Just when you thought that the lumbering, giant, naked, cannibalistic Titans roaming the countryside were the greatest threat in Attack on Titan, in comes the Season 3 premiere, "Smoke Signal." The highly anticipated return of the anime adaptation of Hajime Isayama's best-selling manga series made its world premiere during Anime Expo, but lucky fans will be able to check it out tonight or tomorrow at participating theaters before its TV debut in Japan on July 22nd. Trust me when I say that you'll want to get this in your eyeballs sooner than later.

Funimation Films presents Attack on Titan Season 2 Movie: Roar of Awakening and the Attack on Titan Season 3 premiere as a two-night only event in select U.S. and Canadian theaters. The Season 3 premiere immediately follows the recap movie, the first-ever North American world premiere for the franchise. At a combined run-time of 141 minutes, presented in both Japanese with English subtitles and English dub on alternate nights, the special event is only available on only Tuesday, July 10th (Japanese with English subtitles) and Wednesday, July 11th (English dub) in 130 U.S. and Canadian theaters; find a participating theater here!

If you want to get a peek at the Attack on Titan Season 3 premiere, be sure to check out the official trailer, followed by my review:

Attack on Titan Season 2 Movie: Roar of Awakening Review:

For folks who need a catch-up on the insane events of Season 2 of Attack on Titan, this condensed, roughly one-hour cut is a fantastic way to do just that. Spoilers ahead for anyone and everyone who isn't caught up on Season 2.

Season 2 may have been short on episodes--only 12 compared to the 25 of Season 1 and a confirmed 24 for Season 3--but it was the biggest reveal of the series' mythology and lore so far. In short, Season 2 is where fans finally found some answers as to what exactly as going on, but it's also where a lot more questions are raised. The "Roar of Awakening" recap is a great way to revisit them since it covers the discovery of the Titans as components of the very walls that protect the last vestiges of humanity; the true nature of the named Titans like the Armored Titan and Colossal Titan; and the true nature of fellow Scouts alongside Eren, Mikasa, Armin and the others.

New questions that will start to be explored in Season 3 are seeded here, like just what is up with the Beast Titan, why there seems to be a cover-up in progress and why it's being facilitated by the Royal Family, and just what are the extent of Eren's powers and those of the other Titans. For some of those answers and a lot more, we'll have to get into the review of the Season 3 premiere, "Smoke Signal."

If you really want to know the details of the Season 3 premiere, feel free to skip on down past the big red SPOILER sign. But if you just want to get a general idea of just how good this episode is without any spoilers, here we go:

"Smoke Signal" doesn't shy away from the revelations experienced in Season 2, it deepens them. This episode keeps our heroes wrong-footed pretty much the whole time, so even if we don't quite know what's going on or what's about to happen, that tension is inescapable. What does eventually happen is that the team is forced to go on the move by a non-Titan threat that they don't yet fully understand, but think they can outmaneuver. They're right, to an extent, but a wildcard thrown in at the episode's end will also reveal just how wrong they were.

I know that's all very vague, but I'd rather you experience "Smoke Signal" for yourself. It's everything you want from Attack on Titan and promises a solid season to come. But if you want the more detailed breakdown, read on.

Rating: ★★★★ Very good

Spoilers ahead!

Despite the fact that Season 3 picks up not long after the awakening of Eren's "Coordinate" ability and injuries to his teammates, the premiere seems to open with a scene that's a bit out of sequence. It features a relatively long-haired Eren reminiscing about a conversation with Armin who told him that a great expanse of water called the "sea" lay beyond the walls. Eren is left wondering, what's beyond that? Fans will be left wondering the answer to that, too, since it's not explored in this opening chapter, but manga fans should pick up on the importance of this scene, its geographical setup, and the even bigger tale that's still to come.

But back to "Smoke Signal", and back to the main story that it entails. Eren and the others are hiding out in a cabin under Levi's orders while Mikasa recovers from her injuries and Eren stocks up on his energy after the brutal fights at the end of Season 2. But it's not just for Eren's good health that they're letting him recover; he's one of the keys to rebuilding the damaged walls and it's up to him and Hange's experiments to figure out how to achieve just that. (There are some darkly humorous moments here as Eren's human form is peeled away from his Titan form, not always with the cleanest of separations.)

The gang is getting a little restless, and with good reason: Connie dreams of taking down the Beast Titan, Historia/Christa thinks longingly of Ymir, and Levi is left trying to figure out just what it is that feels off about their current situation. Before long, Pastor Nick, the member of the Order of the Walls who previously gave the Scouts sensitive information, is found murdered in the barracks of Trost. Despite torture, Nick never divulged what he knew about Historia's parentage or her location, but nevertheless, Levi's squad is soon marked for apprehension, if not death. Only Eren and Historia are of interest, but to whom?

Here's where Season 3 of Attack on Titan kicks things up a notch. The Titans themselves are still a big threat to everyday humans and the Scouts who defend them, but increasingly dangerous political schemes add a new layer to the danger. You can pretty much see a Titan coming, especially now that we know which humans are actually Titans in disguise, but even the great Levi didn't see how far King Fritz, Lord Rice and their subordinates would go to keep their secrets.

The new antagonist to arrive early in Season 3 is an old acquaintance of Levi, "Kenny the Ripper, a mass murderer who slit the throats of a hundred MPs in the capital." Levi knew him well, but not well enough to anticipate the layered and sophisticated trap that Kenny and his mercenaries, all outfitted with high-powered Scout gear and weaponry, set for his squad. Kenny's gang makes short work of the defending Scouts, and just as we're about to see him square off with Levi, that's where "Smoke Signal" leaves us.

For Attack on Titan fans, this has just about everything you want: Amped-up action, new layers of intrigue, and an agent of peril who might be human-sized but is every bit as dangerous as any Titan out there. And this premiere is just the start! We've got 24 episodes to go through this season, so you can expect a lot more mythology, suspense, and all-out, heart-rending action.

Once you get a chance to check out the Season 3 premiere of Attack on Titan, be sure to share your thoughts here!