Anime 40028 Shingeki No Kyojin The Final Season Reviews Filter Check 1

Attack on Titan is a modern masterpiece. It’s not just a piece of fiction which has thrown quality season after season, it’s also one of the very few anime to have broken into the mainstream, so much so that people who do not watch anime at all have experienced and loved it. The emergence of the first season of Attack on Titan drove the series’ popularity to levels rarely seen before in the medium. The long wait before the release of season 2 was a major reason (along with certain pacing issues with the manga at the time) for the dying interest in the series ... at the time. By the time S2 aired, Attack on Titan wasn’t the global phenomenon anymore. One Punch Man had broken the mold in a similar vein to AoT S1 and become the new big anime amongst casuals and non anime watchers.

Then came Season 3, and the series was roaring back. The interest in the series had never been higher, and fans flocked back in droves to have their questions answered. Many began viewing the first two seasons in new light once the revelations showcased the intricate planning and immense foreshadowing that had gone under their noses when they’d watched it first. For me, Attack on Titan was always great. Never has an anime made me feel so hopeless if I viewed the world from the perspective of the characters. The absolute mystery surrounding the titans for most of the first season along with stunning animation for fights, memorable OST for almost any scene and emotional dialogue delivered by passionate voice actors made for an unforgettable experience. Season 2 and 3 bring in more revelations, slowly unfolding the mysteries of the world and the titans and shifting the themes of the series. Season 4 has another tonal shift - much greater than previous ones - and it handles it with aplomb.

A change in studios has often led anime series to ruin. The aforementioned OPM was one of the recent big victims of it, but other popular series like Seven Deadly Sins have also suffered due to it and never recovered.

Fortunately, MAPPA have handled the transition well. They haven’t been perfect (more on that later), but all in all, they’ve done a good job producing a new season of what is probably the most popular anime of the last decade.

The start of S4 might have left some people wondering where the original cast went. There’s not just a change of cast in the first few episodes, but also a switch in perspectives. We’re no longer seeing things from the side of Paradis and the Scouts. Instead, we now see it from the view of Marley’s warriors, who’re training to inherit the titans from their predecessors once their time runs out. Gabi and Falco want to inherit the armor but Reiner, i.e. the plot armored titan (Sorry, had to use this once I saw it on Reddit) can’t catch a break. Someone, grant him his wish to die.

Eren’s growth as a character is one of the highlights of Attack on Titan as a series. He wasn’t always a fan favorite because of his hotheaded nature, but as time went on, his perspective of the things around him changed, most noticeably multiple times throughout season 3. Come season 4, his character undergoes a paradigm shift; calm and sympathetic, yet ruthless. As his famous quote goes, “I won’t stop moving forward until all my enemies are destroyed.” He’s a lot more distant, not just to everyone else in the show but also to the viewers. Unlike previous seasons, his thoughts are a mystery and the season clearly displays the divide between him and the other old Scouts.

The handling of his growth as a person and a titan shifter is outstanding, firstly in the manga and then in the anime. Yuki Kaji, the voice actor, supported this exponential growth by exceeding expectations on character delivery. I especially love how well he’s transitioned seamlessly along with Eren as a character and nailed almost every line. There’s hardly a line Eren has spoken in season 4 that isn’t extremely significant to the story.

Oh Gabi! Where do I even begin? She’s supposed to be the female parallel to pre timeskip Eren, but apart from some core traits like being stubborn, she isn’t really that similar to him. Gabi hates the Eldians from Paradis for no other reason other than that she thinks they’re devils and should suffer for the crimes of their ancestors. Eren was stubborn, headed into almost unwinnable battles without a second thought. However, his reasons to hate the titans were justified. His mother was eaten in front of him by a titan, his home destroyed and tens upon hundreds of his comrades butchered by titans in cold blood. He fought for his freedom, and humanity’s.

Gabi, on the other hand, hates Eldians without having seen any of them. She kills people for glory, just for some useless praise. And without spoiling anything, I’ll also add that she’s a hypocrite with her iconic line that’s become prevalent in memes now “But did you see it happen?”.

In her defence, she’s a twelve-year-old girl who’s been brainwashed so it’s hard to not give her some benefit of the doubt. But boy, is she annoying! She’s actually portrayed a lot better at the start of the Marley arc in the anime than in the manga, so I didn’t dislike her as much. She’s neither a bad character nor a great one, but she serves her purpose.

Onto Falco, then. My cute, lovable boy, are you sure you had the same upbringing as Gabi? He’s her polar opposite, able to empathize with his enemies and an antithesis for every one of Gabi’s morals. He views things from a wider angle, often showing maturity way beyond his years. He might not be as naturally gifted as Gabi but he’s a whole lot more likeable. From posting letters for injured people to helping his enemies who shun him instead, this good boy has it all covered. He’s one of the beautiful things in this cruel world.

Pieck is the new waifu that every fan seems to be simping over; Reiner and Zeke share the title of best character amongst the Marleyans for me. Their internal struggles and motives, some of which are only seen by viewers, make a significant contrast to their outer persona, and this holds especially true for Zeke.

Jean remains the character who makes the viewers question their morals because he questions his own and that’s what I love about him. He’s another one who’s come a long way since the cadet days.

Did you think I’d have forgotten Floch? He might’ve been a forgettable side character who didn’t even have a distinct design before S3 P2 (Isayama has himself admitted as much), but he’s one of the stars of season 4, running the show like the chad that he is. He’s an extremist and his actions are brutal; at times, it seems as if he’s doing it to sate his own ego and hate towards those who’ve imprisoned him and his race behind the walls. But despite all this, he’s one of the most entertaining characters post time skip. He’s unpredictable, spunky and has the audacity to pull off stunts that might’ve had your jaws slacking on the floor more times than one. And who can forget the “shh?” King Floch has unquestionably engraved his name as an Attack on Titan legend.

There are so many excellent characters in Attack on Titan that the review would be too long if I talked about all of them, so I’ll stop here.

The character designs in Season 4 see a distinct change, and that’s not all to do with the timeskip or the change in the studio. It’s a mixture of both. To anyone who’s read the earlier chapters of the Attack on Titan manga, it’s no secret that the art at the start was mediocre. Wit Studio did a great job of enhancing the character designs and the art in general, especially in S1.

MAPPA on the other hand have stuck closer to the manga art style for characters (apart from beautifying Armin as compared to the manga, their reasons for which I’d like to know). So there’s a slight change in the art style because they’re following Isayama’s art a lot more closely.

The animation of S4 has been the most talked about point, and for good reason. I’ll mince no words: some of the CGI was downright terrible. There was some genuinely impressive CGI like the Jaw titan, but some very important scenes involving the Attack Titan and Beast Titan were horrendous. It’s not the animators who’re to blame for this but the greed of the production committee and the manga publishers who wanted to have S4 airing before the end of the manga to boost sales.

For almost any other anime, I would’ve let even the terrible CGI scenes slide, but this is Attack on Titan, one of the most popular and highly acclaimed anime ever, and surely it deserved the best treatment possible. Unfortunately, it didn’t get that. Does it make the season bad? Of course not since the season covers one of the best arcs in the manga and the adaptation itself was faithful with top tier voice acting. Could better animation elevate S4 of Attack on Titan to higher levels? Greatly.

My biggest problem with the titan CGI was that it just broke immersion. One moment we had fluid 2D animation, the other we had some janky CGI lacking weight, which made me pause and check if I was still watching Attack on Titan. I’ve re-watched these scenes multiple times and every time, I came to the same conclusion: Attack on Titan deserves better. Remember the marvelous scenes with ODM gear we got in the first three seasons or the titan fights or Levi vs the Beast Titan? Unfortunately, we don’t get that level of animation in season 4, and while understandable given the time constraints, it’s disappointing nevertheless.

The CGI wasn’t always as bad, but had enough prevalence in the most important moments (Eg: Attack Titan vs Warhammer Titan) to be a stain on an otherwise stellar season.

We have some new and honestly breathtaking tracks added to the already great OST from S1 - S3. One of the highlights in the sound composition this season is that there were different composers depending on whose perspective a scene is shown from. For Paradis, we have Hiroyuki Sawano back with all our favorites from previous seasons while Kohta Yamomoto handled the Marleyan side, giving us bangers including Ashes on the Fire. I missed the old OST in the first few episodes because I was worried they’d underuse S1-S3 OST, but they did not. It wasn’t used much because the initial episodes take place from the perspective of the Marleyans. Honestly, having different composers for either side of the conflict seems like a superb choice and helps immersion.

The only real criticism I have about the sound was the OST choice in some scenes in the latter part of the season. And no, I’m not talking about the basement scene here. I thought the basement scene OST choice was great.

Similar to the OST, it took a while for me to warm up to the OP, but looking back now, it’s great and suits the themes of S4. This was a common opinion amongst the community; the majority seemed to have disliked My War for the first couple episodes, then it just grew on people and now it sets the tone for the rest of the episode.

Now that Attack on Titan’s final season (Part 1) has ended, it’ll be intriguing to see what route MAPPA takes for the rest of the adaptation. There’s anywhere between 13-16 episodes of content left to cover, depending on the pacing. Will the production committee see Attack on Titan as a chance to make hundreds of millions of dollars in a movie format or will we have Attack on Titan Final Season Part 2 (lol), only time will tell. I’m not against either, as long as they take enough time and pour passion into making it. I don’t mind waiting longer if it means getting the best production values. Hopefully, that’s the case.

