Review: ‘Attack on Titan’ Season 3 Premiere Brings the Drama You’ve Been Waiting For

Attack on Titan is not a stranger to big premieres, but Season Three is taking things to new extremes. Later this month, the anime will make its new season public, but ComicBook.com had the chance to peep the premiere early — which truly brings the drama.

WARNING: Spoilers lie below!

The first episode of Attack on Titan Season Three brings back everything you expect from the famous franchise. There is plenty of tension built as Eren Jaeger explores the advent of his newest Titan power, but this premiere takes a bold turn in the sort of drama provided.

While Attack on Titan does lean into its usual gory action, the season kicks off with way more political intrigue than fans are used to. In fact, much of the conflict set up in the premiere is done with words rather than 3D Maneuvering Gear. Yes, Titans still pose a great threat to the people of Paradis, but the Survey Scouts are beginning to learn their own government might be the thing holding humanity hostage.

The premiere’s riveting story is a little slow on the uptake, but it reaches its stride in the last 10 minutes. The episode’s final scene in particular wows with its animation, and its booming soundtrack only adds to the scale. However, fans of the manga may be taken aback by the structure of the anime’s big comeback.

In a surprising shift, the premiere covers more content than usual. Instead of a few chapters, episode one adapts more than six chapters. The compression results in a fast-paced premiere, but some key conversations are lost in adaptation. And, when the episode gets started, fans are shown a rather beachy scene that doesn’t pop up in the manga until the “Return to Shiganshina” arc.

Attack on Titan‘s latest premiere isn’t perfect by any means, but its brisk pace leads fans into meaty action before long. Its political drama is unlike anything the anime has explored before, but that character-driven conflict does require a decent bit of exposition. If you can get through the premiere’s slow opening, Attack on Titan rewards fans with plenty of action at the end thanks to Captain Levi. Season Three has a lead-in worthy of the Survey Scouts, but its second episode has some serious responsibility to follow through on the action promised by the premiere’s ringing cliffhanger.

If you want to get an early look at Attack on Titan‘s Season Three premiere, you can do so today. Later tonight, Funimation and Fathom Events will screen the world premiere of Attack on Titan‘s new season in U.S. theaters. The subbed version will screen tonight before the dubbed airs Thursday, July 11th. You can check out participating theaters and grab tickets for yourself here.

Will you be tuning into Attack on Titan‘s new season? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!

For those unfamiliar with Attack on Titan, the series was originally created by Hajime Isayama. Starting its run in Kondansha’s Bessatsu Shonen Magazine in 2009, the series has been collected into over 23 volumes. It’s set in a world where the last remnants of humanity live within a walled city in order to escape the danger of the Titans, a race of giants monsters that eats humans. Eren Yeager joins the military with his two childhood friends Mikasa and Armin after the Titans break through the wall and attack his hometown.