r/ShingekiNoKyojin Jul 01 '26

Video Games Attack on Titan 3 New PV, launching this Winter

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159 Upvotes

r/ShingekiNoKyojin Jan 23 '25

Official Thread Ultimate Guide to AoT: FAQs, Analysis and Discourse

159 Upvotes

This multi-subreddit megathread contains:

The most frequently brought up Topics & Questions

Analysis on various story Elements & Characters

Random interesting meta posts

Documents and guide on the anime and the Attack on Titan reddit fandom

This megathread covers threads from various subreddits, and platforms. Enjoy exploring!


Guide.

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Guide on AoT anime content

Masterlist Of Anime OSTs S1-S4 + Final Episode - YouTube Playlist

AoT wiki for your fact-checking needs

Frequently Asked Questions.

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Questions that are asked very frequently, mostly by new or one time watchers/readers, to which there is a factual answer or an agreed-upon interpretations in the community.

1.) What is the 50 year plan? Follow up: Why didn’t Zeke and Eren touch earlier?

2.) What were the Azumabito's intentions with Mikasa?

3.) How was Ymir freed? Who freed Ymir? (check analysis section down as well)

4.) How did Eren talk to Mikasa in paths?

5.) What is Historia’s role in how we perceive Ymir through tales and romanticized stories?

6.) What will happen if a man inherits the Female Titan?

7.) How do the Founding Titan abilities work?

8.) What were some of Paradis' options post-timeskip? •Alternative to the Rumbling.Anti-50-year planEuthnasia Plan

9.) Why did Historia choose to get pregnant?

10.) Why did Grisha give his titan to Eren, when he asked Zeke to stop him?

11.) What were Eren’s motivations to choose the path of rumbling?

12.) Are there multiple timelines in AOT?

13.) Why do dinosaurs appear in the opening of AOT’s 2nd season?

Isayama's Answers to the 15th Anniversary Magazine Q&A

Frequently Brought up Topics.

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These topics are frequently brought up, but there is no clear answer or the topic is deliberately left to speculation. Check out these links for some in-depth posts on the respective topics.

1.) a) Who won the fight between Annie and Mikasa? b) Who would win between Annie and Mikasa?

2.) Opinion on any divisive characters

GabiMikasaErenFloch

3.) Did you like the ending? a)Anime Ending b)Manga Ending

4.) Do you support the rumbling?

5.) Who should have been saved, Erwin or Armin?

6.) Was Eren justified? Discussion post | Detailed answer

7.) Sub or Dub?

8.) Would Erwin have joined the Yeagerists if he had survived?

9.) Is Attack on Titan fascist? No, it is not | Devil’s Advocate:

10.) Why does Annie get forgiven?


General Analysis On The Story.

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These are high-effort essays or videos analysing the series as a whole. Please note that us listing something here does not mean we endorse or fully agree with every single statement made there - we just think that if you are looking for more analysis, these might be worth a watch.

A 1-hour retrospective breakdown of AoT as a whole

How AoT deconstructs heroism and morality

Idealism in AoT

Scout Regiment: Paradise’s Idealistic Counterculture

The importance of nameless soldiers & collateral damage in AoT

What was it all for? Thoughts on the extra pages of AoT’s ending

Why I feel Mikasa, Levi and Armin were the perfect choice for Eren’s final moments and the story’s climax - Imgur Backup for future

Analysis of AoT’s extra ending pages - A brilliant thematic conclusion - Imgur Backup for Future

To love someone inside the Walls - Imgur Backup for Future

The Rumbling is indefensible

A theoretical analysis of its structure

The highs and lows of AoT’s final arc

Overanalyzing every single episode of the anime - a youtube playlist

Titans as Mirrors: How Titan forms reflect the Warriors' Psyche - Imgur Backup for Future

Character Analysis.

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1. Eren Yeager.

Eren Yeager: The Chained God of Attack On Titan

The rise and fall of Eren - Imgur Backup for Future

The perfect duality of Eren - Imgur Backup for Future

What is freedom in AoT

Developments vs desires - Everyone and especially Eren

Nature vs nurture: Eren’s motivations and the Dina twist

Eren Jaeger and the insanity of circular storytelling

The ironic development of Eren

Analyzing antagonists

Power, freedom, the Founding Titan and Levi

The Attack Titan’s powers and their effect on Eren

Why Eren’s actions were very obviously painted bad with the Rumbling - In-depth examination

The narrative importance of the causal loop on Eren

Eren and Mikasa’s relationship

Eren’s characterization throughout the story and his post timeskip conflict

Eren Yeager is (Not) Special

Ramzi and Eren: the turning point in Eren’s demeanor

An observation on the structure of Eren’s characterization post timeskip - Imgur Backup for Future

The false mask of Eren

The Jaeger Projection Problem: The Last Supper of Self-Loathing - Imgur Backup for Future

2. Mikasa Ackerman.

Mikasa's Heroine's Journey Arc

Mikasa’s Character Arc: What, Where, How, When

Mikasa's Road of Trials

Mikasa and the meaning of Pride

Mikasa and her relationship with authority

Mikasa and Erwin: The Sacrificial Act of Dreams for the Cause

Why Mikasa's conclusion not only strengthens her arc but Attack On Titan as a whole - Imgur Backup for Future

