• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Attack on Titan Season 3 |OT| Part 2 now airing!

Mista

Banned
Bro I know your struggle. I think the only show that manages to capture the magic DESPITE me knowing what happens next from reading manga is My Hero Academia. I refuse to read one punch man manga cause I LOVE the show so much. Attack on Titan as a show is just moving so SLOW that I am excited but I also care far less.
YES! EXACTLY! I guess you understood what I meant and that’s good
 

manfestival

Member
finally got around to watching this episode. I was waiting for this moment on the show since I read it in the books. They really did a great job delivering the speech. I think they just needed to end the scene properly rather than with some sorta suspenseful cliffhanger but I GET why they did it.
 

O-N-E

Member
Hoping Armin isn't dead. Not as many people on the reddit discussion thread bewailing his death as I thought there'd be. If you think about it, Armin has been like a superweapon this whole time with his madman strategies. Hopefully he's somehow revived with the titan potion and eats Reiner or Bertholt. My guess is Hange is gonna feed Reinhardt to him, assuming Bertholt will be easier to break for info.

People who've read the manga don't spoil it for me please. :messenger_smiling_with_eyes:
 

kiiltz

Member
Hoping Armin isn't dead. Not as many people on the reddit discussion thread bewailing his death as I thought there'd be. If you think about it, Armin has been like a superweapon this whole time with his madman strategies. Hopefully he's somehow revived with the titan potion and eats Reiner or Bertholt. My guess is Hange is gonna feed Reinhardt to him, assuming Bertholt will be easier to break for info.

People who've read the manga don't spoil it for me please. :messenger_smiling_with_eyes:
Yeah that's what I'm thinking too.

There's one strain left though so it has to be between Erwin and Armin (I just realised how similar their names are lmao).

Dun dun duuunnnn theory time.

Levi mentions to them about the strain, they fight over who to use it on then it breaks and it's used on no one leading to that flash forward last court.

That episode was fucking nuts and LMAO at Levi owning Dio.
 

O-N-E

Member
Well, I was partially right. Fucking Reiner really is lucky with that getaway. And yeah, Levi made the right choice. It was an awful choice, but what they need is someone who's as strong-headed as Erwin that inspires the troops and Armin helping out with the tactics.
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
Didn't have a chance to catch up with E3 madness going, but just watched. Hmm, so a flashback arc eh. Getting painful to watch one episode at a time!

Obvious symbolism there with the armbands. AoT does worldbuilding well so I'm fine with the change of directions.
 

O-N-E

Member
I'm thinking blonde teen from the preview is Zeke.

So now it seems that straight up racism could be the biggest factor in the war. I was wondering before if maybe the humans behind the walls were diseased somehow, which made them a target of the outside society, but now it seems it could just be this universe's Jew-hate equivalent.
 

O-N-E

Member
Today I learned that before the Final Solution, the Nazis had the Madagascar Plan.

You know, if the Eldians were waging a genocidal war for 2000 years, they were pretty bad at genocide. Especially considering they had superpowers on their side.
 
Last edited:

kiiltz

Member

Article has manga spoilers so I'll grab the "important" parts.

Despite being wowed by Studio WIT’s dynamic visuals and that undeniably badass first opening theme song, I could never get into Attack on Titan. But having read the entire manga, I acknowledge Isayama has some strengths. For one thing, his pencils are filled with pure energy and his inks are very good at capturing the pure horror that envelops the characters time and time again. For another, the tension successfully generated before each big plot twist is enviable. All these elements are only emboldened in Kodansha Comics’ English-language release, with Ko Ransom & Sheldon Drzka’s nuanced translations and the legendary Steve Wands’ potent lettering.

But well-dressed aesthetics and pacing can only do so much before you start to notice the ideas bubbling underneath the surface. Isayama’s work is full of anti-Korean, nationalist, pro-Japan subtext, parallels to anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, and subtextual references to Nazi Germany.

For one thing, there’s the so-called Pure Titans: that is, the random Titans that menace our characters throughout the series. Nude, creepily smiling cannibals, these Pure Titans are mindless, not even needing to eat to live so much as for fun. Many of them have grotesque or exaggerated features, from short arms to giant heads to ... large noses. And then there’s the Eldians living in ghettos, wearing star-embroidered armbands.

For another, military might is presented as the strongest, truest power of all. This goes far and beyond the typical theme in Japanese action media of the group of friends banding together, doing their best, and changing the world. Frequently, the military — particularly the Survey Corps that Eren and the rest of the main cast belong to — is presented as full of pure rational-decision makers and unquestioned commanders. The clearly unhinged soldiers, like Titan researcher Zoë Hange and the goofball Sasha Blouse, are mocked. But the certitude that they should lead is never interrogated.

Stepping back from the text itself, to what Isayama has said about the text, there are all sorts of uncomfortable parallels to real-world history. In a 2010 blog post, Isayama (who has always maintained the series was inspired by an incident where he was accosted by a large, drunk foreign man at a cafe) admitted that a supporting character, wily general Dot Pixis, was based on real-life Japanese general Akiyama Yoshifuru, who served in the Japanese Imperial Army from 1916-1923. Considered a hero in Japan — with Isayama admitting he found the general an admirable figure — for his actions in the First Sino-Japanese War, Yoshifuru was responsible for countless atrocities against Korea and China during Japanese occupations.

