Attack on Titan Final Season Part 2 aired in Japan from January 10-April 4, 2022. MAPPA produced the season, and it was directed by Yuichiro Hayashi and Jun Shishido. FUNimation Entertainment has held the North American license for the Attack on Titan franchise, but with the recent merger of FUNimation Entertainment and Crunchyroll, the combined entity (which is known as Crunchyroll) holds these rights.

This season picks up exactly where Attack on Titan Final Season ended. Early in the season, the focus is on Marley invading Paradis, and the fight that ensues. Onyankopon frees Armin, Mikasa, Conny, Jean, and the others in the hopes of getting them to help Eren. After some debate, they ultimately decide that helping Eren is the lesser of two evils.

There’s a battle between Titans, with Eren fighting Reiner and Galliard in their Titan forms. Zeke arrives, also in his Titan form. Colt begs Zeke not to scream because Falco had accidentally ingested some of the wine with Zeke’s spinal fluid. Unfortunately, this isn’t enough to stop Zeke, and all hell breaks loose with his scream. Suddenly, there are a lot more Titans to deal with after the people who ingested the wine are turned.

During Episode Three, Gabi shoots Eren, and it looks like she may have defeated him. Of course, though, that wasn’t the case. This leads to Eren and Zeke making contact, and they end up in the area where the Founder Ymir resides. At this point, a lot of revelations are made, both in regards to Eren and to the Founder Ymir. As these explanations come out, everything the viewer thought they knew about Attack on Titan gets turned on its head. Honestly, I felt like I was going through a major head trip as all these revelations were made.

After this, Eren ultimately gets his way, and he initiates The Rumbling to destroy Marley in order to stop the cycle of hate. This leads to the return of Annie, as well as an unexpected and uneasy alliance between characters from Paradis and characters from Marley. Admittedly, there was an episode at this point that was basically focused on these characters talking to each other, and not much in the way of action. However, these conversations had to be made and issues ironed out before they could launch their mission to try to stop Eren and The Rumbling. Without this episode, I think the alliance and how they work together wouldn’t have felt quite as “true” as it does in the series.

The final hurdle of the season for the alliance is to get past the Jaegerists and get their hands on the flying boat in order to get to Marley and try to stop Eren. The final episode of the season, which doesn’t end the series, sets the foundation for the next season of Attack on Titan.

After Attack on Titan Final Season spent a lot of its time establishing Marley and the important characters from that area, Attack on Titan Final Season Part 2 kicks the story up several notches over the course of it. Starting with Episode Three, the story and action became much more intense, and it was becoming clearer that the climax of the series had to be getting closer. However, as we got to Episode 10 of the series, it was becoming obvious that the story wasn’t going to end with this season. At that point, they had just gotten to the port and beginning the story of trying to get the flying boat. Knowing that there were only two episodes left in the season after that one, I knew there was no way they could cover the story at the port and tell the story of trying to stop Eren in Marley. In some respects, it’s a little disappointing and frustrating that the previous season and this season were both billed with “Final Season,” and yet there’s still one more season left to go. A new season for Attack on Titan was announced and the end of the final episode of this season, but it won’t air until 2023. This means we have to wait about a year to find out how this story is going to ultimately end.

MAPPA’s animation style has worked, at least for me, since they took over production duties for Attack on Titan. There was definitely a change of tone between introducing Marley and the timeskip that takes place between Attack on Titan Season 3 Part 2 and Attack on Titan Final Season. There’s a darker and grittier feel to the series, and I think the MAPPA style works better for this feel than the WIT Studio style would have.

It’s hard to believe we’re heading ever closer to the end of the Attack on Titan franchise. By the time this season started, I had stopped reading the manga, due in large part to COVID-19 shutting down my local library system for a while. By the time it reopened and holds could be placed again, I was too busy to pick up the various manga series that I stopped in the middle of during the pandemic. Since I lack the knowledge of what to expect at this point in the series, I’m genuinely surprised by the revelations that are made and how the story is progressing. I’m looking forward to when the final season of the Attack on Titan anime premieres next year and to see how this story will ultimately come to an end.

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