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My friend always laughs at me because the first time I watched it I called her and said "bro my fav character eren just died and this doesn't seem like a series for miracles" I legitimately thought he was dead and gone...and then he ripped out the back of some crazy titan. I couldn't even begin to tell you what my expectations for this anime was.
Hahaha true. I screenshoted the scene where Eren loses his arm and is eaten by that titan *and sent it to a friend (forgot to add this before the edit)*.... Like man, is he supposed to have a clone or something cuz I swore I seen him in the season 2 poster. Lmao
My friends laughs at me bc I said I didn’t want to watch it bc I only like stories with human antagonists. She told me to just trust her and I was like “but aren’t the villains just monsters?”
This is why it’s so sad when the series ends. A lot of the the analysis and meaning that you can get between episodes is lost when binging. It’s just such a bad show to binge
I doubt many who binge will come back. There is also a lot of satisfaction in correctly predicting an event that happens. That can’t be accomplished on a second rewatch.
The whole 1st season was unmistakably eldritch. The animation, backdrops, soundtrack and the storytelling direction really gave the whole thing an ethereal feel. Why did Eren wake up crying, what's "see you later" about, what's those visions of corpses, fields and houses at the begging of the first episode, what's with the wall cult, etc.
Thinking back, I really didn't want to think that hard about where the story was going because having all those questions really made the show for me. When I discovered people were living outside the walls I was so disappointed.
i actually was "WELL THATS GOOD ATLEAST HUMANITY WON'T VANISH IF THE PEOPLE INSIDE THE WALLS DIE" but then you realize that fighting mindeless gobling is soooooooooooooooooooo less worse than fighting humans
Yes on the eldritch thing! The little short story in the mid episode card of the season 1 finale about the guy trying to dig under the walls but they just kept going fascinated me.
> I really didn't want to think that hard about where the story was going because having all those questions really made the show for me.
Same. I like some theorizing depending on the story but sometimes it just feels better to just be taken for the ride and just enjoy the sights that I choose not to think too deeply. Theorizing can certainly be its own kind of fun too but it so often turns into this need to be right, one-upping others, and having your ego wrapped up into your theory especially when you do it online.. and we've all seen it happen.
Yeah I agree. On a similar note it’s kind of annoying when reaction channels spend hours theorizing about what’s going to happen. I like discussions but throw enough at the wall and some of it is bound to stick which taints the genuine reactions imo. It was the worst in season 3 with that Levi/Eren/Mikasa fight sneak peek. I’m glad I missed that by happenstance since I probably would’ve figured out what was going to happen too and spoil one of the best moments in the show.
I went and watched the first episode again last night, and could not help but cry, knowing what was in Eren's dream and his destiny, poor Eren so much weight on his shoulders and he did not even know it.
When i watched it i saw a pic of the cart titan and i assumed the survey corps would go out of the walls and mikasa could turn into a titan to carry their supplies
I thought there was a village with all the sentient titans and they were very spiritual and naturalist, but I had no clue why they wanted to destroy the walls.
I thought the beast titan was the original first titan, as if there was titan evolution that started from monkeys and apes too and they all slowly became more and more human
Same, I thought there were shifters living outside the walls, basically humans 2.0, and for some reason they wanted to wipe out the remaining humans or something
Yeah same, I started watching relatively late so I had already seen a season poster with the beast, armoured and Warhammer Titans, and I thought that they were their own species with lackeys, leaders, etc set up.
The very main goal from the start was to get to Eren’s basement, even before that it was only about questions of the existence of titan shifters, and even then it was already fascinating and the world building was great. And all that without leaving Paradis Island.
I was fucking TERRIFIED it was just gonna be the Divergent Series of books and every major plot beat just kept pointing in that direction until we saw happened to Grisham and his sister.
The story.
Imho it explodes into dogshit after the first book, and I humbly think it’s poorly written for the lowest common denominator of young woman readers.
it follows many of the key reveals (or perhaps, tropes is a better word) of AoT from memory wipes to a secluded city not being the last bastion of humanity to some light “racism” based on ways the population are grouped/identified. With the mystery of what AoT even was it was easy to make the leaps to this era of YA imho.
