EDIT: If you're interested in a more detailed opinion of mine regarding some themes/aspects of this season, you can also check out this video critiquing this season which I responded to. Luckily my comment is easy to find because it's pinned :) Watch the video first though, my comment is a response to it.
To start off, this review is written by a manga reader who loves the source material. So as an anime-only, there may be points you disagree with simply because we had a different set of expectations going into this season. And my focus in this review will be mostly on how it performed as an adaptation. I will say however that it was difficult for me to rate the season – or, to be more specific, really determine how to feel about it.
SPOILER ALERT. PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK
When it comes to plot and characters, of course, there is a lot this season has to offer. We have reached the endgame of the story by now, and it’s nice to see that anime-onlies are shitting their pants in a similar way we manga readers did. Luckily the team MAPPA assembled was also very faithful with the source material with adapting one chapter per episode. As an adaption however, I wish sometimes they would’ve taken more extra steps than just being faithful to the source material – Especially when they proved multiple times that they have the necessary talents to make this anime into something very special.
I think everyone knows which episodes I’m talking about when I want to mention the strong points of this season. Episode 3 literally gave me goosebumps all over my body with its amazing direction choices, it really solidified my opinion that Teruyuki Omine truly is the ace among the episode directors who worked on AoT S4. I loved the slow motion when Zeke screamed with the music slowly creeping in leading to a big 3D shot encompassing the entirety of the shiganshina district. I loved how the build-up from Eren running to Zeke to getting shot by Gabi is just perfect. They also did a fantastic job with Paths and the memory shards, Hayashi showed again his capabilities as director by choosing to film a real eye and adding composite layers on top of it. The other episode Omine directed was episode 10, which wasn’t as spectacular as the first episode he worked on but a highlight nonetheless with displaying Connie’s struggle very well. The last episodes in general are a highlight. Episode 11 was a pure sakuga-fest, with Q Kawa, Malcolm and Takashi Kojima joining in to give us non-stop incredible 2D animation. I still can’t believe that we got to see amazing animation like this in a S4 episode.
▶ Video (Takashi Kojima)▶ Video (Q Kawa)And episode 12… was so good that I had to rewrite my review which I wrote beforehand after episode 11. The music and the arrangement of the scenes gave me chills, combining chapter 123 and 130 into one episode was a wonderful choice.
While mentioning Kojima we of course can’t forget the OP, which he directed, storyboarded and animated by himself. The song SiM made for this season also fits so damn well and might be my favourite AoT OP.
▶ VideoThe fact that we saw what the staff can do makes it even sadder however because it shows that it could’ve been much, much more. While episode 3 surpassed the manga in any possible way, it was only the build-up to episode 4 which was, if we look past the phenomenal Grisha breakdown, frankly a disappointment. The storyboard was plain, sometimes weird even with angles chosen in for example the scarf scene. Art and shading despite the little animation was simple as well, looking worse than the post-ed scene in episode 11. While I understand that working on action-heavy episodes early on was a logical choice for them, AoT is more of a plot-driven story. The focus should’ve been on episode 4 and 5 (yes, 5 was also partly a disappointment). It’s not the best example, but it sort of feels like the Heaven’s Feel movies where Ufotable turned random fights in the visual novel into nutty spectacles while neglecting the actual important stuff (yes I’m exaggerating a bit, but it still fits).
▶ Video Here the most outstanding cut in ep 4 done by Shinya TakahashiI wouldn’t even call it bad in that sense, but more of that it’s not worth watching over the manga, except a few episodes. I’m not demanding for every episode to be one the same level as episode 3, but the inconsistency in quality made it frankly frustrating to watch at times. There is a lot to nit-pick, from drawings looking off-model or the horrible red composite for the rumbling after episode 5, but I leave it at that. The problem simply is that I wanted AoT to be the anime of the decade, and because of tight schedule and deadlines the anime turned out to be much poorer than the staff is capable of in healthy circumstances. (Yes, the schedule for this anime is tight. You can see that by simply looking by the high number of CADs (Chief Animation Director) and Ads (Animation Director) each episode, episode credits apparently have an even higher amount than what the credits on the website suggest. Don’t let the bigger timeframe compared to part 1 fool you that they had more than enough time for this season; It was actually the opposite.)
As a side note, did I also mention how the anime stripped Eren from any sort of human emotion? They went a bit too hard with the emo persona, if you ask me. Here are more comparison pics between anime and manga. (The pics are not from me, I reposted from twitter because people on twitter love to spoil)
To conclude: This season had tons of ups and downs, and I certainly enjoyed myself as much as I felt simply bummed out by how painfully average it was an adaptation. Maybe it was a mistake to go into this expecting to be able to safely rate it as 10/10, my expectations clearly messed with my experience. Nonetheless I’m looking forward to the resolution of the anime in 2023, regardless whether it will be a good or bad adaptation, because I’m just happy to see this masterpiece of a manga receive a full adaptation.
Thank you Isayama for creating AoT, thank you Hayashi trying to make the anime the best version of AoT it can be under the current circumstances.
