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Attack on Titan Season 3 Part 1 (Ep 1-12)
730 Plays3 years ago
Join us for action, mystery, betrayal and intrigue as Zuhair and J Scotty continue their coverage of Attack On Titan with the first arc of the anime's third season, all in an effort to catch up with the fourth and final season currently airing!
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsorships
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00:00:15
Speaker
On another episode of the Animation Deliberation podcast, we're hitting the wild west of all rows where our heroes find threats that are much scarier than Titans. That's right, they're up against humans. This is Season 3, Part 1 of Attack on Titan. Right after these ads, we have no control over. You've inspired me, now let me see what I can do here.
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Episode Theme and Podcast Introduction
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00:01:15
Speaker
Sing along if you know the words. One, two, three, it's time for animation deliberation. A conversation and a celebration of our favorite action animated series. Yeah. Yeah.
00:01:34
Speaker
This is Animation of Liberation, the podcast where we take action animation seriously and obviously not too seriously.
Attack on Titan Characters and Continuity
00:01:40
Speaker
I'm your host, Yhera Lee, joining me today is my Valley and co-host, fellow Scout, Jay Scotty Sinclair. How are you, buddy? Feeling great. It's good to be back. I absolutely love the intro there. You inspired me. You know, with with this show being of such like dramatic vibes and everything that really threw me off that when like this new set of villains were all like
00:02:04
Speaker
Wild West. And just the whole vibe of it, the main guy was named Kenny the Ripper with a cowboy hat and everything. And just everything about it was just kind of like, this is so out of place, but it's so funny. And as cool as the dinosaur and as awesome as the action sequence was with it, you can't look past all of that. Yeah, we've got characters named like Armin, Beartold, Reiner, and then there's Kenny.
00:02:33
Speaker
They're just out of the blue. And just the way that he yells at Kenny! Yeah. It's like, whoa, that's how an episode's gonna end. Our favorite character just aggressively yelling, Kenny? Am I watching the right show? I could have sworn this was South Park for a second. Oh, man. All right, so we've got feedback from a few of our listeners.
00:02:58
Speaker
But on top of that, all we also want to hear the feedback of what you thought of season two before we carry on. Oh, yeah, for sure. I think you guys you and Andrew did a phenomenal job covering season two. It was definitely very much a continuation of season one. But you know, having watched as much of season three as we have at this point, it feels
00:03:19
Speaker
almost like season 1.2 rather than season two, whereas season three really feels like season two, if that makes sense. But I loved all the reveals. I agreed with the kind of nonchalant revelation of Bear Toltenreiner as our colossal and armor titan. All the backstory that we got for Ymir I think posed more questions than gave us answers really, some really interesting stuff there. But I enjoyed it quite a bit and
00:03:50
Speaker
I have a hard time putting this show down. I said it before, but I feel very much like a ravenous titan when it comes to this show. I just want to gobble all the episodes down. As long as you're not vomiting them back up. No, I'm more like the jaw titan in that regard. I just chop them all down.
00:04:12
Speaker
Do we want to tell the listeners, so this is the first part of our coverage of season three, do we want to let them know which episode specifically? I know we've detailed that in our social media posts, but just to point it out on top.
00:04:26
Speaker
Yeah, so this is the first half of season three, which is covering 38 through 49. And when the series aired when the season specifically aired, this is actually where they had their mid season break. So they cut it off at this point. And then
00:04:44
Speaker
had a November, December, January, February, March, April, four, no, six month gap six. You're going to make us wait four years and then six months between episodes. Like I think they understand that we have this tightness nature of wanting to gobble these down, which is why they're cutting them up. I mean, you guys have had the luxury of getting to watch it all together, but yeah, four years between each season is just ridiculous.
00:05:12
Speaker
Yeah, it's pretty crazy. It's some of the feedback that we've gotten in the past, but it makes me wonder how it would skew my perspective on the series as a whole if I weren't able to
00:05:22
Speaker
go from season to season without any pause or any interruption and would I lose some of those little details here and there that add to this overarching story and mystery? I think I probably would, but I'm spoiled and I'm grateful for the fact that I get to watch it the way I am. I did have to wait a long time after watching my first viewing of season one, I will say, but after that, it was out of sight and out of mind for me.
00:05:46
Speaker
So before we hit this feedback from our listeners, one of the things that I want to touch on since we're talking about this time gap is
00:05:53
Speaker
I was really thrown off when season three started when I was watching because it did not click me to the fact that our voice actors have aged in this time. This is eight years from when they did their first episode. Wow. So when you when when this is supposed to be like picking up right where you left off from season two and everybody just hit puberty, it has like a significantly deeper voice. Like I was just listening.
Listener Engagement and Upcoming Animated Shows
00:06:19
Speaker
I was like,
00:06:20
Speaker
Like, whether you're listening to Japanese or English, this is weird. This is really freaking weird. I mean, it was more fitting to the characters, but the first couple of episodes were just such an adjustment of like, I don't like it.
00:06:33
Speaker
Yeah, and I can't remember which episode specifically, but I think we got a little bit of like a timeline where it had only been like four months since like the time that they got their first like battle like after training and whatnot, right? Yeah. So from when?
00:06:52
Speaker
The wall got attacked after they finished their time as cadets. Right. To this current time has only been four months and two of the months has been after the events of like what happened. So like a majority of this nonsense happened in the span of two months. And one of those months was like Aaron cleaning up that base and getting ready for his mission. Like, wow, that's insane. That's traumatic.