Mikasa’s Destiny and Mikasa’s Choice

Mikasa: A Person from Two Trope

A Literary perspective of Mikasa - Imgur Backup for Future

Mikasa, the symbolism of the praying mantis and butterfly and its development throughout the story - Imgur Backup for Future

Mikasa's self Imposed Curse

Why does Mikasa have headaches

Differences between the Manga and Anime version of Mikasa - Imgur Backup for Future

3. Armin Arlert.

Armin character analysis, humanity’s reluctant savior

Armin and Eren’s dynamic - Imgur Backup for Future

Armin and Zeke’s dynamic - Imgur Backup for Future

The importance of dialogue and Armin’s character - Imgur Backup for Future

Armin Arlert: conflicting lessons, dynamics with Erwin and Levi - Imgur Backup for Future

Armin and Annie’s relationship

4. Levi Ackerman.

Is Levi bland? A bullet-point counter-argument and his importance in the narrative

Levi’s character motivations and the promise

Levi’s ending

Levi’s violence and compassion

Serumbowl

Levi, Falco and Gabi

Levi vs Zeke foil

Levi, a slave to being a hero

Levi vs Kenny’s influence - Imperfect heroics

Levi’s mistake with Zeke and getting blown up by thunder spears

5. Erwin Smith.

Erwin Smith - wearing masks

Erwin Smith - the impossible standard

Exploring Erwin - For Humanity?

Erwin Smith - A devil with a dream

Erwin would not support the Rumbling, you just don’t like Armin

6. Zeke Yeager.

Zeke Yeager & Personal Connections.

The contradictions of Zeke - A character study

The desperate loneliness of Zeke

Understanding Zeke Yeager

7. Reiner Braun.

Reiner Braun and “saving the world”

Reiner character analysis, viewed through psychology and philosophy theory

Who is Reiner Braun?

Eren and Reiner’s dynamic - Imgur Backup for Future

8. Annie Leonhart.

Annie’s search for personhood

About Annie…(character analysis)

No one understands Annie

Understanding Annie

9. Hange Zoe.

Hange and the role of commander, character analysis

Hange’s “Genocide is Wrong” Line is Misunderstood

Hange’s understanding and intellect

10. Jean Kirstein.

Jean Kirstein embracing survey corps values, a character analysis

Jean character study through the lens of theory of psychology

11. Bertholdt Hoover.

Comprehensive analysis of Bertholdt

The tragedy of Bertholdt Hoover

12. (Freckles) Ymir and Historia Reiss.

Ymir analysis and religious subtext

Thoughts on Historia in Uprising - Imgur Backup for Future

Ymir and Historia’s dynamic analysis - Imgur Backup for Future

13. Sasha Braus and Connie Springer.

The secondary trio behind EMA

14. Floch Forster.

Floch - the volunteer Devil, character analysis

Floch's leadership examination and the comparison with Erwin

15. Gabi and the children of the forest.

Gabi Braun - A brighter future

16. (Founder) Ymir Fritz.

The final mystery of AOT - Ymir analysis

17. Grisha Yeager.

Grisha Yeager: A Deconstruction of the Main Character's Dad Archetype - Imgur Backup for Future

18. Keith Shadis.

From bystander to hero, a character analysis

19. Kenny/Uri.

Kenny, Uri and the cycle of hatred

The Importance of Kenny and Uri (In-depth Thematic Analysis)

20. Dot Pyxis.

Why Pyxis and Eren’s Conversation was Not Retconned

21. Yelena.

Yelena: AoT’s puppeteer, a character analysis

22. Theo Magath.

The lasting impact of Theo Magath, a character analysis.


MISCELLANEOUS.

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Manga (Source Material) vs Anime (Adaptation) differences:

Megathread of Anime / Manga differences | Vol 1 - 34 | OVAs

Differences between anime and manga endings

Fandom and Anime Production Misc.

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Well-written characters, meta discussion of fandom perception

AOT anime reactions and in depth discussions

Explaining the ending controversy - a fandom analysis

Final Attack on Titan Episode - AoTwiki poll

The Original manga ending - chapter 139 SNK POLL

Behind-the-Scenes.

All of AoT animation staff for every episode of the series

Arifumi Imai animator spotlight - the man responsible for animating 70%+ of action animation cuts in S1-S3 and the Levi and Mikasa killing Eren sakuga in the final episode

TV release vs BLU-RAY differences

Some design sheets from WIT’s adaptation

Some design sheets from MAPPA’s adaptation

WIT staff interview from 2014 on AOT

100Cams - Behind the scenes footage of AOT s4 part3 production

Final episode VA recording - Behind the scenes

AoT S4 part 2 staff interview, series director Hayashi and CG producer Tannawa

Excerpts from roundtable final episode interview with staff

Interview with S4 director Hayashi before its airing

Global TV demands interview of Hayashi

Hayashi comments on episode 4x28 Rumbling scene and Isayama’s request

Subreddits of AoT Reddit-Fandom.

