Could Attack on Titan End With a Movie? (How & Why?)
Season Four of Attack on Titan is, as you probably know by now, a two-part event whose second and, presumably, final part premiered on January 10, 2022. Now, we’re well into this part and the thing is – we’re not even close to the manga’s ending and chances are that we’re not going to see Eren’s fate in the anime as soon as we thought. Now, while there may be several different explanations for this phenomenon, a running theory on the Internet is that Attack on Titan might be getting a movie to finish the anime adaptation.
So far, we have absolutely no indications – save for Internet gossip – that Attack on Titan is going to end with a movie. MAPPA hasn’t given us any hints about that and there doesn’t seem to be any official news regarding a movie adaptation. A panel is scheduled for March 27, so there is a possibility that MAPPA will reveal more information on the season’s ending then.
This article is going to elaborate further on the answer we have given you. We’re going to discuss the chances for Attack on Titan getting a final movie to close off the anime, as well as the evidence we have for our theories. You’re also going to see why an anime movie would be a great thing for Attack on Titan, but also why that wouldn’t be as good as you think.
Could Attack on Titan end with a movie?
The Attack on Titan anime series premiered on April 7, 2013 and is, as of the time of writing this article, still ongoing, with four seasons, more than 80 episodes, several OVA episodes and compilation films. As you can see, it’s a pretty extensive list of works and, to be honest, following everything over the years, with the hiatuses, the breaks, and whatnot, wasn’t easy.
But, when part two of the current season was announced, fans finally rejoiced, hoping that The Final Season, how the current season was subtitled, would finally being the story to its deserved end.
Now, while fans did wonder whether the anime would change the manga’s controversial ending, as the season progressed, that issue became somewhat secondary when compared to another one that began arising with each new episode. So, what are we talking about?
If you’re following the current episodes of Attack on Titan, you’ll have noticed that the narrative pacing is extremely slow. And while we did expect the season to have somewhere between 10 and 20 episodes, which would be enough to cover the remaining chapters that haven’t been adapted, this doesn’t seem to be the case. Okay, the season will probably have not more than 20 episodes, but it doesn’t seem like that is going to be enough to adapt the whole story.
So far, we have not received an official explanation as to the slow pacing, but from where we stand now – there are only two possibilities: Attack on Titan will either rush its ending, or the adaptation will have to expand to, either, more episodes or – perhaps – a final movie.
As for the first solution, it doesn’t seem very likely, seeing how we don’t see a logical explanation as to why the producers would pick such a slow pace only to rush it in the end, since they definitely had time to do an evenly-balanced adaptation.
As for the two other options, they seem to be more likely. So, we know that the anime was supposed to end on March 27. Now we know that we’re not even getting an episode on March 27 and that the final episode is supposed to air on April 4, 2022. “The Dawn of Humanity” is scheduled to air on that date and from what we’ve been told some time ago, this is going to be the final episode of the anime. What does this tell us?
Based on the title of the episode, the main plot focus of the episode will be Chapter 130 of the manga, which shares its name with the episode. If the last episode of the anime is indeed going to adapt Chapter 130, that means that there are still nine chapters left to adapt, including the ones concerning the Rumbling.
Based on the pacing, that would mean that the season would have to provide us with at least five additional episodes, seeing how a completely new questions seems to be out of the question (this one is, after all, titled The Final Season).
MAPPA has scheduled a panel for March 27, 2022, the day that the final episode of the anime was supposed to air. What are we going to find out on that panel? We have no idea, but we’re certain that MAPPA will provide us with information about the show’s future. We’ve already told you about a possible extension of the anime, but there is heavy speculation online that Attack on Titan might be going out with a movie!
The pacing and the scheduled panel definitely seem to point at something similar and adapting the nine remaining chapters would definitely fit a feature-length anime movie (as much as it would fit five anime episodes). Aside from what we’ve already said, there are two additional factors that might point to a movie being in the works.
Firstly – the finances. Anime films aren’t necessarily cinematic blockbusters, but recent examples such as Demon Slayer‘s Mugen Train and the Jujutsu Kaisen 0 movie have shown us that anime movies can really bring in the cash if you have an ongoing anime series, as well as a global fandom willing to go to the movies to see their favorite anime characters. Such a move would certainly make sense from a financial aspect.