00:07:17
Speaker
Yeah, life ain't easy in the walls or outside the walls for that matter. We're trying to get more outside the walls are tired of this. Yeah, yeah, definitely. Alright, so I'm gonna hit
00:07:30
Speaker
TJ's email first because he sent us the email and a voice message So the email is more about the show voice message is more about attack on Titan. Sorry our show The voice is more about attack on Titan. Then we got killing who talks only attack on Titan. So our email from TJ Stafford is
00:07:50
Speaker
I must have missed the news about the Swat Cats reboot, but I am so pumped. I used to love that show and I'm very disappointed you can't stream it anywhere. I know how busy you guys are just trying to keep up with all this latest animated content, but I'd love some day to hear some coverage of some older shows. Like you, I was born in 1990, so I think we grew up with a lot of the same animated shows.
00:08:10
Speaker
I love Batman the Animated Series and the associated DC Animated Universe, Gargoyle, Swatcat, Spider-Man, the X-Men from the 90s. Later we got shows like Spectacular Spider-Man, The Avengers Are Smitey as Heroes, just to name a few. Zuharra, you also frequently bring up the DC Animated Movie Universe and I would love to see you do some coverage on these films because they do not get enough love. Finally, you casually mentioned doing an episode on Mask of the Phantasm and all I have to say is yes please.
00:08:39
Speaker
I've mentioned before that movie was one of, if not if, the first film I had ever seen in the theater and it was my gateway to both animation and other superhero media. It remains to this day one of my favorite films of all time. I don't want this to come off as criticism because that is all. I love your cast and I look forward to listening to all your thoughts on the latest animated shows. I just want you guys to give yourselves a chance to geek out over some of the classic stuff too. You guys are awesome and I will continue to tune in every week. Stay well and teach this effort.
00:09:08
Speaker
Right on, TJ. I appreciate a couple of things out of that email. Number one, when he said he will continue to tune in, that is T-O-O-N, he used that the correct way. And it's worth mentioning that the subject of this email is, it's okay, Jscati, I'm old too.
00:09:23
Speaker
referring to our batmanimation episode where we kind of took a stroll down memory lane and there was a little bit of a moment where you and our special guest, Reed Murphy and Emily Sissel were vibing a little bit more on the shared WB mornings that I could not relate to quite as much. So I appreciate that feedback, TJ.
00:09:47
Speaker
Yeah. And just kind of like cards on the table, like all the stuff is in the books, but you know, sadly this is not our primary jobs and we do have things to do outside of this. Um, so, you know, we're just happy that we get the chance to podcast, uh, TJ, it's your. Pandiversary and you know, you were talking about how this network has done a lot for you. It's done a lot for us as well. And, you know, just getting the opportunity to talk about the stuff that we love and in the frequency that we do is.
00:10:16
Speaker
Definitely a blessing in its own. So when the opportunity presents itself, yes, we definitely want to hit the solder content. We definitely want to hit that DC stuff. But for the time being, it's just a matter of like, whatever we can get out to you in the time that we can, you know, we're just, we're happy to do it, but it's on our radar and we're going to do the best to get to it when we can. Well said. Well said. All right. So now let's hear the voice of TJ Stafford.
00:10:43
Speaker
Hey guys, real quick I just wanted to say that I'm really enjoying your coverage on Attack on Titan. And it's been a pretty interesting experience because I believe this is probably the first time on any show that you've covered that I've actually been ahead of you. So I know the answers to all the questions you guys are asking on air and I find myself screaming at the top of my lungs trying to tell you the answers. But I know you guys will get there real soon. Also, Zoo, I'm glad you're finally watching Arkane and I'm glad you're enjoying it.
00:11:12
Speaker
hope to hear your thoughts on it when you finish. Also, I can't wait to hear what you guys have to say when you eventually talk about Legend of Vox Machina. Just so you know, it might take a couple episodes for you to really get into it, but once the story gets going, I think you'll really enjoy it. Anyway, that's all I have to say this time. Keep up the good work, guys. Have you had a chance to watch any of it yet? Not yet, but I've been keeping my ear pretty close to the pulse, and I like what I'm hearing, the comparisons to
00:11:41
Speaker
Invincible definitely bode well. I kind of like it when things get a little more gory and then the fact that we do have, you know, if I'm not mistaken, it's the same animating team from Young Justice, correct? I believe so.
00:11:57
Speaker
Okay, so yeah, that just sounds like a winning combination to me. And I've said it on the podcast before, while I have never played D&D myself. I'm definitely a fan of the fantasy genre. I'm a big Lord of the Rings fan, and I've always kind of been right on the periphery of D&D. And I actually, not to get off on too much of a tangent, but I've been hearing a lot about D&D lately, and specifically one of the offshoots called Pathfinder. So maybe we'll get a Pathfinder series before too long.
00:12:27
Speaker
Yeah, sounds good to me. You mentioned Invincible. Did you hear that there's a show called The Boys Presents Diabolical? I have heard all about that, but I have yet to watch that one as well. It just premiered recently, didn't it? Yeah. I think we're starting to hit that content overload season. I believe so, yeah. We need to finish AOT quick. Yeah, because the rest of Young Justice season four is just around the corner too.
00:12:56
Speaker
Yeah, it seems like it. It's a good time to be a fan of animation.
00:13:02
Speaker
So on the other thing that, you know, TJ said is that he's been, he's caught up and I got to say that I've been lucky that none of the stuff from season four has been spoiled for me yet, except for how some of the characters look. Uh, so I'm pretty relieved that like, I'm still kind of left in the dark about what's happening and you know, big shout out and big thank you to all of our listeners who don't spoil it for us and just let us enjoy the ride.
Political Intrigue and Military Tactics in Attack on Titan
00:13:27
Speaker
Definitely. Definitely. This show.
00:13:30
Speaker
I'd almost say in addition to the high octane action, the just fidelity of the animation, the really endearing characters, almost more than half the fun is this mystery that's slowly been unraveling. I feel like every time we get more answers, we get more questions, but it's what makes it so bingeable is just wanting to get one more little clue and one more little detail. Going into it non-spoiled has been an absolute delight. I concur.
