Attack on Titanis widely considered the greatest shonen of all time, telling the story of a world at war with man-eating Titans who slaughter any humans who dare to venture outside the protective walls of Paradis Island. After suffering for years, the series' main character, Eren Yeager,devotes himself to killing every Titan so that humanity can finally be freeand peaceful without worrying about constant threats.
MAPPA’s beautiful animation, Isayama’s skillful writing, and the quality of voice acting all makeAttack on Titana true classic worth watching, but there is yet another reason the anime is so incredible: its life lessons.Attack on Titanis filled with significant wisdom on topics like friendship, conflict, and loss, reminding viewers that even though it is a fantasy series, its best knowledge is applicable in real life.
5Friendship and Family Are Irreplaceable and Worth Fighting For
Eren’s Primary Motivation is His Unwavering Desire to Save His Best Friends From the Titans' Tyranny
Friendship is one of the most prominent themes inAttack on Titan,offering the characters hope in an otherwise gloomy world. Many characters, like Eren, Armin, and Mikasa, for example, have lost their family members to the Titans, so they have no one to depend on but each other. All three of them lost all of their relatives to Titan attacks over the years, and the trio grew close, not just out of survival, but out of genuine love for each other.
7 Best Attack on Titan Friendships That Prove The Series Isn’t All Doom and Gloom
While Attack on Titan has plenty of dark moments and themes, these friendships prove that the series has plenty of bright moments as well.
The Survey Corps is technically a military unit, but after years of service spent together, they also became more like a family who are willing to risk their lives for one another without a second thought. Friend groups like Sasha, Connie, and Jean, or Levi, Erwin, and Hange, prove just how heavily the theme of friendship is interwoven throughAttack on Titan’sstory. All of Eren’s actions inAttack on Titan,including his decision to eventuallystart the Rumblingwith his Founding Titan, aremotivated by his desire to save his loved ones from being harmed by the Titans.
With the support of friends and family, even life’s most dismal situations can seem a little more hopeful, and that is certainly the messageAttack on Titanportrays. Every character, whether Marleyan, Eldian, or otherwise, is fighting to protect someone, and that gives themthe drive to keep going, even when the odds of success seem unfavorable.
4Even if a Situation Seems Hopeless, Do Not Give Up
Armin Never Gave up on Peace, While Eren Never Gave up on Freedom
Had humanity given up, the Titans would have eventually overtaken the entire world, wiping out humanity for good. Thus, one of the core messages ofAttack on Titanis simple, but profound:do not give up, even when it feels like the easier option.At various points in the series, characters certainly felt like surrendering, because it seemed their efforts would never make a true difference in stopping the human vs. Titan conflict.
After Erwin led his suicide charge against the Beast Titan, which resulted in not just a brutal defeat, but the death of his entire army, including himself, the Survey Corps felt despair and a loss of motivation. A few characters though, like Eren, never even considered giving up the fight, evidenced by his powerful quote,“I must keep moving forward.“Even when Eren lost everything, including his mother, his friends, and his own life, he refused to stop, pursuing his goal of freedom until he could no longer.
In the same way Eren never stopped fighting for freedom, Armin never gave up working towards peace for humanity. Even when it resulted in his best friend’s death, he kept the greater good of humanity in mind and kept pushing through the most painful circumstances of his life. In tough situations, it is always easier to give up, but as numerousAttack on Titancharacters have illustrated through their words and actions,real change will never occur without hard work and sacrifice.
3War is Often Futile, Causing More Harm Than Good
Millions Died in the Rumbling, Providing a Glaring Picture of the Dire Consequences of War
Hajime Isayama, mangaka ofAttack on Titan, has been fairly outspoken about the anti-war message he hoped to impart through the series. The reality is thatwar of any kind will always bring with it negative consequences and pain, and that is why Isayama chose a sad, realisticending forAttack on Titan, because he argued that a perfect resolution “kind of seems hokey.” The battle between humanity and Titans might have been necessary, since the Titans were certainly not going to stop mistreating humanity without outside interference, but that does not mean there were not grave consequences.
Attack on Titan Has the Best Depiction of War I’ve Ever Seen, and That’s Why I Love It
Some viewers dislike Attack on Titan’s soberingly realistic portrayal of war and violence, but this element is why I appreciate the series so much.
