By Julia Kawka | November 20, 2023
Photo Credit: Daniil Lipin on 123RF
After ten long years, the adaptation of Isayama Hajime's first and best-selling manga, “Attack on Titan,” finally reached its conclusion on Nov. 4, 2023. The series took the world by storm, fans of the manga and anime alike gathering to form an enormous fan base which remained dedicated to the series from its beginning up until the grand finale that was delivered after so many years.
Fans heavily anticipated the ending of the fourth and final season which was split up into three parts. It was an adventure to say the least, as the story of Eren Yeager went from focusing on the war of humans against man-eating titans, to war between humans. The final season was a project passed on from WIT Studios to MAPPA which took on and delivered the beautiful, yet heart wrenching finale last week.
As frustrating as the wait in between parts of the ending, MAPPA’s animators really gave their hearts and put equally hard work into each episode delivered to the awaiting fans leaving its mark. Whether you had read the manga already or only watched the show, it was a mutual experience of watching the conclusion of a story that fans spent a decade of their life loving.
It is no mystery that it is a challenge to bring a complex story to an end that will be unanimously accepted. “Attack on Titan” was another series leaving apprehensive fans who haven’t read the manga wondering if the ending would give the convoluted story the ending it deserved.
Many were left pleasantly surprised. Upon the end of the part, viewers were gifted with an intense scene featuring Levi Ackerman displaying his ODM gear skills, providing nostalgia of the iconic season 3 ODM scene of his chase with Kenny. Iconic scenes were revisited with MAPPA’s animation style and many of the loose ends within the series were tied together accompanied by Isayama’s brilliant foreshadowing.
The conclusion was anything but underwhelming, reaching out to the hearts of viewers as previously loved characters appeared on screen once more at the end of the battle of a lifetime. Every character within the series was essential to the course of events and Isayama made sure to make that clear all throughout the series and did them and the viewers justice at the very end.
To bring a story as deep and convoluted as “Attack on Titan” to a satisfying end was no doubt a monstrous challenge but Hajime Isayama took it on and succeeded. With a ten-year long universally loved experience like “Attack on Titan” reaching its end, it’s clear that it will always hold a special place in the hearts of fans.
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