Attack on Titan may be a lot younger than the big three, but it's gained almost as much popularity around the world in very little time, and has spawned many memes as a result.
open/close all folders
Please add entries in the following format:- The meme[[labelnote:Explanation]]The explanation behind the meme, if necessary[[/labelnote]]ExplanationLike this
Guren no Yumiya
Character-specific memes
- Bertolt sweating and his various distressed facial expressions.
- Then there is Jean and people (jokingly... most of the time) mistaking him for Reiner or Thomas due to similiar character designs. Jean also is somewhat of a memetic Butt-Monkey on certain boards, where people who like him or ship him with Mikasa are often told: "Jean, please leave/go to bed."
- Levi's ass has achieved memetic status, because of his bizarre pose
◊ after kicking Eren. - Levi is a Disney Princess.ExplanationFrom a scene where he opens a window to clean, people noticed the similarities between that scene and the beginning of Beauty and the Beast in which everyone opens their windows during a musical number. The fandom took the joke and ran with it
- Just the fact that "Levi is a Disney Princess" appears on Google's search suggestions. In other words, the fact that Disney Princess Levi is memetic is a meme in itself.
- The walls being made to protect the Titans from Levi / "On that day, the Titans recieved a grim reminder..."ExplanationDespite humanity being solidly outmatched by the Titans for most of the series, the sole exception to this is Levi, who has utterly dominated every fight he's been in - to the point where he's delivered a Curb-Stomp Battle to the previously untouchable Female Titan, and three to the similarly strong Beast Titan. Hence jokes about how while humanity lives in fear of the Titans, the Titans live in fear of Levi.
- Photoshopping together pictures of Armin and Coconut Head, due to their resemblance, is becoming popular. Observe.◊
- Moves Like Jaeger, a meme that arose due to how similar Eren's last name is to "Jagger", from the Maroon Five song "Moves Like Jagger." Here are a◊ few examples of the◊meme.
- According to this chart◊, Levi and Mikasa are both heavier than Eren despite being shorter and the same height respectively. Encouraged by official artwork that shows Mikasa having distinct abs, many fans have humorously depicted Eren as being noticeably◊ scrawny in◊ comparison◊ to the two's much more muscular builds.
- Eren's Japanese voice actor, Yūki Kaji, was mostly known in the west for voicing polarizing characters. Now that he's voicing Eren, jokes about comparing Eren to his less popular roles◊ are quite common.
- Another popular meme, mainly from Japan but gaining popularity in the west, involves depicting Eren as in love◊ with Rivale/Levi and◊ Mikasa's feelings for him unrequited as a result.◊
- Demon Lord Corporal.ExplanationA popular Eren/Rivalle doujinshi that takes place in an AU in which Eren is a young village girl and Levi is a powerful demon who befriends her.
- Riva-Sha...ExplanationAnother popular doujinshi in which Levi and Eren are reincarnated as brothers. Eren is just a toddler and has trouble pronouncing his name
- Marco is all right.ExplanationDue to how Marco dies (his entire right side was taken off by a titan), it's clearly an incredibly morbid pun.
- Ha?ExplanationThe small confused noise that Jean makes in one episode.
- Two words: Shota He-Man.ExplanationA few people have taken notice of the similiarities beetween Armin and He-Man.
- Potato Girl.ExplanationSasha Blouse/Braus, a female character in the show likes to eat food, especially steamed potatoes. Her first scene has her eating a steamed potato that she stole in front of their drill instructor.
- Pole dancer Levi.ExplanationAround Tumblr, it's become pretty popular around the fanon that Levi's shady past involves him being a pole dancer. It escalated after that video appeared in Youtube.
- (눈_눈)ExplanationIn reference to the bored look that Levi carries 98% of the time.
- Notably, the symbol that appears twice is Korean for "eye".
- Reiner's Bara titties.ExplanationTumblr fans are very fond of Reiner's chest, triggering all manner of jokes about him having man-boobs.
- Mylius Zeramusky aka background-chan.ExplanationThe cute blonde Red Shirt in Eren's squad who died during the Trost battle has become pretty popular with the female audience on Tumblr.
- Eren should really stop leaving Mikasa's side.explanation!Many fans have pointed out that bad things happen whenever Eren is separated from Mikasa during battle. spoiler Even managing to get kidnapped about two seconds after he leaves her side by Reiner and Bertolt
- Annie, are you OK?ExplanationA joke using the lyric from the Michael Jackson song "Smooth Criminal".
- HATSUNE FUCKING YMIR!◊ExplanationFrom the new joke poster, which has Ymir wearing Hatsune Miku's dress. Because the same voice actress provides the voice for both characters.
- Legout.ExplanationThe name the fans have given to an unnamed background character who looks like Armin with brown hair, commonly referred to as Armin's Evil Twin. Originated from a joke edit post, but then a character strongly resembling said edit appeared in the background of episode 23.
