Credit where it is due to this episode. Firstly, it reminded me that Attack on Titan is very good at making me really dislike humans. One of the things that really bugged me in season one was the absence of characters I could care about because everyone just seemed to be a truly horrible human being, and that included the huddled masses.
Well, season three gives us this episode where the military are lying to the people about running a training drill and the people get all huffy not because they are being lied to but because the people who are fighting to save their lives are inconveniencing them. Seriously, are the military sure anyone in this world is worth saving? Still, the generally despicable nature of people in this anime is part of what makes it interesting to watch when contrasted with all of those anime of fluffy and happy people who just try to make everyone smile so I’m actually pretty happy that we get this solid reminder that this anime is not about sweetness and light but about a very gritty and sour reality.
Secondly, thanks for the reminder that Titans are horrific. I mean, Rod Reiss’ Titan form looming at the wall is one truly disgusting image and one that isn’t going to leave me anytime soon. It has been awhile since there’s been any real repulsion or emotion at all felt toward a titan (curiosity about the still missing in action beast titan isn’t quite the same thing), so the genuinely moment of recoil when we got a look at this thing was fairly welcome.
Thirdly, Eren. I know I’m normally all for beating up Eren and I really don’t like him as a character but it is like he’s finally turned a corner and grown up just a little bit. Whether he ruins it all by doing something utterly stupid in a couple of episodes remains to be seen but it is almost as if he’s come through the ordeal of the past 7 episodes finally seeing the world just a little bit clearer. It if sticks I might even have to look back at Eren and how that growth happened over the course of all three seasons, though I’ll wait and see if it sticks before I revise my opinion of him as a character.
And finally, Historia. For a character that had never left much impact on me, even when they spent a lot of the second season trying to find Christa, she’s really stepped up as well this season and with both her and Eren having fairly solid character growth this is pretty much the best I’ve seen from Attack on Titan since its beginning.
So, yeah, credit to a fairly solid episode of great moments. Still want to know why they even bother having the other soldiers standing around firing canons. It never works and the other soldiers seem woefully under-trained which makes sense but is still pretty pathetic. This episode certainly gave us enough spectacle and with the set up at the end for next week things seem to be rolling along nicely for the season so far.
I probably shouldn’t be so hung up on the whole Eren’s basement thing but it was the one carrot season one left me with that made me want to keep watching this franchise. And then season two was delayed, multiple times. When we finally got to season two, no basement. It was kind of frustrating, so imagine how happy I was when after a series of pretty great episodes they finally mention getting around to the basement. You know what, that hope alone could probably keep me watching another season without a rewarding pay-off though I hope Attack on Titan isn’t cruel enough to its viewers to do that.
An unbound and ungagged Eren actually manages to really seem small and pathetic this episode until I kind of tried to actually think about his situation. As much as I dislike his particular brand of ‘shout-fest protagonism’ that has been on display since the beginning of this series, Eren’s really been through a lot and his drive to kill the Titans to get out into the world, before that transferred into kill the Titans for revenge, has suddenly become quite hollow even to him. Basically the humans have always had the power to end the titan threat and for 100 years they haven’t and for whatever reason Eren’s father stole that power away from the Reiss’ which left humans completely vulnerable. I kind of actually felt pretty bad for him and really his momentary idea of let’s just let Reiss eat me and then fix things actually doesn’t seem like a truly a terrible plan.
However, we would not be watching this sort of an anime if the rest of his ‘friends’ didn’t rally around and give him a good kick while he is feeling sorry for himself leading to him choosing instead to protect them as the cavern falls down. There’s a lot of plot convenience here in that firstly the right vial fell out of the bag, secondly Eren even in his distressed state and with blood and tears in his eyes read it, and thirdly Eren managed to successfully use the new power in the instant that he gains it, but you know its the kind of spectacle you can dissect or just enjoy so let’s just go with it for now.
Meanwhile, Reiss’ titan form is… interesting? Okay, we’ve had some really disturbing variations on titans over the course of two and a bit seasons but a giant incapable of standing that literally burns everything around it and leaves a path of destruction just by passing through an area is a new one. It also raises the question of how they intend to fight it given you can’t exactly just swing around and chop it in the neck when you would burn before you got near and it is lying on its back (or is it lying on its front, it wasn’t very clear). Either way, not a great plan.
