Holy hell-spawn have I got an exclusive for you! I’m just out of the world premiere of Attack on Titan’s third season debut, with both the Japanese and English voice actors for Eren Yeager, Yuki Kaji and Bryce Papenbrook. Both of the beloved and talented voice actors thrilled the crowd of heat-exhausted fans who’d been waiting (mostly) outside for the better part of the morning.

The entire event was lavishly staged, with huge, multicolored LED spotlights and roving club lights. Three, separate, cinema-sized screens brought the action all the way to the back rows in the massive convention hall. Why am I describing this instead of showing you? This was such a huge event, that even Press affiliated muckitty-mucks like myself were strictly forbidden from taking any pictures or recordings. Yeah, this was a lot of big-time hype.

The panel was fun and endearing, but not particularly shocking—as both voice-actors had nearly identical takes on the shared character. When asked if they could change anything about the character of Eren, Yuki answered through a translator, “I would like [Eren] to calm down a little bit… honor his life and not be in such a rush to die. If he dies, we’re out of a job.”

Bryce more-or-less agreed, “I hear the intensity of Kaji-San’s screams and I get scared.”

Both also agreed that playing the role of Eren required some deep and uncomfortable soul searching, “I knew that to get into that headspace, I’d have to go to some very dark places,” Bryce told us, in reference to one of the more memorable moments from season 2. When probed about where and how he draws that anger into his performance, Bryce (a native Angelino) had a very Los Angeles answer for that question, “I pull a lot of anger from traffic… I leave the sessions angry.”

Anger is obviously an important emotion to grasp when portraying Eren, as both voice actors discussed their process for getting mad at great length. Bryce, for instance, recalled a story about leaving his two puffy poodle dogs home alone, and finding that when he returned “…those poodles ate my chips and that is the motivation for Eren’s anger.” Yuki agreed, “I also get angry when someone eats my potato chips.”

Another exclusive, I’m thrilled to bring you, is the previously unannounced theme song for Attack on Titan Season 3 will be performed by international superstars Japan X and Hyde. It will be titled “Red Swan”. Yuki even confided that he was known to sing Japan X songs in karaoke.

As for the show itself, it picks up right where season 2 left off, with our principal protagonists dealing with the wreckage from season 2. Unfortunately for them, the threats they’re faced with (at least in the first episode) come from within the walls, and not from without. I’m going try to keep this review spoiler free, but not everyone survives the first episode.

I’ll admit that the Season 3 debut lagged a bit in some places, given that no hostile titans appear on screen except through flashback, but the intrigue that seems to be developing is anything but dull. If season 2 was an examination of the titans’ evolving intellect, season 3 seems to be about mankind’s capacity for cruelty inflicted upon itself. In literary terms, that’s what we call “dichotomy.”

I can’t say that episode 1 of season 3 knocked my socks off, but I do like the direction that it seems to be heading. The art is as beautiful as ever and the threat of titan attack is still looming, but with new characters, new intrigues and new threats—it may be a test for humanity even to survive itself.

New episodes of Attack on Titan are coming this August, and as Bryce said, “I’m so glad they didn’t make us wait so long between seasons, like they did between seasons 1 & 2.”

I’m sure that we’re all glad for that.