- The nickname has since extended to an actual character named Nifa, who bears a striking resemblance to Armin. 4chan has also dubbed her Armin's "good twin."
- As of Chapter 57, her fate has given her the additional nickname of "Faceoff."
- Jean is a horse.ExplanationIn episode 23, Eren makes a comment about Jean having a horse face. The fandom took it and ran with it, its popularity bolstered by the fact that using people with horse heads to represent mindless internet trolls was already a popular meme.
- Sorry, that was a strange thing to ask.ExplanationIn episode 15, Erwin comes out of nowhere to ask Eren who he thinks the true enemy is, then notes that was a strange question to ask. Fans took screenshots and replaced the question he asked with even stranger ones that would make no sense to ask in the show.
- Petra-ing.ExplanationPetra dies in episode 21 after being slammed facefirst into a tree by the Female Titan. It's become a photo meme since then to imitate her pose upon death against a tree.
- Mikasa es su casa. ExplanationMikasa's name is commonly used in puns on the Spanish phrase mi casa es su casa (My house is your house), due to the similar pronunciation between "Mikasa" and "mi casa". Or, alternately, "Mikasa es Tsukasa".
- Levi wanted to finish his tea.ExplanationLevi gets this half-Oh, Crap!, half-annoyed expression when Eren accidentally transformed during a break as he was drinking tea.
- Eren is Princess Peach.Explanation (minor spoilers)Due to Eren's tendency to get kidnapped, it's become popular in fan art to depict him as Princess Peach, and to depict Mikasa and Levi as the Mario brothers. Levi holding a super-shroom is optional.
- "It has been (X) days since Eren Jeager was last kidnapped."
- No, I don't want that! {Example} Finding another man! Explanation (minor spoilers)In the final chapter, one of the most infamous scenes was Eren having a mental breakdown on the prospect of Mikasa finding another man. Detractors of the ending state that it was out of character and pathetic, mocking it as character assassination. Supporters found it to be an interesting insight of Eren's psyche. Whatever is the case, the scene itself became a giant meme of how weird it was.
- Eren's dad has pretty much become the third member of the "Big Three" aloof fathers in anime, alongside Gendo Ikari and Hohenheim the Wise.
- Eren manipulating X. Explanation (minor spoilers)A Brazilian meme format that uses the scene in which Eren manipulates Grisha into murdering the royal family. In this meme format, Eren manipulates someone else into doing something. For example, manipulating Cristiano Ronaldo into ignoring a Coca Cola bottle.
- Eren...What a man you are... Explanation (minor spoilers)A mistranslation by Reiner in the final chapter after figuring out Eren's plan. After the image was posted, due to how absurd Reiner's statement is in the context of the manga, it immediately grew as a meme mocking the ending of the series. With some incorrectly pointing out as an example of the dip in writing quality.
- Reiner sniffing Historia's Letter. Explanation (minor spoilers) Another scene from the final chapter showed the aftermath of the Rumbling, with one of the last scenes we see from Reiner is him sniffing the letter from Historia and fantasizing about her smell. Due to the sheer levels of Squick and how creepy most have found it, it became another meme mocking both Reiner and the ending's conclusion to the manga's detractors.
- While everyone takes an L. Jean mains keep on winning! Explanation (minor spoilers)Memes about Jean sleeping with Mikasa quickly blew up once the extra panels from the final chapter was released, in which a man next to an elderly Mikasa has a similar silhouette as Jean. Fans quickly took note of this, with detractors making fun on how every major character lost in some way with the exception of Jean.
- Annie is Kira.ExplanationWhen Annie is exposed as the Female Titan, she has an eerily similar reaction to Light when he's exposed as Kira.
- Humanity's Worst Fear. Explantion On episode 4 of season 2, Reiner opens a locked door only to encounter a Titan climbing the stairs, and immediately re-locks it. The titan is replaced with various other characters or scenes, often to give the impression of Reiner reacting to something obviously Faux Horrific.
- EREN HAS AN EIGHT PACK!◊ AND NIPPLES!◊ExplanationEren provided the first canon Shirtless Scene in the entire manga, and averted Barbie Doll Anatomy to boot. The fangirls promptly freaked out.
- Poor Armin.ExplanationIn chapter 53, Armin was forced to crossdress for spoiler reasons and a Dirty Old Man wound up molesting him.
- SOMEONE SAVE HIM ALREADY!
- People mistaking Armin for Krista. The fact that he later crossdresses as her to fool the kidnappers certainly didn't help anything.
- ALL HAIL QUEEN HISTORIA!ExplanationIn chapter 55, Erwin learns the Reiss family is the real royal family and plans to replace the Fake King with Historia.
- You're an Ackerman. He's an Ackerman. Everyone's an Ackerman.ExplanationLevi's surname is revealed to be Ackerman and the man who killed Historia's mother is revealed to be Ackerman as well.