00:14:00
Speaker
It's like a Levi interrogation where we just keep pulling nails hoping that we get some answers from the series. Speaking of people are not spoiling for us, we have Phoebe from Gillian Kurtik. And I got to give a shout out for how she sent this feedback. She sent us a Google Doc that has all of the parts sectioned out with how we're recording. But she has all of the text in white.
00:14:23
Speaker
So because she's caught up, but she still has stuff she wants us talk about. So this is this is this is probably what's going to get us going. But she has all the text in white so that as we watch, we can like change the font to black and actually read it without any of the future stuff can explode for us. So genius. And we appreciate that level of caretaking to make sure it's not spoiled with the two questions that she has is.
00:14:45
Speaker
With Ervin missing his arm, we see Levi ask him to stay behind. Do we think Ervin would delegate some responsibilities? If so, who do you think is most qualified? That is a good question. My first thought goes to Levi. He seems to have this inherent trust in Levi and his ability
00:15:10
Speaker
as well as his somewhat calculated nature. The more we've learned about Ervin, the more we've learned that he's basically just taking gambles and a lot of his motivations have been a little more selfish than originally thought. So if not Levi, I would go with Hanji. Hanji. Hanji, yeah. Yeah, that's who I'm leaning towards, 100%.
00:15:39
Speaker
Because with her, like, she's actually the she's more the brains of the operation. And while she does have her, you know, psychotic, happy scientist moments. Erwin takes pride in being the face of the scouts. He's mentioned that a couple of times this season. And I feel like Hanji fits that pedestal a little better.
00:16:06
Speaker
I can see the terms of like talking to the politics talking to the people coming up with solutions coming and like if Levi is the commander, he's not going to be fighting as much. And I feel like with his skill set, that's not something that you want to limit. So I feel like it makes sense for Hange to stay as the brains and be the commander of the scouts and have Levi as the right hand to just kind of
00:16:32
Speaker
Manage his squad and just go be the wrecking ball that him and his guys are Yeah, yeah for sure While we're on the subject of hanji, I do feel like it's it's kind of worth mentioning One of the things that kind of popped up in season two that seemed to pay off more in this part of the season was the whole relationship with pastor Nick It seemed like a very antagonistic relationship the last time we really saw her interact with him But this time around
00:17:02
Speaker
She really got to show outside of her aptitude for science and whatnot. She really is kind of a brilliant strategist when it came to unraveling those two members of the Interior Police. Yeah, that part was like...
00:17:16
Speaker
Savage too, because it was it was like her ability to just deduct everything in the moment and not just react from shock. But then everything leading up to it, like when she went back to Oregon and Levi, I was just kind of like, oh, by the way, I noticed this and this and this happened and that happened. And because of this, it's leading to this. We suspect this. I was like, oh, my God, you deducted all of that. Like, you know, we just finished watching Batman, too. And I felt like I just moved over. It's like, you know, contender for world's greatest detective.
00:17:46
Speaker
Yeah, fair point. When she like grabbed, I can't remember the guy's name, but when she grabbed his hand and was holding his hand for way too long at that moment, I was just as uncomfortable as him. But the fact that she was taking that opportunity to examine his knuckles was genius.
00:18:00
Speaker
Yeah, because they were talking about like, Oh, yeah, we were just the ones who recalled when, you know, he was reported dead. It's like, no, you were the one who killed them. And like, when they did the little like, the artsy flashback thing, like they were just like smiling and on top of the world as they were killing this dude, too. Yeah, I was they were making the the younger scouts lose their lunch up there. Yeah, military police are frickin dark. Oh, yeah, really dark. For sure.
00:18:29
Speaker
Yeah, not not a fan. So the first part of the series, I guess there's no reason to not go in order. Okay. It really is about the political side of things. And we talk about how dark the military police is. And one of the things that they do is they they hire Kenny the Ripper and his guys to kind of be enforcers and make sure the scouts stay off of their tail. But the other story that's going on is,
00:18:57
Speaker
they're kind of framing the scouts for like, not succeeding in any of their missions and being a ways and was like, you know what, the scouts as a whole is just a way so let's disband all of them. And it goes to what I've been saying about like how dysfunctional of a military this is, that you're going to take a third of your organization and just not just cancel the branch and relocate them to be garrison or anything, you're just going to put all of them in jail.
00:19:24
Speaker
Right, right. How does that make any sense? None whatsoever. It's like entirely self-defeating and it makes a lot more sense in retrospect when we realize just how insidious the inner workings of the royal families are and how they were maintaining their power for so long. But yeah, just the fact that
00:19:48
Speaker
Irvin would even be put on any kind of trial and like the fact that his execution was up in the air and that they were actually hunting down the people that had been protecting them for years and years and years and the ones that have been putting their lives on the line. It was really difficult to watch and it was super frustrating. And like we as the viewer know that these are our most like heroic characters and they've been branded as criminals. Like you get the Batman parallels right there as well. Yeah. Yeah. Even the dialogue with Pixis after everything happens where
00:20:18
Speaker
He was like, I wasn't going to take your side. I'm loyal to the King. And that's what I'm supposed to be doing. But this one test is going to determine whether I do that or not. And I'm glad that that it like we can assume that he's inebriated based off the first season. But if there weren't like over emphasizing it this time, like they were kind of sticking to the script between what the what the three commanders were doing business about like the MP one.
00:20:46
Speaker
He was just, he just lost his mind at the beginning. We already talked about how stupid he is, just putting everybody in the brig and this and that.