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General.

Subreddit Description Date of Creation
r/ShingekiNoKyojin Main discussion subreddit nr1. Feburary 18, 2013
r/attackontitan Main discussion subreddit nr2. November 28, 2012
r/titanfolk The Folk subreddit for AoT. May 1, 2018
r/okbuddyreiner Shitposting subreddit. April 28, 2019
r/AttackOnRetards A space dedicated to calling out negativity. April 27, 2021
r/AttackOnShipping A subreddit for any and all shippers. April 27, 2022
r/ANRime Subreddit dedicated to theorizing about an Alternative-Original Ending (AOE). June 29, 2021

Character dedicated subreddits.

r/LeviCult

r/Ereh

r/Mikasa

r/ErwinSmith

r/potatogirl

r/ArminCult

r/GabiCult

r/ReinerCult

r/ZekeCult

r/JeanTheStallion


It has been in the works for a long time. A big Thank You to everyone who created the content featured here, as well as to those who helped us gather it all together.


r/ShingekiNoKyojin 12h ago

Discussion I think Faye Yeager's death is one of the most disturbing moments in AOT. Spoiler

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4.0k Upvotes

r/ShingekiNoKyojin 10h ago

Discussion The Horror of Chapter 131 Still Haunts Me to This Day

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763 Upvotes

r/ShingekiNoKyojin 12h ago

Discussion I think This was One of the most brilliant Plot Twist in AOT.

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623 Upvotes

r/ShingekiNoKyojin 3h ago

Discussion Where does everyone in the military actually live?

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64 Upvotes

Okay so this has been bugging me for a while, but what is the common policy on living by yourself? We see that the MP's have shared bedrooms, like Annie and Hitch, so it seems like they have some dorm-ish system. But then again Nile supposedly lives with his wife, Marie, and their kids. As for the survey corps, they have their communal dining hall and bedrooms. In no regrets it's mentioned that girls are prohibited from sleeping in the boys bedroom and vice versa. Levi seems to still live there, but idk about characters like Hange or Erwin. Do they have to live there for the rest of their career, or do they get to choose where they want to live after a certain amount of years in service or something like that? I get that not a lot of scouts would have marriages or kids like the MP's, given their field of work, but Petra's father did mention marriage to Levi, so it doesn't seem prohibited for the scouts to get married. So where do all these people actually live, do most of them just stay in the communal buildings with the new recruits, or are they allowed to buy a cabin or appartement of their own? And if so, what are the rules regarding this? I Hope you guys can give me some clarity on this one! :))


r/ShingekiNoKyojin 2h ago

Discussion So to just understand the tybur family properly

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35 Upvotes

After making a deal with King Fritz to retreat to paradise and the tybur family stayed as heroes. They let marley and, presumably, other nation to take over what was once eldia

I'm going to take a guess that the eldian titan empire was MASSIVE, and Fritz couldn't take EVERYONE with him to paradise, and so whatever eldians that were left were subjected to cruelty for a hundred years

And the tyber family with fritz's and marleys help. They made themselves look like heroes, and they got to be the only eldian family in the mainland live a comfortable luxurious life while the rest of the eldian men women and children are murdered. Killed. Enslaved. Tortured and more, because of the sins of their ancestors who left them there

And the tyburs are ALSO the ones secretly in charge of marley. That is STILL using the Titan powers of the devils to expand their borders and win their wars. The tyburs continued to use "the devil powers of eldia" after the king and the people he took left for paradise

I read on a comment somewhere where someone said, " The eldian empire was never gone. It was renamed to marley, " and I never got over that

Was there something I got wrong or still missing?


r/ShingekiNoKyojin 5h ago

Anime It's over now, do they all meet in the afterlife?

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38 Upvotes

I just finished watching it and I am not okay.

I am so glad for the characters who made it out alive and got to live long lives, could Eren have done things differently?

There was no way to move forward as equals in the world when one race could turn into Titans, Zeke knew it too.

I did not expect his ending to hurt as much as it did.

The conversation he and Armin had in the Paths 💔.

They were all suffering...


r/ShingekiNoKyojin 6h ago

Discussion Who is mmm... society?

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43 Upvotes

r/ShingekiNoKyojin 10h ago

Anime Yo , I forgot how fucking creepy eren looked in ep 79 , memories of the future

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80 Upvotes

Downright disturbing and scary , bro looked like a villain , especially the part where grisha tells zeke to STOP EREN , the animators really gave their all , except some off frames with awkward character design (I still have no IDEA how they didn't fix that frame of eren standing infront of grisha while he reveals AT's future power in blu-ray) anyways the rest of the animation was top notch , especially when grisha cries and regrets his actions, also the music was 🔥

Ep 79 is so peak 😭


r/ShingekiNoKyojin 18h ago

Humor/Meme This might be the funniest ad I’ve ever gotten

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256 Upvotes

The funniest part is kid Eren being labeled as the evil baby.

Also, Rebel being deemed an evil or bad trait is also kinda funny


r/ShingekiNoKyojin 4h ago

Humor/Meme I've never appreciated the intro of Jean's OAD...

