As always, I'm going to judge this season based on factors, and I'll be doing a quick review of the episodes as well.
After the explosive first ep to continue what was unfinished, the 2nd ep is less exciting but still in an interesting arc. The next 4 eps are the most surprising and best I can imagine, they give me expectations, eps 7, 8, 9 have tested my patience, even though there are many remarkable psychological developments. Unfortunately, ep 10, 11, 12 did not meet my expectations, although there were still life and death situations, dramatic. Especially ep 12. I feel like my feelings have been stolen.
Now, I will evaluate the first thing, Art. This part I said on in Final season - Part 1, but I will say further, the segments of titans appear to be produced in 3D MAPPA style, there are scenes look cool, but there are scenes that have It feels a bit fake. I think this is the reality viewers have to accept. Some people will love this, but others will prefer WIT's art production. In particular, I paid attention to the portrayal of the characters' faces, which I was not very impressed with. Some scenes of the characters' faces when they stand in the distance don't look real. Even so, the battle scenes, explosive bombs, water surface... are very beautiful. I rate: A
The second is Music: This is what I feel is great, the first eps, the music is a great highlight, so many good and familiar tunes appear at the right time when it should appear. However, there are eps where the music is applied too much, many melodies are repeated and lack of freshness. But perhaps to me, this is still the strong point of AOT. OP and ED songs are so good as well. I rate: A+
Characters: I don't know what to say, there are characters that are developed very well, I especially like Gabi, her story was formed very well from Part 1, and it is perfectly upgraded in Part 2. The other characters all have their own highlights. Even other "normal" characters like Hitch have their own imprint in the hearts of viewers. However, the most unfortunate thing about this season is that there is no character that is the "center" of attention. No character shines like season 1's Annie, 2nd season's Ymir and 3rd season's Historia. In particular, Eren's psychological development is unclear, interrupted, leading to confusion for viewers. Is he bad or good? Does he act out of hatred or love? This is not perfectly developed. Anyway, I rate: A+
Next, the story. This is the part I want to make clear. First of all, I have to admit two things. Firstly, the author is a very good person at "hiding" important details. He hides the fact that Dina is the smiley titan, Reiner's identity, Frieda's sweetness, and now Grisha. Second, the author is very good at zoning the story. For example, season 1, everything happened in Trost and the giant forest, in season 2 it was Utgard and the giant forest, season 3 was the titan cave and Shiganshina. I can only admire Hajime. But this is a strength, as well as a weakness. When the story leaves an important place, it means that everything around it also loses its appeal. The surprises of Eren and Zeke's journey to the past take AOT to a new level, which opens up a lot of possibilities. However, towards the end of the season, these abilities were abandoned. We have to temporarily accept everything as Eren's fault. It's all because of him. While the door of time is a very cool concept. Admittedly, Annie's awakening was a "known from the beginning" surprise but still caused excitement, but the next developments were not as shocking and rushed as the previous seasons. The assault on the harbor was interesting and dramatic, but it was too little, compared to the level of expectation. I rate: A+
And finally, emotions. What do I feel when experiencing the final season - Part 2? It can be said that when the characters are so familiar and close to me, what I care about is probably their safety. Inadvertently, this deceives us from the emotions inherent when watching a movie, a show or an anime. If you look at it from that fundamental perspective, this season doesn't meet my emotional needs. I want to cry, scream when I see the characters plunge into dangerous battles, open my mouth in surprise at the unexpected things that happen to the characters. Apart from ep 3 and ep 11, I don't have much to say about my feelings. In particular, ep 12 made me a bit emotionally disappointed, although the story of ep 12 is still quite good. I rate: B
All in all, as the story has expanded beyond Paradis, it has also become more difficult for the author to complete the characters' stories. Maybe at the last minute, all the characters should hold hands and die? Or do they all live happily ever after? What is the ending we expect? In my opinion, given what happened from season 1, I would expect a "crazy" ending. In true AOT style.
