Film / Attack on Titan (2015)

aka: Attack On Titan

"If we fail now, it will be the end of humanity."

— Armin Arlert

As one of the most popular anime and manga series of The New '10s, Hajime Isayama's Attack on Titan (進撃の巨人, Shingeki no Kyojin) has become the head of a franchise that now includes a Live-Action Adaptation. This Toho Studios film was directed by Shinji Higuchi with music by Shiro Sagisu and released in 2015 as two films, each an hour and a half long: Part 1, simply called Attack on Titan, and Part 2, called Attack on Titan: The End of the World. The biggest change, apart from the Compressed Adaptation, was a smaller cast with many characters Adapted Out or combined, though some new characters also appear. The film was shot in Japan, starring an all-Japanese cast, different from the anime voice cast, though the Funimation English dub saw the English-language voice actors reprise their roles. The two movies also spun off a short web series, Attack on Titan: Counter Rockets starring the same cast as the movie.

Film cast (and Funimation English dub VA):

• Haruma Miura as Eren (Bryce Papenbrook)
• Kiko Mizuhara as Mikasa (Trina Nishimura)
• Kanata Hongo as Armin (Josh Grelle)
• Hiroki Hasegawa as Shikishima (Jason Liebrecht)
• Ayame Misaki as Hiana (Felecia Angelle)
• Jun Kunimura as Kubal (R. Bruce Elliott)
• Nanami Sakuraba as Sasha (Ashly Burch)
• Pierre Taki as Souda (David Wald)
• Rina Takeda as Lil
• Satomi Ishihara as Hans (Jessica Calvello)
• Satoru Matsuo as Sannagi (David Wald)
• Shu Watanabe as Fukushi (James Chandler)
• Takahiro Miura as Jean (Mike McFarland)
• Minami Takahashi as an unnamed soldier◊
• Kamio Yu as Yunohira
• Yuta Hiraoka as Izuru
• An uncredited actress as Minami

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Attack on Titan contains examples of:

