Perhaps no show has made me audibly gasp or scream “OH SH*T” as much as Attack on Titan—especially during both halves of season 4. I’m certainly not alone in this feeling. And while watching the second half of season 4 (which came out as part of the winter 2022 season), I found myself going off the rails for another reason. As the OP constantly reminded me that we are in “the final season,” two mind-rattling questions kept repeating themselves: “How much more is left of this thing?” and “How the hell is all of this getting wrapped up in a few weeks?” (Manga readers: please kindly do not answer this question in the comments. We anime watchers are enjoying our torture.)
You see, absolutely nothing beyond that second half had been announced. But it was very, very clear that the story wasn’t wrapping up any time soon. One common fan theory to address this uneasy discordance was that Attack on Titan had a secret movie in the works. And no, we’re not talking about a live-action remake, of which Attack on Titan already has two. (They’re horrible, by the way: I watched the first one on a 12-hour flight, and it was so painful to endure that I could not accept watching the second one as a valid way to kill time.) We’re talking a bonafide anime film with canonical ties to the show. Fans presumed this hypothetical movie would be the finale.
Attack on Titan is certainly big enough for a movie. You could easily argue that it was the most important series of the 2010s—and I have. And right now, we’re in kind of a Golden Age for anime films. In the span of 2020 to 2022, three anime films—Demon Slayer: Mugen Train, Jujutsu Kaisen 0, and One Piece Film: Red—broke all-time box office records both within Japan and around the world. Mugen Train, for example, is presently the top-grossing film of all time in Japan and, in the U.S., had the biggest opening weekend for an international film, ever. One Piece Film: Red is still in theaters in Japan, entering its 20th freaking week. If you want to make a film based off a well-known anime series, now’s an excellent time to do it.
That being said, this seems not to be MAPPA’s plan. The same day that Season 4 Part 2 drew to a close, MAPPA announced Attack on Titan The Final Season The Final Arc. Yes, that’s the actual name in Japanese. Or would you rather I call it the third half of season 4? Other than toying with fans’ hearts and being bad at marketing, the announcement of The Final Arc essentially crushes the possibility of a movie. There’s a chance they will re-edit the season into a film, but the film won’t be the primary medium in which the story is wrapped up.
… Which I’m 1000% fine with, personally. I’d rather watch it roll out while I’m on my couch, screaming. And considering what an incredible job MAPPA is doing with Chainsaw Man right now, I’m a bit in a “MAPPA can do no wrong” frame of mind at the moment.
(featured image: MAPPA)
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