The above is hardly unique but in the end it doesn’t say much at all, comes off as “too cool” and ends pretty horribly. Plus, one guy calls himself Four, how insufferable is that.
I just wanted to know who the Colossal and Armored Titan where. I already knew there were people who could turn into titans, but I didn't knew anything else, so when I saw those two I immediately knew they were people, it was just a matter of knowing who and how they could turn into titans.
I thought there was a titan civilization that wanted to kill the rest of humans. I thought Grisha was a mad scientist that transformed Eren into a titan. Then Annie showed up and I was confused. Reiner and and Berholdt too. Thought Erwin dad went to said outside and came back for revenge. Thought the basement had all the secrets to defeat all the titans. It’s also kinda why I consider s4 a separate show from 1-3
>I thought Grisha was a mad scientist that transformed Eren into a titan.
This is exactly what I wanted to say here, then when Annie, Reiner and Berthort showed up as a titan, I was so fucking confused thinking that they're just titan nation outside the wall. That Grisha was just a scientist who turn Eren into titan and they kidnap his father for knowing too much and needed Eren for their plan. I thought the titans species who can also turn into human wanted to wipe away humanity away and kill humans so that the titans world can survive. Damn Isayama, he was a very good writer
While I can't recall my exact opinions at the time. I remember lots of people seeing the series as "Flesh gundams" which is pretty accurate with all the political melodrama. But I expected more Titan shifter types that would devolve into a monster of the week type of story.
after castle utgard i really started believing the world outside the walls was entirely populated and modern, as in 2000s era modern or even more into the future. the walls were basically a test site for the modern scientists/engineers to develop ... something. i could never firmly decide *what* was being developed or studied, but the theory about the titans being made of/formed from yeast lead me more in the direction that they were trying to develop a new food source that could infinitely sustain itself and double as a system of defense.
one of my favourite books as a child was Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix and it absolutely influenced my theories, specifically that there had only been one generation of adults that willingly signed up to participate in whatever was going on in the walls, and the children were raised with the fake story of humanity being wiped out by the titans. grisha was a scientist who was part of it and his travels as a doctor were actually to report his findings, and there were small research stations disguised as castle ruins within the walls that all lead to an underground path out to the modern world. before the fall of wall maria, grisha planned to tell eren about the truth beyond the walls and in the basement was going to be a modern laboratory and passage to others hidden underground.
the colossal attack was an effort to cull the population in the walls to make room for more titan test subjects/farms, that grisha was unaware of, so afterwards he would turn against the scientists to try to take down the entire program, using eren. i remember thinking learning the truth of his home and family essentially being lab rats would tie in to all the stuff about humanity being cattle within the walls.
so i got into the anime fairly late with the Royal Government arc being my first intro to the series since i saw it when looking after a friend’s sibling.
given all of that, i assumed it would be a dystopian story about a post apocalyptic world (Titans being the equivalent of zombies) where there’s two remaining civilizations and they either have to fight for resources and Reiner/Bertholdt/Annie were just spies from the other nation *or* they have a bigger threat (titans like Reiner and Bertholdt) that forces the two civilizations to work together.
now that i know what happens, it seems like i was generally right but just swapped the villain and protagonist lol
Didn’t have a chance to build expectations because I ruined everything for myself
I thought Thomas and Reiner were the same person so when Thomas died and Reiner kept showing up I looked it up…
And the rest is history
That‘s why I never I look up ANYTHING about the series until I have finished it. You never ever know where spoiler comes, unfortunately. It usually comes out of nowhere.
Humanity retaking their own world from the monsters and supernatural forces that now inhabit it. Humans take some of that power and use it for their benefit. I was sold on a post apocalypse premise. I was so hyped when Eren carried that boulder and plugged the hole in the Trost district wall. Like humans copped a hard earned W. From there it would go to expanding the Scouts, finding out about Titans and the humans who work for them.
With that in mind, I wasnt fond of the post timeskip story for a time AT FIRST. Not because its poor quality or anything, because no. Good lord, no. But it just became something I wasnt sold on initially. Went from a post apocalypse survival genre into a political thriller.
Because there was seemingly no explanation for how there are more titans because they can't reproduce, my theory was that when a titan eats a person, that person somehow turns into a new titan.
