Thaw

This episode was phenomenal!!!!! Beautifully animated with a LOT... Of tension inbetween scenes, I'm generally amazed. This episode does a really great job with continuing on the aftermaths of last episode, and Mappa has slayed once again 10/10!!

This was YET Another great episode! Though not as great as the three previous episodes, this episode still delivered! The episode contained some great character moments, both in terms of action and dialogue! The scouts fighting titans while "Barricades" played, was just PERFECT for me! Really nice ODM gear animation and some great humans vs titans action! Brought me back to season 1 and 2! The last minutte just made the wait for next sunday, almost unberable.

Another fantastic episode in this flawless season. There were some important developments too. The pacing was almost perfect and it flowed really well. I'm very excited to see how the key reveal at the end plays out in upcoming episodes. Hopefully more of the founder in the next episode!

Fantastic episode with great visuals. It felt extremely nostalgic towards the first season. Seeing the scouts fly around with their ODM gear and slay titans for what seems to be the last time, was absolutely beautiful.

As usual, Isayama hits us with a double entendre (or triple?!) in the title. "Thaw" aptly refers to the thawing of the situation after the initiation of the rumbling, but also serves as a metaphor for the breaking of the walls, and by extension, the "thawing" of all hardening including Annie's crystal in the end. Likewise, the metaphorical "walls" between Kaya and Gabi have broken down as their relationship heals (since walls are a metaphor for the obstacles hindering mutual understanding, similar to Mr. Braus's speech on children of the forest), thus their relationship can also be said to be "thawing".

As the situation "thaws", so begins the Rumbling arc. I urge everyone to pay attention to this seemingly uneventful stretch of episodes to come as they serve as important build up to the soon approaching finale of the season as well as the entire show. The discord between the Eldians of Paradis mirror our fandom quite nicely as people are conflicted about whether to support the MC we have been following up till now or to oppose his actions (which honestly speaking, makes more sense to). Gabi proceeds to protect Kaya which reminded her of Sasha's selflessness, leading to Niccolo's reaffirmation of Sasha and her father's ideology in stopping inherited conflict by getting out of the forest, including a nice hint of shingeki Idealism. The MVP of this episode would be Gabi and Niccolo, but I'd honestly give the award to Sasha as I see her arc getting completed in this episode as it all comes full circle to connect back to the theme of the children of the forest.

Highlights of the episode includes Sakura san's excellent voice acting as usual as well as the cliffhanger showcasing Annie's return. Other than the nice ODM sakuga cuts, animation this episode seems to be on par with 4x17 "Judgment" and 4x18 "Sneak Attack" which is very nice, showing that the production has improved quite a bit this time compared to the Final Season Part 1, that they were able to maintain the same high quality animation as in the first two episodes this year.

All in all, this was a solid episode to kick off the final arc of Attack on Titan, and I'm very excited for the next few episodes to come as we continue to develop more characters other than Eren, Zeke and Grisha.