'Attack on Titan' Updates Episode Title Names

The titles for the next four episodes of Attack on Titan have been revealed, giving fans the [...]

By Michael Hein

The titles for the next four episodes of Attack on Titan have been revealed, giving fans the slightest glimpse at what is coming in the unpredictable anime series.

All four episode titles were announced in Japan on TV listings. It was not long before the folks that run the Attack on Titan wiki page translated the titles and circulated them among curious English speaking fans.

By the looks of it, the upcoming episode will be titled "Reply," as we kenw from the preview at the end of episode 4. After that, episode 6 will be titled "Sin," episode 7 will be titled "Wish" and episode 8 will be titled "Outside the Walls of Orvud District."

These chapters have varying levels of significance to fans of the series, particularly those who have read ahead in the manga. Like many other anime adaptations, the show often lifts its episode titles directly from the manga chapter titles, even if the plot points are rearranged in one way or another.

In the case of Attack on Titan, this has been particularly true lately. Season 3 has featured episodes named "Smoke Signal," "Pain," "Old Story" and "Trust" -- all but one of which were manga chapter titles. However, those titles were not consecutive in the books. Instead, they were chapters number 53, 55 and 60. "Old Story" was presumably used in place of some of the other chapter titles that were skipped over.

The upcoming episodes were once manga chapters as well. In fact, in the manga, "Reply" and "Sin" directly followed "Trust," just as they will in the show. Skipping ahead, episode 7 is named after chapter 66, and episode 8, "Outside the Walls of Orvud District," is named after chapter 67. If these episodes live up to their manga origins, fans will be very pleased with the action that is in store for them.

These days, the Attack on Titan anime does not adapt the manga on a shot-by-shot basis, but fans may be grateful for that. When season 3 began, the original series creator Hajime Isayama wrote a blog post explaining that it would have a bit of a faster pace than the same story arc did in the manga. The reason for that is simple: Isayama was not a huge fan of that part of his work.

"Honestly, it's like I was out of gas," he wrote, according to a translation by Anime News Network. Isayama felt that the part of the story the anime is now tackling was too slow in its original form, so he worked with scriptwriter Hiroshi Seko and director Tetsuro Araki to speed it up.

"I requested that we reform it into a suitable scale for the role of the story," he explained. He called this a more "idealized" version of the same epic tale.

Season 3 of Attack on Titan is airing right now. New episodes simulcast in Japanese with English subtitles on Hulu and Crunchyroll. They are available every Monday at 2 p.m. ET in the U.S.

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