(TLDR Review at the bottom, as always, thanks for reading)

最後の進撃が始まる。

Attack On Titan. But is it an attack on titans now, or maybe a bigger enemy at hand?

I'm sure AOT needs no introduction, it is that one anime that has spammed up everyone's YT recommendations with drip memes, Eren table scene memes, 10 hour fuck Gabi videos and her getting beat up,ｔｈｉｃｃｋａｓａ if you dived that deep into the culture. When the first episode of the final season came out, it was so powerful not even telling my dad for the Crunchyroll to work was possible. When I say this anime is something else in terms ... of internal and external events, I mean that this anime is something else. God knows when we are getting another community and anime like this ever again. I am glad I was here to experience this bit of the trek with others like myself and beyond.

I could go on and on about the moments shared. But I must write a review for now.


Narrative:
I may sound like a hardcore fanboy, but I am going to explain why I think this is a 10/10 narrative. I would also like to believe that people reading this review are aware of the references I will make to previous seasons. Ok cool.

Starting off the final season, we get a bit of insight into the enemies on the other side of the sea. From initial impressions, it can be told that this nation, which uses children in warfare, is clearly lost in morale. And that is the slow building of this new true evil enemy of humanity, Marley. How AOT goes around building this empire of Marley is an interesting one. Marley has qualities of a fascist, imperialistic, tyrannical nation that can be converged to past real-life nations in human history. Those qualities don't just exist for the sake of it too, it is part of the long prejudice against Eldians, in which Marley exploits that to grow themselves and their dominance around the world. It is that which starts a whole chain of events. A serious chain.

AOT FS story is focused on the cycle of hate, the consequences it has and the action people want to take due to it. Everything that has ever happened so far in the story from start to end (as of now) the cycle of hate continues to prevail in high life, all the while both sides suffer from nothing but losses. That is where the story really shines, the story plays two events on both sides of the spectrum, one we already know and love, Eren's side, and the other we are made to hate Gabi's side, it does a good job at making us hate Gabi's side of the story too, but when you look into it, who is wrong in this mindless loop of destruction? Both sides have given birth to a nation that seeks to exploit and dominate in an imperialistic fashion, the other gives birth to a literal bakemono, a Monster, the devil himself if you really want to go there. The story does a really good job of making those find more important questions. No one here's truly wrong because, in war, both sides believe in what they are doing to be the just cause of action. Both sides are deluded by their beliefs so much so that there isn't a spec of question as to if they might be ever so slightly wrong in their actions. Everyone becomes a victim of their surroundings. It is a fantastic way to really emphasize this world of AOT. From the start, it is clear that the hate got too many characters to the point of joining the army at a young age and leaders making up false stories for the sake of maintaining status. The world is cruel, and it sure as hell shows it here.

Characters are really something else in AOT. I want to first get rid of two characters that I found obviously flawed in the anime. Those two being Mikasa and Armin. In simple terms, the former is still a hardcore simp, the latter is still a hardcore weakling. How they don't change after all these years is beyond me. If Eren's drip game can go from 0 to 100, wouldn't it make sense his childhood friends caught on? But in all seriousness, I never quite understood the purpose of Mikasa and Armin. They are annoying, part of the reason I don't like them too much, but I acknowledge that annoying =/= bad character. The bad qualities of them should I say lie in what purpose they serve to the story as of the Final Season in my opinion. Mikasa has some benefit of the doubt given to her, she is starting to open up that Eren's apparent downfall is not one that wishes the best of him in his future, she even goes out of her way to question whether or not he is doing the right thing, but again, for the sake of the story, she needs to brainlessly be there for Eren even when my boy is committing various war crimes in the former Eldian empire. She was going places but easily lost herself due to a static character within her. Her "development", if you can even call it that, is a stretch in my opinion. She makes no effort to do anything she wouldn't normally do for a nice change in character, especially during these god awful times that both sides have faced. To be fair, Mikasa is supposed to be this life devoting girl to Eren because he saved her, but no development is absurd on quite a few levels, making her less of a believable character. Armin is still the same dude he was from the start, I honestly don't know why he too hasn't changed, actually, it would make sense that having the successor of human's greatest leader would feel like a burden, but all that time to train apparently meant nothing, well okay then. No development here to be pleased of.

Now, for the real MVPs. Eren. The dude is one of my favourite characters in the series, and not because he does an edgelord moment, but his change from the start to the end whilst still being consistent is quite satisfying and understandable to view. When Eren said he was gonna kill his enemies, he wasn't playing games. He did everything in his power to make that try and this season shows the beginning of such a change of heart.

Gabi. The annoying girl? But is she really? I remember when it was very easy to hate on Eren because of quite a similar personality, I was the same in that boat. Everything she does is justifiable despite being executed in a way to annoy the audience. Past the clouds and she isn't really any different from other characters like Eren. Hate grew on her, and she is fighting for the sake of the people she cares about, sounds a little bit like Eren does it not? Overall, I think Gabi is quite an interesting character, though, unlike Eren, she is portrayed on the wrong side of the story, giving her a different experience than Eren's life, the person she is most similar to. Her character plays out quite well if I am honest, the truth which she faces, later on, the reaction of which makes for a tragic life for Gabi honestly. Great writing overall for her.

Reiner. Gigachad hella swagger Reiner drip glow up. In seriousness, Reiner is one of the best characters in the series. He understands a lot more about the world and the harsh reality he has to face due to the brainwashing and control of Marley, he is a victim of the situation. A tragic one after what he has had to face during so. I feel quite bad for the dude but it goes to show like Gabi, he was part of the corrupted system which devalued his life so much that he was lost of everything.

Zeke is one I want to get a little into too, later on in the story he plays a big role in everything that goes down, but there is more than meets the eye with Zeke. you being to understand his motives a bit more and why he did the things he does, an intriguing monke, to say the least.

AOT uses a lot of explicit themes in the story to give it the acclamation it has, like revenge, hate, dystopia, but one of the more implicit themes to be shared is influence. I have noticed that every character in AOT as a child has been influenced in some way. Eren with his past trauma growing into hatred, Gabi the same without the trauma, more like a duty. Reiner the same, but it is based on duty rather than anything else, Zeke would get into spoilers, but you will see what I mean when you get there. AOT does well at this and has made for more believable characters in the grand scale of things, past experiences will have a lot on what you say as you grow up. It also makes me think that on both a superficial and intramural level, the story has something to share regardless of how deep you dive into it. There aren't a lot of stories out there like this one. One of a kind honestly.


Audiovisuals:
The visuals are an iffy situation, I would be a liar to say I enjoyed the visuals all the way, but notes to take into account are, watch this at a minimum of 720p HD quality, and try to get used to the CGI early on. The CGI really got to me in particular but I got used to it in the end, it is quite unfortunate that Mappa had been given a really bad schedule, it was borderline impossible to make great sakuga all the way through, welcome to the anime industry where money is a top priority, but that's a story for another time. I understand that there wasn't any substantial time for Mappa to even make 10/10 animation, but it doesn't excuse the fact that this isn't the best thing in the world. It isn't. So I didn't see this as anything of glory for the most part, however, even with a bs schedule, Mappa did actually have quite a bit of moment where there were just great scenes overall, their 2D animation and was still amazing to hold onto the tragic reality Mappa faced. They also have amazing camera work, which made most scenes that much more impactful. I could name a few but they would go into spoilers. This is a tragic category, but it is one that I still found some goodness in.

I have been meaning to only give 10/10 audio to only Clannad's OST, but that changes today, not that numbers meant much to begin with, but you know. AOT FS doesn't suffer from any kind of lack in the soundtrack to the point where innovation is needed, it also has a wide range of sounds that feature more or less anything that produces a sound, basically, this has it all, the great sound is clearly prominent in this series and has clearly shown that these pieces were composed. So many great tracks to remember, be it due to controversy or just the hype surrounding the said OST brings. OP and ED are in the same boat, I can't say both tracks have left my head at all and on the visuals side of things they are completely memorable and original. Amazing sounds. Nothing less. I also need to talk about the seiyuus because they did an outstanding performance, it is burnt into the memory of how well they performed, generally amazing on everyone's side. You won't see acting like this in a good while I tell you, endorse it now whilst it is still there.


Enjoyment:
There are a lot of things very enjoyable about AOT FS. Most of mine comes from an external experience, in talking to fans about the philosophy of the characters, what might be upcoming and which side are you on. You can do this with yourself internally too, it depends on how you look at it really. Universal enjoyment is really what I just said, mostly about asking yourself the different questions this has to offer, there is no wrong answer which makes it all the more interesting. Random theories come out of nowhere but they could hold water. Is all fair in war? At the end of the day, AOT allows you to build your own enjoyment of what it gives to you.

Other side factors directly within the anime include hype moments and fight scenes you are just dying for. Whilst they aren't the best, they are still extremely good and something that I find myself looking forward to at times. AOT needs to have its action here and there to satisfy both parties I guess. In saying that, I do have to point out that a lot of people get a bit bored with the slowness of episodes containing no action and serving as plot-based episodes, I would agree slightly, but it is the same slow journey that is worth the while. You just need to prevail. All in all, AOT does a good job of allowing everyone to enjoy themselves. There's something for all in this gem.