- You're an acronym. He's an acronym. Everyone's an acronym.
- STOP KILLING OFF EVERYONE LEVI CARES FOR!ExplanationBrought on by the expression Levi has in chapter 57 after he sees the rest of Hanji's squad gunned down by the Humanity Suppression task force.
- Kanye Ackerman.ExplanationThe brutal and mysterious Captain Ackerman of the First Brigade is stated by Levi to be a former Serial Killer and his mentor/surrogate father whose first name is Kaney, which lends itself nicely to an anagram.
- "Yo Levi, Imma let you finish, but I'm Humanity's strongest".ExplanationExtension of the parent meme, helped tremendously by the fact that most English translations actually make "Yo, Levi" the first thing he says to Levi.
- Your friendly neighborhood Military Policeman.ExplanationHappens during Levi and Kaney Ackermans' fight where Levi escapes into the bar and Kaney smashes through yelling about how he was there to get rid of all the bad guys.
- Many people are parodying Kaney's Guns Akimbo pose, mainly because of how his legs are drawn to be incredibly long.
- Marlow is a kappa.ExplanationJean calls Marlow a kappa-head, due to his haircut in chapter 59.
- "Captain... Armin..."ExplanationUpon waking up after being captured by Rod Reiss, Eren thinks specifically of Levi and Armin, but not Mikasa (though he does worry about the Survey Corps, which would include her). Many fans saw this as yet another sign of Eren's incredible denseness in regards to Mikasa's feelings for him, as well as Mikasa's perpetual Butt-Monkey status due to her unrequited love.
- Big-Ass TreesExplanationIn Episode 18, Levi smacks some sense into Eren by reminding him of the location they're in. However, Levi being Levi, he crudely describes the forest as such, and the corny delivery stuck in the fandom to the point where said forest got the Fan Nickname of "Forest of Big-Ass Trees".
- The Bertl Bomb. Explanation In Chapter 77, the Beast Titan throws Bertholdt over the wall inside a crate, with the intention of having him transform over the city.
- The Bertl Badass. ExplanationIn Chapter 78, Bertholdt beats Mikasa in a one-on-one fight, landing a brutal kick to her face to boot. The fandom has swarmed over this, noting how powerful an accomplishment that is.
- Hange is immortal. ExplanationAfter presumably she and everyone in her squad died in a giant explosion caused by Bertholdt, Hange shows up again looking virtually unscathed, minus an eye injury, and still having working gear, thus leading to the fandom joke that she can't be killed. Harsher in Hindsight/Hilarious in Hindsight as Hange eventually bites it while fighting off the Wall Titans in Chapter 132.
- Levi kicking the door. Explanation After everything they've gone through, the group finally makes it to the basement only for the key to not work. Levi's solution to this is to just kick a hole through the door and open it from the other side.
- Zeke's pony.Explanation(spoilers) A meme that originated from this post basically saying that the whole reason Zeke sold out his parents to the Marley officers and left them to die is because Grisha wouldn't get him a pony. Now the meme has reached a point where Zeke is apparently completely obsessed with ponies.
- As expected of Pieck! That's exactly right!ExplanationA popular phrase that popped up from one of the translations of chapter 95 wherein Zeke praises Pieck's intellect with that exact wording. It's pretty much become the go-to phrase to express the fandom's love for Pieck. Often accompanied by Zeke pointing at Pieck in the same scene, which has become the signature hand gesture associated with this phrase.
- BertholdtExplanation"Bertholdt" is an incredibly common spelling of "Bertolt", which is the character's official translated name. Because of this, it's become popular to deliberately botch the character's name.
- Pieck's assExplanationPart of Pieck's massive appeal among the characters in the series is her equally massive ass. When walking on all fours in front of Porco, her butt ended up looking curvaceous despite wearing a large, flowing, curve-hiding skirt. In a series where every other female is slender and has their bodies further downplayed by their outfits, this struck a nerve with the fanbase. Cue the endless references to Pieck's "cake", near-universally being best girl (helped by her great intelligence and autonomy), and even her haters among the fans who view her as just another war criminal still acknowledging her gratuitous ass.
- The (Plot) Armored TitanExplanationDue to the absurd amounts of Why Won't You Die? that Reiner is subject to by the Survey Corps, many fans have taken to referring to his power as this. To date, he has survived multiple stabbings, near decapitation, had all his limbs sliced off, his throat slit, had a blade run through his head, and even had the entire top of his head blown off. He lived through all of this, making many joke that he had Plot Armor in addition to the normal Titan Armor he has. The irony of all this is that Reiner is a suicidal Death Seeker, meaning he can't die even when he wants to, and many Black Comedy jokes have been made at his expense. Of course, Reiner ended up surviving the manga.