In particular, the Rumbling Eren started with the Founding Titan killed millions, wiping out a large percentage of the world’s population in mere moments. The battle might have begun as a fight between humans and Titans, but quickly morphed into humans fighting each other, which wasa futile clash with no victors because it deeply harmed both sides.Armin and Mikasa, along with the other Alliance members, had to end Eren’s life as a result, because he refused to see the fruitlessness of war and was intent on killing anyone who was not Eldian. Eren’s ideals cost him his life, and this plot point only further proves that battle, although sometimes necessary, comes with dire repercussions.
Although theAttack on Titanendingis devastating and Isayama received harsh criticism for it, it does properly convey the horrors of war, while offering a slight silver lining through Armin and the Alliance members' commitment tosolve future conflicts through more peaceful means of resolution, allowing the memory of the war to remind them all to never go to those lengths again.
2Your Enemy May Have More In Common With You Than You Think
Marley and Eldia, Who Hated One Another, Began To See the Humanity of the People They Viewed as Enemies
One of the most prominent disputes inAttack on Titanwas between Eldia and Marley. Both countries saw the other as an enemy; Eldia hated the Marleyans for leaving them trapped on Paradis Island away from everyone else, while Marley hated Eldia for having Titan shifting abilities, viewing them as the cause of the dismal state of the world. For years, they lived oceans away, battling and despising each other, whichculminated in the Raid on Liberio fight to the death between the two nations.
Once the Eldians and Marleys finally began listening to each other, they realized they were not as different as they once thought.Joined together by the common goal of stopping Eren from wiping out humanity,Eldians and Marleyans collaborated to shield each other from Titans and put a stop to Eren’s murderous scheme. The Global Alliance was the first step in the right direction, and although the group formed primarily to stop Eren, it revealed that these previous enemies could work together.
For centuries, Marley and Eldia were blinded by their hatred towards each other, but after the Rumbling, these two countries, who were once so at odds, began to finally seek peace. The conclusion of the war did not cause instant harmony worldwide or immediately undo years of fighting, but it did cause humanity to begin seeking non-violent alternatives to war and finally begin listening to and empathizing with others who were once enemies, as proven bythe Alliance members traveling to go begin peace talks at the end ofAttack on Titan.
1Stand Up Against Injustice
At the End ofAttack on Titan,Humanity Banded Together To Fight Back Against the Titans
For Eren’s entire life, all he knew was an existence of fear and dread that the Titans would one day strike again, breaking down the carefully constructed walls of Paradis Island and killing his loved ones. Although some citizens resigned themselves to the unfortunate reality and refused to resist, Eren took a completely different stance,devoting his life to fighting back against the bloodthirsty creatures.
10 Reasons Attack On Titan Is Still One Of The Greatest Anime Of All Time
Attack on Titan is beloved for many reasons, and now that the anime is over, it’s clear that the series stands among anime’s greatest of all time.
Eren recognized the injustice of the fact that humanity had to live trapped like an animal in a cage, constantly afraid of losing their lives to tyrannical beings constantly looming just outside the walls. Eren’s most famous quote in the series discusses this very idea,“If you win, you live. If you lose, you die.“To Eren, the choice was simple, he had to fight back against the Titans, because if he did not, he would either die physically, or live a miserable existence worse than death.
Many other injustices are portrayed inAttack on Titan,such as the mistreatment of Eldians by other countries because they have Titan shifting abilities. Many people were content to just endure these grievances, but other courageous characters, like Armin, for example, spoke out and resisted whenever possible, attempting to change the situation for the better. Through the combined efforts of humanity,the Titans were finally defeated at theend ofAttack on Titan, which shows the powerful effect of combating injustice, although many heartbreaking losses did occur along the way.
Attack On Titan
Cast
Based on the manga, Attack on Titan is a dark-action fantasy series set in a world where humanity has been corralled into walled cities from fear of monstrous human-eating Titans that exist outside of them. When protagonist Eren Yeager’s mother is killed in front of his eyes at a young age, his thirst for vengeance leads him to join an elite group of soldiers created to fight back against the Titan menace.
