Attack on Titan
Recap
As of this episode the dub for Attack on Titan Final Season will be coming January 9th and 10th.
Last episode of Attack on Titan we dealt a lot with the war politics going on in Marley. Many of the Eldians have been forced to fight for Marley's military power and die for them. There are some Eldians who have a lot of pride in fighting for Marley, but many of them we see would rather not.
We were introduced to a slew of new characters such as Gabi,Falco, Udo, and Zofia. The episode gives us the most insight into Gabi and Falco though as they seem to be the ones closest to inheriting the Armored Titan from Reiner Braun.
We also got to see how despite the titan's great power that other lands were starting to get better at finding ways of defeating the titans, and the eldian people may be in danger of losing their worth to Marley.
Episode 1 was a great action filled start that sets the stage for the next episodes.
Review
This episode makes the choice to slow things down and have a lot more talking. The episode is filled to the brim with exposition as Marley tries to figure their next move as despite winning the last fight it was obvious that their power over the world had grown a lot weaker. Zeke Yeager, the beast titan,comes up with the idea to return back to Eren’s island and try to get the power of the founding titan as with the power of the founder on their side they could use it to take full domination over the other countries.
This little section may come off to some people as a little bit boring especially after all the action in the last episode, but the staff use this to help us understand the Marleyans and their desire to gain more power over the rest of the world.
After that we get a lot more moments with Reiner interacting with his four protegees as he sees a lot of himself in them. The episode is filled with them talking, playing, and just spending time with each other. There is a lot of fun and silly moments throughout the episode that I really enjoyed quite a bit. All of this is being used to make us care about the people of Marley and all of their struggles.
The anime also adds a new scene that wasn’t from the manga of a man commiting suicide by falling from a building. It is a horrifying and scary scene, but it is a scene that also adds to the horrifying acts that Marley has commited to make a man desire to kill himself over continuing to live in this world. It a perfect moment that shows us who Marley is under the surface.
Final Thoughts
Overall this was a solid episode, but not as strong as the last episode. The episode does a good job of allowing us to get attached to these new characters as it continues to build more and more tension with its characters. Many people may be turned off by this choice to slow down and give us brand new characters we have never met, but it is an important step in telling Attack on Titan's longform narrative.
Attack on Titan: The Final Season episode 2 Review: Understanding Marley
- Writing - 10/1010/10
- Plot - 8/108/10
- Character Development - 10/1010/10
- Production - 9/109/10
- Music - 9/109/10