- The Suffer TitanExplanation Between being rejected by his father, manipulated by his mother, raised as a second-class citizen, seeing numerous friends die due to his own actions, used as a punching bag by Eren, all the while suffering from intense guilt, dissociative identity disorder, and suicidal thoughts, it's been jokingly theorized Reiner's true Titan power is to endure endless punishment and never die.
- WHY ARE YOU BLACK? Explanation After meeting Onyankopon, Sasha's first question for him is asking why his skin is dark. Many compared the scene to this Madagascar meme◊, along with edits of the "Why are you gay?" meme.
- "That's one hell of a pilot!!!"ExplanationThe introduction of Onyankopon, who seems to be modeled after John Boyega, piloting a Cool Airship to rescue and extract the Survey Corps in Chapter 104, brought to mind that line from Finn.
- ErehExplanationHow Mikasa pronounces Eren's name in the subbed version has caught on with the fanbase.
- Chad ErenExplanation Virgin vs. Chad is a series of memes where two characters are juxtaposed and the Chad character is considerably superior. In chapter 110, the pose Eren makes when he is donning a black jacket resembles that of the Chad character. It also goes hand in hand with Eren's development.
- Eren Yeager wrote Attack On TitanExplanationIt is revealed in Chapter 121 that Eren masterminded the Reiss Family massacre and was manipulating Grisha behind the scenes. It led to a lot of exaggerated jokes about how the entire plot was a part of Eren's master plan and him supervising Isayama on how to write the storyline.
- Dad ErenExplanationAfter Chapter 122, it became common to make jokes about Eren adopting Ymir Fritz (the progenitor of Titans) as his daughter. One normal scenario for the joke involves ordinary activities which Eren treats as important tests of freedom, often at Zeke's expense. The other is significantly darker as it treats the Rumbling and total destruction of humanity outside the walls as father/daughter bonding time.
- Monke ExplanationNickname for Zeke Yeager. Alternatively written as Monkey, MONKE, or M O N K E.
- "SHIIIZAAAAAAAA!!!" Explanation (spoilers)In episode 65, the Attack Titan's rampage across Marley results in Zofia being crushed by a giant rock. Comparisons to Caesar Zeppeli's fate from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure have already been made.
- Too bad Zofia wasn't there to give Kakashi her Sharingan. Explanation (spoilers)Related to the above, fans made this joke by remembering the time Obito Uchiha had half his body crushed by a boulder, and transplanted his own special eye to his friend Kakashi.
- Gabi's beatdown. Explanation (spoilers)In an anime-only moment for episode 67, we get to see close-up shots of Gabi being assaulted by the Survey Corps after she fatally shot Sasha. One such picture, which was a clear punch to Gabi's face◊, was used as a reaction regarding the satisfaction towards her just-desserts, or a response towards questions about this episode's favorite moment.
- Ellen becomes dove (crying) Explanation (spoilers)A very badly google-translated version of a text leak for chapter 137. The actual Japanese phrase was about the leaker's worry that Eren will take last place in the popularity poll (crying). What's funnier is that this meme actually predicted Eren's fate in the story.
- Ellen becomes tree (growing) Explanation (spoilers)A continuation of the Bird meme. This time, used to mock the extra panels from the final chapters, with some fans calling it even worse than the original ending. This is because the tree that Eren's head was buried in, grew to resemble the same tree that Ymir fell into. Some have even accused the ending for sequel baiting and making the entire point of Eren's journey pointless.
- Here's how Eren can still win. Explanation (Major Spoilers)With Eren's decreasing chances of winning, following the Founding Titan's head being blown off in chapter 137, ironic memes inspired by "how Bernie can still win" took off. These range from simply being in denial, to coming up with absurd and nonsensical scenarios akin to conspiracy theories.
- Eren is Alive and Well in Paradis Explanation (Major Spoilers)A sort-of snowclone of the above meme, based on a fan theory that Eren was not actually in the Founding Titan leading the Rumbling and was instead controlling it through the Warhammer's remote control ability or, in a less serious theory, that the body he left behind in Paradis regrew into a new Eren.
- The Chad Falco Explanation (Major Spoilers)In the final page of Chapter 137, we get a good look at Falco's flying titan watching Armin detonate his titan inside Eren's body. Many have noted that Falco's face in this particular image bares a striking resemblance to the "Yes Chad" meme from Wojack Comics. Just see for yourself.
- Necrophilia Explanation (Major Spoilers)In Chapter 138, Mikasa decapitates Eren, and then picks up the dead, still-bleeding head to kiss it on the lips. Understandably, this reignited the jokes about her being a Yandere.
- When you know Mikasa is stronger than you and Armin is smarter than you so you argue with Mikasa and fight with Armin. Explanation (spoilers) In episode 73, Eren telling Mikasa she is nothing but a slave and that he has always hated her and then beating up Armin when he retaliates for Eren's hurtful words has brought this up.