00:20:55
Speaker
His respect for Ervin is something that made, that alone made him question his decision when it came to the point where it's like, seriously doing this? Like, Ervin, like, come on, like, Ervin, get it together. Like, what's going on? So the fact that he holds him to that high regard kind of says a lot too, and it really did play out into the success of the coup. Yeah. And I got to say that whole moment where, you know, the one, uh,
00:21:23
Speaker
I guess military police member ran in and was like, the wall has fallen again. It's like the same thing all over again. I fell for it hook line and sinker. I was like, oh no, we're going through this again. Yeah. But yeah, it was absolutely brilliant and such a just comeuppance for those members of the royal families as well as the puppet king as we learn King Fritz was.
00:21:49
Speaker
Yeah, he looked so badass just like sitting with his hand like on the armrest and everything. It turns out he was just passed out the whole time. And when he finally was just like, huh, what's going on? I thought that something was shady when the one dude was like, all right, it's time for the king's decision. But like, they never spoke to him. And he was like, on behalf of the king, I was like, what kind of telepathy is going on over here?
00:22:11
Speaker
And the person who actually barged through the doors and made that announcement was, uh, Pixis' right hand. I forget her name, but, uh, she, he was the one that, that she was, she was the one that he was giving commands to at the, at the battle of Trots. So when I saw her, I was like, Hmm. Uh, so that was so shasty. Yeah. They were just kind of like, all right, let's deploy this and do this. Like Pixis just ready to go. It's like, no.
00:22:40
Speaker
We're just going to leave everybody out. Close the gates. I'm sorry, what? What about? And then the like section six that he used about like how the priority is for all humanity that he accused Ervin of breaking. They were just kind of like, huh, interesting how you are ready to just kill a majority of humanity. Oh, how the tables have turned. Turn indeed. Yeah.
00:23:08
Speaker
And they talk about like how, you know, the Fate King and we have an idea of who the rightful king is at this point, because the big reveal of season two was that Krista, now that we know her name is Historia, is actually, you know, the daughter of royal blood. And this season starts off with her and surprise, surprise, Erin getting kidnapped, because you can't have a season without Erin getting kidnapped.
Historia and Eren's Personal Journeys
00:23:32
Speaker
Yeah, it was kind of like the whole sequence from season one where we had fake Aaron and fake Armin, but this time it was fake Aaron and fake Krista. And once again, we've got Jean playing the role of Aaron to both of their dismay.
00:23:51
Speaker
Armin is playing Krista. And when that one MP got behind him and started groping him and stuff, and I was like, oh my god, poor Armin. I don't care which one of them this is. This is so dirty and uncomfortable. Somebody please beat the daylights out of him. Yeah. That was disturbing. So cringy. I love how savage Sasha is with that bow, though. Oh, yeah.
00:24:19
Speaker
She is a beast on multiple levels, her appetite as well as her combat prowess.
00:24:28
Speaker
Uh, speaking of combat prowess, the action sequence when Levi is just slaughtering all of those other of Kenny squad, that whole sequence looked amazing. Like that's the kind of stuff that we talk about. It's just so cinematic, the way that it's just cutting through and the cameras following along with it and all the cuts and moves and just, I look so cool. I didn't even care that it was human blood that time.
00:24:57
Speaker
Yeah. And it was so rewarding after having just seen, you know, um, Hanji's two confidants be gunned down in cold blood. It was awesome to see Levi. Yeah. Yeah. It had me pretty worried about the fates of some of our characters, but yeah, Levi comes out swinging and you know, they say don't bring a knife to a gun fight, but this is one of the times that you absolutely can. Yeah.
00:25:23
Speaker
I was I was kind of annoyed at the first part just with the specifics of like, you heard so many gunfire is going out. And I was like, if they still have muskets and cannons, I needed to be reloaded every time. Like, how are they firing off so many pistol rounds? And then later they do explain like you get one shot each and then you have to reload. But like, with the intensity of that scene, the way that they they made the sound effect sound. Mm hmm.
00:25:51
Speaker
made it seem like they had a whole magazine to go through and I was like, that doesn't quite sound right. It's one of the things you get in live action as well. There's always a little bit of a suspension of disbelief when they never have to reload or if they do, it's not frequently enough at all. Yeah. Or you reload when it's like reload to the story like end of the movie like I'm out of ammo.
00:26:14
Speaker
I think Deadpool was like the first movie to really acknowledge that. Yeah, he did. He was like counting all the shots. Yeah. So, yeah, we have the story I kidnapped. You got Aaron kidnapped the sequence under the temple. My thoughts on that sequence under the temple. Yeah, that was all incredibly riveting. You're referring to when Aaron was chained up and
00:26:42
Speaker
Historia and gagged, yeah. Along with her father. What was his name, Roland? Rod, or Road? Oh yeah, Rod. Yeah, Rod Rice. Yeah. I really thought that, you know, Historia was going to take the villain turn. I obviously didn't think that Erin was going to die, but I thought that she was definitely going to be injected with that Titan fluid and become a pure Titan as we know that they're called now.
00:27:11
Speaker
But yeah, it was all Incredibly riveting as far as the story goes, but it was also really hard to watch in terms of like Aaron having to learn the truth of what his father did and basically Being ready to die just kind of giving up like he's never been my favorite character with his like headstrong and brash kind of nature But it was really difficult to watch him just give up like that Yeah, it was
00:27:39
Speaker
It was tough to see. Because we, whether it be true or not, we learned a lot about Aaron's dad and that too. And to know that like, so much of this potentially happened because of his either interference or just his decisions was really hard for him to
00:28:04
Speaker
to fathom because he hadn't seen him in so long. He still clearly isn't over his mom because every mention that comes up, it's like he always like breaks down from that. So for him to just finally have that because this is one of our heroes who's lost a lot. Like in terms of like he's lost fights.
00:28:24
Speaker
Like on his first outing, he gets eaten and then he gets beat up as a titan, then gets kidnapped by Annie and then put on trial, then gets beaten up or gets crushed by another titan and then gets found with his arms missing. Like he's never really won a fight in his life.