The other one is closely tied to the above-given factor and it actually concerns the competition Attack on Titan is facing on the anime market – Demon Slayer and Jujutsu Kaisen, the two most popular shows along with Attack on Titan at the moment.
Both of these series have received feature length anime movies that have been enormous hits, so why wouldn’t Attack on Titan? Sure, their situations are a bit different (Mugen Train simply adapted a mid-plot arc, while Jujutsu Kaisen 0 was a prequel), but this wouldn’t actually play a major role.
There certainly is a lot of evidence that points to Attack on Titan getting a movie, and from our perspective, this seems more likely than an extension of the anime. Still, we don’t really know how MAPPA managed to keep such a big production thing a secret all this time – maybe it was a last-minute decision – but we’ll probably get all the answers on March 27.
Until then, everything we have said is just mere speculation, but while we’re on that road, let us see why a movie would (and would not) be a good thing for Attack on Titan.
Why would a final Attack on Titan movie be a great thing?
If you browse the Internet a bit, you’ll certainly see that fans are quite hyped about the possibility of an Attack on Titan movie that would bring the anime to its close, and there are certainly plenty of reasons why an anime movie would be a great thing for Attack on Titan.
First of all, a feature length anime movie has much more space to evolve the story, which would give MAPPA a great opportunity to do Isayama’s ending justice. We’re certain that a feature-length adaptation would be a better option plot-wise than additional episodes of the anime.
Along the lines of these thoughts, we also think that a movie would give the producers more freedom in terms of animation and content. Namely, anime movies are usually much more liberal with their content than the anime series they are based on; this is, in part, due to the fact that television broadcasts have different censorship criteria than movies.
Since the ending of Attack on Titan has a lot of very explicit scenes that would certainly not benefit from being toned down or completely removed, we’re certain that a movie would do the manga more justice in this aspect as well.
A movie would also allow Attack on Titan to end in a more epic way. It would be a global event that would attract fans to cinemas and would allow Isayama’s manga to live up to its legacy in the best way possible. The ending itself is truly epic and a movie would give it enough grandeur to satisfy all the fans.
There are also some additional, more practical reasons, like the movie coming out in one part, thus removing the need for fans to wait for a new episode each week, but these are of lesser importance.
As you can see, there are pretty solid arguments for why Attack on Titan should end with a movie, but that doesn’t mean that there wouldn’t be any downsides to such an ending. We’ll analyze them in the final section of this article.
Why would a final Attack on Titan movie be a bad thing?
And while the situation seems great, we’re also going to talk about the potential downsides of a movie. The first and most important reason why a movie would be a bad idea is the potential delay. Knowing how the industries work, an anime movie that has been announced (while not having entered production) takes about 12 to 18 months to premiere. Now, knowing that you’re so close to the end, wouldn’t it be horrible if you had to wait another year and a half to see the last nine chapters?
Now, to calm you down a bit, this doesn’t seem like a likely scenario, but we cannot know for sure before March 27, when more information is probably going to be revealed.
There’s also a possibility that the movie has already been produced and that MAPPA has been working on the movie while working on the anime series, which would certainly mean that it would come out soon. There’s also a possibility that the movie will be aired as a final, feature-length episode, which would also be great.
Still, until we get a confirmation, this is a potentially real danger that could anger fans around the world.
Another potential issue is that a movie would be a major disappointment, much more than the anime. Namely, the fans would certainly be hyped and the marketing campaign would be enormous – similar to, for example, Jujutsu Kaisen 0 – and what if the movie doesn’t live up to it? The fans expect a lot from the anime’s ending (even a completely different one from the controversial manga ending) and they might not get that with a movie.
Ultimately, there are no other major reasons for Attack on Titan to not end with a movie, but the two we have mentioned are certainly noteworthy. What will happen to Attack on Titan is still unknown. It is going to end in one way or the other, and we’ll just have to wait for March 27 to get more information. Until then, we can only be hopeful.
