Attack on Titan, the Final Season, Episode 19, Two Brothers Review: Three Family Tragedies.

I was quite excited for episodes 19 and 20 of the Final Season of Attack on Titan.
This is because they would be adapting some of my favourite chapters of the manga, Chapter 119, “Two Brothers”, and Chapter 121, “Memories of the Future”, the latter actually being my favourite of the story.
As for “Two Brothers”, it was adapted amazingly under director Teruyuki Omine, detailing the three tragedies between brothers that happen in this episode perfectly.
The episode begins with a thankfully small recap, as we only see Zeke fall from the Wall, as he did in the previous episode, before we get to the current content, which begins with Eren absolutely wrecking Porco when he tries to stop him from reaching Zeke.
However, he is stopped by yet another head shot from Pieck’s Titan canon, only for the Jeagerists, lead by Floch, to intervene.
This leads to a brutal shot adapted well from the manga, where a Jeagerist is killed by Pieck’s canon slamming into him.
Seeing this, Armin realizes they have to take out the Cart Titan if they are to have a chance at winning.
Mikasa then saves him from gunfire, since Armin took his eyes off the battle they are currently in while thinking ahead.
Connie takes out their attackers and the group move forward, with Armin deciding to take Pyxis’ advice to get behind the enemy.
We then cut to Zeke, who wakes up at the bottom of the wall, still in his Beast Titan form, and he sees Eren being attacked by Reiner, who tries to rally Porco to help him.
However, when Reiner reaches for Porco, he unintentionally activates a memory from Marcel, showing Porco how his brother badmouthed him to keep him from inheriting the Armoured Titan, all to protect him.
So starts the beginning of the brotherly tragedies in this episode, as Zeke decides to scream and transform every single Eldian who drank his poisoned wine into Titans.
It is at this moment that Colt runs onto the scene with Falco, begging Zeke to allow his little brother enough time to escape the range of Zeke’s scream.
This clearly strikes a cord with Zeke, who feels the same brotherly bond with Eren.
However, it is because of that bond that he cannot delay the transformations so, to protect his plan and Eren, he screams.
Right as Falco transforms, Colt holds him close telling him that he is there for him.
On that note, I will say that that I wish they had kept Colt’s line from the manga, telling Falco that his big brother would always be with him.
That said, the soundtrack to Falco, Pyxis, Nile and the other infected member of the military’s transformation is top notch, and it becomes even better when the Titan invasion music from the very first season begins to play.
It really reminded me of the attack on Trost at the beginning of the story, especially with some visual similarities, like one Titan peeking behind a building, similar to how the one who ate Thomas did in Season One.
The moment is made more horrifying with Reiner staring in horror at Falco’s disturbing Titan form, and Gabi seeing Colt’s burned body, looking quite similar to how Armin did when he almost sacrificed himself to defeat Bertholdt.
Taking advantage of the situation, Zeke orders Falco’s Titan to kill Reiner, giving Eren the oppurtunity to escape.
Before Eren can break free from Reiner’s grasp, though, Zeke is apparently fatally shot through the nape by Magath, as he, Pieck, and the other Marleyan soldiers have defeated Floch’s Jeagerists, with Floch being the only survivor again.
Just as Magath is about to land another shot on Eren’s head, Armin’s plan to get behind the enemy pays off, as he blows Pieck’s Titan canon up with a thunder spear, while Mikasa kills some more Marleyan soldiers aiming for Armin, including Koslo.
Speaking of, I like how the anime decided to include Koslo in this attack, leading to Mikasa killing him.
In the manga, he just disappears after the Marley Arc, so it was nice to see the anime give him an actual death, even if he is just a minor character who pretty much nobody cares about.
One character I do care about is Porco, who ends up robbing Reiner of his sacrifice, allowing Falco to eat him instead.
This is a great death for Porco for three reasons.
Number One: He is too injured to heal himself so will die anyway but, this way, his death can have meaning.
Number Two: By saving Falco, he is living up to his own brother Marcel’s legacy as a brother.
And Number Three: It is one last middle finger to Reiner, as he dies saying he was always better than him.
Honestly, Colt and Porco were kind of meh characters for me, but their deaths in this episode are so well written it makes me care about them.
Enraged over Porco’s death, Reiner attacks Eren with all of his strength, only for him to harden and then escape, running to finally meet Zeke, who was playing dead that whole time.
Jean and Connie aid Eren, shooting Reiner with Thunder Spears to clear his way.
Zeke screams for Eren to hurry, stretching out his hand as he approaches, only for Gabi to pick up Colt’s Anti-Titan Rifle and literally decapitate Eren with it.
Imagine if this was the cliffhanger for the episode.
Everyone would have lost it right?
Well, that’s how it was for us manga readers because that is exactly how Chapter 119 concludes.
I read this chapter in public and got a few weird looks as I audibly gasped at the sight of Gabi shooting Eren.
However, despite this, I never really blamed Gabi.
Eren still murdered a lot of her friends and, whatever his plan is, it cannot be good for Gabi’s family in Marley.
Besides, it’s not like Eren’s dead, as Zeke makes contact with his head before he can die.
Before this, though, we get a flashback to Eren and Zeke’s meeting in Liberio, where we see just how much Eren means to Zeke, but also get a hint of how Eren may be manipulating Zeke, as he does not catch the ball Zeke gives him as a sign of trust.
This flashback then cuts back to the present, where Zeke catches Eren’s head, and we get the adaptation of the memory shards, which are amazingly adapted, with a couple of interesting easter eggs.
From here, we have Eren entering the Paths with a chained up Zeke, who explains that he waited years in the Paths for Eren to be reformed and that the chains constricting him are there because of the King’s vow renouncing war, stopping those with royal blood from using the Founding Titan, so only Eren can command Ymir.
Speaking of, the little girl who saved Zeke at the beginning of the season is confirmed to be Ymir Fritz, the Founder of all Titans.
Zeke then begs Eren to complete their plan of sterilizing all Eldians, only to learn that it is not Eren’s plan at all, bringing yet more brotherly tragedy to an episode full of it.
When Zeke demands that Eren tell him why he betrayed him, Eren responds with his catchphrase of “because I was born into this world,” before asking Ymir to lend him her power, only for her to walk straight past him and bow before Zeke.
Zeke reveals to a confused Eren that because he was not influenced by the first king’s ideology when he arrived in Paths, he was able to eventually destroy the vow renouncing war, allowing him to take full control of the Founding Titan.
This allows Zeke to order Ymir, who sees him as her master, along with other royal blooded Titan users, since she has the mentality of a slave.
The original Titan Shifter being a slave this entire time is a really interesting twist that plays into the story much better than the idea of her being some kind of evil manipulator.
Now having full control of the Founding Titan, Zeke declares that he will “save” Eren before saving the world with him, pressing their heads togethor with a flash of Titan lightening, bringing an end to the episode.
Although, given the direction Episode 20 goes, this was definitely not the best of idea on Zeke’s part.
Overall, Episode 19 was a fantastic adaptation of Chapter 119 and parts of Chapter 120.
It did a great job of bringing the brotherly tragedies of Colt and Falco, Porco and Marcel, and Eren and Zeke to the screen.

Manga Spoilers:

One thing I find especially interesting with the memory shard adaptation is the inclusion of goth Mikasa and nerd Armin from the school alternate universe at the end of every Attack on Titan volume, along with the inclusion of the cover image of Reiner in a sauna.
I’m pretty sure the latter is just an easter egg but I think there may be a possibility that the school au could be included in the anime, specifically the final one at the end of the last volume where a modern day Eren, Mikasa and Armin seem to be watching the end of Attack on Titan in the movie threatre.
This could potentially be a post credits scene after the final episode or movie, if the leaks about that are right.
Now that I think about it, Eren and Mikasa watching Attack on Titan at the movies could have been Isayama’s subtle way of telling the readers that we were getting a movie for the ending.
However, I’m not really sure how I’d feel about the school alternate universe being included in the anime, since I’ve never really cared it, but it’s a possibility I wanted to bring up.

