'''Only manga-specific spoilers are marked on this page. Beware if you haven't watched every episode of the anime yet.'''

----
!!The following have their own pages:
[[index]]

* [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation/AttackOnTitan Alternative Character Interpretation]]
* [[BrokenBase/AttackOnTitan Broken Base]]
* [[EnsembleDarkHorse/AttackOnTitan Ensemble Darkhorse]]
* [[FanNickname/AttackOnTitan Fan Nickname]]
* [[HilariousInHindsight/AttackOnTitan Hilarious in Hindsight]]
* [[MagnificentBastard/AttackOnTitan Magnificent Bastard]]
* [[Memes/AttackOnTitan Memetic Mutation]]
* [[Narm/AttackOnTitan Narm]]
* [[Woobie/AttackOnTitan Woobie]]

[[/index]]
!!Other examples:
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:A-D]]
* AbandonShipping: Almost all fans of Levi/Mikasa ''immediately'' made for the lifeboats after Chapter 56 revealed his last name, indicating he may possibly be related to her. Officially confirmed that they are indeed related (although to what extent is unknown).
%%** Same thing for Gabi/Reiner.
* AccidentalInnuendo:
** Chapter 53 has everyone worrying about how Eren can't harden. They're referring to his Titan form's crystallization ability, yes, but it's not hard to misinterpret. Even funnier when you remember that he needs to harden so he can "fill up the hole".
** The fight scene from Episode 21 has some... suggestive shots that the fandom [[http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2013/314/d/e/female_titan_and_eren_by_shemwilliams-d6tq82k.png is making fun of.]] It doesn't help that, BarbieDollAnatomy aside, both Titans are very physically attractive and completely naked...
** Eren's Titan fight with The Armored Titan offered some rather funny positions as well, when they're supposed to represent a mount and [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9W9LjpskCUQ/hqdefault.jpg guillotine from guard]] in jiujitsu.
* AlasPoorScrappy: [[spoiler:Although not a widely hated character, Porco has usually just been summed up as a ReplacementScrappy for Ymir and, to an extent, his elder brother Marcel. Still, it was hard not to feel some sense of loss when Porco sacrificed himself to save Falco from a FateWorseThanDeath.]]
* AmericansHateTingle: Dot Pixis's character stirred an outrage among the Korean fanbase, especially when Isayama admitted that he was based off of Akiyama Yoshifuru, a historical general of the Imperial Japanese Army who has a complicated and controversial history in Korea. This resulted in a heated debate over the general's war record, angry messages and [[https://kotaku.com/a-thousand-death-threats-against-a-popular-anime-creato-631792221 even death threats towards Isayama]], as well as an overall decline of interest in the series in Korea due to what they saw as Isayama glorifying the man.
* AngelDevilShipping:
** Ymir and Krista are as basic an example as they come. [[LoveHurts Scarily, they're actually one of the better-adjusted and more mutually-affectionate pairings in the show.]] One more than one level, too, as Krista is often referred to as a goddess and shown with angel wings/halo, and Ymir's nickname within the fandom being "Freckled Satan".
** [[spoiler:Eren and Historia]] later fall into this as well, especially helped by [[spoiler:the narrative paralleling Eren with Fritz, the "devil", and Historia with Ymir Fritz, the "good girl" and "goddess"]].
* AngstAversion: For all its popularity, some people are put off by the rather heavy use of AnyoneCanDie, the many losses, and {{Pyrrhic Victor|y}}ies the heroes go through and the overall grim tone of the series.
* AntiClimaxBoss: Zeke sometimes gets accused of being one. Levi takes him down without too much difficulty during their one-on-one fight in the Return to Shiganshina Arc when several previous chapters had been spent building him up as "the most dangerous Titan" and had seen him single-handily annihilate over half of the Survey Corps.
* {{Anvilicious}}:
** In the early arcs of the series, you barely went a single chapter or episode without hearing about how one must sacrifice their humanity to achieve victory against the Titans.
** As the tone and narrative stepped more into grey territory, the author seems insistent on consistently reminding viewers that "revenge is bad" via the cycle of hatred and "leaving the forest".
* ArcFatigue:
** The anime's first season suddenly slows to a crawl during the Forest/Female Titan arc, where the Female Titan chases after the Survey Corps, slowly picking them off, while Eren internally debates whether to use his Titan form. Every episode in the arc features this plot, and they all end in the same place -- Eren is still indecisive, and a few more people are now dead, with almost no other plot events or meaningful progression. Some episodes can be skipped entirely since the next episode's recap will manage to cover everything without any loss of detail.
** The Uprising arc and following the kidnapping of Historia and Eren. This not only switches to a "Overthrow the corrupt government" plot and shoves the Titans into the ''far'' background, but keeps going for more than three volumes. Isayama himself declared it an OldShame and took measures so that the anime adaptation of that arc will rectify that status not just in the fans' eyes but his as well.
* AssPull:
** With almost no debate, there's been very little positive response to Eren's getting the hardening ability, too. It doesn't help that the bottle ''literally'' falls into his lap with no buildup or foreshadowing, nor that he ingests it rather than injects it as is the way it's supposed to be handled, nor that he's ''mastered'' it within a few panels at the intro of a new chapter, the entire month of necessary work skipped. With the entire plot since Day One centering on fixing Wall Maria and returning to Shiganshina to get to Eren's basement, this inevitably felt a bit cheap.
** Reiner survives Levi shoving blades through his neck (essentially decapitating him) ''and'' his heart by "transferring his consciousness throughout his body", which Levi can only guess is "some kind of Titan power". He then repeats the stunt by staying alive after getting half of his head blown off ''in human form'' by transporting his consciousness into his Titan body's nervous system.
** [[spoiler:Zeke]] is blown in half by a Thunder Spear and is on the verge of death when a Titan suddenly appears, takes [[spoiler:Zeke]] inside its belly, and the process somehow completely regenerates and heals [[spoiler:Zeke]] like nothing happened. The whole near-death experience just seemed to be an excuse to have [[spoiler:Zeke see the Paths]].
* AudienceAlienatingEnding: [[BrokenBase With how divisive the final arc was]], it's no surprise the manga's ending was controversial. Major points of contention are [[spoiler:Eren's real motivation for the Rumbling being because [[ThenLetMeBeEvil he wanted to do it]] and he loved his friends enough to [[ThanatosGambit have them kill him and make them heroes for it]]; Eren's poorly foreshadowed feelings for Mikasa and [[NeverLiveItDown how the story revealed them]]; Armin's gratitude for Eren's actions despite disapproving his methods, not helped by early translations making it seem he thanked him ''for the genocide itself''; Ymir Fritz's [[LoveMartyr love for the king that abused her]], ending the titans after Mikasa "freed her from the agony of love" by killing Eren despite loving him; the survivors' change of heart, which felt too little too late as it only happened once they almost died; and the extra pages that detailed Paradis' fate, with an implication that titans may not be gone. The extra pages in particular divided the fandom ''even further'', as many in both sides of the Rumbling split thought [[AllForNothing they made the story pointless]], but it ''improved'' the ending for others (even some who thought it was otherwise terrible).]]
* BaseBreakingCharacter:
** Bertolt, Reiner, and Annie after TheReveal that they are Titan Shifters. One portion of the fanbase lost all respect and sympathy for them upon discovering what they were responsible for and willing to do, but they remain very popular characters in other areas of the fandom. Reiner gets this more so than the other two. Fans either love him for his caring personality, traumatic journey, and depressing backstory, or they hate him because of his egregious PlotArmor and the fact that he has [[SpotlightStealingSquad more spotlight and narrative focus]] than both Bertolt and Annie.
** Gabi. At first, she seemed to be a character fans either appreciate as a tragic {{Foil}} to Eren, or consider TheScrappy for her arrogance, violent tendencies, and unwillingness to consider Falco's point of view. Then... she [[spoiler: goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge and ends up killing [[EnsembleDarkHorse fan]][[BreakoutCharacter -favorite]] Sasha]]. Suffice to say, the fandom is ''very'' divided on her.
** Louise, who's inspired by Mikasa to follow in her footsteps and join the Survey Corps; Is she a tragic character who genuinely believes she's doing the right thing in saving her people and doesn't appreciate the greater consequences of helping Eren realize his ultimate plan... Or is she no better than the others in the Yeagerist faction swept up in their nationalistic aims like the much more fanatical Floch? The fact that Mikasa seems to have done everything in her power to keep Louise at arm's length through the course of the conflict doesn't help her case.
** Hange Zoe as of the final arc; [[spoiler:some fans believe their "No-Genocide-Under-Any-Circumstances" stance and their willingness to ally with Marley and the Warriors shows they are the face of bringing peace between Eldia and the world. Other fans believe Hange is a hypocrite and a traitor for condemning their own people to die to save the people of the world, which had been responsible for the suffering of Eldians]].
** Connie Springer; has his focus in the final arc been productive towards his CharacterDevelopment with the loss of his comedy relief status after losing Sasha, or has the very same thing done little more to put him OutOfFocus and effectively make him TheLoad among the survivors of the 104th, particularly with Armin, Mikasa, and Jean all seeing considerably higher stakes in their new struggle to stop Eren? It's no secret that Sasha was the true fan favorite when it comes to the former comedic duo, and there's a considerable number of fans who question his relevance in the current stage of the plot.
* BetterOnDVD:
** One of the most recurrent complaints about the anime is its supposedly slow pacing. However, this complaint is way more common among those who watched the show in simulcast (and thus had to wait a whole week for each new episode) than among those who watched the whole thing in a few days.
** The DVD & Blu-ray releases also clean up a lot of the SpecialEffectFailure and other poor animations that were present in the initial broadcast, particularly noticeable in Episodes 10 -- 13 (as the animation team was getting rushed and undermanned at this point in time). This [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOLHrUKjyyo comparison video for episode 13]] shows the difference.
* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: During the anime adaptation of Eren and Annie's Titan battle, Eren's Titan undergoes a sudden drastic transformation after being subdued by Annie. Its eyes glowed blue, its teeth became razor-sharp, its skin was literally ''burning'', and its strength increased several times over. During all of this, Eren himself develops VoiceOfTheLegion and starts internally screaming that he'll destroy the entire world and declaring that he is free. This event was never mentioned again after the fact by any major character who witnessed it. Although unconfirmed at the time of this writing, it's widely speculated that this event is in some way connected to the true nature of the "Attack Titan" and its inherent desire to seek out freedom, no matter the cost. [[spoiler:As of Chapter 123, this is partially true. The form itself appears to be some kind of SuperMode, as the Attack Titan's true power is the ability to peer through time and influence prior holders of the power. Why Eren was speaking with multiple voices remains unexplained.]]
* BreatherBoss: One thing is certain: Rod Reiss's Titan definitely made itself insanely easy to remove as a problem. The Titan was so big, it moved too slowly to prevent the humans from preparing for its arrival. It grounds away its face and body, meaning it couldn't resist when a cartload of bombs was stuffed into its mouth. And its insane body heat meant that they didn't even have to worry about lighting the damn thing and getting out of the way—it lit the explosives itself. It would be a SelfDisposingVillain, except that it's not a question of morality—Historia kills her father after his human body is exposed, and actually asks to be celebrated as the one to kill him even if it ends up not being the case.
* CargoShip: Levi x Cleaning is a popular ship, and can get fairly insane.
* CaptainObviousReveal: [[spoiler: Annie being the Female Titan is hardly the most surprising reveal in the series, due to their similar hair and fighting styles.]]
* CatharsisFactor:
** Gabi remains one of the most hated characters in the series for her bratty attitude and [[spoiler:her murder of Sasha]]. It's nevertheless satisfying when she faces the consequences of her actions and the people she hurt in chapter 111.
** Zeke spends much of the series as a StrawNihilist who betrays and kills many people (many of them are Paradisians) out of the belief he's freed them from suffering. Poetic justice occurs when [[spoiler:he's subjected to [[FateWorseThanDeath endlessly creating Titans to serve the brother that betrayed him]] after failing to convince Ymir Frtiz.]]
** Floch spends nearly all of his time in the timeskip being a racist, conscending {{Jerkass}} who would kill anyone who oppose him or the Yeagerists, so it's really satisfying when [[spoiler:Mikasa finally kills him off for real in his Last VillainStand.]]
* CompleteMonster: In chapter 122--"[[Recap/AttackOnTitanS4E21FromYou2000YearsAgo From You, 2,000 Years Ago]]"--[[SmallRoleBigImpact Fritz]], the first King of [[Characters/AttackOnTitanEldia Eldia]] and the mythical [[SatanicArchetype Devil of All Earth]], was a [[EvilOverlord cruel tyrant]] who ran an empire on conquest, with countless slaves endlessly abused out of their very sense of self, many having their tongues removed. When the young slave Ymir was accused of freeing pigs, the King tried to have her [[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame hunted for sport]], whereupon she found the power of the Titans. Using her to exterminate and kill all in his path, the King raped her to produce children to inherit her power and upon her death ([[TakingTheBullet taking a spear meant for Fritz]]), forced his daughters to eat her corpse raw, unleashing the new Titans on all his enemies to found an empire on genocide and blood.
* CrackPairing: Erwin x Bertolt is becoming a popular crack-ship (partly due to the Series/SesameStreet name overlap), often with a dash of [[PropertyOfLove Dom/Sub]] for flavor.
%%** Also Rogue Titan x Female Titan, for obvious [[BarbieDollAnatomy reasons]].
%%** Reiner x Galliard.
%%** Jean x Pieck, better known in the fandom as Horse x Cart.
%%* CreepyAwesome:
%%** The Titans, particularly the Beast and Colossal Titan, due to how powerful they are.
%%** [[TheMole Annie Leonhardt]].
* CrossoverShip:
** For some odd reason, some artists on Website/{{Pixiv}} are fond of pairing Eren with Erika Furudo from ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry''. [[http://www.pixiv.com/tag/%E3%82%A8%E3%83%AC%E3%83%B1%E3%83%AA There's even a tag for the pairing]].
** Various artists on Tumblr have Eren paired up with Peko Pekoyama from ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair''. It's listed under the tag [[http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/pekoeren #pekoeren]].
** Hange and Newt, from ''Film/PacificRim'' tend to get paired together due to their shared obsessions with the monsters that are trying to kill them.
* CrossesTheLineTwice: Zackly torturing a captured noble. This wouldn't normally be funny, but the fact that the guy appears to be held in some kind of BDSM setup with a funnel up his ass can be funny.
* CryForTheDevil: After certain [[TheReveal revelations]], quite a bit of time is devoted to showing the Titan Shifters in a sympathetic light. This makes it a bit of FridgeBrilliance, as all three are accurate reflections of real-world ChildSoldiers that commit atrocities. Annie's flashbacks to her childhood, as well as [[SanitySlippage Reiner]] and [[TearsOfRemorse Bertolt]] spiraling towards the DespairEventHorizon show that they are, as WordOfGod describes Annie, ordinary kids forced to do terrible things.
%%
%%
%% MODERATOR NOTICE: Do not re-add the DarknessInducedAudienceApathy entry unless you want to get banned. For one thing, it's being renamed to TooBleakStoppedCaring. For the other thing, without a consensus either in the forum or the discussion page we can't say that it's a legitimate addition.
%%
%%
* DeathOfTheAuthor: Despite Isayama correcting on an official guidebook mistakenly stating Eren to have feelings for Annie, many Eren/Annie fans still choose to believe he [[ObliviousToLove unknowingly]] developed a crush on her during their training sessions (usually pointing to his panic at learning who she is as well as Mikasa actually questioning his feelings for Annie in canon), but that he got over it after learning who she was and/or after her long absence. They will also point to Isayama naturally correcting on such an out-of-place statement as romance has little to no focus in the series, least of all to Eren.
* DieForOurShip:
** Parodied with the Jean/Mikasa ship about Jean's status as the fandom ButtMonkey.
** Played straight with Historia's [[spoiler:unnamed consort]], or as most fans call him [[FanNickname "Farmer-kun"]], who has a sizable hatebase among Historia/Ymir and Historia/Eren shippers; the latter especially among those who believe that [[spoiler:Historia having a child]] was {{Foreshadowing}} for her and Eren getting together, not helped in part by certain fan translations actively having Historia express [[spoiler:wanting to have a child with Eren]] when it wasn't the case in the official translation.
* DracoInLeatherPants: This is inseparable from RonTheDeathEater in this case. Initially, after the Shifter Trio were revealed as being the villains they are, Reiner and Bertholt were initially given much more lenient treatment than Annie due to lacking her sadistic moments and brutality, and as a result of their general friendliness and Reiner's insanity, it was common to paint them as worthy of a [[HeelFaceTurn redemption arc]]. Later on, Annie happened upon Reiner restraining Marco after realizing HeKnowsTooMuch, and called him a piece of shit while Reiner frantically yelled for her to take his maneuver gear to prove her loyalty and get rid of a liability. After this, Reiner became the most consistently loathed member of the trio with Annie becoming the one the fandom considered the most sympathetic and worthy of redemption. This kind of ignores how Annie didn't tell Reiner to let Marco go or cut his throat or just knock him out, she told him to ''make Bertholt do it'', and also ignores how she did, in fact, take the gear, as well as how the act broke Reiner as much as or more than Annie. The fandom still being ''very'' attached to Marco even long after his death likely has a lot to do with it as well. Nowadays [[spoiler: Reiner has become the most sympathetic member of the Titan Trio due to being the main protagonist during the Marley Arc and revelations about how awful his life has been since day one.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:E-H]]
* EvilIsCool:
%%** The Armored and Female Titan.
** Kenny Ackerman for his antipersonnel 3D maneuvering gear skills and overall Creator/ClintEastwood-like appearance, though he's not entirely without some [[EvilIsHammy hammy]] qualities.
** After JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope and becoming a full-on villain, [[spoiler: Eren himself falls into this for some, as his newfound cold, collected demeanor has made him a very different kind of badass from his more familiar berserker self and seems to have won over those who were not fond of his arguably more generic ShonenHero-esque origins]].
* FandomEnragingMisconception:
** Alleging that ''Attack on Titan'' is antisemitic due to the parallels between Eldians and Jews will earn you angry fans reminding you that the series portrays the oppression of the Eldians as a ''bad thing''.
** On a similar note, claiming that ''Attack on Titan'' glorifies UsefulNotes/{{Fascism}} isn't exactly the best way to make friends with fans. Becauses, those said fans will angrily remind you that the series is ''very vocal'' in its criticism of Fascism as a political ideology, [[spoiler:later sees the Eldians fight the Marleyans, who are modelled after two of the most infamous Fascist regimes in all of history: Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, and when the [[BlackShirt Yeagerists]] come into full force, almost none of the main characters have anything nice to say about them and fight them with little hesitation]].
* FandomRivalry:
** With Creator/{{SNK}}, due to AcronymConfusion between it and this series' Japanese title. This has caused many headaches for fans of the former on social media and blogging sites that use searchable case-insensitive tags, as they now have to abandon the "snk" tag in favor of "shin nihon kikaku".
** More recently with {{Anime/Code Geass}}, due to all the direct comparisons of the "Lelouch Ending" talked by Attack on Titan fans to the point it was starting to annoy the Code Geass fandom. Not helped that there is a lot of comparisons between Eren and Lelouch. [[spoiler:The fact that Attack on Titan even ended on a similar note to Code Geass, ergo making the "Lelouch Ending" canon, did not help especially given how polarising the ending for Attack on Titan was. So expect a lot of Code Geass fans to mock Attack on Titan fans for trying and failing to live up to the ending of Code Geass.]]
