Board Thread:Manga/@comment-27321453-20200408113657/@comment-4383890-20200416045550

I didn't say anything about sales or anything like that. I just go by fandom reaction. Before the serumbowl and basement reveal, most of the fandom agreed on the same things, good or bad. Once the story shifted towards a soapbox lecture on why "revenge is bad and we should forgive our enemies", the fandom was suddenly divided. Which is why it is not unreasonable to say the series goes through 'Seasonal rot' as of Marley arc, because that's where a large number of people lost interest until the SC came back, because it abandoned what defined the series in the first place: humanity against Titans. Survival of the fittest. If some people prefer the war story about why Nazis "are not evil, just misunderstood", then okay fine, but what defined the series more than the characters was the unique setting of mindless Titans that were the stuff of Lovecraftian horrors. Take that out and it's just like any other anime/manga falling into the same tropes and traps as other mangaka (such as Naruto's preferred brand of "everyone is redeemable"). It just isn't the same as the original story of survival against a mindless enemy. It's just not as good.

I'm also saying this because if you think the manga version of Marley arc was divisive enough, then the anime version is gonna be a rough ride.