00:28:48
Speaker
Because even as a kid like Mikasa always came to save him so it's like you can imagine just that emotional strain of him just being like oh My god like it's in the family that we're messing up like I'm I'm done Just eat me and here's one of the things I don't understand that I kind of want to ask you about Is this like Highlander? Where when you eat another? Titan you get their powers is that how that works or is it just the memory stuff that they were talking about and
00:29:18
Speaker
At this point in time, it seems to be the former, what you said, in order to inherit the power of the Titan that's... I'm struggling on the word that I want to say to it, but the Titan that's tied to the Rice family. The Prime Titan, I guess? The Pure Titan, is that what you said earlier?
00:29:39
Speaker
I think pure Titans are the ones that are more mindless and just kind of running around and don't have a speciality. But yeah, just the Titan that was attached to the Rice family, they obviously passed it down generation from generation. We found that Frida Rice had eaten her uncle in order to inherit that. And then also it's one of the major revelations we get talking about like Grisha not being around for so many years and wondering where he was. We actually saw via flashback that Aaron ate his dad.
00:30:09
Speaker
That's wild. Wait, Eren ate his dad? Yeah. Where did I miss that? So during that sequence under the temple, when Rod and Krista first touched him and it had the unintended effect of revealing all those memories, it unlocked Krista's memories, it also unlocked Eren's memories. Now, I remember
00:30:36
Speaker
Rod and his story of touching his back and then him getting the memory. But it was like of commandeer Keith. Yeah, I don't remember anything about. It's it's not explicit, but you see when it's that sequence that we've seen so many times where his father's like, this is your duty, you have to avenge your mother.
00:31:00
Speaker
You see Eren turn into a pure Titan for just a second, and then it's all done from first person's perspective. He basically chomps down on his dad to where all that's left is an arm. That's basically how he inherited the attack Titan, because we saw his father use the attack Titan to kill pretty much every member of the Rice family, except for Rod. Yeah, I must have just slipped during that. Rewatch, it's worth it.
00:31:29
Speaker
Oh, darn. Got to watch it again. I definitely just need to continue from where I'm at. Wow. That's insane. Yeah. Huh? Well, speaking of.
00:31:43
Speaker
flashbacks on something that I can keep up with. You mentioned Frida and that whole sequence for a story I was so heartbreaking to because she was talking about like with her mother, she always thought that she was alone. And the one time she tried hugging her like she just up and left. Yeah. Did that did she kind of make her mother's job sound like she was a prostitute?
00:32:08
Speaker
That was very much the impression that I got. Yes. Okay. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't, wasn't alone in that. She was like, Yeah, everybody else worked. And she just got to read and she got dressed up and left. And I was like, Oh, oh, yeah. Yeah. Because she is a she's a bastard child, too. She didn't know her dad until later. Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. Make sure I was on the same page. This other this other kind of a binge is that just start to mix up.
00:32:42
Speaker
No, I was just, um, I was, I was thinking, yeah, what kind of gives credence to that is the fact that, um, Rod did refer to Frida as her half sister. So, um, I can't remember how well the whole family unit was explained, but I guess he had another, another wife that was his official wife that he had Frida and his two sons with, but then his brother didn't have any offspring whatsoever. Interesting.
00:33:09
Speaker
Yeah, so yeah, she thought that she was alone for so long. And then it turns out she had a half sister who saw her all the time and taught her to read and made her happy and made her laugh. She was such a goofball to like everything about like her, her personality was just so sweet. And it's like, I want to see like more of this person. But like, his story didn't even get to remember any of that. She was robbed of that. And then she just gets to find out that this person that actually was taking care of her and making her happy for so long was killed.
00:33:39
Speaker
And like, that was kind of like the deciding factor for her. She was like, no, I don't want to be any like, I'm not your weapon. I'm not your tool. Like anything I do from here on out is going to be like whatever I want. Like screw your agenda. So for her to take out her dad and then not only go.
00:33:58
Speaker
to rescue Erin, which was like really cool, but like her maturity level just like shot up in this moment because when he was just whining, she just smacked him and she was like, shut up and stop being pity for yourself. I don't care anymore. Yeah. This is what I need to do right now. Whatever you want to do with that.
00:34:17
Speaker
Yes, you tell him. Yeah, yeah. And I felt like that was a great callback to earlier in the season when Erin and she had that exchange where Erin told her that he didn't really like the version of her that was too nice and was doing everything to appease people. And at that point in time, I was wondering if there was a potential romance between them. Because I think even somebody made kind of a snide comment. I can't remember exactly who, but they said,
00:34:44
Speaker
we're all here doing work and whatever while you're holding hands with Historia or what have you. I think it was genre Connie. Yeah, that would make sense, which kind of wonder how Mikasa feels about that because while their relationship varies as much a brother and sister kind of relationship, her level of like intense care for Aaron borders on like
00:35:09
Speaker
I don't, it doesn't necessarily have to be romantic love, but I just, I feel like she would have an issue with anybody that might be a romantic interest for Aaron. Yeah. Let's just hope that it's, uh, like just her being a protective big sister. Yeah.
00:35:27
Speaker
Yeah, go ahead. I was just going to say, yeah, I think we were on the same page there when she refuses the spinal fluid and flips her father over her shoulder and makes him land on his back, very much breaking his back. Do you think that had a big influence on when he does go into his pure Titan form, the fact that he's crawling around like that? Do you think it's because of the broken back? Because a lot of times we see them heal to some extent, but just his
00:35:53
Speaker
humongous almost caterpillar sandworm-esque form, which is totally disgusting. I couldn't help but somewhere in the back of my mind, I was wondering if it was because of the broken back or maybe he's just such a sniveling character, that's why.
