Attack on Titan Season 4 Part 2: Binge, Fringe, or Singe?
Written by Andreas Babiolakis
Binge, Fringe, or Singe? is our television series that will cover the latest seasons, miniseries, and more. Binge is our recommendation to marathon the reviewed season. Fringe means it won’t be everyone’s favourite show, but is worth a try (maybe there are issues with it). Singe means to avoid the reviewed series at all costs.
So, nice ending to Attack on Titan, huh? As episode eighty seven was about to drop for North American audiences, various social media accounts (Crunchyroll, Anime Shingeki, et cetera) announced that there will be a part three of this endless final season. To give some perspective as to how bittersweet this is, the final season started being released December 2020; this comes after season two took four years to release twelve episodes, but then seasons (or parts of) would drop on an annual basis. This third part will mark the ten year mark since season one was released in 2013. On the lighter side of things, the manga still has much story left after the part we have just arrived at in the show, and there was seemingly no way that the series could have caught up. Then again, it looked like the series may have tried to end things differently, considering that the manga has a notorious ending that not everyone is thrilled with. No matter what the reason is (running out of time, wanting to perfect the animation to come, trying to figure out a better way to conclude the story), Attack on Titan has been prolonged to yet another year. This time, the remainder of the series is promised to be the “concluding” season (or part of a season, anyway). Considering that there are roughly nine chapters of the manga left, it’s unsure how many episodes are to come. There were hints of a possible film to wrap up the series, but this is a much nicer form of extension (if there was going to be one).
Nonetheless, my disappointment only comes from the anticipation of expecting the final episode of a series last Sunday. Otherwise, I am easily enthusiastic to see more of an anime masterpiece, particularly because the second part of the final season (it’s starting to become a mouthful) was this brilliant. I was also feeling like this was fittingly the last batch of episodes because of how many callbacks and revelations were made; the episode “From You, 2,000 Years Ago” looping us back to the very first episode thematically; a focusing on the dawn of civilization and the vicious cycle of human behaviours that will always result in murder and chaos; even the final episode harkened back to many other episodes of the season to give them new context. Everything was resolving (as much as it could, considering that everything seems doomed still), and this seemed like Attack on Titan was coming to an end. We’ve learned that this is just the set up for the last stretch. Now that we’re on the same page (hopefully), colour me excited.
The most recent episodes of Attack on Titan have been mostly titanic and jaw dropping, to say the least.
While the entire series post the first season branched outside of Eren Jaeger and his own missions (initially to seek revenge on the Titans after the murder of his mother), this second part of season four was completely Eren’s through and through. It’s as if the story misled us away from Eren’s degeneration (from hopeful hero to monstrous antihero as guilty as those he once desired to overcome). While Eren was guilty of major sins before, these last twelve episodes exemplified how villainous he’s truly become. He’s also unstoppable now, especially once he took control of the Founding Titan; this transformation was a triumphant one where Eren’s scheming was astounding, and yet I was left coiling once I realized what this could mean. Well, Eren’s (seemingly) true intentions are now revealed: the genocide of everyone that exists outside of Paradis Island (well, the finale makes it seem like Eren and his army of Colossal Titans will kill literally everyone, so even this may not be the full picture).
Eren is exactly who he once wished to destroy: a conveyor of apparently mindless destruction. What’s really happening is that we’re witnessing a cycle of humans killing humans (no matter what the form is), and the once noble Eren has realized that he — and his comrades — are no better than those they wish to stop. The only way to stop humans from killing is to kill them all off once and for all. It’s a dark philosophy, and maybe there’s something in us viewers feeling vehemently against this and seeing Eren as a villain now. We know he isn’t true, but Attack on Titan has given us enough time to understand why he feels this way whilst allowing us to not agree with him one bit. Then again, we’re also not living in Paradis and aren’t as jaded as some of these wiser inhabitants may be. Still, we’re seeing the human species being toxic at every turn. We’re just biological machines, animals, and temporary vessels. Despite our progress, we still have a lot of awful tendencies and flawed ideologies. Attack on Titan zeroes in on all of them.
The animation in Attack on Titan continues to be riveting.
As long as it has taken us to get here, Attack on Titan’s second part of its final season continues to be some of television’s most pummelling and exquisite entertainment. It is gorgeously animated, and the length of time to get to each portion of the final season feels worth it just for its visuals alone (it truly feels like a living manga at times, particularly with its inclusion of “sketched” lines and detailing). Somehow, these twenty minute episodes are so short that I’m always left wanting more, and yet we do get heaps of information and story within them; Attack on Titan continues to waste no time. While we have to wait many months (hopefully Part 3 will come early 2023), the build up to this conclusion has been worthwhile, albeit full of doom and damnation. As someone who is trying to stay away from the manga as to not be spoiled in any way, this will be a long wait. If we’re learned anything from all of the schemes and military games within the show and the previous rollout of the series, it’s that with patience comes proper results. Let’s just hope for the best, because so far Attack on Titan has delivered nothing but the best. Let’s argue that the third part does disappoint like the manga’s ending does. At least Part 2 feels like its own brilliant conclusion in ways.
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from X University (formerly known as Ryerson), as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.