Tag Archives: attack on titan

Finally, the Beginning of the End for Attack on Titan?

March 15, 2023 Jack Scheibelein 1 Comment

Welcome, weebs, to Animated Observations

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Should…should I make the joke again? Yeah sure why not.

“Look guys, this one says final season, guess that means we’re getting more next year.”

Attack on Titan’s horrendous advertising of the final season aside, it does seem there is finally going to be a conclusion to what has been a literal decade-long journey through the adaptation of Hajime Isayama’s groundbreaking work. According to the article linked above, the hour-long special which will be the focus of this post is part one of two of the show’s final arc. However, it seems as though this second part is not going to be airing until the fall. Sigh…oh well, there is still plenty to talk about with this first special. So, with that being said, let’s talk about the first part of the final arc.

Speaking of finales, wow, what a cliffhanger to leave on. Seeing basically an entire army gets wiped out only for the last fighting force of Eldia to swoop in and charge at Eren full force was an incredible scene. Attack on Titan is a series that lives to create hype moments and watching Reiner titan bomb on top of Zeke was certainly nothing if not hype. There’s also a sense of simultaneous dread and hope in the fact that a group of the last of humanity is watching all of this play out in much the same way Eren and the others believed themselves to be the last of humanity at the beginning of the series.

The special also does a great job of creating those feelings throughout the course of the entire episode. As Eren and the colossal Titans march through the world, it quickly devolves into utter chaos, with people desperately trying to get away while they only watch out for themselves. There is also a whole section where the episode focuses on Eren apologizing to a small child while they are visiting the outside world, knowing full well how the future plays out. This then goes into a heartwrenching scene where that same kid and his friend are stomped on by one of the colossal titans.

Attack on Titan really does do a great job at creating its atmosphere, and part of what contributes to that atmosphere are some excellent character moments. I mentioned the episode’s cliffhanger already, but the midsection which focused on Hange and her defense of the plane had some amazing direction and camerawork, adding to the already intense scene of her trying to buy as much time as possible while burning up in the process.

The animation for this episode also feels above average, even by Attack on Titan standards. My guess is that a lot of that has to do with the fact that it is basically a short film which means MAPPA did not have to put as much planning and coordination into it as they would have done with a full season.

While my overall impression of the special is fairly positive, I do think some things about it feel a bit, for lack of a better word, meh. For example, the relationship between Annie and Armin, while not coming out of nowhere, does not seem to add much to the overall narrative other than giving her a potential reason to join the fight later.

Also, though this is not directly related to the episode itself, the whole Eren being able to see the future plot point never really sat right with me. On the one hand, the planning around said plot point mostly makes sense within the context of the series, and even some easter egg stuff I have seen floating around on Twitter seems to further confirm it. On the other, it does feel a bit retroactive in how it has been implemented in the story. IDK, it has not significantly altered the quality, so it is not like there is much room for complaining, but it still feels weird.

Overall, it was a great episode/special, and assuming part two does not go off the rails production-wise, it will likely serve as a great conclusion to the series.

How do you feel about the first half of Attack on Titan’s conclusion? Let me know in the comments below.

If you are interested in reading more from me, check under blog to read my most recent stuff, or look below for some related posts. Also, if you would like to support Animated Observations, consider donating on Ko-fi or through paypal, or pledging on Patreon. You can even support by just liking and sharing this post.

As always, special thanks to Jenn for supporting us on Patreon.

If you can’t, or just don’t feel like it, no worries. Thank you all for reading, and goodbye, for now, friends!

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Anime/Manga, Opinion

My Brief Thoughts on the 2023 Crunchyroll Anime Awards

March 5, 2023 Jack Scheibelein 2 Comments

Welcome, weebs, to Animated Observations

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Whether bringing together people in community or mockery, the Crunchyroll Anime Awards have been a pillar of the community since their inception back in 2016. The now infamous award show often has some…controversial takes in their various categories. These often involve a very obviously popular show winning big swaths of categories without much rhyme or reason.

Of course, this is particular problem is not unique to the anime awards. The same can be said of the Oscars, Grammys, as well as various other awards shows. This is because many of these show thrive off of big ad campaigns and sometimes even direct donations to judges. Thus, the integrity of award shows has always been a bit of a mute point. Still, it is fun to look and see where the majority opinion for X group has landed, So, here are some of my takes on the Crunchyroll Anime Awards.

