Attack on Titan – Season Three, Part One (a Neo-Tokyo 2099 Anime on Blu-ray Disc Review)

If you invested this much time in watching “Attack of the Titan”, you are going to watch it anyway. But for those who felt that season two strayed too far from what they enjoyed in the first season, there was a purpose for season two and it sets up an exciting, action-packed first half of season three. “Attack on Titan: Season Three, Part One” is highly recommended!

Click here to purchase this Blu-ray on Amazon

TITLE: Attack on Titan Season Three, Part One

DURATION: Episodes 38-49 (300 Minutes)

BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (1:78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen), English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0, Subtitles: English

COMPANY: FUNimation

RATED: TV M

Release Date: August 6, 2019

Originally created by Hajime Isayama

Directed by Koizukuka Masashi

Series Composition by Kobayashi Yasuko

Music by Sawano Hiroyuki

Character Design: Asano Kyoji

Art Director: Yoshihara Shunichiro

3D Director: Hirozumi Shigenori

Director of Photography: Yamada Kazuhiro

Anime Production by Wit Studio

Featuring the following voice talent:

Ishikawa Yui/Trina Nishimura as Mikasa Ackerman

Kaji Yuuki/Bryce Papenbrook as Eren Jaeger

Inoue Marina/Josh Grelle as Armin Arlelt

Ono Daisuke/J. Michael Tatum as Erwin Smith

Shimono Hiro/Clifford Chapin as Conny Springer

Kamiya Hiroshi/Matthew Mercer as Levi

Fujiwara Keiji/David Wald as Hannes

Taniyama Kishô/Mike McFarland as Jean Kirschtein

Park Romi/Jessica Calvello as Hanji (Hange Zoe)

Ohsaka Ryota/Austin Tindle as Marco Bodt

Fujita Saki/Elizabeth Maxwell as Ymir

Mikami Shiori/Bryn Apprill as Christa Renz

Hashizume Tomohisa/David Matranga as Bertholt Fubar (Bertholdt Hoover)

Hosoya Yoshimasa/Robert McCollum as Reiner Braun

Kobayashi Yu/Ashly Bursch as Sasha Browse

Shimamura Yu/Lauren Landa as Annie Leonhart

The truth about the Titans begins to come to light. Political secrets, a false king, and the reality that will shake the foundation of the world—all falls on the shoulders of Eren and his friends, as they fight to survive. With Historia set to be the rightful Queen, the Levi Squad must act. But a figure from Levi’s past, the deadly Kenny, could turn this into a losing battle. Are Eren and his friends prepared to face the true monsters that lie within the walls?

The group known as Squad Levi which features Eren and his six remaining cadet friends are camping out, meanwhile words gets to them that Pastor Nick has been tortured and murdered and it is suspected that someone in the government is trying to destroy the Survey Corps in order to conceal the secrets of the Titans and the walls.

Unknown to Squad Levi, someone from his past will be returning and he intends to kill them. And that same person ends up kidnapping Historia and Eren.

Ca Squad Levi overcome the challenges in their way and rescue both Historia and Eren?

What is “Attack on Titan”?

Back in 2006, Hajime Isayama wrote a 65-page one-shot of “Shingeki no Kyojin”. Inspired during an encounter with an irate customer while working at an internet cafe, the encounter would eventually be the basis of his hit series which is known internationally as “Attack on Titan”.

In 2009, “Shingeki no Kyojin” began serialization in Kodanasha’s “Bessatsu Shonen Magazine” and is currently on its 13th tankobon volume. With three light novel volumes, multiple video games, manga spin-offs and a live-action film set for release in theaters in 2015, many would discover “Attack on Titan” thanks to its 25-episode anime series which began airing in April 2013.

And now the first half of the anime series will be released on Blu-ray + DVD in the United States courtesy of FUNimation.

“Attack on Titan” is set in a world that was besieged by giant humanoid creatures over a hundred years ago. These humanoid creatures nearly wiped out all humans and want nothing but to devour humans.

Humanity has no answer to defeat the Titans but to protect what is left of humanity, the country of surviving humans now live within three enormous walls which include the outer wall Wall Maria, the middle wall known as Wall Rose and the inner wall known as Wall Sina.

And for 100 years, despite having a team that ventures out to confront the Titans, humanity has had no such luck.

We are introduced to three children which includes the impulsive and hotheaded Eren Yeager, his friend that always protects and cares for him, Mikasa Ackerman and the often scared but very smart Armin Arlert.

