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Five Thoughts on Attack on Titan’s “The Town Where Everything Began”

By | July 29th, 2020
Posted in Television | % Comments

Welcome back! Prepare yourself! Hunker behind these walls and smell that fascist smell. It’s time for another episode of Attack on Titan. This is the part where I let you know that I am very much not a regular anime watcher but that this strange, at times horrifying show, has really grabbed my imagination and never let go. We are continuing on through the third season, as part of our 2020 Summer TV Binge. Let’s get into it! Buckle up your Omni-Directional Movement gear and lets swoop into Attack on Titan season 3, episode 13, ‘The Town Where Everything Began.”

1. New song, same as the old song

Hey there, it looks like we’ve got a NEW THEME SONG! If there’s one thing I know about anime (and there’s not too many things I know) it’s that the theme song is the best and most important part. This one fascinates me musically because there are bits of previous theme songs in there. That starting melody line is definitely from the original (and let’s face it, best) intro. But towards the end you hear the motif from the end of the previous theme song, the triumphant theme I think of as the show’s ‘national anthem.’ After the last theme song juxtaposed our heroes’ childhoods with their presents, this one is much more… basic. You’ve got a lot of martial imagery of soldiers banding together to do an impossible mission against an unstoppable threat. We’ll see, maybe by the end of the season I will notice all sorts of hidden messages in there. I like the rainbow splotches.

2. Stomping grounds

So, the theme of the episode proper is all about revisiting trauma. After all, this is the first time the Shiganshina returned to their ruined hometown. I’m just saying last time they were here, Eren’s mom’s head got chomped so bad that it literally rained blood. And I don’t think they’ve had a single therapy session in the intervening five years. Yikes. They come sort of close when Eren starts uncontrollably shaking. “I’m not scared!” he says, echoing the sentiments of every teenager experimenting with toxic masculinity. “I’m just like um, cold, so back off!” But Doctor Armin is on the case. Armin asks Eren what made him brave enough to save his fool life, and Eren recalls all their dreams together. There was Armin’s book, and the promise of seeing the world. It’s a good focus for Eren and the audience alike. A reminder of the stakes.

Then all the troops blast off in their ODM gear and it is so goddamn cool. We haven’t gotten a proper scene of soaring music and grappling hook animation in a long time, and this one looked expensive!

3. Beyond the farthest walls

The return to Shiganshina is emotional and… very suspicious! The outermost gate has been shattered and broken for half a decade and yet, the town is completely empty. No survivors, no enemies, no titans! We know something is up, and thankfully so do the characters. But when can they do? Eren completes his mission and uses his newly honed crystal powers to seal that outer gate and despite knowing it was all about to blow up in their faces, I pumped my fist a little bit. I first started this show in 2014, I’ve been waiting for them to complete this mission for longer than they have in the story!

One little moment did make my heart sing though. In order to fully seal the wall, Eren has to go over it as in, to the outside! The scene was like the dark twin of the one in Fellowship of the Ring. One more step and Sam will be the farthest away from home he’s ever been. Eren wants to leaved his walled nation and take a walk to the ocean. This was the closest he’s ever gotten to completing that mission in a number of regards.

4. Armin’s command

You know, if I’ve never mentioned it I always like the parallels between Armin and Erwin. Both are softspoken intellectuals, and both of them have a scary ruthless streak. Armin is till young, so everyone thinks his soft demeanor is a product of his soft heart. But Armin, like Erwin, is a goddamn psycho. While everyone else is doing a house to house sweep, Armin starts seeing a bunch of clues like some kind of primetime cable detective. He deduces that Reiner, Bertholdt, and a third unknown party are lurking somewhere in wait. And Erwin, recognizing that this kid is a genius, puts him in charge. The soldiers bristle a little. Armin is a dork with a dumb haircut. But Erwin shouts about the chain of command, and everyone falls in line. And it turns out to be for the best because…

Continued below

5. The world in the walls

Reiner pops out of a secret door in the walls without so much of a, “Surprise bitch! I bet you thought you saw the last of me!” and kills one of Armin’s guys. But Levi wastes no time, hurls himself down and Reiner and he fucking kills him dead! Stabs the dude in the neck, and then impales him through the heart, and then drops him about a hundred feet! And my friends, I am not ashamed to admit, I screamed out loud! So many questions and no time to ask them because they keep getting replaced by more pressing questions!

Like, Reiner hits the ground and turns into his titan form. So… what? Is he dead? But there’s no time to worry about that because to quote our good friend Gial, it’s a trap! The beast titan is lying in wait and he’s got a lot of titan with him. Too many titans!!! To be continued!? Oh man, see you back in Shiganshina next week fellow travelers.


//TAGS | attack on titan

Jaina Hill

Jaina is from New York. She currently lives in Ohio. Ask her, and she'll swear she's one of those people who loves both Star Wars and Star Trek equally. Say hi to her on twitter @Rambling_Moose!

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