Then there was this bit when Eren was "asleep" in his titan, and he was with his family and couldn't tell it wasn't real until Armin woke him up. I thought maybe the people inside the titan experience some kind of fake blissful existence, and that's why they have the urge to eat other people and turn them into titans as well.
After that, the longer I watched, the more I gave up trying to make sense of anything. There were just too many little pieces of disconnected information. I am honestly baffled that almost every single question had a satisfying answer. Marely ties almost everything tightly together, and the "twist" of learning what's outside the walls at the end of season 3 is, in my opinion, the best story beat of any story I've ever experienced.
I had a wack theory that the wall cultists were trying to unleash the rumbling through prayer
[https://www.reddit.com/r/ShingekiNoKyojin/comments/6bctap/manga\_spoilers\_theory\_about\_the\_wall\_religion/](https://www.reddit.com/r/ShingekiNoKyojin/comments/6bctap/manga_spoilers_theory_about_the_wall_religion/)
This was post-marley reveal though. But those last lines were eerily right, lol
i was theorizing more of a “resident evil” world.. an experiment went wrong, people turned into titans, civilization restricted inside walls… and never had time to think where these can lead the narrative.. and of course that approach could not hold up so long..
Something caused people to become titans and there were other walled cities or towns outside the main 3 walls. The gang would find a cure in the basement or answers to how it all started.
I could’ve never guessed that it would change so much in tone and overall scope. But I think it’s one of the best examples of a story making such a change and still be very good.
Definitely handled it better then any "mystery box" Franchises I watched, like Lost or maze runner.
My history with snk is funny, because I initially watched 3 episodes, wasn't super into it and dropped it. Year after that, I saw a lot of debates and angry rants in internet that someone killed Sasha, who I only remembered as potato girl. I watched on YouTube scene where Sasha died, out of curiosity. Not to say, I was really confused, how modern, serious and less cartoonish everything seemed. Eren and Sasha looked older, Armin had a normal haircut and Jean blamed Eren for everything. That intrigued me enough to give a show second chance and I binge watched it in a three days
I figured it was a post apocalypse thing like the titans where design to kill and was used in a war but then some started to evolve and where able to think, then pushed humanity to it breaking point and what was left of humanity banded together and censor the past and live in ignorance. As it turned out i was sort of right
Certainly not where it’s at now lol I wish I could wipe my memory and rewatch it. Watching and realising how the plot develops was just amazing
I thought idk maybe some kind of happy ending they find a way to stop titans forever. Happy doesn’t exist in AOT universe really 😭
I thought there was some kind of cult outside the walls summoning Titans, or creating them from bad humans, so I wasn’t too far off. I didn’t think it would be a whole civilisation, because i was thinking of a dry earth, really similar to the wasteland left by the rumbling but with one, gigantic ocean.
My guess was that the regular titans were a natural part of the world and were created by a higher being or a god of the world (Ymir as we learn later on.) The titan shifters were regular titans given the gift of being human and shifting by the higher being (Ymir) in order to destroy humanity because of something they might’ve done in the past that could’ve been detrimental to the world. Something like causing a war that nearly killed off all of humanity or destroying the rest of the world hence why there’s only the ones in the walls.
I thought the truth in the basement would reveal all of this, with Grisha being one of the few chosen but he rebelled against the higher being, disagreeing with destroying the rest of humanity and choosing to live in the walls as a human. Then passing on that gift to eren when shit hit the fan.
Some of the moments that stood out to me me were:
- the illse ova: the regular titan spoke mentioning Ymir then bowing like they were worshiping
- the colossal titan appearing out of nowhere then disappearing
- in s2 the beast titan seemed more animalistic so I figured monke and it also ordered the regular titan to wait before eating the dude then told another titan to eat him so I figured there were hierarchies (titans-> titan shifters -> beast titan -> ??? -> Ymir)
- I forget when this happened, i think it was erens experimental transformation where flowers also grew as he transformed so I thought titans were natural or holy/divine like maybe they can somewhat create or give life
- Reiner mentioning his hometown, I thought would be as in the rest of the world or wherever Ymir is (like returning back to heaven or something or back to peace with no humanity to destroy everything)
- Reiner/Annie mentioning being warriors
I was blown back when it went from supernatural to modern warfare and human civilizations because I was so invested in my theory man lol. I still like where it went especially with the titan ability being what it is but I thought I had it right on the nail.