00:36:07
Speaker
Um, I was going for sniveling character. I don't think I I think I was so lost in how grotesque that he looked that didn't quite make the connection to the injury. But I could see that happening. I really wish I could, I could think of an example of like,
00:36:28
Speaker
I guess it's almost kind of the only example I could think of is like the end of invincible Hulk where like the doctor had like a head injury but then like contact with the stuff so it's like his like his healing and his transformation like happened because of that but sure
00:36:46
Speaker
Yeah, man, I wish I could think of a better example of this right now, but yeah, I fully support the theory that, you know, the Titan formula was trying to heal itself, but it just kind of like... It was kind of like if you broke a finger and it kind of healed wrong, if you didn't like put it back in place, so the fluid was just kind of like, oh, this must go here, and just kind of like super glues it together. Right. And then makes him like five times the size of colossal Titan, just hideous, like his personality just became his face.
00:37:16
Speaker
Sure, sure. Well, speaking of face, we never really get a good look at his face and tighten for him until he finally does start to mount the wall. And the fact that he's been dragging his face along the entire time, he's just got like the lower part of a jaw and the rest. You can just see the insides of his face is very well animated and very gross, very creepy, but utterly awesome at the same time. I mean, the whole the whole plane with that was so cool, too. Like they're terrified about like the big mountain.
00:37:47
Speaker
We talk about like, why would the kids look up to the Scout unit when it was from the perspective of Aaron as a kid? Right, right. And we do see the level of hope that they provide. And it was cool that they mimic that.
00:38:00
Speaker
with other people it's like hey look at this kid that's watching right now like we have to do this for them we have to we have to fight and we have to save humanity and we got to see those cannons used well for the first time because typically they're like just kind of swept off of their positions right so just being able to like shoot down on it and then you know try to it
Climactic Battles and Character Development
00:38:21
Speaker
like
00:38:21
Speaker
just everybody coming in at once and attacking was so cool and then just Throwing the explosives down his throat. It's like yeah, let's get the Nate from the inside. It's like oh Yeah, and he goes flying in a million pieces
00:38:40
Speaker
Yeah, I was I was confused about that sequence too about like that I because the way that they described it made it sound like it was like The nape was in pieces, but it wasn't destroyed. So you had to destroy like every piece I didn't realize that like they were trying to find like the one spot that was his body which is story I got to get the final blow on and
00:39:03
Speaker
Right, which kind of was the perfect way to end the whole, I don't want to say full on conflict, but the fact that Ervin wanted to put her in as the rightful
00:39:16
Speaker
rightful ruler, but she didn't want to do that and just be another one that was only a ruler in name or in bloodline. She wanted to do something to actually earn the trust and the admiration of the people and the fact that she fought back against Irvin and said, no, I need to be on the battlefield when this happens and I need to be the one that delivers the killing blow, the fact that she was able to do. I don't know what the odds are. I'm not really a numbers guy, but it was super satisfying that she
00:39:44
Speaker
got to, you know, get that vengeance against a father that was like such a, I know we don't normally cuss, but I'm going to say such a piece of to her. I'll edit that out. So yeah, very satisfying.
00:39:57
Speaker
Yeah, and she gets to establish like her power as a queen to like, not only does she have royal bloodline, but like, she's not a snooty princess, like she went through cadet school, she saw the Titan stronger, she's helped people, she's saved people, she's killed Titans on her own, she's killed this double Colossus Titan, not on her own, but like, it's part of a bigger thing.
00:40:19
Speaker
for her to go through all of that and stand up to hire command and like become a part of royalty that's objective is to actually save the people and help the people like during this two month like R&R session that they have. She actually works with Levi to like bring out the orphans from underground and get people fed and get the processes and the systems and everything like going again like
00:40:45
Speaker
she's such a good soul and such a good person but like she's physically and emotionally strong on top of that now too and for her to be able to use those good graces to you know lead this country is is something that humanity really needs certainly she's definitely doing a lot to
00:41:10
Speaker
make up for the sins of the Rice family previously. But with that in mind, thinking of family legacies and whatnot, one of the things I feel like we've kind of glossed over is we did talk about Kenny a little bit, but we know that Kenny's last name is Ackerman, and the fact that he actually raised Levi, who was his nephew. Yeah.
00:41:34
Speaker
Levi's been referred to as a runt and he's been depicted as much shorter than a lot of the young characters and whatnot, but to actually figure out why he's like that was pretty great stuff. I mean, not great for him as a character, but it was great to learn more about him. Exactly. I mean, the first time that you see Levi's mother, she's just dead in her bed and she's been decaying for some time while he's just been sitting helplessly in the corner. That was rough. Yeah, it was tough.
00:42:06
Speaker
And I guess it's just in the Ackerman blood because apparently he has a relationship to Mikasa and even like she had a great upbringing but you know watching her parents get slaughtered and then having to kill people at a young age like there must be just some bad juju in that in that blood. Some bad juju but some badass fighting skills because they've they both have just such an aptitude.
00:42:31
Speaker
I mean, the fact that their kill count alone is like higher than the whole scout regiment. It's pretty insane. Yeah. Not just Titans anymore. They've racked up quite a human kill count too, because I'm thinking about that sequence in the caverns under the temple where we really had the last of Kenny's squad kind of picked off and just
00:42:54
Speaker
That was, that was really ingenious the way they like, you talked about Sasha's archery there, but just getting to see them like, you know, blow up the oil barrels to create smoke and then understand that they, when their enemies are using this new form of ODM, they can only, you know, point and fire in one direction. So if you can like get behind them after they've done that, you can basically take them out and just.