The Triforce of Anime Awards

I mentioned above that Crunchyroll Awards tend to get dominated by a few shows, and this year was no exception. Attack on Titan, Spy x Family, and Demon Slayer‘s second season dominated the categories and brought home the vast majority of awards. Jujutsu Kaisen, along with a few other scattered series, took the remaining spots.

Normally this would be the part where I talk about how undeserved most of these wins are, except…well, here’s the thing. First, I do not have the technical knowledge to say for sure whether or not the big winners actually deserved their wins or not. Second, I actually do think they deserve a good amount of representation. Attack on Titan and Spy x Family were genuinely good, and season two of Demon Slayer was fairly well received.

Cyberpunk Edgerunners Deserves Anime of the Year

2022 was an insane year for anime, and will likely go down among the best in term of high quality. Unfortunately, some of the bigger contenders from fall, primarily Chainsaw Man and Bocchi the Rock, were left out of the running due to the award’s strange rule change. Still, even out of the remaining series, there are a lot of greatness. However, despite that fact, Cyberpunk Edgerunners still feels like an appropriate choice

Not only is the series incredibly produced, from the animation and direction to the wonderful sounding soundtrack, it is a show that feels incredibly relevant in its story and messaging. David Martinez is ultimately forced down a bath of no return because his environment left him with no other choice, detailing a capitalist hellscape that seems less fantasy and more reality with each passing day. So yeah, for my money, it feels like a good pick.

Kaguya-sama Where?

As a totally unbiased and reasonable commentator-

No, but seriously, aside from my own personal enjoyment of the series, Kaguya always seemed like the type of show that other critics and judges would eat up. After all, despite being a rom-com, it has the more cerebral elements that make people feel smart when they get the joke, and manages to balance that with some genuinely down to earth and relatable characters. Yet, it only won in the romance category.

Part of this, I think, comes from the noticeable absence of previous categories like Best Boy/Girl, which felt more biased towards those cuter, more relatable characters which rom-coms, and Kaguya-sama especially, do really well. Looking at the categories for this year, I could see it having won the Japanese voice performances had it been nominated, but realistically, outside of that, not much else. Well, that and Best Comedy, but honestly Spy X Family does legit deserve that one as well, so I cannot really be mad.

How did you all feel about the Crunchyroll Anime Awards? Let me know in the comments below.

As always, special thanks to Jenn for the support on Patreon.

If you can’t, or just don’t feel like it, no worries. Thank you all for reading, and goodbye, for now, friends!

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Anime/Manga, Episode Reactions

Attack on Titan Final Season Episodes 80-87 and What’s to Come

August 3, 2022 Jack Scheibelein 1 Comment

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The journey through Attack on Titan has been, if nothing else, exciting. It started with a re-ignited spark of interest in the series and has turned into a strong change in opinion about its quality. Whereas my original opinion of AOT was positive but not all that passionate, it has now become one of my favorite series, if not top 10, then at worst top 20.

It is a series like no other and has really proved that over the course of the last season, from its strong political drama and allegorical elements to the production side of the equation which remained equally strong even after swapping studios. So, the ending, at least for now, has finally come. How was it?

Not like this will be much of a surprise, but it was amazing. I was honestly kind of surprised just how many compelling stories beats the show was able to fit into the season’s last eight episodes. There is of course the Rumbling and its initial devastation on Paradis, which transitions pretty smoothly into Gabi’s redemption arc. There is also Armin stopping Coney from killing Falco, and Annie meeting up with Hitch just in time for the Apocolypse, after which they join together with Reiner, Levi, Hange, Piecke, and the Marleyian general.

This would be a lot for a normal 10-12 episode anime, but to fit into the final third of an already reveal filled-season while still remaining totally coherent is an incredible feat. Bubble had about the same time to accomplish that and could barely manage 1-2 engaging plotlines.

As for particular highlights, Coney and Armin’s interaction right before meeting up with the others felt the most compelling. It serves as a reminder that desperation can make people do anything. Coney’s mom is the only one who has a chance of being alive, and so he takes that chance, even despite part of him knowing it was wrong. The final fight at the harbor was also really cool as well. One thing that Attack on Titan is consistently good at is showing both the ease and difficulty of throwing away one’s humanity at the drop of a hat. Again, we see Coney making a difficult choice in order to save Armin.

Speaking of choices, might be worth addressing the founding titan in the room, Eren. It was not much of a surprise to see Eren take back the founding Titan from Zeke (The opening of this half is literally called The Rumbling), but that does not make it any less dramatic. Finding out about Eren’s ability to see the future and therefore have everything already planned down to the second was wild. The screenshot of him staring down Grisha while right next to him is funny, but also indicative of Eren’s willingness to do anything for Paradis.