What was nice was seeing Historia taking charge of the discussion as they rode in the wagon and correcting Eren’s false assumptions that somehow having Reiss eat him would be a good idea. Given where the series seems to be pushing her character, this was a nice set up for it.
All and all, this was another pretty solid episode with about the only down side being that Kenny and his group ended up being even less significant than expected. So a lot of build up for very little actual reward before a large number of them got buried in the rubble. It will be interesting to see if any of them come back later but even if they do, they’ve now lost their backer so I doubt they are going to be of much importance (could be wrong on that one but it seems really unlikely).
But, and here is the most important part, we get a solid reminder of the basement and even the characters make a joke that seems to reference the fact that it has been all but forgotten for a very long time by this story. So happy.
Season three continues to be a surprising delight though not without some issues, as episode 7 drops yet more information about the walls and the world even while the scouts continue to fight to get to Eren.
The fight at the start of this episode is brutal, but over fairly quickly all things considered as the second half of this episode has bigger fish to fry. Seeing some of the scouts in action against other humans is both unsettling and all fairly exhilarating. What amazed me more was how few casualties the scouts seemed to take but they kind of saved all their shock for a single character getting taken down and that is where they were left with the enemy retreating to another chamber. The action in this sequence is good and the smokey visuals plays well into it. The sounds of the ODM are fantastic as are the shots and the sounds of the blades. Where I will criticise it is where it brings in a music soundtrack though that is probably more personal taste because I found it both distracting and fairly uninspired. Still, in terms of follow ups to cliff-hangers this delivered plenty that was worth waiting for.
Still, the greater part of the episode lay with Eren, Historia, Reiss and surprisingly Kenny. I kind of thought they would drag out Kenny’s motive for working with Reiss for longer but apparently not, and apparently, Kenny is the kind of guy that kicks over the sand-castle when he doesn’t get what he wants. Realising his own plan is going to come to nothing, he throws a serious spanner in the works of Reiss’ plan.
Meanwhile, Historia seems to be going along beautifully with Reiss’ plan before she suddenly asks the most sensible question I’ve ever heard come out of an Attack on Titan character’s mouth and I’ll applaud the show for this first moment that I absolutely did not see coming. And this, while we see an Eren who for the first time ever actually made me feel bad for him as a character. This was a serious moment where for the first time ever, I didn’t enjoy seeing Eren restrained, emotionally hurt, and essentially the world’s punching bag.
If I were to make a list of characters I don’t mind seeing get beaten up, Eren would be fairly high on that list (Ichigo from Bleach probably tops it out though because Ichigo getting beat up usually means he’s about to do something awesome). And yet in this episode Eren is at perhaps the most pathetic I’ve ever seen him. He doesn’t shout or yell, but resigns himself to letting things happen because no matter how you want to spin it, a lot of people have died because of his father’s choice. Maybe just as many would have died anyway but we have no way of knowing that.
So two things from Attack on Titan I didn’t think possible, plus Historia’s coolest moment ever, plus a cliffhanger that actually seems like it could be kind of cool and if last week to this week is any indicator, we won’t be left disappointed (hopefully).
By the way, I reserve the right to go back to hating Eren the next time he starts shouting.
If the second half of season 1 and all of season 2 just kind of made me disenchanted with this show because Attack on Titan didn’t seem interested in exploring its own mysteries, the last few episodes have definitely got me back onside, even if the characters and this world remain as horrible and bleak as ever.
It is undeniably true that a large part of Attack on Titan’s screen time seems devoted to showing us the very ugliest side of human nature. After weeks of having the ‘good’ guys (or at least those attached to the protagonist), torturing, murdering, and generally being ruthless in order to survive the snares laid by those who were even more inclined to protect their own interests we finally had the coup and a rescue mounted for Eren. And yet, this episode still takes time out from explanations and reveals that literally reshape the audience’s perception of the world in order to have one of the allies from the coup shown to be torturing those taken captive for no other real reason other than he really wants to and is enjoying it. It’s a little disconcerting.