Overall - 9.6 (10)
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TLDR Review:
Story - 10: Philosophical questions, political troubles, generally very intriguing story to find yourself immersed in.
Visuals - 9: Yes the CGI isn't the best, but it is actually used quite well, 2D animation still amazing and
Audio - 10: Amazing OST, OP, ED and seiyuus. It is one of a kind here.
Characters - 9.5: Slight hiccup in a few characters, everyone else
Enjoyment - 9.5: Very minor complaint, sometimes episodes are less intriguing than others, but most of the time the hype is still there and this is something to look forward to.

Overall - 9.6 (10)
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Before I cut this review off, I really want to put out there this amazing things have gone down with everything in relation to AOT, good or bad, these events were something to witness, getting a following like this again for new manga, which will eventually turn into popular manga, into anime, into popular anime, into a global success, doesn't seem like it will happen anytime soon. I am glad I was here when this season aired, experiencing all the events that went down lol. Truly monumental moment.

Attack on Titan: The Final Season is an ambitious project. Here we have the culmination of years worth of meticulous planning, foreshadowing and build-up. The narrative apex of what started out as a fairly straightforward survival story, now an intricate weaving of political drama, social commentary and grandiose action setpieces, with the best yet to come.

To pull off a story of such epic scale on animation is not an easy task. Adaptations of the sort often struggle with several difficulties even getting off the ground, let alone actually doing justice to the source material. AOT has been blessed in this regard by an adaptation ... that while not the most technically accomplished or smooth in terms of production, has remained consistently great thanks to its commitment to a strong artistic vision, incredible soundtrack and a genuine attempt at adhering to and properly conveying the events of its source material as well as it can. Not only did it do the manga justice, it often elevated scenes to another level thanks to the sheer strenght of its presentation. Shingeki fans are luckier than most.

Momentum seemed to be in AOT's favor as we entered the most hyped up season of the show since its heyday back in season 1. Many fans were worried about the studio change at first, but also optimistic when it was revealed that MAPPA would be Wit’s replacement. 16 episodes later, I can confidently say that we got another strong adaptation on our hands, but not one without compromises or a fair share of vocal detractors and controversies. With a change of creative leads comes a different vision, so even if this season was produced under ideal circumstances, which it definitively was not, the difference in flair alone would’ve been enough to divide opinions.

So in order to understand the full breadth of the situation, I will attempt to assess the oft-discussed schism between MAPPA and Wit, how their approaches differ, and then give my own thoughts on this season as a whole. As such, we need to first contextualize the circumstances surrounding the final season.

==THE PRODUCTION==

AOT S1 was an effort of showmanship by then newcomer Wit Studio. Director Tetsuro Araki of Death Note fame, coming fresh off the heels of Highschool of the Dead and Guilty Crown, sought to form a team that would be up to the task of delivering the most bombastic and impressive action show they could make. From the gound up, it was meant to be Wit’s bold proclamation to the anime industry and fans around the world: we’re here and this is what we can do. Numerous as their production issues would end up being, and the staff nearly did almost collapse under the workload, they undeniably delivered a final product that all parties involved could be proud of.

Season 4, on the other hand, is a bit of a different beast on a conceptual and philosophical level. It’s no industry secret that it had to deal with a tumultuous schedule. The team was hastily put together by getting everyone who was available at the time, which is the reason this season was particularly low on star animators and action directors when compared to previous outings. Not by the fault of director Yuuichirou Hayashi either, who’s just as capable at his job as Araki, but simply because the cimrcunstances surrounding the production wouldn’t allow for anything better. Rather than a showcase of the team’s full capabilities or a passion project, this was more about finishing off the job of another studio while trying to please the fans. I don’t mean this as a knock on the team at all, one can only imagine how daunting the pressure must’ve been, but it’s important to point out these distinctions. The fact that the final product turned out as good as it did, warts and all, is nothing short of a testament to the staff's incredible ability of making the best out of an awful situation. Nevertheless, the cracks do show and they only become more apparent the further we get into the final season.

To take over the work of an accomplished team is a difficult proposition in itself, even moreso when said work is already extremely difficult to translate to an animated medium *and* has a history of hellish production cycles. To do so under turbulent circumstances, while needing to start from scratch, was bound to cause controversies.

Though impressively enough, things started out pretty well for S4. There were the usual complaints about CGI and cut content here and there, but for the most part people seemed excited. That wouldn’t last when we got the first batch of episodes to “not live up” to expectations, resulting in assholes harassing the staff at social media. Sometimes even directors and animators who had nothing to do with the episodes said assholes had a gripe with in the first place. It was an embarassing situation all around.

This eventually led to a state of affairs where fans of the season became perhaps too defensive at any criticism aimed at it while the more vocal detractors used it as an opportunity to lash out at the series in general. Amidst the harassment, the terrible schedule, the hyperbolic negativity masquerading as critique, insane amounts of trolling, and the fans and haters shouting at each other increasingly louder… Well, it became somewhat difficult to discuss this season's shortcomings in a level headed manner.

To make matters worse, well intentioned fans pivoted to singing praises to MAPPA (#thankyoumappa trended on twitter) when they shouldn’t have. Praise the hard working staff, absolutely, they deserve it, but don’t validate MAPPA’s recklessness. Hardheaded as AOT's production committee may be, at the end of the day it was MAPPA who decided to take on such a huge project at the expense of their employees' wellbeing. When literally every other studio was sane enough to decline the absurd schedule imposed by Kodansha, even WIT Studio themselves, it was MAPPA who chose to throw their artists under the bus over prestige. It’s not the first time they’ve commited to more projects than they can reasonably handle either. Sure, they couldn’t have predicted the pandemic, but the schedule was already terrible even when not accounting for that. To defend them is to defend the anime industry's worst practices against its creators. Acknowledge their guilt if you want better for everyone involved.

As a result, this season was a mixed bag in technical terms. A lot of attention has been drawn to the CGI titans which are, quite frankly, the one aspect the show handled the best. Most of them look very good and are well integrated within the anime’s visual style. They move well during action scenes and are animated in a way so as to mimick 2D movement, implementing techniques like frame skipping. Even the weaker ones like the Beast Titan are still considerably better than WIT Studio's attempts at CGI titans during seasons 2 and 3, which always looked jarring and out of place. This is one of the more frustrating aspects about the anime community: no matter how sensible their implementation or how good they look, people will still shit on 3D animation by the simple virtue that it isn’t 2D animation.

What concerns me more is how bad the show can look some of the time. This season just isn’t as aesthetically beautiful as the previous ones, and it does not animate more fluidly to compensate either. There is an overreliance on bloom, chromatic aberration and other postprocessing effects, likely as a crutch to maintain a sense of visual consistency throughout the season. While that works well enough most of the time, it can just as often look like a blurry mess, specially during the latter half of the show. Flashbacks to previous seasons are smeared with effects to mask the shift in art style. Some of the compositing looks ugly. The colors either feel too muted or too overblown depending on the lighting. This is not to say the show can't look beautiful at times, and it does rely on good storyboarding to carry itself, but it never quite reaches the beauty of previous seasons or the full potential hinted at by the pre-release trailer. Some argue that MAPPA handles dialogue better, but aside from some Marley arc episodes the dialogue scenes in the Paradis arc are just as stiff if not more than WIT’s.

Finally, the biggest loss of them all come in the form of the ODM gear sequences. These used to be among the most impressive visual displays of seasons past, full of fluid and dynamic camera shots mixing 2D and 3D animation. These are when the action animation directors really got to flex their muscles in their attempts to one-up each other, constantly pushing the envelope of what they were capable of. All of that is gone. ODM scenes now look extremely stiff and don't even attempt to mimick that same feeling of wild momentum. Even Levi, the show's favorite sasuga poster boy, didn't get a trademark jaw-dropping scene during what is likely to be his last big hurrah. Granted, it was always going to be difficult to follow up on Imai. The man wrote the book on how AOT’s action should look like and inspired his co-workers to follow on his footsteps. To match that while having to start your workflow from zero, without any of the specialists who had been building that skillset over the years, is a herculean task. But given more time I’ve no doubt the current staff could’ve done a much better job than what we got.

I am sure that the consequences of the show's hurried schedule spread much deeper within the season's DNA than just its technical aspects. Less production time means less time for composing new music, rushed creative decisions, important scenes not receiving the priority they deserve, wonky transitions and pacing not getting corrected, and so on.

As a result, S4 feels consistent but rarely exceptional when it comes to delivering memorable moments. While it sometimes elevates the source material, it just as often struggles to not crumble under its weight. It can be argued that MAPPA’s lows aren’t as low as Wit’s, but they never really come close to matching their highs either.

==A DIFFERENT APPROACH==

So, all right, the season had exceptionally bad production problems. So what? I hear you asking. Just another day for the survey corps. Season 3 Part 2 had a fucked up schedule too and everyone loved it! This is true, though having a team who is already familiar with the material and has years of experience to fall back on makes all the difference. However, not all can be waved away under the umbrella of “production issues”. This is when we start getting into the more subjective aspects of this analysis that not everyone is going to see eye to eye with.

Tetsurou Araki and Yuuchirou Hayashi are fundamentally different directors with their own sets of strengths, so it should be no surprise that their approaches to Attack on Titan are very different. Araki sports a boisterous style through and through, always aiming for bigger, faster and louder. Even in an anime about people writing on goddamn notebooks, he imbues it with such grandiosity and a kinetic energy that you rarely see matched elsewhere. A match made in heaven for Attack on Titan’s larger than life narrative, specially during those first few arcs more reliant on spectacle. It was that energy and confidence that fueled the first three seasons of Attack on Titan and made it such a tour de force that delivered its most iconic moments with gusto. Like his style or not, Araki delivered his scenes with such blaring confidence and pizazz that you couldn’t help but be swept away by his thunderstorm of emotions.

