Review of Attack on Titan: Final Season - The Final Chapters

I struggle to collect my thoughts, having just finished the final episode. I'm still confused on how exactly I feel and why. I have championed Attack on Titan as a modern masterpiece ever since Season 3, and even knowing the ending was incredibly divisive, I welcomed it with open arms, putting my full faith in Isayama-san. Ending a story in a way that is not only good, but pleases EVERYBODY is nearly impossible. But at the very least, a DECENT ending would have been an acceptable way to cap off this incredible story. Unfortunately, the only word that fits is disappointing. I've tried writing outmy thoughts in greater detail, but they're constantly changing and new things are constantly coming to mind. I'll try to keep it brief, but I have gripes with both the writing and the production.

MAPPA's animators actually did a pretty good job, especially with the action sequences. Many are on par with WIT's work (finally). But for some reason, whenever characters change age, clothes, etc., MAPPA's animators start making them look like aliens. I do not understand why--in AoT specifically--this has been such a huge issue ever since Part 1 of The Final Season.

The pacing feels very one dimensional, like they just wanted to adapt the source material as straight as possible. Very "next scene" with little tension or build up. It was very hard to be invested at any point because there was never time given for things to build up or create any sense of anxiety. Perhaps this could've been remedied had the two specials been edited as one larger movie, or simply adapted episodically.

The sound director just kept shoehorning tracks back to back to back to back in the 2nd special. Not a single OST had any impact whatsoever. This was incredibly annoying during the action sequences especially, as the mood kept changing constantly and it felt like they were trying to fit fan favorites wherever possible, rather than actually thinking about what songs felt good next to each other. Very distracting.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but the ending Isayama chose for AoT is shockingly similar to how Arc 1 of SAO ended. "What was it all for" and the answer is basically "nothing". A painfully shallow attempt at a realistic ending that is anything but profound, and basically invalidates everything. Which, on paper, doesn't sound bad. I can appreciate writing that doesn't give the audience everything they want, or even spits in their face. But even a spit in the face leaves an impression. This doesn't even accomplish that. It's odd, because the overarching events played out pretty much how most of us expected, but it just feels so poorly executed. No emotion. Just contrived, generic-at-best dialogue that's pretending to tie things up in a nice bow, but instead of a ribbon it's a shoelace.

The scene that is shown during the end credits felt like SUCH a middle finger. A laughably bad attempt at trying to be profound that I couldn't believe it's actually in the original manga. Isayama, what were you thinking?? I actuall pity the MAPPA employee that wasted hours of their life animating that.

Reading over what I just wrote, I definitely sound angrier than I actually am, but I'm honestly still trying to sort through my thoughts myself. I'll need to rewatch this finale a few times to get a clearer picture on how I feel, but man... I wish I had better things to say. I don't regret experiencing Attack on Titan, and will still recommend it to people. But I'll no longer have that same glimmer in my eyes when talking about it. My passion for this series has been thoroughly extinguished in it's final 90 minutes.