In MAPPA’s continued quest to complicate the legacy of Attack on Titan’s conclusion through increasingly convoluted naming conventions, the final arc is being told through long-form TV specials. The first of which was made available to stream Friday after much upset from an eager fanbase awaiting its release on Crunchyroll, and despite the gripes with how the season has been released, it’s incredibly difficult to be disappointed.
When fans last saw Eren Jaeger, he had triggered the Rumbling, a seemingly unstoppable march of Colossal Titans poised to trample humanity under their oddly-shaped feet. Meanwhile, the members of the Scouting Regiment, side-by-side with former foes, prepared to launch an airship to catch up to Eren and put a stop to him, without killing him if they could help it. This new special might have been the ideal way to return to this story, as a standard television run might have felt constrained or rushed. Even with the special itself divided into two parts, the unconventional runtime allowed the directors to pace this story appropriately, gearing up for what could be the most anticipated finale in anime history. And director Yuuichirou Hayashi has well and truly pulled out all the stops.
The Rumbling
Attack on Titan has a long and proud history of taking creative liberties in its anime adaptations. WIT Studio’s three-season run was famous for how its artwork paid tribute to the manga while having such a distinct identity thanks to its animation team and its gorgeous character designs by Kyouji Asano.
On the contrary, MAPPA’s time on the series has demonstrated a more stringent faithfulness to the manga, especially in the art direction, which has pleased many fans even with the somewhat divisive studio switch. But Hayashi’s work on this special, be it his direction or his storyboards is nothing short of awe-inspiring, notably for what has been added that wasn’t there initially.
The Rumbling is terrifying. It was terrifying when viewers witnessed it for the first time one year ago, but it had to be ten times scarier to truly herald the return of this series. Hayashi and his team hold nothing back, lingering on the horror of the event for 10 minutes, juxtaposed against Eren’s memory of an encounter with one who he was destined to slaughter.
With so many lives caught in the middle of the Rumbling’s path, the imagery has to chronicle a diverse descent into hell. We have to witness all kinds of lives, all kinds of deaths, and as many forms of pain as could be imagined. Desperate attempts to flee, despair, looting, and even some who just give up; it’s all so thorough - if such a word does the drama justice. Attack on Titan is back, not that you’ll be smiling through it.
Final Preparations
At least, not at first. 88 episodes in, it’s difficult not to get emotional watching the characters approach this conclusion. When the camera takes a break from the horrors on the mainland to rejoin them, they’re preparing to set off on their final mission, and while limited, the time spent is everything. It can even be happy, though the characters acknowledge that their respite is occurring while everyone else is experiencing hell.
Annie and Armin really impress with their scenes this special. Despite how long Annie was out of commission throughout this series, her having heard Armin’s words through the years allows their relationship to deepen with ease here. They acknowledge these youthful and embarrassing feelings between them. It’s not the deepest connection but the innocence of it is what matters.
Something fascinating has occurred over the last three parts of this final season. In Part 2, when Annie stumbles upon the other characters during their escape, their reunion is so obtuse; so sudden, and lacking in drama, and yet it frankly worked perfectly. Not only was it like a return to Isayama’s obtuse humor from the beginning of the series, but it makes sense given what the characters have gone through.
After everything that has happened to these characters - the enemies turned into allies and vice versa - how can they still harbor hate so easily as before? Whether it’s an increased empathy by virtue of their experiences of simply being too tired to hate, these characters can barely find the energy to be angry at those that have wronged them in the past. There’s only the mission to stop more people from dying - even Eren, despite what he's done.
It doesn’t mean there aren’t more deaths to come - not by a long shot - and this episode has some particularly heartbreaking goodbyes in itself. All these episodes later, this story hasn’t ceased giving its characters some of the most adrenaline-fueled, heart-wrenching send-offs. There has been plenty of passing the torch from one character to the next over the seasons, but it hits especially hard here at the end.
The (Real) Beginning of the End
Attack on Titan has had a lot of battles and more than its fair share of hard-fought victories and crushing defeats. It’s impressive that it can continue to raise the stakes without some degree of exhaustion setting in, like what some may have felt circa Season 2 or Season 3’s latter half. Payoffs feel earned and despite the frightening odds, the moments of triumph are sold effectively.
For fans who have been with the series since the beginning, the climax feels on the same level as something like Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and it’s not a comparison made lightly. The opening rites of the final battle feel reminiscent of Brotherhood’s climactic attack on Central City, with its ceremonious culmination of character journeys for a battle that has been years in the making.
The dramatic staging feels especially powerful, as the final battle has an audience of Marleyans and Eldians alike, and a sense of solidarity in the face of extinction. These somber moments echo the allegory from Episode 72, about children lost in the forest. It's time for hate to subside, and as the heroes arrive to try to put an end to the rumbling, there's more hope than many would have thought possible at the end of a story like this.
Audiences will have to wait until Fall to see how the story ends, but even with this small return to the story, the series has proved that no matter the hiatus, it can still deliver something exceptional. Yuuichirou Hayashi may not have necessarily chosen to be the director of Attack on Titan: The Final Season, but he has accomplished great things at the helm of this series and this conclusion has been all the better for it.