- Tatacaw/Flight. Explanation (Ending Spoilers)The Parasitic Jaeger bird reoccurs throughout the series and at the end it is implied the one that flies above Armin and then fixes Mikasa's scarf on her neck is Eren's reincarnation. Fans found this hysterical and edited the bird's Wikipedia page to reference the scene, on top of making puns off Eren's Tatakae/Fight mantra and editing his face over pictures of birds. As Eren felt unwilling to let Mikasa get over his death, fans also depict him as a possessive stalker who pecks at anyone trying to flirt with her.
- Thank you for becoming a mass murderer for us. Explanation A line by Armin in an early translation of 139. In context, it's Armin realizing Eren shouldered a terrible burden to save Eldia, and the official translations clarified he didn't actually approve of Eren's mass murder, but considered himself an accomplice all the same, and promised to not let his grave sin go to waste. However, the awkward phrasing makes it sound like Armin is just very pleased with the mass murder. Not helped by the fact Armin was already a Memetic Psychopath thanks to A Slap On Titan.
- Ymir the Simp ExplanationThe final chapter reveals that Ymir stayed in the Paths for possibly millions of years (from her perspective) because she was in love with King Fritz. As the man enslaved, tortured, and raped her, some fans were quick to mock Ymir as the ultimate simp.
- Aaron Yoghurt Explanation (Spoilers) In one of Mikasa's dreams, she dreamt of her and Eren running away from the world and living in a cottage together, with Eren abandoning his responsibilities. "Aaron Yoghurt" soon became Eren's doppelganger, this version of him being portrayed as a wimpy coward whose biggest accomplishment is catching a big fish nearby instead, in contrast to Eren The Determinator.
- Yelena's face Explanation In Chapter 118, Armin voices his support for the Yaegerist faction to the group, under the belief that by helping them bring Zeke and Eren together, they can ensure the safety of the world as a whole. Cue Yelena coming up behind Armin, and the latter looking behind him to see Yelena giving him the mother of all Death Glares in seeming disapproval, her face contorted into a jarringly intense frowning expression◊. Yelena's intimidating face gained a lot more traction when it was adapted to the anime, leading to many edits and parody redraws of the scene with characters from other franchises in Armin and Yelena's place.
- My name is Eren Yeager! ExplanationEpisode 21 of the Final season sees Eren use the Paths to communicate with the world about his intentions to commit mass genocide of everyone outside of Paradis Island. Viewers were quick to find dark humor in the idea of characters going about their daily lives only to get bombarded with this massive bombshell, and began photoshopping other characters getting thrown into the Paths with this revelation.
- Eren Whispering in your Ear Explanation (major spoilers)Eren eventually unlocks the ability to send his consciousness through time and command everyone else who ever held his Titan power, including his own father Grisha. It’s common to put Eren's face◊ next to another character, commanding them to perform an important action.
- Now that Yuki Kaji is married to Ayana Taketatsu, one would wonder if Eren whispering him for the next thing to do after his marriage.
- Boobkasa ExplanationSince the beginning of the series, fans have taken notice of Mikasa Ackerman's increased bust size in the anime, starting all the way back in season 1 when OP 2 gave the viewers a close up of Mika in workout clothes. The meme went dormant for a while until some screenshots from season 4, now by MAPPA, started going around the web and making her chest look huge.
- Armin Trollface ExplanationDuring the animated part of the now infamous "No! I don't want that!" meme, Armin was oddly animated with a smile which was meant to highlight his unease with Eren. However, the way he was drawn is eerily similar to the trollface meme, which doesn't help with the fact that it was animated just before Eren's infamous mental breakdown.
- "Sit down, Reiner." ExplanationWhen adult Eren reveals himself to Reiner, he offers Reiner a seat first with an air of friendliness, and then when Reiner doesn't react to these overtures, repeats himself with a menacing air. This, combined with the entire conversation the two men have and the ensuing destruction Eren unleashes by going Titan, made that line memetic.
Titans
Despite being the series' biggest contributors to
Nightmare Fuel, the titans walk the fine line between
Narm and
Narm Charm. The anime just follows in the same tradition and probably made things even better. (Both funnier and scarier, really.)
- Any realistically drawn (either normal or exaggerated for laughs) characters (either by hand or stereoscopic) from other Manga/Anime is considered as a "Titan Face".
- Titan-san is late◊ for anime school!◊
- Memetic Bystander: Kawaii◊ Titan,◊ also occasionally named Moe Titan. The guidebook calls it the Peering Titan. Gained a hilarious Call-Forward in chapter 87.
- Similarly, the◊ Freddie Mercury titan. Also occasionally called the Mike Haggar Titan.
- Say hello to Nicolas◊ Ca◊ge Titan.
- As well as◊ Moot Titan.
