Hajime Isayama's Attack on Titan (進撃の巨人, Shingeki no Kyojin) was serialised in Kodansha's Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine from 2009 to 2021. Its anime adaptations — Wit Studio's first three seasons (2013–2019) and MAPPA's two-part final season (2020–2023) — are among the most commercially central productions of the 2010s and early 2020s. The transition between studios is a documented case study in modern anime production logistics.
The manga
Isayama began serialisation of Attack on Titan in Kodansha's Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine in September 2009. The manga ran for 139 chapters across 34 volumes through April 2021. The series' international sales — approximately 140 million volumes — and its reception in markets where seinen manga had previously been niche made it commercially comparable to the most-successful Shueisha shōnen properties of the same era.
Wit Studio's adaptation (2013–2019)
Wit Studio was founded in 2012 specifically to produce Attack on Titan, with George Wada as producer and Tetsuya Nakatake as director. The studio adapted the first three seasons (2013, 2017, 2018–2019), with the third season split into two cours across 2018 and 2019. The production's action animation — particularly the omnidirectional manoeuvring gear sequences — set a new technical benchmark for action TV anime.
The MAPPA transition (2020–2023)
Production of the fourth and final season transferred to MAPPA for the 2020–2023 broadcast. The transition is publicly attributed to Wit's existing production load and to MAPPA's larger production capacity, though the precise commercial details have not been disclosed. MAPPA's final season has been the subject of substantial discussion within industry trade press regarding animator working hours — production staff publicly described the schedule as exceptionally punishing, and the production became one of the central exhibits in the broader animator-pay debate of the early 2020s.