• Action Girl: Several, as in the manga and anime, namely Mikasa, Sasha, Hans, Lil (played by martial artist Rina Takeda, Hiana, and an unnamed garrison soldier. The only non-action female characters are in the background.
• Action Mom: Hiana, who joined the Survey Corps to support her daughter Riko.
• Adaptational Heroism: Eren Yeager is much nobler than the original manga, he never became the Big Bad. Though he had always had a sense of justice, even if he abandoned it by the end.
• Adaptational Name Change: Hans is known as Hange Zoe in the series. That's about all they changed.
• Adaptational Villainy:
  • Kubal, the Colossal Titan is much less sympathetic then the characters he was based off. While Nile Dok was a puppet of the nobility and turned on them after they betrayed humanity, Kubal's rule of the Military Police is absolute and he is responsible for the false flag attacks on humanity. While Kitz Woerman wanted to execute Eren out of fear that he was a threat, Kubal did so to control the popultation. Finally the Colossal Titan of the manga and anime, Bertolt Hoover, felt a great deal of guilt over his actions and even saw most of his fellow soldiers as friends. It is later made clear that he was indoctrinated and pressured to commit atrocities at a young age. Kubal, however, is a grown man who remorselessly manipulates the human soldiers and takes no issue with the destruction he causes.
  • Shikishima is also much less sympathetic then Levi, given that while Levi may have taken part in a rebellion he never tried to have the people of the inner walls indiscriminately slaughtered.
• Adaptational Wimp:
  • Titan shifters lack the healing factor they have in the manga and anime. Kubal tries to have Eren executed by gunfire, and being the Colossal would know that it would work. Later the Armorer Titan feeds the Colossal Titan a bomb killing them both despite that Reiner Braun survived having the Armored Titan ripped apart by an artillery shell.
  • The walls appear to be ordinary concrete walls and can be damaged by mundane means. The walls in the manga and anime are virtually indestructible due to being made out of hardened Colossal Titans that if woken up would annihilate all life on earth.
• Adaptation Dye-Job:
  • Armin goes from blond hair to Kanata Hongo's black hair.
  • The Bearded Titan goes from having light gray hair to black hair.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Mikasa and Eren, from people who grew up alongside each other as step-siblings to being a legitimate couple.
• Adapted Out: Levi (replaced with Shikishima), Annie, Connie, Krista/Historia, Ymir, Erwin, Reiner, Marco, Dot Pixis, Carla, Grisha, Nick, Bertolt, Hannes...
• The Alcoholic: Souda, who really took to drinking after the Titan invasion of Monzen.
• Alternate Continuity: The footage Shikishima shows Eren is of 21st-century Earth, so no Paradis or Marley. No Wall Titans. Hange is named Hans. No Historia or Ymir, no Coordinate, no Puppet King, no PATHS...^note This was when the series was still at the start of the Coup arc, so the changes were necessary.
• Ate His Gun: To the horror of his comrade, one of the garrison troops shoots himself when the Titans breach the outer wall.
• Attack Its Weak Point: Survey Corps doctrine is to aim for the back of the Titan's neck.
• Badass Army: The Survey Corps is the most badass of the three armies, the Military Police and the Garrison less so.
• Barbie Doll Anatomy: The Titans, as in the series.
• Battle Couple: In the first movie: Lil and Fukushi; Mikasa and Shikishima; Eren and Hiana. Neither of these three couples survives intact, though Eren and Mikasa certainly do.
• Beard of Evil: The Bearded Titan.
• Big Eater: Sasha, who asks for seconds at dinner and is called the "Hungry Sniper" on the poster.
• Bloodier and Gorier: Worth noting at this point is that Titans that get slashed have much bigger blood splatters than in the anime. Some of it even gets on the camera
• Bloody Bowels of Hell: How the film depicts Eren being eaten by the Bloated Titan.
• Book Burning: The police burn Grisha Yeager's books.
• Canon Character All Along: Kubal and Shikishima initially seem to be stand-ins for the military brass and Levi Ackerman, respectively. They're eventually revealed to be the film continuity's versions of the Colossal Titan and the Armored Titan.
• Canon Foreigner: Shikishima, Hiana, Souda, Lil, Sannagi, Fukushi.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • Eren improvising a knee to the head when his other leg's caught comes back into play when Eren!Titan goes up against the Armored Titan.
  • Armin still has that kid's noisemaker toy when he gets the idea to wire it up as a detonator for a dud bomb. Unfortunately he never got to fix it like he promised...
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The Survey Corps wear the same outfit as in the manga/anime — brown bolero jacket over khaki — while the Garrison troops wear khaki and the Military Police Brigade wear black and red.
• Composite Character:
  • Hans takes Erwin's job as commander of the Survey Corps and the appearance and personality of Hange.
  • Shikishima replaces Levi, Reiner Braun as the Armored Titan and Zeke Yeager as Eren's brother.
  • Kubal takes Niles Dawk's role as the commander of the Military Police Brigade, Kitz Woerman as the one who tries to execute Eren, and Bertholdt Hoover as the Colossal Titan.
• Compressed Adaptation: The two movies fit the arc roughly covered in 25 episodes into three hours of film.
• Death by Adaptation: Jean is killed by the Colossal Titan in the second movie. He survived the manga and outlived Bertholdt, the true identity of the Colossal Titan in the manga.
• Death of a Child: The baby Mikasa tried to save died during the invasion of Monzen.
• Demoted to Extra: The Bearded Titan still appears but it is not the one that eats Eren forcing him to transform, instead that role is fulfilled by The Bloated Titan.
• Emergency Transformation: Dying from being shot by Sasha, Kubal turns into the Colossal Titan.
• Enfant Terrible: The baby Titan that lures Eren and Hiana into a trap.
• Evil Is Burning Hot: The Colossal Titan that tears down the outer wall.
• Eye Scream: Sasha shoots the Bearded Titan in the eyes to distract it, and later shoots the Armored Titan's left eye.
• Failed a Spot Check: Minami misses the Titan that kills her in Omotemachi.
• False Flag Operation: Kubal transforms into the Colossal Titan to maintain the unification of humanity through a Reign of Terror.
• Fat Bastard: The Bloated Titan.
• Four-Star Badass: Kubal, commander of the Military Police Brigade.
• Friendly Sniper: Sasha, who is a skilled enough shot to hit the Bearded Titan in the eyes.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Armin, who starts the movie promising a boy he will repair a noisemaker he built for him.