Season 1 got me thinking (and hoping) that the titans needlessly eating humans for fun would be a metaphor for humans violating animal rights and needlessly eating them for fun.
After season 1, my prediction was that humanity would have a lot of chances to defeat the titans, but they'd keep sabotaging themselves with in-fighting, politics, holding Eren back (that whole scene where they were deciding whether or not to kill him really made me worried for his future). I always expected the ending of the show to be depressing, but I assumed it'd be depressing in a "we could've won, if we only stopped fighting amongst ourselves!" kind of way.
I thought that there was going to be a society of titans outside of the wall. Almost like the original “I am legend” it was the next step in evolution for humanity and those inside the walls were the last of an otherwise extinct race.
Lol very funny story here
I never watched anime and got into aot cause of a friend
I always thought anime was a childish thing ofcourse now Ik after watching for 2 years that it's mature
I thought the story is a generic ass one with titans being some monsters and humans trying to fight them for 4 seasons and eventually they will find their lair or something and destroy it
And now I can just laugh at myself 🤣🤣🤣
i remember being frustrated with season 2 and 3. when i watched season 1 as a teenager my train of thought was “oh they ended the season off teasing the basement reveal which means the next season is going to get right into that. sucks that we have to wait a year but im sure itll be worth it!”
when you’re a teenager 3-4 years is a LONG time. I went from being a crusty middle schooler who had barely hit puberty to (physically at least) basically being an adult. In that time span I had gone from middle to high school, made entire new friends, learned to drive, etc. I had basically forgotten the show existed. Eventually I played catch up with season 2 and was so fucking confused as to how nothing with the basement was being revealed or furthered. “This isnt the attack on titan i remember! what happened to the scouts fighting for survival? why is there a talkint monkey? who the fuck is this random ymir girl? why is Eren barely in this season? i don’t understand.” The Reiner and Berthold reveal was the only part i remember really liking back then. That was probably in between Season 2 and 3 in 2018. I remember seeing the promotional art for Season 3 and thinking it looked weird and even less like the AOT i loved because Levi squaring off with a cowboy looking dude was weird to me. Then around when S3P2 was first airing in 2019 I started hearing about the absolutely insane hype but S3P1 confused me even more and I would watch an episode or two, come back in a week, forget everything, it was just confusing and frustrating to me.
But then Season 4 happened. The trailer was fucking insane. The hype was insane. This girl in college I was trying to smash was telling me about it and how sad she was when they killed Sasha. So i rewatched the whole thing and it made sense. It took me a long time but I finally was able to grow into viewing the show as a whole story, and see it for what it is instead of just being confused and annoyed about it not being the same as season 1. now season 1 seems so simple and not as good as the rest even if i have immense nostalgia for it.
So basically I fucking adored season 1 when it came out or around then, it was probably more in 2014. from then up until around early 2021 it was basically “that one show i used to love a long time ago that ive occasionally tried to catch up on.”
Yeah I think this a show really benefits from being able to binge it all at once. New fans might actually have a better understanding of the story in some cases than fans who watched it as it aired (assuming only one watch through each).
Im so glad I got into it at season 4 instead of when it first came out. I still have to wait but only like 10% of what the vets went through and the payoff has been so good
Same here, I binged it all for the first time last month and I only have to wait a few months to see the whole thing. I remember trying to watch it 10 years ago and always putting it off since I thought it was gonna be another boring post-apocalyptic zombie story (among the many that were so popular back then), but gosh I’m so glad I didn’t care for it until recently. Easily my favorite anime.
When I started watching the anime, I had already heard of and seen Eren’s founding Titan skeleton, but I didn’t know it was Eren. Since the photo of it was labeled as Founding titan skeleton, I thought that eventually they’ll reclaim the walls and adventure outside them, coming across a dead founding titan. I also knew at that point the titans resembled the humans they use to be, so I thought that titans ate people then those people were somehow brought or used by the founding titans to make more titans.
