Recent topics have come to light in regards to the Attack on Titan community and Studio Mappa. The most poignant topic was in regards to character designs, most notably the redesign to the character, Mikasa. Many detractors have complained that they made the character to look far too maculine.
In my opinion, I do not really see it. The only "masculine" aspect I can notice on her is her short hair. However, I do not think that is enough to make her "man-like." She still looks like a woman to me
Another contorversial thing that happened was that a lot of Attack on Titan fans deliberately went after and harassed known MAPPA employees and animators, especially on Twitter. This has resulted in many animators privating and/or taking down their social media accounts.
I think this is completely unacceptable. I can understand not supporting or seeing a change unfavorably, but harassing is crossing the line. MAPPA like many studios and businesses in Japan and even across the world was hit very hard by the COVID outbreak. They are short staffed and they are on an already tight schedule. There is absolutely no reason for them to be treated in this manner by fans.
So how can the community move forward with this?
Quite simply, I think the community needs to learn to critcize more constructively. I do not think there is any issue with people having a nevgative reaction to a work of art. They are not obligated to agree with MAPPA and the changes they have made.
However, the fans still need to show MAPPA the respect they deserve. They work day in and day out to create every episode of Attack on Titan. They probably dont get paid half as much as they deserve to begin with. They do not need random people on social media messaging them saying they don't know what they are doing or saying that they ruined Attack on Titan.
The community just needs to take a step back and really just re-evaluate what kind of long term message they want to evoke.