Debut’s timing has us wondering if anime Titans still need to wear sunblock if they don’t have skin.

You could make the argument that the Attack on Titan anime waited too long to give fans the series’ second season. In September of 2013, when its first season ended on a half-cliffhanger, Attack on Titan was the hottest anime series in decades, but rather than keep its foot on the accelerator, the mainline animated series took a long breather, filling the time with dalliances into side projects including parody and live-action versions.

With a three-and-a-half-year wait until Attack on Titan Season 2 finally debuted in April of 2017, the burning questions left unanswered weren’t burning quite as brightly. That’s not to say that Season 2 wasn’t a success critically and commercially, but it wasn’t nearly the cultural phenomenon that Season 1 was. So the producers have decided to step up the tempo a bit, and have officially announced that Attack on Titan Season 3 will begin airing in July of 2018.

▼ Season 3’s key visual shows that, once again, ostensible side character Levi gets more attention than designated protagonist Eren.

While a release sometime in 2018 had been forecast for some time, the new announcement confirms that Attack on Titan will be part of Japanese TV’s summer season next year. Following an if-it’s-not-broke-don’t-fix-it strategy, Tetsuro Araki and Masashi Koizuka return as chief director and director, respectively, and animation is once again being handled by WIT Studio.

While waiting for the new episodes, those who haven’t carved out time in their busy schedules to watch Season 2, or who simply need a refresher in which pants-less man-eating giants are on the good guys’ side, will be happy to know that an anime compilation movie, titled Attack on Titan Season 2-Roar of Awakening, will see theatrical release in Japan on January 13 (no word on whether or not it’ll be getting a physical effects-enhanced 4-D version).

Source: Comic Natalie, Twitter/@anime_shingeki

Follow Casey on Twitter, where he’d kind of like to see an Attack on Titan/Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress crossover movie.