By Sophia Milla (‘20)
Japan’s animated series Attack on Titan has gained popularity over the years since its release in 2013, yet there was no second season to follow it. But after a five year period, the acclaimed anime made a comeback with Season 2 in 2017, along with the release of Season 3 in 2018. Unfortunately for fans, the ending of the twelfth episode of Season 3 was followed by an announcement that the show would be going on a break until April 2019. While it is upsetting for fans who were starting to get into the third season, the already premiered episodes are filled with enough suspense and excitement for fans to rewatch as they wait for April.
Attack on Titan is set in a world where humanity is surrounded by walls in fear of human-eating creatures called Titans.
The Survey Corps, also known as the “Scouts” are individuals who leave the walls in order to fight the Titans, which includes main characters in the show such as Eren Jaeger. Other major characters in the Scouts include Eren’s childhood friends, Mikasa Ackerman and Armin Arlert.
The third season opens up with a kick of humor and picks up from the thrilling storyline introduced in the second season, which focuses on the Survey Corps members. However, what viewers notice even more is the art as the show appears to have had a complete makeover from its previous season in 2017.
“This premiere seems to fix that [art] issue, and the art looks even better than it did throughout the entirety of the second season,” according to an article on IGN.
The graphics of the show appear to be smoother and more appealing to the eye. Viewers can catch on more to what is going on in the show with such attractive art.
Besides the art, the show seems to elaborate on the importance of characters Eren Jaeger and Historia Reiss, as both characters are revealed to have powers that reveal society’s secrets.
Almost everyone in the show realizes the importance of Jaeger and Reiss, even low-class citizens, as people have tried to kidnap them multiple times.
But with the help of the Scouts, Jaeger and Reiss make it to safety. During the second attempt, which is in the hands of Kenny Ackerman, some hands get bloody in order to save these characters especially for Scout Armin Arlert.
Arlert had never killed anyone before and had always felt disgusted at the idea of killing humans. However, in order to protect a Scout at the verge of being shot, Arlert makes the decision to shoot one of Kenny’s recruits. The Scouts were in a state where they were looked down upon as they were destroying towns and unintentionally killing more lives instead of saving more lives.
Through the show, secrets about the government are revealed, but since the secrets are a key part of the show, they won’t be revealed in this review.
Historia’s newly-revealed past seems very depressing, yet the audience is able to see the darkest moments and major parts of Historia’s backstory as she was once a cheerful girl.
According to Rod Reiss in Episode 6, only those with royal blood, e.g. the Reiss family, could fully activate the Titan power. As a result, Rod Reiss wantsto transform Historia into a Titan, so she can eat Eren and inherit his Titan powers.
Eren, after learning of his father’s actions and then his own, starts to breakdown and pleads for Historia to follow her father’s orders while Historia is hesitant in her decision.
The trial that the characters face leads into character development and the revelation of more secrets, so it’s important to be prepared while watching.
The show ends on a cliffhanger with the final scene carrying an intense atmosphere, where two characters unexpectedly clas heads. But it’ll be a long wait in order to find out what will happen next unless people want to read the ongoing manga which the show is based on, which has more than 110 chapters.