00:43:19
Speaker
As much as I wanted to see those people taken down, I actually felt for them towards the end. I can't remember what Kenny's right hand, was it Cleveland or something like that? I have no idea to be honest. It was something like that, but yeah. I think Hanji was the only one to really suffer any kind of serious blow from them. They were completely and totally outnumbered. I was so scared for her. Yeah. Yeah. It was a close call for sure.
00:43:50
Speaker
Go ahead, Connie's always the one that kind of needs rescuing now too. True, true. It's like, come on bud, get it together.
00:43:59
Speaker
I mean, it's it's really tough for them to like even in the the first or second episode. Jean was supposed to go for the kill and he was ordering like, hey, right, if you don't, they will kill you. And it's because he hesitated that the girl hesitated and then Armin had to shoot her.
00:44:21
Speaker
And then they had the debriefing between Armin and Mikasa where he was like, is that what it felt like for you? Is this how you felt the first time? Like he was truly traumatized. Right. And John did not enjoy the experience for obvious reasons, the slightest either. So for them to have to go in and be like, Hey, we're going to kill a bunch of humans so that we can save our friend, but we're just going to take this giant, giant Colossal Titan down as well. Like.
00:44:49
Speaker
Two months. Yeah. All this is probably in the span of like a day or two. Overall, just two months. Yeah. Yep. That's bonkers, dude.
00:45:01
Speaker
Yeah, it's these characters have gone through a lot in a short amount of time. But I did want to talk a little bit about more under the under the temple. So we talked about how Kenny was employed by the military police initially to kind of like hunt down the scouts. But then we get the whole revelation that he's been working for Rod Rice for a long time. But he just kind of gets to the point where he's fed up with him. He's like, you know what,
00:45:27
Speaker
I'm not going to let you just take out Aaron. I'm going to give him a fighting chance. Let's see these two fightings. Like Duke it out. Yeah. He was just like, I'm just here for the show. Where's my. Exactly. If attack on Titan, if we've made the comparisons, the Batman, he was very much our Joker. Yeah. Some people just want to watch the world burn. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. He was definitely it, but then Aaron was crying instead. Yeah. Yeah.
00:45:56
Speaker
Remind me, can he get hurt during the whole thing collapsing? I believe that's when it went down. I think he tried to go back to save members of his squad. We didn't see it happen on screen, I don't think, but we definitely saw the aftermath.
00:46:15
Speaker
Yeah, cuz Levi just kind of found him with like half his his face was like burnt right because we had the steam of two of the Titans kind of messing with everybody too because you can't handle that temperature. So not only was was big boy rice, you know, breaking through but Aaron transformed as well and finally learned his hardening technique. Yeah.
00:46:39
Speaker
Did they say that that's just a Titan thing? Like Titans are able to do that and he's just trying to figure out how. He ate that bottle. Right. Yeah. So I don't know what the revelations are there. Yeah. So we saw him eat that bottle that had some kind of writing on it. And I'm trying to remember at some point. Was it armor? Yes. Armor. That's what it was. Correct. Huh. Yeah.
00:47:07
Speaker
Yeah, it's just like, what do we talk about outside of recollection? Because so many big things happen, but it's like, it just leads to so many more questions. Yeah. And correct me if I'm wrong here, but didn't he have a moment where like, he questioned his ability to like read another language. It was like a language he didn't recognize. I remember that happening with Amir. Oh, okay. Maybe that was season two that I'm thinking of. Yeah. Okay. I mean, that could have happened here, but I just, I definitely remember that happening with Amir.
00:47:37
Speaker
Yeah, I think that was season two. I think I'm getting things kind of conflated. It's great that he's got the hardening skill ability now.
00:47:46
Speaker
Yeah, um even during the time jump like we see how he's using it and how he's practicing by like kind of fixing up one of the walls and they kind of have that um The the log guillotine exactly. Yeah, it's like luring and the titans letting it go in but you know, clearly it has a toll because he's just Bleeding at his nose so much and he can only endure so much of this right and we got a little scene of
00:48:10
Speaker
like, because like giving the deadliest of stairs to Astoria and Aaron when they're like walking and like lifting bags together. And I didn't think about it when I saw it, but you made the comment of like, if she's questioning like a romantic thing, but then she also scolded him for like,
00:48:29
Speaker
She's like, you have your Titan training to relax in between. She's like, I'm not some old man. I could do this. But now that you said that, I'm kind of putting the whole romantic thing together, too. Yeah. And now that you bring it up, I think that's probably the moment that I was thinking of specifically. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Take a look on her face. I was like, oh, my God. What is wrong with her right now? I'm scared.
00:48:52
Speaker
Yeah, those moments of levity were a little more few and far between in this particular arc. But we did end things with like a nice feast for the scouts in which we got to see some old personalities kind of come out again. And it was the source of some great comic relief if you're asking me.
00:49:13
Speaker
yeah while all that was playing out like of course everything with Sasha was just hilarious having to tie her down and she's actually drawing blood from Jean like she's about to bite his thumb off it was insane like I was so scared for him in that moment but then like when when Aaron and um Jean were about to fight like just going at each other and then they eventually do um seeing Mikasa just kind of like
00:49:41
Speaker
relief, like her just moment of solitude that things feel normal.
00:49:47
Speaker
was just so beautiful to see because even while the fight was going on like you can see her in the background just smile like her and Armin are smiling while everybody else is like cheering on or whatever right and they're just beating the living daylights at each other you know that Aaron can recover quick and they made that dialogue afterwards too but it's just kind of like you know what everyone just had a moment because we don't know what tomorrow is going to be like but of course Levi making the flashy exit entrance as always and just
00:50:13
Speaker
stopping the both of them to where they're throwing up on the ground. It's like, everyone go to bed, clean this up. So you'd be so proud of them. Yeah, very flashy, very flashy. That was, you know,
00:50:31
Speaker
I was even thinking as this was happening, and the credits start to roll. Because they have, you know, I don't know why I can't remember their names, but the Colossal Titan, the Armor Titan.
