‘Attack on Titan’ director explains how creator influenced the final season

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Image via Wit Studio / Attack on Titan

The final season of Attack on Titan was divided into two parts- with the first part releasing in early 2021 and the ongoing second part premiering a year later in 2022. In case, any of the anime fans found the second part to be a much more faithful anime adaptation of the manga it is based on as well as noticed the ton of clever callbacks and Easter Eggs, the credit goes to the manga’s original creator, Hajime Isayama.

Director Yuichiro Hayashi revealed in a recent interview that at the time when they were gearing up for the release of the final season’s first part in 2021, Isayama was working on the manga’s finale. This effectively hindered the creator from checking in on the anime and providing his much-needed feedback. But when the crew returned to work on the second part of the anime, the scenario was a lot different.

“At the time of Part 1, he was in the midst of working on the finale, so it seemed like he was really busy. But now it’s all finished. So the feedback from him used to be about one A4 size sheet, but now it’s about two A4 sheets. And he’s now checking things more closely. There are a lot of suggestions for improvement like, ‘I want you to fix this part,’ but also a lot of ‘Oh, this is great,’ which makes me very happy.”

Hayashi also added that Isayama is responsible for a number of cool Easter Eggs in the final season, including the goth Mikasa and Armin in Eren’s visions when they were stuck in the Paths.

As for the aforementioned ending of the manga, saying that it has been controversial would be a bit of an understatement. Isayama has faced major backlash for his divisive conclusion to Attack on Titan and many fans even contracted other artists to draw an alternate ending.

Based on Hayashi’s statement, fans rooting for the anime to opt for an ending different from the manga are possibly in for a disappointment. Given Isayama’s involvement in its production, it seems like the second part of the anime will continue to be faithful to its source material.