** With, of all things, ''{{Anime/Pretty Cure}}'' ever since ''Anime/HugttoPrettyCure'' won the 2019 [[{{Website/Reddit}} r/Anime]] [[https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/f81tvr/the_results_of_the_2019_ranime_awards/ Anime of the Year award]] over ''Attack on Titan'' Season 3 Part 2. This resulted in mass confusion and anger over how ''Attack on Titan'' lost to what they perceived to be a [[DarkHorseVictory no-name anime]] [[GirlShowGhetto aimed for girls]] (ignoring the fact that ''[=HuGtto!=]'' is one of the darkest ''Pretty Cure'' seasons to date). Naturally, this is a pretty one-sided rivalry, as ''Pretty Cure'' fans are just happy to see the series get any form of prestigious recognition in the west.
** A one-sided rivalry against the ''WesternAnimation/{{Bluey}}'' fandom, of all things. ''AOT'' fans always want their show to be the highest rated on sites such as [=MyAnimeList=], and when they found out that "Sleepytime" was higher rated on IMDB than "Hero," [[https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkggn7/bluey-sleepytime-imdb-review-bombing they started to review bomb]] ''Bluey''. In the end, the ''Bluey'' episode descended 15 places while "Hero" remains second only to "[[Series/BreakingBad Ozymandias]]."
* FanficFuel:
** Levi's past, prior to the release of ''A Choice With No Regrets''.
** The Titan Shifters' pasts and motivations.
** The following scenarios if Annie, or later Reiner and Bertolt had succeeded in kidnapping Eren.
** Bertolt sleeping in strange positions.
** The events that led to Marco's death. That is until Chapter 77 came along...
** How exactly Eren Kruger managed to acquire the "Attack Titan" in secret while posing as a Marleyan officer.
* {{Fanon}}:
** Annie and Mina are assumed to have been friends, since they were shown to have sat together for their meals and Annie is shown to be apologizing in horror to what appeared Mina's dead body after the Battle of Trost (in Annie's visual novel however, it's revealed that the body she apologizes to is someone else).
** Bertolt is often portrayed as a bookworm in fanart, likely because he's introduced in the Training Flashbacks reading a book.
** Many fans like to think that the harnesses for the 3D Maneuver Gear leave distinct, rope burn-like bruising on those who use it, as often displayed in fan art.
** Heck, the WMG section has an entire ''list'' dedicated to the things we're pretty sure about but have yet to be given clear confirmation of.
** Many fans assume Levi/Rivaille is of French descent due to the "Rivaille" spelling of his name; however, WordOfGod says that the "Rivaille" spelling is a translation error and the correct spelling is "Levi".
** There is also a lot of speculation of Levi being Jewish due to his first name (although his [[Film/JesusCamp namesake]] as revealed by WordOfGod was actually a fundamentalist ''Christian''). His family name, Ackermann, could point into a Ashkenazi direction instead.
** Since the introduction of Levi's former mentor Kenny Ackerman, there seems to be a popular belief going around that the two of them had a parent-child relationship once. This was later confirmed in the manga.
** Prior to the anime establishing that he's a blond, fan artists seemed to agree that Galliard was a FieryRedhead.
* FandomSpecificPlot:
** Fanfic writers seems to be big on putting the characters in real-world (especially [[HighSchoolAU school-related]]) [=AUs=] where they face more mundane and lighthearted problems. This is likely a reaction to how [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism bleak]] and [[AnyoneCanDie brutal]] the original show is, so writers want to imagine the characters they love in happier times. The creators seem to have acknowledged this with the ''Manga/AttackOnTitanJuniorHigh'' spin-off, an official middle-school AU.
** A fairly popular story idea is an OC, who may or may not be a stand in for the author, going to boot camp with the rest of the characters in the 104th, falling in love with one of the canon characters (Usually [[EnsembleDarkhorse Annie]] [[TheMole Leonhart]]), and then joining the Recon Corps so they can continue to be involved in the main characters adventures. Due to the fact that manga is both pretty long and ongoing, these stories don't normally end, and often times [[DeadFic just end up going on indefinite hiatus]].
%%* FanPreferredCouple:
%%** Try to browse any tag for the series without coming across ''dozens'' of Eren/Levi fanart or fanfiction, it's virtually impossible. This has led to a good deal of HypeBacklash over the pairing's popularity, for people who either find the idea of them to be nonsensical or downright {{Squick}}, given their age difference and the abusive overtones.
%% Entry needs to be rewritten to explain why it is popular. Consult [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=14860997890A40152400&page=1 this thread]] for details if needed.
* FoeYayShipping: Any pairing involving Bertolt, Annie, or Reiner with the other characters.
* FountainOfMemes: Levi has been made fun of by the entire fanbase, kinda going with his EnsembleDarkhorse status. See [[Memes/AttackOnTitan here for most of his parodies.]]
* FriendlyFandoms:
** Bizarrely enough, with ''[[Anime/{{Free}} Free!]]'', despite the rather dramatic [[WarIsHell contrast]] [[FanserviceWithASmile in tone]]. It started with some [[http://attackontwitter.tumblr.com/post/54554427561/snk-characters-share-their-thoughts-on-free jokes by fake SNK characters on twitter ]] and [[http://superhighschoollevel-ravioli.tumblr.com/post/54562190466/sorry-not-sorry Tumblr helped it escalate from there.]] About their contrast in tone, [[http://amarielah.tumblr.com/post/55300551065/chessary-this-isnt-water case in point.]]
** Ditto for the fandom's friendship with the fan base of ''Film/PacificRim''.
** And with ''VideoGame/{{Titanfall}}'', largely because of the name and the fact that the Titans in both series are best defeated by a hitting a weak point on the back of the neck.
** Also with ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarOnline2'': cross-promotion in the game allowed players to dress as characters from the manga, and both have their fair share of colossal enemies to slay. The boss fight against Magatsu, itself, is essentially [[RecycledInSpace AoT if it were a science-fantasy story]].
** Along with ''Series/GameOfThrones'', due to the [[CrapsackWorld rather]] [[AnyoneCanDie high]] [[WeAREStrugglingTogether number]] [[WallAroundTheWorld of similarities]] between the two series. Apparently, Isayama himself [[http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2016/12/01/60-hour-binge-watch-makes-a-game-of-thrones-fanatic-out-of-attack-on-titan-author binged the first 6 seasons]] in one sitting. This eventually came full circle in SNK itself when [[spoiler:several Titans Annie was leading to the Walls in Chapter 96 were [[http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2017/08/06/game-of-thrones-cameos-coming-to-attack-on-titan-manga deliberately designed]] off of several characters from GOT]].
* GatewaySeries: The anime seems to be the gateway anime of TheNewTens for Western fans, thanks to its popularity on both Crunchyroll and the revived Creator/{{Toonami}}.
* GeniusBonus: When the 104th members were taking shelter in Castle Utgard, Ymir rummages through boxes and finds a can of herring. Herring are only found in the ocean. The fact that Ymir and Reiner both knew about herring was an ''incredibly'' subtle hint that both of them are not from the Walls.
* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff:
** A surprisingly large percentage of fanfic (somewhere between 30-40% on fanfiction.net at least) for the show is written in Spanish (to give you an idea, the show got a UsefulNotes/BluRay release in Spain just a few months after the show ended in Japan, with a pretty quality dub to boot) and Indonesian. In fact, according to a user on Website/DeviantArt, SNK is so popular in Spain that [[http://firechick12012.deviantart.com/art/Shingeki-no-Kyojin-Nippon-Ku-POSTER-481407703 they have their own SNK themed conventions!]]
** Jean only ranks 9th on the official Japanese popularity polls. English viewers might be surprised at that, since he's easily one of the most popular characters in the West.
** North Americans ''LOVE'' ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'', so much so that in early May it's going to be aired on the newly revived Toonami block on a good time slot!
** Also, ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' is so popular in Latin America that, when Funimation licensed the second season for that region and Crunchyroll announced it, the anime went to the 'Popular Shows' section, along with ''Naruto Shippuuden'', ''Dragon Ball Super'' and ''One Piece''.
* GrowingTheBeard:
** The ''Female Titan'' arc and the lead up to it, where focus diverts from the main trio and becomes more of an ensemble story is considered a vast improvement by some.
** Done ''again'' with the advent of Chapter 90 onwards, in which the series quickly developed a mature, [[AHeroToHisHometown nuanced]] [[PerspectiveFlip worldview]].
* HardToAdaptWork: ''Attack on Titan'' has seen great success in anime and video game adaptations. However, bringing the Titans to live action has proven to be difficult. The story is long and takes its time building the world and lore of that ultimately drive the OntologicalMystery of the series. Almost every character has lengthy backstories that often tie into other characters which helps explain their motivations and goals. Finally, the titular Titans are massive [[Main/HumanoidAbomination humanoid abominations]] that leave lots of destruction in their wake. Fights against them involve lots of swinging with the omni-directional mobility gear like ''Spider-Man'' or Titan vs. Titan battles akin to Main/{{Kaiju}} works. To bring the Titans convincingly to live action would need an equally titanic budget. All of these issues have led to the series having a hard time coming to a live action medium:
** [[Film/AttackOnTitan2015 The two live action films from 2015]] suffered from a case of CompressedAdaptation. They tried to fit the first 25 episodes of the anime into two movies, leading to many important characters and plot points being AdaptedOut. The characters that ''did'' appear were radically different from their anime versions to the point where they might as well have been new characters. The movies also did NOT have the budget to make the Titans look imposing, leading to lots of SpecialEffectsFailure and {{Narm}}. The only other crack at a live action version of ''Attack on Titans'' has been from Warner Bros, whose adaptation has been stuck in DevelopmentHell.
** The stage musical went through a TroubledProduction in an attempt to bring the swinging action to the stage. The death defying acrobatics used by the omni-directional movement gear is easy enough to convey in print or animation; doing it in a theatre setting is much easier said than done. It would require lots of safety harnesses and wires (and all the financial and logistical issues that come with it) to do safely, as well as athletic actors to perform the stunts. During testing for the original musical, acrobat Kazutaka Yoshino suffered an injury during rehearsals and ultimately died from his injuries, putting production on the musical on hold. That said, a musical for ''Attack on Titan'' did get off the ground in 2023, to favorable results.
* HarsherInHindsight:
** Everything good involving Reiner, Bertolt, and Annie once you find out that they're human Titans bent on wiping out humanity.
