This review contains spoilers

As expected, Mappa could not save us from the tragedy that is the Fumbling Arc which is not surprising considering the source material is a huge disappointment in itself.

I was dissapointed by this season due to many reasons, the main one being its pacing which is horrific. There are many scenes where characters are just talking most of which adds nothing to the plot (talking about you Pie Scene). I honestly don't recall the manga pacing being that bad but it feels like Mappa dragged out content for example the scene in the woods, we get it Mappa you can animate trees and twigs, congratulations. I feel that instead of these pointless cutaways Mappa could have expanded on scenes like Falco grieving over his brother where for some reason he manages to get over the loss in a matter of seconds.

Another issue was that they kept scenes from the manga that had no relevance or were not needed at all, people reading this review will know what I am about to mention the dreaded pie scene. It is without doubt the stupides most terrible attempt at comedy I have witnessed in this medium. HA! HA! HA! Look at Annie guys she is eating pie, hilarious right? No it is not Connie shut your mouth, she is literally responsible for your comrades deaths but lets forgive her cause she likes pie. Sadly, this season kept in all of Connie's scenes which give us some of the most pathetic cringe moments in the medium (until 139). Connie is a stupid character, his "to save the world" line is still corny and his plan with his Mom still makes no sense and is a huge waste of time. As well as being stupid which can be forgivable, Connie is also a hypocrite he will happily work with Annie and Reiner who slaughtered his comrades and Gabi who killed one of his closest friends (essentially forgiving them for their heinous crimes) but he has no hesitations or remorse when shooting Daz and Samuel (who are his so called friends and are hesitant to shoot him but he kills them anyway just because they are Yeagerists, how about forgiving them???). He is just one of the so called heroes we are supposed to root for but due to terrible writing they come across as hypocrites and fools.

This brings me to another issue for this season which is the characters. With Eren occupied elsewhere, we sadly had to endure Mikasa, Armin, Hange and the other members of the Cringevengers for most of the season. Mikasa thanks to the amazing writing of Isayama is reduced to two things; Eren and Scarf. This is highlighted when Armin is pouring his heart out and Mikasa's only response is "my scarf is gone". I still can't believe Mappa kept in the scene of Mikasa taking the scarf away from a dying girl with no hint of a remorse, what a character she is!
Armin used to be a smart likeable character but after the time skip he has become a useless mess of a character. His plan to take the boat from the Yeagerists highlights his uselessness, on what planet would that stupid plan work? This is the guy that was chosen over Erwin, instead of going to meetings about Paradis' future he was simping over a frozen 16 year old girl.
Hange is also extremely annoying, her character is now reduced to "my way is right, your way is wrong".

Even though I have many issues with this season, there is no denying it did have its highs especially with Paths, Floch and the development of Gabi continuing. Thankfully the scenes with Eren, Zeke and Grisha were done rather well and a huge credit must be given to Grisha's VA Hiroshi Tsuchida, who I feel has delivered in all his scenes for The Final Season. The animation was also good in a lot of places, there is no doubt in my mind a Mappa employee has the hots for Armin and Floch. However, the animation like last season still suffered a great deal this is seen in many scenes of Episode 10 but thats to be expected when the employees are treated like garbage by Mappa. Also like nearly all of the AOT OPs, Rumbling was amazing although I would like to see Linked Horizon return for the eventual Part 3/movie.

In conclusion, the only thing we can take away from this season is that Isayama is that bad of a writer he makes it so people opposing a global genocide are hypocritical idiots, or maybe that was his plan all along? Isayama, what a mangaka you are!