Attack on Titan Fans Have Gone Through It

The first of the final two TV specials to wrap up the Attack on Titan series dropped Friday on Crunchyroll, Funimation (for anyone still subscribed), and Hulu, officially dubbed “Attack on Titan: Final Season — The Final Chapters.” Any name they picked here would have been ridiculous considering those they previously used for the “Final” season that’s been split into three parts. But it took only a short time for the fanbase to panic about whether the special would surface on a streaming service outside Japan in a timely manner — if at all.

There tends to be a gap between the airing of Japanese episodes on TV and them showing up on streaming services worldwide, but the Attack on Titan special’s turnaround took longer than usual. This was inevitable considering how much longer this was compared to a standard TV episode, at a hair over an hour compared to the average of around 25 minutes. But panic seriously set in as six hours went by with not only the episode being missing in action, but the realization that Crunchyroll hadn’t said anything about it coming. The company doesn’t tend to be silent about the licenses they have when they’re as popular as AoT, unless, it seems, they weren’t sure when it was coming either.

The long turnaround led to all sorts of fan theories and so-called insiders making declarations. One “source” from Reddit claimed the special was only coming to Hulu (and Disney Plus outside the United States), which wasn’t farfetched to consider. It was announced in November that Disney struck a deal with Kodansha for several franchises to air on Disney Plus (and Hulu in the United States). On the list was the Tokyo Revengers anime adaptation, the latest season for which, the “Christmas Showdown Arc” indeed came to Disney Plus and Hulu instead of primarily Crunchyroll like the first season. It was possible that AoT could have been part of this decision with Kodansha owning the manga rights, even though it would have sent fans who watched previous seasons through Crunchyroll and Funimation into a fit of rage. They would have understood how people who watched the first AoT season on Netflix felt.

Other theories weren’t as believable. One Reddit user claimed the special was being split into three smaller episodes, akin to what happened with Bleach spinoff Burn the Witch on streaming services, even though this would have been as nonsensical as that one. Another said it was only coming to Hulu on March 28th.

None of those panned out, of course. They’re more examples of why you shouldn’t believe everything you read on the internet, especially if the claims come from internet randos on social media and message boards. It is, however, interesting how Crunchyroll only mentioned how they obtained the license mere minutes before the special went live on their service. Ah, to be a fly on the wall in the company as they worked to get the episode live on the services, though it’s easy to imagine how the social media managers were feeling with all the messages they were getting.

Not a single part of this fiasco is surprising. Attack on Titan fans should be used to seeing these crazy plans with how much of a ride the entire anime adaptation has been, one that remarkably started nearly a decade ago in April 2013, if you can believe it.

The first season from Studio Wit was largely fine, but adapted a bit too much as it skipped over a few smaller story events along the way. This resulted in there being a nearly four-year gap between seasons, the second of which ended up being a mere 12 episodes. The adaptation was progressing nicely, until production for the fourth season switched from Wit to MAPPA. The latter has done a good job, but it’s taken them time to adapt it all thanks to just how swamped they’ve been over the years. The Final Season itself has been split into three parts, with the last two specials being the Final Final Final aspect of the series. It wouldn’t be MAPPA if they didn’t bite off more than they could chew production wise, to the tragic chagrin of their poorly-paid animators.

It’s one thing to consider just how much time it’s taken to adapt the whole thing, but it’s been another for anime-only fans (which applies to the majority of them outside Japan) to wait for its conclusion. The original manga from Hajime Isayama finished in April 2021, so please spare another thought for all the fans who’ve gone through heaps of effort to dodge spoilers for the finale for nearly two years now, soon to be more than that. This has been far from easy to do on an internet with a plethora of enthusiastic fans.

It’s been a long, long road, but the end is in sight. Well, unless there’s one final twist from the creators lying ahead for the second TV special coming this fall. Maybe I should stop now before I jinx something.

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