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Attack on Titan

TV SERIES · 2013–2022 · JAPAN

Attack on Titan

Network
MBS, NHK G, Tokyo MX
Seasons
4
Episodes
87
Studio
Production I.G, MAPPA, WIT STUDIO
Original title
進撃の巨人

45 archived facts 5 topics 2 sources Last reviewed Nov 2026

100 years ago, the last remnants of humanity were forced to retreat behind the towering walls of a fortified city to escape the massive, man-eating Titans that roamed the land outside their fortress. Only the members of the Scouting Legion dared to stray beyond the safety of the walls – but even those brave warriors seldom returned alive. Those within the city clung to the illusion of a peaceful existence until the…

  • Attack on Titan — production image

45 Interesting Facts About Attack on Titan

Interesting Facts (11)

  1. #001

    The Titans are completely naked in both the anime and the manga, which isn't too offensive since they're drawn without sexual organs. Even so, censorship laws mean the Malaysian edition of the manga puts the Titans in pants.

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  2. #002

    Isayama has stated that part of the reason he chose the name "Eren" for the character is because it sounds feminine, which would make it easier to remember.

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  3. #003

    In an interview Hajime Isayama made fun of the character Armin Arlert by saying that Armin was a girl.

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  4. #004

    Jean is the artist Hajime Isayama's favorite character.

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  5. #005

    Reiner Braun's titan form is based on the body of former UFC heavyweight champion and professional wrestler Brock Lesnar.

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  6. #006

    Yelena is the tallest character in the Reconnaissance Corps; her height (202 cm, or 6"7) is followed by Jean (190 cm, or 6"3) and Eren (183 cm; 6 feet).

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  7. #007
    Contains a major spoiler — show

    Armin's Colossal Titan does not have ears because he does not want to hear the screams of people dying.

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  8. #008
    Contains a major spoiler — show

    The artists modeled Eren's Titan physique on professional MMA fighter Yushin Okami.

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  9. #009
    Contains a major spoiler — show

    During season 1, Commander Erwin gives an speech for the 10 new members of the Survey Corps, saying that the 30% will die, being in this way that 3 members will die, being Bertholdt, Ymir and Sasha.

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  10. #010
    Contains a major spoiler — show

    The oldest Titan is Ymir. Not much is known about her past or where she came from. Her birthday is on February 17th and she could potentially be over 60 years old. She explained that she had turned into a Titan and wandered around for over 60 years until coming to Paradis, which makes her the oldest member of the Corps.

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  11. #011

    For the iconic season 3 fight between Levi and Kenny's squad, the animators drew the rotating backgrounds by hand, because the digital CGI of the day couldn't deliver the "gritty" hand-drawn look the director wanted.

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Production Story (6)

  1. #012

    The Season 3 Part 1 opening "Red Swan" was a huge departure for the series: a collaboration between Yoshiki (X Japan) and Hyde (L'Arc-en-Ciel), two of Japan's biggest rock stars, kept secret until the day the episode aired.

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  2. #013

    Hajime Isayama dreamed up the Titans after dealing with a drunk customer at the coffee shop where he worked; the impossibility of communicating with him inspired the idea and made him realise that the most dangerous thing was the human race.

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  3. #014

    MAPPA took over for the final season after the producers decided, around the third season, to move the show to another studio. Producers Toshihiro Maeda and Kensuke Tateishi said they shopped around, but most studios either fell short of their standards or turned it down because of the expected workload, except MAPPA, which answered "we'll think about it." The people at WIT Studio, who had made the show since 2013, reportedly said they were comfortable with MAPPA taking over.

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  4. #015

    Marina Inoue, the voice of Armin Arlert, also narrates the whole series, a deliberate choice by the production team to suggest the story is being told by a future Armin.

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  5. #016

    Mikasa is named after a famous Japanese battleship (the Mikasa); Isayama followed the superstition that series with female characters named after battleships tend to succeed.

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  6. #017
    Contains a major spoiler — show

    Isayama's original plan was for Sasha Blouse to die in Volume 9 (Season 2). His editor reportedly read the draft and cried in the bathroom, and that changed his mind: Sasha lived on until the final season.

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Behind the Scenes (10)

  1. #018

    In the iconic Season 3 scene of Levi taking on Kenny's squad, the rotating backgrounds were drawn by hand, since the digital CGI available then couldn't give the director the "gritty" hand-drawn feel he was after.

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  2. #019

    The 3D Maneuver Gear moves the way it does largely thanks to Spider-Man: WIT Studio's animators studied how Peter Parker swings on his webs to work out how to keep momentum and gravity believable in the Titan fights.

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  3. #020

    For the sound of the Rumbling in the Final Season, the sound designers used recordings of real rockslides and amplified earthquake tremors rather than the usual synthesized bass.

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  4. #021

    The "Pure Titans" were animated to move like toddlers or drunk adults, so they would seem "innocent" and yet terrifyingly unpredictable.

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  5. #022

    Daisuke Ono (Erwin's VA) called the "My Soldiers, Rage!" speech the most physically draining scene of his career; he did it in a single take to keep the raw emotion.