Attack on Titan, the Final Season, Episode 18, Sneak Attack Review: Mappa Continues to do the Manga Justice.

I can still remember reading Chapter 118 of Attack on Titan for the first time and being quite impressed with all of the standout character moments.
Well, I am pleased to say that Mappa adapted this chapter amazingly, for the most part.
Directed by Jun Shishido, “Sneak Attack” begins by recapping the last few minutes of the previous episode, again showing us Armin tell everyone that Eren was probably lying about Mikasa, and that he is most likely just using Zeke and Yelena.
Last episode had a recap beginning as well and, honestly, I’m finding them to be a bit annoying.
It’s clear they’re just doing it to pad for time so they can adapt one chapter per episode.
Once the recap of the previous episode is over, the other characters quickly come to the conclusion that they have to help Eren, with Jean even admitting that he envied Eren because he found him to be “cool,” a great moment of growth for him.
Afterwards, the 104th go to suit up so they can help Eren fight off Marley and, while running, Mikasa questions Armin’s reasoning for Eren lying.
This causes Armin to remember Eren’s final line in the Season Three finale about destroying their enemies beyond the sea.
He realizes something because of this but chooses to stay quiet, instead focusing on how he and Eren both knew about Mikasa’s headaches so Eren used it to make his lie more convincing.
We then get another recap of Eren and Reiner’s fight, followed up by a kind of underwhelming moment when Porco attacks Eren, only for him to be punched away.
This, and Eren’s glare at Reiner when he is being held down, just had a lot more impact in the manga.
However, this worrying start then turns amazing when Eren begins to rip Reiner’s jaw apart.
Eren’s scream mixed with his Titan roar gave me goosebumps, as did Zeke arriving to save his little brother.
The Beast Titan was completely CGI in Part One of the Final Season but he appears to be mostly 2D in this episode and looks absolutely fantastic.
This animation only gets better when Zeke throws his crunched up boulders at Marley’s airships, causing them to crash into each other and explode.
As this is happening, Eren begins making his way towards Zeke, limping as he does so, which is a great showcase of the brain damage his Titan received from the constant heads shots from Pieck’s Anti-Titan Canon.
The Marleyan forces struggle to combat this, with Pieck and Magath forced to go on the defensive against Floch and the Jeagerists, and Colt and Gabi going to rescue Falco.
They don’t really have to though because the 104th set out to free everyone the Jeagerists are holding captive, including Falco and Nile.
Nile tries to comfort Falco before they are freed, saying this may be his chance to get home, while he may sadly never see his daughters again, even though there is so much he wants to tell them.
Along with Falco and Nile, Shadis and Pyxis are also freed, the latter of which prepares to lead his men who have drunk Zeke’s contaminated wine in the last ditch stand.
Mikasa also prepares for battle, Louise with her, and at that moment she decides to leave her scarf behind, something she has never done before.
Now, surely I am including this as one of the many great character growth moments in this episode, right?
Well, unfortunately, no, I’m not.
The reason for why though is manga spoilers so I’ll detail the reasons why I found this scene off putting in the manga section below.
Once the 104th are all geared up, they go outside, where we see two iconic Yelena panels adapted.
The first of these is her basking in the glory of Zeke’s destruction of the airships which is, again, fantastically animated.
The second of these is her troll face, when Armin tells everyone they don’t have time to focus on Levi and Hange’s status, as they should instead focus on helping Eren and Zeke.
Yelena’s threatening troll face that follows is great and a moment that I’m sure gave a lot of anime only viewers a few nervous chuckles.
As if these Yelena moments weren’t standout enough, we then get Nile, Floch and Gabi’s development in what is the best scene of the entire episode.
Colt and Gabi come across Nile, Falco and the other wine poisoned military police.
Falco sees Colt and tells Nile who, instead of attacking, takes Falco to his brother, freeing him.
Nile might not have much of a hope of seeing his daughters again but he made sure to help a little boy alone on the battlefield.
It is interesting how Isayama actually started Nile off like an antagonist, having him trying to get Eren taken in by the Military Police, where he probably would have been given to Rod Reiss to pass on his Titan.
Then, Isayama pulled back the layers to reveal Nile as a sympathetic character also fighting for humanity, all leading to this moment where he helps Falco.
Next, comes Gabi’s big moment of character development, as she stops Colt from attacking Nile and then, after overhearing Kya talk about how she wants to kill Gabi for killing Sasha, finally admits to herself that she was wrong about the people of Paradis being devils.
Her tearfully announcing this is her biggest moment and it is made better in the anime, through the new shots of open bird cages, showing how Gabi has just begun to free herself from the cycle of violence.
Falco also frees himself in a sense by finally confessing not just his involvement in the attack on Liberio, leading to Udo and Zofia’s deaths, but also his feelings for Gabi.
His awkward confession is genuinely sweet and leads to another excellent moment of growth for Gabi, as she tears off Falco’s black armband, just like he tore off her Eldian one before they meet Kya.
The three then go to warn Zeke about Falco ingesting the spinal fluid, in the hope that this will convince him not to scream.
They almost did not need to worry, though, because it is then we get the titular “Sneak Attack,” with Pieck and Magath showing off their intelligence by launching a near fatal attack on Zeke.
First, they have Pieck emerge from her Titan, causing it to disintegrate, making the Jeagerists think the have defeated her.
Then, the Marleyans ambush Floch and the other Jeagerists.
Finally, Magath fires the Anti-Titan Canon at Zeke in the hopes of killing Zeke.
Unfortunately for them, and Falco, Zeke is still alive so there is still a chance that he could scream if he is given the chance to recover on the ground wher he has fallen, ending the episode.
Overall, “Sneak Attack” is a fantastic adaptation of Chapter 118.
My only criticisms are that the recaps are slightly annoying and the Mikasa scarf scene loses a lot of impact for me with hindsight.
Otherwise, it’s a great episode, and I am even more excited for the next one because it will be adapting one of my favourite chapters of the entire series, Chapter 119, “Two Brothers.”

Manga Spoilers:

Now, I will talk about the issue I have with the Mikasa leaving her scarf behind scene.
This scene had me excited when I first read it in the manga because I thought it would be a turning point for her character.
Yes, I did think the scarf would work its way back to her through Louise based off her looking at it, but I at least thought this would all result in Mikasa potentially distancing herself from Eren.
Instead, Mikasa ends up doubling down on her Eren obsession, despite her ending up killing him in Chapter 138.
This whole thing of her leaving the scarf behind just seems pointless in retrospect.
Mikasa is a character who my opinion on really suffered when I reread the series for my Top Ten Chapters list.
I am not saying that she never develops, but she is a character with so many missed opportunities.
She could have developed so much through her Ackerman and Hizuru heritage, along with leaving the scarf behind and her connection to Louise but these chances for further development are never taken.
It makes me wonder how I will view future Mikasa scenes in the anime.
Is the hindsight of how her story ends also going to make those less impactful for me?
I certainly hope not.

Attack on Titan, The Final Season, Episode 17, Judgement Review: Second Battle of Shiganshina.