Hayashi, on the other hand, takes a more understated approach to this season. I can’t say I am as familiar with the guy’s work so I have no idea if that’s just his signature or not, but it isn’t a bad match for AOT either. With the time-skip marking a significant shift in tone for the story, a more grounded style of presentation works well for the chapters covered here. Many people have described this season as feeling more like a “war movie”, and I can totally see what they mean by that. There’s this grounded grittyness to how Hayashi conveys the world of AOT.

I can’t claim to be unbiased here. I loved Wit Studio and Araki’s “voice” for Attack on Titan and I was sad to see them go. It’s hard not to grow attached after so many years. Given the choice, I would pick them to animate S4P2 in a heartbeat. A part of me can’t help but wonder how certain scenes would’ve panned out with them in the driver’s seat. Would the low points be lower, but the highs much higher? Or were those highs impossible to achieve given the circumstances? How much can we chalk up to schedule, and how much to deliberate creative choices? One can only guess.

A lot has already been discussed about the changes and when all is said and done it all boils down to preference. I’m not here to tell you how you should feel about either team, nor am I attempting to offer some faux-objectivist breakdown on who is better. I’ve just laid the facts and shared my views on the matter, you’re free to agree or disagree.

All that said, Hayashi and his staff have every right to be proud of their work here. Henceforth, I will be judging them entirely on their own achievements from now on. Wit Studio can take a bow, they’ve more than earned it.

Be aware that if you’re reading this review prior to watching the season, the next 2 sections will contain spoilers for the arcs they cover. Skip to Final Thoughts if you wish.

==THE OTHER SIDE OF THE OCEAN==

The first few episodes of Attack on Titan: The Final Season do a fantastic job at setting the tone for the remainder of the show. More than any of the previous seasons, this feels like a war drama. While Titans are undoubtedly still the engine driving the main conflict, they take a bit of a backseat to the characters and the world they inhabit.

Reiner’s character study during these first few episodes is perhaps the strongest character arc this season has to offer as he fills the role of the protagonist. His journey from big bro side character on S1, to antagonist in S2 and 3, to a deeply troubled and conflicted individual in S4 makes him one of the show’s stand-out characters to me. May his plot armor live long after the heat death of the universe, carrying all of our guilt and sins into the eternal void of space.

While being significantly more slow paced than we’re used to, these first few episodes do a great job at slowly raising the tension as they progress. We are introduced to a whole new cast, setting and plot developments. The season’s more muted visuals actually work in its favor during this particular section of the story. There’s this foreboding atmosphere permeating every shot, a slow but steep climb of unease that signals something big is about to go off. No other episode encapsulates these feelings better than the first big turning point of the season: Declaration of War.

Much has already been said about Declaration of War than I could possibly do justice during a series review. It is a masterful display on how to build tension and pacing, ultimately culminating in one of the AOT’s most defining moments. While I firmly believe the climax could’ve been done much better for multiple reasons (yes, poor ost choice being one of them, but not the only), it still stands as one of the best episodes the series has to offer.

Marley’s climax only solidifies its greatness further by following up with The WarHammer Titan and Assault, the latter in particular being one of the series’ best action focused episodes yet, and finally concluding with Assassin’s Bullet, a hell of a gut punch to end this first half of this season. For better or worse, this is also when S4 peaks.

==AND HIS NAME IS...==

Paradis comprises the second half of the season and is when the show starts to feel a little less polished. The animation is rougher, there are more stills and you can definitely feel the production starting to take its toll. Luckily enough, this section of the story is mostly focused on dialogue so these issues don’t negatively impact the show as much as they otherwise would. They do, unfortunately, remain noticeable until the end.

Eren is the other stand-out character this season and the conflicts in this arc are entirely driven by him. Characters discuss and are motivated to act for or against him. Marley and War For Paradis marks a definitive turning point for his character from a reactive protagonist to an active force of change, an unstoppable agent of freedom. He becomes a fascinating character to watch as you never know exactly what he is thinking or what his true intentions are, arguably transitioning to the role of an anti-hero, villain protagonist or straight up antagonist depending on who you ask. His arc, alongside most other elements set-up during these episodes, unfortunately won’t see any pay-off until part 2 airs, so I won’t go into much detail.

The biggest flaw of this arc and what ultimately holds this season back from living up to all it could be is that it ends just as things are about to hit their climax. The finale feels like any other regular episode and is definitely the least fullfilling one we’ve had so far. There is no resolution, just a big cocktease of a “to be continued”. It’s for the better considering the following events could not be done justice under the current schedule, but it still stings.

Incomplete as it is, there are still some stand-out moments to be found here, from Gabi’s continued growth as a character leading to the confrontation at the restaurant, to Eren, Armin and Mikasa’s table scene, to Zeke’s flashback episode. YMMV on whether Levi vs Beast Titan round 2 stands among the greats or not as it is when you can most strongly feel the strains of this production with its jerky movements and unpolished feel due to a lack of in-betweens (and it’s not the only scene who suffers from this). I personally think they did a pretty good job all things considered and I’ll defend the use of K21 till my very last breath.

==FINAL THOUGHTS==

I watched Attack on Titan back when it first aired in 2013. Episode 1 enraptured me in a way few anime premieres have done before or since. Whilst season 1 ultimately lacked in certain areas I thought were crucial for a story to truly carve its place among the greats, it was still a pretty cool action-horror thrill ride with a novel gimmick that left an impression on me. Maybe “too hyped up”, but frankly who gives a shit as long as you have a good time.

I was excited at the prospect of a season 2 and anxiously waited for its announcement. Somewhere along the 4 years it took, I experienced other stories, found new hobbies and was at a completely different headspace than back when that first season aired. My interest had naturally declined and I believed myself to be over such a “basic” series. Season 2 came and went with some amount of fanfare but nowhere near as much as its predecessor, and so it was easy to ignore.

Fast-forward to 2019 and I see the latest season of AOT carving its way up to MAL’s top 10. It got me curious but I briefly dismissed it as fanboy fervor. All the while, however, I kept hearing whispers. “Attack on Titan is actually really fucking good right now”, they said. “It’s almost like a completely different show now”, they proclaimed. “They revealed what’s in the basement”. All right, fine. I got curious enough to bite. I read the equivalent of season 1 through the manga in order to refresh my memory, laughed at the wonky art, and then jumped straight to season 2. I enjoyed it a bit more than I thought I would. Perhaps I had underestimated AOT after all. Season 3 had a few weak spots but somewhere along the way I found myself invested in those characters I previously didn’t care about. S3P2 exceeded all my expectations. I was a follower of Ymir once again and quickly switched to the manga. And now, a year and change later, here we are.

When it comes down to it, I greatly enjoyed my time with Attack on Titan: The Final Season. It is by no means perfect. Its assortment of flaws are what stops me from giving it a higher score, and I would be lying if I said I’m not at least a bit disappointed at what could’ve been, but by no means does that make what we got bad. I’ve been waiting with bated breath to see some of these chapters adapted and for the most part they delivered.

Those “certain areas” in which I thought AOT lacked all the way back in season 1 have been fully addressed at this point. This is the strongest the series has ever been in terms of writing and characters and it hasn’t even peaked yet. Even with everything stacked against them, director Yuuchirou Hayashi and his team stood up to the challenge and delivered something that, while lacking those same singular highs of the past, can proudly stand shoulder to shoulder among its peers. We got another quality adaptation when, by all means, this had all the ingredients of an unmitigated disaster.

With the announcement that we’ll be getting part 2 this winter, I remain skeptical about whether this is a healthy schedule to deliver what are going to be by far the most resource intensive, difficult to adapt chapters of the entire show. I really don’t see why the rush to get this out the door when the manga is about to end and the hype is still going. At any case, here’s hoping for the best so we can finish this journey off with a bang.

There is no “greatest anime of all time”. Not AOT, not FMA, not LOGH, not S;G, not HxH, not OP, not any of the animes in the entire top 100. There is no single “greatest anything of all time” across any artistic medium for that matter. For all the bickering, screaming and smug elitist posturing of every fanbase who deems themselves worthier than the other, the truth is the entirety of a medium’s richness cannot be properly distilled into a single work. You can have your favorite(s), but to proclaim it the greatest is haughty at best. There will never be a consensus on that, and it would be boring if it did. Even within individual genres there will be plenty of disagreements. What we do have, nonetheless, is a canon of works of exemplary quality whose legacy endures throughout the years. Those are the stories that stand the test of time, the classics, mainstream or cult. As it is, I can say I wholeheartedly believe AOT belongs to that group of exceptional anime. Regardless of how it ends, it has already delivered a narrative with more pathos than most.

To think that season one of Attack on Titan aired in 2013, and that I have had the pleasure of following the series since that time is something that makes me feel a great amount of pride.

We've witnessed the armored and colossal titan destroy the walls of Paradis in season one, and now the same people that suffered at the hands of Marley are the ones on the offensive.

In season three, the world went from 3 walls and a vast nothingness to advanced civilizations and mind-bending revelations. Looking back, it feels as though the aims of the Survery Corps were ultimately meaningless, and ... this shift of perspective we were given is extremely thought-provoking.

