The Attack on Titan Online After Party is an Interesting Experiment

This past Saturday marked the end of the Attack on Titan anime. To celebrate the airing of the final episode, fans were invited to participate in “The Attack on Titan Worldwide AfterParty”—an online virtual event.

Running from November 4 to November 8 (and requiring a $22 ticket to enter), the after-party is a half-virtual museum, half-video streaming platform. The virtual space is set up like a cruise ship. On it, you control an avatar and move about the environment surrounded by other fans (and a fair number of NPCs).

There is a surprising amount of content to explore. The ship has four decks and many rooms with more than a few photo spots here and there. Then there are posters and production sketches along with specific video clips and character art for the majority of characters. There are also several short notes hidden around the ship that give little bits of insight into the production process.

But the real treats to be discovered are the original radio drama-esque scenes voiced by the anime cast that you can find littered across the ship. Written and recorded just for the after-party, these minute-long scenes come in two flavors. Some are more serious in-canon scenes, detailing events that happened off screen in-between episodes—like Hange getting her hands on a mainland gun for the first time. Others are more lighthearted fluff like Levi buying flowers or Eren and Jean hitting up the bar.

Then up on the main deck is a stage that, at certain times, livestreams exclusive 30-minute talk shows with the cast and staff. These range from the various voice actors ranking their favorite scenes in the anime to interviews with Attack on Titan composer Hiroyuki Sawano and MAPPA director Yuichiro Hayashi—all with English subtitles included.

All in all, while movement around the ship is rather clunky and there’s occasionally some odd formatting and grammar in the English text, I was generally surprised with what “The Attack on Titan Worldwide AfterParty” had to offer. The radio drama-style scenes were fun and the interviews were interesting. If you’re a die-hard Attack on Titan fan, this is probably worth your $22—though, do note that if you plan to join in now, many of the live stream segments won’t get another rerun before the event ends.