Shingeki no Kyojin Season 3

[Spoiler Warning] Coming into Attack on Titan season 3 I was slightly nervous because I heard that this season was going to be more focused on Human vs Human, but by the second episode all my doubts had been relieved and thought It was the greatest shit ever. Visuals and Animation - 10+ Out of nowhere Studio Wit upped the quality of the production values to a point I didn’t was possible in a TV anime. The Levi vs Kenny Squad sequence in episode 2 had some of the best Sakuga and animation I had ever seen All of anime, let alone TV anime. The amount ofshit going on in that scene literally just made my brain go like, “what the fuck that just happened.” Not only did the animation improve but also the art quality improved. In some scenes I was just in awe of how Wit Studio crafted the world of attack on titan so beautifully. The only thing I had a slight issue with was some of the CGI cuts. The rod titan was done pretty well but some CGI cuts were not pretty. I Also liked how they designed the crystal basement, thought it looked nice. Sound & Music -10+ Hiroyuki Sawano, the man, the myth, the legend. This dude has composed almost everyone of my favorite soundtracks and is always consistent. Some uneducated people might say all his work is too similar, but guess what? Who tf cares if it is similar all his music amazing and on top of that Attack on titan has in my opinion the best soundtrack in anime EVER. PERIOD. Everyone song in attack on titan sets the mood and tone perfectly and can strike a range of emotions, whether it be sad,inspiring,hype,heartwarming,scary, or nervous every emotions can be felt. Also the last scene when they played the scouts theme and Erwin was getting the scouts and the people hype was fucking heart pounding and gave me goosebumps. Not only is the soundtrack good but the voice acting and sound effects are excellent as well. Dub and Sub both do a great job. Characters - 9 Eren- had some pretty good development learning that he is not special and developed some chemistry with historia and became overall more mature, only issue I had was he sometimes got a little over dramatic and the stretch of episodes where he wanted to be eaten and was called constantly crying got a little old. Though even did come up clutch with that crystallization power and was badass when he through the barrels in rod titans mouth Levi- We get some much needed depth on Levi’s backstory and see how his mom died and was a prostitute, how he lived with Kenny and when Kenny died how he really showed sadness that his father figure died. Also we get to see how fucking badass he is taking out every mf in his path. He went off against Kenny Squad twice and even injured Kenny. But that chase sequence was something else and just shows us how super human Levi is. Also the scene at the end where he is threatening to break Erwin’s legs so he can’t go on the mission shows how much he cares for Erwin and doesn’t want to see his friend dead, but at the same time when Erwin reveals that he values going on the mission to retake Wall Maria more than humanities victory Levi has to respect Erwin’s dream and let him continue. Also we see how Levi has to mentor the new Levi squad - Connie, Eren, Mikasa, Jean, Sasha, and Armin, to kill other humans and hardens them as shown when the new recruits see that there faces have changed. Historia - she gets a lot of development in this season, first we see her backstory how her mom was rod reiss’ mistress and didn’t care for her in the slightest. We also see her develop a relationship with Freda, who she remembers when rod shows her the erased memories through his magic bloodline power. Historia for the first half of the season is manipulated by rod who wants her to become a titan so he can get off on his God fantasy. Historia who is blinded by the memory of Freda blindly follows and at the last second changes her mind and breaks the syringe and flips Rod. This a huge development because historia is finally taking control of her own destiny and doing what she feels is right. When historia was made queen I thought it was going to be weird but AOT pulled it off and Historia gets her huge payoff when she cuts ties with Rod completely by cutting the last piece of him, thus ending his life and breaking historia completely free of her past. Also Historia gets closer with eren and Mikasa catches wind of this in episode eleven when she gives Eren the Death Stare. Erwin - Uh oh, the Erwin death flags are high after episode twelve, with Levi showing concern for his safety on the mission to retake Wall Maria. Moving on, Erwin starts of this arc being arrested for