Thaw

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.

The ending cliffhanger has made a lot of people happy, as it made me, i'm quite sure. The OGs v Titans were chills-inducing, particularly Mikasa. And with "Barricades" soundtrack made it even more epic. The Titans' character designs looked cheap tho. I was hoping to see a "Saul Goodman" titan Cameo from the manga where it looked original but here it doesn't even match or look-alike. But yet another amazing AOT episode.

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!

Damm son. This episode felt like a blast from the past. The 2D ODM gear scenes looked pretty great and it was the first AOT final Season episode to have all the titans be 2D, which looked amazing. Loved the characterization in this episode. Visuals and ost were great as always.

Not as big as the last episode but still destructive, 'Thaw' gives us the aftermath of the rumbling with the pure titans left to try and consume everyone still in the grounds of the town. Connie's desperation resulting sudden action, Gabi's change in agenda towards the Braus family.

The episode had it's moments of emotion, the tone for the series has definitely changed now. The rumbling has changed everything, characters feel weak and others are desperate. Long loved characters who became pure titans having to be silenced, a mist of depression now fills the area. It was an episode that just kept on giving. The real endgame has now begun.

9.4/10.