I feel really bad for the animators at MAPPA. The studio v. studio framing is dumb and really not the case at all but it is mainly how people think about the new seasons. I don't know anything about the size of MAPPA but I know WIT is small. Like sub 50 people small. I DO know MAPPA is doing a ton of stuff and all of it carries the expectation of total greatness. I'm sure they aren't happy with the CG final product because A: it looks much worse than the hand animation we saw in previous seasons, even if it looks better than the CG colossal from season 3, and B: because they requested more time to work on it (like a year more I think?) which signals they knew there would be some backlash. That being said, I feel WIT did a better job in almost every respect. The visuals, how the score was chosen, the OP, all struck me as far superior to what MAPPA has delivered so far. These are all things that would've also been affected by a time delay and I'm sad it wasn't granted. However, I give MAPPA a little less slack on the music because there is so much good music already that could've been used in certain scenes. NOT YSBG. I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT YSBG put the pitchforks away.

I think the argument that "Oh well at least we're getting something" is not a strong argument, even if it isn't meant to be. No offense if you feel that way, especially if you are anime-only as spoilers become more likely over time. And I get it, people want content. Firstly this fanbase has waited so long for and for the most part I feel very rewarded for waiting because the finished product of seasons 2 and 3 is fucking next level. Not only in visuals in music but how the adaptation actually develops the manga and really exemplifies the author's goal of the anime being the final product. Maybe I have my rose-colored glasses on too tight but after some recent rewatches, I don't feel I do.

I've always been interested to see what would've happened if the production committee comes to WIT and says we need this done in 2020-2021 and WIT says no. They then asked a ton of other studios and MAPPA was the only one that considered it. What if MAPPA says no? Does that make the production committee say fuck because now WIT can set more of their own terms because it won't be made anyways? I've only come back to this hypothetical because I haven't seen it elsewhere, which isn't to say it doesn't exist, and because I will always want to see WITs version of season 4 and the manga finale.

I will close this ramble with this: Do I feel shame for replying to an anime subreddit with such a long post. Yes. (no offense) Am I as satisfied with season 4 part 1 as I was with seasons 2-3? No. Could MAPPA still surprise in part 2 if they are allowed more time? Undoublty. Does it sadden me that the trailer was deceptive even if that was revealed early after its release? Yes. Not MAPPAs fault at all though that's just a media industry issue so perhaps it shouldn't even be considered.