And so, we are here. After a long 21 episodes running from late last summer into this summer, we are finally at the end of Attack on Titan season 3. There were many things going on in this half: Titans, Big Titans, Small Titan, Hairy Titans, 4-legged Titans, Giant Fire Titans, politics, battles, history, info dumps, deaths… so many deaths, but that’s expected on this show. Will there be more deaths to come? You’re damn right. Will we know who they be? Well, you’re going to have to read the manga for that, as you’ll have to wait a little while until we see these folks again. Now, onto the end of Season 3.
After a recap showing most of what happened last time (ending with our 3 MCs in their youth looking at a book of the sea), it goes back to the committee. They now know they’re all Eldians hated by the entire world, and this info will create chaos if it gets released. So, do they not release it and deprive them of the truth like the King did or not? Historia tells them to release the info on this and the King taking their memories, as everyone inside the walls all share a common cause and destiny to move forward. The military does this as the public hears and reads everything through newspapers and from the Survey Corps along with knowing the Colossal and Armored Titans were with the enemy.
Even the newspaper people can’t believe all these facts, even if they’re the answers they’ve been looking for all along. The public reaction to it splits three ways: some accept it as truth, others laugh it off, and then there’s the people who hate the military and spread conspiracy theories on it. As they said, it’s chaos out there, but it’s their job to report it, with the people having to accept this, and hey, it’s better than the King taking away their memories. The newspaper dudes are proud of what the Scouts did as Levi wants them to praise them more, but now they know that the Titans that brought fear & hatred to them are not the enemy. If the rest of the world’s hatred sends them back to that Hell they lived in under the Titans, then said Hell won’t end until they’re all gone, which makes the main newspaper dude shake.
Back in the courtroom, Hitch meets the others as they’re there to receive medals for what they did. Jean tells her how Marlo died a hero and has Floch go on about him. He tells her how he joined at the same time as Marlo, but Marlo set an example compared to the rest of the Scouts, even lifting the rest in spirits in the battle as everyone else panicked. Hitch knows how amazing he was as he never listened to a thing she said (Her words, so … ok?) However, Floch then tells her that Marlo most likely regretted being in the battle in the end as fear set in for him. This gets to Hitch, who leaves saddened.
Floch only told the truth, but he isn’t done. He looks at Armin, as Armin knows that Floch wanted Erwin to be the one chosen instead. Floch tells him it’s not just him, but everyone in the Corps who wanted Erwin, as it shows other military people looking disgusted. Eren tries to stick up for his friend, but Floch goes at him since he, Mikasa, and Levi are the ones who chose Armin over Erwin with their emotions. Hell, he thinks Eren’s own self-interests are what drives him to thinking he’s always right, like a kid that never listens to sense. Mikasa tries to calm the situation down, but Floch goes at her, saying she was mature by eventually giving up. Jean tries to stop this as they are at a ceremony, but Floch turns it on him and Connie. Sure, they didn’t disobey orders, but they also didn’t stop Eren and Mikasa either. Floch doesn’t want the medals or honoring the fallen. He just wants them to tell the truth to the next set of Survey Corp members so they don’t make more cowards like him. Yes, Floch may be an unskilled weakling, but even he can still voice an opinion. Amidst all of this, Armin agrees with Floch that Erwin should’ve been chosen, as he sadly knows he can’t fix this situation they’re in.
Even so, Eren knows they can’t tell if it’s the right choice since they can’t read the future. Plus, Armin hasn’t seen the outside world yet, AKA the ocean. They still haven’t seen that or the stuff their books described so they still can find freedom out there. It’s helpful, until his dad’s memories start popping up in Eren’s head.
Nothing says mood ruiner like seeing a little girl’s dead, dog-eaten body. Levi has had enough of this and tells them to get in line so Queen Historia can give them their medals.
The Scouts kneel before her as they get their medals, but Eren wonders what was really found in that basement between hope and despair. He knows the enemy is strong, and bad things will keep happening if shit doesn’t change. He would gladly give his life up if it meant things would change, but he isn’t prepared to sacrifice Historia while also not telling anyone what he knows he can do with his powers. He kisses Historia’s hand, and a jolt of electricity sends more of his dad’s memories to him. Grisha is confronting the Reiss family and their new king/queen Frieda. He tells them he’s an Eldian from outside the walls and hopes she kills all the Titans who breached the walls before everyone is killed and… you know the rest. Everyone looks at Eren who… well, he has this look on his face.