Attack on Titan is back for the second part of its final season and, boy, am I excited to see some of my favourite chapters of the story animated.
Directed by Yūichirō Hayashi, Episode 17, “Judgement” is not an adaptation of one of my favourite chapters but it is still a pretty great episode nonetheless, starting off this series of episodes quite well.
“Judgement” begins by showing the scene I was disappointed not to see in the first half of the final season.
However, this scene’s adaptation certainly did not disappoint, presenting some excellent animation right off the bat.
The episode begins with the captive Hange and the Jeagerists discovering the aftermath of the explosion Zeke caused, after which both his and Levi’s fates were left uncertain.
Well, Levi’s status is still unknown, even after this episode, because it is not entirely clear if he is alive or dead.
That said, I was quite impressed with the amount of detail that went into the gore for what happened to Levi.
Heck, I was surprised with how uncensored this episode was in general.
Back to the scene at hand, Floch and the Jeagerists want to put a bullet in Levi’s head, to which Hange responds that he is already dead, only for her to flee with him when Zeke is revived.
The animation during Zeke’s revival is fantastic and it raises a great mystery with the question of who the girl who revived him in the “paths” was.
Then, we get the opening, “The Rumbling” by SiM, which is another banger, with some great symbolism for future events.
From here, the episode continues with Marley’s attack on Shiganshina, beginning the battle with an unexpectedly comedic moment, when Porco cuts off Pieck’s hand, so she can escape with Gabi.
The hand falls right into Gabi’s hands and the two scream as Pieck throws herself off the building to transform, leaving me chuckling.
In the end, both Titan Shifters escape, Pieck taking Gabi with her, later allowing Gabi to disclose her newfound theory to Magath that Zeke has royal blood, meaning they cannot allow the Jaeger brothers to come into contact.
As for Eren himself, he disregards Yelena’s advice to use the power of the Warhammer Titan to escape.
Instead, Eren goes to face Reiner, who lifts his bloody hand up to Eren before transforming, much like Eren did when he confronted Reiner in Marley.
This was a great callback.
It’s just a shame for Reiner that his fight with Eren goes as well as all of his previous fights with him.
Eren pummels him pretty easy, and Reiner only stands a chance with Porco’s help.
This is also when Eren is not using the Warhammer Titan’s powers.
When he does use them, the battle goes back to being incredibly one sided again.
But then, the Titan that is always exactly right enters the battlefield, as Magath uses Pieck’s Anti-Titan Gun to blow multiple holes in Eren’s Titan head.
This gives Marley plenty of time to deal with many of the Jeagerists, gunning them down with ease.
In Marley, the Scouts had the advantage, yet here it is clearly the reverse.
Much like many scenes in the first half of the Final Season, Mappa added a lot of combat scenes, like when the Jeagerist is chocking the Marley soldier, only to be stabbed with a bayonet from behind.
These are great additions that show off the brutality of war.
As well as Marley gaining the upper hand on the Jeagerists, Reiner also does on Eren, impaling him with one of his own Titan crystals.
While this is happening, Onyankopon rushes to free the 104th from their cell, not having been able to do so earlier out of fear of what Yelena would do to him.
However, he receives a less than warm welcome, with Connie outraged at his perceieved betrayal, revealing how the betrayals or Reiner, Bertholdt, Annie, and now Eren hurt him.
Armin wants to hear Onyankopon out, though, and the volunteer expresses how he is against Yelena and Zeke’s plan to sterilize the Eldians because he believes Paradis has a future and children are that future.
This causes Armin to remember Onyankopon’s comment about how an interesting mix of people makes the world more interesting, realizing he truly is on their side.
Armin also goes on to say he thinks Eren was lying about Mikasa only protecting Eren because she is an Ackerman and being on Zeke’s side, because him carrying out the Euthanization Plan would go directly against his character, beleiving he is only playing along with Zeke and Yelena.
The voice acting of this scene is really great, with Connie, Armin and Onyankopon’s voice actors doing a really good job.
Once this scene is done, we get the cliffhanger, which is Eren still being impaled with his crystal by Reiner, leaving him in a rather precarious position at the end of the episode.
We then get the ED, “Akuma no Ko” by Ai Higuchi, which I think is just as good as the OP.
It reminds me a lot of the OP from the first season and I think this is clearly intentional.
So, overall the second half of the Final Season is off to a good start with “Judgement.”
I am quite excited to see my favourite chapter, 121, get adapted eventually as well.

Manga Spoilers:
Since I’m a manga reader, I decided to leave a little section at the end of every review where I can talk about spoilers.
The main thing I want to talk about here is the OP, “The Rumbling.”
Along with it having some great symbolism, like the trampled butterfly at the end representing Ramzi, I was quite surprised by how many spoilers were packed in, like the actual Rumbling happening and Eren’s Founding Titan form.
I think some of these things probably should have been kept vague for anime only viewers.
Another interesting part of not just the OP but the ED as well is how they both refrence the final chapter.
In the OP we see Eren, Mikasa and Armin running towards the tree on the hill, which is important to the ending as it is where Eren is buried when he dies, and in the ED we see Paradis destroyed and overtaken by nature, much like how it is in the updated ending.
Because of this, it’s pretty obvious that we aren’t getting an anime original ending.
Not that I thought we would, but I have been seeing some insane conspiracy theories out there about how an anime original ending was always part of the plan.
People have literally been saying that a supposedly different coloured scarf means the ending will be completley changed.
With the OP and ED putting these anime ending theories to rest, I think the best we can hope for is maybe a couple of changes, rather than a completley different ending.
Personally, I’m just hoping the a few of the last minute twists of the ending will be reworked to make them more digestible.
Hopefully, some dialogue will be changed as well.
For example, please change Armin saying “thank you for becoming a mass muderer,” to, “I’m sorry you became a mass murderer.”
The “thank you” part really sends a bad message, although I know that is unintentional.
But, whatever ending we do get, we probably won’t be getting it for a while if the leaks about a movie turn out to be true.
Either way, I’m just looking forward to seeing fantastic chapters like 119, 121, 122, 123, 129, 130 and 131 adapted with the rest of Part Two.

Attack on Titan, Season Four, Episode Eleven, Deceiver Review: Oh, Boy! Here I go Killing Again!

Oh, Gabi, Gabi, Gabi.
Why must you further enrage the Attack on Titan community?
Even though I think Gabi is a great character, I did find myself wanting to slap her in the eleventh episode of the Final Season, “Deceiver”, although that was pretty much the point.
Directed by Teruyuki Ōmine, the episode title refers to many characters, from Floch, to Reiner, to Zeke, to Kaya, to, of course, Gabi and Falco, who are the main decievers of the episode.
This is made clear right from the get-go, as Gabi fakes a seizure to lure a guard into her and Falco’s cell and beat him unconcious with a rock so they can escape… or at least it was implied that he was unconcious in the manga.
Curiously, in the anime they decided to make it abundantly clear that Gabi had killed the guy, who Falco clearly points out was trying to help her.
Gabi goes even further, planning to kill Kaya if she doesn’t buy into her cover story, when the girl stumbles across her and Falco.
She even actually does attempt to kill her, when she learns that Kaya herself was deceiving them because she knew they were from Marley the whole time.
I’ve seen someone use the Rick and Morty “Oh, boy! Here I go killing again!” gag to describe Gabi and it’s funny because it’s absolutley true.
Despite this, I still don’t hate Gabi.
Again, I did want to slap her when she was blaming Kaya, her mother, and their ancestors for all of their suffering but I still know that Gabi is a brainwashed girl, indoctrinated by Marleyan propaganda.
In any case, she seems to have suffered the first blow to this indoctrination in “Deciever” through experiencing kindness from Sasha’s family, with neither Gabi nor Sasha’s parents knowing that she killed their daughter, and Kaya logically breaking apart Gabi’s arguments about the Eldians supposed sins before tearfully demanding an answer.
This results in the final blow for Gabi’s first pillar of indoctrination by the end of the episode, as Kaya offers to help Gabi and Falco get back to Marley by taking them to see Niccolo because she knows that Sasha would help them and she wants to be just like her.
Following this emotional moment, we get the post credits scene of Reiner and the rest of the Warriors beginning to plan their attack on Paradis.
This continued one of the earliest scenes in the episode, where Reiner woke up and demanded to know where Gabi and Falco were.
Reiner may have been suicidal earlier but now he has a new purpose that keeps him living: rescuing Gabi and Falco.
This causes him to criticize Magath’s plan to wait six months for Marley and the other countires of the world to create a global alliance to attack Paradis because Zeke would have undoubtedly made a plan by then.
His announcement that they need to launch a surprise attack on Paradis immediately makes for quite the cliffhanger.
Also, it is pretty funny that the shot cuts to him when Porco wonders how Zeke could have betrayed them.
Reiner’s own sins as a deceiver are always right in front of him, with him constantly being reminded of them through one way or another.
Speaking of reminders, Hange is forced to remember how the corrupt Sannes told her that she would basically be taking his place eventually all the way back in Season Three.
Whereas once Hange fought to let the people know everything the government was hiding from them in the Uprising Arc, she now has to lie to them until she knows all the info that there is, bringing more distrust down on her and the new government.
This is not helped by Floch and a bunch of recruits leaking information about Eren’s arrest.
Now that Floch has seen Eren acting like a devil, just like Erwin, he is fully on his team, a stark contrast to how he was against him at the end of The Return to Shiganshina Arc, showing just how much Floch perception of Eren has chanhged over the four year time skip.
It’s not just Floch, though, because many others are on the side of Eren, including Louise, the girl Mikasa saved all the way back in Season One.
Now devoted to following Eren, based on Mikasa’s example, Louise’s dedication in spite of military law causes Mikasa to remember Eren saving her all those years ago, through a mysterious headache.
However, Eren saving Mikasa is now painted in an even darker lens than it already was in that first season.
Eren has always been capable of committing atrocities and this flashback makes it very clear, even though the people who kidnapped Mikasa and killed her parents pretty much deserved it for what they did.
Along with Floch and Louise, there’s also Yelena, who is almost certainly involved in Eren’s schemes, based on Pyxis’ findings, yet, so far, she’s keeping her mouth closed.
There are a lot of decievers in this episode, making the title quite fitting, which is funny because it was actually swapped with the next episode’s title “Guides.”
While “Deceiver” does fit nicely for this episode, I wonder if “Guides” will end up doing so for Episode Twelve, considering that I can’t quite think of a way in which that title will suit its events.
Either way, “Deciever” is still a really good episode of Attack on Titan.
Not only does it have some great, emotional scenes for many of the titular decievers, but it also came with some fantastic animation, especially for the backgrounds.
The episode did make me want to slap Gabi but, again, I’m pretty sure that’s the point.

