Tag: season 3 part 2

Attack on Titan, Season Three, Episode Sixteen, Perfect Game Review. The Final Advance.

4 and a half stars

Spoiler Free Review:

Worst. Baseball match. Ever.
If you have seen the sixteenth episode of Attack on Titan‘s third season, “Perfect Game”, you will understand why I am referencing baseball.
The episode probably gave us what has to be the most horrifying interpretation of the game in, well, ever.
And the characters suffered for it.
This is easily the most desperate we have ever seen them, with sacrifices having to be made.
Erwin in particular has to make a decision that shapes his entire character arc in a brilliant moment from him.
Armin also got more time to shine when he and the other Scouts started to face off against Bertholdt’s Colossal Titan.
Speaking of, thankfully there are some shots of him in “Perfect Game” that are not CGI, and make him actually fit in with the environment.
There are still times when he is completely CGI, and sticks out like a sour thumb, but I am personally glad he looked realistic to the world some of the time rather than none of it.
In any case, the fight between him and the scouts is investing, especially when Eren gets involved, where something happens that I think will shock a lot of people.
The biggest shocks of the episode, though, easily come with Erwin and Levi’s story.
These scenes are full of horrifying moments that actually improved on the manga, which is great because, other than a few scenes, I personally think the last few episodes have been falling under the bar in comparison with the source material.
That said, there are a few nitpicky problems I do have but, as the word suggests, these are minor.
The opening scene reworks the ending from the last episode, which makes it feels out of order somewhat, and a particular scene concerning Mikasa felt a bit watered down in comparison with the manga.
Other than this, “Perfect Game” is a great episode full of character growth, sacrifice, and one hell of a cliffhanger to keep you watching.
Next week’s episode is “Hero” and I am incredibly excited for it because, when I reviewed the manga chapters the episode will cover I game them five stars.
So, I have my fingers crossed it can live up to the fantastic source material.
One interesting thing to note, however, is that there have been rumors that Wit Studio, the ones who make Attack on Titan, will be cancelling the series after this arc.
If this is true, then it means the series will have to be picked up by another studio, which means we will have to wait a while before getting the next season.
While this would be sad, I have to say this is only a rumor.

Spoiler Review:

Who knew that baseball could get so violent?
In all seriousness, the scene where the Beast Titan started throwing crushed rocks at the scouts is somehow made more horrifying here than in the manga for me.
The shot of the rocks crashing into buildings with dust and splashes of blood rising up, along with the agonized screams of dying scouts, is very disturbing.
The manga panels of this scene always felt a little stiff to me so to see it animated with such horrifying ferocity is great.
On top of this, the development that came from Erwin here is fantastic.
Erwin is a selfish person who has manipulated others into giving their lives for humanity, while he alone had personal dreams.
Yet in this episode, he finally sheds this.
He gives up on his dream and finally lives up to the ideals he sprouted, giving his life and the lives of his soldiers so that Levi can have a shot at killing the Beast Titan.
The build up to this moment is well done with Erwin voicing his flaws to Levi, who ultimately convinces him to do the right thing.
The big cliffhanger of the episode sees a rock ripping right through his stomach as he urges his soldiers to fight as they run straight to death’s door.
Along with this, we also get to see how the scouts are dealing with the Colossal Titan.
Unsure of what to do next, Armin passes on leadership to Jean, who initiates a plan of attack to stop Bertholdt reaching the wall.
This leads to Eren attacking Bertholdt but, while appearing to work at first, everything goes wrong when Bertholdt kicks him to the top of the wall, knocking him unconscious and forcing the Scouts to fight the Colossal Titan themselves.
This is where my issue for “Perfect Game” came in.
While Jean, Sasha and Connie attempt to distract Bertholdt, Mikasa launches the Thunder Spears at him from behind, only for him to use his steam to launch them back at her.
In the manga, the explosion clearly hurts her, and it looks like you can see shrapnel marks on her back, detailing how hard this fight is on her and everyone else.
However, in the anime this is watered down.
Mikasa says she took shrapnel but it does not look that bad by comparison, lessening the impact.
Another minor problem I have is Connie’s “eavesdropping” joke, which now does feel a bit out of place.
Not only that but it rearranges some of the parts of the previous episode, making it feel a bit disjointed.
However, as I said in my spoiler free review, these problems are only minor.
The rest of “Perfect Game” is great with its themes of sacrifice, epitomized by Erwin’s final advance.
Well, that is four episodes down and six to go and, I have to say, I cannot wait for the rest of them.
If you are an anime only, then those next six episodes will surely blow your mind.

Attack on Titan, Season Three, Episode 13, The Town Where Everything Began Review: The Return to Shiganshina Arc Begins.

