Attack on Titanâs final season has begun streaming on Hulu, Funimation, and Crunchyroll and the English dub returns tomorrow on both Funimation and Adult Swim. With war looming, Erenâs journey is coming to an end with many characters feeling conflicted about his recent actions including Mikasa and Armin.
ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with Attack on Titan voice actors Bryce Papenbrook (Eren), Trina Nishimura (Mikasa), and Josh Grelle (Armin) about their characters, the seriesâ progression, and more.
Tyler Treese: For Attack on Titan, the mangaâs obviously ahead of it and has ended. When you started this show, did you read up on the manga? Is that something you took into consideration for your performances or did you just go off the script? I know it can vary from performer to performer.
Bryce Papenbrook:Â Yeah, for me, I always avoid the manga when Iâm working on an anime. Sometimes they donât animate the scenes exactly the same. Sometimes thereâs different things needed in certain moments. And I wouldnât want to kind of fall in love with a scene or make a decision on a performance and then never get to do that or have to go back and change it. So my method is not to read the manga, not to look at spoilers, to go in kind of blind and blank, immerse myself in and then try to give as truthful a performance as possible, right in that moment. And even when we have the luxury of watching the subtitled version, which doesnât happen all the time, but even when we can do that, youâre not going to say those exact words because the show goes through a process of translation and adaption. So the first time youâre seeing the script and the first time youâre saying those words is in the moment in the show. So thatâs just the way that I like to go into things.
Trina Nishimura: Pretty much the same. So, I have been fortunate enough to have worked with Mike McFarland, the amazing director of Attack on Titan on a few other projects. He and I kind of decided before I had seen episode one, before we really dug in during Season One, that I wouldnât read ahead and I wouldnât watch anything. And in doing so, itâs a lot of what Bryce was talking about. You have the luxury of experiencing that moment with that character, and I really think that it informs the choices that I make, and that Mike makes to bring out the best performance possible. The best way that I can kind of equate it to something tangible is like, if you know that youâre going to die tomorrow at 12:02 PM, youâre going to die. Like, what are you goning to do? All of your decisions from now until then will be completely informed. But if you donât, youâll make totally other, totally separate decisions. I, for one, if I knew that I was going to die, knock on wood that I wonât, tomorrow at 12 p.m., I would spend the rest of my day and night eating food, like tacos and pizza and Korean barbecue, and, probably a banh mi. I think Iâd have some seafood, andâŚthatâs not important. I would eat a lot.
Josh Grelle: Same thing. I learned very early on in this, that itâs and for the same reasons that Bryce and Trina mentioned that itâs very easy as an actor that if you haveâŚespecially when working on something like anime where changes between the source material and the animated version are pretty often. You justâŚyouâre setting yourself up to fall into a trap, every time you try to read ahead or watch ahead. Because you never know until youâre actually in the booth saying those lines and feeling everything in that moment, what the actual need of the scene is going to be until youâre there. And every time that you give yourself that information ahead of time, you run the risk of getting locked into the wrong thing before you ever even set foot in the booth. So, yeah, I much prefer to just wait. I generally try not toâŚback when before we even knew that we were going to be a part of the first Attack on Titan and the first season had already been pretty much completed and some of us had already watched it. But once we were working on it and going forward, I didnât watch ahead. I didnât read ahead for all the same reasons that Bryce and Trina mentioned.
Bryce, and I might be underselling this a bit, but in this final season, Erenâs become a bit of a dick. So how much fun is it showing this darker, more conflicted side and this new layer to this character that fans have come to really root for and relate to after so many seasons?
Bryce: Yeah. Heâs very different. And to play him in such a different way, is a lot of fun for an actor. So Iâm extremely lucky I get to play Eren in so many different ways. So yeah, and Iâm not sure how to feel about him. He says some things that, as Iâm performing them, I hate them coming out of my mouth. But I think thatâs the intention at that moment to be hurtful, to say these things. I just donât know, I donât know how to feel about Eren at this time. I donât know if heâs acting in a bad way or a good way. Itâs that gray area thatâs really interesting. But heâs definitely different, that anger that heâs had from the first three seasons, itâs still there, but itâs buried under this coldness. So he knows some things, and I donât know all the things that Eren knows at this point, so itâs definitely interesting going into it, not knowing everything, and really trusting Mike, because he knows the show in and out very deeply. And heâs fantastic at what he does. So heâs really great at giving me bread crumbs when I need them. If Iâm not understanding why Erenâs feeling a certain way in a certain moment, heâll give me a little sample of why or what or how heâs feeling right there in that scene. So I can use that to make sure Iâm performing that particular moment properly. But all of the other stuff that Eren may know that the viewers donât know he knows, or I shouldnât know yet, he keeps that to himself. Which, yeah, for an actor itâs very, very fun to recreate a character after so many years.
Trina Mikasaâs past has been explored a lot recently and we find out that she has this Royal heritage, which did you find most interesting about that revelation?