Attack on Titan Season Four, Episode Ten, A Sound Argument Review: Historia’s Sacrifice.

I remember reading Chapter 107 of Attack on Titan and feeling quite disappointed with the direction Hajime Isayama took Historia’s character.
To me, the idea of her sacrificing herself and any children she would have went against everything that her character development in the Uprising Arc was about, so to see her pregnant for this sacrifice plan really did not sit well with me.
Thankfully, with the benefit of hindsight as a manga reader, I now look on this scene, and the potential it has for the end of the story, a lot more favourably.
Historia’s sidelining after this point, though?
Well, I am pretty sure that I will always believe that was a mistake.
In any case, Episode Ten of Attack on Titan‘s final season, “A Sound Argument”, adapts both Chapter 107 and 108 well, albeit with a few hiccups.
Directed by Kaori Makita, the episode follows up on the serious cliffhanger from “Brave Volunteers”, which featured Eren standing in front of a mirror in his jail cell and proclaiming that he has to fight.
This is continued in the episode with a not so serious beginning, as Hange interrupts Eren’s talk with himself and humorously comments on it.
I had honesty forgotten how funny Hange could be but seeing her scenes adapted in the anime really drove it home for me, especially with this scene.
Just take a shot everytime she says “fight” during this conversation.
You will pass out in a matter of seconds.
It’s not all humorous, though, as Hange switches to serious, reminiscing on her talk with Eren about Titans, all the way back in Season One, and how he let her ramble on and on about pointless things.
However, these happy times are no more, unfortunately showcased by Hange’s next line about how she believed Eren would never sacrifice Historia.
From there, the episode delves into the flashback that puts Zeke’s supposed plan to save Eldia into motion.
This comes from a flashback of the Volunteers introducing Paradis to an ally, Kiyomi Azumabito from the nation of Hizuru.
It is through this flashback of her meeting those on Paradis that we learn not only the effect Zeke’s plan will have on Historia but also of Mikasa’s “importance” to Hizuru as well.
It is revealed that Mikasa in actually the descendant of a lost Shogun from Hizuru and thus essential to the nation.
This is proven through a tattoo Mikasa has on her hand.
Now, while my opinion about Historia’s pregnancy in the manga has gone from negative to more mixed over the years, my opinion on this scene has not, and the anime makes its reveal a little more problematic.
Mikasa being the descendant of a long lost Shogun always felt a little too convient to me, what with five Titan Shifters and the heir to the throne all coincidentally coming from the same training corps.
Not only this but Mikasa being important to Hizuru has so far amounted to absolutley nothing in the manga.
The anime makes this reveal even weaker with how its revealed, although that is not entirely Mappa’s fault.
You see, Mikasa having this tattoo should have been set up all the way back in Season One but, for whatever reason, Wit decided to remove it.
So, now that the tattoo is revealed in this episode, it has absolutley no buildup and feels like a retcon.
Following this reveal, we get a brief happy scene with Historia, where she is excited for Mikasa being important because it means she has someone to relate to.
Eren then comments that Historia looks happy, to which she replies that she is.
You know, just to drive the knife deeper into her hearts when she looks so unhappy with her pregnancy later in the episode.
The plan for this pregnancy is revealed in the flashback by Kiyomi, who reveals that Zeke gained her trust by gifting her with ODM Gear, which he got from Mike, who he gruesomely murdered all the way back in Season Two.
With the Ice Burst fuel as a resource, Zeke gives Hizuru a reason to get in bed with Paradis: profit.
This causes Mikasa to realize she is a pretext pretty easily and it is following this that Kiyomi reveals Zeke’s plan to save Eldia but also sacrifice Historia and her descendants.
Paradis will need 50 years to catch up with the rest of the world’s military technology and, in order for the island not to be attacked during that time, the threat of the Rumbling must be maintained.
Therefore, the Founding Titan and a Titan of royal blood must be passed down, meaning that Historia must have children who will then be sacrificed to the same fatal cycle that her family subjected themselves to for centuries, which, again, goes completley against all of Historia’s character development.
Historia agrees to this nonetheless and this is where Eren steps in, furiously proclaiming that Zeke can take his plan and shove it.
Eren’s reaction is a lot more volitle than it was in the manga here and I am personally all for that.
This violence is then continued when the episode cuts back to the present and Eren angrily attacks Hange, after telling her that since he has the Warhammer Titan, he can escape anytime he wants.
Eren furiously demands to know if Hange has some kind of backup plan, as Titan marks and sparks briefly flash up his face.
Hange backs off, playing off Eren’s lunge as a perverted move, before showing the audience how she feels depressed about the state of things, as she tells herself that Erwin made a terrible choice making her Commander.
After this scene, we get the big reveal of Historia’s pregnancy, with her looking dead inside, and a mysterious farmer telling her she needs to take better care of herself.
This farmer is apparently the father, according to members of the Military Police, including Nile, who are shown enjoying some wine togethor, before one drunk guy starts committing blasphemy by degrading Historia.
In all seriousness, this part of the episode was another problem I had with Historia’s pregnancy in the manga.
Historia just gets togethor with a random farmer who we have never seen and have no reason to care about, and also bullied her as a child, contributing to her suicidal ideology when we first met her in the story?
If the farmer is the father then, in my own opinion, this reveal was pretty poorly done.
However, notice that I said “if” because there are a lot of signs for this being a red herring.
Some of these signs, like Historia being said to have never married the farmer and also a panel of a mysterious, hooded figure watching Historia talk to the farmer, were cut in the actual episode.
Still, there are enough signs to make anime only viewers question it, just like us manga readers did.
Only time will tell if I am reading too much into these supposed signs or not.
One thing that is made explicitly obvious rather than just a sign, though, is Niccolo with the wine.
In the manga, this moment was subtle and some people did not pick up on it.
In the episode, however, Niccolo giving the Military Police officers the wine is highlighted by dark lighting and threatening music.
It makes it very obvious that something is up with the wine and I do wish it had been kept more subtle.
After this obvious scene, we get yet another flashback, to one of the last times Eren and his friends were truly happy, as they built a railway togethor, accompanied by a humorous background moment of Armin trying to stop Sasha from drinking all their water.
Levi and Hange show up, giving us another funny moment when levi is offended by how much taller the 104th has become, before Hange delivers the bad news that Hizuru is not willing to help Paradis negotiate with other nations because it wants their resources.
This most likely means they will have to sacrifice Historia, something that is already happening in the present time of the episode.
Yet, Hange has not given up hope and suggests sneaking into Marley to try and make connections because surveying is what the Scouts are all about.
This excites many of the 104th as they ride back on the train, which leads into a heart warming scene of them all discussing who should get Eren’s Titan when his 13 years are up.
Mikasa volunteers first but Jean counters this because she is still important to Hizuru and they don’t know if the Ackermans can become Titans.
Jean then says he would be best but Connie also counters this by saying he is too important and offers to take on the burden himself.
Next comes Sasha, who tells Connie that he is too much of an idiot to handle the responsibility, so she will do it, even though she doesn’t want to.
Connie fires back, declaring that she is just as much of an idiot as he is.
This leads to them both proving themselves idiots, as they comedically state, “Eh?” to each other in confusion.
Eren breaks this comedy by deciding he will not give the Titan to any of them because he wants them all to live long lives, leading to a whole lot of embarrassed blushing among the 104th, to which Armin blames on the sun after Jean yells at Eren about it.
Following this happy, heart warming flashback, it cuts back to the darker times where Mikasa, Armin, Connie and Jean are all reflecting on Eren’s actions, which lead to Sasha’s death.
Connie is particularly angered about this because of Eren laughing when he got the news, not aware that this is how he handles grief, and says they may have to cut Eren down if it comes down to it, which horrifies Mikasa.
Armin also says that the military may be planning to give Eren’s Founding Titan to someone they can trust, as the episode ends with shots of a suspicious looking Eren in his jail cell and even more suspicious Zeke at his “hotel”, still under careful watch from Levi.
Overall, “A Sound Argument” is a decent episode of Attack on Titan.
There are some great moments, like Eren and Hange’s scene and the flashback between the 104th.
However, some things I personally didn’t really like from the manga, like Mikasa’s convient importance that is actually not all that important, are kept and sometimes made weaker.
There are also a few animation issues here and there, like Pyxis’ bulbous head, which had a lot of people comparing him to Megamind.
Still, all in all, “A Sound Argument” is an enjoyable episode.

