What confused me was they were going down the route of having a deep, interesting plot. They spent a hell of a lot of time describing character's inner monologues and contemplating the reason why they fight. Yet they go for the whole "this is a cruel world" shindig, which is not uplifting or particularly a satisfactory lesson.

SHINGEKI NO KYOJIN is the only show I've watched so far that would benefit from a forced romance, as we see the same thing happening every. single. episode. PEOPLE ARE EATEN. We get it.

It wasn't exactly difficult for them to come up with a satisfactory ending with character resolutions and some answers, even if it's just a "part-1". In the ending, the main character could've realised he's BECOME A TITAN (the very thing he wanted to destroy) and so has his "friend" (I won't say her name for spoilers, but come on, she got next to no development and I didn't really care about her being killed) and come to the conclusion that "if we are going to fight for humanity, we can't lose our own humanity" or something equally cliche, which might actually make Erin grow as a character instead of growing up and . . . punching stuff? You can't have action in any media without a) us caring about the characters, b) there being some reason why they're fighting, c) some resolution between characters or d) a more motive behind the action that anyone can relate to.

None of which can be found in the climax of the show. It's pretty standard stuff, though. Any person in media production should know that you need to keep the show grounded for people to connect with the characters.

/rant