murder he didn’t commit and having dramatic conversations with pixus and Nile. He then comes up with a badass plan to fake a titan invasion and turns the table on the aristocratics running the government, who panic and want to quarantine Wall rose. This doesn’t sit well with pixus or Nile so they overthrow the government and head for eren. We also see Erwin’s backstory and how his father was killed because he found out too much about the world and that drives Erwin to uncover the truth of the titans and the world. Finally, Erwin gets the send off he deserves rallying the crowd and the soldiers. Mikasa- she doesn’t really get that much focus into her character but does have some pretty cool fight scenes but we do see her mood improve when eren goes back to his normal scrappy self when he fights jean. Armin- in ep 2 armin gets his first human kill and gets emotional about it, he starts to show maturity and is more useful to the scouts also he cross dresses and gets felt up which was weird, reminds Eren about dream to go she the sea Jean, Connie, and Sasha - we get see just how More mature they become when in the first battle vs Kenny squad they are indecisive and nervous and then in the second fight they just straight up murder people from the Kenny squad. When I saw my boy Jean slice that dudes neck and Connie also kill someone I was like “fuck they really out here killing people.” Also that scene when they are hype for the send off was pretty funny Kenny - personality was super unique and he was a really cool character his fights with Levi were pretty hype and the whole gunman style of him in his squad was really dope. His death was pretty sad and the story of how he came to live with Levi was well done only issue I have with him is he died before his character was completely fleshed out. Plot - 9.5 Finally the PLOT! I appreciated the change in direction and commitment to focusing on character development rather than Titans. Although I did think the bloodline power thing was sorta whack the story was overall good. All though I am pissed that series is taking a break because I was hype to see them retake Wall Maria but whatever.

Other than the male x male shipping, I am not finding many reasons to like this show anymore. Half of the season is practically a collection of cliche action scenes. People teleport from the sky to save the day, others swing in the sky with spider-man gears, evil people sit on the face of someone just to prove that they indeed evil, Levi declares he is an insane badass by committing an act that distantly resembles the twisting of an arm. So fucked up! I am scared, literally how can man be this insane. Please, no, not the arm. The other half is practically a parodyof politics except the narrative itself doesn't recognize this lameness as a parody. People with might and power declare a thing, but another thing happens -- much like with the teleporting nakama in the action side -- other big guys teleport whenever important decisions are supposed to be made. Essentially every part of the politics is so one-dimensional it hurts and serves as an excuse to create more bullshit to fill the story with. These vary from random kidnapping incidents to people thinking one of their nakama dies if they don't hurry up. I am not sure how exactly am I supposed to be fooled by this when it is clear plot-armors in the series are thicker than the walls itself. The best part of this show are the supposedly evil people and "our" enemies. Whenever our main squad gets called subhumen or pseudo-soldiers by them, I agree whole-heartedly. The opposing party did nothing wrong when looking down on our plebeian children at arms. Which this show really is all about. Some kids acting like they matter, fighting against titans or being titans or hiding from titans behind walls made of titans. At least the first season was fun to watch because it was a complete disaster and so overboard idiotic. This isn't even ironically fun anymore. More meaningless events one after another. This season doesn't achieve anything. It's just Eren being chained half the time + farming, characters pondering over some action for half an episode each episode just to see the thing itself never happening. It's all false tension, all words no reward, no payout. Boring substance that is repetition of the same over and over while the fallacy that something might actually happen being there to fool those who are still buying this. Oh no, titan appears for the 700th millionth time, what a shock, I wonder which one of the two things that ever happen when a titan appear, happens this time around. Literally can't wait for the next cour.