Attack on Titan, Season Four, Episode Seven, Assault Review: Attack on Nutcracker.

And here I thought “Declaration of War” was an incredible adaptation of the manga.
Well, in comparison, episode seven of Attack on Titan‘s final season, “Assault”, blew my expectations out of the water, in an episode that clearly surpassed the source material.
Way more dark and brutal than the two chapters it adapts, “Assault” is a visceral, heart pounding episode from start to finish that has me even more excited for how Mappa will adapt future chapters, some of which are the best in the entire manga.
Directed by Jun Shishido, the episode depicts the end of Eren and the Survey Corps’ horrific assault on the Liberio Internment Zone, where they completely demolish the Marleyan army and its prized Warriors.
Zeke, Pieck and Porco, all fall to the might of Eren and the Scouts, with only a severely injured Reiner left to stand against them by the end.
Before all of this craziness happens, though, “Assault” starts with an engaging beginning scene before the opening, hyping up the oncoming fight (if you can even call it that) between Levi and Zeke.
With Pieck and her panzer unit arriving to help Porco, numerous Scouts are cut down in a hail of gunfire, much to Mikasa and Levi’s horror.
However, Levi’s horror quickly turns to determination as his old enemy Zeke enters the battlefield and the epic fight between the two factions continues.
It is this fight that Falco emerges from the rubble to see, as Reiner managed to save them both by partially transforming when Eren began his attack.
However, Reiner is now in a bad state as a result of this attack and isn’t healing properly, which Falco realizes is because he has lost the will to live.
Reiner being absent puts the Warriors at even more of a disadvantage than they thought because, even though the Scouts are cornered in Marley, like Pieck points out, they have two aces up their sleeve.
The first of these aces comes in the form of the Colossal Titan himself, Armin, who launches an attack on the naval port, essentially tactical nuking it and killing hundreds if not thousands of people, unfortunately not all of them soldiers.
Armin sees this horror for himself because, after emerging from his Titan, he sees a small child in the rubble, looking up at him in horror, probably the same way he looked up in at the Colossal Titan when Bertholdt breached the wall, all those years ago.
How many innocent people did Armin kill in this attack?
All the haunted Armin knows for sure is that this horrifying experience is most likely what Bertholdt saw and felt on the day he broke the wall.
As for Armin’s Colossal Titan, I really have to applaud Mappa for making it look amazing as it did.
For one thing, it was entirely 2D, with not a hint of CGI.
Back when Wit Studio did their Colossal Titan in seasons two and three, it was entirely CGI to the point that it was slightly distracting but here it looked perfect.
As for the rest of the CGI in this episode, I thought it was fantastic as well.
Thankfully, the morons who threatened Mappa’s staff over the CGI last episode seem to have finally shut up about it now so this is a testament to how great everything looked.
Back to “Assault”, the second second ace the Scouts have up their sleeve is an airship that is flown to pick up the Scouts from Liberio, with Hange and a new character named Onyankopon in charge of flying it.
It is great to see Hange and Armin again, and their conversation about Armin’s planning being similar to Erwin’s shows how their character arcs will involve them trying to live up the legacy he left them with.
As for Onyankopon, I know from the manga that he is a pretty great side character, so I’m interested to see how he will be portrayed and voice acted in the anime.
In any case, their airship is a giant target, which is why it was so important for the Scouts to take the Warriors down before it got there, especially the Cart Titan with its Panzer Unit.
By the time the airship arrives, only Porco is left, Pieck and Zeke having been defeated.
Unfortunately for Porco, he screws up yet again and is defeated by Mikasa and Eren, leading to Eren using him to kill the Warhammer Titan.
I say “again” because the Warriors failing was 90% Porco’s fault here because of his complete arrogance in this battle.
Screw up number one for Porco: He doesn’t listen to Pieck telling him to stay back and protect Zeke, allowing both her and the war chief to be taken down by the Scouts.
Screw up number two: After seeing Pieck and Zeke have been defeated, he gives into his anger and attacks Eren in a blind rage, leading him to accidentally expose the Warhammer Titan’s weakness.
Finally, screw up number three: Porco doesn’t check his blind spot when going to attack Hange and Onyankopon’s airship, allowing Mikasa and Eren to dismember him, and then Eren uses him as a literal nutcracker to kill the Warhammer Titan and inherit her power.
Speaking of the nutcracker scene, wow, was that way more brutal and emotional compared to the manga.
The shots of Eren’s Titan looked absolutely demonic and the voice actor for Porco, Toshiki Masuda, did a fantastic job with showing Porco’s horror as he realized Eren is using him to kill Lara Tyber.
Another scene that is way more brutal than the manga is the deaths of the Panzer Unit, as it is shown that they have pictures of themselves and their family’s in their gun holes before they are killed by Sasha, Jean, and the other Scouts, making them much more sympathetic before they die.
Of course, there’s Armin’s attack on the port, which is also more horrifying, with the red glow giving it a real Evangalion vibe.
And then there’s the moment the episode hyped up right from the begging, Levi’s absolute slaughter of the Beast Titan.
Much like the first round, this couldn’t even be called a fight because Levi took the giant monkey down with just one hit, hatred glowing like a fire in his eyes.
Gabi, Falco and Magath then have to watch as Levi blows up the Beast Titan’s nape, supposedly with Zeke still inside, traumatizing the kids further.
The two have seen so much in the last few episodes, being betrayed and having their friends die in front of them, and this is only bringing them further into the black hole of hatred created for those on Paradis.
Gabi especially has fallen further down this rabbit hole of propaganda, now having the gate guards’ gun and declaring that she will kill Eren Jaeger.
Her and Falco’s voice actors also do an incredible job this episode, just like Porco’s, with their guttural screams for Reiner giving me chills.
It caused a response in Reiner as well, as he rises from the rubble, apparently ready to save Porco from being eaten and to face down Eren in round three.
Although, it doesn’t seem like this round will last very long considering that Reiner’s Titan is half formed, with much of its armor missing.
This is most likely due to his damaged state because of Eren’s transformation and his suicidal mindset, shown by his line of, “Why can’t you just let me die in peace!”
It does make for an epic cliffhanger, though, what with the intense music and great voice acting.
“Assault” is another brilliant episode in Attack on Titan‘s final season, delivering fantastic action, animation and voice acting.
I am now even more excited for the next episode, “Assassins’ Bullet”, and how well the chapter or chapters it covers could be adapted.

