The third season of Attack on Titan is 22 episodes initially split into two parts of 12 episodes and 10 episodes each. When this season first aired, there was a break of a few months between the first two parts, which corresponded to two separate story arcs covered by this season. It is based upon the manga of the same name. The anime is set in a world which is overrun by titans. Titans are giants that target humans and can only be killed in a specific way. The remainder of humanity has walled off their own living area for safety while also developing specific equipment to allow them to swing to varying heights to combat the titans.
The season initially focuses less on the battle against the titans and more towards other humans within the confines of the wall. It takes on a different tone as it follows the characters investigating the huge amount of secrets that a select few has been withholding. It gives off the vibe that we will get the answers that the first two seasons has been teasing the whole time. While the season does raise further questions, at the same time, it is answering them so it does not feel as frustrating and pointless as the first two seasons did.
There are significant changes to the status quo. Things can happen almost too fast and you cannot even start to fathom what the consequences will be. Eren remains an important character with unbelievable power. He is more of a passive character with the anime focusing more on others like Levi and Mikasa. Eren himself hasn’t improved from past seasons he remains weak minded and pathetic at times. While it is understandable that we don’t want a protagonist that has no regrets and just charges ahead without thinking of consequences, Eren takes it too far by being overly apologetic. He is easily swayed into thinking he is weak and useless which ends up being a self-fulfilling prophecy making him an annoying character.
More screen time is given to the supporting cast, fleshing them out with some interesting backstories that intertwine into the greater narrative. Despite the reduction of humans vs titans action, there are still fantastic action sequences where the camera angle swings in tandem with the characters’ movements. Coupled with new strategies used to cope with new types of titan threats, we get some downright nightmarish scenes which does well to set the despairing tone that the characters must be feeling.
The first story arc seems to have a theme of inferiority and being something that isn’t special. It takes a while for the message to get through. In contrast, the second half of the season is where things escalate and the pacing is increased. Up until this point, the season was already more satisfying the previous seasons so this is just a bonus. The second story arc has the scouts go to reclaim Wall Maria and finally we have results from all the mysterious characters we had been introduced to.
Titans come back into the forefront but they seem to keep pulling special unseen abilities time after time to get out of a trap which can start to feel contrived. It is hard to understand how their abilities might work on a mechanical basis since it starts to stretch your beliefs. While it is used to set a despairing tone, at the same time, it is really annoying and can feel like a cheap way out.
What makes the whole situation worse is how the enemy keeps insisting that there is a reason why all humanity might die. Yet they keep the truth within themselves so it is really hard to understand their motivations and the extremes that they are going to. It builds up immense amount of hype for the reason behind their actions that you can’t help but think the revelation will disappoint you. That being said, humanity hasn’t been idle either as they introduce their own new weaponry. The strategies used though are so specific to a certain situation that it can be too contrived since it’s harder to believe that they would spend so much R&D resources on it.
It’s not all guts and glory since there are depressing moments. Many characters have no choice but to die. The titans are too overpowered to the point where huge sacrifices have to be made in order to just even get a chance to strike against them. It makes for some sad scenes where a character’s death may have lost its meaning when the titans pull yet another power of nowhere and rise once more. Tying into this are painful decisions made by characters throughout the situation and its emotional punch hits you hard.
Perhaps the holy grail is the ultimate explanation of this world, the nature of titans and just about every answer that had been plaguing the series. All of this is revealed in the last four episodes of the season and is a lot of information to process. Whether this is a satisfying explanation will depend on the viewer but when we finally get an understanding of the reasoning behind everything, as well as the motivation of all the titan shifters, it feels like a weight off your shoulders. It’s hard to accept the reasoning at first but considering the amount of hype and teasing built into the series, no explanation was ever going to be 100% satisfactory.
Overall, thanks to the plot actually moving forward in strides and the big reveal of all the questions that had been raised so far, the third season of Attack on Titan is a definite must watch if you have been following the series. So many things finally start to make sense and you can see previous events in new light. The animation is great with fantastic action sequences. While there are plenty of scenes where the animators have dragged it out to fill in time, the positives outweigh the negatives here.
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