** Every single Titan kill, now that we know that all Titans are humans trapped in Titan form. Particularly bad are the scenes where Levi not only effortlessly takes out Titans, but taunts them and plays around with them after injuring them before killing them. No wonder he looks so distraught at that reveal.
** Eren being a MemeticLoser was a common problem for him, since if he wasn't in Titan form he did little against them otherwise, like he simply wasn't all that capable thanks to being classed as average. In fact, it's only due to being a {{Determinator}} that he made it to the top five of the 104th Training Corps. Then it turns out his instructor tried to sabotage his training so he wouldn't follow in his father's footsteps of self-destructive revenge. [[YouCannotFightFate It didn't work,]] and ironically Grisha Titanizing Eren saved his life and gave the Scouts a fighting chance where his inexperience would've doomed him otherwise.
** An arc featuring Grisha Yeager's past reveals that his first wife, Dina, was arrested and turned into a Mindless Titan. Specifically, she became the Smiling Titan, [[TheMissusAndTheEx who would go on to devour Grisha's second wife, Carla]], and be killed by Carla's son with Grisha.
** Early on during the "Uprising" arc, Levi's assessment that their situation is so bad that one day Titans would pop out of the ground or come raining down from the sky given everything that's been happening became ''far'' worse after it's shown that [[spoiler: the Marley Military actually uses Titan airstrikes on enemy strongholds]].
** The 104th's promise to reunite when they are old, and have a drink together. Then we learn about the Curse of Ymir, which limits a Titan Shifter's lifespan to 13 years. Several of the people making that promise will never be able to grow old, because their powers will kill them in their 20s. [[spoiler:Bends back over to Heartwarming at the ending of the series, since the [[TheMagicGoesAway since the end of the Power of the Titans]] allows the former Shifters to escape the curse of Ymir and live normal lifespans.]]
** Every time that the characters claim to be fighting on behalf of "humanity", after TheReveal that [[spoiler:the people inside the walls are in fact not the last remnants of humanity, and that rest of the world fears and despises them for their ability to turn into Titans. This is especially true for Eren, since he ends up killing most of humanity during The Rumbling.]]
** One of the anime's {{omake}} makes a joke about Armin [[AttractiveBentGender looking better in a bunnygirl suit]] than any of the girls. In a later manga chapter, Armin is captured while DisguisedInDrag, and while tied up is molested by an [[DirtyOldMan old man]] who didn't know he was male.
** Jokes concerning Sasha's BigEater antics become harsher with the revelation that her obsession with food [[TruthInTelevision is the result]] of her village starving when refugees wiped out their food source.
** Levi's short stature, and obsession with cleanliness become this after his backstory is revealed. Raised in the Underground slums, he grew up in squalor and was discovered by Kenny nearly starved to death with his mother's rotting corpse nearby. His growth was stunted as a result of childhood malnutrition and the Vitamin D deficiency that plagues people living in the Underground.
* HoYay:
** [[HeterosexualLifePartners Eren and Armin]] due to them being extraordinarily close to one another. They've hugged one another in relief, Armin has blushed while holding Eren's hand and Eren was adamant that Armin's life should be saved over Erwin's, to the point of fighting Levi and Hange over it. Their scene together in the final episode added a lot to this, [[spoiler:with the two promising to share the sins of the Rumbling together [[YouAreWorthHell and meet up in Hell when they both die]]. Some fans even thought that their final embrace was going to end with them ''kissing''.]]
** Eren and [[TheRival Jean]].
** Reiner and Bertolt, due to being ThoseTwoGuys and further fueled with Reiner being AmbiguouslyBi.
** Jean and [[DeadSidekick Marco]], ''especially'' in the anime. Marco is Jean's best friend and their [[HotBlooded respective]] [[TheHeart qualities]] [[OppositesAttract complete each other nicely]]. Not to mention that Marco's death is very hard on Jean and serves as a major catalyst for his CharacterDevelopment.
** Erwin and Levi. Interestingly enough, it took only one line to do this. The fact that they're voiced by Creator/DaisukeOno and Creator/HiroshiKamiya probably helps. Since Erwin lost his arm, Levi's devoted behavior has only become more pronounced, with him [[AngerBornOfWorry threatening to break Erwin's legs to keep him from endangering himself in battle]] in Chapter 72 really standing out.
** Armin and Jean, due to Armin having saved Jean's life three times.
** Ymir and Krista, who have many moments throughout the series. WordOfGay confirms that their relationship is romantic in nature. It gets the PortmanteauCoupleName [=YumiKuri=] ''(yumiru x kurisuta)''.
** Mikasa and Annie.
** Mikasa and Sasha, thanks to that scene where Mikasa shoves bread into Sasha's mouth.
* HypeBacklash: Regardless of it being anime or manga, some people feel the series as a whole is way too overhyped, especially since fans praise it as the "best series ever!" or DarkerAndEdgier than it really is, and it's virtually impossible to find an anime fan who '''hasn't''' seen or heard of it. The growing evidence of the author's controversial political views has also led to more and more readers turning against it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:I-M]]
* IKnewIt:
** Many fans suspected the Female Titan to be [[spoiler:Annie Leonhart]] long before the revelation came due to the way it resembled her.
** Likewise to the above many people guessed that [[spoiler:Reiner was the Armored Titan and Bertolt was the Colossal Titan]] long before it was officially confirmed for many of the same reasons as the Female Titan revelation.
** Many people also predicted [[spoiler:Titans being transformed humans]].
** Most people guessed that [[spoiler:Marcel was a Titan shifter and eating him allowed Ymir to become one]] too long before it was officially revealed, and the repeated instances where his demise is shown in the manga (at least 3 times) have led to the fandom adopting it as a running gag, stating that they'll ''finally'' see his death.
** It's confirmed that [[spoiler:Eren ate his father]], which many people have theorized for a good while.
** Many speculated that [[spoiler:Annie was involved in Marco's death]] before it was finally confirmed.
** Fans were quick to point out that [[spoiler: Zeke and Grisha]] looked practically identical, leading many to suspect that they were related, or at the very least knew one another personally.
** Many have correctly predicted that [[spoiler: humans weren't actually extinct beyond the Walls]].
** The identity of the Smiling Titan as [[spoiler:Dina Yeager, Grisha's first wife]], was pretty much speculated since she was introduced in Chapter 86 and was confirmed in the next chapter.
** A few people speculated that the ShellShockedVeteran that Falco stops to help in Chapter 94 was [[spoiler:Eren in disguise]], come Chapter 97 and they were proven right.
** There were plenty of speculations that at some point between the Time Skip, Zeke defected from Marley to side with the Paradis Eldians. His relationship with his brother Eren explored further notwithstanding, there are shots of Zeke in the manga that portray him action ''very'' suspicious. Then, when the Tybur play happens, Zeke acts too casual when Falco summons Reiner to Eren, followed by a disguised Yelena taking Zeke elsewhere while luring Porco and Pieck into a trap. When the Raid on Liberio happens and Zeke shows up in his Beast Titan form, he is taken down ''far too quickly'' (and anti-climatically), but notice how Levi cuts his nape open in an odd manner (vertically, not horizontally). [[spoiler:Sure enough, Chapter 105 has Hange reveal to Gabi and Falco that Zeke has been siding with Paradis the entire time, presenting both Jaeger brothers in the same room]].
** Most readers of the manga were extremely skeptical about Eren seemingly going along with [[spoiler: Zeke's plan to sterilize all Eldians (thereby causing them to go extinct) because it's greatly at odds with Eren's established philosophy. Fans insisted that Eren was just going along with Zeke's plan to gain control of the Founding Titan. Sure enough, in chapter 120, Eren betrays Zeke and says he never had any intention of going along with Zeke's plan.]]
** Similarly, directly from the above point, some fans hit the mark on the reveal that [[spoiler: Eren was using Zeke for his own agenda, which was his tendency for a RoaringRampageOfRevenge taken to its logical conclusion, the demise of all life outside the island.]]
** Most fans were proven right in predicting that [[spoiler: Annie will finally return to the story after Eren shatters the Walls.]]
** [[spoiler: Due to the series [[DarkerAndEdgier unforgivable and darker setting]] many fans predicted that Eren will die by the end of his series.]]
* ItsPopularNowItSucks: Levi is a specific-character example; his [[EnsembleDarkhorse overwhelming popularity]] with fans (including YaoiFangirls) has led to some backlash in the English-speaking fandom (mostly on [[Website/FourChan /a/]], but also on Website/{{Tumblr}}).
* ItWasHisSled:
** Eren can turn into a Titan, and [[OurHeroIsDead doesn't actually die early on]].
** Annie, Reiner, and Bertolt being the Titan Shifters hiding amongst humanity. Ymir as well, to a lesser extent.
** Humanity isn't actually extinct beyond the Walls.
** Eren becomes a VillainProtagonist after the TimeSkip.
* LauncherOfAThousandShips:
** Eren has more popular ships than any other member of the cast, as is common for main characters. Among the more popular ones are Eren/Mikasa, Eren/Levi, Eren/Annie, Eren/Armin, and Eren/Historia. And then there's one after Eren unleashes the Rumbling: Eren/Freedom.
** Levi. We've got Levi/Eren, Levi/Hange, Levi/Erwin, Levi/Petra, Levi/Mikasa, Levi/Cleaning, etc.
** Armin, not as much as the former two, but has a few, Armin/Eren, Armin/Jean, Armin/Mikasa, Armin/Marco, Armin/Annie, Armin/Sasha, and Armin/Erwin.
** Hange also has a respectable amount; Levi/Hange, Hange/Erwin, Hange/Petra, Hange/Rico, Hange/Moblit, Hange/Mike, Hange/Titans, even Hange/Armin and Hange/Sasha in some parts.
** Jean counts as well, Jean/Marco, Jean/Eren, Jean/Mikasa, Jean/Armin, Jean/Bertolt...
** Reiner gets this also: Reiner/Bertolt, Reiner/Annie, Reiner/Historia, just to name a few.
* LGBTFanbase: The series' numerous characters of ambiguous [[AmbiguouslyBi sexual orientation]] or [[AmbiguousGender gender]] have drawn a strong fanbase of not only gay fans, but also a strong trans following. Also, in a Biglobe poll of which characters gay manga readers wanted as their boyfriend, two characters from the series (Jean and Reiner) made the top 10.
* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt:
** Quite a number of fans didn't buy Armin being killed off, noting that Levi still had the Titan Serum and he would obviously get it. And that's exactly what happened.
** Chapter 119 leaves the audience with [[spoiler:Eren getting his head shot off]]. Many fans doubt if it even seriously harms him, let alone kills him. There's already much precedent for this, with Eren having numerous presumed deaths before, as well as [[spoiler:both Reiner and Zeke fully recovering from what should have been absolutely lethal wounds. They were right]].
* LoveToHate:
** Zeke Jaeger is a completely unsympathetic monster that nonchalantly wipes out members of the Survey Corps (Erwin included) and compares that to a game of baseball. But there's no denying that his Beast Titan form is awesome in its own right (being one of the most dangerous titans throughout the entire franchise), not to mention being an incredibly intelligent mastermind that can certainly compete with the likes of Armin Arlelt and Hange Zoë. It also helps that he has a sympathetic backstory leading up to his ultimate plan: euthanizing all Eldians.
** Gabi, oh Gabi Braun. While she has gained some sympathy after going through CharacterDevelopment that completely removes her from being a HateSink, she's still best known as a Marley butt-kisser who is outspoken of the Wall Eldians being devils and, as Eren says it word-for-word, the "brat who killed Sasha."
** Then there's Floch Forster, who despite being an Eldian-supremacist bigot representing the absolute worst of the Yeagerists' crimes, provides an ooze of entertainment through his outspoken views of Eren ushering in "the New Eldian Empire" and the commanding pressence he brings when he and the Yeagerists get involved. And that's not counting the fact that he has his supporters outside of the [=AoT=] universe who empathize with the Yeagerists.
* MemeticBadass:
** For some reason involving symbolism and a lack of effort to take it seriously, the walnut from the second ending.
** They didn't build the Walls to protect mankind from the Titans. They built the Walls to protect the Titans from Captain Levi.
* MemeticBystander:
** Mylius Zeramuski, one of Eren's ill-fated teammates from episode 5. He's gained the nickname "Background-chan" for being used as a stock background character in the official parodies. It probably helps that he looks like an {{Expy}} of [[VideoGame/{{Persona4}} Yu Narukami.]]
** There's also Nifa, nicknamed [[http://31.media.tumblr.com/ea19d35778fd71e14f856babc8cad5ea/tumblr_mt4m16Q1Ar1r1s7hto1_250.jpg Legout]] for her resemblance to a PaletteSwap Armin. (Actually based on an [[http://olivemeister.tumblr.com/post/53324186942/armins-character-arc-culminates-in-a-final-battle older joke]].) She eventually becomes more than a bystander as a member of Hange's squad, prior to being killed off.
** [[http://2heartgirl.tumblr.com/post/62275775160/piglii-felitomkinson-ziegsden-piglii Commander Meowington]], or that one cat that appeared in the background in one of the later episodes next to a pool of blood and didn't seem to care about the Titan attack.
** Now we have [[http://media.tumblr.com/215d8c9e972d6cdf4616050b10736ce0/tumblr_inline_mxk7oxXpM91r376r4.png this guy on the left]] from the ''Isle's Notebook'' OVA, who got a lot of attention because of his attractive design. Fans have named him "Nikolas Colton," they [[http://24.media.tumblr.com/de91b076cd0a3ba84e71d072cdd406a3/tumblr_mxomxoqo941t7yiu6o1_500.jpg gave him an article on the wiki]] (which was later taken down), are planning a petition to make him an official character, and [[http://31.media.tumblr.com/340be38d1f89be6433efe3027c7358d5/tumblr_mxmjomm7q61r6lx69o1_500.png he's even getting fan art.]]
** [[http://oi41.tinypic.com/wqvf2r.jpg Parkour Baker,]] one of the Recon Corps members from Episode 24 who ambushes Annie, is seen for all of five seconds. That hasn't stopped him from gaining a pretty sizable following.
* MemeticLoser:
** Jean. In canon, his loser status consists of crushing on the oblivious Mikasa and generally being [[AlwaysSecondBest second best]] to [[TheHero Eren]]; over the series, he develops into a capable soldier and gains some humility. In {{fanon}}, his loserdom is shown through anything from [[CrackShip being hopelessly in love with Eren]] to [[AbhorrentAdmirer Mikasa outright hating him]]. RuleOfFunny may be the culprit.
** Reiner. In spite of being portrayed in-series as a dangerous opponent and well-respected for his talents, the fandom tends to remember his multiple [[TheWorfEffect losses]] and [[WhyWontYouDie brushes with death]] more. It reaches new heights in later chapters, where [[spoiler: ''he can't even kill himself'' without someone or something interfering.]] Besides the fandom, even official parodies have gotten in on portraying him as unable to catch a break.
** Despite being the main character of the series, Eren himself falls under this category for various fans. Due to Eren [[OnceASeason constantly being kidnapped or incapacitated at least once per story arc]], many fans see him as a FailureHero who needs [[HyperCompetentSidekick his friends and Levi]] to constantly bail him out of trouble. And there are various memes out there dedicated to making fun of Eren by stating that, despite his intense desire to kill Titans, he can't seem to do so, even though he eventually does so when he turns into a Titan. This joke isn't just in fanon either as even various official parodies make a RunningGag about Eren's ineffectual desire to kill Titans. Much like the Reiner example above though, it's possible that this is deliberate on the author's part. Taken even higher after [[spoiler: chapter 139 where he breaks down crying about Misaka being with another man, with Jean ending up with Mikasa making it worse. Eren has been seen as a desperate cuck and simp.]]
** Zeke. Initially the [[EvilGenius evil genius]] that is War Chief Zeke, his menace took a heavy dip in his defeat at the hands of [[MemeticBadass Levi Ackerman]] in the"Return to Shiganshina" arc. Then in season 4 he becomes a [[ButtMonkey punching bag]] for Levi so much so that he yells in frustration after Levi escapes his traps in fear of suffering another humiliating defeat. Then there's his Beast Titan which initially looks like a looming monstrous threat until the memes make his titan resemble a goofy ape throwing pebbles in contrast to other titans with less exaggerated features and cooler abilities, and let's not forget about the "Monke" nickname. Finally Zeke's grand[[spoiler: euthanization plan]] was mocked by memes, depicting his [[spoiler:virginity and/or envy for his lack of a penis]], even the plan's name itself is renamed into the[[spoiler: "No PP plan"]]. It does not help that Zeke's Japanese VA shares the voice of [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureDIO Dio]] [[FountainOfMemes Brando]].
* MemeticMolester: Fanarts often depict Mikasa as a stalker or yandere for Eren. [[http://i.imgur.com/tgJwwqo.gif Some of her close ups from Episode 24 helped.]] In the superdeformed [=OVAs=], it's basically an AscendedMeme.
* MemeticPsychopath: Eren's intense Titan hatred and murderous tendencies already as a child gets blown up in a lot of parodies, even some official ones. The usual scenario is that simply mentioning Titans is enough to hit his BerserkButton.
* MentorShip: Eren and Annie (manga).
* MisaimedFandom:
** Even without the Eren/Levi ship and those who romanticize it (though often in tandem), there exists an uncomfortably large portion of the fandom that thinks Eren still goes gushy-eyed and stammery over Captain Levi, usually with a dash of senpai/heichou to go along with it. This is flat-out wrong, as Eren has shown several times he is ''afraid'' of Levi and resents the intense beating he got all the way into the Reiss arc.
** Some of the supporters of Eren/Mikasa like to view their couple as IncestYayShipping because of their status of stepbrother and sister and what plot is sometimes played by them like BrotherSisterIncest in combination with NotBloodSiblings, even though their status of "brother and sister" is not only formal, but also rejected by Eren himself (and apparently by the author through him), who sees in Mikasa a friend and possibly PatientChildhoodLoveInterest, and not a sister or relative.
** [[https://newrepublic.com/article/160193/attack-titan-alt-rights-favorite-manga It has been noted]] that the series has a large following among the far-right who mostly perceive the Eldians as the faultless heroes of a BlackAndWhiteMorality conflict and also a stand-in for Nazi Germany, even though the series portrays many Eldians as deeply flawed participants in a more GrayAndGrayMorality battle, depicts the Eldians with iconography explicitly associated with WWII-era Jews, and depicts the Marleyans with [[PuttingOnTheReich recognizeably Nazi-esque style and attributes.]] Granted, [[spoiler:the [[BlackShirt Yeagerists]] ''do'' take the [[PuttingOnTheReich Nazi attributes]] even further than the Marleyans do]], but that's explicitly pointed out as a ''bad'' thing [[spoiler:and most of the protagonists (sans Eren) actually go against them]].
** Eren's motivation for [[spoiler:The Rumbling]] is often interpreted as him finding no other way to save his people, the Eldians/the Paradisians. While the conflict gets very dire, most miss the fact that [[spoiler:Eren's Rumbling is also killing the millions of Eldians ''outside'' of where he activates it, and that he doesn't care so much for Paradis' preservation as much as he does the idea of freedom and his friends surviving this. The political movement made under his name, the Yaegerists, don't share much of any of his actual ideals, and ''they'' were the ones who were specifically concerned with Paradis surviving and their "superiority" over the rest of the world. The anime makes it explicitly clear that his true motivations were more selfish and that the final outcome of the story ultimately happens because he is, in his own words, an idiot.]]