- And now we have Bishounen Titan◊.
- Dancing Colossal Titan, and now this.◊
- Nice ass.◊ExplanationThanks to Reiner's comment about Female Titan's butt, it's now reached memetic status.
- Speaking of Titans with nice asses, the Armored Titan.ExplanationWith the one exception of its original appearance when it broke down the wall, every single scene the Armored Titan appears in has been accompanied by at least one shot drawing attention to its ass. The most egregious of these is its first fight with the Rogue Titan, in which there are three butt shots. Keep in mind that Reiner is the Armored Titan.
- Ao Oni Titan◊.
- The Chicken Titan.Explanation Rod Reiss's Titan Form, if you look at it the right way, looks like a rotisserie chicken.
- Absolute Unit◊ Explanation (spoilers) Grisha Jäger's enormous titan form, which contrasts with his rather skinny human design.
- Nutcracker Explanation (spoilers)In episode 66, Eren decides to drink the War Hammer Titan's liquids, which are encased in hard crystal. He does this by grabbing the jaws of Porco's Titan and clamping them down on the crystal, shattering it. This led to many offering their condolences to Porco about his humiliating loss.
- Saul Goodman titan. ExplanationIn chapter 124, Armin, Jean and Mikasa come face-to-face with a titan resembling a certain "criminal" lawyer in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.
Miscellaneous
- The famous "humanity received a grim reminder" line.explanationInterestingly despite this line's popularity, it was never actually rendered that way in any official translations of the manga or anime (which prefer variations on "mankind remembered"). This line came from a very early Fan Sub, more specifically from a team who worked under the name "gg".
- Attack on Teen Titans◊, a popular image and play on words that feature the titular Teen Titans in Eren's place for the anime's page image, and with Trigon in the Colossal Titan's place.
- Attack on Titan◊ Cat.ExplanationAnother parody of the popular page image, with Kyubey from Puella Magi Madoka Magica in the Colossal Titan's position and Homura from the same anime in Eren's place
- From Japan, there's a Photo Perspective meme quickly gaining popularity, in which some people pose close to the camera to look as big as Titans, with other people jumping around in the background to look like human warriors. Some images even have the titans from the manga photoshopped in with the people posing. IGN News even picked up on it, but they didn't seem to be aware of how the meme held its origins with this anime. Here◊ are◊ a◊ few.◊
- "Hey, what did you wipe on my back!?"ExplanationMistranslation from a fansub.
- My faith in humanity.ExplanationJean finds out that unrequited love hurts.
- Everything is Titans.ExplanationAn exaggeration of some of the many Wham Episode revelations in the show.
- Sink fandomExplanationOne text post on Tumblr (along the lines of "SNK fandom? No, I'm in the sink fandom") spawned a strange trend of people posting pictures of uniquely-designed sinks.
- What am I willing to put up with today? NOT FUCKING THIS!ExplanationA popular joke shared between the fandom for SNK and that of Game Grumps. The quote came from Egoraptor, who was freaking out over a game-breaking glitch in the infamous Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). Egoraptor's real name is Arin, which is pronounced similarly to Eren. Now fans of snk will often match up either images or footage of some of the more out-of-nowhere plot twists and events from the series—the second appearance of the Colossal Titan being a popular one—with the audio of Arin freaking out, with the intention of it being interpreted as Eren freaking out, and Armin trying to calm him down.
- DON'T DROP THAT DUN-DUN-DAAAAH!ExplanationKushiiSmiles on YouTube made a dubbed-over video using vine videos and a segment between Eren and Armin was "Don't drop that Thun Thun". Since then, many other fans have made art and jokes about it on Tumblr.
- Commander Meowington.ExplanationWhat the fandom has dubbed a random cat who was casually sitting next to blood during a Titan attack.
- I clooose my eeeye—I CAN'T DO IT!!!Explanation (SPOILERS IN THE LINK)A popular audio post that made its way around tumblr. The audio is of a man (that man, by the way, is Tobuscus) attempting to sing a sad song (Dust in the Wind by Kansas), but finds himself overcome with the urge to cry as he does so. It became popular to post this audio along with images of the more tragic moments from the anime around tumblr, and then it spread to other fandoms.
- "You're Bean."ExplanationFrom the scene where Hange names the captured titans Sawney and Bean. There's also a popular Tumblr post with Hange's arm pointing at the reblogger's avatar and calling them Bean.
- Attack on ConExplanationA series of videos made by D-Piddy (aka "Dancing Deadpool") who dresses as the Colossal Titan at cons and dances. He's beloved by the majority of the fandom.
- The supposedly terrible drawing abilities of Hajime Isayama, the manga's author, have become something of a Running Gag in the fandom.
- Is this Attack on Titan?ExplanationIt's become a popular joke to post this question with just about anything that seems epic or over-the-top.