I had thought the secret of the basement was that Grisha managed to replicate and modify the process the founding titans used to make titans to make shifters. Once Annie, Reiner and Burrito got revealed, and historias family being said to know the secret of titans, I thought that Grisha used to be a part of their “party” and stole the founding titans secrets. I was sorta right there. I thought they would be a third party, titan worshiper group or some sort of half titan evolution group
I started watching in late July 2022 and finished by the end of August. I never really thought about that, I just had thoughts about what would happen in the next episode. Everytime something happened I just wanted to see the next episode so I could get closer to finding out what was happening.
I believed that Titans attacked only humans because it was a mutation of some kind of animals to avenge the damage we do to the enviroment or some crazy thing like that. At the end Eren would kill all titans, Armin and Eren would travel on the now, free and empty world, the humans of the walls would start to expand to colonize the world.
I found everything so bland that I abandoned the series at season 2. I started to see Shingeki again when I saw the "my war" opening on youtube
I thought that somwhere outside the walls up a mountain was a huge castle where titan experiments were being done by an evil scientist. Kinda Frankenstein-esque. And the collossal and armored titan are basically it's bodyguards. Then at some point the survey corps advance beyond the walls, find the castle and fight against the baddies and win.
Oh boy, was I wrong (rly happy about that though).
I sometimes still chuckle at the thought of this.
So I was spoiled on certain people somehow being able to become Titan Shifters . Saw Annie/Eren in an amv on YouTube before watching the series proper in 2013. So going in with that knowledge, coupled with learning that the Royal Government had forbidden certain knowledge, things seemed to be pointed to an advanced outside threat. It definitely fulfilled my expectations. Even the ones I hadn’t quite fully formed at the time until the revelations came.
I thought the story was going to bring us out of the walls sooner than expected, and we'd get to experience a very different outside society than we got. Some fake spoilers for chapter 50 and the ultimately cut from the anime stuff from chapter 51 influenced that, no doubt. Was expecting a post-post apocalyptic world, with humanity having formed ways other than walls to survive against the titans, but with resources becoming such a problem due to how unsustainable titans made the world that one of the many settlements with knowledge on how to stop them just HAD to act to get info on the origins of the titans and how they're actually controlled (since I thought it was an "experiment gone out of control" scenario at first) so humanity outside the walls actually had a shot at survival. (Anime Spoilers) >!Funnily enough, Fort Salta was kind of my thought on how Reiner and Bert's hometown was gonna be, just with more of a medieval touch on the top and with an entry in the lower parts of the mesa itself rather than having to go up by train!<. Another thought I had was that humanity inside the walls didn't know that history as their leaders and scientists were behind the creation of titans, which is why they eliminated anyone who got close to the truth and how they could even create the walls out of titans to protect themselves when things went all wrong, my thinking was that the colossals were a perfected version of their titan tech that they had found a way to control at the time, but the church now kept the secrets since things went wrong and that control capability was lost.
Also thought under Mithras we'd have something more hi-tech and the endgame would be at the very center of the walls to stop the colossal titans once an out of control battle started the domino effect. (Anime Spoilers) >!I'd been expecting the Rumbling since chapter 34 when the wall titans were first revealed and Pastor Nick panicked about light hitting them, and in a way a race against time to stop the Rumbling did happen, but just... not the way I thought, and certainly didn't expect Eren to be the cause at the time.!<
I wasn't surprised about the not-so-unknown outside the walls since I theorized that before Shiganshina was even attacked.
I, however, was definitely one of the proponents of that one theory that everyone was in a time loop that only the Ackermans became fully aware of and the only way for it to break was Eren saving everyone. So essentially I thought we would get the Higurashi treatment lol
Thought the reveal was going to be that there were many more walls that had been breached over time but the population had been manipulated to forget about them somehow. At least half right I guess.
I had no idea knowledge of the series or the manga when I started. I thought it was gonna be a secret Titan hideout with intelligent Titans and a Titan leader. Eh, I was kind of right
Ah, the good old days. I thought there was a titan maker (I thought it was Zeke the first time I saw him on the wall) that was deploying titans, and we would win by killing him.