In a desolate world where corruption, power, and control rules all, Attack on Titan feels like a story that goes far deeper than just survival. As someone who has been following the series for several years, this franchise has really made a reputation. I’m not even talking about the commercial sales revenue or fan base. I’m talking about how this show evolved from a war between Humans and Titans. After only a year, Attack on Titan made its grand return. Given the popularity of the franchise, this was inevitable but the big surprise was how soon it got announced. The first season ran for 2-cour in2013 while the second season ran for only a single cour in Spring 2017. Yet, here we are with a third season after just one year. As a fan myself, I’m more than pleased to say that the third season continues to live up to its household name. It’s a franchise that truly deserves its acclaim. Watching the third season will make fans quickly realize the change of mood in the very beginning. In fact, this season may not be what you are used to and will take some time to adapt with. The lack of Titans is evident from the first few episodes. Attack on Titan has been praised in the past before for its great action. Not only does the production quality and rhythm enhance the experience, the show itself always managed to capture the momentum of every battle. Here we are in third season and it takes a step back with the fighting between Titans and humanity. Rather, we have humanity dealing with its own problems - internal issues and political conflicts along with deep secrets that runs in the veins of key characters. For a long time, we’ve seen the political conflicts inside the walls and government. Coming into the third season had me wondering how much we take a dive into exploring that side. And to my pleasant surprise, this season made a clear point that Titans are not the only enemies in their world. In fact, humans are also part of the problem and our main characters have to find a way to deal with it. For instance, Levi’s Squad faces off against adversaries that challenges them to life-and-death scenarios. Levi also faces a dangerous individual from his past, a man named Kenny. You may have heard him screaming in the promotional video but that scream isn’t just a battle cry. It’s the realization that he has to deal with his own personal demon. It’s not just him either but the realization of actually having to kill humans will test the mental limits of our characters. As in all of the Attack on Titan seasons so far, we take a look at background storytelling for some of the important characters. From this season, we take a look at Historia, Kenny, Keith, and even a bit of Eren’s mother, Carla. The key selling point is how these characters' stories connect with the overall plot. It’s imperative that viewers understand them as these stories reveal characters’ motivations and how their actions influences the present. To me, I think Attack on Titan always managed to capture a viewers’ attention through its characterization. The creator wants the audience to understand these characters by both telling and showing. It’s accomplished with important dialogues and actions motivated by a clear set of goals. I can’t really talk exactly the precise details as it would be spoilers but the big picture to realize here is why these characters are created. Attack on Titan Season 3 also made me understand why characters are motivated to do certain things and is an accomplishment not to be overlooked. The amount of psychology and emotions makes the story impactful too even for newer characters like Kenny. In terms of plot elements, the show continues to heighten the mystery. Attack on Titan has been known to create a feeling of suspense and there’s no doubt this season will surprise you. In the present, main protagonist Eren finds himself in more trouble than just a death sentence. I would say this season made him feel less relevant at first until you realize what’s at stake. Eren’s connection to the past is one of the key mysteries in the show that probably had fans formulate theories all the way back in 2013. Here we are 5 years later and some of that mystery has answers. In the meantime, characters such as Erwin and Pyxis also play important roles with consequences. The plot evolves to become much more complicated than just a war against Titans. It becomes an internal war of complex ideologies. There’s also many revelations that shows how certain characters have connections with each other. And to add on to the cherry on top, we do still get fighting segments for you action junkies. Season 3 takes a different approach this time but retains its ability to tell a memorable story. It managed to hook me in the beginning once realizing how important character roles are. Through its characterization, it showed me that the show doesn’t need fancy action and cinematics to make a well-polished anime. Sure, that part isn’t entirely absent but is limited compared to the previous seasons. Whether that’s an appeal will be for you to judge. Just do realize that Attack on Titan doesn’t always need people drawing out their blades and sticking it into Titans’ necks.