- Do You Want to Kill Some Titans?ExplanationA popular parody of the song Do You Want to Build a Snowman from Frozen (2013). Several versions of the song have been made which replace all mentions of building snowmen with killing titans and change the lyrics so talk about the characters' lives as members of the Scouting Legion.
- VIVA LA REVOLUCION!Explanation (SPOILERS)Come chapter 54, the Scouting Legion is now spearheading a revolt against the king.
- What the fuck is in the basement?Explanation (minor spoilers)Whatever is in Eren's basement is central to the plot, but recent events have pushed the journey to plug the hole in the wall and find what's in the basement to the wayside and made it clear to the fandom that the wait to find out what's in it may be years long.
- Who wants to bet it's someone watching the events of SNK on a giant t.v?
- Frodo getting told.Explanation (SPOILERS)Early in the show's run, Image Boards often got a lot of posts of captions of Frodo Baggins questioning why the humans of the wall don't just live underground or develop better artillery weaponry and air transportation. In chapters 50 and beyond, we are shown that there are subterranean settlements, but they're crowded, miserable places meant as emergency sanctuaries, and that things like revolvers and hot air balloons were being researched, but shut down because the high authority deemed them of little help against Titans and a danger of being turned against the king, breaking down the complaints on two levels each.
- SnK vs. SNKExplanationThe sharing of the "SNK" acronym by both Shingeki no Kyojin and Shin Nihon Kikaku has led to a bit of Fandom Rivalry between fans of both, especially on sites where posts can be tagged such as Twitter and Tumblr. Fans of the former often de-capitalize the 'N', although it doesn't help on most sites as tags and hashtags are almost always case-insensitive.
- I've been waiting for this day. ExplanationThe first live-action movie suffered from a glitch in certain cinemas where the subtitles froze on that particular line.
- Shit MachineexplanationOne of Zackly's torture methods is a machine that appears to feed victims their own excrement. For some reason, manga readers tend to use this part to tease anime-only fans on what they're "missing out on".
- Shingeki No Kyojin: Civil War. ExplanationThe end of chapter 83 has a Sadistic Choice on whether to use the Titan serum on Armin or Erwin for their survival. Now it is a case of Eren and Mikasa for Armin, and Levi for Erwin.
- After chapter 91: "Attack on Titan turned into Battlefield 1."ExplanationFans' reaction to the chapter which introduces a new set of characters fighting in World War I style trench warfare
- Laughs in mangaExplanation 1After the airing of the first season, the AoT fandom divided into two groups: fans who continued with the manga, and fans who decided to wait for the second season to come out. Because the second season took four years to air and lasted only twelve episodes, manga readers began to tease anime-only fans by providing them with false or out-of-context spoilers, like the aforementioned "Shit Machine". Explanation 2 (Major Spoilers) Also referring to anime fans being excited about the final season coming up, whereas manga readers have already undergone the shock of some of the major Wham Episodes of the series (regarding Eren, his true motives, Zeke and even Mikasa), and awaiting the inevitable shock the anime-only people will get.
- Why are dinosaurs in the Attack on Titan opening?ExplanationThe opening for season 2 features a scene at the end which shows the Beast Titan running across a field with a bunch of random animals including a giant turtle, a whale, and a T-Rex. This left many anime only watchers confused and there were people in the fandom who genuinely believed that they were a race of animal Titans running around in the wild. Seeing this exact phrasing pop up in Google search sealed the meme's deal.
- Grim Reminder 2.0 explanationWhat happened to Marley by Eren's hands, referencing the beginning of the manga.
- Attack on Titan, the Slice of Life seriesExplanationSeason 3's opening is a radical departure from previous OPs, including having a less energetic song and a distinct lack of Titans. While this was meant to portray the series' Genre Shift from a primarily action-based series to a character-driven Conspiracy Thriller, fans took it as a shift to another genre, slice-of-life.
- PATHS Explanation (MAJOR SPOILERS) In context of the narrative, "Paths" are invisible threads that connects all Subjects of Ymir together through time and space. Almost nothing is known about them, making them prime material for Epileptic Trees among the fandom. Whenever something strange or inexplicable happens in the story, the fandom's general response is "PATHS did it" with no further explanation necessary.
- "If you want to save Armin and Mikasa." Explanation In one scene in chapter 89, Eren Kruger mentions "Armin and Mikasa" while talking to Grisha, which confuses both men as neither of them knew anyone by those names and neither Armin nor Mikasa had even been born yet. As a confusing scene indicative of time-related shenanigans behind the scenes, this sparked many theories among fans.
- Mmgh Explanation (spoilers)The sound that Mikasa makes as she begins to cry during the infamous moment in chapter 112 when Eren rather cruelly tells her that he's always hated her.