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All of that ignores the fact that Eren has become a genocidal maniac. However, hindsight is always 2020, and I think what a lot of initial discussions about AOT’s ideology missed is that Eren is rarely the good guy. The only time he is ever cast in a sympathetic light is during the first few episodes. After that, Eren’s reckless and homicidal attitude is very often framed as at best concerning and at worst actively putting others in danger.

The show has always been about ideology. I mean, they live in a post-apocalyptic military state. However, it has never, up to this point at least, actively glorified these repressive beliefs and systems. This could change in the last part, and if it does then we should be having a different conversation, but since I am definitely not reading the manga, we will have to wait and see.

I know I have mentioned it a ton of times already, but man the action scenes in this show are amazing. There is the inherent appeal of Godzilla like battles against two monsters just beating the shit out of each other, or the David and Goliath style battles of man versus titans. Besides those two, the show also takes care to make sure that the human-level conflict is engaging as well. Going back to Coney and Armin, their meeting in Coney’s hometown felt genuinely nerve-wracking in a way that the outcome was unclear until the last second.

Good CGI also helps its case. There are very few anime that can actually claim to have good 3D animation, with Beastars being one of the only ones that I personally have seen. However, the titans and heavy machinery that is rendered in 3D still fit seamlessly into the world.

Ok, but where does the series go from here? Well, ideally up. The reality is that Mappa is working on a number of projects over the next year, including the upcoming Chainsaw Man adaptation that also has a large number of eyes on it. This means that, while it would be awesome to see the last of Attack on Titan go off without any problems, there is a non-zero chance that an extremely overworked production team will inevitably let some things slip through the cracks.

Still, this last season was arguably the best so far. On top of that, Mappa at this point has established itself as one of the best Studios in the industry, employing a lot of talent throughout the years. Hopefully, that means good things to come.

Now that I am officially done with all of Attack on Titan‘s anime available story, what are your thoughts on the series? Let me know down in the comments.

As always, special thanks to Jenn for supporting the blog on Patreon.

If you can’t, or just don’t feel like it, no worries. Thank you all for reading, and goodbye, for now, friends!

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Anime/Manga, Episode Reactions

Attack on Titan Final Season Episodes 76-79

July 27, 2022 Jack Scheibelein 1 Comment

Welcome, weebs, to Animated Observations

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Wow. Attack on Titan has been through some crazy arcs. Revelation after revelation has come and gone, and while many of them have been shocking, none have really hit with this level of intensity, outside of the Reiner and Bertolt reveal in season two. These episodes genuinely made me consider abandoning this episode-by-episode format and just marathoning the rest. Without rambling for too much longer, let us get into it.

For starters, the stakes have never been higher. What sets the content of the final season apart from the rest of the series is its sense of scale, which is on full display in these episodes. The Marleyian army has begun their invasion of Paradis, with a large percentage of their strength, including the Titans, helping out. The story of Attack on Titan has gone from the survival of a small group of people trapped inside the walls to a global conflict implicating millions of people. An event like the rumbling does not just affect Eldians, but rather everyone on earth.

We also find out that Eren, who was presumably on board with Zeke’s euthanization plan, was actually only using him to access the founding titan’s power, even if it ultimately backfires. Part of me wants to argue that this was a pretty obvious twist, but at the same time, was it? Eren witnessed the deaths of hundreds, probably thousands of his comrades at the hands of titans. I am by no means saying that euthanization is a proper response to the situation, it is understandable how someone whose mind has been twisted by that kind of trauma might ultimately arrive at that conclusion.

On top of this, Eren…dies? Probably not, but seeing his head gets blown off by a titan rifle was one of the more visceral scenes of the entire series. While in liminal space, Zeke takes it upon himself to show Eren some memories of their father Grisha, but after a while, it seems as though Zeke is coming out of the experience more surprised. Also, the whole attack titan having the ability to predict the future thing both made sense and did not, but it was a pretty cool reveal anyway.

While Eren spends his screen with Zeke time having a, uh, reverse change of heart? Gabi has a normal change of heart. For her entire life up until this point, the people of Paradis were nothing but devils to her, an amorphous blob of evil on some distant island ruining the Eldian identity. However, as she spends time with the locals, and almost gets killed by “one of her own,” she comes to understand the folly in her thinking.

It is a brutal realization to have, not just as a kid, but as a kid who has spent a non-insignificant portion of her waking hours training to inherit a titan that would be used to kill the Eldians as well. It is the kind of identity crisis that can only come to fruition in the midst of something as traumatic as war.