As for reveals, there are many but none of them seem fully realised yet as we’re still getting pieces from people who either don’t know the full story or aren’t yet ready to share. Still, this one episode packed in more backstory for Eren, Mikasa, and Historia than we’ve gotten in pretty much every episode up to this one combined so I guess we can’t be too critical of it.
Despite the dense nature of this episode it didn’t feel rushed and it didn’t feel like a continuous information dump. The set up over the last five episodes of this season has naturally led the characters and the audience to this point where finally information has become available and there’s enough chopping and changing going on between scenes of characters discussing events and characters preparing to join the fight to keep things interesting.
And I was wrong about Eren shouting this episode. He’s still gagged though we did hear his thoughts on a number of occasions. I’m thinking he’s just saving his voice for when he’s really going to let loose with some shouting, but in the meantime I’ll enjoy the fact that even though clearly the plot is still focused on Eren his actual presence in the story is still pretty minimal. He may as well be some enchanted ring in a magic cave the Scouts are trying to rescue given he’s done nothing in the last few episodes. Admittedly, unlike an enchanted ring, given even a little leeway he’ll probably attempt to fight his own way out so I guess we’ll see what happens next.
I’m sure it is pure coincidence that the last three episodes have been among the best Attack on Titan has delivered and Eren being bound and off-screen for the majority of it is not the determining factor. However, I do have to wonder if this should have been the story all along, dealing with the commanders and the politics that have always been behind the scenes, with Eren and the other soldiers simply being the side story. I know which one has been more entertaining so far.
There was a lot to love about this week and how Erwin’s plan, or at least his hope, came together as the selfish and egocentric natures of those in power was demonstrated in its full glory leading to a coup d’etat. However, in case you are thinking we are done with the self-serving and fragmented rule, those who were at the centre of orchestrating it all admit in their own way that they are only acting on their own self-interest. They don’t know that their actions will actually lead to the survival, or even a better outcome, for humanity. All they do know is that they either opposed those in charge, or in Erwin’s case he had come to the end of his road unless he incited this action.
And while Hange might try to put a more positive spin on it by saying individuals all made small choices that resulted in a positive outcome, the outcome is only briefly positive and only for those characters we’ve been asked to care about. We still have no overall plan or understanding and ultimately there’s no guarantee that anything these characters are doing will work out. For all we as the audience know, the false king and those who ruled him might very well have actually been the ones keeping humanity from extinction and now that they are gone its inevitable that they will lose.
I think though, what I loved about this episode is that at first it presented Erwin as a martyr, then as someone who would incite a rebellion and a potential future leader, before admitting he was just doing as he pleased because there was something he wanted. Whether or not he’ll be judged as good or bad in the history books of this world will entirely depend on how his gamble plays out and how many lives are lost or saved.
We could try to put the characters on a sliding scale and we’d probably realise that those who were overthrown were significantly worse because they didn’t even try to pretend that other lives mattered, but ultimately, Attack on Titan reminds us once again about the very ugly side of human nature. While the scouts in the forest might cheer at the news that they are no longer wanted criminals, let’s take a moment to remember that they have in fact killed and tortured to get to this point and they’d do it again in a heart beat if they needed to in order to accomplish their goals. These are the heroes this world has given us and while they fit the world entirely, it paints a pretty bleak picture.
Though, speaking of bleak pictures, things are not looking so great for Eren. If he wasn’t the main character, at the centre of the OP, and if we hadn’t started the season with a vision of him looking much older, I might even be mildly worried for his safety.
Sorry. I stuffed up the schedule on this one and it came out earlier today than intended. Here it is at the intended time slot.
This week Attack on Titan seems to want to look at all the possible choices and outcomes of the current internal conflict. And so we have a characters finding their time to fight, their time to run, their time to listen, their time to gloat, and their time to shout, in an episode that is undeniably a bridging point and yet perhaps one of the better episodes from a narrative point of view that this series have ever delivered.
