The finale is right around the corner, and we’re hyped!
Summary:
- Short recap of where the last part of the anime adaptation stopped.
- How anime onlys feel about the upcoming finale.
- Manga readers don’t share the excitement.
- We hope MAPPA will impress us with a high quality ending adaptation.
November 4th is going to be a great day for the Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) fans. Or, well, the 5th of November since some are going to have to wait for the translation and subtitles or dubbing. No matter how you like your anime, the beginning of the next month seems bright as we will finally get the long-awaited finale of such a huge phenomenon as Attack on Titan.
Where did the Final Chapters leave us?
Let’s start with a short recap. We’re sure you don’t need us to remind you what Attack on Titan is and what the story is about, but in case you’ve forgotten where the Final Chapters Part 1 left us, here it is. The full scale rumbling is here, the people around the world are being trampled to death by huge titans, humanity is trying to fight for their lives, but it seems like nothing is working. With Hange dead (we still don’t want to talk about it) Armin takes the spot of the Commander now, leading the rest of the Survey Corps into the battle with the hideous form of Eren’s titan.
The expectations for the finale come from two big teams: the ones who have read the manga and the ones who haven’t. It’s obvious that their predictions differ.
What do anime onlys hope to see?
No matter how the story will end, anime fans feel like their meltdown is unavoidable. Attack on Titan has always been pretty good at making you feel emotional, and it feels like viewers are confident that the finale will become the epitome of that. They’re probably on their way to the nearest shop to restock their paper tissues since there’s no doubt that even if nothing terrible happens at the end (that’s a funny joke, isn’t it?), they will still be weeping because they’ll have to say goodbye to the characters that have been with them for more than 10 years.
This feeling of sadness, however, goes hand in hand with the colossal excitement. Ten years of following this journey has been full of sadness, depression, heartbreak, rare moments of glee and tons of drama. The fact that we are about to see where this all has been going cannot leave us unmoved.
The joy and excitement are not everything fans are feeling, though. First of all, there’s also fear. Attack on Titan has always been a type of series that are not afraid to kill its characters. The viewers haven’t fully recovered from losing Hange yet, and they’re getting ready for more deaths. The most obvious choice is Eren, and it looks like fans are bracing themselves ‘cause the chances of our beloved titan shifter’s survival are not really high.
Sarcastic jokes are another way of approaching the finale. We’ve had so many parts of the final season that we don’t even remember where it all started. And fans are quite annoyed by the prolongation of the ending. This negativity has ruined the hype for some fans and they feel tired and empty now, and just want the story to finally end.
Manga readers are not so hyped
Fellow manga readers, how are we feeling? The last couple of chapters caused a lot of controversy back at their release, and they keep getting discussed and argued over up until now.
It looks like fans didn’t really enjoy the ending of the story, and even some extra pages written by Isayama didn’t help. All of that got the readers hoping that the anime might change the ending, but we don’t think that’s the case. From the storyboard revealed by an insider we can clearly see that the ending remains the same. So if you’re one of the fans that were angered tremendously by the final manga chapters, you might brace yourself for another disappointment.
Meme community is looking forward to seeing THAT chapter 139 frame animated (we don’t want to spoil anything to anime onlys, but if you know, you know) to keep making fun of Eren’s breakdown and the overall ending. And no matter what your opinion on this part is, let’s admit that memes are fun.
We still have hope, though
Manga readers understand that the anime ending will not differ much from its original source but they still hope to see some changes. They hope the adaptation will be prettier and more emotional, and this effect will improve their opinion on the Attack on Titan finale.
Reading a manga is never the same as seeing things actually animated, and AOT will definitely be not an exception. The extra time that MAPPA is taking to work on the series has already proved to be very efficient. Just look at the Final Chapters Part 1! The animation looked stunning and even the ones who’d previously criticized the part of the manga this episode was based on, mostly agreed that it looked good, and was truly entertaining.
We just hope that MAPPA will work their magic again and they will be able to surprise and impress even the harshest of the AOT finale critics. And we’ll be able to see if this is true very soon.