- Eren's head Explanation (spoilers) In chapter 119, while trying to reach Zeke to access his memories, Eren is shot in the neck by Gabi and his head falls off. The scene became extremely popular with manga readers, with the head photoshoped in the various scenes
- Drinking piss Explanation (spoilers) One Reddit user named kirasama16997 claimed he would create a livestream where he drank his own piss if Annie's didn't appear in the last panel of Chapter 123. He also said he was prepared to be banned if he didn't follow through with the deal. Come Chapter 123, Annie is nowhere to be seen and the main Attack on Titan Reddit blew up with posts (jokingly) screaming for kira to drink his own piss, with variations of the phrase. It got even worse once Chapter 124 came out and it showed Annie waking up from her crystal in the very last panel. He was just a single chapter off and that only added fuel to the meme and piss jokes.
- "Stupid shit of stupid shit!" Explanation The infamous Dmitry Puchkov's review called AoT a stupid shit that could only be made from another stupid shit.
- Code Geass EndingExplanation (spoilers)One theorized ending of the manga was that Eren would make himself the common enemy between Marley and Paradis and achieve peace between the two with his own death, similar to the Zero Requiem from Code Geass. While fairly popular, the theory is also widely mocked by those who thinks that it's too idealistic for the series (not to mention it contradicts what Isayama said the ending would be like). Turns out, they were right.
- Game of Thrones ending. Explanation (spoilers)Isayama once described the ending of the series as being similar to Game of Thrones. When it actually happened, the fan reactions quickly proved that claim correct, as they ended up being very polarizing.
- Fez-kun's Squashed Head Explanation (spoilers) Similar in function to the 'Eren's Head' meme above. The first half of Chapter 131 focuses on Ramzi (the Middle Eastern boy Eren met back in Chapter 123, known as Fez-kun before his name was revealed) and his brother Halil, as they fall victims to the Rumbling. Despite the incredibly gruesome imagery of Halil losing half his head and Ramzi getting his crushed flat, the Titanfolk subreddit has turned them into memes, Photoshopping their terrified faces into everything from drums to hydraulic presses to Junji Ito's The Enigma of Amigara Fault.
- I fixed the OST Explanation (spoilers)Some anime watchers were disappointed in the Final Season's choice to accompany Eren's revealing himself to Marley and his subsequent murder of Willy Tybur to the somber score of 2 Volt instead of more bombastic pieces like YouSeeBIGGIRL, resulting in many edits of the scene. Other fans parodied this trend by replacing the score with music that doesn't fit the scene (or other iconic scenes) at all.
- JUST ANOTHER DAY FOR THE SURVEY CORPS! Explanation From Gigguk's 9-minute summary of the first season. This phrase repeated by Erwin has been taken to summarize the resigned embrace of the extreme mortality rate that comes with being a Scout.
- This could be the anime that defines this generation. Explanation From youtuber Gigguk's video on Attack on Titan, this was the closing line (Timestamp is 21:52.) Many more AOT analysis and review videos have referenced or quoted this line due to its impact beyond the anime community and into the mainstream.
- Wow japanese fans are vocal about the new chapter and they are not happy. Theyre discontented with the way eren's character is going and the whole genocide. I guess they were holding out hope for a lelouch route. There's even a petition that's garnered thousands of signatures to have the chapter changed. Obviously that wont happen but it shows how unhappy they are. ExplanationA copypasta that started making rounds on 4chan in the wake of the controversial 130th manga chapter; it has since seen many parodies and adaptations for other anime series. Hilarious in Hindsight as the manga indeed went the Lelouch route as mentioned above.
- As a reward, I shall give you my seed.ExplanationRefers to the first king of Eldia "rewarding" his slave Ymir for all her hard work building his empire by forcing her to bear his children. While the chapter the phrase originates from dates back to late 2019, the phrase was only popularized as a meme on Reddit in 2022.
- For ten years at least!ExplanationA page from the final chapter where Eren expresses a desire that Mikasa would not start a relationship with another man for at least ten years after his death. It's such a petty yet oddly specific demand that it became the target of numerous adaptations for other characters, series, and desires.
- Only Ymir knows. ExplanationA line from the final chapter that became the go-to response for all of the series' plot holes and unanswered questions
- Attack on Titan's Final Season: Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3 - Part 1 || Part 3 - Part 2 ExplanationPeople began to joke about the final season of the anime not acting like a final season as it's been split into multiple parts that will air during different seasons. As a result, people joke that the final season is a lie and will continue on by adding on more and more parts. Part 3 then went a step further by splitting the last Part into 2 parts! Almost as if the anime producers have embraced the meme.
- Beren: Next Generations ExplanationA common Boruto joke regarding the final shot of the series of the boy going into the Paradis tree where Eren's head was buried. The boy would become the main character of a sequel series, just like Boruto did for Naruto.
Take That! to the immediate Hatedom that appeared in response to the trailers for Free!, a swimming anime that hadn't even premiered when the videos were postedExplanation
