English Dub Review: Attack on Titan the Movie: The Last Attack

Even though this is called The Last Attack, I’m not 100% convinced it is. No, the new post-credits scene isn’t the reason(though hilarious), but in an age where the likes of Bleach, Dragon Ball Z, and others are making concerted efforts to stay top-of-mind with anime fans in a time whilst the industry is maturing I have a hard time believing that this is the last run.

Attack on Titan: THE LAST ATTACK brings together the last two episodes of the highly acclaimed anime series in a theatrical experience delivering the epic finale in a colossal-sized omnibus film.

The fourth and final season of Attack on Titan was confirmed to have switched production studios from Wit Studio to MAPPA. Yuichiro Hayashi and Jun Shishido replaced Tetsurō Araki and Masashi Koizuka as directors, scriptwriter Hiroshi Seko took over the series composition from Yasuko Kobayashi, and Tomohiro Kishi replaced Kyōji Asano as character designer. Kohta Yamamoto joined Hiroyuki Sawano to compose the music.

In Attack on Titan: The Last Attack, humanity lived quietly behind massive walls built to protect themselves from the threat of monstrous creatures called Titans. Their century of peace was shattered by an attack on their city that left a young child, Eren Jaeger(Bryce Papenbrook), motherless and vowing revenge on the titans. Years after joining the Survey Corps, Eren finds himself facing a deadly foe, and ultimately gains a special ability that unveils a new truth about the world he knows…

After venturing beyond the walls and separated from his comrades, Eren finds himself inspired by this new truth and plots the “Rumbling,” a terrifying plan to eradicate every living thing in the world. With the fate of the world hanging in the balance, a motley crew of Eren’s former comrades and enemies scramble to halt his deadly mission.

The English dub cast I think is in a place of legend by now. I mentioned the aforementioned Papenbrook, but also Trina Nishimura as Mikasa Ackermann, Josh Grelle as Armin Arlelt, Clifford Chapin as Conny Springer, Mike McFarland as Jean Kirschtein, Robert McCollum as Reiner Braun,  Matthew Mercer as Captain Levi, Ernesto Jason Liebrecht as Zeke Jaegar, Bryson Baugus as Falco Grice, Lindsay Seidel as Gabi Braun, and Amber Lee Connors as Pieck Finger all of whom were excellent and really played off of each other impeccably well.

In a movie that is clocked in at almost three-hours, there are definitely some lulls in the action that made me wonder why the producers didn’t think to trim some of the fat around the edges in terms of the dialogue and such. While the critics in the end credits scene mentioned foreshadowing, there is a tendency for a lot of adaptations from Japan to over explain everything that’s coming which was a similar gripe to what I had with the Overlord compilation film from last year. Not to mention this is foreshadowing for an animated series that already has aired in it’s entirety on Toonami/Crunchyroll so I’m not sure the need for the compilation movie to go that route if they could’ve just really presented this as more of a highlights feature and we probably would’ve been fine. If it were me, I think the release strategy could’ve been releasing the compilation film first then letting it premiere on domestic television as that would’ve heightened the excitement quite a bit more.

I can see a lot of value in going to a screening on a Monday night for a TV series that has such scale and beauty as Attack on Titan and wanting to be with your friends in experiencing some of the brightest moments this franchise has had to offer but $20 is a LOT for something that you’ve largely seen most of on television and streaming by now.

Tickets are now on sale for Attack on Titan: THE LAST ATTACK coming to theatres for one-day-only on February 10 in North America.