Time passes, and the Titan-killing hammer in Trost gets covered in snow from lack of use. In the spring, the Survey Corps announce that every Titan within Wall Maria has been killed. The Trost elevators start to open, and shops begin to open below. A year after the Trost attack happen, people begin to go back to their homes there, and 6 years after the Colossal Titan’s attack on Wall Maria, the Survey Corps began expeditions outside that wall. Levi is still the same, Hange now has an eyepatch, Eren now has more hair, while Armin is pretty happy with where they’re going in the sunny skies. However, a red flare is shot, as they spot a Titan who has crawled out to there.
The big guy can’t move anymore though, as even tiny trees are sprouting where he crawled along. Eren goes up and touches the Titan. Before he would try to kill it. Now, he knows its one of them who got sent here. He tells them to leave the Titan as is, and all except for Floch leave, as he wants to still kill it, but he joins up with them later. They eventually get to the desert that Eren saw in his dad’s memories as he confirms the wall there is where the Eldians were turned. The Corps go up a hill, and Armin and co. finally get to see what he has dreamed about: The sea.
Everyone is amazed at its beauty (other than Eren, who, in my words, has “resting bitch-face” here). Armin sets foot in the ocean, feeling the waves hit his legs. The others have fun in it, with Jean getting that very salty taste of the water, Hange picking up fascinating stuff that Levi thinks is poisonous, and Armin picking up a shell as Mikasa gets in feeling kind of freaked by the coldness, but she is still happy they got here, making Armin happy.
It’s everything Armin dreamed of, with the sea so big that merchants could never deplete it all if they tried. It goes on forever, as Eren can see it’s on this side of the wall, and beyond this sea? Freedom. At least that’s what Eren thought. Now he knows the enemy is beyond this sea. He points out to the vast ocean and says if they kill every last one of their enemies, would they finally be free? Yeah, way to ruin the good mood here, Eren. It ends with shots of the shell Armin is holding, both before and after the ED.
With that, that is the end of Attack on Titan Season 3. That was a wild ride, wasn’t it? At least this 2nd half was, with the giant Shigashina battle, all the important deaths and almost deaths that happened, the reveal of the secrets hidden within the basement changing everything with the Titans, and the on-coming battle with Marley that will come soon. The 2nd cour of this show definitely made up for the 1st cour, which I’ll admit, wasn’t as spectacular since it focused a lot on politics and no Titans. Yes, it did give us Kenny, giant flaming Titan Rod, and some other fine moments, but this one was the arc I was waiting to see animated, and it did not disappoint. WIT Studio did a wonderful job animating this important arc and did not skip a beat on it. 10 episodes was the right amount to convey all that happened as they got the job done. Is the 2nd cour a 10/10? No. There was still some problems, like the CGI was still bad in spots, and there were a lot of callbacks/flashbacks to earlier seasons that, while not as bad as in other certain shonen series that won’t be named again for the 1000th time, it was kind of not needed. It’s still not the best shonen I have seen this year, but,I will say this cour of Attack on Titan at least rivals its first season as this was a fun journey.
Now we will have to wait for Season 4 to come, and there’s a lot of questions abound. For starters, is this the last time we will see AoT and WIT together, if some of the so-called “rumors” that people within the anime community say “are 100% right”, would actually be right. Is this a rumor with any merit? I mean, if you believe anything Reddit says for a fact, and believe Reddit-tier anitwitter liars, then maybe it is true to you. As Eren himself said here, we can’t read the future. What we know for certain is that
- The 4th season is coming back in Fall 2020
- The manga is gonna wrap up soon
- Because of the 2nd point, the 4th season will be its final season
That’s all I know for a fact. The rest is just a wait-and-see game as to what will happen with its production. All I know is that it should be as epic and exciting as this cour was, and hopefully, I can be there with you for that one as well. Enjoy the long break we will have with this series. We will see you on the other side of the sea.
Attack on Titan Season 3 is licensed by Funimation. Episodes can be seen on Crunchyroll, Hulu and Funimation. The dub version is airing Saturdays on Toonami and Sundays on Funimation.