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MAPPA filmmakers drew inspiration from video games to embed visuals into a scene in Attack on Titan: The Final Season anime.
MAPPA Studio has been entangled in various controversies in recent years, often linked to poor working conditions and the exploitation of staff. This arises from the studio taking on multiple projects simultaneously and struggling to meet tight deadlines.
In this article, let's explore a curious situation involving MAPPA Studio that went largely unnoticed a few years ago.
In the specific case, during the fourteenth episode of Attack on Titan: The Final Season released nearly three years ago, on March 22, 2021, in Japan. In a scene from this episode, Eren Yeager mercilessly strikes his friend Armin Arlert without mercy, and viewers can easily spot a painting in the background featuring some warships.
At that time, some wondered why there was a painting of warships in a place like Paradis, but they eventually overlooked it. Only recently, on the Reddit forum, it was discovered that the image of that painting was actually directly taken from the video game 'Total War: EMPIRE.' The person responsible for this didn't even bother to edit the image at all; they simply copied and pasted it into the frame.
This action could be considered as 'theft,' 'literary plagiarism,' or 'homage,' depending on whether you are a fan of 'Attack on Titan' or the official MAPPA studio. Directly taking illustrations from a video game and placing them in the context helps animation filmmakers save a lot of effort and time.
After learning this truth, netizens left some comments:
- Honestly, why are there paintings of old warships in Paradis?
- Yes, they completely ruined this scene.
- I can't believe this is the studio given enough budget to produce the fourth season of the anime, not WIT STUDIO.
- To be honest, they have a lot on their plate at MAPPA, so perhaps this is the only way the animators found to meet the deadlines.
- Maybe one of the animators is just a simple fan of 'Total War: EMPIRE' and wanted to incorporate it as a reference. I dislike the ending of Attack on Titan as much as many of you, but this has gone too far.
- I don't have an issue with them copying it, but at the very least, they should have made some edits so it doesn't look exactly like the original.