Attack on Titan, Season Four, Episode Six, The Warhammer Titan Review: Marley Receives a Grim Reminder.

After last weeks incredible adaptation of “Declaration of War”, I and many others were excited for the next episode of Attack on Titan‘s final season, the highly anticipated “The Warhammer Titan.”
Well, in my opinion, the episode did not disappoint, delivering on some epic action set pieces and some epic returns.
Directed by Atsuishi Tsukasa and Takahiro Kaneko, the episode follows up on Eren’s attack on Willy’s speech at the end of episode five with his own grim reminder to the people of Marley and the world at large, resulting in countless deaths.
Before we get to this, however, the episode thankfully begins with a flashback to Willy’s time before the festival and his inevitable demise at Eren’s hands.
I mentioned in my review of “Declaration of War” that it would be unfortunate if Willy’s flashback scene with Magath was cut because it explains the motivations of both men perfectly.
After seeing the episode, I can say that I approve of the writers’ decision to move this flashback to the beginning of episode six because it works much better here.
Not only does ir allow Willy and Magath’s prior actions to become understandable with hindsight but it also adds an anime only scene that sees Willy say goodbye to his wife and many children, knowing full well that this is the last time he will see them all.
Following Willy’s goodbye, which serves to make his character even more sympathetic than he was in the manga, we finally get his conversation with Magath, explaining their actions in the previous episodes.
Willy dying during the speech at Eren’s hands was a planned, calculated move by Willy and Magath to get the rest of the world on their side, and potentially the interned Eldians’ side as well, by making those at the festival “tragic victims. Victims of an “unforeseen attack.””
Magath has his doubts about this because of the potential number of casualties but Willy counters this by reminding Magath of his bias against Eldians and how they will be among the dead so he just needs to do as he always has done.
This brings an unexpected reaction from Magath because, while admitting that he believes Eldians are the descendants of devils, he also tells Willy, “there’s no doubt that we are devils ourselves.”
His comment here shows that he is different from most Marleyans because they would go on about how much better they are than those “devil spawn”, yet Magath chooses to believe he is also a devil because of his actions.
He definitely still has his prejudices that need to be worked over, but he shows probably more self awareness here than any Marleyan we have seen so far.
With this comment, Magath and Willy shake hands and the screen cuts to black, before the chilling sound of Eren’s roar is heard, and the episode cuts to Willy’s mutilated body being eaten like a piece of popcorn by Eren’s Titan.
As the crowd looks on in absolute horror, Eren turns to look at them, with his horrifying face making him look the devil itself.
From here, Eren’s attack on the world’s leaders, and unfortunate civilians who happen to be in attendance, continues, as he launches himself into the seats holding Marley’s military leaders, including the lead one from episode two.
He wanted a flying Titan?
Well, he got one, as Eren jumps into the air and then crashes down on him and many other military officers, killing all of them.
Unfortunately, it is not just these military leaders that are killed but children as well, with Zofia and Udo also falling victim to Eren’s horrific attack.
Zofia is crushed under a rock, so at least her end is quick and painless.
Sadly, this is not the case for Udo because he is slowly trampled to death in a stampede by the fleeing crowd, with his head literally missing a chunk.
This episode really has distressing imagery, as was highlighted by the opening warning, and this is showcased perfectly by the arrival of the titular Warhammer Titan, who is revealed to be Willy’s sister, Lara.
She is not given much time to transform because Eren wastes no times punching her right through a building, and then repeatedly smashes her face in his with hardened hands, which is where the bloody imagery comes in.
I’m really surprised the bloody remains of the Warhammer Titan’s face wasn’t censored but, at the same time, I’m so glad that it wasn’t because it perfectly suits the dark tone of this episode and the story to come.
Hopefully, this means other instances of disturbing or gory imagery won’t be censored.
Such censorship seems less likely though because of how much darker the Warhammer Titan’s counter attack is than it is in the manga.
She not only impales Eren on a giant spike, like she does in the manga, but there is also an anime only scene of civilians getting crushed by the debris created from this, including the drunk and the store owner we briefly met in episode four.
This massive amount of destruction alerts Pieck and Porco about what is going on from their entrapment.
However, the two of them are not out of the fight for long because it is revealed that Pieck managed to alert the Panzer Unit to the mysterious soldier who trapped them last episode.
Now that they have been rescued by Pieck’s simp squad, the two warriors are ready to join the fight and outnumber Eren, putting him at a disadvantage.
At least, this was their intention but it definitely does not work out because, right before they can formulate their plan of attack, the Scouts fly overhead, having got Eren’s letter and come to help his attack.
This results in an epic entrance from Mikasa, as she saves Eren when is he about to be killed by the Warhammer Titan, with the hype declaration from Eren, “now or never, Mikasa.”
It’s not the happy reunion we would hope for though because Mikasa is horrified that Eren has not just called civilians but children as well.
Her tearful expression as she says this is a perfect adaptation from the manga, one that doesn’t seem to affect Eren much, unless he’s internalizing all of his pain caused by his own actions.
In any case, if Eren does have such feelings of guilt he has to push them aside to fight the Warhammer Titan, which has mysteriously recovered from its nape being blown up.
In order to have its true weak point exposed, Eren has Mikasa distract the Warhammer Titan in the hopes that he can eventually eat it, thus securing its powers.
While this is happening, the episode takes the time to reintroduce all of the scouts that we know and love.
Well, at least in the case of Jean, Sasha and Connie because there is still the morally questionable Floch around, justifying him and his squad’s attack on civilians by saying Eren is a devil, who’s example is one they should follow.
Jean rightly puts him in his place, after being epically reintroduced by taking down a, Marleyan soldier, which is unfortunately all in CGI, more on this later.
As for the reintroduction of Connie and Sasha, this takes an even darker route, as Sasha snipes the two Marleyan guards who were actually nice to Gabi, right in front of her, before departing with Connie, after they place signal lights on the building.
This grim reminder for Marley will certainly create a lot of Eren types, ready for revenge against Paradis, and Gabi is definitely one of them, as evidenced by her gritting her teeth in rage so hard that we can literally hear them rattling, followed by her grabbing one of the dead guard’s rifles.
Back to the fight between Mikasa and the Warhammer Titan, Eren has used her distraction to finally locate Lara Tyber, who is under the stage because the Warhammer Titan’s user can exist outside the main body and control the form with a cord.
Eren swan dives off the building and grabs this cord, although before this there is a slight inconsistency of Eren’s right pants leg having mysteriously grown back.
That’s only a small thing though because the action of the episode drew me right back into the moment, as Eren pulls Lara out from under the stage in a crystal, much like Annie after she was captured, and disconnects her from her Titan.
Before he can eat her though, Porco interrupts, catching Eren unawares and ready to eat him.
He would have succeeded it to had it not been for Levi himself, who cuts Porco’s jaw so he can’t bite down, forcing him to flee.
Not that he gets very far because a Thunder Spear blows him right off the building and he is quickly surrounded by the battle hardened scouts.
Porco is both confused and horrified about how the scouts are going to try and kill him, not understanding because he thought himself superior as a Titan.
Well, the scouts have just proved him wrong, moving in to slaughter him.
Porco was definitely right about one thing though, these are “the devils of Paradis” as Levi looks especially demonic, rushing in to kill Porco and bringing an exciting cliffhanger for the episode.
So, overall, a fantastic episode, no problems, right?
Oh, how I wish this was the case because now we have to talk about fandom toxicity.
Every fandom has its toxic side but Attack on Titan‘s reared its ugly head in the aftermath of this episode.
A lot of the episode was CGI, from the Titans to the Scouts, and this angered many “fans” to the point that they harassed not only the directors and animators of the episode, but people who didn’t have anything to do with the episode, like “Declaration of War’s” director.
No matter what you may think of the CGI, attacking someone over it is never acceptable.
Criticize all you want but never harass.
Personally speaking, I didn’t even think the CGI was that bad for the most part, especially with the Titans.
Does it look as good as Wit’s 2D Titans?
No, but it still looks good, even spectacular at times.
If anything, my main problem with the CGI is its usage on the Scouts, like during Jean’s introduction.
The CGI there looks particularly sketchy to the point that I was drawn out of the scene for a couple of seconds.
However, most of these CGI for the Scouts come in quick shots, not giving viewers time to notice, unless they deliberately paused certain moments, so it mostly works fine.
Even though I do have a bit of a problem with the CGI on the Scouts though, I still think the CGI is good overall and nothing to get angry over.
In any case, it is certainly never okay to attack Mappa staff, even if the CGI were atrocious, which, again, I don’t think it is.
So, all in all, “The Warhammer Titan” is a great follow up to last week’s amazing “Declaration of War.”
I can’t wait to see how the remaining chapters of the Marley Arc are adapted and hopefully there won’t be any more toxicity surrounding it.