00:50:46
Speaker
Yeah, so they got Reiner and Beartolt like sitting on Wall Maria. And there's this uplifting moment of the scouts going up the wall and everyone cheering them on. Hey, Erwin, go do this for us. Go win for us. Levi, you got this. Be safe out there. Come on, scouts.
00:51:04
Speaker
And they're talking about how it's the first time in scout history that they've ever been cheered on. They're actually winning. They're actually progressing. They're making these steps for humanity. And we have three of our heroes. I think it was John Connie and Sasha yelling back. And the way that Ervin did it, I literally had goosebumps. Oh, yeah. He just gives that guttural roar.
00:51:32
Speaker
Yes, with the biggest smile on his face too. Yeah, it was great. He's roaring. The rest of the scouts are roaring. Everyone's like in the town is roaring back at him. Like I had goosebumps. It was so beautiful. It was so uplifting.
Episode Reflection and Future Hints
00:51:45
Speaker
And then I was like, all right, something, something. Sorry, something shitty is about to happen.
00:51:51
Speaker
And it's like, no, they go through the credits. Everything's peaceful. Everything's nice. You're leaving on a good term. I'm like, all right, I'm ready to podcast. And then the music just gets like choppy and blood keeps splattering on the screen. And it's so raunchy. And I'm like, no, no, no. What is happening right now? It made me so uncomfortable. They kept scratching the music and putting blood everywhere in like quick shots of like stuff that happens. It was like, what on earth is happening? And then it goes to the scene of
00:52:21
Speaker
Levi in the middle looking at Aaron and Mikasa behind Levi. So he sounded like sandwiched and they're Freaking out they're standing on a roof. They're all bloodied up and they're just like do you to understand what you've done and Punches Aaron and Mikasa Pins down Levi with the sword to his throat pushing to cut it and then it just goes back to the music like nothing happened, right?
00:52:49
Speaker
I was like, you jerks, why are you doing this to me? Why are you making me need therapy for a freaking anime that I'm not even caught up with?
00:53:01
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. If I had to have any complaints about this, like, season arc, it's the fact that, you know, season two had so many revelations in terms of Bertholt and Reiner, and we didn't get to see anything of them this entire arc, but then we did get that little tidbit there. And then, yeah, just like you said, it's no context whatsoever. We know that the scouts are going on this mission, but something obviously goes very, very wrong. And to leave us off like that is somewhat cruel.
00:53:31
Speaker
but at least it gives us something to anticipate and speculate for the future. Yeah. You ready to go watch more? I certainly am. I guess the one thing that I wanted to bring up that I felt like we kind of glossed over was, and I'm forgetting the name of the company, but we had that father and son duo, Flagle. I remember Flagle, but I don't remember the father's name.
00:53:57
Speaker
That was a great whole little, it was great for Hanju's character just to be able to inspire him to take up the mantle and actually be a good leader and the fact that he was there present and they provided a lot of that food that was for that dinner that we mentioned earlier. And when Ervin's giving that guttural roar, Flagle's right down there.
00:54:19
Speaker
basically leading the townspeople on in their cheer for the scouts. He's cheering on Hange specifically, and it's called the Reeves Company. The Reeves Company. There we go. There we go.
00:54:30
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's sad the way that his dad was double crossed. And I'm glad that he was able to not only make it out alive and help the scouts, but to be able to take over the company and do it in a positive light to support the people because we do have the flashback to season one, where it was like blocking the entrance and Mikasa had to like bully his dad and
00:54:54
Speaker
getting it out of the way so that the people could escape and he did you know have a turn after that but to be able to not only have a queen that's trying to help the people but actually have the merchants do something to support everybody is it's a really positive step in the right direction yeah yeah so good good for the people of Trost good for the Reeves company
Community Engagement and Conclusion
00:55:19
Speaker
Um, hopefully as we go into this next half of season three, we'll get a little bit more from, uh, our Titans, our enemy Titans, as well as, uh, we didn't really talk about the beast Titan, but that's because he has been very absence from the absent from the proceedings. But I certainly hope he rears his ugly head again. Yeah. We're about to find out soon.
00:55:44
Speaker
with that wrapping up part one season three of attack on titan is there anything that you need to plug my friend
00:55:51
Speaker
Not this week, I'll just plug the feedback that we got. If you would like to submit feedback like you heard earlier on the show, you can do so via email or an audio recording. The best place to send that is animationdeliberationpodcastatgmail.com. We appreciate all the feedback we get. If you do want to give us a five-star review, that would certainly help with the growth of the show and get us in front of that many more listeners. So with that in mind, you can also give us a share if you think
00:56:20
Speaker
any of your friends are digging the show and would dig our coverage, please do that for us. So that's it for me this week. I'll just say thanks for tuning in. That's T-O-O-N-I-N.
00:56:30
Speaker
And the one thing that I got is I started a TikTok that's called zoosquickdots, that's Z-U. And I made a video talking about a non-spoiler of Batman. And it's gotten a lot of views and a lot of comments and likes and appreciation. So if you want me to keep doing stuff like that and want to give me support, then yeah, check it out at zoosquickdots on TikTok. Very cool.
00:57:04
Speaker
Thank you for listening to the Animation Deliberation Podcast, a proud member of the Strandepanda Network. If you would like to contact us, you can email animationdeliberationpodcast at gmail.com or follow us on Twitter at animationdelib1. For this and other great shows, you can visit Strandepanda.com or join the great community that is the Strandepanda Chat Facebook group at facebook.com slash groups slash svchat. Tune in next time and remember, stay well.
00:57:23
Speaker
And as always, stay well.
00:57:32
Speaker
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00:59:28
Speaker
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