Instead of titans being the main enemy, humanity faces war within itself. Showing life from the viewpoint of Marley is refreshing, and I can't help but wonder if we would be rooting for these guys if the series had been about them from the start. Despite this, in the first episode, we see a familiar person in Marley, showing that the Survey Corps has already infiltrated during the time skip between seasons 3 and 4. I know that there are still many truths to be revealed in this season. Will the Eldians end up on top? Who will control the power of each titan in the end?

I am so excited to see the end of this season, but I am also saddened that this will mark the final release for this series. If you are considering watching this anime, what are you waiting for?! If you don't trust my word, at least trust the ratings of over 70k viewers that have given a combined score of 9.06/10.

Oh boy, Attack On Titan is on it’s final stages. This time with a new Studio, and that Studio is MAPPA. Well let’s get straight to the review.


Keep in mind that this will be a review from a manga reader(tho I haven’t finished it)

Story:
It’s Attack On Titan, need i say more? Well, i’ll say more. Attack on Titan’s story is like no other. It can either have you on the edge of your seat, or can make you die of a heart attack due to the amount of shock factor this show has(i mean this in a good way) Attack On Titan’s story not ... only is able to play with your feelings while your eyes are glued to the screen, but can also make us think about how cruel humanity really is.

Now, i don’t know if it was just me, but after the first 4 eps and the rest of the manga. I really started to question,”how this story will get better?” “How it can top itself again?” But each chapter makes the previous ones look like filler. It’s just that good. All in all AoT’s story is a very fleshed out story and well thought out. You can tell Isayama really planned ahead. (10/10)



Characters:

Eren Yeager(20/10)


Music:

Horrible, jkjk

It’s done by the man himself, Hiroyuki Sawano. This guy has turned AoT into a different being on itself. He turned AoT from a King to a fucking God. That’s how good the music is.

Everytime the music plays, i’m just in awe on how fitting it is. It gives off emotion and perfectly fits the atmosphere of the scene. Reiner and Bertholdt’s reveal would’ve been not as good as it was without that OST. I could go on and on and on on how good the music in AoT is(especially in Episode 3 Season 4) but i don’t got all day, and my thumbs have a limit xd(100/10)


Animation and Art:

Oh, we’re finally here. Now, before you kill me. No, i don’t hate MAPPA, not even close. In-fact, most of my first anime’s are done by MAPPA. But holy shit THE FUCKING BLUR. Now, the blur only bothers me when it’s bright and even then it doesn’t bother me much. But the blur is getting out of hand. I wouldn’t be surprised if we would just be looking at a blurry screen by episode 10.

Ok, i’ve ranted enough. Now i’m gonna talk about the good in their animation.

The character movement. Though the animation in Episode 2 was a little laggy. It was filled with movement. A dialogue episode. With movement. WHAT? That’s a rare case. People who call MAPPA lazy need to stfu. Because damn MOVEMENT IN A FUCKING DIALOGUE EPISODE.


Now we get to the fight scenes(Episode 1)

“oMg cGi horRiblE fiNAl sEasOn rUineD!1!1!1!1”

I hear this everywhere, and i sometimes wonder if they even know what “bad cgi” is. The CGI was amazing(aside from Monke fuck that) They managed to blend it in 90% time, hell I didn’t even know it WAS CGI until the MaL fans were complaining.

I hope we get this consistent quality in the future EPS because it 👏 is 👏 amazing 👏 (9/10)


Enjoyment:

Overall I enjoyed the first 4 EPS and hope i will enjoy it as much in future eps.
(10/10)


Overall: 10/10


Pretty Good season so far and i have faith it will get better. Bye 👋

This is one of the masterpiece anime ever made, has the best storyline and the song is very epico.
character development can also be said to be very good in its execution. I have no problem with CGI like other people say, in fact, I think it's good. and the character design is also attractive and creates a deep impression

The opening song is also very suitable in my opinion with the war atmosphere that will occur later in the season finale, where people don't even like the reason that the opening filler is not linked Horzon, but in my opinion it doesn't matter


so overall this anime ... is one of the mastepiece anime ever made

Attack on Titan or Shingeki no Kyojin, a name which is very popular among fellow Anime watchers.
Originally written by Hajime Isayama, this story never fails to impress us.
Story: It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that this is the best story ever written. Everything in the story connects very well. The best thing about this is how it touches every aspect like religion, freedom, slavery, murder, will, and order.
Character: Every Character in this story is so good and plays a significant role. It is literally impossible to say who is good and who is bad because of how things differ from everyone's perspective.
Art: The Animation ... quality is awesome, they did great considering that they were tough on time. (Thanks Mappa for taking it.)
Enjoyment: It's awesome but can't say that someone will enjoy considering how tragic the story is. This story is a roller-coaster of sadness and depression.

Appreciation for the Writer.
Hajime Isayama, Writer and Illustrator of AoT Manga is a genius person. The more I get into the story, the more I realized that He thought of everything from the start.

[manga reference, no spoils]

It took 7 years to get were we are now, we saw those three kids grow up, we saw them fighting for justice for humanity, we saw them losing friends, family, suffering and keeping moving forward with the hope one day they would kill all the titans, we thought they were fighting the enemy of humanity but now, after 7 years everything is fucked

This anime doesn't look like it will have those types of finals that leaves a feeling on you of enjoyment, this is now a tragedy and I doubt it will have a "happy" ending

We were watching this ... series hoping that one day we could see Eren kill the last titan on earth, the ending we wanted is now impossible and there's nothing they can do, there isn't a right side anymore, you just watch from all sides and.. feel bad for everything, no matter what side you pick you will just feel bad.

This Anime is a Tragedy and it's everything we hoped wouldn't happen, most animes try to give that sense of satisfaction when you get to the end, this seems to be the exact contrary, you will feel like you watched the story of these people rise just for at the end everything going tumbling down

This opening isn't close to show how sad this last season will possibly be

Story 10/10

When we started watching this show we never thought it could ever turn into this type of war anime, the author really did a good job of creating this story and the way he guided us throw the years to this point was really good

Art 8.5/10

Could always be better but it's good enough for this type of anime, my problem here is MAPPA, I don't really like their CGI, it's too noticeable and out of place unlike Wit

Sound 10/10 I don't have to explain

Characters 10/10

Unlike previous season this time the characters are very well written, it even looks like the characters were "shit" before just to give them this development now

Enjoyment 1/10 or 10/10

It does a perfect job of making me feel shit so idk if that's a 1 or a 10
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God I hate this

Attack on titan season 4 is on its fourth episode so my opinion can change.So far I feel as if the season is following the source material the manga pretty well.It just depends how well Mappa can pull it off since the 3D titans are throwing people off.On the other hand though season 4 accelerates to a whole other level and there's a lot of new characters and good story which introuduces more understanding on titans, the rest of the world, and Erens new goal.Though it starts off with a 4 year time skip in which a lot has changed (in my opinion for the ... better of the story) , but I'd reccomend rewatching some parts of the show.Overall so far I'm giving it an 8.5 and round that to a 9.

Attack On Titan is probaly one of the biggest anime out there besides Death Note or Naruto. And this season will be the end of the anime. Its sad indeed but what do I think of the first four episodes and is it still as good as the other seasons?Or better?

-Story-

I have read the manga from chapter 93 to 135. The reason i didnt include on my manga list is because I havent read the entire manga yet and that is cheating.

The new episodes of season 4 are mostly build-up for the next extreme arcs out there that will probaly blow up the internet. But ... lets talk about the episodes one by one...

Episode 1

This was just full out battle and fights left and right, at first its confusing but later everything became a lot more clear. Most people were complaining about the CGI of the Titans, i didnt have that big of a problem exept the beast titan.(at least he looks better then that weird AOT game)

Episode 2

This episode was diaolouge heavy(sorry for bad english) and mostly gave us more depth to the new cast of characters and told also alot more about reiner and how broken he is from the inside, even tough he's called the armoured Titan(ironic). And also people didnt like this episode because of the weird movements(I didnt care)

Episode 3

This episode gave us new information about how Reiner and Bertholt and Annie operated. It was really intresting. Sadly they did cut some scenes but I dont think its that important. This episode was defenitly a lot darker then the others but still verry good....

Episode 4

This episode feels like filler but at the same time, not as much. Side Characters were given a lot more screentime and the entire AOT community is horny because of the scene they added. And the ending was a really amazing ending to end the episode..And now there is HYPE!

Art
No complaints, Mappa did a great job. I would say its better then Wits Style(my opinion)

Sound
Really like the new themes. And "My War" is now my 3rd favorite AOT op. But the ending in my opinion is good.

Enjoyment

I could have enjoyed this a lot more if f--king Manga readers didnt say shit, like ccom man seriously let other people enjoy the Story....

Overall

For now I will give it an 8. I liked it alot but my enjoyment was pretty much ruined by Manga readers. Because of them I also read the manga so I could be immume to them. Sadly they will always spoil:(...

Have a nice year, hopefully 2021 will be better

Well Guys this is my very first review, I wanted to start reviewing this show as soon as it comes. I'm a loyal SnK anime fan, I somehow managed to keep myself from reading the Damn Manga and avoid (maximum) spoilers. When I heared that WIT Studio is no more animating the series, I was really afraid of a sequel that's gonna end up like Nanatsu no Taizai by studio Deen, But when They announced that the final season will be released by MAPPA I was kinda relieved. Even if they changed the original character design to make it resemble more to Isayama's Artstyle.
-The first ... episode which aired last week carried a lot of surprises ; including the new OP and ED where there is no more hyping stuff like SASAGEYO SASAGEYO. Also the CGI titans were not very pleasant to see, that's my personal opinion.
-The second Episode showed us The MAPPA Potential. The color Grading was good, The 2D animations were smooth and stuff... I'm still waiting to hear something from SAWANO since he participated in the composition of OSTs. Also there was one thing that I am sure everyone noticed ; The flashbacks taken directly from previous WIT Studio episodes ... damn I nearly cried when I saw them. To be honest I think that it was the best option to take. They will have more time to animate other scenes where I hope ther would be less CGI and more SAKUGA. The one ARIFUMI IMAI always gave us.
So this is it for the moment after only 2 episodes, I have after all to thank the new studio for giving us a sequel in 2020 as scheduled at the end of season 3 pt 2 regardless of the pandemic and their overwork this year; Jujutsu Kaisen ... GOH ...

