English Dub Review: Attack on Titan “Scream”

Because “almost” only counts in horseshoes, hand-grenades, and titan tossing.

Spoilers Below

Courtesy: Adult Swim

The Scouts stop dead in their tracks. Reiner, the Armored Titan, retaliates for having been outmaneuvered by grabbing the titans that attack him and CHUCKING them at the soldiers as the retreat. This throws the entire line in disarray. Ymir is torn between teams at this point. She doesn’t want to abandon Crista, but at the same time, going back with the Scouts behind the wall is a no-go as well. Christa, now officially calling herself Historia, calls Ymir’s bluff. The bigger girl wasn’t kidnapping her for selfish reasons. She had been protecting Historia the entire time. She then tells her friend to live for herself, right alongside her. The two engage in the fight side-by side, the titan and the soldier. Still, this is a losing battle. Surrounded by titans at every turn, their commander missing his arm, and their numbers rapidly dwindling, the Scouts are in desperate need of a miracle.

Courtesy: Adult Swim

Back with Eren and Mikasa, the Smiling Titan grows ever nearer. Mikasa is in no shape to fight, and Eren is still regenerating. Out of the blue, as they are about to be crushed by the titan, Hannes appears. He takes on the titan himself, promising to get justice for Eren’s mother. Eren desperately bites his hand, bleeding everywhere in an attempt to transform into the Attack Titan. He is completely powerless to do so, and can only watch as Hannes is bitten in half and consumed. Loaded down with despair, Eren breaks apart. Despite all his training and his power as the Attack Titan, Eren is right back where he started. Mikasa encourages him, telling him all the ways that he gave her the strength to carry on. With that, he takes all of his willpower and channels it into one punch… And is followed up by titan after titan throwing themselves at the Smiling Titan! Every titan in the area joins in on the carnage, tearing it apart. This also frees up the Armored Titan to move, and they attempt to abduct Eren again. Eren shouts at them, and the titans turn, now attacking the other enemy! While the Scouts flee back to the wall, Ymir stays behind to save the Armored Titan. This incident has left the corps with a bit to ponder. Not only has Eren demonstrated the ability to control titans, but all the data points to one disturbing thought: The titans are all humans, infected with something to turn them into these monsters. Our heroes are one step closer to the truth, but how much does the truth cost?

As the final episode of the long-awaited second season, this episode did not disappoint. It was intense and loaded with fun action. I was really jazzed to see Eren control the titans. It just follows that if the titans are artificial creations from humans, that there is something out there to control them. It also explains why the evil shifters were after him. He’s the key to this whole titan issue! The romantic relationship between Eren and Mikasa is actually developing, with Mikasa explaining some of her feelings to him. It’s about time. That’s been in nowheresville since episode one! Historia as a character has shown some incredible growth in the last few episodes, and it pays off here with her unleashing her inner warrior. What few characters we have left are solid staples, and show good growth.

Animation? What a trip! Right out of the gate with Historia, we are treated to some high-impact animation of her kicking titan butt. And the episode only gets better from there! Eren’s breakdown, his scene with Mikasa, all of it was impeccably animated and showed off the series’ unique style. No corners were cut, no frames were looped. It was just animation at its best! The voice acting was solid. None of the characters were over-the-top, no annoying, high-pitched noise. Bryce Papenbrook did an excellent job in bringing Eren to life in this episode. The boy’s emotional breakdown had real anger and frustration behind it. Bryn Apprill also handled Historia’s lines well. Early on in the season, I felt like her higher voice would be painful for me, but she’s evolved her grasp of the voice better. All in all, this episode was one of the best in the season. And that’s good. If you don’t end with a bang, people won’t come back for more. This episode resolved everything from this season but teased a bigger blot to come next season. I give it nine Smiling Titans out of ten!

SCORE
9/10