The stakes were also pretty high for Falco, as despite going with his brother to beg Zeke not to turn him into a titan, he ultimately ends up as one anyway. Well, he was for all of two minutes, anyway, but ultimately end up eating Galliard, and will presumably take the roll of the jaw titan. Still, this was another section where it felt like nothing was guaranteed. His confession to helping Eren back in Marley and admitting his feelings for Gabi ultimately made it seem like his time was coming to an end.

On top of some quality writing, there were also some crazy bits of animation. Specifically, the transition scene between Eren getting shot and finding himself in the liminal space with Zeke was some of the most expressive animation I have seen, not just within Attack on Titan, but across anime period. The way it portrays the slowdown of time alongside the compactness of the battlefield in stark contrast to the empty desert that is the home of the Eldian founder Ymir is breathtaking.

These were without a doubt some of the best episodes in the series, and I am beyond excited to see its conclusion. Speaking of, since it is the end of July, I figured next week would be a good time to marathon the rest of the episodes and wrap up this series, so stay tuned for that!

What are your feelings on the “final” season of Attack on Titan? Let me know down in the comments.

As always, special thanks to Jenn for supporting the blog on Patreon

If you can’t, or just don’t feel like it, no worries. Thank you all for reading, and goodbye, for now, friends!

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Anime/Manga, Episode Reactions

Attack on Titan Final Season: Episodes 72-75

July 20, 2022 Jack Scheibelein 1 Comment

Welcome, weebs, to Animated Observations

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The walls are coming down, and society on Eldia is in the midst of total collapse. This time, however, it is not because of some mass titan invasion, but rather the military strength of an entire country. Marley has decided the time is now, and in pursuit of Eldia’s demise, they fly into battle alone, without the support of other governments. Eren must now use his newfound power amongst the Jaegerists to fight against this now impending invasion.

Of course, that’s only the finale of this set of episodes, and while it was certainly well done, there are a lot of other things to talk about.

First, watching the various factions related to Sasha come together in order to find out how she died, only to be faced with her killer in Gabi, was a legitimately thrilling moment. For as nice a person as Sasha’s dad is, it would not have been surprising to attempt to kill Gabi in a fit of rage, especially considering how much her character has been set up in the interim between her death and that scene.

For as important as Nicolo has been in this season, though, it would have been nice to get a bit more about their relationship other than “they were probably in love,” but obviously it is nowhere close to the main plot, so I understand why they did not.

Speaking of Gabi, for as annoying as she can be, the internal conflict she has been going through based on her identity as both an Eldian and a Marleyian has been genuinely compelling to watch. On the one hand, she has been indoctrinated by the Marleyian government since birth, raised to believe that only by serving her country can she redeem her sinful existence.

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On the other hand, when faced with Eldians who were cast out and labeled “island devils,” she is faced with nothing but kindness, despite having killed one of their comrades. The psychological conflict between what she has been told versus her immediate reality is something I hope gets resolved by the series’ end.

Sooner than expected, Eren, Mikasa, and Armin manage to reunite while Eren is holding them hostage. It was at this point in the episode that I started having even more conflicted feelings about Attack on Titan and his character than I already do, and where the conversation around the show’s political ideology has taken a decided turn.

Memes upon memes were being thrown around during the early Attack on Titan episodes about how Eren’s goal was simply to kill all of the Titans and get revenge. By the end of the third season, this goal was much closer to being a reality, but it is also at this point where also incredibly meme’d to death scene of Eren at the beach comes in, with him asking “If we kill all our enemies over there, will we truly be free?” This brings us to the restaurant scene, where Eren’s conception of freedom has warped into something decidedly more fascist in nature, where there is a clear black and white boundary between the free and those he would call slaves.

Of course, I am only halfway through this season, and there is of course one final part that is not coming out till next year, so I will save all the think-piecing until then.

Arguably the most compelling section of this group is the episode that focuses on Zeke’s past and his connection to Paradis. Owl, the leader of the group planning to overthrow Marley, is Zeke’s dad, and in order to save himself from being killed, Zeke rats them out at the order of his future mentor, the previous beast titan holder. While not providing a ton of information that was not already known, it is an interesting dive into his character and the origin of his twisted ideology, highlighting the circumstances which lead to his existence today.

Overall, this was a great set of episodes, both in terms of writing and animation, but also one that leaves me conflicted as to AOT’s direction ideologically.

How do you feel about Attack on Titan? Let me know in the comments (no spoilers please).