One day, while these three children were together in what was supposed to be a peaceful land where Titans are unable to enter, lightning has struck and born was a 200 ft. Titan who is taller than the walls that were constructed. The titan breaches the outer wall, allowing the smaller Titans to enter the village and devour humans. While Eren tries to find his mother, he finds her pinned under the house.

While a family friend named Hannes is able to rescue the two kids, Eren’s final memory was seeing his mother devoured by a Titan and from that point, he has dedicated his life to defeat and destroy the Titans.

Eren, Mikasa and Armin survives the attack by the Titans and have no choice but to retreat behind Wall Rose. But he has these nightmares of his father injecting him with something and reminding him about his key and for him to go into the cellar.

As the food shortage hits the country and refugees are forced to work in farms or fight to reclaim Wall Maria, Eren vows to destroy the Titans and to do that, he must join the army in which Mikasa and Armin follow their friend.

In season two, fast forward five years later, Eren, Mikasa and Armin are training in the army and each meets new friends and rivals but just when they thought there was some semblance of peace, the Colossus Titan returns once again. Mikasa is set to a different squad to backup the front lines, while Eren and Armin must prepare to attack and fight the Titans, learning that the weakness of a Titan is cutting a piece of their flesh from the nape of the Titan’s back neck.

“Attack on Titan features the following main characters:

Eren Yeager – A hotheaded teenager who wants to destroy the Titans for what they have done to his family and people. Often upset that Mikasa is constantly defending him. For some reason, he has nightmares of his father injecting him with something and telling him to bring the key to the cellar.

Mikasa Ackerman – The adoptive child of the Yeager family who was rescued by Eren and her father when she was younger. She is quiet, often wants to protect Eren from trouble and cares deeply for her foster brother.

Armin Arlert – Often bullied by other kids and rescued by Eren and Mikasa, Armin has a sharp mind when it comes to strategy. But he sees himself as a person always in fear and often scared.

Levi Ackerman – A member of the Survey Corps and is seen as humanity’s most powerful soldier. He leads the Special operations Squad.

Annie Leonhart – A former member of the Military Police Brigade. A lone wolf and excels in unarmed combat.

Reiner Braun – A former member of the Survey Corps. A man with a strong sense of duty. Revealed to be the Armored Titan.

Hange Zoe – A former Squad Leader of the fourth squad. Conducts research on Titans and is obsessed with them.

Historia Reiss/Christa Lenz – A member of the Survey Corps, her true background is revealed in season three.

VIDEO:

“Attack on Titan” is presented in 1080p High Definition. The anime series is absolutely vibrant. Character designs are well-shaded and I like how the series uses the strong darker lines around the character designs which shows plenty of detail. But I felt the transition of Isayama’s work from the manga series received a fantastic adaptation and bringing these Titans to life. I personally didn’t notice any artifacts or banding during my viewing of the anime series.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Attack on Titan” is presented in Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 and English Dolby TrueHD 5.1. While both voice acting soundtracks are well-done, as one can expect from the English soundtrack receiving a 5.1 lossless treatment, while the Japanese is crystal clear through the front channels, the English soundtrack is immersive. Great use of sound effects from the surround channels and also great use of LFE.

One thing I also want to add is that FUNimation made the right decision by bringing Mike McFarland to become the ADR Director for this series. He has done an epic job for “One Piece” and for a series this important with a multitude of characters, he’s the man for the job and the casting for the English dub was well-done. Yes, it is different for those who are familiar with the Japanese vocal talent but I felt that the comparable differences and love the fact that the voice casting was not repetitive of talent used in many other FUNimation series.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Attack on Titan: Season Three, Part One” comes with the following special features:

Episode 40 Commentary -Featuring audio commentary by Mike McFarland (ADR Director), Bryn Appril (voice of Historia) and J. Michael Tatium (voice of Erwin Smith).
Episode 47 Commentary – Featuring audio commentary by Mike McFarland (ADR Director), Aaron Dismuke (ADR Script Adapter) and Phil Parsons (voice of Kenny Ackerman)
Attack on Titan at Anime Expo 2018: Interview with Kaji Yuki – (11:42) Interview with Kaji Yuki (Japanese voice actor for Eren Yeager).
Attack on Titan at Anime Expo 2018: Interview with Bryce Papenbrook – (6:51) Interview with Bryce Papenbrook (English voice dub actor for Eren Yeager)
Interview with ADR Director Mike McFarland and Voice of Kenny – (7:10) ADR Director Mike McFarland and Phil Parsons
Interview with Voice of Flegel and Voice of Erwin – (6:59) J. Michael Tatum (voice of Erwin Smith) and Cris George (voice of Flegel Reeves)
Interview with Voice of Mikasa and Voice of Historia – (9:06) Trina Nishimura (voice of Mikasa) and Bryn Apprill (voice of Historia)
Interview with Voice of Armin and Voice of Carla – (7:14) Josh Grelle (voice of Armin) and Jessica Cavanagh (voice of Carla Yeager)
The Director’s Breakdown Episode 46 – (23:54) Video commentary by Executive Director Araki Tetsuro and Director Koizuka Masashi.
Chibi Theater: Go Get ‘Em, New Levi Squad (9:02) Animated shorts in super-deformed format featuring the Cadet Corps.
Eyecatch Gallery – Gallery collection.
Textless Opening Song “Red Swan”
Textless Closing Song: “Atsuki no Requiem”

