Attack on Titan

is a Japanese manga series written and drawn by Hajime Isayama. The story is set in a world where the last humans live inside three huge walls to hide from giant human-eating monsters called Titans. The main character is a boy named Eren Yeager. After Titans break the wall and destroy his home town, and his mother is eaten, Eren promises to kill every Titan. The manga was published every month in Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine from September 2009 to April 2021. It was collected in 34 books.

An anime television show was made. The anime was first made by Wit Studio (seasons 1–3) and then by MAPPA (season 4).

Attack on Titan is a successful manga by Hajime Isayama. By 2023 the manga had sold more than 140 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling manga series ever. It has won many awards, including the Kodansha Manga Award and the Harvey Award.

 Story 

 Setting 

The story happens in a world where the last humans live inside three giant round walls. People are told that more than 100 years ago, huge human-eating giants called Titans appeared and almost killed all humans. The walls keep people safe from Titans. To fight Titans, soldiers use special gear. It has gas and hooks so they can fly and swing in the air. They use very sharp swords that can cut the weak spot on a Titan's neck.

There are different kinds of Titans, Pure Titans are normal ones that only want to eat people, Abnormal Titans act strange and are harder to kill, and, Nine special Titans (Titan Shifters) arw humans who can turn into very strong Titans and back again. The nine are Attack, Colossal, Armored, Female, Beast, Jaw, Cart, War Hammer, and Founding Titan.

Pure Titans are made by injecting people with Titan spinal fluid. If a Pure Titan eats one of the Nine Titans, it turns back into a human and gets that Titan's power, but only lives 13 more years. Later in the story, people learn the truth about Titans and that there are other countries outside the walls.

 Plot 

Eren Yeager is a boy who lives in Shiganshina town on the outermost wall (Wall Maria). In year 845, two huge Titans (Colossal and Armored) break the wall. Titans come in and eat many people, including Eren's mother. Eren promises to kill every Titan. He joins the army with his friends Mikasa Ackerman and Armin Arlert.

Five years later, the Colossal Titan attacks again. Eren finds out he can turn into a strong Attack Titan. He starts to remember his father gave him this power and said the truth is hidden in their basement at home. Eren joins the Survey Corps (the soldiers who fight outside the walls). They discover that some soldiers are secretly Titan shifters (Annie, Reiner, Bertholt, Ymir). Big battles happen. Many people die.

The soldiers learn that people inside the walls are called Eldians. The land outside is ruled by a country called Marley that hates Eldians. The walls were made to hide Eldians on an island called Paradis.

Years later, Eren and others attack Marley. Eren starts the "Rumbling", he wakes up millions of giant Titans inside the walls and sends them to destroy the world outside the island. Eren's friends (Mikasa, Armin, Levi and others) work together with some Marley soldiers to stop Eren. Mikasa kills Eren. This ends the power of all Titans forever. All Titans turn back into normal humans. The surviving friends are seen as heroes for stopping the destruction.

Years later, the world starts to make peace, but the story ends by showing that war may come again one day.


 Making 

Hajime Isayama first made a 65-page test version of Attack on Titan in 2006. He tried to sell it to Weekly Shōnen Jump (Shueisha), but they wanted big changes. Isayama said no.  
He then took it to Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine (Kodansha), and they accepted it. The towns and walls in the story look like Isayama's home town in Ōita, Japan, which has mountains all around. One night, when Isayama worked at an internet café, a drunk customer grabbed him. He could not talk to the man and felt real fear. That feeling became the idea for the Titans, something scary that humans cannot understand.

Some Titan designs came from real people, Eren's Titan looks a bit like fighter Yushin Okami.
 The Armored Titan looks a bit like wrestler Brock Lesnar. Isayama was also inspired by the video game Muv-Luv Alternative and by old monster movies (like Gamera and Jurassic Park).

