Attack on Titan: Final Season – The Final Chapters
Information
Plot
It was announced by MAPPA after the final episode of Attack on Titan The Final Season Part 2 aired that Attack on Titan's final season will be continuing with a Part 3 in 2023. Earlier, we were led to believe that Part 2 would be the conclusion of the anime, but it was later confirmed that Part 3 will be the final instalment.
Plot:
When man-eating Titans first appeared 100 years ago, humans found safety behind massive walls that stopped the giants in their tracks. But the safety they have had for so long is threatened when a colossal Titan smashes through the barriers, causing a flood of the giants into what had been the humans' safe zone. During the carnage that follows, soldier Eren Jaeger sees one of the creatures devour his mother, which leads him to vow that he will kill every Titan. He enlists some friends who survived to help him, and that group is humanity's last hope for avoiding extinction at the hands of the monsters.
Review
Characters – 5/5
Eren, our protagonist, is an interesting one to follow. He was the hero for the majority of the series but switches up and becomes the villain in the final arc. It’s almost like a whiplash effect following his journey and trying to understand his views. At the end of the day, he was a slave to destiny. He had too much power and at first was presented as a genocidal maniac who wanted to kill everybody outside Paradis (where he came from) as revenge for how they treated them, it is revealed at the end that he thought the best way to unite the people were to bring on a greater catastrophe upon them – himself.
Eren’s aim was to rid the world of titans (they were used to commit a multitude of crimes) and he succeeded – to his demise of course. His companions (who didn’t know of his plans) had to make the hard decision to eliminate him as Eren had fallen too deep into his plan of eradicating everyone outside of the Paradis (his home). He wanted to wipe out humans as they are and carry out revenge for how the world treated people of his land. At least that’s what the world believed and how he presented himself. His own friends from Paradis try to stop him but soon realises he cannot be stopped with words, so an all out war ensues.
I only spoke of Eren so far but there are notable character development for others too such as Armin, Mikasa, Reiner (especially) and Annie. I’m sure I missed out more and I’ll likely come back to update this review once I can articulate properly!
Animation – 4/5
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Music – 4.5/5
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Voice acting – 5/5
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Conclusion
What a journey. I have already read the manga so I knew what was to come, but seeing how they brought it to life was incredible. MAPPA did such a great job at adapting the final chapters and the score brought chills during the intense fights.
What I found intriguing and yet also upsetting about the resolve of this series, is that is a commentary about the human condition. Humans fight, a lot. Even when peace arrives, it doesn’t last. It’s really upsetting to see the parallels to the real world. Eren’s plan worked for a few years – his comrades foiled his plan and destroyed him, bringing together all the countries outside of Paradis as they praise Eldians (people who were once banished from the mainland and seen as monsters) for being heroes. Peace was restored and the once prejudiced people, have opened their hearts to the people of Paradis. Only for there to a time-lapse at the end displaying how there is another big catastrophe on Paradis, another war ensues years later. Because really, even without the threat of titans, humans will find a way to start war again. It’s devastating but unfortunately perhaps not too far off from reality. A bit of a depressing thought!
This series turned out to be very interesting and political – fictional politics but one you can’t help but get invested in on watching. The show has a lot of silly looking titans but among it all, there’s heart and really layered characters.
Thank you Isayama, Hayashi, and MAPPA staff. I already miss the series. There are a lot of conflicting opinions on how the series ended but honestly, I do not think it was anywhere near as bad as people have said! For such a beloved series, I think it’s just too hard to give it an ending that will satisfy all fans.
