After the almost breakneck action of last week, this week we hit the breaks hard as a very bleak picture begins to get painted. While some balance between the two extremes might have been nice, there’s definitely something promising about the direction this is heading.
Attack on Titan this week seemed to go to fairly lengthy efforts to fill in some details about the world, lingering on Historia recalling her childhood, Hange explaining things to the other scouts, and Erwin’s current scheme and motivation (which is shot down almost as soon as it is formed, unless that was also part of his plan). There’s a lot of talking but unlike the episode in season two where we essentially hung around in the trees for a whole episode chatting, this kind of felt like it was bringing pieces of the puzzle into clearer focus even if it wasn’t yet ready to put them together.
It has been a fair while since I felt the narrative of Attack on Titan was actually going somewhere so despite the lack of action this week, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I also enjoyed the small character moments. Levi and Hange’s interaction after she kicks the table is fantastic to watch and there are a number of observations about their relationship and personality that you could draw from the scene. Although, that did make me wonder how much better things might have been if these two more interesting characters were the leads from the beginning rather than Eren and Mikasa.
Did I mention Eren spent the whole episode gagged? An entire episode free of Eren speaking… I won’t say that made the episode better but it certainly prevented his usual shout fest or immature declarations. That said, his comments to Historia in the first episode this season did demonstrate that he had grown up a bit and it is kind of a shame that since then he hasn’t really had a chance to prove whether that impression was true or not.
Okay, I was cautious returning for a third season of this, but these first three episodes have done a lot to re-engage me. This might just be setting me up for future disappointments, but for now I’m pretty happy with how this is going.
Previous Reviews:
- Attack on Titan Series Review
- Attack on Titan Season 2 Series Review
- Season 3 Episode 1: Why Not Add Another Faction
- Season 3 Episode 2: Whatever It Takes
Thanks for reading.
Karandi James
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CmdrCluckCluck and I have been psyched for this season as this is the one that will make you just drop your jaw and be impressed with the breadth of story and plot. I’m glad you are enjoying it and it only gets better from here IMO!
Let’s hope it keeps going well then.
Haha, you really don’t like Eren do you, lol 😂
Seriously though, I very much enjoyed this episode myself as well. Even though there was no action, exactly as you said the narrative for it was great, and I am holding my breath how this is going to turn out. I’m getting a very foreboding feeling for this, but I hope I am wrong. All in all so far this season has been incredible 😊
I’m just hoping to avoid spoilers from manga readers and so far, while I’ve picked up a few further down the line points, I’ve managed to avoid hearing what’s about to happen so I’m looking forward to it. I don’t think I’m invested enough to enjoy this if I knew what was coming.
Totally agree with you on that! I have absolutely no clue what is going to be happening next either (and I am certainly trying to avoid it as much as I can too). But like you I am really looking forward to it. Reallya actually counting down the hours until sunday! 😊😊
From the 2nd season onwards, the quality of an ep seems to be inversely proportional to the amount of time Eren is active onscreen.
Someone should graph this (just to prove that it is true).
I’m glad the 3rd season is going well! I was a little worried, myself. Maybe that means I should start catching up… I was waiting for all the anime blogs I follow to be my Guinea pigs and let me know how it was going! 😉😂
I could be a pessimist and just say that maybe it won’t be able to keep going strong, but it has been a seriously good start to the season seeming like it is setting up a clear direction to go in at the moment.
Well, I’m glad it’s made it this far! 😁