https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c14MVY3EVaQ
If you don’t know already, Attack On Titan recently released the teaser for its final season. People quite easily noticed the change in animation, which is now done by MAPPA instead of WIT Studio.
WIT Studio handled the animation for Attack On Titan for three seasons but decided not to do its final season. It’s unclear what the reasons are, but MAPPA being the studio responsible for the famed anime’s final season gained praise, and, well, doubts.
Understandably, some people are not keen on a change in animation studio for their beloved anime series. At times, the change could result in less than stellar quality than what was done in previous seasons.
A perfect example of an anime that suffered from a change in animation studio is One Punch Man. Its first season was amazing, but the second season made fans turn heads.
Some voiced their complaints over the animation quality online, with even an online petition to revert to the animation studio that did its first season.
It’s mostly because of this stigma that caused concern over Attack On Titan’s final season.
The thing is, though, MAPPA has a solid portfolio — they’ve worked on anime such as Dororo, Yuri!!!! on Ice, Banana Fish, and Dorohedoro. They also animated the upcoming God of High School anime and, if you actually watched any of their works, it does look pretty good.
The reason why people are divisive is simple; it’s different.
Again, WIT Studio was in charge of Attack On Titan for three full seasons. Technically, that’s 6 years of having the same animation studio throughout the anime (since it started in 2013), only to have it suddenly change for its final season.
I’ll admit, even I was concerned. I immediately spotted some scenes that I thought looked off, like this one:
https://twitter.com/jobijhovsx/status/1266325159184490496
But that was just one of a few scenes I thought were off from just its trailer. Visually, though, it still looks and feels like Attack On Titan. Well, to me, at least.
MAPPA is not doing a bad job. In fact, they’ve done pretty solid work on the final season, as you can see from this scene here:
Can't relate with anyone who is disappointed by the animation. MAPPA about to go crazy with these action scenes pic.twitter.com/1VYGzNHKpM
— . (@anxiousarlert) May 29, 2020
I mean come on, that was sick and also different.
People are divisive mostly because they’ve grown used to WIT Studio’s quality. Any other animation studio that animates Attack On Titan will automatically feel like a disservice to the anime. It’s more significant, too, since it’s the final season.
One could also argue that though MAPPA is good, WIT Studio is better.
However, I think people need to give MAPPA a chance. I mean, people are making noise over just a trailer. They’ve not even seen everything yet.
So let’s reserve our judgement until the final season actually arrives. It’s not really fair to pass judgement when we’ve only seen just a little of what’s to come.
As someone who was initially concerned for the final season, I think that, at the end of the day (or season), MAPPA is perfectly capable of providing a stellar end to a great anime.
