A lot is happening in the Attack on Titan world before Season 4 Part 2 premieres on January 9. NHK in Japan is going to be airing quite a few specials leading up to Attack on Titan’s premiere. Some of these are new and some are animations that weren’t released on TV before. It’s not clear if these will also be made available on U.S. streaming services, but we’ll be watching for all those details to come.
#AttackonTitan is airing specials leading up to its big January premiere. Share on XNHK Is Airing OVAs & New Compilations
According to Attack on Titan’s official website and an article by Crunchyroll, NHK has six compilation specials planned that will summarize what’s happened in previous episodes to help viewers get caught up before Season 4 Episode 17 premieres. They’ll also be airing some of Attack on Titan’s OVAs. These are going to air in Japan in October and November during the Sunday time slot that Attack on Titan will start airing on January 9.
Here’s the schedule:
- October 24 at 24:05 JST: Special Omnibus Night One (looking back at the progress so far)
- November 7 at 24:05 JST: Special Omnibus Night Two and “Lost Girls: Wall Sina, Goodbye” (Parts 1 and 2)
- November 14 at 24:05: Special Omnibus Night Three
- November 21 at 24:05: Special Omnibus Night Four
- November 28 at 24:05: The OVAs “No Regrets” Parts 1 and 2 and “Lost Girls: Lost in the Cruel World”
The website noted that NHK is also planning to air two more “omnibus” specials (Five and Six) at later dates that haven’t yet been shared. The OVAs being aired don’t include the “Isle’s Notebook” OVA, which is one of the more fascinating ones, or the OVA “Distress.”
There were rumors (based on an earlier announcement) that a brand new OVA was going to be released. However, it’s unclear at this time if that’s still the case. The first announcement said that an “original animation that talks from the perspectives of Levi, Ani, Mikasa, etc. will also be broadcast.” This made it sound like it would be a brand new OVA rather than re-sharing previous OVAs, but it looks like that might not be the case after all, unfortunately.
As far as where to watch these previous OVAs, they were subtitled and bundled with some mangas’ limited editions. So they’re tougher to come by and aren’t on your typical streaming services. Some may be able to be found on sites like YouTube or gogoanime.sx. Here’s hoping that once they air on NHK in October and November, they may be more widely available and more easily accessible.
The Omnibus Specials May Contain Some New Animation But Likely Won’t Have New Storyline Material
The omnibus specials are compilations that retell what previously happened on Attack on Titan. They don’t typically provide new material or new storylines. Crunchyroll did note that “New animation in the compilation specials will be animated at MAPPA.”
This will likely be similar to some of the flashbacks we saw in Season 4 Part 1 that looked back at previous seasons, but rather than using WIT studio animation, MAPPA reanimated the flashbacks to match the current style. It’ll be interesting to see how they reanimate other scenes in the compilations and if they make any significant changes.
Want to chat about Attack on Titan? Join our Discord server here. You can also follow us by email here or in our special Attack on Titan Facebook page.