• Gender-Blender Name: Hans, in this movie a Japanese woman with a German male name, and Sasha, whose name works equally well for men and women.
• Genki Girl: Nightmare Fetishist Hans.
• The Ghost: The government.
• Ghost City / Ghost Town: The ruined Monzen, filmed at Hashima, a popular location for any movie set in ruins.
• Giant Eye of Doom: The Bloated Titan that grabs Hiana.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: Mikasa has a long scar on her side from when she was bitten by a Titan.
• Gory Discretion Shot: After the Titans tear the roof off the wooden building in Monzen.
• Growling Gut: Gives away Sasha's position to the Titans.
• Half the Man He Used to Be: Fukushi gets chomped in half by a Titan, and another soldier gets pulled apart by a group.
• Hong Kong Dub: The English dub can get off-sync at it's moments, where characters talk to each other.
• Hypocrite: When Kubal tries to execute Eren, he explains that living in poverty made the people within the wall into better people. This is despite that he and the upper class secretly enjoy the luxories from before the fall.
• Immune to Bullets: The Titans survive being shot by the Garrison's cannons in the beginning.
• Inappropriately Close Comrades: Shikishima makes a move on Mikasa, not seeming to mind that Eren, Hiana, and a Titan are nearby. Meanwhile, Hiana tries to get Eren to cop a feel on her until the Bloated Titan shows up.
• Kid Amidst the Chaos: Invoked and then cruelly subverted - Hiana can hear a surviving baby in the ruins, which was logically impossible given how long it's been since anyone was out here. That's because it was a baby Titan. And its crying attracts more of them.
• Killed Mid-Sentence: Almost...Sasha shoots Kubal in the throat, but he turns into the Colossal Titan.
• Lethal Lava Land: The Colossal Titan's body.
• Lonely Piano Piece: "The End of the World" by Skeeter Davis, as played by Mikasa.
• Long Hair Is Feminine: Mikasa has longer hair in this movie, though not as long as that worn by Sasha, Hiana, or Lil.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": When the Titans march into Monzen, and plenty of times later on◊.
• Melting-Pot Nomenclature: With the Japanese cast, names such as Eren, Armin, Sasha, and Hans stand in contrast to Mikasa, Shikishima, Hiana, and Sannagi.
• Named by the Adaptation: Inverted as the walls are never referred to as Maria, Rose, and Sina.
• Nightmare Fetishist: Hans.
• No Name Given: The female soldier played by AKB48 member Minami Takahashi and the soldier who Failed a Spot Check.
• Ominous Latin Chanting: As often happens on Shiro Sagisu's soundtracks, the score features English chanting.
• Painful Transformation: For Eren, Shikishima, and Kubal.
• Promoted to Love Interest: Mikasa and Eren (who are mostly only step-siblings in the manga and anime) are made a legitimate couple in the two films.
• Putting on the Reich: The Military Police Brigade's black uniforms with red armbands and the Garrison's khaki uniforms. Compare here◊.
• Race Lift: Most of the characters were originally German/European, but were cast with Japanese actors or replaced with Japanese characters, leaving Mikasa — a mixed-race character played by half-American/half-Japanese actress Kiko Mizuhara — as the only major character not to be "racebent" in adaptation.
• Rebellious Rebel: Eren, when he leaves Shikishima's movement.
• Red Armband of Leadership: The Military Police Brigade.
• Red Baron: Mikasa picks up the nickname "The Goddess" for her Titan-slaying abilities.
• Ruins of the Modern Age: Instead of a semi-medieval feel like in the series, the movies go for more a modern war torn vibe with things like dud bombs and vehicles. Most of the first movie takes place around a ruined apartment district.
• Scarf of Asskicking: The famous red scarf, which in this film Eren gives to Mikasa after she says she feels cold.
• Seal the Breach: The main goal of the military is to travel to where the outer wall was breached and use explosives to seal it. The explosives transported were lost, but the dud bomb from earlier is improvised and used instead.
• Sequel Hook
  • Part 1: Eren transforms into a Titan.
  • Part 2: Eren and Mikasa climb the wall and see the sea, which an unexpected observer comments on in English.
• Shaky Cam: Displayed a lot during the Titan Eren battles. There's a lot of fast zooms ins, out and cuts during these.
• Ship Tease: With Connie, Nicolo and Annie being Adapted Out, Sasha is paired with Armin instead.
• Shout-Out:
  • Lil gets into a Raiders of the Lost Ark-style fight with the carjacker in the cab of the ammo truck.
  • The Bloated Titan opening its eye behind Hiana looks like the Tyrannosaurus rex in Jurassic Park or Smaug.
  • At the end of Part 2, Mikasa grabs Eren and pulls him up the way Sam saved Frodo from drowning as they escaped Parth Galen.
• Show Within a Show: SNK and AOT. Two news channels, both named for Attack on Titan, shown during the flashback.
• Sigil Spam: The white symbol (a sun disc inside a crescent moon) on the red banners.
• State Sec: The Military Police Brigade, who have exchanged the khaki for black uniforms with red decorations.
• Stout Strength: Sannagi, hailing from the farming region, can judo flip a Titan.
• Taking You with Me: Lil fights off the carjacker to drive the burning ammo truck into a crowd of Titans, Sannagi makes like Samson and pulls the tower down on the APC, and Shikishima personally stuffs the bomb into Kubal's mouth.
• Teenage Pregnancy: Hiana's daughter Riko is old enough for this to have happened.
• Tokusatsu: Mixed with CGI to create the Titans and the city.
• Tomboyish Ponytail: Sasha wears one to keep her hair clear when she uses her bow and arrow.
• Vehicular Theme Naming: Like Mikasa, Shikishima is named for an Imperial Japanese Navy battleship from the Russo-Japanese War. The two characters are not related in this movie though.
• Was Once a Man: The Titans were all transformed humans.
• Weapons Kitchen Sink: The military use historical, modern, Japanese, and foreign weapons together, suggesting they will take any weapon they can build or grab. The garrison troops use Ariasaka rifles, M1 carbines and Type 53 flare guns, Hans carries an RPG-7 launcher and a Stinger missile launcher, and other troops use M4 carbines and M240 machine guns.
• Wearing a Flag on Your Head: Kubal wears a flag as a cape for his final speech before turning into the Colossal Titan.
• White Void Room: Seen twice in Part 2.
• Wine Is Classy: Shikishima offers Eren a glass of sparkling wine in Part 2.
• The Worf Effect: At the beginning, the Titans break through the wall and slaughter the Garrison troops.

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♫ Don't you let your heart grow numb to everyone
Oh child, listen to the sound of silence
Saving someone else means saving yourself
It's true, and I'm sure you know it too... ♫

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