** Paradis' fate, as revealed by the final chapter and its extra pages. [[spoiler:Paradis militarized itself even more, wanting to finish what Eren started, and the surviving 20% of the world just wants to rebuild and negotiate for peace. In the original chapter release, it ends before those negotiations begin; in the Volume pages, the epilogue shows Paradis being destroyed in a war afterwards. This was often brought up by Rumbling supporters as "proof" Eren should have completed it, as the hatred for Paradis would never go away... Except this war happens some time after Mikasa died of old age, which implies the peace negotiations between Paradis and the world were successful for at least a few decades. [[AmbiguousSituation It could be over said hatred and revenge just as easily as it could be over anything else.]] Alongside the implication that titans may not truly be gone, the story's underlying message seems to be that [[HumansAreBastards human conflict will never end while humans exist]], but as long as we endure, we can bounce back from any disaster that comes from this. The anime addressed the trope by having Shiganshina become a futuristic city even more advanced than our own, with the title of the end credits theme implying that it would take 2,000 or even 20,000 years before Paradis sees another war.]]
* {{Moe}}:
** [[NonActionGuy Armin]] and [[NiceGuy Krista]]. The anime increases the former's moe factor by having him [[CrossdressingVoices voiced by]] Creator/MarinaInoue.
** Bertolt seems to get this treatment among some fans, [[WeaknessTurnsHerOn probably]] because of his ExtremeDoormat personality. This seems to have bled into the official parodies, which tend to play up his [[ShrinkingViolet shy]] tendencies.
** Little Jean deserves a mention.
** Gabi, even leading her to joke in-series that she knows she's so adorable that her [[RefugeInAudacity commanding officer could never risk her life]].
** Pieck stole the fanbase's hearts for many reasons aside from her intellect and competency, her homely/sleepy-cute appearance, the DelicateAndSickly appeal, her sweet personality. The main culprit? [[SignatureScene Pieck crawling on all fours, greeting Porco]].
* MoralEventHorizon:
** Darius Zackly is given a violent shove from CoolOldGuy to TheSociopath with the reveal of his utterly outlandish torture of the nobles he captured.
** After the TimeSkip, [[spoiler:Eren's portrayal changes to a VillainProtagonist after he kills innocent civilians--including [[WouldHurtAChild children]]--during the raid on Liberio. Mikasa [[WhatTheHellHero criticizes Eren]] for this.]]
* SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound:
** The sounds Levi makes when he's taking on the Female Titan. It's just so glorious to hear his battle cries as he manages to nearly defeat the Female Titan on his own, considering many have fallen against it. Including Levi's own comrades, so his grunts were also a RoaringRampageOfRevenge.
** For that matter, there's also the bellowing roar of challenge/rage/announcing his presence that comes out whenever Eren shifts into his Titan form and/or does awesome things. His roars are described as humanity's anger, after all.
* MusicToInvadePolandTo: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU7C-X4rg1k Die Flügel der Freiheit]] fits the trope quite nicely, starting off like a German marching song.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:N-R]]
* NauseaFuel: Admittedly one must have a strong stomach to even begin this series, but the image of Rod Reiss's Titan with a series of round holes in its head after being shot with cannon fire taps into a trypo-horrific disgust. Makes the skin crawl.
* NeverLiveItDown:
** Sasha and the potato incident, which is lampshaded in-universe by her and Jean in Chapter 51.
** Eren losing a leg and getting eaten before managing a single Titan kill. Despite the fact that he gets better and goes on to kill plenty of Titans in his Titan form (he manages his first kill as a human at Castle Utgard), there's a cruel meme about his inability to kill Titans despite his supposed obsession with doing so going around.
** The state of Marco's corpse after his death, which has lead to a myriad of "HalfTheManHeUsedToBe" jokes and the like.
** Petra's death at Annie's hands; similar to Marco's death, the bizarre position of her body after she's been smashed into a tree has led to quite a few treehugger jokes in its wake.
** Levi chastising Eren for his crappy job cleaning up their headquarters. He's been seen as a NeatFreak ever since.
** The way Kenny stood in Chapter 58 due to just how ridiculous it looked. Not to mention the hilariously over the top lines he shouted while doing so.
** Gabi Braun will forever be remembered for one thing and one thing only: [[spoiler:killing Sasha]].
** Eren's rather narmy [[spoiler: confession of his feelings of Mikasa in Chapter 139 quickly has been deemed as one of the worst conclusions to a character ever and destroying his character for many. ]]
* SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames: ''Wings of Freedom'' is considered to be pretty good (especially if you don't mind ''Creator/{{Koei|Tecmo}}'' games).
* NotBadassEnoughForFans: Armin is sometimes a victim of this trope, being physically weak but absolutely brilliant. It extends even into the series marketing, with Levi frequently replacing him as the third member of the PowerTrio.
* NoYay: Although we do not know how close Levi is to Mikasa (presumably he's her cousin or second cousin), many fans have given up even the slightest idea of ​​their mating as from KissingCousins. Ironically, some fans also take the same idea with ​​Mikasa and Eren because they are foster brother and sister.
* OlderThanTheyThink: It's become a meme that Eren broke the unspoken anime rule of [[TransformationIsAFreeAction the heroes allowing their opponent to transform/powerup when he attacks the War-Hammer Titan mid transformation]]. However, one of the earlier cases, one of which the scene seems to be based on frame for frame is when [=GaoGaiGar=] from [[Anime/GaoGaiGar The King of Braves GaoGaiGar]] back in 1997 punches a regenerating Zonder as soon as it's in reach.
* OneSceneWonder: The Armored Titan on the Anime Season 1: It makes its appearance in the second Episode and it's never seen again outside of flashbacks until Season 2's Episode 6[[note]]Keep in mind that there were 3 years between Seasons 1 and 2, which makes it this trope for anime-only watchers[[/note]].
* OneTruePairing: Regardless of who is shipped among the {{Power Trio}}s, Connie and Sasha are almost always paired with each other.
* OneTrueThreesome: To be expected, thanks to multiple {{Power Trio}}s.
** Eren, Mikasa, and Armin are the most prominent.
** Reiner, Bertolt, and Annie are sometimes paired this way, though Annie's opinion of the other two remains unaddressed in canon.
** Erwin, Levi, and Hange are popular as well. Sometimes, it becomes a foursome with Mike included for good measure.
** Perhaps an underrated one: Jean, Conny, and Sasha; all three provide comedic moments in a series that is all too well known for its dark atmosphere. Which makes it all the more heartbreaking when Sasha is killed off.
* ParanoiaFuel:
** Even during a century of peace, Titans would just wander around the Walls, sitting and waiting for an opportunity to get in. The majority of the human population just adopted the "out of sight, out of mind" mentality and just went on living, until [[OpeningNarration that fateful day that humankind received a grim reminder that they lived in fear of the Titans.]] After the breach of Wall Maria, humanity has been living in constant fear that the remaining Walls will be breached again.
** With the discovery of Eren being a Titan Shifter, [[TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse how many more are living among normal people]]?
** As of Chapter 51, there's a strong possibility that most Titans were once human beings. This means ''anyone'' is capable of turning into a Titan against their will, with no chance of ever turning back.
* PlatonicWritingRomanticReading: Between Chapters 92-93 several readers (including this very wiki) assumed Gabi had a crush on Reiner due to her blushing around him, following him around, her insistence on holding his hand, and the fact that [[DoggedNiceGuy Falco clearly seemed to be jealous of her behavior towards him]]. But, Chapter 94 revealed [[spoiler:that they're cousins]].
* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: ''Humanity In Chains'' is considered to be a piece of crap.
* ReplacementScrappy:
** [[spoiler: Porco is occasionally seen as this after inheriting Ymir's Jaw Titan off-screen, as well as for his older brother Marcel, the original leader of the Warrior Trio.]]
** [[spoiler: Sasha fans and Gabi haters alike labeled Gabi Braun as one after they were paralleled with each other after she saved Kaya from a Titanized Nile. Not that Gabi was overly popular beforehand, but the way she was framed as being similar to Kaya's sister-figure was particularly insulting towards a lot of fans.]]
* RonTheDeathEater:
** With regard to the Warrior Trio, it's impossible to not notice this in tandem with DracoInLeatherPants. Initially, when the crimes of all three came to light, Annie was usually hated far more than Reiner or Bertholt due to her horrific sadism on the field and the latter two's overall passivity, despite them having killed far more people than her. This was turned completely on its head though, with the coming of Chapter 77. Annie happened upon Reiner restraining Marco after realizing HeKnowsTooMuch, and called him a piece of shit while Reiner frantically yelled for her to take his maneuver gear to prove her loyalty and get rid of a liability. After this, the overwhelmingly common reaction was vicious hope that Reiner and Bertholt would die while Annie was held a step above them both in morals and actions. Ignoring that Annie showed more concern for her comfort than Marco's life.
** The Shiganshina trio gets this as well, mostly Eren, though Mikasa and Armin get their fair share as well. Some people outright hate Eren for being "[[MoralMyopia cruel]]" when he flipped out at Reiner and Bertolt for being traitors, somehow forgetting they indirectly killed his mother and several of his comrades. Likewise, Armin got a lot of hate when he bluffed to Bert about Annie being tortured to make him lose his cool, seemingly ignoring that his parents and comrades died because of him. And while the Shifters might be [[TragicVillain Tragic Villains]], they're still enemies of humanity and are responsible for the deaths of thousands of people.
** Every major character can fall victim to this, due to the setting's GreyAndGrayMorality and frequently shifting alliances pitting popular characters against each other. For instance, it's not uncommon to see fans accusing Erwin, Levi, or Ymir of having a total LackOfEmpathy due to their occasionally ruthless pragmatism and willingness to do things such as lie or engage in {{Batman Gambit}}s.
** In a far less ambiguous (and usually more comedic) example, Eren's parents are sometimes considered to be abusive, despite being shown to have been overall decent and supportive individuals, not just to their son, but to Mikasa as well. Though with Carla it's highly unjustified, it's hard to argue now that we know what we due about Grisha and his horrible slaughter of children and forcing Eren to become a Titan Shifter and thus a target, for unknown reasons. [[spoiler:Subverted, because Grisha was being ordered to do so by Eren Yeager from the future, using the Attack Titan's ability of foresight.]]
* RootingForTheEmpire:
** While most of the fandom doesn't necessarily want the antagonists to win as such an event would lead to the death of everyone inside the Walls, many fans consider Reiner, Bertolt and Annie to be more interesting and better written than the protagonists and get quite excited whenever they show up.