With the exception of the newly introduced antagonist, Kenny, and the currently held hostage Eren and Christa, this episode runs us through almost all the major players in the current internal conflict. The titans have definitely become a footnote to those in charge rather than an actual threat that needs to be dealt with and while that might diminish some of the horror felt earlier with the appearance of the titans, it does go a long way to explaining this world and why only a small group of Scouts were ever interested in actually expanding territory or exploring beyond the walls. Those in charge are looking only inward and only to their own lives. It seems a terribly flawed and short sighted approach to leadership, and it is framed that way, and that is why as an audience we can continue to tolerate the violence Levi, Hange, and other characters we’re supposed to like unleash upon the people that technically their role is to protect.
It isn’t as if this human on human violence came out of nowhere. Season one brought us the horror of titans, but also showed us Eren’s savage treatment when his nature was revealed, refugees being sent out as fodder to reduce the number needing to be fed, and the general broken nature of the command structure of the world. One of the earlier scenes with Levi involved him literally kicking a tied up Eren so the fact that he is capable of extreme violence is hardly news.
However, what differs in season 3 to season 1 is the context. In season 1 we constantly had the threat of the titans breathing down the necks of characters who were desperate to fight them back. Season 3 so far has none of that. The only threat presented in this season has been other humans and they are doing a fine job of supplanting the titans as the real monsters (and again that was pretty clearly hinted at in both previous seasons).
So while we’re getting no closer to Eren’s basement, I can’t say I’m unhappy with the direction this has taken so far this season. As plot and character points start converging and a real picture of this world comes together, it makes the viewing a far more satisfying experience. And if the characters would stop shouting that would be fantastic, though I did mention that this episode a lot of characters found their time to shout. Eren being gagged last week and absent this week apparently left an opening and every character except Armin and Erwin decided to take their turn at shouting. Now if only anyone was listening.
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.
This episode is breathtaking to watch for a number of reasons, though I’m still left wondering if this is the direction I ever wanted this show to go when I recall what was fun about season 1.
Attack on Titan picks up this week exactly where it left off with Levi being confronted by Kenny (who I guess we’ll get more back story on at some point but they are pretty heavy handed already with making it clear Kenny knew Levi when he was kid) and the ensuing fight. Now, this is a fantastic fight sequence. It throws you right back to the very beginning when you saw the ODM Gear in action for the first time and this is one fast paced chase sequence with aerial combat thrown in. It also knows when to take a pause and a breath, like when Levi got cornered in the bar. It’s just a well thought out sequence that gets the audience excited, show-cases the animation that this anime is known for, and also gives us a clear new enemy and problem for our group of main characters to deal with.
Does that warrant 11 minutes of an episode? Maybe not, but I will admit I didn’t really care the episode was half over and all that had happened was the end of a fight left over from last week. It was fun to watch and seeing Levi in action was thrilling (even if realistically there’s at least six occasions where he should be dead because people just don’t move like that).
There’s also some attempt at dealing with the emotions of the kids as they come to terms with having to fight people. They trained to fight titans. Some of them even mocked combat training against humans back in season one because they didn’t see a point when they would be fighting titans. Now the Scouts are the clear target of the Military Police and this puts them on the back foot because they aren’t used to dealing with human enemies. Armin and Jean provide a wondrous look into the turmoil they are all feeling while Levi actually provides a voice of reason rather than comfort.
A disappointment on the character front would be Mikasa. As usual, other than her obsession with Eren, she has very little to do in this episode. While she does provide some comfort to Armin after the dust has settled, Levi was forced to hold her back to prevent her from throwing herself after Eren despite losing any chance of victory.
Of course, there’s no way to talk about this episode without looking at the torture that occurs. Levi and Hange torture the enemy for information. They don’t just threaten it, they don’t play act like they will torture, there’s no hidden element here. They just straight up torture to get what they want. And while they might not be thrilled about it, there’s little hesitation in their actions. It definitely feeds in to the question about who the real monsters are in this show, which at least thematically came about in season one, but at the same time might be a bridge too far for some of the more squeamish viewers. There’s a big difference between watching characters fight and get eaten by monsters and watching humans torture other humans.
Then I just have my own mixed feelings about this as a direction for Attack on Titan. While this might indeed be interesting and the intrigue of heirs and politics could certainly make this season watchable, I kind of wonder where the monster slaying, screaming in defiance characters went and why it all needed to get this complicated.
Still, if this episode is a taste of things to come, there’s certainly going to be some fun to be found in watching Attack on Titan this season.
