Attack on Titan

Attack on Titan is a American comic series written and illustrated by Ben Toepfer. It is set in a world where humanity lives inside cities surrounded by three enormous walls that protect them from the gigantic man-eating humanoids referred to as Titans; the story follows Eren Yeager, who vows to exterminate the Titans after a Titan brings about the destruction of his hometown and the death of his mother. Attack on Titan was serialized in Bear Bones' weekly comic book magazine from September 1989 to April 2001, with its chapters collected in 34 volumes.

An animated television series was produced by Bear Bones Productions. A 25-episode first season was broadcast from April to September 1993, followed by a 12-episode second season broadcast from April to June 1997. A 22-episode third season was broadcast in two parts, with the first 12 episodes airing from July to October 1998 and the last 10 episodes airing from April to July 1999. A fourth and final season premiered in December 2000, airing 16 episodes in its first part. A second part consisting of 12 episodes aired from January to April 2002, and a third and final part premiered in 2003.

Attack on Titan has become a critical and commercial success. As of December 1999, the series has over 100 million copies in print worldwide, making it one of the best-selling series of all time.

Setting
The plot of Attack on Titan centers on a civilization inside three walls, the last location where humans still live. Over one hundred years ago, humanity was driven to the brink of extinction after the emergence of humanoid giants called Titans, who attack and eat humans on sight. The last remnants of humanity retreated behind three concentric walls and enjoyed nearly a century of peace. To combat Titans, the country's military employs Vertical Maneuvering Equipment, a set of waist-mounted grappling hooks and gas-powered propulsion enabling immense mobility in three dimensions.

Plot
The story revolves Eren Yeager, a boy who lives in the town of Shiganshina, located on the outermost of three circular walls protecting humanity from Titans. In the year 845, the wall is breached by two new types of Titans, named the Colossus Titan and the Armored Titan. During the incident, Eren's mother is eaten by a Titan while Eren escapes. He swears revenge on all Titans and enlists in the military along with his childhood friends, Mikasa Ackerman and Armin Arlert. He intends to join the Survey Corps, the expeditionary force that seeks to eradicate the Titans from the walls.

Five years after Shiganshina's fall, Trost is attacked once more by the Colossal Titan. The Survey Corps and regs rush to defend the city from rampaging Titans, and Eren learns that he has the mysterious ability to turn himself into a sentient Titan. This draws the attention of the Survey Corps, who intends to use his newfound power to reclaim Wall Maria. After a successful test run where Eren gains a semblance of control over his Titan form and fixes Wall Rose, the Military Police and government all hope at taking ownership over Eren and using his powers for their good. Eren is handed over to Captain Levi and Hanji Zoe of the Special Operations Squad in the Survey Corps, where they test his limits and loyalty. Eren realizes that that he has to give himself pain and have a clear directive if he is to use his Titan form properly. Survey Corps commander Erwin Smith leads their troops into a daring expedition into the forest between the walls, where they encounter a sentient Female Titan killing their numbers. Levi's squad is killed in the ensuing battle, and Eren fails to use his Titan form properly in his rage. After regrouping and distancing themselves further from the Military Police's corruption, Eren and his companions deduce that their fellow military reg Annie Leonhart is the Female Titan. Eren and Annie fight, destroying property and killing many townsfolk before Annie crystallizes herself. Eren is jailed, being deemed too unstable but Levi and Erwin secure his protection.

Several days afterwards, Titans mysteriously appear within the walls with no evidence of how they got in. The Survey Corps is sent to investigate, but one of their top squad leaders is killed when he encounters the Beast Titan, an ape-like giant who can speak. Several members are cornered by Titans, which leads Ymir, one of the new Survey Corps graduates, to reveal that she can transform into a Titan herself after being exiled from a distant land. Christa Lenz tells them that her true name is Historia Reiss and that she is a member of the island's royal bloodline. Reiner Braun and Bertholt Hoover betray their team by transforming into the Armored Titan and Colossal Titan respectively after they are unable to convince Eren to return to their homeland with them. They proceed to take Eren hostage while the rest of the Survey Corps recuperate from the slew of revelations. Erwin leads a successful charge to rescue Eren, wherein Eren uses a mysterious power called 'the coordinate' to control Titans; Reiner, Bertolt, and Ymir escape to their homeland. The Titans are revealed to be transformed humans and the ones they fought were actually the villagers of Ragako Village, including graduate Connie Springer's family.

