Geek It! Anime First Impressions: Attack on Titan Season 3

After many months of waiting, the long-awaited Attack on Titan Season 3 is finally here! For our next First Impressions review, we share our thoughts on the first episode of ATTACK ON TITAN Season 3. Here we go! 

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After battling against the Female Titan, Colossal Titan, Armoured Titan, and many Titan shifters, the war against Titans continue for Eren and his remaining friends. But as they prepare for war once again, they unravel further terrifying secrets. Yet, the main questions still remain unanswered: Who are the Titans? Who is their leader? Where do they get their powers from? What do these Titans want?

But it’s not just danger beyond the walls that they have to worry — they must also be vigilant about the danger within the walls as well. Who are the people that wants to hide the secrets of the Walls? Who are the Titans in disguise? Does humanity stand a chance at survival?

Gathering up Eren and his friends, Levi has now appointed them to be part of his squad. But while Hange is experimenting on Eren to test his hardening abilities, it looks like the government and the Military Police are on the move to take out Levi’s team. During a hoax kidnapping-rescue operation, Levi talks about Kenny the Ripper, a serial killer who he used to know many years ago. And out of nowhere, Kenny the Ripper and his minions appear and pursues Levi.  

Rating: C

One of the first things that caught our attention was the opening introduction for Season 3. Let’s do a throwback here —  the last two seasons of Attack on Titan showcased two incredible operatic openings: “Die Flügel der Freiheit” (Jiyū no Tsubasa, lit. “The Wings of Freedom”) by Linked Horizon and “Opfert eure Herzen!” (Shinzō o Sasageyo!, lit. “Dedicate Your Hearts!”) by Linked Horizon.

Every time we watched Attack on Titan, we would get a buzzing sensation in our bones as we knew — deep down — that something chaotic was about to happen. However, this opening is very mellow and bittersweet, especially with the beautiful images of our beloved characters (*cue foreshadowing of deaths and betrayal*).

The fact that this opening visually featured characters and no Titans — means this season will most likely focus on character development, and explore the various relationships between the characters.

To our great disappointment, the first episode of Season 3 did not feature any Titans (with the exception of Eren’s deformed Titan form) or any highly charged battles with the Titans. With the episode ending in confrontation between Levi and Kenny (“KENNNNNNYYYYYYY!!!!!”), we immediately know that Levi’s history with Kenny will be the main spotlight in the next few episodes to come. Besides…who can say no to Levi?

As anime viewers, we appreciate any form of character development within a story. However, we are at a point where we are impatiently waiting for the Titan mystery to be solved. After all, it is Season 3! We sincerely hope that Season 3’s storytelling will be told at a decent rapid pace accompanied by many exciting action scenes.

Fingers crossed that we’ll have some questions answered in this arc! 

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