As always, special thanks to Jenn for supporting the blog on Patreon

If you can’t, or just don’t feel like it, no worries. Thank you all for reading, and goodbye, for now, friends!

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Anime/Manga, Episode Reactions

Attack on Titan Final Season: Episodes 68-71

July 13, 2022 Jack Scheibelein 1 Comment

Welcome, weebs, to Animated Observations

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And welcome back my friends to our continued coverage of the “final” season of Attack on Titan (for those unaware, the final is in quotes because it has been confirmed that the series will be continuing for one more cour sometime in 2023). We took a bit of a break in order to finish up the coverage for the spring season. Now, though, it is time to find out more.

This series of episodes focused a lot on the politics of the Island of Paradis which were happening before the invasion of Marley, both internal and external. The military retains a large degree of power, by which I mean pretty much all of it. Zachary is still large and in charge, and the major generals, including Pyxis, are also making a lot of decisions. On top of that, it is shown that the nation of Hizuri, Paradis’ sole ally and the place from which Mikasa is a descendent, is primarily interested in Paradis for its natural resources.

As a side note, I also want to talk about the incredibly smart commentary which is happening in its external political affairs. If the traditional Japanese art and the name Lady Azumabito were not obvious enough, Hizuri seems to be a stand-in for Japan. Historically, when it comes to economic policy and foreign relations, Japan has often been incredibly self-interested, even to the point of being fairly amoral. This can be seen even in recent history in its decisions to engage in business with African dictatorships. While this is not particularly relevant to the overall story, at least not yet, it is a smart bit of world-building that is worth pointing out.

Meanwhile, after a mostly successful invasion, Eren is locked up for going out on his own. However, the mission also cost the life of Sasha at the hands of Gabi and Falco who snuck on board the ship and are consequently locked up. This causes a lot of distrust even among his close friends, the most centered of which are Conny, Jean, Armin, and Mikasa.

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The show also gets around to explaining why Eren ventured out on his own in the first place, the most likely reason for which is Yelena. Yelena is the leader of an anti-Marleyian force that hid inside the military and ends up siding with the people of Paradis. Yelena’s character is interesting for a number of reasons. First, her motives at this point seem to be unclear, but the show does draw an interesting parallel between herself and the anti-military uprising which is happening among the people of Paradis.

Because of this uprising, Eren is seen as a leader in his own political faction. Near the end of episode 71, Eren breaks free from prison and causes all hell to break out while the military looks to keep him from speaking with Zeke. The “Jaegerists,” as they have been dubbed, are looking to support Eren in any way they can.

Gabi and Falco’s journey during this time ends up being a lot more philosophically involved. After coincidentally being taken in by Sasha’s parents, they agree to lay low for a while. Yet, one of the other orphans, the girl who was saved by Sasha during season two, sees through them pretty easily. As she tells the story of her mother dying at the hand of a titan, questions of generational guilt arise: Are the Eldians who are long removed from the horrors of their ancestors still responsible for those actions? What sort of punishments do they deserve? Much like in reality, though, these questions are not so easily answered, and Gabi, stunned by her inability to see the people of Paradis as anything other than devils, is left speechless.

The final episode ends with a shot of a stranger reading a newspaper, who is revealed to be Pieck before the credits roll. This seems to confirm what the Marleyian officers were planning, which is to attack Paradis before they are ready, rather than waiting for a worldwide invasion. This, of course, complicates an already tense situation and may result in more lives being lost.

At this point, though, only time will tell.

We’re a little less than halfway through what is out of the final season, and wow this has been a lot of fun. Have you seen all of Attack on Titan at this point? What are your (spoiler-free) thoughts? Let me know down in the comments.

As always, special thanks to Jenn for supporting the blog on Patreon.

If you can’t, or just don’t feel like it, no worries. Thank you all for reading, and goodbye, for now, friends!

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Anime/Manga, Episode Reactions

Attack on Titan Final Season: Episodes 64-67

June 22, 2022 Jack Scheibelein 1 Comment

Welcome, weebs, to Animated Observations

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It is once again time to talk about everyone’s favorite dumpster fire: Attack on Titan. The first part is a joke, obviously, because the series has been amazing. These next four episodes have continued to impress as well, highlighting the chaos that has come from the Marleyian government and its focus from the rest of the world.

As it worked out, these next four episodes covered what ended up being a pretty big reveal, not that it was not obvious anyway. As it turns out, the older man that Falco was helping deliver letters outside of the camp was Eren, who managed to sneak in through the military. Eren and the others use the power of the titans to launch a surprise attack inside the camp, on the night that the head of the Tyburs made his big speech.

