When the final season of “Attack on Titan” first premiered in late 2020, fans were ecstatic to see how the influential anime series would conclude. Little did they know it would take over three years to see the actual ending of the series come to fruition as the final “season” would be stretched out across three different parts due to production issues and the amount of content still left to be adapted. The series finally returned after a year-long hiatus on March 4 with its third part, which took the form of an hour-long special with one more special being planned for release later this year. While fans have felt burnt out constantly waiting to see the finale, the wait has been more than worth it as the first part of this two-part special gracefully adapts the final pieces of this monumental series.  

The special picks up right where the second part of the final season left off after the massive reveal that protagonist Eren Jaeger has evolved into the series’ ultimate antagonist. Now deadset on erasing virtually all human life from the world in order to protect his homeland from a history of systemic oppression, Eren initiates The Rumbling, an apocalyptic event where thousands of titans march across the earth, trampling everything in their path. The final season of “Attack on Titan” as a whole delves heavily into the intense moral complexities of its characters and this special does a fantastic job of portraying Eren’s twisted mental state. Between flashbacks of him crying while helping stray children that he knows he’ll eventually take the lives of in the future to scenes where he revels in the twisted version of freedom that he’s giving his people, the show captures the transition of a once sympathetic hero to an absolute monster. The special doesn’t hold back from showing the brutality of his actions either with new scenes that weren’t in the original manga that help elevate the source material and capture the sheer weight of the oncoming apocalypse.  

Emotions and tensions are incredibly high throughout the entire runtime as Eren’s past friends and enemies band together to not only survive but put a stop to his rampage. The hour-long special is able to cover significantly more ground than a normal episode given the longer runtime which gives enough time for the story to spend both on developing its characters and the intense action scenes. The adaptation itself takes advantage of what it can add to the source material both through its animation and sound design. The juxtaposition of bright colors from the somber purple sunsets and dark reds of the fires and devastation left in the wake of the titans make for a visually stunning dichotomy. One particular scene where a character sacrifices themselves to buy time for the main group is made even more impactful with an emotional vocal track and viscerally animated fight scene.  

“Attack on Titan’s” final season is set to be a landmark end for the influential series. While the final confrontation won’t be covered until the end of this year, this special proves that the conclusion to the hit anime series will be more than worth the wait.