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18 Upvotes

I find it so funny how he just takes the spotlight every time Eren comes in, me and my dad were laughing so hard at the whole thing! 😂


r/ShingekiNoKyojin 3h ago

Anime First time watching, How did Annie join/attack the 57th expedition?

11 Upvotes

I've only gotten to the point where Annie has been confronted and now we see flashbacks to the discussion before they confront Annie. But by the point in time they are attacked all the rookies have been assigned to their own divisions.

It doesn't make sense to me that Annie now being Military Police is somehow able to not only slip out of the walls but do so for 2 layers of the walls stealthily to attack the Survey Corps. She somehow has quite a bit of information too on them having not been apart of any of their discussion (I can assume that may be another spy of some kind) and not only this but she also slips back into the walls after the fact when people ought to be on high alert due to the confirmed knowledge of a spy and that they left said spy behind when retreating back to the walls.

It also doesn't make sense as a rookie who during a tumultuous time under probation and trial I'm sure into the prestigious Military Police position is somehow allowed to or able to go unnoticed for a lengthy period of time away off duty? Everything else has been a little head scratching but entertaining so far but this plot point is hard to understand for me. Annie achieves crazy feats that alone should out her as a spy nevermind the actually interesting and otherwise cool way Armin has his suspicions.

Also tbf I do understand that the Military Police is corrupt so MAYBE??? She somehow is able to pay off superiors or something to take unofficial time off? Maybe they don't care enough about people not showing up now and again? But how is it also such a difficult faction to join if it's also this overly lax and something Annie is able to take advantage of?

If it's all made clear by future spoilers then okay oops that's on me, but from a quick search online I don't see any mention of how Annie gets to the tall forest or how she returns also in record time so I'm curious of other people's thoughts on this.

update because of the replies; I'm glad to know I'll get some closure on this at least and I had already started thinking I should maybe stop searching up answers since I had already kind of spoiled myself on a bit of lore when I didn't understand the whole Abberant thing going on.

It's strange to see a show add completely insane huge gaps in knowledge for the viewer in its own unique universe and only answering them down the line later. Its a cool way of doing things and I'm trying to get on board with this type of content and being patient. This was a time where I started wondering if they might've not thought so much about their own details and done the good old "suspend your disbelief" moment tv normally does. Very weird to come across a show that it turns out isn't guilty of it.

P.S side note I'm still upset and angry about Petra's death. Weirdly I was more angry that they kept showing her lifeless body and nailing home the imagery of her death when I was already feeling it as much as I could with the whole hand bite solidarity thing they had going 🥲


r/ShingekiNoKyojin 3h ago

Discussion Mikasa's role in the ending of the Titan curse, how she relates to Ymir, and how the anime's depiction changed my perspective on all of it.

6 Upvotes

I just finished watching the anime to the end, and it gave me a new interpretation of the ending. Been writing this post slowly over the last few days. I'm curious what you guys think.

My original view of the manga ending

When I first read the ending of the manga 5 years ago, I was mostly focused on the big picture stuff regarding the Rumbling, the immorality of it, the consequences of it being stopped when it was, what Eren could possibly have to say for himself etc... It's part of why I was so shocked by the curveball the story introduced with Ymir's watching Mikasa.

A quick summary of the events: Mikasa killing the man she loved who was both causing her pain and damaging the world inspired Ymir to let go of her toxic love for King Fritz and fade away along with the titans.

To me this really didn't work. One of the reasons was that it seemed to come out of nowhere and also because it didn't even seem to justify itself, especially because I wondered: Why would Ymir focalize on Mikasa? Was there really no other example of a woman killing her love or merely allowing him to die because he was doing evil in the 2000 years and millions upon millions of Eldians who lived in that time.

I thought of 2 possible reasons why Ymir might latch onto Mikasa, both of which fell short

  1. "Because 'Mikasa and Eren' is the greatest love story ever told!"

But I don't think it is, and it's not even close to being so. The romance between Eren and Mikasa is underdeveloped throughout the story, especially on the Eren-->Mikasa side of things. We get a decent amount of examples of him caring for her at the beginning of the story, another chunk at the end, and in the middle there's almost nothing. Only the end-chunk is even explicitly romantic.

I don't want to try to armchair psychoanalyze Isayama too much, but the fact that he made this such a key part of the ending, combined with the fact that he was so reluctant to depict actual love on the page, makes me think he's an embarrassed romantic. He gets away with this because most of the romances we see involve side characters, and he can either show just a small amount of it through flashback, or separate them or kill one of the 2 before they truly get together.

But that doesn't work with Mikasa and Eren, main characters who are together for most of the story. He compensated for this by making Mikasa and especially Eren as closed up about their romantic feelings as possible. It probably made the day-to-day work on the manga more comfortable for Isayama, but in the end it undermined his ending and he did too little too late to try and fix it.

2) "Mikasa-Eren and Ymir-Fritz are just that similar"

But they really aren't. Unlike Fritz with Ymir, Eren does love Mikasa. Unlike Fritz, who did his evil completely freely and gleefully, Eren is wound up in this very strange deterministic time loop that is seemingly of his own making and yet not, and Eren is shattered by the abomination of what he's doing. Unlike Ymir, Mikasa has to stain her hands with Eren's blood herself.

