English Dub Review: Attack on Titan “Smoke Signal”

Attack on People?

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

The former Cadet Corp kids, now reorganized into the new “Levi Squad”, tidy up their shack and try to reclaim a bit of normalcy. They’ve been tasked with protecting Eren and Historia now that she’s revealed her royal heritage and he’s gained an invaluable new Titan ability. Hange’s been in charge of testing that along with Eren’s Titan form, but his recent transformations have been malformed and unstable for some reason. Even pulling him out sometimes leads to his whole face melting off. Still, they’re committed to their goal to use his Titan form to seal up Wall Maria.

After recovering, Eren and Historia finally get a chance to talk about how she’s been feeling. She’s still pretty lost after Ymir left, and doesn’t even know if she should go and save her. Eren is just relieved to hear her speaking her mind again and acting like herself, though the conversation does trigger some memories of his time as a captive of Reiner and Bertolt.

Hange returns from the capital with tragic news: Pastor Nick has been murdered in Trost. The authorities write it off as a robbery, but she can tell the interior Military Police were the ones who did, and likely because he worked with the Scouts and divulged info about Historia. But he apparently didn’t give up what he told, so the Levi Squad’s still a step ahead, though only one step. Even worse, they’re forced to flee when the MPs show up at their cabin, and Erwin’s been detained in while they look to capture Eren and Historia. So Levi suggests heading back to Trost in order to get a better idea of who they’re really up against.

Once there, they use the same trick they did in Stohess with disguising Jean as Eren, though this time with Armin as Historia. Kidnappers take the bait pretty quickly and are beaten soundly by Mikasa, but Levi senses something off about this. These tactics feel eerily similar to those of infamous killer Kenny the Ripper. Speak of the devil, Kenny appears with several men and corners Levi on a roof after killing his comrades.

OUR TAKE

We’re definitely off to a different mood for this season compared to the last two. Last we left off, the focus was mainly centered around the iron clad love story of an exiled princess and her giant immortal girlfriend (so much so that you could argue they were more the main protagonists of that season) that had a ton of focus on the Titans, their abilities, and even some major hints at how they came to be. While Historia’s still going to be a player going forward, the rest is shoved aside for more focus on human politics, made clear by the fact that there weren’t ANY wild Titans in this episode. Pretty jarring turn considering how the last two seasons had them always in the forefront.

This isn’t too far out of left field, however, as the dark secrets of the walls and the royal family had been bubbling in the background throughout Season 2 and now can take center stage. The Titan antagonists have gone off to lick their wounds, so now the conspiracy surrounding the creation of the walls and the Reiss family is the main problem for the Scouts to tackle. And interestingly, Levi’s backstory will likely get more exploration, as one of the principal antagonists is an old acquaintance with a killer instinct.

And of course, we have a new Opening animation to kick off the new season “Red Swan” by YOSHIKI and HYDE. Compared to the last three, this one is oddly more serene and wistful, with no real action to speak of and mainly focusing on shots of the important characters of this arc intercut with scenes of them as children. I’m unsure what else we can learn from seeing more of little Eren, Armin, and Mikasa, but the glimpses of Levi, Historia, Erwin, and even Reiner, Bertolt, and Annie give us things to look forward to. And Hyde is a great singer and should be in more OPs, so that’s a plus. No ED this time, though.

Where this is all headed is hard to say for someone like me who hasn’t kept up with the manga, and I find myself at a loss for speculating where things will even go into the next episode aside from evading this current fight. We also have the inner circle of the kingdom to contend with, who are currently all seen as nameless shadowy old men aside from the one that is connected to Historia. I don’t think we’ll have to give up the iconic Spider-Man style zipping around on ODM gear, but the tactics to move forward will have to be more subtle and elaborate than “stab them in the neck”. But I can’t rule that option out, obviously.