Trina: So in season one, the world that everyone finds themselves in, in season one, is very reminiscent of the Germanic sort of society, right? And the way that Mike explained Mikasa to me, especially during season one, is that sheâs half-Asian and sheâs the only half-Asian in this world and she and her mother were the last, right? So I relate to that, being half-Asian. I relate to that quite a bit. The idea of being an âotherâ within society, but still being half in, and half out, right? So if Mikasa was raised in such a way that she was the last of a race or people, and then to find out that not only does she have a family, and lineage, but thereâs a lot of history behind that. I think as a character, she is informed by that, but that isnât her core, right? Her core and her drive has always been her familial adopted familial unit, i.e. Armin and Eren. And so, while itâs conflicting to her because there is this new sort of group of people that relate to her and have information about her, thereâs also her main drive, which is to keep her family safe, and keep Eren safe despite his best efforts, and keep Armin safe. And so, I think that like most things that deal with family stuff, itâs conflicting. But itâs something that has informed her decisions, but not changed her motivations.
Josh, Armin has changed so much since the series started. Heâs become much more confident and heâs really grown into a man. Can you speak to that personal growth? Because heâs still stayed true to himself ultimately.
Josh: Right. I donât know if I would necessarily use the moniker âmanâ for what Armin has grown into, because Armin, like a lot of different characters in this show, Armin is one of the many that goes against what we consider traditional gender roles. Like, even from moment one [in the first season], he was not a protector. He never wanted to be the big, strong fighter or anything like that. He wanted to build bridges between people and he wanted to nurture people, and he wanted to learn about the world and explore the world. And that love, that spirit is still within him, and that has never changed. But yes, he is a lot more confident than he was in the first season, in his own abilities and who he is. And heâs had some pretty crappy mantles forced onto his shoulder, like having to essentially replace Erwin, having to use the powers of the Colossal Titan, even though itâs the last thing someone like him would want to do. All of the pain and suffering that heâs been a part of for just having to survive. That has certainly changed him and molded him, and itâs definitely made him stronger. His armor has been forged in fire as has the armor of every single character in this show. But, the one special thing about Armin is that even through all of that, he never lost thatâŚhe doesnât want to be fighting. He doesnât want to be some big strong man. He just wants to explore the world in peace with everyone that he loves and to be himself and thatâs, I think, the strongest part of his character of all.
Bryce, Erenâs relationship with Levi has been one of the most intriguing elements of this show. Right now, theyâre really far apart and Levi feels like he was wrong to really put his trust in Eren. How do you view their current relationship and how itâs evolved over time?
Bryce: Yeah, I mean, itâs, itâs always been, I would say a rocky relationship between those two ever since Eren had a nice introduction to his boot in season one [laughs]. Ever since then, I think thereâs been this fear that Eren has kind of hadâŚheâs always on edge around Levi, heâs just intimidating. But yeah, in this first part of the final season, it seems Eren is just different, and has really just stopped being afraid of him. And again, I donât know why, but Eren definitely feels this different power, this different sense of what heâs doing, that the decisions that heâs made are the right ones. And he doesnât really care what anyone else has to say. Heâs made this decision because he has this knowledge of what should happen, and what needs to happen, and nothing will stop that drive to make that happen. So it makes Eren terrifying, and it makes him kind of less afraid of Levi at this point. Even though Iâm sure Levi would be happy to introduce his boot to Erenâs face again.
Trina, an interesting theme posed throughout the final season is whether or not anybody has a choice in their role in this war, or if theyâre kind of born to it. And Eren kind of says that the nature of Mikasa is just from her birthright, and itâs in her genes. So how do you feel about Mikasa dealing with Eren, and do you think she is ultimately her own person?
Trina: I think that itâs interesting to have that sort of twist in the story introduced, because itâs not just Mikasa, right? Like, everyone has something happened to them, every single character in Attack on Titan has something happen to them that affects their future and their trajectory. And as we learn more and more about Mikasa, or about Armin, or about other characters within the series, we learn more about them. But also itâs what that character does with that information that changes the trajectory of the story, right? And the moment that I think, âOh, well this is what itâs going to be, or this is how itâs going to end, this is how so-and-so is going to end up,â itâs completely different! So I donât want to say like, yes, this was ingrained in Mikasa, but itâs something that I try not to predict. And I just hope that at the end of the series, they all get to hang out and decompress, and retire on a ranch together.
They all deserve a spa day after this, for sure. Josh, I thought one of the best scenes for Armin in that first half of the final season was when he does take that protector role, and he stands up for Mikasa and comes to blow with Eren. How was it recording that scene? And it was just such a departure and notable growth.
Josh: I think if Eren had started doing that to Mikasa even years prior, I feel like if it had gone far enough, Armin wouldâve done exactly what he did in this situation. Itâs just, that had never happened before, Eren and Mikasa and Armin had always been as thick as thieves. It was definitely cool to see Armin going that far for his friend, and especially against Eren, who he considers to be a brother. They are family. Armin did it 100% knowing he was about to get his ass kicked. Thatâs, I think, what makes it the coolest thing, is that Armin did that just to make sure Eren didnât get away with what he was doing and knew, âHey, thatâs not cool. Weâre not doing this.â Even though he knew he was going pay for it, that was an awesome, incredibly cool moment. It was really nice to see that for Armin. But I think also that that was also spurred by his own anger, not just for what Eren was saying to Mikasa, but because of the implications of what it meant of, like, âThis is not my friend,â is kind of what I think Armin was sitting here feeling at that point. Itâs like, âWho is this person that is sitting across from us saying these things? Because itâs not my friend, and I need to punch some sense into him,â you know? And I think heâs still right nowâŚthat is what heâs wrestling with the most in the show where we left off.