Again, what surprised me about these episodes is not necessarily the reveal itself or what happened after, but how it happened. While it certainly makes sense after the fact, Eren confronting Reiner directly was not something that I was anticipating. It felt like something that would have happened near the end of the season, rather than it its first quarter. Still, it was a surprisingly powerful moment, one in which neither character came out looking morally good but certainly the emotion behind it was there.

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As for the fighting that happened after…look, if there is one thing that I can count on AOT for its some damn good looking fight scenes. Seeing two giant monster swing at each other is always going to be fun as long as there is some reasonable context behind it. On top of that, the lighting in most of these scenes gives off the feeling of war movies set in enemy territory at night, and it absolutely nails the tense atmosphere that comes with those settings. People and titans are moving quickly and often the only light comes from gunshots and the fires burning just a few hundred feet away.

Another element of warfare that Attack on Titan does fairly well is the strategy. A good battle scene not only gets the audience invested in what is happening immediately but subtely draws their attention away from things that they might have lingered on otherwise. A good example of this comes in the middle of the fight between the Eldian titans and Eren, when unbeknowst to everyone else, Armin was getting ready to set of the Fat Guy level bomb that is the Colossal Titan, destroying an entire bay of ships.

The only thing that feels somewhat protest worthy is the character development of Gabi. Whereas Falco has fairly clear motivations for his actions at this point in the series, Gabi, who is important enough to be considered the next Armored Titan, does not give me that same feeling. The episodes this week helped with that a fair amount, which is why I would not consider it a big deal, but I do hope she gets a little bit more development before they inevitably kill her off.

At least, those are the vibes I get from the season thus far. On top of Gabi and Falco’s suicide mission into the blimp and procedeing murder of Sasha, there is also the reveal of Zeke working for Eren and the others. I would be lying if I said that this made total sense to me, but it did happen in the last five minutes of the last episode I happened to watch, so judgement will be reserved for next week’s episodes.

Have you finished season four already? Have you yet to even watch Attack on Titan? Are you a clearly superior manga reader who already knows what’s going to happen? Let me know down in the comments, but please avoid spoilers, for my sake and others.

As always, special thanks to Jenn for cotinuing to support us on Patreon.

If you can’t, or just don’t feel like it, no worries. Thank you all for reading, and goodbye, for now, friends!

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Anime/Manga, Episode Reactions

Attack on Titan Final Season: Episodes 60-63

June 15, 2022 Jack Scheibelein 2 Comments

Welcome, weebs, to Animated Observations

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The time, my friends, has come. It has been a long and perilous journey, with many hardships, including having to swap ps4 controllers while watching. Hours and hours of catching up on all of the previous seasons, along with the surprisingly impressive OADs, have brought me to this point. It is with great pleasure that I announce the weekly Attack on Titan final season coverage.

In order to fully immerse myself in Attack on Titan over the next couple of months, I will be covering three or four episodes until I finish what has been released. Then, once the last of the final season begins airing, I’ll be doing a final post wrapping up the series along with another post of some kind to finish my coverage.

Rediscovering Attack on Titan this year has been some of the most fun I have had with anime in a while. Not to say that I have been particularly bored with anime, far from it in fact. However, AOT in particular has been one of my main points of enjoyment. With that being said, let’s talk about the final season.

The opening episodes place us sometime in the future, where Reiner has successfully returned home and is helping the Marleyians fight against a nearby middle-eastern nation. In order to accomplish this feat, the country continues to rely on the power of the titans held by the Eldians and their descendants. He has started looking after the next candidates to host the armored titan, of which a young girl named Gabi seems to be the most promising.

However, these opening episodes are, for the most part, viewed from the perspective of Falco, another of the armored titan candidates and the younger brother of Colt, the successor to the beast titan legacy. Falco, in a lot of ways, seems to be a mirror to Eren Jeager: a young upstart who wants to help his family, blood-related or not, by putting himself through immense self-sacrifice. In his case, his most immediate motivation seems to be protecting Gabi, who he has a crush on.

Zeke has also resurfaced as a relevant character. His standing within the Marleyian army has given him enough power to engage on a mission to secure the founding titan. His reasoning for this, which the other top brass seem to agree with, is that the rest of the world has caught up to Marley in terms of military strength and that the founding titan will be needed in order to reassert dominance.

What I like about this series so far is not necessarily the characters, however, although they certainly are good. Rather, what makes this season so intriguing is how the scale of its politics has jumped from the island outside of Marley to basically the entire world. The perspective has shifted from those trapped inside the wall to the ones who banished them, to begin with.