EXTRAS:

“Attack on Titan: Season 3, Part 1” features both the Blu-ray and DVD version.

Once in awhile, you run across an anime series or film that becomes not just a hit among anime fans but even non-anime fans.

“Attack on Titan” has captivated fans all over the world thanks to its characters, its story of humanity’s survival but also its fight against humanoid behemoths. And along with the series comes a stylish costume design for its army which have driven people all over the world to cosplay as a military member from the anime series.

Yes, “Naruto” and even “Bleach” have captivated many fans throughout the years but any anime series tied to a Shonen Jump has no doubt become bonafide hits in Japan and outside of the country, “Attack on Titan” is rather unique as it has partnered with various companies from having a car commercial, a burger release and also a live action film that people are heavily anticipating.

The fact is “Attack on Titan” is a captivating, violent but entertaining anime series and there is no slowdown in the pacing of the anime series, it’s just one exciting episode after the other and frankly, having watched anime series and having reviewed them for decades, I found myself becoming a “Shingeki no Kyojin” fan.

After the exciting first season, I felt a little let down by the second season because it got away of focusing on Eren, Mikasa and Armin and focused on Reiner Braun, Bertolt Hoover, Christa Lenz and Ymir of the 104th Training Corps. But you start to realize why the writing split away from the main trio and focused on these others, because Reiner happened to be the Armored Titan, Bertolt is the Colossus Titan and Christa Lenz is the Female Titan.

Season two introduces us to the Beast Titan who shows intelligence and can talk, which makes one think, what is going on? Then there is another question of why are there titans inside the walls protecting the village?

And now here we are with Season three and Squad Levi featuring Levi, Eren, Mikasa, Armin and others from the Survey Corps now being wanted by the Military Police’s First Interior Squad and to make things worse, they killed Pastor Nick.

Immediately, the first episode kicks off with a bang as numerous people are slaughtered by Kenny the Ripper, a notorious serial killer who Levi knows very well. To make matters worse, Historia (Christa Lenz) and Eren are kidnapped. Why were they kidnapped? What is the purpose?

Also, we also know that Erwin is planning a major operation to retake Wall Maria but that is to overthrow the corrupt government.

And I’ll just leave it at that.

The third season is absolutely action-packed, engaging and after a good season two, the first part of season three brings things back to a magnificent story that has one really wanting to watching the final half and see how this season will end before the final fourth season which will be released at the end of 2020.

It’s important to note that while the series is popular, by no means should children watch this anime series. It is violent as body part dismemberment are shown, people being eaten or crushed by the Titans are shown and if anything, it’s visual violence adds to the viewer being interested in what happens because simply, you want to see humanity kick some major ass! That is if they can…

As for the Blu-ray, you get great picture quality as colors for the series are vibrant. Black lines are nice and solid and character design is well-done, well-shaded. Backgrounds are nicely painted and for the most part, “Attack on Titan” looks incredible in HD! As for the lossless audio, while I love the Japanese vocal track, the fact is that the Japanese soundtrack is Dolby TrueHD 2.0 while the English dub, which was well-cast, received a much better Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack. Great use of special effects and use of the surround channels and LFE. If anything, I loved the fact that there was amazing focus in bringing this series out to the United States with the quality that fans and anime HD fans have come to expect and fortunately received in “Attack on Titan”.

The storyline for “Attack on Titan” has gotten better, the voice acting for both Japanese and English dub are magnificent and the special features included with season Three, part one are numerous and lengthy, which is a major plus!

Overall, if you invested this much time in watching “Attack of the Titan”, you are going to watch it anyway. But for those who felt that season two strayed too far from what they enjoyed in the first season, there was a purpose for season two and it sets up an exciting, action-packed first half of season three.

“Attack on Titan: Season Three, Part One” is highly recommended!

Click here to purchase this Blu-ray on Amazon

More from my site