Attack on Titan Season Four, Episode One: The Other Side of the Sea Review – A Fantastic New Beginning.

WARNING: MAY CONTAIN MANGA SPOILERS.

It’s finally here!
After over a year of waiting, Mappa has delivered the first episode of Attack on Titan’s final season, “The Other Side of the Sea,” and, boy, is it a good one.
Honestly, coming into this episode, I had concerns.
There has been a number of leaks about production hell at Mappa with how complex the character designs are so I was worried the animation would suffer.
However, Mappa and directors Yūichirō Hayashi and Jun Shishido thankfully pulled it off, delivering a fantastic first episode that gave me a new appreciation for Chapters 91 and 92 of the manga, which the episode adapts.
Directed by Kaori Makita, “The Other Side of the Ocean” picks up four years after the defeat of the Warriors on Paradis, introducing us to a whole slew of new characters, starting with Falco (Hanae Natsuki), an Eldian warrior candidate caught in the middle of the final battle of a war.
The opening scene introducing him and his brother Colt (Masaya Matsukaze) is fantastic, with the ringing of Falco’s ears, the intense music, and the brutal imagery of the brothers’ fellow soldiers being cut down in a hail of bullets.
The war the two are involved in is Marley’s attempt to defeat the Mid-East Allied Forces by destroing their forces at Fort Salta; the Mid-East Allied Forces being a series of countries who banded together to attack Marley after they were defeated at Paradis four years ago.
This information is delivered to us in admittedly shoddy exposition, with the convenient excuse of Falco losing his memory due to a probable concussion.
Thankfully, it is a brief scene so it is not too much of a problem.
Also, this does give the episode time to introduce its other new characters, Gabi (Ayane Sakura), Udo (Ayumu Murase), Zofia (Yumi Kawashima), and Commander Magath (possibly Yukitoshi Hori), all of whom are greatly adapted from the manga.
Gabi is especially well done, with Ayane Sakura bringing the character to life perfectly because I already can’t imagine another voice actress playing her and I’m probably going to hear her voice whenever I read Gabi’s lines in the story.
Following these introductions, Gabi reveals she, Falco, Udo and Zofia are being considered by Magath for the role of the next Armoured Titan.
It is after this that we get the Final Season OP, “My War” by Shinsei Kamattechan.
Honestly, on my first listen, I was kind of unsure about it but, after repeat views, I think it’s a great opening for the Marley Arc, with amazing lyrics, and some chilling visuals towards the end.
I suppose my biggest criticism of it would be that it does occasionally use repeated shots of explosions and I think there should have been some variety.
Once the OP closes, we get the the beginning of the epic battle, with Gabi coming up with a plan to take down the Armoured Train, which is a threat to even the nine Titans, all by herself.
This plan goes off without a hitch, with Gabi destroying the Armoured Train before Falco dives in to protect her from machine gun fire.
He needn’t have tried though because the new Jaw Titan, Galliard, who has one of my favourite Titan designs, shows up to save them.
We also get a look at the Cart Titan, which has had its own upgrades in the four-year time skip, with machine guns mounted on its back to shoot at oncoming soldiers.
It is during this time that Falco saves an enemy soldier, only for him to call the Warrior candidates “devils,” showing how strong the hatred for Eldians is outside Paradis, even from their own people, as Gabi so obviously displays by how brainwashed she is into hating the Paradisian Eldians.
Then, we get the most epic moment of the episode as, in a perfect adaption, Eldians are parachuted down from an airship carrying Reiner (Yoshimasa Hosoya) and Zeke (Takehito Koyasu).
The latter lets out a vicious roar, turning all of the falling Eldians into Titans, who crash down onto Fort Slava to a great soundtrack, which we saw a hint of in the final season trailer.
Reiner jumping down and wiping out the Mid-East Allied Forces’ soldiers with the help of Galliard, then protecting Zeke from a navy bombardment, followed by Zeke destroying that navy, were all moments that left my jaw on the floor, in terms of their quality.
One slight criticism I do have about sequence is the CGI.
Basically, almost all of the Titans in this episode are CGI and, while this looks great on some Titans like Galliard and Reiner, it looks a little off for the Beast Titan in certain shots.
However, this CGI is certainly nowhere as bad as WIT’s CGI Colossal Titan and it did not lessen my enjoyment of the events so, even if the quality of the Titans remains the same throughout the rest of the anime, I will be completely fine with that.
Following the end of the battle, we get the ED, “Shock” by Yuko Ando, which is another banger and has plenty of cool symbolism for upcoming events.
An intriguing anime only scene accompanies this song, which appears to show Jean having infiltrated Marley, hyping up a future battle that I hope is done justice with the adaptation.
This was not the only anime only scene in this episode though because there were multiple ones and, in my opinion, almost all of them improved the adaptation.
There were the anime original portrayals of the horrors of war, like traumatized Eldian soldiers, including one kissing a locket supposedly containing a photo of his loved ones, a squad of what appeared to be forced suicide bombers, and a single soldier climbing atop countless corpses.
Then there’s the added set pieces, like when Reiner has to destroy a second Armoured Train, which he then used to destroy the enemy canons, when in the manga there was no second train and Reiner used a radio tower to destroy the canons.
Another interesting change is the character redesign for Koslow.
In the manga, he looks like a normal guy but they adapted the design in the adaptation, making him pudgy and ugly, probably to make him seem like an evil caricature.
Thankfully, Koslow is a minor character with no importance in the plot so this character design change is not one I particularly mind.
What is definitely the most interesting deviation from the manga, though, is Falco, while concussed, saying that he dreamed he was flying around with a sword, fighting Titans.
This is quite a shocking change because it seems to be heavily implying that Falco is seeing the memories of one of the Scouts, most likely Eren’s.
If this is true, then this anime only scene may be crucial to predicting the manga’s ending, which I will discuss in my predictions for Chapter 136.
Overall, “The Other Side of the Sea” is a fantastic start to the final season that I actually think surpassed the manga, with its great adaptation of the source material and brilliant anime original scenes.
I was a bit worried about the adaptation going in but Mappa definitely proved themselves here and I hope they can keep up the quality in the 16 episodes to come.
Yes, I did say 16, because that seems to be how many episodes we will get, based off leaks, at least for now.
Since this is nowhere enough chapters to fully adapt the story without it being rushed and thus poorly adapted, this would spell certain doom for the final season were it not leaked that the pacing of this season will be around two chapters an episode.
Given this, the pacing will most likely be fine and we will probably get a second part of the season months from now, or maybe a movie or two to finish the adaptation.
No matter what happens though, I hope Mappa can keep up to the standard they have set with this episode and deliver a fitting final season to my favourite story of all time.

Attack on Titan The Final Season Trailer Reaction: Excited yet Concerned.