As if we didn’t have enough mysteries and intrigue piled up from the past two seasons, we’re now adding yet more complications. Though, truth be told, this one actually looks like it could be kind of fun.
While I really loved the first episode of season 1 and most of the first half of season 1, by the end of it I was finding this story becoming a little too drawn out. Season 2 firmly enhanced that impression by meandering about adding in additional complications without actually touching on anything set up from the previous season and I’m going into season 3 very firmly of the opinion that if it doesn’t get back to some of the previous mysteries this will be my last season of this show.
This line would work better if I hadn’t had to go back to season 1 and rewatch it midway through season 2 just to remind myself she existed as a character.
That said, the first episode was pretty entertaining and I couldn’t help but get a little excited about learning more about Levi, watching Eren and the others interacting now that they are a little older and a little less idealistic and naive, and just generally seeing how messed up things have gotten. While there is no introduction for people new to the franchise, this just jumps straight into the story from where we left off only it seems like things are even more tense than they were.
However, despite the many positives this episode brings, including some very cool action sequences and enough squeamish body horror to remind us of what this show was built on way back when, I couldn’t help but wonder if I cared about all the intrigue within the military. Is it really necessary or do I genuinely just want to find out what’s in Eren’s basement and then be done? I’m sure people who have read the source material would have a bunch of reasons why this is relevant, but I know at this point I feel like the story is moving further and further away from the parts that initially intrigued me and those moments of jaw dropping coolness can only distract me from that for so long.
All things considered, I’m happy this is back and I’d really like it to be great, but I am fairly prepared to walk away from this franchise at this point so it wouldn’t really take much for me to decide I’ve invested more than enough time already for minimal payoff.
Continuing on from season 1 after the fight with Annie, Attack on Titan Season 2 sees the scouts trying to investigate when reports of titans inside the walls come in. Then we spend a lot of time running around and screaming. It is attack on titan after all.
Attack on Titan Season 2 Review:
Attack on Titan Season 2 was very much like season one for me in that I really loved the first half and let myself get swept away with it, and then in the second half the nagging feeling that this show can’t remember that it is actually supposed to have a plot started kicking in.
The difference being that season one started with that incredible titan attack sequence that just blew me away and sucked me straight into the story whereas season two’s first episode, while it had its own charm, just isn’t going to stack up. The other major difference being with half as many episodes, things derailed a bit faster this time round then last time.
Before I get into the positives, of which there are many given despite my complaints I’m still watching this show and still actually hopeful season 3 will come out next year as announced, I am going to go through my major issues with this season.
The first is the pacing and the way plot points are introduced and dealt with. Attack on Titan does not have good pacing. It didn’t in season 1 and it hasn’t fixed the issue in season 2. The Beast Titan makes an appearance early on, we get one other appearance and then he vanishes until the tease right at the end of the series.
Delaying information is a fine tactic for building suspense when done right. Something like ACCA did it very well. But in this instance we don’t have any clues or ideas and there’s no reminders of this particular plot point. It just kind of appears and then goes and nobody even seems to mention it thereafter.
Much like the titans in the walls who seem important only no one seems to be in much of a rush to deal with that issue. Or what happened to Annie? Or the key from last season? And when did Eren actually become the hope for humanity? Stuff happens or is said but nothing is built on.
Another problem, the first half of this season deals almost entirely with the side cast as each seems to get an episode focus and then once they are reunited the focus shifts entirely onto Eren and Reiner. And while some of these episodes are very good (more on that when I get to the positives), there isn’t really a lot of cohesion between these stories and when we eventually slam all these characters together only a few actually survive all these plots being crammed together to have any further relevance.
It kind of feels like most of those episodes exist only so you stop calling Sasha ‘potato girl’ and can actually distinguish characters from the support cast if you have never read the manga.
Honestly, the show really only knows how to deal with one thing at a time. There’s never any subtlety in the presentation and as a direct result when we are investigating the titans in the wall, that’s all we’re doing. When we are learning about Ymir’s back story, that’s all we’re doing. While some shows might get away with that, Attack on Titan Season 2 has created the problem of far too many ideas, and if it is only dealing with one at a time that means it has shelved everything else and the audience is just left waiting.
