The First Trailer for the ‘Attack on Titan’ Finale Gave Me Goosebumps

The first trailer for the final episode of Attack on Titan dropped at Anime Expo this weekend, and—damn, it’s already clear this is going to be an emotional doozy. Go figure, right?

After several naming conundrums for the so-called “final season” (which turned out to essentially be three seasons), the good people at MAPPA have settled on the remarkably catchy title Attack on Titan Final Season THE FINAL CHAPTERS Special 2. The fact that these “final chapters” would be rolled out as two specials and not traditional seasons was unclear, even after the first special’s release this March. But the actual, real end is nigh.

The teaser from Anime Expo shows the first-ever footage we’ve seen from the final episode of Attack on Titan, and it’s a doozy. It simply opens with Philip Glass-adjacent organs and Armin in a fog, talking about a dream while looking straight down and like he’s been through hell. Perhaps because he has, if the past few seasons are any indicator. And because, you know, the previous special led us to believe that he’s either going to kill or be killed by his best friend.

The music of the trailer is brilliant, with its airiness and the simplicity of having a string section do that rushing sweep. For a series known and loved for its oppressive- and intense-sounding score, these 30 seconds of music offer something markedly different. Combined with the glimpses of apocalyptic spectacle we see in the trailer, the openness of the music has a truly haunting quality.

Also, I have not read the Attack on Titan manga, so I really mean it when I ask: what is up with the bird lady?! (Don’t tell me, I’ll punch you.)

But it’s the final line of the trailer that sent a shiver down my spine. A woman, probably Mikasa, whispers: “Itte rasshai, Eren.” Which translates to “See you later, Eren,” or as the official translation puts it, “I’ll see you again, Eren.” It’s the same kind of parting you’d give a group of friends as you go your separate ways after a night at the bar. For a final episode of a show in which the main characters all seem poised to kill each other—oh god, oh man, oh jeez.

Attack on Titan Final Season THE FINAL CHAPTERS Special 2 (huff, huff) will air sometime this fall, perhaps sometime around the 10th anniversary of the series’ very first episode. It’ll land on Crunchyroll.

(featured image: MAPPA)