Every sci-fi and fantasy show you should watch in 2022
By WiC Staff
Attack on Titan season 4, part 2 — Hulu/Funimation/Crunchyroll — January 9 (AIRING NOW)
Attack on Titan, based on the manga series of the same name by Hajime Isayama, is set in a world where humanity has been besieged for as long as anyone can remember by a race of dead-eyed, bloodthirsty giants. What humans remain have gathered behind high high walls, but the threat of the titans remains ever-present, and you just know those walls are coming down at some point.
And indeed they do, and all hell breaks loose, and it’s thrilling and exciting. It’s also hopeless; I can’t remember another high-octane animated action series that feels so…despairing. That can be a bummer, but it also gives the show a powerful emotional gravity. Humanity isn’t just fighting an uphill battle against the titans; we’re on our knees, and there seems little hope we’ll ever rise again.
That feeling is so compelling that it’s almost a letdown when the mystery behind the titans is peeled away layer by layer, but Attack on Titan has more tricks up its sleeve; there’s a complex story here about empire and warfare and mutually assured destruction. And the final season is kicking things up a notch by taking Eren Jaeger, our determined shonen protagonist, and turning him into an agent of armageddon set against his former comrades in arms, all of whom we’ve come to like. The show has never lacked for nerve and this is a nervy move.
And all of this is delivered through evocative, fluid animation that will often leave you unsettled; the titans especially are deeply creepy, and the animators love mangling their bodies in all kinds of inventive ways. If that doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, I don’t blame you. But if you’re at all intrigued, now is the perfect time to hop on board.
You can watch new episodes of Attack on Titan on Hulu, Crunchyroll and Funimation. — Dan