He planned most of the story before it started, but changed some parts later because fans liked the characters so much.  
At first he wanted a very sad ending where everyone dies (like the movie The Mist). Because readers loved the characters, he made a different ending. In 2013 he thought the manga would end around volume 20. In the end it finished in 2021 with 34 volumes.

 Media 

 Manga 

Attack on Titan is drawn and written by Hajime Isayama. It started in Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine on 9 September 2009. The last chapter (139) came out on 9 April 2021. The chapters were collected in 34 books (volumes) from 2010 to 2021. In English, Kodansha USA published all 34 volumes from 2012 to 2021.

 Spin-off manga 
 Attack on Titan: Junior High – funny school version (2012–2016)
 Attack on Titan: Before the Fall – story before the main series (2013–2019)
 Attack on Titan: No Regrets – story about Levi's past (2013–2014)
 Spoof on Titan – short comedy strips (2013–2014)
 Attack on Titan: Lost Girls – stories about Mikasa and Annie (2015–2016)

All main spin-offs were also published in English by Kodansha USA.

 Books 
There are light novels:
 Attack on Titan: Before the Fall (3 books)
 Attack on Titan: Harsh Mistress of the City (2 books)
 Attack on Titan: Lost Girls (1 book)
 Garrison Girl (1 book, written by American author Rachel Aaron)

 Anime 

The anime was directed by Tetsurō Araki. It started broadcasting in Japan on July 8, 2013. It aired on MBS and ran from April 6, 2013 to September 28, 2013. Funimation began releasing the series in North America on home video in 2014.

The second season of the anime series aired between April 1, 2017 and June 17, 2017.

A trailer for the third season was released on April 27, 2018. The third season started broadcasting in Japan in July 23, 2018.

 Video games 
Many games were made:
 Attack on Titan: Humanity in Chains (Nintendo 3DS, 2013)
 Attack on Titan (PlayStation 4/Vita/PC/Xbox, 2016)
 Attack on Titan 2 (2018) and Attack on Titan 2: Final Battle (2019)
 Mobile games: Attack on Titan: Assault, Brave Order, etc.
 Characters and gear appear in other games like Fortnite, Call of Duty, and Dead or Alive.

 Live-action movies 
Two Japanese live-action movies came out in 2015:
 Attack on Titan (movie)
 Attack on Titan: End of the World

There was also a short web series Attack on Titan: Counter Rockets (2015).

A Hollywood live-action movie was planned, but nothing has come out yet.

 Stage plays and musical 
 A Japanese musical Attack on Titan: The Musical was performed in 2023 in Japan and 2024 in New York.

 Other 
 Guide books Inside and Outside
 Art book Fly (2024) with a new short story "Bad Boy" about Levi
 Crossover comics with Marvel (Spider-Man and Avengers fight Titans)
 Big attractions at Universal Studios Japan (2015 and 2019)

 Reception 
The series has been highly praised and has won multiple awards including the Kodansha Manga Award in the shōnen category in 2011 and best director, best script, best soundtrack, runner-up for commercial, best theme song, top female character, and title of the year in the 3rd Newtype Anime Awards.

The series was nominated for both the 4th annual Manga Taishō award and the 16th annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize.

The 2012 edition of Kono Manga ga Sugoi! named the series the 8th best manga series for male readers. Six of the seven English volumes that were published in North America have charted on The New York Times Manga Best Seller list for the week of October 13, 2013, with volume one having been on the list for 19 weeks. Volume one was #2 on Nielsen BookScan's list of top 20 graphic novels in American bookstores for August 2013, and for the month of September, the series had more volumes on the list than any other series. The series was also named one of the Young Adult Library Services Association's "Great Graphic Novels for Teens"

 References 

Category:2009 manga
Category:Japanese action television series
Category:Japanese-language television programs

 Other websites 
 Official website (manga) 
 Official website (anime) 

Category:2013 television series debuts
Category:2014 anime OVAs
Category:2015 anime movies
Category:2018 anime television series debuts
Category:Adult Swim
Category:Anime series based on manga
Category:Japanese-language television programs
Category:Manga