And so it begins.
After months of rumors and speculation, we finally have a new poster and trailer for Attack on Titan‘s final season.
Speaking of the poster first, I will say that it is absolutely incredible.
It parallels season one’s poster perfectly and is definitely one I can see hanging up on my wall.
As for the new trailer, it finally reveals that Wit Studio is passing on the anime adaptation to Mappa Studio to finish.
And, of course, with the studio change comes a different animation style.
Admittedly, I was initially unsure how I felt about it but, after watching the trailer multiple times, I kind of dig it.
It’s clear they were trying to emulate the manga’s style and they definitely succeeded, for the most part.
Another cool thing about the animation is how much of it is not static.
I was afraid there would be quite a few still images based off how much movement is in certain shots but this issue was virtually nonexistent, at least from what the trailer shows us.
Along with this, I was shocked about what the animation showed as well, and this is one of my few criticisms of the trailer because it did spoil some very recent events in the manga.
Still, I’m sure that without the context many anime only viewers will have no idea what they are looking, so I’m sure it’ll be fine.
What is more concerning is the limited role of prior seasons’ Director, Tetsurō Araki, and composer, Hiroyuki Sawano.
While both do apparently have a part in making it, new director Yūichirō Hayashi and new composer, Kohta Yamamoto, look to be taking the reigns for the final season.
Granted, I don’t know too much about either of these people, and they could do a fantastic job but Araki and Sawano did such an amazing job with their directing and music in the first three seasons that I am concerned about their lessened roles.
I can say though that the music, animation and direction for the trailer is stellar so, hopefully, this is a sign that Mappa will be able to do the manga justice.
It has also been confirmed that what was shown in this trailer was animated solely for the trailer, which I am honestly both relieved and slightly nervous about.
On the one hand, there are images from all way up to Chapter 122 and there is no way they could have animated that already if there were more than 20 episodes.
Seeing this scared me into believing we might just end up with another Tokyo Ghoul: Re situation but knowing it was animated for the trailer makes me feel a lot better.
Another thing this gives them time to fix is some character designs that look a little off, like Porco and Levi’s, and an added fourteenth finger pointing at Ymir, which ruins the symbolism this scene had in the manga.
However, on the other hand, a lot of this animation was fantastic and a part of me is concerned we might not get the same excellent quality when the season finally airs.
Although, this fear has no evidence behind it, it is just my paranoia getting the better of me, so, hopefully, it will turn out fine.
This trailer also gives us a first look at many of the new characters like Falco, Gabi, Pieck, Colt, Udo, Zofia, and Willy, who all look amazing in the new animation style.
We also got to hear the voice actors for Falco, Gabi and Willy, who all sound great.
The opening shot of the trailer with Falco looking up at the bird and telling it that it needs to fly away sent chills down my spine.
Another fantastic moment was the final shot of the trailer, which looks to be Eren and Reiner fighting in Shiganshina during Chapter 117.
However, their outfits are from the Marley Arc here so this is likely another shot made just for the trailer.
Yet, it is such an amazing shot that I hope they actually create something like it for the adaptation of that chapter.
One shot I was not a fan of though was the shadowed version of Reiner’s suicide attempt.
Sadly, it looks like they will be censoring this scene, lessening its impact.
But, for every iffy moment in the trailer, there is a great moment that makes up for it, like the teases to Chapter 100, which I just cannot wait to see animated because, if adapted right, it will be one of the series’ best episodes.
I also cannot wait to see the entirety of Volume 30 adapted because, in my opinion, Chapters 119-122 are the best writing Hajime Isayama has ever given us.
I wonder if the season will be split up into two cores, like Season Three, or if they will do it all in one go and pull a Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood by having the anime end at the same time as the manga.
Either way, I believe the final season needs to be 25 episodes or more if it is going to adequately adapt the remaining story.
Let’s hope Studio Mappa can live up to Wit Studio and Hajime Isayama’s legacy.

Game of Thrones, Season Eight, Episode Five, The Bells Review: As One Mad Queen Falls, Another Rises.

Well, this was a controversial episode.
You only need look at the numerous scathing reviews fans have given Game of Thrones’ penultimate episode, “The Bells”, directed by Miguel Sapochnik, to see how they think the story is going.
By far the biggest point of contention with the episode is where the writing took Daenerys’ (Emilia Clarke) character.
After defeating Cersei’s (Lena Headey) army and the Golden Company with very little effort, she suddenly goes insane and burns down most of Kings Landing, killing thousands of innocent people
Many fans are saying that this horrendous act is completely out of character for Dany,
however, in my opinion, that is not the case.
I still think the writing is bad here but for a different reason.
It has been hinted at on numerous occasions that Dany would become like her father.
In fact, it was quite obvious to me this was going to be where they took her character because I literally titled my review for the previous episode, “The Beginning of the Mad Queen.”

burning King's Landing — I think it was pretty obvious that Dany was going to go full Mad Queen after last week’s episode.

So, if I think Dany doing this is in character, why do I think this is bad writing?
Well, that comes down to how unconvincing the scene where Dany decides to do this is.
After the city surrenders, showing they are no threat, Dany glares at the Red Keep, before heading off towards it.
As a result, it makes it appear that she is going to kill Cersei for all she has done… only for her to burn thousands of innocent civilians instead.
Why she decided to target these people instead of her ultimate enemy first is beyond me.
What is worse, I feel they could have easily made this scene work.
Remember when Rhaegal was killed out of nowhere by the Scorpion last episode?
Well, since it made absolutely no sense for Dany to make such quick work of them after losing her other dragon so easily, maybe this could be her reason for burning down Kings Landing.
In this version Rhaegal is helping Dany take King’s Landing when the bells sound.
Dany halts her attack, only for a trigger happy soldier, or maybe someone acting on Cersei’s orders, to shoot Rhaegal down with a hidden Scorpion where all the civilians are.
Enraged and paranoid about where other Scorpions may be, Dany resolves to destroy the city no matter the cost.
This would help her actions make more sense I feel.
But, as I said, I do think her turning mad was setup well.
It is just the scene itself that I feel is poorly written.
So, I do not hate this bit as much as other people.
No, the thing I hate most about this episode is what they did to Jamie Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), throwing all of his development out the window, just like he did Bran.

Jamie dies — Jaime’s death in this episode is very underwhelming and feels like a contradiction to his character.

First of all, the fight between him and Euron is absolutely stupid.
There is little to no build up and no satisfaction in this fight, due to Euron (Pilou Asbaek) being such a terrible character.
Then there is Jamie’s loving reunion with Cersei, which is weird considering she ordered Bronn to kill him for some reason.
The two then try to flee King’s Landing, only to be trapped underground and crushed by rocks while holding onto each other.
Now, while this was somewhat satisfying for Cersei, it did not feel that way for Jamie.
What did he even do this season?
He just ran off to help in a fight he was not needed in and returned to Cersei just do die.
What happened to all that buildup with him getting his good deeds book fulfilled?
All in all, it felt like they really dropped the ball with Jaime’s writing this episode.
Even the best scene of the episode, where Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) and Jamie say their final goodbye, does not ring true to Jamie’s character because he says he does not care if innocent people die, which goes against what we know about him.
It is a shame too because, like I said, this scene is great, with both actors giving a great performance, especially Dinklage.
Sadly, Varys (Conleth Hill) also feels badly written in this episode because he is captured and killed pretty easily.
The Varys of previous seasons would have left long before he was arrested.
Then there is Arya (Maisie Williams) who I am pretty sure has infinite plot armor because of how many unsurvivable things she somehow lived through this episode.
Again, I know I am complaining a lot about the writing of the episode, but the cinematography, action, and acting are all superb.
The scene between Tyrion and Jamie is the most touching of the season.
We finally got Cleganebowl in all of its epic glory, with both Sandor (Rory McCann) and Gregor fittingly dying in fire.
Although Dany’s reasoning for burning down King’s Landing is badly written, her actually doing it is horrifying to watch and well filmed.
Then there is Emilia Clarke who gives a great performance as Dany, really selling the madness.

Crazy Dany — Even though the scene where Dany decides to burn King’s Landing down did not work from a writing standpoint, Emilia Clarke still did a magnificent job.

The shot of her face as she decides to go on her mass killing spree is chilling.
She looks set to be the villain of the final episode, with Jon, Tyrion, Arya and Davos about to probably face off against her.
It will be interesting to see if this final episode is enough to earn back the fans’ good will.
But, with all the hate this final season is getting, I doubt it.