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  6. #023

    Yuki Kaji (Eren's voice actor) famously lost his voice several times recording the "scream" scenes; for the Season 2 finale he reportedly pushed so hard that he damaged his vocal cords and needed medical treatment.

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  7. #024

    When production moved to MAPPA for the Final Season, some civilian crowd scenes were rotoscoped (traced over live-action footage) to give them a more realistic, "uncanny" feel that suited the story's darker tone.

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  8. #025
    Contains a major spoiler — show

    Yuki Kaji's own newborn daughter provided the cries of the baby held up above the crowd in the finale.

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  9. #026

    Hajime Isayama, who wrote and drew the original manga, worked closely with the animators to keep the story faithful, and in 2018 asked for changes to a part of the manga he regretted; the studio agreed, so the first part of Season 3 departs slightly from the corresponding manga chapters.

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  10. #027

    The architecture of the Walls was inspired by the real city of Nördlingen in Germany. It is one of the few medieval towns in the world whose walls are still intact.

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Characters & Cast (10)

  1. #028

    For all his youthful looks, Levi is in his mid-30s, the production team confirmed. He was kept short in a nod to Astro Boy, because Isayama wanted a "small but strongest" character.

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  2. #029

    A woman voices Hange Zoe in the anime, but in the manga Hange's gender is never revealed to the reader, because writer Hajime Isayama felt it didn't matter to the story and left it up to readers.

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  3. #030

    Dot Pixis was modeled on the real Japanese General Akiyama Yoshifuru, which caused a huge controversy and even death threats against Isayama from international fans because of the General's historical background.

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  4. #031

    Isayama revealed that Gabi Braun's look and personality came from a sketch he made of a "female version of Eren Yeager."

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  5. #032

    The Titans fight like real MMA fighters: Eren's Titan form is modeled on Yushin Okami, and the Armored Titan's fighting style is taken straight from Brock Lesnar.

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  6. #033

    Aspects of Levi's design and personality were based on Rorschach from Watchmen.

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  7. #034
    Contains a major spoiler — show

    Levi's mother, Kuchel Ackerman, was a prostitute in the underground city. When one of her clients got her pregnant, Kuchel decided to raise Levi herself, but she later died of an illness caught from one of her clients. Levi was then brought up by Kuchel's brother, Kenny Ackerman, who never told him what their relationship was. Levi's father is unknown, and it's even possible he never knew he had a son.

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  8. #035
    Contains a major spoiler — show

    The Colossal Titan was the very first titan Hajime Isayama drew, so Bertholdt, its original holder, was drawn to look like it, the reverse of Reiner and the Armored Titan or Annie and the Female Titan, whose human versions came first.

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  9. #036
    Contains a major spoiler — show

    Annie often murmurs things like "woosh" in her sleep, because she is dreaming about her toddler days in Marley, practicing her kicks on trees.

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  10. #037
    Contains a major spoiler — show

    Hajime Isayama's favorite character is Reiner, because he has suffered the most and truly embodies both sides, Marley and Eldia.

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Easter Eggs & References (8)

  1. #038

    Isayama has spoken openly about loving shows like Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad; he has even said that Falco Grice is based on Jesse Pinkman, played by Aaron Paul. Breaking Bad's Saul Goodman and plenty of Game of Thrones characters have made "cameos" in the manga as Titans.

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  2. #039

    The first opening, "Guren no Yumiya," hides a German lyric that translates as "Are you the food? No, we are the hunters!", written specifically to set the series' defiant tone.

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  3. #040

    Look closely at the Mindless Titans in the anime's backgrounds and many turn out to be "Titanized" versions of Isayama's friends, his editors and some famous Japanese TV personalities who were fans of the manga.

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  4. #041
    Contains a major spoiler — show

    In season 1, episode 3, Eren bangs his head on the floor; later he appears with a bandage around his head and what looks like smoke coming off it, hinting at his titan powers a few episodes before they are fully revealed.

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  5. #042
    Contains a major spoiler — show

    When Zeke and Eren meet in Marley, both their shadows are headless, hinting at their deaths in the final episode, when Levi and Mikasa Ackerman cut off their heads.

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  6. #043
    Contains a major spoiler — show

    Bertholdt's odd habit of sleeping with his feet in the air refers to The Hanged Man in the Tarot, a card whose pose stands for the punishment of traitors, pointing ahead to his betrayal alongside Reiner in the second season.

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  7. #044
    Contains a major spoiler — show

    Ymir takes her name from a mythical figure said to be the first Titan shifter, whom she pretends to be. The name comes from a being in Norse mythology called "The Father of all Giants," foreshadowing her transformation into a Titan in Season 2.

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  8. #045

    Attack on Titan: The Last Attack has a new post-credits scene taken from the last chapter of the alternate-universe short manga Attack on School Castes.

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Sources & editorial notes

Reference databases

  • Wikipedia English Wikipedia article
  • IMDb IMDb title page (trivia)

Sources for the entries on this page

  1. Wikipedia Attack on Titan (TV series) — WikipediaEncyclopedia · accessed 18 Sep 2026

Information from external sources is independently selected, consolidated and edited by Arka Evren. Sources are listed for verification and further reading. Encyclopedia text is used under its licence (CC BY-SA). How we work