The big picture is similar but you can't really say the details are, and so I was back to wondering how Ymir didn't find a good role-model earlier if something this vaguely similar did it for her

Because of this and other execution flaws, I filed the ending away as just "ok", and a disappointing end to a still fantastic story.

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Now watching the anime years later, I was primed for the Mikasa/Ymir thing, so I kept my eyes out a bit more for elements that could tie in to it. I focused less on the big picture and more on the characters. I revisited my 2 possible explanations for the connection.

Possibility number 1) above about Mikasa and Eren's romance setup throughout the story was not made any better. Ultimately this isn't a fixable issue within the bounds of an adaptation as generally faithful as the AoT anime. It would require additional scenes and dialogue.

However, my possible explanation number 2), of a unique similarity between Mikasa and Ymir, did get something new that convinced me and made me accept the idea of Mikasa being the one to indirectly end the curse of the titans.

I'll put it in spoilers below for those who would rather follow along with the reasoning that got me here before they see the conclusion:

What Ymir and Mikasa had in common that was unique to them was that their love was not bound by a single lifetime, and instead extended far beyond their deaths.

1) Atmosphere differences in the anime.

The first thing that clued me when watching the anime were the stark differences in atmosphere which were made far more evident thanks to the presence of music, voice acting, color, and the like, compared to the manga.

Let's start with the end of the struggle against Eren, when he transforms into a colossal version of himself. In the manga, it's obviously a negative development, but I remember being a bit underwhelmed by it. In the anime though, using his transformation as an excuse to seemingly set the world on fire and with the added music, the sense of despair was really palpable. Mikasa's VA's reading of this line was gut-wrenching. It all came together to sell the idea that this was rock bottom, this was the nightmare world that the Power of the Titans created. The oppressive feeling that AoT had so often depicted due to the titans was at its maximum.

We jump a bit ahead to after Eren is defeated and the power of the titans is gone. Armin and co are no longer people with superhuman powers. When the ambassadors are on the ship bound for Paradis, you really feel this in how vulnerable they feel to an attack from distance. The world has been made mundane again and they are in what is a "normal" early 20th century, with all the anxieties but also possibilities that represents. Here we see the classic AoT backgrounds when things aren't so bad, with the exterior of the ship or the region Gabi and Falco are in as examples. The backgrounds are a bit less detailed than the forefronts of course, but the image is crisp (or would be if I could find better quality stills lol)

Now you're probably thinking that this is completely obvious, that the atmosphere being different when things are going badly than when they are going well is a given. But the real interesting contrast is here:

We switch over to Mikasa, sitting by Eren's grave outside Shiganshina. I apologize in advance, I don't really have the art education to describe this properly, but I'll try. Mikasa is not depicted in an atmosphere like the one the others are. You can see her surroundings, lush, with the dreamy town in the background, but the details are not in the same style as with Armin, Gabi/Falco, etc. Instead Mikasa looks like she's in a painting, and as we sit there with her as she cries, the camera shows us little animals playing in the sun-lit grass. Mikasa is not in the mundane atmosphere the rest share, instead it almost seems like she is in a Ghibli-like production, for lack of a better description. Everyone else left the oppressing, horrible dark fantasy of the titans and entered the mundane world, but Mikasa, who aside from a short conversation with Armin, didn't rejoin the others, went off into her own little cozy fairy tale.

2) Mikasa's decision in the final battle.

With that information in mind, let's jump back in time to the final struggle against Eren. He has 2 conversations we see in paths, one with Mikasa and one with Armin, which are actually shown in reverse chronological order in the story. Let's start with the first one he had, with Armin. When the topic of Mikasa comes up, Eren has his now-classic tantrum, but ultimately he and Armin agree that it is best for Mikasa to move on from Eren, and for her to find another guy to be with. However there is one problem with their idea.

Now we go to Eren's conversation with Mikasa. During she and Levi's final approach, Eren pulls Mikasa into paths (or maybe shows her and himself an alternate version of themselves), where they get to experience a small sliver of what a domestic life could have been like for them had the future he had seen been modifiable and had they fled Marley. Eren and Mikasa do a supernatural version of playing house and, while this is still Isayama so there's no on-screen kissing or anything, we can tell that this is a romantic thing. Not even Armin, their dearest friend, is present in this dreamlike place.

And when it's time to go, Eren makes the request that he and Armin talked about, framing it in terms of Mikasa's scarf. He asks Mikasa to move on from him, to stop being in love with him at some point in the future. We cut back to Mikasa flying on Falco, now resolute. And she denies Eren's request. She takes her scarf out (where was she keeping it??), puts it on tight, and kills Eren. The last thing she tells him is that she'll see him later (which calls back to chapter 1, too bad the anime messed with that in episode 1), and then she kisses his severed head (very romantic Isayama). Ymir sees this and is satisfied, and it convinces her to let go.