Do you remember the last time you saw such a big hype with an anime, other than Shingeki no Kyojin? Not??? Well, I ask you to sit down, relax and watch, because I will tell you this little story, this little theater, about how AoT became one of the most renowned and commented animes of all time.

Since 2009, when the manga was first published, in the amateur Bessatsu Shounen Magazine, until 2021, there were 12 long years of difficulties in the construction of this beautiful story, which brings together many characters. Hajime Isayama is the main one, obviously. He was so new as a mangaka, ... that his relevance as a story creator was something sudden, nobody expected that a show in which humanity is constantly challenged and subdued would be really popular, especially with an always constant quality. Wit Studio was also another important character for AoT. It couldn't be any studio, the show should be more careful from the beginning. And that's what happened. In 2013, we have the first anime, a boom in what was known by hype. Seasons 2 and 3 have been completed and the studio has now been changed. It is now in the hands of MAPPA. But did it work?

"Is AoT going to overcome another difficulty? This season is the last one, there is no way not to be euphoric" ~ Really, these are questions that have always had the essence of this show. Shingeki no Kyojin has never been a great experience without having had very high efforts from your staff.

First, we have the Eldians (or the group focused on Paradis), the "demons", for the Marleyans. It is not without reason that the Marleyans adopt this nickname for the people who have Eren Yeager as one of its inhabitants, this is because the whole group that we knew since the first season got together for the final war, with the plan to cause the greatest amount of possible damage to the Marleyan people. From then on, not only does one have a villain, but everyone has destroyed themselves in eternal despair. It is absolutely understandable to look at Reiner and think about his dualities and psychological conflicts, just as it was with Berthold, Annie, Ymir and Marcel. Of course, recovering the power obtained by Grisha and inherited by Eren was not an easy task and having this revelation from the perspective of whom we, otakus, judge as eternal villains, defines what is a real revenge. But ... And when revenge becomes selfish? Or, to be more precise, when it was not selfish? Since Ymir Fritz, ancient people were already afraid of what the power of the 9 Titans could cause. And look now, the destruction, the chaos. Dying children, military groups since the birth of their soldiers, practically suicidal expeditions. Both the Marleyans and the Eldians have had this since the beginning of history and as a result innocent people die, many innocent people. This is what a war is. We always keep reminding ourselves of what a military conflict is so as not to remember a possible arms return. Shingeki no Kyojin is not only meant to please the audience of people who watch anime, it is much more than that. Before I said that Death Note was the anime that was not limited to the measures of what it is like to be a show only for fans of Japanese programs. Now, Shingeki no Kyojin has finally confirmed that it can also be considered a similar anime.

Does selfishness lead to glory? Yes, maybe Eren is right, isn't he? He is a young man who has suffered since the first 24 minutes of the show. But the same determination leads to suffering. Sasha was one of them. I honestly never liked her to the point of loving her appearances. Her memes were hilarious, obviously. "The Potato Girl", as it became known, was not just a culmination of Eren's madness, as it demonstrated that it is not necessary to look at the enemy's territory to witness some suffering (even if it pleases its rivals or not). Sometimes, those who are on your side also have greater difficulty in expressing their emotions, in being decipherable. Like Reiner, Eren also suffered. Both are the exact result of political selfishness. They were only separated by enemy territories, but it was not their fault, they did not know the other side. "Wasn't it easier to just stop the war?" - Yes of course. AoT was never an anime that put that option aside. But what could they do at that moment? Eren was already more than consumed by the eternal hatred. Whenever he said "Tatakae", his convictions returned. It is nothing less than plausible to imagine that his actions are automatically answered.

And what about the rest of the anime? MAPPA's production was excellent. Her difficulties imposed an ignorance by many AoT fans, who do not even know what the work of an animator, a sound director, a promoter is like ... AoT has an enormous amount of fans and seeing her "killing herself" is a of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen. Of course, it didn't affect most people's experience of the show, but it does open a wound that will never be healed. Those who are only content with security, just because anime is the favorite, do not know how to admit that changes can be positive. All the characterization of the characters was thought of since chapter 91 of the manga, it is not possible that people forget that this was already decided before they even imagined. Hajime Isayama is an author who is wronged and underestimated by the person who consumes him. It is sad and disgusting to see his effort being paid off just because it is Shingeki no Kyojin. It is not a criticism for everyone who loves the show, I also love it and I have it as one of my favorites, but it is not about me, it is about assuming that regardless of how they did it, MAPPA is to be congratulated for what it broadcast. I doubted it too, but I was convinced with incredible episodes and perfect direction. #THANKYOUMAPPA.

Shingeki no Kyojin,a title with many hidden meanings, is a series where a mystery box is slowly unveiled as the characters get developed and the viewer gets more interested in the story as a whole. It isn't the kind of story where one can predict what can happen next. Marley? Eldia? Rumbling? I'd consider you crazy if you told me about these during the first 5 episodes of season 3 part 2.
It should also be mentioned that it is a story that can make one question their own morality as the characters come into dilemmas, as there's no black and white, just shades of gray, ... every character is a villain to another character, no matter who they are. This creates questions on who's right and wrong on viewer's minds, and I'm a sucker for such stories.

Now, time to get to rating individually.

Story: 10/10
I feel like crying from joy and get pumped with adrenaline each time i think about the story of Shingeki of Kyojin as a whole. A story that has made me cry, made my heart race, and made my mind blow with all the plot twists and original story writing methods.
Not only that, but the story as a whole changed my whole perspective as a human, to the better. From the edgy shitty little piece of shit I was, admiring to be ooo very cool dark and all, it has transformed me into a being thirsting for truth, thirtsing for discussion regarding freedom,peace history and all. So, for that, from my depths of my heart, I wanna thank the author, Mr.Hajime Isayama.

Art: 10/10.
I really really really like the more realistic approach to the human characteristics of the characters, makes them feel more relatable and also the colours convey the feelings that the viewer should be feeling. People keep complaining about the blur tho, which in my opinion is something that adds more realism and i enjoy it alot.

Sound:10/10
Flawless, part of appleseed played in the end of the episode 4. I expect more reused and news from Hiroyuki sawano, and Kohta yamamoto is really splendid with both aciton themes and chill themes.
I should also praise the opening, ''Boku no Sensou'', it is a visual horror which describes war, as war cannot be described exactly with words, the singer sung ''Ba-ba-ri-as-ras-ti-ti-ti-ras-ti-ba...'', and it's up to us to get the meaning of the song, just like the story.

Character:10/10
Lord praise the realism in these characters-
From Marco to Marlo, the unforgettable total side characters. We felt them as real people, Marco, if he was alive for longer could have become my favourite character of all fiction instead of Armin.
All of the characters interact nicely and realistically, not to mention that everyone has developed from season 1.
Eren overcame his feelings of anger taking over
Mikasa overcame her feelings of love taking over
Armin overcame his feelings of fear taking over
Jean overcame his cockiness
Erwin was explored emotionally more, unlike other tryhard stoic failed commander type characters.
Levi is the seemingly perfect guy but has an endless ammounts of failures and flaws that aren't seen
etc etc.

Enjoyment: 10/10
How can you not enjoy a series where each episode expands it's world and progressess its plot as characters get developed and gets more build up that will lead into a really great episode? Attack on titan isn't the kind of anime to waste it's time on filler episodes. It never ever had an episode which never progressed the story. I never felt bored watching it nor rewatching it and nor will i ever be, for i happen to re-watch 2-3 episodes of specific arcs oftenly just for the enjoyment.

Overall: 10/10
Thank you so much, Mr.Hajime Isayama.
This has inspired me to draw, write, and apply poets into poetry contests at my school, Shingeki no Kyojin holds a very special place into my heart, and I'll probably be re-watching it on a yearly basis, as i'm also looking forward to buying the manga, the games and the blu-rays. Thank you so much once again, Mr.Hajime Isayama

Alright I'll be talking about the final season, the manga and will also be acknowledging other anime like FMAB.

First, let me talk about this season. The episodes were insane with the soundtrack, animation and the only drawback was the CG, which was pretty good too. So I'd give it a 9.5/10.

Now let me address the manga and the hype around it. I've read every single chapter and it is honestly an incredibly well written piece of fiction with every single piece of the puzzle connecting. The characters are top tier and a few have had amazing development over the years.

This season's change in perspective ... and showing that not everything is black or white and is just a spectrum is exceptional. A lot of anime just show the villain being a bad character and might show why they are doing so but not much. Whereas in AOT, you start to question whether the "bad" character is "bad" at all.

After S3, I thought how could anyone push beyond this and boy did Isayama show me how. The story of S4 is phenomenal and it just gets better from here. S4P1 isn't even the pieck of AOT. So believe in the hype and just see how this goes, even if you don't like it now.