"ISAYAMA ADMITTED THAT A SUPPORTING CHARACTER WAS BASED ON REAL-LIFE JAPANESE GENERAL AKIYAMA YOSHIFURU"

As the popular advice blog Ask a Korean detailed in 2007, said anti-Korean atrocities (continued long after Yoshifuru’s retirement) included the murder of then-Empress Myeong-Seong, rioting and massacring of thousands of Koreans living in Kanto after the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, and the notorious “Comfort Women,” a euphemism for the hundreds of thousands of Korean women and girls who were kidnapped and used as sex slaves by the Japanese army (something widely acknowledged by everyone but the Japanese government). With that and the earlier, centuries-long history of hatred between Japan and Korea, small wonder then that when Isayama revealed Yoshifuru as an inspiration, and got into a Twitter flame war where he appeared to deny the notorious Nanjing Massacre, he was swarmed by death threats from Koreans.

For its part, China has simply banned Attack on Titan outright.

But why now?

These parallels haven’t been lost on the viewing and reading public. In an essay for Women Write About Comics shortly after the anime began, writer Vernieda Vergara pointed out that Isayama is old enough to have lived through the Great Recession (and, it should be noted, grew up during and after Japan’s 1990s economic bubble burst). The rise of his work also coincides with the election of current Japanese prime minister and right-wing militarist Shinzo Abe, who infamously reinterpreted Article 9 of Japan’s constitution — written by the U.S. after WWII, it forbids Japan from having a standing army — to give Japan the ability to increase its self-defense forces and attack when one of its allies is attacked.

But why are people seemingly only upset now, with the anime no longer at the peak of popularity and the manga winding down? Well, for one, the series still has a devoted fanbase. For another, we live in a world where hate groups, authoritarianism and nationalism are on the rise from the U.S. to Japan and beyond. And finally, since Titan exploded onto the scene, there’s been a surge of anime with right-wing leanings, from GATE (a sci-fi show centered around heroic JSDF agents that was actually used as recruitment material by the Japanese army) to the reemergence of the notorious Happy Science cultand the propagandistic anime films they fund to the themes some found in 2018’s Studio Trigger hit Darling in the Franxx.

Put simply, this stuff is on people’s minds and the signs are relatively easy to spot. As for why the outrage seems to occur in cycles? Well, like any popular Japanese property, there’s always the crowd who read the manga first and then the anime-only crowd. Given anime’s long production time — and Titan’s arduous cycle in particular (with a four year gap between the first and second seasons) — conversations about its themes are bound to take some time to resurface. Combine that with Titan’s staggered release across Crunchyroll, FunimationNOW, then DVD, then later Adult Swim, and this is a cycle that will keep happening.

Now, no one can clearly say what Isayama’s true intentions are except for him. But it’s hard to ignore the underpinnings of dystopian fiction when it stares you in the face. It looms over you like the Colossal Titan, serving as a reminder that, even in fiction (maybe especially in fiction), we have a responsibility as consumers to fully engage with what a story might be trying to say. And to consider whether that’s a message we want to hear.

lol.

(manga spoilers edited out)
 
Last edited by a moderator:

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
No manga spoilers in this thread, please. Editing out.

Anyway...

What a horseshit article by a brain-addled farce of a human being. AoT is right-wing (and therefore evil) because it portrays some soldiers (but not others) as competent and rational? And because some of the soldiers are inspired by real world historic soldiers who did bad things?

For its part, China has simply banned Attack on Titan outright.

A badge of honor, if anything.

Go away, Polygon.
 

O-N-E

Member
So in the reddit discussion thread, someone posted an interesting factoid connected to the latest 13 year curse reveal.

So the first King behind the walls was the 145th King. 13 * 145 = 1885. Since the present time, humanity (Eldians) has been behind the walls for 107 years. 1885 + 107 = 1992. Eren has 8 years left to live. 1992 + 8 = 2000. The first episode and first chapter of AoT is called "To you, 2000 years from now."

So that has people theorizing that something big might happen on the year Eren is supposed to die. Obviously Ymir related.

Biggest takeaway: Reiner will finally die.
 
Last edited:
I'm not a fan of the cut dialogue. It wasn't detrimental, but it bothered me.

I recommend reading the chapters 86 to 89, which this episode ends, to not miss anything
 
Last edited:

O-N-E

Member
After watching the final S3 episode, two images from the S2 ending seem relevant for me. One is the titans coming out of the water to attack a city

tw0l0RV.jpg


The other is a group of humans waking up naked in the middle of nowhere. Like Ymir after waking up from her 60 year pure titan nightmare.
CFiIoDG.jpg


So with regards to the first image, it could be a cool image seeing the Colossal Titan coming out of the water and towering over the Marleyans as the next season opener. Would parallel the first episode of the show well.