I think Eren’s basement got mentioned once in this second season. Season 1 it seemed like a big deal but apparently it isn’t a big enough deal that we actually need to mention it or even seem to remember it. And I know the basement comes back in later seasons, but it seems like this is a goal characters should at least remember they were heading toward. More importantly, once the action starts, all of the ideas kind of get tossed and instead we just get to see this show be cool action.
Of course my final major issue is our supposed protagonist, Eren. He says it himself that he hasn’t changed at all and while he might have said that in the midst of understandable depression and desperation, it really rang far too true. He hasn’t changed. He’s the same angry little kid shouting at the world and just kind of demanding that it fix itself in a way that benefits him. While he has had some development over the two seasons, he’s still just plain unlikable.
The fact that the other scouts seems to realise he is the single most irritating person in the world doesn’t help. It isn’t exactly surprising that his return to the main group at mid-season marked the down-turn in my enjoyment of the show.
So now that it sounds like I hate the show, I’m going to turn this around and tell you why you should probably watch Attack on Titan Season 2 anyway (if you haven’t already).
For all its faults with story and character, Attack on Titan gets one thing right every single time. It gets into the audience’s head and it moves the audience.
Whether it is the visual spectacle and tragedy of Mike getting torn apart at the start of the season, the horrified expressions on the young scouts faces as they realise that the older scouts (the only ones with weapons) have finally lost and are being eaten alive by titans, Reiner’s casual but show stopping declaration that he was the armoured titan, of the final episode of this season where they mirrored the death of Eren’s mother right in front of him yet again, this show manages to make you sit up and take notice.
It might be shock, it might be sadness, it might be anger, but while watching you feel these emotions surging through you and these images and the sounds stick in your head after the episodes are done. Plus, the titan tossing moment in the final battle was kind of fantastic. This season is worth watching just for the touching Eren/Mikasa moment in the final episode. As much as I dislike both of those characters, that was one excellently handled emotional point.
Part of this is due to the artwork. The world, the titans, and the characters while not beautiful (not the right descriptor) are perfectly suited to the story they are telling. There’s an enormous focus on character reactions to the horror surrounding them and this is told largely through their eyes and they are impressively expressive.
The titans this season no longer had the surprise factor that season one gave them, but they still managed to make them suitably creepy and devastating. Even the smaller titans were made incredibly terrifying, particularly when Sasha was facing off with one without and gear. There’s a few moments where the animation might be off, but this show is still incredibly impressive from a visual point of view.
The music also remains on point. It took nearly half the season before the theme song grew on me but it certainly did and while I still don’t understand the point of some of the visuals in that opening, I actually began looking forward to it as it framed the episode nicely. However, it is the music and sound-effects throughout the episodes that will really just drag you in. They aren’t intrusive but rather add to an immersive viewing experience. The show also makes fairly affective use of silence in the final episode which was a pretty excellent choice.
So pretty much if you are going to sit a pick faults with the storyline, you will most definitely find them. If you want to pull characters apart and look at whether they seem like real people or have real motivations or any kind of normal reaction to situations, you will probably find it fairly easy to fault this season. If you think too hard about all the story threads that seem to get pulled into the spot light for a brief moment and then tossed aside, you will absolutely be disappointed.
However, if you strap in and just watch, you will probably get swept away by the grandeur of the moment and watch some pretty cool fights and some really tragic deaths.
My review of season 1 finished like this:
It’s beautiful, fast paced, and dramatic and when it is at its best it truly shines and those moments will carry you over the slower bits. If we actually get a continuation that matches the feel and quality of season 1 then this could be a very memorable anime. Otherwise I think it is one of those ones that had its moment in the sun but without finishing won’t have staying power.
My thoughts have changed a little as season 2 was far better during the first half when it did finally focus on some of the more interesting characters. However, it still suffers from a lack of ending and without knowing where all these conspiracies and plot threads are going there’s little other than a wait and see mind set when thinking about how I feel overall about this show.
That said, I’d love to know your thoughts on season 2 if you’ve finished watching it. I know some of the bloggers out there loved this season a lot more than I did but some have been more critical please feel free to share your stance now that it has concluded.
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