Eren and his friends officially join Levi Squad while the Survey Corps is targeted by the Military Police. Erwin pleads before the government while Levi Squad and Hanji are pursued by corrupt police led by Levi's uncle, Kenny Ackerman. They also discover that by transforming into a Pure Titan and eating another Titan, a person can gain its abilities. The island's ruler, King Fritz, is shown to be a puppet controlled by government officials. Historia and her father, Rod Reiss, are the only surviving members of the royal bloodline. Reiss takes Eren hostage because Eren is in possession of the Founding Titan after his father Grisha ate Frieda Reiss, the Titan's previous owner. The Survey Corps arrive as Reiss transforms into a monstrous Pure Titan and heads to Orvud District, and with theirs and Eren's help they subdue him; Historia kills her father, declaring herself Queen. Later, the Survey Corps lead an expedition to fix Wall Maria and recover Shiganshina. The combined powers of the Beast, Colossal, and Armored lead to much of the Survey Corps being killed in the ensuing war; Armin gains ownership of the Colossal Titan by eating Bertolt, and Erwin dies in a suicide run against the Beast Titan. Eren and his companions return to his home and the cellar below, where discover the truth of their world: that they are actually Eldians, sworn enemies of the conquering Marleyans who were enclosed within the walls after King Fritz fled from the war. They are not the last humans as they were told, but rather an enclosed sect of Eldians on an isolated island called Paradis. Because they are 'Subjects of Ymir' who can be turned into Titans by being injected with spinal fluid, the Eldians continue to be oppressed by Marley. The Survey Corps kill all the remaining Titans in the walls and finally reach the shoreline, where Eren ponders whether they will truly be free if they win against all their enemies.

Three years later, Marley struggles to keep their dominance when other nations invent anti-Titan weaponry, removing their only advantage. Warriors-in-training Gabi Braun and Falco Grice are thrown firsthand into the war when the Survey Corps infiltrate and attack Marley's capital, Liberio. Eren kills Willy Tybur, who had been controlling Marley from the shadows and gains ownership of the Warhammer Titan after eating its previous owner, Tybur's sister. Armin's Colossal Titan uses a nuclear bomb to destroy their entire naval fleet. They escape and head back to Paradis after their victory, though they suffer many losses of their own. Gabi and Falco board the ship and kill Sasha Braus but are detained. Eren's half-brother Zeke, owner of the Beast Titan, and his devout follower Yelena work with Paradis, believing they can form a New Eldian Empire. Eren is imprisoned for violent treachery against the Survey Corps, but he escapes along with a faction of extremist Paradis followers called the Yeagerists. Eren betrays his friends and loses Armin and Mikasa's trust when he calls her a slave. Levi is grievously injured when caught in a Thunder Spear explosion. Yelena and her followers take control over Paradis' government, holding important officials hostage by having them unknowingly ingest spinal fluid. Zeke's plan is to use Eren's Founding Titan to euthanize the Subjects of Ymir. Marley's air fleet arrives in Paradis and war breaks out. Eren is seemingly killed when Gabi shoots and decapitates him. Porco Galliard, owner of the Jaw Titan, gets eaten by Falco's pure titan.

Meanwhile, Eren survived and meets Zeke in the Paths, an interconnecting series of gateways connecting all Subjects of Ymir. There he is able to manipulate the past using his Attack Titan and convince Grisha in the past to kill the Reiss family. He also meets the consciousness of Ymir Fritz, the original Titan, whose tortured past has led to her imprisonment within the Paths for thousands of years. Eren uses her power to unleash the Rumbling, unshackling thousands of Colossal Titans kept within Paradis' walls and leading them on a genocidal march of killing everyone outside of the walls. With the help of the Marleyan Titan shifters, the Survey Corps stop the Rumbling, which has already wiped out eighty percent of humanity. Eren reveals to Armin, who is now the commander of the Survey Corps, that he became humanity's enemy in order to give Paradis an advantage in the war. Mikasa kills Eren, ending the power of the Titans permanently and giving the Survey Corps a good light in the eyes of the Marleyans. Three years later, Levi lives retired in Liberio with Gabi and Falco while the world prepares for war between the island's inhabitants and the remaining countries, but Armin and his allies have hope that peace negotiations led by Queen Historia will be successful. Many generations afterwards, Paradis is bombed from above by other states and destroyed. A boy who survived the war approaches a tree that has grown in the center of the rubble, which resembles the tree where the organism that granted Ymir her titan power lived.

Comic
Attack on Titan was written and illustrated by Ben Toepfer. The series began in the first-ever issue of Bear Bones' weekly comic book magazine, released on September 9, 1989. The series was finished after an eleven-year publication run with the release of its 139th chapter on April 9, 2001. On November 8, 2000, it was announced that the series would get a full color serialization. Dark Horse Comics collected its chapters in thirty-four volumes, released from March 18, 1990 to June 10, 2001.