*Minimum Spoiler Review* TL;DR: If every weird conspiracy theory you had for SnK suddenly started becoming true... Well that's this season of SnK for you. From Titans dying like Titanic to Internal Gov'ts crashing like US Stock exchange on day two, this first cour of SnK will leave you screaming... KENNEEYYYYYYY! If you didn't watch S1 & S2, don't even bother reading or watching this anime. [Story: 7/10 , Characters: 8/10, Art: 9/10, Sound: 8/10, Enjoyment: 8/10] "You Levi. You grown any yet" - Kenny Ackerman This season of Shingeki no Kyojin or Attack on Titan should really be called Attack on Internal Government. From military coupsto Historia becoming a waifu boo and Eren slapping himself to stop being Eren, this season definitely stands out from all the previous seasons... good or bad? Let's find out. What originally was supposed to be a 2-cour anime by Wit Studio, they throw another curveball towards fans by making it 1-cour due to budget & work constraints. That's alright since the anime delivers through their concise story adaptation, developed secondary characters, great non-hype music and as always stellar art & animation style. However, after finishing watching it, it will always leave you feeling empty as this season was less substance but more action, overall. "Who decides... Who will you trust?" Erwin Smith From the story stand point, director Araki & Koizuka did a phenomenal job taking some of the most boring drawn out manga arcs and presenting them in a different order to retell the author's story. Though S3 seems like it starts out of nowhere as no continuation is felt from previous season, you are immediately thrown into the internal world of life inside the wall with high paced action of people fighting people using ODMG but instead of swords vs swords we now have swords vs GUNS. Great job hooking puzzled viewers in and over the course of this anime we get to learn the real truth behind how politics is actually governed inside the wall. From who's pulling the strings, history of royal blood and finally the truth behind the man Eren's father really was. The best takeaway would be wondering, who really is the hero or rather who is actually doing what's morally right as shown through juxtaposing the childish views characters once had of this world vs adult views now they have chosen to accept. Who really thinks for the people and who are just selfish power hungry trash. The manga arc was boring but the director paced the story well for viewers to bite through it as well as some flashback stories of two key characters in this anime really solidifies Erwin's purpose of proving his father's hypothesis. "The person that I killed... I bet they were a nice person. Someone that was much more human than I am..." - Armin Arlert The main reason this anime gets praise this season is because we learn a lot of the history behind characters who we were somewhat curious about. This anime is no longer about Eren but more about the people inside the wall vs the beings outside the wall. From focusing on Historia's growth to Levi's tragic past and shedding light on the Ackerman Family & Reiss Family line, we get a sense of how the chess pieces are moving or have been moving all throughout history for mankind to come to this sort of standpoint. The anime also explores the change in psyche soldiers like Armin, Sasha, & Jean go through as they now have to cope with killing humans not just titans, a huge taboo. The beatdown lecture Levi tells them about we kill those who will harm us as self-defence & to protect our close ones parallels with IRL military soldiers and how they are trained to kill "units" not people. Because if you humanize your enemy, you will have hesitation vs treating them like "beasts". That's one interesting take-way from this season. Also huge shoutout to characters like Kenny & Hange, keeping the anime fresh with their torture techniques. Not to mention, the seiyuus for this season who were able to tell the story more through the anguish in their voice. Huge kudos to them. "I never said who was right or wrong. I don't even know myself." - Levi Aside from the somewhat linear story arc & developed secondary characters, time after time, if there is one thing this studio does justice, it's their animation & art style. This season they nailed it as well. Every panel was hand-drawn really well. The action sequences flowed really well. We harp the studio for taking forever releasing the anime but atleast they never flake on us on quality. The background score was really hype throughout all the fight sequences and the drops right before key enigmatic moments definitely escalates the excitement each episode. What stood out most though, was the opening of the anime. We are so accustomed to hype opening songs such as Feuerroter Pfeil and Bogen & Die Flügel der Freiheit by REVO of Linked Horizon that when a slow melodious anti-hype casual song as Red Swan by X Japan came to be opening song fans were lost and confused. This wasn't the SnK they knew and came to love. However, it grows with time and you get why that opening song was used instead of hype songs as this season wasn't about humans vs titans but more humans vs humans. This was what the directors wanted to drive home and by using opening song as this he set the battlefield for just that. So great foresight from their part. "Go on and torture me already. That's all I did with this blood-stained hands of mine" - Djel Sannes Overall, SnK S3 wasn't that bad of an anime. Is it as hype & story packed as previous seasons? Not really but given the manga arc the directors were working with, they did a pretty good job. By following not the path the mangaka, Isayama, had originally planned out to this new pacing, it served justice to the anime viewers. Though the studio will take a break after 1-cour and continue part 2 from Spring (hopefully) it will be worth it to not read ahead and spoil ourselves in my opinion. Attack on Titan has come to terms to know what their recipe for success is and that's minimizing Eren's wailing and maximizing Erwin's madness. Without spoiling too much, the series ends with their purpose tied back to the beginning. Definitely looking forward to the next season or second part as that will be real jaw-dropping moment for most fans out there who has yet to spoil themselves. Nevertheless, there is no point not watching this season of AoT. You've already invested in the first and second season, might as well binge watch this season. That's always the best way to watch this anime. The anime is building up to their denouement so why hop off the train now. Anyways, check it out & let me know later how you like it as well as share with me your favourite quote from the anime! Ciao. P.S. Thank you for reading. I hope you found this short and supaishi review helpful!

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