Is Attack on Titan Stretching Its Final Season Out Too Far?

Attack on Titan finished Part 2 of its final season by announcing to the world that Part 3 – a final run of four, one-hour episodes set to air/stream in 2023. That's going to be a year-long wait (at minimum) until we finally get to finish the epic (and horrifying story by Hajime Isayama – bringing us to a 2-2.5 year span since Attack on Titan Season 4 first began in January of 2021. That's a crazy long time to tell a seasonal story – let alone the ending to one. Is Attack on Titan stretching its final Season out too far? 

This question isn't isolated to how Attack on Titan has chosen to release its final season: the series has stretched out its anime content ever since Season 3 aired in two parts, separated by nearly a year. Fans were a bit worn out by that experience – now AoT Season 4 is stretching things out into three parts, over three years. You do the frustration math on that. 

MAPPA and the makers of Attack on Titan Season 4 also deserve some of the blame for why fans may feel like this ending is stretching on too long. Attack on Titan Season 4 has twice now sold the finales of "Part 1" and "Part 2" as the "end" of the anime series, keeping fans in suspense until end credits rolled – only to announce the next "part" of the final season would arrive in the following year (2022 and 2023, respectively). That is the anime studio creating unnecessary tension around the series when it could just be conveyed upfront that multiple parts will be the format. Sure, the vagueness kept fans buzzing about whether the "ends" were real – but it has also taxed a lot of emotions in the process. 

Fans of the Attack on Titan manga have never really been fooled about what it would require for the anime to wrap the series in proper fashion – and frankly, the episode counts of both Season 4: Part 1 and Part 2 never correlated with anything that looked like the end of the manga. However, Attack on Titan manga fans also know there's a big risk coming with Season 4: Part 3, which is a final story arc that's likely to cause non-stop backlash – especially after a year-long wait for it. 

To say the ending of Attack on Titan's manga was controversial would be an understatement – and the Final Season has already proven that the bloody end is exponentially more horrific in anime form. Giving fans a final dose of the show that potent could end up being a regrettable move. 

Attack on Titan's Final Season: Part 3 will supposedly air in April of 2023.