*THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS*
Story (3/10)
The first half of the season is exciting and may trick you into believing that SnK is peak fiction, until the hype wears off and you realise that it has introduced ancient genie worms, (pseudo) time travel, hard determinism, a 2000-year-old stockholm syndrome loli and the end of the world at the 11th hour of the show, and that these aren’t concepts the story can handle going forward.
The second half throws all the potential complexity of the story out the window for a cliché “former enemies team up for the greater good against the ultimate evil” final arc. This part is boring, tonally off and somehow both rushed and drawn out. It also becomes incessantly preachy about war and hate, what happened to all that “nature is cruel, fight for yourself” energy of S1-3?
Characters (2/10)
Easily the worst part of the season, most of the cast are a shadow of their former selves. Eren developed into a cartoonish omnicidal final villain offscreen, Mikasa and Armin have lost all their qualities to become despicable wastes of oxygen, and don’t get me started on Connie.
The real crime occurs during the alliance team up. Characters personalities, motivations and histories are skimmed over in one episode before these former enemies fight as one cohesive unit forevermore, all past crimes pushed to the side. These are not characters anymore, they are action figures for SnK to play with.
Furthermore, SnK seems to have no idea how to assign screentime to it’s bloated, plot armoured cast, as core characters like Levi and Historia get less focus than nobodies like Yelena and Onyankopon. As a parting insult, the final episode abuses three main characters for shipwar bait.
Visuals (5/10)
MAPPA’s adaptation has certainly improved from the first part, the CGI is much better and well used, there’s more 2D titans and episodes 3, 5, 6 and 11 have some impressive sequences. That said, the ugly shading, ever-present filters, bizarre directing choices and off-model faces are here to stay. Ultimately, comparing even the best parts to S1E1 makes you mourn what could’ve been.
Sound (6/10)
The old SnK soundtrack is great as always despite some inappropriate uses of it. The new music is a mixed bag but the OP and ED are fire. The sound design is alright, the voice acting is mostly good with some exceptions like Armin’s unfitting VA. Eren, Zeke and Connie's VAs are the standouts for me.
Enjoyment (4/10)
I have a love/hate relationship with SnK; I love the ideas, but the actual product frustrates me immensely. It makes me want to dissect and argue about it, hence the review.
Overall (4/10)
It’s not the worst thing in the world, it only becomes that when you compare it to the show it once had the potential to be.