Now, let me address other anime like FMAB. After finishing AOT(my 4th or 5th anime), it became my favorite and a lot of anime could have dethroned it from the #1 spot and I was waiting to see such an anime. I watched Code Geass and it was so good that it came close to being my favorite but I had to put it at #2 because of a few flaws. Then I saw the #1 anime on every anime list, FMAB and it being my 30th-ish anime, I had my expectations low because of all the trashy anime I had seen before it and it had a huge shot at being my favorite. After watching it, I saw why people call it a masterpiece and it was an incredible anime BUT it still wasn't good enough to beat AOT. It had a few flaws here and there, which is not that much because the overall story was phenomenal. But when I compare it to AOT, which I believe to be flawless (or at least having the least amount of flaws I have seen), it couldn't dethrone it.

In my eyes, all 3 are masterpieces but AOT has proven itself to be #1 by having 3 of its episodes in the top 10 of IMDb and the only anime series in the top 10.

So that was all I wanted to address in the review and again, this season is going to be amazing and I hope people can see why it deserves the top spot.

Can't wait for part 2!!!

(Btw this is coming from someone who once was not going to see the show, let alone make it his favorite)

Attack on Titan has various things because of which it's deemed as a masterpiece by many. One of those things is the heavy realism. What looks like a horror fantasy quickly changes its tone and becomes a realistic, modern, pre war setting, psychological drama anime. The duality of freedom and the causes and consequences of long borne hatred are perfectly depicted.

The way the characters interact with others, react to situations, all of it is done extremely well. Fighting for freedom, oppression of a race, politics, war, ask for anything and AoT provides it to you.

One of the most important things is the narration and story ... telling. The amount of foreshadowing and how every piece of mystery connects them together at the end, just makes one wanna wonder about the depth of the plot.

Growth of characters, Eren grew up from being a naive and revenge thirsty person to someone who understands the world more than anyone.

Upto E5 the adaptation has been faithful with very less skips from the source. I would like to write much more but that'd be spoiling for anime onlies.

With that being said now I can claim AoT Final Season to be 10/10 masterpiece.

I am intending to watch the remaining episodes. There are some minor spoilers here.

I see a lot of 10/10 reviews, some which were written after a few episodes. It is amply clear how deluded many AoT fans are based on the various perfect scores that were given after like 2 or 3 episodes. The AoT fanbase is so toxic and aggressive that most normal fans would be reluctant to give 10/10 out of spite. But that is unfair... I am not that petty. However, even on a technical level, AoT is not a 10/10, and it is not the best thing since sliced bread ... as many hardcore fans will tell you.

I have watched 10 episodes so far, and it has been underwhelming, seeing that many people waited for ages. The hype was palpable, and many people waited eagerly, but the anime falls short of the expectations.

We are in the final season, and yet we still barely care for characters like Mikasa, Armin and even the talented Levi. Eren has changed a lot, and Mikasa has become less stoic now, but most of the characters leave much to be desired. Levi is pretty much the same. Armin is more composed than he was in in season 1, but he is still boring. Honestly, if any of these characters were to die, I'd not care one bit.. Shocking.

The plot is just needlessly convoluted now. The political angle is quite boring. Compare this to the excitement that season 1 brought. In season 1, the whole world was more confined and interesting. There was a genuine sense of claustrophobia, mystery and danger. Now, we have something like Game of Thrones. The anime has simply lost its charm by taking the plot in this direction. I suspect that many fans also feel betrayed by the angle this anime took. A WW3-type titan apocalypse with advanced militaries is not what many of us wanted...

Also, it is irritating how the main characters seem to be protected by insane plot armour despite the anime trying to be like a seinen that is set in a dangerous world. The main characters can effortlessly maneuver around in their ODM while dodging machine gun attacks... They must be as good as Neo from the Matrix. Fodder characters die, and a lot of time is wasted to make you feel sad... How can you feel sad for a character that barely did anything important across the seasons?

A lot of suspension of belief is required during fights now. For example, Mikasa is able to sever both legs of a titan with one clean cut, as though those thick legs were made of cake. It's unbelievable. In season 1, it took all of Levi's team to make Annie drop her arms (not sever), and now Mikasa can conveniently chop off an important titan's legs so that Eren can finish the fight... Also, one titan had a laughable extension cord growing out from its heel, which was a major handicap (it made no sense) that screamed "Hello. My weakness is here!".

We are 10 episodes in, and I can quite confidently say that this anime has lost the charm it possessed in season 1. Even without the toxic fanbase, I could not give this anime a 9. The expanded scale of the AoT universe has now weakened the tense dynamics that we found beforehand when it was about surviving behind the walls.

The anime is still above average, and the action is sometimes great... However, there is still a lot of exposition and annoying monologue.

Lower your expectations when watching this anime. Have fun.

WORDS NO LEFT TO BE WRITTEN ABOUT THIS LEGENDARY, PIECE OF ARTWORK.

STORY: First, I will start talking about this unbelievable story. I always have to go back to the previous eps to check what happened there in order to understand what is actually going on this final season. the storylines are incredible, it's like I am reading a legendary play and not just an anime. each word has a deep meaning to the point that you can't even dare to ignore a line because you will miss a thousand things and facts. I give it 10 though I want to give it the whole ... universe because this story deserves more.



ART: I gave it 9 because I know that if MAPPA had time to work on aot the work will be more professional than that. However, this does not mean that I did not like their work and their art. I am so thankful for Mappa to give us this art in one year only, and I am also hoping to see some better changes and development in these coming episodes.

ADDITION: after episode8 I cannot dare to give them 9, their literary deserve 10 out of 10. the way they let the viewer feel what the characters are passing with through their facial expressions, is making me live the hole episode and the hole anime. I am so thankful to mappa for giving us a chance to see these scenes being animated.



SOUNDS: I hope I am able to give it a never-ending number because, Eren's voice, Reiner's voice, and other voices were amazing. I felt each word they said, each breathe and sigh they did. I literary felt like I am with them in the hole episode. I am highly fired up to listen to all their voices without stop in these next episodes.


OST: is there a word to describe aot's osts? Of course NO! I am always amazed how they choose the right sounds, the right melodies to let the audience feel the scene more. and I always end up crying or screaming because this is what I just wanted to do. I all advise u to hear them in full version right after you finish this season okkaaay ??


I will stop here to not give any spoiler, but overall I am so proud of living in this time and watch this masterpiece and be in its generation

Mods please remove the obvious trolls and rating tankers in the review section who call this series "shit" and "crap" without any further explanation.


As for my own review I initially thought of this series as a generic shonen back when s1 came out. I had to catch up on the series when I saw the s4 trailer and it blew me away. The plot evolves each and every season and s4 seems like a whole different universe while at the same time staying coherent to the previous seasons. Composer Sawano's soundtrack is legendary and I hope to see more of his work that will be ... revealed as the season progresses. If this season is too fast paced for you, I would suggest reading the manga in order to truly understand the background of the relationship between Marleyans and Eldians. Visually, I did not notice the cgi until it was pointed out, which is the same case with earlier seasons.

Overall, don't let others dictate how you view the series and enjoy the titan-on-titan slugfest.

Before anything. I want to say that all the 1 star reviews are lies. I've even seen one that said armin was too flat to be a girl. OI DID YOU WATCH THE ANIME. HE'S A DUDE. Yeah don't listen to them. I'm sorry if you had to read all the bullcrap in their comment, but you can bleach your eyes by reading this reveiw.
This review will contain spoilers for season 1-4, so please do not read if you haven't seen the anime/read the manga/don't care if you're spoiled.
... Very rarely you will find an anime that sparks something inside of you, that has an amazing story, plot, character development and more. This is just my opinion, so please do not get offended if my opinion is against yours.

Story: 11/10

This story beings 2000 years after Ymir, where a little boy named Eren Yeager lives with Mikasa Ackerman and his parents Carla Yeager and Grisha Yeager. He has a friend named Armin Arlert, that doesn't have a lot of physical strength but his mind and intelligence are on another level. This should already be known by all. How they live in the walls, which for me is an amazing idea, Isayama Hajime apparently getting this idea from the mountains that surround his home town. I would have never thought that the eldian king from the continent made the walls Maria, Rose and Sina out of colossal titans. That's just a great idea! The way they introduced Annie to be the Female Titan was very impressive. At first I thought the show was about a little kid that would get powers and he would save humanity from the world with the power of friendship like most anime that you see which is a pretty annoying trope. When I saw the female titan and realized there are more titan shifters that are against them, I said ''WOW'' out loud. Right after the Beast Titan Zeke is introduced, but we don't find out he's Eren's half brother till later. The second we find out that all those titans came from Connie's village, I was already half depressed. I realized that this show is nothing like what it started. It started with a little kid wanting revenge for his mother, but it just keeps taking twists and turns, not knowing what to expect next. After that, when we find out who the colossal titan and armored titan are, I said ''No f**king way. They're like some of my favorite characters that I respected so much'', and I'm sure I wasn't the only one that said that, unless you guys where spoiled and already knew. I usually hate politics, but season 3 part 1 was just wow. I've never liked politics this much, especially in an anime. The way the squad has to hide, how Eren is almost eaten, how he finds out what his father did, and judges him, at least until chapter 121. Then how Rod Reiss becomes that giant turkey was so funny, and at the same time scary. I usually put myself in their shoes, and think about what I would do if that was in real life, and as fearless as I am, seeing a titan that's twice the size of the colossal titan that destroyed my home, his intestines falling everywhere, I would have pooped my pants. This was also a very smart way to make Historia the queen, and the best part is where she hits Levi. Haha. Then when they recover wall Maria, it was another rollercoaster, not knowing what would happen. Armin becoming a colossal titan is something I would have never guessed, and there being even more titans, the Cart Titan showing up(damn she hot tho) it started awakening even more questions inside me, even though Eren already had known everything. When they finally get to the beach, people say Eren destroyed the mood by not enjoying anything and just wanting to kill the enemy, but I would have done the same if I knew freedom was on the other side, and this ocean is something that is stopping me. Another thing I didn't understand at the time is when Eren kissed Historia's hand, and all his memories come to life, him knowing everything that he has to do. When he finally shows up in season 4, as a person with PTSD that was helped by Falco I could not contain my grin, as I knew what was about to go down. The face on Falco when he was betrayed by him, and had to be protected by Reiner when Eren turned into the titan and started going berserk and killing everything. Lets not talk about the way he ate the warhammer titan, and how he smashed Porco to pieces. I'll stop right there, since I won't want to spoil the manga for anime only watchers, but I can say Isayama hates us, since he's killing all of our favorite characters. It made me almost want to drop the manga.