** Many readers have become fans of the Warriors [[spoiler:due to many of them being rather likeable, sympathetic, and being genuine TrueCompanions with the exception of Zeke. Their commanding officer Magath is also portrayed as a ReasonableAuthorityFigure despite being Marleyan. This, in conjunction with Eren increasingly becoming something of a {{Jerkass}} to not only Marleyans but his own friends and comrades has had many readers rooting for the Warriors to win, or at the very least knock Eren down a peg.]]
** Many began rooting for Zeke after [[spoiler:learning the full extent of his plans. Using the power of the Coordinate possessed by Eren and his own Royal Blood, he will request Ymir render all people with Eldian blood be made infertile, effectively subjecting the Eldian race to genocide. Many can't help but support his cause as only Eldians can possess the powers of the Titans, and that so long as the Titans exist, conflicts like those between the Eldians and the Marleyans will continue to persist. These fans believe for the sake of the world and stopping the fighting over the Titans, the Eldians must die out.]]
** No matter how many lines he crosses, [[spoiler: Eren still has fans who support him. This is partly because, horrible as his end goal is, the outside world [[VillainHasAPoint did play a part]] in provoking it with Marley's repeated attempts to genocide Paradis and partly because [[EvilIsCool he just does it with such grace]] that it's hard not to be impressed.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:S-W]]
* SalvagedStory: The anime's rendition of [[spoiler:Eren and Armin's final conversation]] was better received than the in the manga. [[spoiler:Armin has a much stronger reaction to Eren killing 80% of humanity (when he was originally most upset by Eren seemingly not caring enough about Mikasa's feelings), and instead of thanking Eren for "becoming a mass murderer for their sakes", blames himself for instilling the concept of a vacant and unexplored world that Eren ultimately tried to create, assuring Eren that they're [[SeeYouInHell both going to hell]].]]
* SavedByTheFans: Sasha Blouse was supposed to die in earlier chapters, but becoming an EnsembleDarkhorse spared her life, [[spoiler: for another 70 chapters.]]
* ShipMates: Many fanfics that focus on Armin x Annie as the main couple often have Eren x Mikasa as the BetaCouple.
* ShipToShipCombat: There's been some conflict between fans of Levi x Eren and Erwin x Levi, as well as Armin x Eren, Mikasa x Eren, and Annie x Eren. Near the end of the manga, Mikasa x Eren fans were butting serious heads against fans of Historia x Eren.
%% * ShockingMoments: Everywhere. The [[DrinkingGame/AttackOnTitan Drinking Game]] entry encourages taking a drink for every JustForFun/HolyShitQuotient moment.
* SignatureScene: The Colossal Titan's head and hand creeping over Wall Maria is the very first scene that sets the plot in motion, and is prominent in the series' marketing; it's also most representative of the story's main theme (i.e., a Titan invasion that breaks a century-long peace granted by the Walls, and the vastly overwhelmed humans making a last stand against them).
* SpecialEffectFailure: [[http://i.imgur.com/hpl95ac.jpg This]] hilarious moment in Episode 13 when a Titan foot stomping on the ground causes blue stones to appear instead of regular debris. This can be blamed on a TroubledProduction consisting of a rushed schedule and a lack of animators.
* SpiritualSuccessor:
** WordOfGod acknowledges ''VisualNovel/MuvLuvAlternative'' as a core influence and inspiration, and it shows.
** ''Wings of Freedom'' is one of the best ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' games ever made.
* SpoiledByTheFormat:
** The back of the published manga can cause this in two different ways since it features the top 10 of the 104th trainee corps. If you've read the first volume or seen enough episodes, you can figure this out easily, and the fact that they're in order from 1-10 going left to right helps. On the back of volume two, Eren, the fifth from the left, is transparent, which one would assume is to show that he was killed in Book 1; but if you look at the later books, he goes back to being solid white, which means that he gets better in Book 2.
** This happens again with the cover of Volume 14, which prominently shows that Erwin has lost his [[AnArmAndALeg right]] arm.
** The cover of Volume 22 completely spoils Eren, Mikasa, and Armin making it to the ocean.
* StrawmanHasAPoint:
** The nobles ordering the refugees from the fall of Shiganshina into a hopeless expedition to reclaim Titan territory is meant to show their callousness and disregard for human life. However, the decision becomes quite a bit more justified when you realize that the city that took the refugees was flooded with them and just didn't have enough food to keep feeding them all. It's likely the doomed expedition actually saved the most number of lives possible. And while the heroes unilaterally consider the nobles and government monsters for sending so many people to die, no one ever brings up an alternate solution to the refugee problem that would have caused less loss of life (or, in fact, any other solutions at all). While Historia seizes the land of corrupt nobles and gives it to the people as farmland, it's unclear whether this solution would have addressed the immediate crisis had it been implemented sooner.
** Zeke's ultimate goal of [[spoiler: making all of the Children of Ymir infertile to rid the world of the Titans and the resulting FantasticRacism they suffer from is depicted as something that makes him a definite part of the BigBadEnsemble that's him, Eren and the Yaegerists. Though while it is certainly a rather extreme and horrific plan, many fans have a degree of support for it, as seen in RootingForTheEmpire above, as removing the Eldian race would prevent people like Marley from further manipulating and subjugating them for their own cruel ends, which would effectively make this a MercyKill like Zeke and his follower believe it is. Plus, as Yelena points out, making them infertile and having them slowly die out is certainly much more merciful than committing full-on mass genocide on the people of Eldia.]]
* TakeThatScrappy
** Many fans take pleasure in the TraumaCongaLine Gabi is being forced through in Paradis as her pro-Marley ideals are continually tested and broken by the people around her who are not afraid to call out her behavior. [[spoiler: For those who despise her for having killed Sasha, the brutal reality check she receives in Chapter 111 when she is outed for this is especially satisfying.]]
** Fans who dislike Mikasa for, among other things, her single-minded devotion to Eren, took a perverse glee in Chapter 112 when [[spoiler:Eren tells her that he's always hated her. It's later confirmed to be a lie, but in the moment it's good to see Mikasa's faith in Eren shaken.]]
** For those who dislike Floch, the scene in Chapter 128 when [[spoiler:he gets his butt handed to him by Kiyomi, an unarmed lady old enough to be his mother, if not grandmother, is really satisfying. This is followed up by Gabi of all people shooting Floch when he attempts to sink the ship they intend to use to reach Eren in Chapter 129. Regardless of his final fate and of Gabi's highly controversial presence, several fans cheered when he was shot out of the sky. [[KilledOffForReal Unsurprisingly, very few tears were shed when Mikasa finally finished him off for good in Chapter 132]]]].
* TheyChangedItNowItSucks:
** The reaction [[BrokenBase some]] manga fans had to changes in the anime adaptation. In particular, the changes in Episodes 24 and 25 are a subject of much (sometimes heated) debate among the fans.
** This is also people's reactions to how Titans sound in the English dub, especially the Rogue Titan. Some people think that now he sounds less like rage incarnate and more like an autotuned ''T. rex''.
** A lot of fans dislike the 4th opening theme "Red Swan" by Music/{{HYDE}} of Music/LArcEnCiel and Music/YoshikiHayashi of Music/XJapan. Even though the song is done by two legendary Japanese rockers and that Season 3 would deal with the Survey Corps' conflict with the government instead of the Titans, many fans find that the song should be more suitable as an ending theme and much prefer Linked Horizon instead.
** Shortly after the Marley arc began taking the series in a more sociopolitical direction rather than survival horror, [[BrokenBase several]] fans believed it ruined what had made the series great to begin with, which had continued into the final arc up until [[spoiler: Zeke used his spinal fluid to turn several people into Titans, thus reincorporating them into the story]].
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter:
** A number of Survey Corps members were killed off not long after showing how cool or interesting they were. Such as Mike, who is [[BadassNormal easily one of the best Titan Killers after Levi]], and Nanaba, who gets an odd amount of [[AllThereInTheManual lip service from sources outside the manga.]] Both of whom [[spoiler: die early in season 2.]]
** The Anti-Personnel Control Squad, aside from Kenny, get very little exposure in the series. Particuarly Traute Caven who is said to have dreams and aspirations that we never really get to hear about.
** The Tybur Family, [[spoiler: a group of Eldian Nobles who basically control Marley from the shadows, only exist to introduce the War Hammer Titan and then set up the coming WarArc. Many fans were expecting the Tyburs to come up again in some capacity after the Marley arc, but that never happened. Leaving them very underdeveloped.]]
** [[spoiler: Yelena]] quietly disappeared from the story after being a major player before [[spoiler: The Rumbling.]]
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot:
** During Season 3's first half, in an arc filled with political intrigue, the Survey Corps, which are the main force that kills Titans, go rogue, becoming effectively criminals living in the woods and alleys. However, by the time a Titan appears and threatens the Walls, everything has been pretty much sorted out. A lot more could have been done with the force that needs to defend the last remnants of the human race having been turned into pariahs by that same remnants.
** [[spoiler: After Annie reawakens in the final arc, she and Levi have zero interaction, even though she's the one who slaughtered his squad during the 57th scouting mission and he should want revenge on her as much as he does Zeke.]]
%%
%%
%% MODERATOR NOTICE: Do not re-add the DarknessInducedAudienceApathy entry unless you want to get banned. For one thing, it's being renamed to TooBleakStoppedCaring. For the other thing, without a consensus either in the forum or the discussion page we can't say that it's a legitimate addition.
%%
%%
%%ZCE* TooCoolToLive: A number of characters and groups including [[spoiler:Ian, The Special Operations Squad, Mike, Nanaba, Gelgar, and Kenny]].
%%ZCE* UglyCute: A few Titans manage to fall under this, in particular the now memetic "Kawaii Titan".
