bardy9

Utter masterpiece. The score is intricate, beautiful, frightening. The dialogue is sparse, rich, profound. One gets the sense of an obscure undercurrent of meaning, which rewards upon multiple viewings, though the film works entirely by itself - without any allegory or metaphor, because it is such an arresting sensory experience.

The world and backgrounds are some of my favourites in any film; this dreadful deserted European town in twilight. The sunken classical architecture is nice too - it helps to elevate the themes of religion throughout. The animation is absolutely mind blowing, from the girl's full head of shifting hair, to the subtle movements of water throughout - the details really pay off.

I felt so empty after watching this film because it somewhat dismantled my arguments for faith and belief, quietly, without being explicit - and yet I would love to be stuck in this nightmare realm. It is very vibey and the characters, miraculously, are very likeable. There is so much personality in each movement and word spoken, yet one of the main draws to the film is that you never really learn anything about either of them. Their idiosyncrasies draw me to them, but the film establishes a wall of mystery to surround them that it does not break - it is mesmerising to invest in legitimately unpredictable characters.

Each scene, back to back, is an absolute visual and auditory joy, so when the film starts to get philosophical and the story starts shaping out it becomes, in my opinion, the perfect filmic experience.

Wow so much incredible animation this episode IN 2D FINALLY!! Incredible cinematography and fights that just sets the action of this episode to new heights - I think the best action the show has ever gotten though I know most will disagree.

Such a beautiful sombre scene to end on too, highlighting that enemies in war are only so down to circumstance. The complexity of the war shown in this season pays off a little with the image of two men from opposite sides banding together - there is no enemy, just people who believe what they are told to justify violence. It's subtle enough to not feel didactic so I really like it.

The fan base being torn over who they support (floch and the yeagerists or Mikasa and armin etc (or even eren)) shows how grey the show is, each character has believable motives.

This was one of my favourite manga chapters and I couldn't be happier with the result so all smiles from me.

Jesse's speech feels like an episode of Skins - the writing for his dialogue is so poor and childish that I can't take this episode seriously. It doesn't make sense for his character at all - he was always spiteful but his plan to ruin walter's life is overkill, and all feels more like something Gus would say. Jesse is erratic and acts stupidly, but he's not conniving or particularly malicious - we know this. I think it undoes a lot of the sensitive character building the show had for him in season 2 with Jane. The melodrama and immaturity in this episode really lets it down.

Upon this, the final scene, which is the episode's main draw - is very wacky and ridiculous. The one minute gimmick is cool and creates a lot of tension, but as soon as the brothers start speaking it becomes almost comedic. "Too easy"??? What??!!! I do like the car alarm going off though.