It has now been since 2013 that Shingeki no Kyojin (or L’Attaque des Titans in French) has created the place of essential shōnen for manga fans. The anime finds itself with 3 of its episodes in the top 10 (including 2 in the top 3) IMDb, listing the episodes of the best rated series of all time on tens of thousands of votes.
The recipe for success
This success of the work ofHajime Isayama comes first of all from its demarcation of shōnens considered “basic” where good and evil are easily distinguished. In the world of Attack on Titan nothing is Manichean, and from the first foreshadowing of season 1, the viewer understands that each character serves his own interest. Bad guys and good guys don’t exist.
The writing and the development of the protagonists highlight the beauty of the world around them (courage, loyalty and love) but also its darkness (betrayal, revenge and hatred), allowing an analysis of humanity and sending back the message “every action has consequences”. Message that we will live throughout the series through the eyes of the main character Eren Jäger, whose only motivation is revenge.
Moreover, between the legendary soundtracks signed Hiroyuki Sawano, the medieval and political aspect of certain seasons, as well as the cruelty of the author to be able to put the main characters to death, we can notice a lot of similarities with the flagship series Game Of Thrones — of which Hajime Isayama is a fan. If to all these qualities, we add reversals of situations and a good animation, we have a perfect cocktail to create an essential work.
However, while the Shingeki no Kyojin manga ended in 34 volumes at Pika Edition on October 13, 2021 in France, the anime returned to part 2 of its final season in January 2022. A question then arises: despite the waiting time of almost a year between the two parts, can we say that the “SnK hype” is still relevant for this final part?
Lost quality?
We can remember that many concerns were shared by the fans when the studio change was announced for this season 4, moving from Wit Studio to MAPPA. Justified concerns given the short time the animators had to work on this one. Thus, although part 1 was generally well received by the public – let’s not forget the crash of the Wakanim servers during the broadcast of the first episode following the overcrowding -, certain choices of the studio had divided the fans like the appearance of the titans in CGI (made by V-signe), much less expensive in time than classic animation.
The heavy and gigantic titans we knew about via WIT felt light with less fluid movement under MAPPA production, most notably Eren’s titan which received a slew of criticism when it first appeared.
Censorship will remain relatively the same between the two studios. Some very explicit scenes of the manga will be hidden by blur or smoke but never interfere with the viewing of the anime.
Also, as mentioned earlier, the manga has finally come to an end. Readers of Shingeki no Kyojin are therefore already aware of the end of the work. We can therefore wonder if the desire to see the anime is still present when some already know its final outcome. Of course, it’s always a pleasure for fans to see their favorite characters brought to life all rocked by epic soundtracks, but for readers who already know the end as well as the rest of the episodes, they could see their hype dwindle. mitigate.
Sasageyo! Sasageyo!
We can also add the effect of announcing a new soundtrack composer, Kohta Yamamoto, as well as new music for the opening. This time it will not be created by the group Shinsei Kamattechan, nor Linked Horizon (headline group of the openings of the last seasons) but by the metal group SiM. Although having to their credit the opening of Rage of Bahamut, according to some fans he can never replace Linked Horizon’s iconic “Sasageyo”.
Indeed, the openings of the previous seasons of Attack on Titan have become essential, finding themselves each time in the TOP 10 of the most watched and loved. The same goes for the endings, which are much calmer, but allow Isayam to hide a multitude of clues to the rest of the scenario. Blessed bread for theoreticians.
So, is the Shingeki no Kyojin hype still relevant? We can tell you that given the twitter trends every Sunday evening at 9:45 p.m., fans don’t seem like they want to give up on Eren and his team ! We therefore hope to see the same enthusiasm as well as a good number of theories for the weeks to come around this anime which has made us vibrate for 13 years already.
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