* UnintentionallySympathetic: After the timeskip, the author seems to go out of his way to make Eren's actions more and more heinous, from [[spoiler:killing several Liberio citizens to the extreme of committing global genocide of anyone outside the walls of Paradis. Despite the narrative demonizing Eren and painting him as the series' ultimate villain, many fans still defend and support Eren (usually as a comparison to the negative reception surrounding the alliance between the 104th and the Warriors) due to him [[DrivenToVillainy not truly wanting to commit those acts, but simply doing it to protect his people and because he believes seeing them in his future memories already dictates he will still do it no matter what his feelings are]]. Some even go as far as to suggest [[MisaimedFandom everyone outside the Walls completely deserves what Eren is doing to them]]]].
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic:
** Very, very much when the characters start talking about self-sacrifice and military casualties, even when the plot "punishes" the characters for such cynicism and the author illustrates the meaninglessness of human victims in the war. Armin and Erwin especially suffer because of this at the end of the first season, when they say that the soldier is an instrument and the commander must "give up his humanity" and "sacrifice something" for the sake of the goal, clearly meaning by something the lives of subordinates and actually promoting "the end justifies the means" as the basic morality of the first season. And as if this were not enough, in the 25th episode Erwin clearly hints that he is also ready to sacrifice the civilians, which becomes even more repulsive after the frames with the bloody little girl who is walking next to the corpses of her parents.
** On the other hand, there is Floch from the Battle of Shinganshina arc. His role is to [[WhatTheHellHero call out Eren and Mikasa's selfish decision]] to convince Levi to give the Titan serum to Armin instead of Erwin, which does provide more insight on the series' GrayAndGreyMorality, but he comes off as more of an unlikable StrawCharacter due to his constant antagonism extending to the rest of the Survey Corps.
** Gabi is meant to represent the viewpoint of Eldians living in Marley, and is initially presented as a naive but ambitious military cadet who cares a lot for Reiner, who is her older cousin. However, as the arc progresses, Gabi grows increasingly unlikable due to her treatment of Falco and her buying more and more into Marley's anti-Eldian propaganda. Fans' dislike towards her has reached a peak when [[spoiler:she is directly responsible for Sasha's death, and even to this day is regarded as one of the series' most hated characters.]]
** [[spoiler:Annie shares her true family backstory with Hitch during their horse ride during 125, revealing she was born to a Marleyan woman and an Eldian man, but abandoned her and was subsequently adopted and trained by Mr. Leonhardt. It could have worked to make her more sympathetic in the eyes of fans who only view her as a sadistic monster... had she not stated that if she had to kill everyone she had killed all over again to get back to her father, she absolutely would. It doesn't help that she's accepted by everyone with open arms after removing herself from most of the story, while her two more remorseful teammates were repeatedly lambasted and mauled for their actions (with one of them getting outright killed).]]
** [[spoiler:By the time the Rumbling has reached Marley and extended to much of the world, one Marleyan guard gives a passionate speech about them all realizing the error of their ways and promising they would do better if they lived another day. By this point, however, no one can really feel any form of sympathy with them because it was only when they were faced with the consequences of their actions that they suddenly felt remorse.]]
** [[spoiler:Karina Braun realizes why she should NOT have her used her son as a tool for revenge or allow him to become a psychopathic killing machine for an oppressive regime. Many felt that her sudden heel-turn, much like everyone else's, was too little too late.]]
** One reason why the ending became controversial within the fanbase is due to how [[spoiler:it takes a significant amount of exposition to fully present Eren's full motivation and viewpoint -- who at that point had killed 80% of the world's population and destroyed much of its infrastructure and environment. The author's intent appeared to be to emphasize that Eren did not commit horrid acts for the sake of it, but it may fall flat to those who believe he is EasilyForgiven by his friends, particularly with Armin "thanking" him for being willing to go so far for his loved ones (despite still greatly disapproving of his actions, as WordOfGod has clarified), and Mikasa [[TheLostLenore yearning for him after his death]]]].
** [[spoiler:Ymir Fritz was initially seen as a pitiable character who had a slave mindset so thoroughly ingrained that she continued following King Fritz' will for millennia up until Eren offered her autonomy... but earned ridicule in the finale when Eren suggests that she was actually ''in love'' with the King despite his horrifying treatment of her. A number of fans even consider her the BigBad due to how the plot was ultimately orchestrated to bring her to peace; ironically, this is despite how everything happened because she ''couldn't'' choose for herself.]]
* ValuesDissonance:
** Mikasa's devotion to Eren can come across as somewhat sexist to certain Western viewers, due to differing social values. While, to a Japanese audience, her devotion is a clear example of PillarsOfMoralCharacter, to a Western audience her behavior can come across as making her a SatelliteLoveInterest. And considering [[BrotherSisterIncest their status as adoptive siblings]], that can lead to a heavy dose of {{Squick}} for many viewers. It turns into a bit of FridgeBrilliance, due to Mikasa's Asian heritage in an otherwise Western-style culture. Eren ''himself'' is the one to scold her for putting him before everything else.
** The theme of suicide attacks and self-sacrifice in general also becomes a victim of this. While Japanese culture is very positive about the willingness to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the goal or close people, many Western viewers perceived such ideas in the show as over-cynical or even hypocritical, as the main characters avoided the fate of being an "instrument" [[PlotArmor because of their greater importance to the army and plot.]]
%%** The decision of many characters to spare Gabi Braun even after her slaying of Sasha is highly controversial for many; Sasha's own family, who had unknowingly taken her into their care refuse to take revenge on their daughter's killer as a display to show that revenge ultimately accomplishes nothing and only promotes further violence; many however would not be so easily forgiving if in the position of either the Blouse family or of her surviving friends in the Survey Corps, and Gabi almost certainly would be under tighter authority as a consequence of this in spite of her age. The fact that Gabi is [[EasilyForgiven supposedly forgiven]] by Kaya despite the latter's earlier desire to kill her over the loss of Sasha certainly did not help matters for many fans.
* ViewerGenderConfusion:
** A frequent problem, because of the art style. Many characters have lean, athletic builds and several female characters have strong features that are more traditionally thought of as masculine. Without obvious clues such as long hair or names, some secondary or minor characters are easily mistaken as men. Primary examples include Hange (much to [[TrollingCreator Isayama's]] amusement, but slightly clearer in the anime), Ymir prior to becoming a major character, and Nanaba... who confuses Japanese and foreign viewers alike.
** The Smiling Titan looks very androgynous, as it has a slender body, large eyelashes, rosy cheeks, and a fairly feminine hairstyle. Still, like every Titan except the Female Titan ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin who is female]]) [[spoiler: and the Warhammer Titan]], it's meant to resemble a male human. It's later revealed that there is a reason for it, as [[spoiler:the Smiling Titan was created from Grisha's first wife Dinah.]]
* ViewersInMourning: A given considering the high body count of the series, but the most notable cases of this by far would have to be Marco Bott, Petra Ral (who is arguably the most popular of the original Squad Levi), Erwin Smith, [[spoiler:Ymir, Sasha Blouse, Hange Zoe, and finally [[TheHeroDies Eren Yeager]]]].
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The anime is co-produced by Creator/ProductionIG, so this is to be expected. Special mention goes to the highly-detailed backgrounds by Creator/StudioBihou and drop-dead gorgeous maneuver gear scenes combining both 2D and 3D animation. [[http://i.minus.com/ibc2T2UdTE6HY9.gif Take a look]].
* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: It may be one of the most relentlessly serious, dark, violent, and horrifying shonen manga in TheNewTens and contemporary decades, easily on par with some of the grimmer seinen out there. There's even a brief mention of kidnapping and the ''child sex trade'' in a flashback sequence, and Episode 23 briefly implies the existence of prostitutes in general. Of course, this may or may not make it a throwback to series like ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'', which was classified Shounen back in the day, at least until the standards changed.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: Although traditionally this manga and especially adaptation is considered a strong anti-war work based on WarIsHell and the deconstruction of the idealized shonen tropes, some fans started looking for nationalist or militaristic messages in this work, after rumors of the author's right-wing views appeared on the Internet. Becomes more justified during the Marley arc when the series steers away from the post-apocalyptic world dominated by frightening giants to a more exposition-driven world of overt politics and war. That the Marley-Eldian conflict involves [[FantasyCounterpartCulture blatant stand-ins for Nazis and Jews]] means it's now impossible ''not'' to read some kind of political message into the story. Some view it as a commentary on antisemitism and Israel, others view it as a criticism of post-war Japanese society through the lens of TheRemnant, and yet others believe it's merely using real-life historical events to make a more general statement about war (themselves split between those who believe it's arguing that WarIsGlorious or that WarIsHell).
* WinBackTheCrowd:
** A meta example. Many people who weren't into anime (or had since grown out of it) have checked out the show thanks to its growing popularity, and it's caused the anime fandom as a whole to be back in the game on social media sites like Website/{{Tumblr}}.
** Complaints that the story moves too slowly seem to have been answered by everything after Chapter 50, with most of the proceeding chapters being a WhamEpisode of sorts.
** Fans who disliked the Marley arc for prioritizing exposition over action and the near-complete lack of Titans appeared to become reinvested in the story in the subsequent arc after [[spoiler:Zeke begins to Titanize the soldiers who drank the wine tainted by his spinal fluid]]. Cranked up a huge notch after Eren [[spoiler:triggered the Rumbling and unleashed the Colossal Titans on the world.]]
** Anime fans were somewhat demoralised when there were rumours that Studio WIT would not be animating the fourth and final season. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c14MVY3EVaQ When the main trailer came out]], confirming that Studio MAPPA would handle these duties, viewers were blown away by how well the animation change was handled due to its surprisingly stunning visuals. They claimed that this singlehandedly reignited their faith towards the series going out on a high. Though given the trailer was "pre-animated" (meaning it might be done by a totally different team than the actual final season), it might be a [[https://twitter.com/bloodyredstar/status/1266649500556447744?lang=en mistake]] to assume that.
** While the anime ending has its share of detractors, and remains fundamentally similar to the manga's conclusion, it is considered a vast improvement by some of those who did not like the manga's conclusion and warmly received by fans who watched the anime exclusively. The animation, voice acting, and pacing are highlights, as well as anime-original content such as [[spoiler:the final conversation with Eren and Armin]] addressing issues raised for the manga's version of events.
[[/folder]]
----