Art: 10/10

There's not much to say about the art. At first it was animated by WIT studio, which was amazing, but they dropped the anime so MAPPA had to pick up where they left off. It got a little too much hate, and that's something I really didn't like, knowing that MAPPA only had 8 months to animate all of it, how they animated a lot of banger shows that everyone likes, but everyone forgot about them. For example they animated Yuri on Ice, Dororo, Jujutsu Kaisen, Kakegurui, Banana Fish and more. Sure they use CGI, but the way they use it is absolutely AMAZING. I really hope they animate it fully, since this only had 16 episodes, and the manga has like 139 or 140 chapters (that's how many i think it will have, as we're only at chapter 136 as I make this post) and there's a pretty big chance that they won't be able to finish making everything into the anime, and if they don't I at least hope they make a movie that shows the ending. Their animation is WOW.


Sound: 11/10

I have to give them an 11/10 for the soundtracks they chose and for the voice acting. Since the beginning of episode 1 season 1 they already had banger sound tracks. From the openings that everyone knows, even those that don't watch attack on titan, to OSTS like Vogel im Kafig, Attack on Titan or Rittaikidou. In season 4 the sound tracks are even better! For example one of the ones I really like is the Warhammer OST. The voice acting was wow since season one, since they have the same voice actors (or so I think, I have not checked yet). The feeling they put into the lines, the screams, the cries, the moments of happiness, the sighs, the betrayals, EVRYTHING is amazing. Each character has the exact voice that suits them.

Character: 11/10

I don't want to talk too much about the characters, or I'd just make this post too long. I'll talk about a few that I really like.

Eren Yeager: Of course I'm going to start with our main character. I won't talk about Eren when he was young, as he was a child, and didn't have that much of a personality back then, and he had no experience. He still had emotions haha. Now in season 4, he has no facial expressions, he just seems dead inside. He seems as if thought he doesn't care about anything nor anyone, but everything he's about to do is for the family back home which isn't exactly back home, because everyone is there, fighting with him. He doesn't care about who dies if its not his friends, he just considers them the enemy, no matter if he's a man, woman or child. He's just a genius. At first I hated him, in other seasons, but the more he grew up, the more he realized the world is cruel. People judge him for what he is doing, you probably know that he want's to kill the whole world, and everyone calls him evil, but I think everyone would have done that if they were in his shoes. Would you rather kill the people from the other side that you don't know, or let your friends and family that you know and love die at the hands of strangers. Exactly.

Mikasa Ackerman: Many people are screaming and saying Mikasa with short hair sucks, and they're blaming MAPPA for that, when Isayama made her look like that. Like what? In any case, as you can see, her first word in this season was ''Eren'', it seems like a meme by now. She's still mad in love with Eren, and tries to protect him so many times. We haven't seen her that many times in this season for now, but I'll say some things from the manga so I'm sorry if its a big spoiler for some. Just skip this if you don't like it. Even though they are telling Mikasa that she has to kill Eren and she knows she ahs to she still hesitates, which seems normal for someone that is in love with him.

Armin Arlert: He's a character I didn't like at first. He seemed like the type that would only act as if he knows nothing even though he does, just so that he can show off, but I learned that that was not the case. I'm sorry for my horrible thoughts about Armin UWU. Especially during episode 7, when he first became the colossal titan, I was like ''HOLY S**T! HE LOOKS SO EPIC OMG HOW DID I EVER HATE THIS GUY OMG STEP ON ME DADDY'' yeah idk why. But I'm very very happy that I kept watching this anime heh.

Hange Zoe: We can't forget best girl (besides pieck) Hange Zoe. From the moment I saw her in season 1 I was super hyped about her, and I thought she was the type of person I want to become when I grow up, which is exactly why I never quit school haha. In this last season she's going to play a very big role, and I know it. I'm going to say something right now that is a very big spoiler, so please just skip reading this about Hange Zoe if you did not read the manga. Are the people that don't want to get spoiled gone? Ok perfect. Basically people blame Eren for her death. Yes, she died. You must know that if you kept reading. Eren did not intentionally kill her. I'm sure he's very sad that she died. I'm going to be adding these words so that the people that skipped don't see what i just said unless they wanted to get spoiled heh.

That's all I'm going to say about characters. Ofc I'd like to talk more about this anime and about the characters, so if you want to too, please just msg me.


Enjoyment: 11/10

I've never enjoyed watching an anime as much as this one. I've seen season 1-3 at least 9 times, and I read the manga god knows how many times. Everything, from the pacing to the plot was amazing. The pacing was fast during combat scenes, which was absolutely wow, and during suspense scenes the pacing was slow, which would make me want to know what was going to happen even more.


Overall: 11/10
Taking everything into consideration everything that I just said, overall I give it an 11/10. Everything from the story, art, sound, character to enjoyment mix together to form this spectacular anime, that I recommend to everyone.

I'll come to the heart of the matter. There are various reasons why Attack on Titan is perhaps the best anime to actually be delivered ever. Beginning on livelinesss, it is simply unimaginable they have made such distinctive scenes. It seems like each casing is painstakingly drawn, and the battle takes the crowd in another point as though they are encountering it as well. With regards to characters each character has a task to carry out in specific circumstances and Isayama has conveyed. The manga is staggering, associating bits of the past and the future uniting the present. In the event that you've perused the ... manga, at that point you as of now have understand what's coming will be nothing not exactly perfect shounen dramatization arrangement you'll actually watch. I'm not going to imagine that the arrangement isn't monstrously well known yet the publicity is only a small amount of what it is, which is a disgrace on the grounds that with this later season the arrangement has advanced and changed such a lot of that as somebody who's at first tepid about the arrangement, I think where it is correct now it turning out to be the best anime of the cutting edge age(I don't plan to utilize those words daintily).

Story ~ 10

What makes it an extraordinary arrangement is that it doesn't follow regular narrating , so that implies that anything can occur whenever. There are a bigger number of turns than titans in this arrangement so there are a not many possibilities that you can foresee something occurring. Sort of like Game of Thrones.

The characters in Attack on Titan don't fall into any generalization all things considered. For instance a feeble character could become more grounded or a solid character could show shortcoming. At times, an apparently irrelevant character could out of nowhere turned into a central participant later on in the story.

Workmanship ~ 9

The visual movement by Wit Studio is a work of acclaim. I could locate some other studio to deal with this anime. The liveliness is staggering and it worked really hard to make the titan alarming and awfulness once again.As soon as I heard that MAPPA was going to assume control over I was kinda stressed what they would think about this arrangement however I surmise those concerns disappeared when I had the opportunity to see a couple of scenes.

Sound ~ 9

The music has it's own taste to it where as the visuals of both the opening and the consummation appeal to you from numerous points of view. The initial melody simply acquires an orchestra of such a smoothness and unexpected dread inside and out.

Characters ~ 10

There's not a lot to be said with regards to the characters everybody surpasses themselves the their improvement is immaculate indeed.No one leaves their limits to accomplish something shocking.

Pleasure ~ 10

Initially I planned to compose a short survey on how great the new season will be, at that point the more I chipped away at it the more I understood I truly couldn't do equity without discussing the whole excursion every individual who has each watched this show to arrive. Since each season is so immeasurably extraordinary that it adds on to the generally speaking experience.Because it's my method of saying that you should drop everything since this season is totally justified, despite any trouble.

By and large ~ 10

Assault on Titan is an unquestionable requirement show for anybody if they appreciate anime. The writing in this show is extraordinary, you should watch it to trust it. The story is dull however lovely, and the movement is the best anime has to bring to the table. The show has an incredibly decent speed, with a mix of horrible tense activity scenes and ardent character minutes. The characters in this show are so exceptional and unmistakable, each character feels genuine and three dimensional, in spite of their intermittent senseless anime style chitchat (which is engaging in its own right). The soundtrack is likewise among the best any TV program has created, and it communicates the tones of the show and makes each scene far superior. 'Vogel im Kafig' is a melodic work of art, and I suggest you give it a listen regardless of whether you haven't seen the show. The show's exciting bends in the road are on another level, and the uncovers are fabricated well to the point that each plottwist will leave your jaw on the floor. This show is really a work of art, and you should see it. It is fundamentally a developed substance show and on the off chance that you are grown-up there is no disgrace in watching anime.