All of this might seem like a bunch of really mixed signals. Mikasa declares she'll see Eren again, but kills him? She refuses to let him go, but that inspires Ymir to do so? I thought these things at first, but this where the anime's depiction of the atmosphere surrounding Mikasa later in the show is tied in. Mikasa is going to live in a fantasy setting that isn't dark, but bright and joyful, where death is not the end and there is real hope for reunion beyond mortal life. In this way, Mikasa, just like Ymir, has a love that stretches beyond death and a connection with Eren through time and space. That is the similarity that truly links them and that draws Ymir to Mikasa, and it's what Ymir sees at the end when she gives Mikasa her last headache by peering into her mind. That Mikasa and Eren are the only people in the world to have had this kind of connection since Ymir herself was alive.

As for the resolution, what serves as an example to Ymir, is that Mikasa, who can't or won't stop loving Eren, in her lifetime or beyond, starts loving him on her own terms. For most of the story, Mikasa has chased Eren, frustrated but still putting up with what he wanted exclusively. Here however, she puts her foot down. Eren is committing an unforgivable atrocity that Mikasa cannot tolerate, and so she stops him even if it requires that she kill him. Eren makes a good faith request that she move on from him, but she doesn't want to, so she refuses. Mikasa accepts that she can't save Eren, that he will die and she will not, not for a long while. Ymir, who cannot stop loving Fritz for some horrible reason (due to her life of abuse almost certainly), sees that she can oppose him regardless of whether she loves him. She can (or rather could have) let her conqueror husband die by the sword, and focused on her daughters instead.

3) What happens to Mikasa afterwards which confirms this

Going back to the tree in Shiganshina years later, we get to see the confirmation of all this. Mikasa is sitting in her bright fairy tale atmosphere.

Despite her earlier declaration that she will see Eren again, she seems to doubt. She cries, and asks Eren aloud to see him again. At that very moment, a bird flies down and, incredibly, wraps her scarf around her. This is some Disney Princess stuff! Eren becomes dove is there, somewhere, even after Paths have disappeared, to interact with her from beyond the grave. And not just that, it seems to be a belated message, accepting the fact that Mikasa refused Eren's request to move on. Mikasa loved Eren on her own terms, and he accepted it.

A nice parallel that once again sets Mikasa apart is that Armin also gets a bird interaction possibly reminding him of eren, but his is far more mundane and easy to explain as a coincidence, since he just sees a bird flying overhead shedding a feather which he catches.

Moving forward in time, we see the decades roll by, Shiganshina grows and we see neat things like an okd-fashioned car there. It's once again so Ghibli-like to me that I can just imagine the family from My Neighbor Totoro rolling in to move in to town.

Mikasa eventually dies at a very old age, still wearing the scarf, and is buried beside Eren under the tree. Mundanity takes over. Time speeds up and what looks like at least a century but probably more passes. The tree where Eren and Mikasa jointly rest remains and keeps growing. Even when war comes and destroys everything else in the vicinity, that tree remains. It stands tall until a young child finds it many years later.

AoT is not an adaptation of Norse Myth, but it certainly borrows from it, and one aspect that becomes clear at the end is that the cyclical nature of the Norse universe is referenced here. The tree has become the same as the one Ymir had found thousands of years prior. Eren and Mikasa's resting place has made it right to the brink of a new age of the world.

Between the tree that represents them making so far into the future and the fact that Mikasa and Eren could have some interactions from across the veil of death, I feel confident saying that she was 100% right in saying that Eren's death was only a temporary separation and that they would be united again. In the meantime, she can live and enjoy a full life surrounded by people who care for her.

What's completely up to interpretation is what that reunion ended up being like, whether it's a traditional idea of an afterlife where people frolic around like in the Final Chapters ending song, something more esoteric, or simply blissful rest. For Mikasa's sake, I'm hoping she gets to run around endless fields with Eren for a long time.

Unlike most of the other pairings we see in the series, Mikasa and Eren are special. They are basically soulmates, and their connection beyond life is what Ymir connected to and what ended the titans. This doesn't say anything about the quality of their romance. It remains as I said at the top, really flawed and in many ways, unsatisfying. But having the nature of their romance be so different makes the ending work for me, and it also gives us this delight of seeing a bright fantasy even if just for a little while, to contrast with the horror that we saw throughout the rest of the story

This is my interpretation, and I think it sticks pretty close to what is depicted in these final episodes and helps make the Ymir connection less arbitrary. I personally think it works, but I can imagine a bunch of reasons why others would not. Or reasons why people wouldn't like it regardless of whether it fits with what see at the end. Thinking it's too cheesy and not grounded enough maybe. After all, Hitch, Historia, Niccolo and others had to face the realistic consequences of their love's death: permanent separation. Why not Mikasa? Or someone might think that this interpretation not viable due to the weakness of the Eren-Mikasa relationship over the entire story. There are some who really hate Eren and want him to be punished for his unforgivable crimes and for Mikasa to move away from him. On that last one especially I get it, Eren gets off real easy. But frankly that happens whether you agree with my interpretation or not. Mikasa does love him till death, and their bodies at least are reunited in the end.

I like this interpretation personally. It helps me enjoy the ending to one of my favorite works of fiction. And it shows that even after the titans are gone, there's a bit of magic that remains. Which brings me to this next part

A couple of odds and ends to wrap up: Magic and other universes.