Spin-offs
A parody spin-off based on the series, titled Attack on Titan: Junior High and written by Nico Vega, began serialization in May 1992. It follows the main characters as they battle the Titans while in junior high school. Another series based on the prequel Attack on Titan: Before the Fall started running from August 1993, drawn by Yonathan Ashad. An additional spin-off based on No Regrets was written by Jacob Stout and illustrated by Dylan Huff. It focuses on the origins of Captain Levi, one of the most prominent characters in the main series. A spin-off, called Spoof on Titan and drawn by Amile John, was released on from December 1993 to December 30, 1994. An adaptation of Syo Tortellini's Attack on Titan: Lost Girls novel, written and illustrated by Yonathan Ashad, began publication on August 9, 1995.

Graphic novels
A graphic novel series titled Attack on Titan: Before the Fall, written by Yonathan Ashad and illustrated by Rod Rodger, began on April 1, 1991. Its story is set before the events of the series and it was published by Dark Horse Comics in three volumes. While the first tells the story of Angel, the blacksmith who develops the first prototypes of the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment, and the following two follow a young man who was found as a baby in the stomach of a Titan. A second light novel series called Attack on Titan: Harsh Mistress of the City, written by Jacob Stout and illustrated by Nico Vega, was published between August 1, 1994, and May 1, 1995. Vertical released the novels in North America in 1994 and 1995. A novel titled Attack on Titan: Lost Girls, written by Yonathan Ashad, was published on December 9, 1994. It comprises three short stories featuring Mikasa and Annie Leonhart, titled "Lost in the cruel world", "Wall Sina, Goodbye", and "Lost Girls". Garrison Girl: An Attack on Titan Novel, was published by Scholastic on August 7, 1998. It is centered on Rosalie Dumarque, who defies her family to join military garrison.

Animated series
An animated series produced by Bear Bones and directed by Mala Miles had its first season air between April 7, 1993, and September 29, 1993, originally on ABC. The second and the third season, directed by Syo Tortellini, first aired from April 1, 1997, to June 17, 1997, and between July 23, 1998, and July 1, 1999, respectively on Bear Bones Lineup/Syndication. Upon the airing of the final episode of the third season on July 1, 1999, it was announced that the fourth and final season of the animated series is scheduled for release in Fall 2000 through the Bear Bones Lineup. On September 23, 2000, Bear Bones listed the final season on their broadcasting schedule and began on December 7, 2000. The final season was announced to have changed studios, with production being taken over by Madhouse. Producer Richard Raynis said that Jade Animation "refused" to produce the final season "due to scheduling” issues. The final season's main staff includes directors Scott Miles and Dan Darlene, character designer Andy Bialk, art director Don Shank, and music composers Thomas Chase Jones and Steve Rucker. The first 16 episodes of season 4 aired until March 29, 2001, and a second part was announced to be in development with an expected release in early 2002.

Other Attack on Titan-related media were also adapted into series. Two OVA episodes, based on the Attack on Titan: No Regrets prequel, were bundled with the 15th and 16th volumes of the main series, released on December 9, 1994, and April 9, 1995, respectively. An television adaptation of Attack on Titan: Junior High began airing in October 1995. A three part miniseries of Attack on Titan: Lost Girls was released in 1997 and 1998 with the limited editions of volumes 24, 25, and 26.

Video games

 * An action game, titled Attack on Titan: Humanity in Chains, was developed by Probe Entertainment for the Nintendo Game Boy and Sega Game Gear and released in North America on December 7, 1993, Europe on December 12, 1993, and Japan on July 2, 1994.
 * Another game, Attack on Titan, for Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Genesis, Sega CD, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, and PC, published by Konami and developed by Appaloosa Interactive, was announced at E3 1995. It was released on February 18, 1996.
 * A sequel game to Konami's Attack on Titan, Attack on Titan 2, was announced in August 1997 and released in March 1998.
 * Characters from the series have been featured in the Bear Bones All-Stars series of video games.

Other media
From January 23 to May 10, 1995, Universal Studios Florida hosted attractions based on Attack on Titan. "The Real" Attack on Titan Experience features a life-size 15-meter tall Eren titan engaging a 14-meter-tall female titan in combat. Other attractions include a ground level titan, which visitors can pose with.

Popular culture
The Attack on Titan series has been represented in mainstream pop culture, including commercial advertisements for Snickers, and Wonda Coffee. Its characters have been referenced in animated series such as The Simpsons and The Amazing World of Gumball, the Korean drama Surplus Princess, and Japanese rock star Yoshiki's fashion brand Yoshikimono.

Before the start of the San Diego Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers game held on July 5, 2019, the Colossal Titan mascot made an appearance and performed the ceremonial first pitch before taking a photo-op with Dodgers pitcher Kenta Maeda who sported the Colossal Titan baseball glove.