The parallel between the two groups of Eldians still exists, though. One group is trapped behind the wall due to the titans, and the other is trapped behind the walls of internment. Both are suffering at the hands of Marley, just in different ways.

The change in animation styles has definitely thrown me for a loop. Character designs among the Eldians look pretty similar to the point it was hard to tell characters apart at times during the first two episodes or so. Still, despite being lukewarm on the change initially, I have come to appreciate it. In the context of the story being told, the change in style certainly makes some sense. Although, I do maintain that the series would have looked fine even in its previous look.

Overall, the direction Attack on Titan has taken is an exciting one. So many questions are yet to be answered, and it is clear that many unnamed forces are still at play, driving the series’ world in ways that maybe do not make any immediate sense. Will the oppression of the Eldians finally come to an end? probably not yet at least since we are not even a quarter of the way through, but whatever happens is sure to be a good time.

Have you started the final season of Attack on Titan yet? Are you still behind? Let me know in the comments, but please leave out any spoilers.

As always, thanks to our patron Jenn for the support.

If you can’t, or just don’t feel like it, no worries. Thank you all for reading, and goodbye, for now, friends!

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Anime/Manga, Opinion

I Marathoned Three Seasons of Attack on Titan. Here are My Thoughts So Far

May 29, 2022 Jack Scheibelein 3 Comments

Welcome, weebs, to Animated Observations

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Confession: I originally did not plan on tackling the series in this way. Rather, I would have much preferred covering the series in chunks of episodes, so that they would roughly aline with the major arcs. I had everything set up: a nicely formatted google doc on which to take notes, my laptop on my bed, and an extremely comfy blanket along with Attack on Titan pulled up on Crunchyroll. Only one small problem: I could not stop watching.

Calling myself a big fan of the original series would probably have been a bit of a stretch. It was good for what it was, but it never really left a lasting impression on me. Come time for season two almost four years later and, well, I enjoyed it, but much like the first, it was never anything more than just a well-made show.

Jump back to today, and uh, yeah, I have no idea how this happened. Something in me just really wanted to revisit the series. Call it the echoes of online discussion lingering in the back of my mind, or really whatever, but at that moment I needed to watch Attack on Titan. Before I realized it, an entire weekend and over 40 episodes were gone in the blink of an eye.

Needless to say, my idea of cataloging my rewatch/journey through season three was basically out the window. From that point, I mostly just tried to enjoy it without thinking too much, and safe to say, I did. Anyone who clicked on this post expecting a full review is going to be sorely disappointed. Rather, for this post, in particular, I wanted to describe my thoughts on the series as a whole up to this point, after which I will segway into covering the OADs and then eventually doing an episodic review of season four like I had originally planned for the whole series.

With that being said, here are said thoughts.

Titan Lore

I remember getting to “that scene” in season 2 for the first time and getting a bit of whiplash from how fast I reached for the remote to rewind. Like, what?! At the time I was very confused, but in hindsight dropping the bleak reality that is the titan lineage out of nowhere is pretty tonally consistent with the rest of the series.

Even before that though we get the also crazy, although slightly less surprising reveal about Ymir, which again makes sense. Season three, however, is where the reveals reach a whole new level, and where the worldbuilding comes to a head. I will admit to being a bit concerned about season three after hearing some mixed opinions from others watching at the time. Still, I cannot help by find Attack on Titan‘s third season to be the best out of the three so far.

This is not to say that any of the seasons are bad per se, it is an incredibly high-quality show, but whereas many series get bogged down by their focus on worldbuilding and lore, Attack on Titan feels at its best during its moments of historical reflection, when the truth finally reveals itself after years of sacrifice and hardship, and this is not even including what is still to come in season four.

If I were to finish ranking the others, season one probably gets a slight edge over two, but not by much. The way season one lingers on the surprise that is Annie and just how much there is left to know creates this weird mixture of hope and pessimism which informs the proceeding seasons really well. However, season two also does a great job at fleshing out some of the minor characters like Gaby, so points to it for that.

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Eren and Friends

Eren has always been a mixed bag of a character, and for good reason. The start of the series shows him at his most angry and revenge-filled, his teenage angst out in full force because of the death of his mother. On top of that, Eren has to be a functioning soldier at an age where he would not even be old enough to drive a car in the state where I live.