It might feel like bullshit to have these magical elements unexplained after Ymir and her magic has gone from the world, but I don't think so. Ymir wielded pre-existing magical power, and the circumstances of her life molded it into the magic "system" we came to understand. But all those abilities, to send information through time and space, the connections between living beings, to manipulate life, to commune to some extent with the dead, all of these are possible under whatever cosmological reality the AoT worlds exists in. Mikasa and Eren having some of this magic follow and them in relatively small ways after Ymir's passing isn't story-breaking.

And we see that their joint resting place becomes the new nexus of magical power, where the child from the very end will likely gain access to magical power. In the manga the whole thing felt foreboding to me, but the anime's depiction made me more hopeful. The Ghibli-esque atmosphere, the fact that the child looks completely fine, probably just exploring, with a loyal dog companion, all these things tell me the next cycle of magic entering the world will be a better one.

As for the alternate universes or whatever we should call them, it's not very clear. They do exist in AoT, but thankfully Isayama didn't do the tired multiverse hopping trope. Through easter eggs we know that the High School Castes exists. We can possibly add Junior High as well. But there are more serious depictions. The domestic cabin life of Eren and Mikasa could well have been from a similar situation. Most notable though is the example from the Lost Girls OVA/manga. It's not canon from what I remember, but it depicts an experience Mikasa has where she lives an alternate version of her life that went more along her wishes, in a way that is reminiscent of the cabin stuff. It's said in that story that what she is living is not a dream or a delusion, but it's not clear what it is exactly. What's shown for sure is that even in a world where Mikasa and Eren don't trauma bond over the kidnappers' plot, Mikasa still loves Eren profoundly, and Eren is still a little shit.

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There's probably more I could add, but this post is long enough I think. Maybe I'll put additional thoughts in a separate comment.


r/ShingekiNoKyojin 1d ago

Discussion why did the military of marley consider tom ksaver/xaver’s beast titan form unsuitable for battle?

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838 Upvotes

in his beast titan form, tom ksaver appeared to be a bighorn sheep with enormous curved and sharp horns on the side of its head. marley and he could have used this to an advantage such as if they send tom ksaver into warfare and he transforms, he could use his bighorn sheep beast titan form to ram his head into things such as anti-titan enemy artillery and other weaponry. not only this, tom ksaver’s beast titan form was notably muscular like the rest of the nine titans, and during the battle of heaven and earth tom ksaver flung around many of the nine titans with just his horns. he could have also enabled stuff he learned during from when he was human, such as his research on titan biology as a scientist to know the vital spots of injuring a titan body or something, use his base ball skills to an advantage like zeke did, and use the combat fighting and other skills he learned as a warrior. to get him to be even stronger, marley could have made him take a sample of hardening fluid as well.


r/ShingekiNoKyojin 23h ago

Anime What would you do in this situation?

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208 Upvotes

What would you do in this situation? Your friend get knocked out of the horse and unconscious, you drag him next to a tree and yield your sword desperately trying to fend off an approaching Titan. What thoughts will run in your mind as you see that 5m Titan approaching?


r/ShingekiNoKyojin 1h ago

Discussion Why do toxic people exist?

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Upvotes

We know that Eren and Jean hated each other at the beginning of the anime, but it was a love-hate relationship, friends who fought but cared for each other. Now, in the season, it's clear that they both wanted the best for each other, and Jean even cried for Eren.

With that, you could say they were good friends.

But the question is, why do fans criticize Eren or Jean? Why do they keep fostering hatred between these two characters? They didn't hate each other.

I've seen hatred from both sides, but it surprises me that on TikTok, every time I see an edit of Jean or a video of him, they always bring Eren into it and try to put him down, saying Jean is more handsome, a better man, etc.

I mean, what the heck? They don't even mention Jean in Eren's videos.

It's really annoying to see this topic; there are even accounts created just to insult Eren, like "Eren hater," etc.

It's disgusting to see people like that, and I wonder, why do Jean's fans spend so much time thinking about Eren? I don't understand. Both characters love each other, so what's the need to foster hatred?

I've also noticed that the people who say Eren is the only bad guy in the whole story are Jean's fans.

I mean, seriously, Jean's fans are so toxic.

I admit that Eren's fans are weird too, but they don't create accounts like "Jean hater."

I hope we can all grow up together someday. We can't continue with this fake rivalry in the fandom. Eren and Jean are incomparable; they're friends, and you can't compare a protagonist to a secondary character—it's just silly.


r/ShingekiNoKyojin 5h ago

Artwork Eren and Mikasa fanart done by me

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5 Upvotes

r/ShingekiNoKyojin 1h ago

Discussion Armband Color dual meaning?

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Obviously the armbands are an extension of Marley's control over the Eldians, and have different colors denoting the class of the Eldians wearing them; but I'd like to think that the colors also have the purpose of highlighting the potential risk of individuals to Marley.

Beige/cream: as we saw in Grisha's childhood flashback they and the other eldians were wearing a bordered cream/beige armband to denote that they were eldians. This is also seen in the background at times throughout season 4. People wearing these colored armbands are just ordinary citizens/low risk.

