Hilariously the birds being relevant was foreshadowed. One of Eren's memory fragments is a POV only a hawk that flew over Falco at the beginning of the Marley arc would have, and before the final battle started a seagull looked meaningfully at Armin before we got a full page shot of Eren in the founding titan (and we now know that was right after he had his paths conversation with him). I think he was trying to seed the story with something he could use later and it just didn't work out so he just turned Eren into a bird.
Yeah, the birds have been foreshadowed in the anime and its such an obvious fucking metaphor
"Ereh is rike a bird, brecaurse hre wants to bre frehe. Did u rike it?"
A good number of manga authors have assistants. They handle the backgrounds and fill in any thing that needs darkened for the author usually. This can be lines that look too light or shade in scenes etc.... It allows the author work faster and focus on the characters or action.
Miura is also only 54.
And I agree. He is not as good as he was in his prime. But few of us are. The fact he can still put out this quality is great.
Also remember he had health issues too to deal with. So he probably needs it.
I did.
It has been so beautiful...seeing everything smashed and ruined.
Nearly every single important plot point being shown in flashback form, violating the law of 'show, don't tell' more times than could be counted.
Foreshadowing and plot points that go absolutely nowhere and are ultimately irrelevant.
A main character side-lined and impregnated by a nobody because Isayama didn't know how to fit her into the story.
A 360 no-scope head-shot by a 12 year old holding an anti-material rifle that weighs as much as her in a crouching firing position. Eren's head flying off and being caught like a baseball.
An Avengers rip-off so terrible to be vomit inducing. Armin masturbating over Annie and her being totally fine with it.
PATHs being reduced to whatever Isayama wants it to be, having no rules whatsoever and literally resurrecting the dead for no apparent reason. Then the resurrected dead quickly disappear as just as soon as they reappeared with no explanation.
The reveal of a gigantic, prehistoric worm for no reason whatsoever, whose importance is again, implied only in flashback form. A worm which Reiner naked wrestles as the entire cast is titanized, an action which proves to be ultimately pointless because the worm disappears as readily as it appeared and is never mentioned again and the entire cast is made normal again within a single chapter.
A necrophiliac delusional psychotic making out with her own brother's severed head, still fresh and warm from his corpse.
A child Goddess in love with her sadistic pedophile incestous rapist who was so trapped in that relationship she needed to kill almost all of humanity to see Mikasa kill her brother to be free of it.
People coming out and trying to defend the ending where the main character is beaten up by a frail, blonde AIDs victim and then screams like a loser he wanted to fuck his sister so he killed his mom and then 80% of humankind. All the while being the God of Causality, being so terminally retarded at having Godlike powers being unable to figure out a way to fuck his sister without fucking the planet over.
The absolute and utter destruction of a protagonist, rendering the entire manga pointless. A protagonist who accomplished nothing, initiated the entire main conflict that he didn't bother resolving, left the entire world hating his people whom he never really cared about because he only wanted to fuck his sister, the protagonist who would have dropped his entire crusade and hid in the woods banging his sister if she confessed her feelings for him. Though she doesn't, so he kills most, but not all of the world, leaving his friends to fight an unwinnable war without the power of the titans, against a technologically superior foe united in their hatred, the main conflict completely unresolved, and the entire world heading for a state of perpetual war and death in the hilarious guise of a 'happy' ending. All of which renders the manga completely unreadable once you know this.
I'm a literary serial killer, favoring and savoring the rape and death of this story in such a glorious manner. I savor it like a fine wine. It puts a smile on my face.