4 stars

Spoiler Free Review:

After a long wait, the much anticipated second half of Attack on Titan season three has arrived with its premiere episode, “The Town Where Everything Began.”
During the break in between season three’s first and second half, I read the manga out of fear of getting spoiled and I think that only heightened my excitement for the series to return.
This is because the arc that this half of the season is covering, The Return to Shiganshina Arc, is the best of the entire series so far.
I remember binge reading it in a few days because I just could not stop reading.
If you have not read the manga, I will say you are in for a treat with these ten episodes we are getting.
“The Town Where Everything Began” does not disappoint as the beginning of this new arc, delivering on great character development and action.
It may start out a little slow for some, but the explosive ending will get everyone hyped for the next episode.
The buildup to this ending is very well done, with the story picking up where it left of with the Scouts going to reclaim Wall Maria and visit Eren’s basement.
The mission is obviously not as simple as it sounds though because the location of Reiner, Bertholdt and the mysterious Beast Titan is unknown for most of the episode.
This adds a significant amount of tension, which is mostly voiced by Armin who is the standout of the episode by far.
His role and character development here, and the performance by his voice actor Marina Inoue, really reminded me of why he is one of my favourite characters.
Then there is Erwin who shines just as much with his plan to retake Shiganshina, and how he rolls with the punches that inevitably come at the end of the episode.
The excitement and dread of this ending is amplified by the amazing music, with a remix that improves on what is already one of the anime’s best OSTs, “Attack on Titan.”
The animation also continues to be solid, except for one instance, this being the opening.
I was eagerly anticipating what this opening for the new arc would be, and it is certainly appropriately named, the title being “The Path of Longing and Corpses.”
Performed my Link Horizon, the song is good and the mostly slow motion images are decent but have quite a few spoilers at times.
I will say, the final image of the opening is very powerful, with it reminding us of the big goal behind retaking Wall Maria, reaching the basement.
My main take away though, is sadly the god awful CGI on the Colossal Titan.
I really hope they spent a lot of the budget on making him look so good that they ran out of money for the opening, because if the Colossal Titan looks like this when he actually shows up then it might ruin the powerful scenes he features in.
As for the ending theme, titled “Name of Love” by Cinema Staff, there is nothing all that special about it.
Sure, it does do a good job of reminding us of how everyone has changed from their days in cadet training, but I feel this would have been a better opening for season two rather than three.
Overall, I am a little disappointing by both the opening and ending themes.
The same cannot be said for the episode though because, as I stated “The Town Where Everything Began” is a really good start to the best arc of the manga.

Spoiler Review:

“Humanity or Titans?! Which side will live?! Which side will perish?!”
With these dramatic words from Erwin, and a great performance from his voice actor, Daisuke Ono, the epic ending of “The Town Where Everything Began” comes to a close.
As I stated, this ending is the highlight of the episode, delivering much intensity that will get the viewer hyped for next week’s episode.
What makes it even better for anime only people though, is that every single shot from the trailer is in the first episode so they have no idea what is going to happen next.
This makes me envy them but I know I will still find watching this arc engaging, even though I know what will happen.
The Return to Shiganshina Arc is that good.
It certainly has got off to a good start as well, reminding us all of what the characters had to go through to get this point and what these characters represent.
Eren being anger, Mikasa being pride, and Armin being hope.
The main theme of the episode though, and a major theme of the entire series as well, is that of freedom, with Eren recounting how Armin talking about the sea made him realise he was not free and fueled his desire to go outside the walls.
Eren’s character development in the opening minutes of the episode is very well done, with him showing his fears and weaknesses.
I wish he had this vulnerability in the first season because it might have helped me relate to him more.
After this, the Scouts finally reach Shiganshina and we get numerous glorious shots of them swinging around on their ODM gear, preparing to initiate Erwin’s plan to retake Shiganshina, which is shown in a well done transition shot.
But the best shot of the entire episode is still the amazingly expansive one of Eren as he shoots up above Shiganshina, about to transform so he can plug up Wall Maria.
And plug up the wall he does, with the first part of the plan going surprisingly easily… only for it to naturally fall apart by the end.
Still, it would have been much worse if Armin had not realised Reiner was hiding in the wall.
This scene really shows Armin’s growing inner strength because he starts out hesitant when giving orders to the other soldiers but comes across as a confident leader by the end.
Reiner does not go down easily after being discovered, however, with him brutally murdering the soldier who finds him.
Levi is quick to act though, rushing to stab Reiner, only for an odd case of censorship to block our view a few times.
I call this odd because there are multiple shots of Reiner bleeding heavily in this scene and yet the anime blocks him getting stabbed from view for some reason.
But this censorship did not lessen the scene’s intensity too much, with Reiner transforming and the Beast Titan then appearing behind Erwin with his army of Titans to back him up.
The Beast Titan is especially creepy in this episode.
There is a shot of him smiling in anticipation for the coming battle with glowing red eyes, which is quite scary, and a massive improvement on the already good manga panel.
With Eren set to face off against Reiner in round two next episode, The Return to Shiganshina Arc is off to a really good start and, if all goes well, it will only get better from here.