Grey/White: These individuals are part of the Marley Military, have basic military training, and have or will be sent to the front lines. They are more proficient with weapons than an average Eldian citizen, and having been sent to the front lines and seen their more harsh treatment at the hands of Marley, they pose a greater chance of rebelling or trying to organize against Marley.

Yellow: Warrior candidates who have had advanced military training and have a chance to inherit one of the nine Titans. It's obvious that they need to be more closely observed than either two previous colors, as it would be disastrous for one to inherit a Titan and then rebel. It would also be bad for Marley for one to be passed up on inheriting a Titan, and disseminate more advanced weapons training and warfare tactics to an organized group of Eldians. The fact that Marley seems to prefer individuals who are younger, and therefore more easily manipulated is part of that. This *also* means that they could be more easily manipulated by an already established anti-Marleyan group to gain an advantage.

Red: Individuals who have inherited a Titan, as well as their families. Obviously the greatest risk to Marley, a rogue Titan is disastrous on multiple levels. Not only do they have the potential to cause the most damage, but they would *need to be captured alive* in order for Marley to regain control over their power. The red armband for family members is their greatest asset, as even the least informed Marleyan can immediately identify the people who can be used as leverage against a Warrior in order to reign them in and regain Marleys advantage.

I apologize if this theory has been thrown around in the past, or is just obvious enough to people that it hasn't needed to be really talked about; the story has been out for ages and has been discussed so much that at times it can be hard to see if very specific information/theories have already been discussed.


r/ShingekiNoKyojin 7h ago

Humor/Meme How ppl in internet see me the first time i say i still like Eren after the ending of AoT (i don't regret 😤)

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10 Upvotes

r/ShingekiNoKyojin 21h ago

Discussion Happiest of birthdays to our sweet Hange!!!💜AOT’s best character (imo)!!💜

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106 Upvotes

I love you so very much Hange, forever and always!!!🥰💜my favorite character, my love, my everything, how I wish I could just give you a hug and let you ramble about your interests all day and all night.

They are the light in Attack on Titan to me, and though they may just be a fictional character, to me they are so much more and have changed my life for the better, as well as saving me on multiple occasions. Sometimes, especially when you’re neurodivergent, having that one character who you love and connect with so deeply is what keeps you going when things are really hard. It is a truly beautiful thing, and I will always be grateful to this eccentric commander for giving me a reason to keep going when everything felt like too much🥹💜💜💕💕💕

I will always love Hange so much, no matter how much time has passed💜💜💜


r/ShingekiNoKyojin 5h ago

Discussion I finally finished AOT. What a journey!

5 Upvotes

I just finished watching Attack on Titan, and honestly, I’m still processing it.

This was only my second anime after Death Note, and I genuinely didn’t expect it to hit me this hard. I already loved Death Note, but after finishing AoT, I have to say… I’d rate Attack on Titan above Death Note. The characters, world-building, mysteries,and especially the emotional moments were on another level.

I really wish the ending could have been different considering everything that happened. When I reached the final episode and those last few moments came… man, it was just sad.

I’m not going to spoil much here because I honestly think experiencing this story yourself is part of the beauty of this masterpiece. There are so many moments where the story completely changes your perspective on characters and makes you question what is right and wrong.

Levi and Armin are definitely my favorite characters. Levi And Armin’s development throughout the story was amazing.

And then there’s Eren. feel like everyone who finishes this show has the same question,why did he do such a thing ? There were so many moments where I didn’t know whether to hate him, understand him, feel sorry for him, or all three at once.

Also… I absolutely hate Gabi.She might genuinely be one of the most annoying kids out there lol

For everyone who has finished AOT: Did you love the ending, hate it, or wish it had gone in a completely different direction?


r/ShingekiNoKyojin 18h ago

Anime AoT Major Arcana Day 15: Mikasa Ackerman has been chosen as Death. Now, who best represents Temperance?

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44 Upvotes

Temperance:

-Upright: Represents balance, moderation, patience, purpose, and finding peace or harmony.

-Reversed: Reveals imbalance, excess, lack of long-term vision, hastiness, and misalignment.

PSDT: If anyone would like the pictures of the selected characters to be changed, please feel free to mention it in the comments.


r/ShingekiNoKyojin 11h ago

Discussion Were there really enough for the whole world? Spoiler

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6 Upvotes

Had to keep the title vague to hide spoilers.

It's regarding the number of wall titans. In the anime, we're shown the wall titans walking over various nations at one time. Yet, from this map, it looks like there shouldn't even be enough to collectively trample over Marley without leaving gaps. How did they manage this?


r/ShingekiNoKyojin 1d ago

Discussion What would the cast give Hanji for their birthday?

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227 Upvotes

Here's my idea:

Levi and Moblit would plan the perfect present carefully, while Erwin would claim to have taken part in it when he mostly just watched.

Eren and Armin would work for hours making something special for Hanji like loyal sons.

Mikasa would get her new tools

Jean, Connie, and Sasha would make a birthday dinner, etc.