As for the second image.... Eren showing mercy to the helpless titan this episode made me think that perhaps they'll find a way to reverse the titan transformation without having to eat one of the 9 intelligent titans. Think about the millions of titans in the wall. Did King Fritz force them all to sacrifice their lives completely? Or did they do it as volunteers knowing that there's a possible way out in the future?

Finally, season 4 has been announced for next year and is apparently the final season (though maybe also split up like S3?). Everyone looks quite different in the video for the announcement.

 

Rentahamster

Rodent Whores
In the flashback scene when Reiner, Bertholt, and Annie leave Marco to get eaten, am I supposed to know why they're surprised he's getting eaten, or is that still an unknown in the anime?
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
In the flashback scene when Reiner, Bertholt, and Annie leave Marco to get eaten, am I supposed to know why they're surprised he's getting eaten, or is that still an unknown in the anime?

He saw them acting covertly, and started asking dangerous questions. They killed him to cover their tracks.
 

O-N-E

Member
In the flashback scene when Reiner, Bertholt, and Annie leave Marco to get eaten, am I supposed to know why they're surprised he's getting eaten, or is that still an unknown in the anime?

No-one is surprised about that except Reiner. He compartmentalized his two personas, so when he saw Marco being eaten, his Survey Corps persona was confused and panicking. His comrades were disturbed by his reaction.
 

Rentahamster

Rodent Whores
He saw them acting covertly, and started asking dangerous questions. They killed him to cover their tracks.
Oh I know why they killed him, but didn't Reiner say something like, "They're eating him???? :messenger_open_mouth:" That seemed strange because he should have known that would have happened.
No-one is surprised about that except Reiner. He compartmentalized his two personas, so when he saw Marco being eaten, his Survey Corps persona was confused and panicking. His comrades were disturbed by his reaction.
Oh is that all? Maybe I have to rewatch some of the earlier seasons again, but his internal conflict didn't seem that clear cut to me before.
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
Oh I know why they killed him, but didn't Reiner say something like, "They're eating him???? :messenger_open_mouth:" That seemed strange because he should have known that would have happened.

Oh is that all? Maybe I have to rewatch some of the earlier seasons again, but his internal conflict didn't seem that clear cut to me before.

Oh, right. Yeah, what O-N-E said, he compartmentalized into subpersonalities, which started to crack more later on.

Check out the crazy reveal episode on the wall, Senshi, where Reiner reveals the secret to Eren. He's pretty mentally unstable there, and goes full crazy town a few eps later when they capture Eren and are hiding out in the woods:

 

bigedole

Member
So is it clear what studio will be working on the final season? Seems like a short timeline to swap to a new production team, and WIT has been soooooo good. I really hope WIT stays on and gives this the finale it needs. AoT has the chance to be in the same conversation as FMA:B as far as legendary shounen shows go.
 

Rentahamster

Rodent Whores
Check out the crazy reveal episode on the wall, Senshi, where Reiner reveals the secret to Eren. He's pretty mentally unstable there, and goes full crazy town a few eps later when they capture Eren and are hiding out in the woods:
Oh yeah that's right. I guess I should watch season 2 again.
 
AoT has the chance to be in the same conversation as FMA:B as far as legendary shounen shows go.
In terms of production values AoT utterly annihilates FMA Brotherhood. Not really sure how I feel about this whole big reveal now in full context, I think I valued the series more in its early days.

I'll watch it to the end, Tetsuro Araki hasn't even been on the show since S1 but it hasn't ever decreased in quality fortunately.
 

bigedole

Member
In terms of production values AoT utterly annihilates FMA Brotherhood. Not really sure how I feel about this whole big reveal now in full context, I think I valued the series more in its early days.

I'll watch it to the end, Tetsuro Araki hasn't even been on the show since S1 but it hasn't ever decreased in quality fortunately.

My comment was more about FMA:B's relative acceptance among the community as the best shounen show in existence. AoT has a chance to contend for that, legitimately. It's amazing, but as always it all comes down to how it ends.
 

oagboghi2

Member
I'm really happy I held off on reading the manga. This season has been a lot of fun because I'm actually being surprised.

Can't wait til the last season. I hope they don't pull a Game of Thrones
 

kiiltz

Member
My comment was more about FMA:B's relative acceptance among the community as the best shounen show in existence. AoT has a chance to contend for that, legitimately. It's amazing, but as always it all comes down to how it ends.
AoT is Seinen.
In terms of production values AoT utterly annihilates FMA Brotherhood.
Wouldn't say annihilate. CGI Collosal Titan still looks bad as well as the horse totsugekis when they're not being covered up. End of Season 2 and Season 3 part 1 had some choppy or stretched key frames too and had lots of outsourcing, exposing how stretched WIT were (and why they had to delay part 2).

I prefer AoT and it has the better set pieces and music but FMAB is arguably more consistent.

Also I reject the idea of Bones being annihilated by anyone. :messenger_winking_tongue:
 

YCoCg

Member
Sorry to bump this thread but does anyone know the track used at the start of this scene? I've looked around the Season 4 released OST's but can't find it:

 
Top Bottom