However, as knowledge and responsibility of his powers dawn on him more and more, especially after many of his fellow Survey Corps members literally die to protect him, that visible anger begins to subside. The show then presents to us an almost completely different Eren, one whose sole focus has shifted to protecting humanity…and also still killing all of the titans, kind of.

Armin has been my favorite character in the series for a while, his development from the scared puppy who just followed around Eren and Mikasa to the next military genius of the Survey Corp is one that I very much appreciated. There are also plenty of times where he feels the most relatable. Like, everyone else will be ready to go and Armin is there saying “you guys aren’t still scared shitless?”

Mikasa is somehow still the coolest character, and yet also the least developed. Though not necessarily a bad thing, the only thing that really changes is just how obvious her affection for Eren is. In fact, her big emotional outbursts are only ever in relation to the safety of Eren or Armin, which says basically all that one would ever need to know about her.

WIT vs Mappa: What to Expect

For those unaware, during the transition between the end of season three and what was then named the “final season” (despite not actually being the final season) Attack on Titan changed studios. WIT, who handled the first three, gave it over to Mappa. Supposedly this had to do with a thematic change present in season four, and thus WIT wanted a new approach to the series, but at the moment, having not seen season four, I am not exactly convinced.

Still, everything that I have seen as far as trailers and promotional material does not leave me with much to complain about. Attack on Titan looks as good as it has ever been, and with an arc that is bound to be action-packed, I am indeed excited.

On top of that, Mappa has a solid track record, producing the hit shounen series Jujutsu Kaisen as well as one of my favorite series Terror in Resonance. Also, apparently, they made Kids on the Slope, which, man I need to watch that series already…

For as much as I appreciate the grittier, more jagged character designs to come out of WIT’s production of the series, it is not an automatic negative to have Mappa at the helm. Rather, the most concerning element is not the animation but rather how the story will resolve from this point on

Conclusion

Safe to say that I am incredibly optimistic about Attack on Titan even despite the studio change. It is a series that has quickly risen through the ranks for me, and while calling it a favorite is not quite a done deal if season four manages to keep pace, it is a high likelihood.

How do you all feel about Attack on Titan? Let me know down in the comments, but please keep any and all spoilers out, as I am going in pretty much blind.

As always, special thanks to Jenn for being an amazing Patron

If you can’t, or just don’t feel like it, no worries. Thank you all for reading, and goodbye, for now, friends!

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Anime/Manga, Opinion

A Comprehensive List of What I (Might) Watch for the Winter 2022 Anime Season

December 15, 2021 Jack Scheibelein Leave a comment

Welcome, weebs, to Animated Observations

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The Winter 2022 season is basically here, and thus it is time to look over the seasonal offerings and find out what will be worth watching. Compared to the last year of anime, which has honestly been one of the most stacked years in recent memory, this Winter is looking kind of dull in comparison. Still, that does not mean there are not a few fun things to look forward to.

Demons Slayer Season 2

Getting the obvious one out of the way, yes I will more than likely be watching Demon Slayer‘s second season. What can I say? Though its first season was not a masterpiece, it was still highly entertaining with enough story to keep me interested in its high-impact action sequences. I do not actively keep myself updated on the arcs themselves, but I have already seen quite a few memes about the episodes that are out, and it does look to be just as exciting as what preceded it.

My Dress-Up Darling

I wish I could credit the specific user whose video introduced this series to me, but unfortunately, I did not save the video. Still, shout-out to manga Tik-Tok, they are doing a lot of great work. As soon as I saw that video, I knew I was going to be hyped about this series. Does it look like a typical seasonal romance anime? Yes, but it feels like the romance anime that have been adapted recently are coming from a newer, more real strain of writing that does away with the will-they, won’t-they nonsense and gets to the heart of what makes a good romance. Now, I could still be wrong, but My Dress-Up Darling has the potential to be absolutely fantastic.

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In the Land of Leadale

I am almost never hyped about Isekai series in the same way I am about other shows, but I am certainly interested in In the Land of Leadale. Most Isekai series released nowadays tend to get told from the perspective of a male main character, so I usually find it of interest when that is not the case. This is not to say that having a female main character inherently makes a story more interesting, only that it provides a different change of pace. So, yeah, while I do not expect much from this series, I am hoping it will at least provide a unique perspective.

That, my friends, is the list. What? I said it would be comprehensive, I never said it would be long. The reality is, while new shows are always exciting my backlog is inevitably getting longer and longer, and I have yet to make a dent in it. Thus, as part of my new year’s resolution, I will be trying to strike a balance between covering new things and re-visiting old series.

What are you watching this season? Let me know in the comments below.