For years, there were rumors among anime news outlets that an Attack On Titan movie would adapt the story of the Shingeki no Kyojin manga series. Episode guides were released and confident predictions were touted as fact by the news headlines.
Some argued that the final film should be split into a multi-part movie Attack On Titan: The Rumbling. After all, there are still plenty of manga chapters left to adapt in the manga for a final film of nearly three hours. For example, some argued that the final movie would be called Attack On Titan: Battle of Heaven and Earth, which is the title of the manga Chapter 135.
Unfortunately, none of these predictions turned out to be true.
Instead of an Attack On Titan: The Rumbling movie wrapping up the story’s ending, the finale of AoT Season 4 Part 2 revealed that the Attack On Titan Season 4 Part 3 release date was slated to be 2023. That means the anime the story again in Attack On Titan Episode 88.
Attack On Titan: The Final Season Part 3 should be shorter than usual
The number of episodes for Attack On Titan: The Final Season Part 3 was not initially announced, but it was said to be a short track.
What is a ‘cour’, you may ask? For those unfamiliar with the lingo, a “cour” is a quarterly block of TV broadcasts based on the physical seasons usually consisting of 10 to 13 episodes.
Part 1 consisted of 16 episodes while part 2 had only 12 episodes. Since Episode 87 adapted the previously skipped Chapter 123: Island Devils and Chapter 130: The Dawn of Humanity, there are 9 manga chapters left to adapt. That’s enough content for the anime to run for at least two to three hours, meaning part 3 can have a maximum of about 9 episodes.
The ending of the Attack On Titan movie has been rumored for over a year based on the violent final storyline
For some who have been following all the latest news and rumors, this announcement of a final, final season may come as a surprise. Some really expected the announcement of an Attack On Titan: The Rumbling movie that picked up the story in manga Volume 33: Chapter 131, also titled The Rumbling.
Some believed that the anime production committee (which includes Studio MAPPA) would like to replicate the frenzied box office success of the Demon Slayer: Mugen Train movie and the Jujutsu Kaisen 0 movie. Based on this belief, some speculated that the Attack On Titan movie’s release date would be November-December 2022 or May-July 2023, as those periods are typically considered the best timing for a tentpole movie to stand a chance of winning. blockbuster premiere while January and February are considered the “dump months” for bad movies.
The day before the official announcement of Attack On Titan: The Final Season 3 Part 3, uncertainty had sparked much rumor and rampant speculation. In the past, Alter DAC correctly leaked the episode count for part 1 (while still being wrong about the stopping point). So it was a little odd when he tweeted rumors about the latest TV sequel, which would be 3 OAD episodes running at 1 hour each, while also teasing followers about a movie sequel.
At least a anime news leaker rightly claimed that the anime series would conclude with an Attack On Titan Season 4 Part 3 release date in 2023. The leaker even got the detail correct that the main visual would portray the Alliance following in The Rumbling’s footsteps as the promotional visual .
But even way back in 2020, many anime news outlets believed that an Attack On Titan movie ending was necessary. For example, change DAC directly claimed at the moment an Attack On Titan movie ending the series is necessitated by the violent content of the final storyline.
“The public broadcasters have strict rules in Japan. And considering how explicitly violent the final arc is, it’s not very likely that the anime sequel will be in TV format,” he tweeted.
Does this mean the actual part 3 of the TV series will be heavily censored? Please note that certain scenes of extreme violence may be censored for the Japanese TV broadcast and then shown in the final Blu-Ray release. Streaming platforms like Crunchyroll also don’t have to censor, although they often do for certain series like Redo or Healer.
While some of these rumors and predictions made sense, the wide-open neck of the 800-ton titan in the room was the fact that the anime’s pace in part 2 ended at a point where the ending of an Attack On Titan movie was very bad. seemed unlikely. With nine whole chapters left to adapt, a movie ending would have meant ending up with a 3-hour Attack On Titan movie…or a two-part movie.
That’s hardly optimal from a storytelling perspective. There aren’t many good breaks in the final storyline and even part 2 left the audience on a cliffhanger.
No doubt a movie ending would have been more appropriate if episode 87 matched chapter 133: Sinners, as adapting just six remaining chapters would have resulted in a 2-hour movie. That chapter would have been a good stopping point for a TV series, as the next manga chapter sees the Marley army begin its final battle against the advancing Wall Titans as the Rumbling has caught up with them.
An additional problem is that a film would have been released in Japan first and then the international audience would have waited months. While manga spoilers already exist, it’s highly likely that many English-speaking anime fans would have spoiled the anime’s ending for them.
Anyway, let’s hope Attack On Titan: The Final Season Part 3 does justice to the manga’s conclusion. Stay tuned!
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