It’s the end of an era as the Attack on Titan anime which premiered more than eight years ago is finally coming to an end soon. This decade-defining anime will soon commence the final arc of the series with the return of its fourth season which is slated to premiere on January 9, 2022.
We have been hearing countless speculations regarding the episode count for Part 2 of Attack on Titan Season 4 and whether or not if it is truly the end of the series but thanks to a very reliable leaker, SPY, we finally know that Attack on Titan Season 4 Part 2 will consist of 12 episodes.
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Anime leaker SPY has been known to be a reliable source of information for a long time. He also successfully revealed the episode count last year prior to the official Bluray listing as well alongside the information regarding the opening and ending theme songs for Part 1 of Attack on Titan Season 4.
It should be noted that this leak also lines up with the fact that unlike last year, Attack on Titan Season 4 Part 2 is premiering in January and will air exactly 12 episodes during Winter 2022 anime season if there are scheduled to be no breaks.
Attack on Titan Season 4: Where exactly will the final season end?
This episode count is further fueling up the rumors that Attack on Titan will probably get a movie adaptation for the final few chapters of the story. According to these rumors, the final season will only adapt till Chapter 131 or 132 and leave the remaining chapters to be adapted into a movie.
To put things into perspective, the first part of the final season of Attack on Titan covered 26 chapters (Chapter 90-Chapter 116) during the span of 16 episodes. And even with that pacing, they had to significantly rush Reiner’s backstory.
We highly doubt that the staff will try to rush anything going forward since it is all very crucial to the last act. Which makes it is particularly hard to imagine the story being finished in just 12 episodes.
If the story does continue adapting a chapter and a half every episode, it will indeed finish somewhere around Chapter 132.
Although for now, we can only speculate till official information regarding a continuation will be revealed (which will likely be around the end of the upcoming part), it does seem very likely that this season is probably not going to be the last time we see Eren.
Attack on Titan: Editor hints at the series’ future beyond Season 4.
Even if this truly is the end of Eren’s journey, is it truly the end of this insanely successful franchise? While Attack on Titan may not return with a Season 5, the world and the lore of Attack on Titan is so vast that fans have been wondering if they will ever see a spinoff series somewhere down the line. And now thanks to the editor of the Attack on Titan manga, we finally know that the series will be returning in some sort of capacity in the future and could even have another spinoff manga in the works.
While we don’t exactly know in what form Attack on Titan will be returning and whose story will it tell, the editor has confirmed that they are currently holding meetings for the future of the franchise.
連載終わっても俺らの楽しみ（と仕事）を減らさない「進撃の巨人」のTVアニメをよろしくお願いします！
アニメの他にも何年後かに向けた打ち合わせとか始まってますので、お楽しみに！ https://t.co/f4Hu6WxueV
— 漫画編集者・川窪 (@ShingekiKyojin) October 13, 2021
The project most likely is not going to be another live-action adaptation since an Attack on Titan live-action movie from Kodansha and Warner Bros. is already in the works. The live-action project will be directed by Andy Muschietti.
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And since there haven’t been any recent announcements in regards to Attack on Titan: Junior High as well as any upcoming OVA, they can be safely ruled out too.
With the editor mentioning that they are planning works for the years to come, it is most likely going to be a spin-off manga series. So, Attack on Titan fans can rejoice since if everything works out, we would soon get a chance to revisit this humongous world of titans and its epic lore and history again.
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It has been eight years since the television anime for Attack on Titan premiered and took the world by storm. The hype surrounding the series now somehow seems to be bigger than ever with the arrival of the final season.
Ever since the premiere of Season 4, Attack on Titan is one of the biggest and most-talked about shows of the year on social media and was even the Most In-Demand TV Show in the United States during the first half of the year according to Parrot Analytics.
The buzz and excitement surrounding the anime and the series’ end even gave the manga a huge boost as it was the 4th Best-Selling Manga series of the fiscal year of 2021 in Oricon with over 7.3 million copies sold.
The final chapter of the anime is very likely to take the series to new astronomical heights.
The manga by Hajime Isayama started its serialization in September 2009 with the launch of Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine and currently has over 110 million copies in circulation. The series ended its serialization in April this year with the final volume being released in June.
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The first three seasons of Attack on Titan were animated by WIT Studio before they eventually stepped down in 2019 after the end of Season 3 Part 2. MAPPA is doing the fourth and final season of this beloved anime.
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Attack on Titan Season 4 will return on January 9, 2022. The series will be streaming on Funimation and Crunchyroll.