actually simp for this, like it's poetic or something, and they even try this weird cope of "well, Eren ensured his friends lived out happy lives even if Paradis was later destroyed". But they try to have their cake and eat it too, praising that his plan "worked" but also condemning him for wiping out much of the world. How else could he have even secured as much time for them as he did then? Peace talks?
That peace talk bullshit is so funny. No, peace was never attainable for Paradis. If them losing their trump card, the Titans, and betraying their own nation and hero to save the rest of the world STILL wasn't enough to prove they're not devils to the world, and didn't do anything but delay their demise, then I'd love to hear how peace talks could've been achieved while they still had their Titans and the world hated them. Not happening.
Now of course, it was obvious from the start that AoT wasn't going to have a happy ending where Eren and Mikasa settle down in a farm and live out a happy and wholesome life but come on man, the ending we got wasn't even bittersweet it was just retarded.
Actually, there was an ending where that could happen, and it's Zeke's cuck plan. It isn't the ending I'd choose, but could've been
marginally more satisfying than what we got. Seeing the Eldians live out their lives peacefully but coping with that situation would've been that bittersweet ending, both sides technically get what they want and nobody is killed. Still pretty fucked up but the plan is growing on me.