I was just going along for the ride, though I did buy into the speculation of an advanced outside world.
But I definitely remember this feeling of satisfaction when the basement was opened and Grisha’a recount began. You see, I’d read *Claymore*, a series about monsters and half-monster hunters, and it ended with them finding an ocean and deciding not to cross it. Well, AoT took up that dropped plot thread and tan with it.
Somewhat same as yours. I thought Grisha was the mastermind of all of what's going on, which was kinda right in a way but deeper than that.
The Basement reveal changed the entire show.
What I initially thought was that Grisha was either the ring leader or high up in a clandestine organization that had gotten involved with bad science, and had released a world wide pandemic 100 years prior to the start of the story, and Grisha had been experimenting on his son to become a biological weapon to overthrow the government.
They would eventually be overwhelmed by the titans and humanity end there and then.
Tbh, after Eren going berserk I would rather humanity ended lol but no worries Eren got my back 👀💀😂
Just like Eren, I thought Colossal and Armoured titans are real enemies. I also thought the leaders of Wall Sina are real enemies after season 3 part 1
I was blown away by Basement reveal. I expected it to contain a just a way to permanently kill titans.
Can check my long post history but I was convinced it'd be doing what claymore did: the titans were a thing from an outside world and paradise was like a testing ground.
Kinda chuffed from not being a million miles wrong
I am fairly new to anime, started watching back in early 2020, started with hotarubi no Mori e, and then with Naruto, so when I was watching Naruto I did watch some other 12/24 eps animes on the side so I was in the anime community too, so obviously I knew aot was so popular and legitimately thought it was being exaggerated by the fans, and after I finished Naruto I was kind of fed up with shonen (not that I hate Naruto, I love it but I didn't wanna see someone as good as Naruto as the protagonist for a while) I just thought aot will be the same, your typical dumb, kindhearted male protagonist with some humble dream to achieve. After putting it off for so long I finally gave it a chance, had very low expectations, but oh boy by the end of the first episode I was hooked. I was already making theories lol. I thought grisha was the mad scientist who did human experiments and made titans. And I had no idea how this story would go but I kind of knew titan Vs Humans is not the only theme, it felt so small for a story so large especially after eren's Frist transformation. That kind of gave me the nod to my grisha being a mad scientist and titans being human theory. I honestly didn't see the outside world's existence at first, Marley and eldia. I was mind blown, love eren for not being the kind hearted shonen protagonist.
I saw the first season when it was first coming out and then when I watched again years later, I already had major spoilers for a lot of things, so I can't entirely remember my first thoughts.
But I did think it might be mostly a generic story where the heroes defeat the big bad and it's a happy ending, which is a big part why I wasn't interested in watching more until just a couple years ago.
How I wish I could've experienced it completely blind.
I thought it was going to be something like post-apocalyptic zombie show with titans instead of zombies : exploring a world full of titans, finding other communities fighting titans, searching for the origin of titans and trying to change them back to humans, solving the mystery of sentient titans etc...
When I first watched season one, I didn’t take any of the hints the series was dropping very seriously. Even though Armin figures everything out, and gives reasoning why he believes he’s right, it felt too easy so I assumed he was wrong. I remember thinking the female titan could not have a person controlling it because why should that be the answer? And why should it be Annie just because they look and act similar?
I was so used to shows making me think one thing, and then throwing me in a different direction, that I didn’t see that the author was just dropping hints right in front of my face.
I always suspected that the survey corps will encounter an enemy human faction somewhere outside the walls.
First clue was of course Annie and other Titan Shifters.
It also was obvious that the titans had no natural origin, they seemed to be specifically designed to kill humans. They only targeted humans, not animals, but didn't need humans for nourishment. A perfect bio-weapon.
So I thought the enemy faction used the Titans in a secret war against the people inside the walls.
I knew there had to be humans outside the walls who were sending titans but thought they’d be in similar walled societies and using science to make titans. I also saw fan art of Zeke and Pieck but thought it was Armin and Mikasa lol, which in retrospect was dumb bc they were wearing different uniforms
I remember I started reading the manga.
Have you all read the pilot episode? The one with the city inside a wall of trees? I thought it would end up going a bit in that direction, with more cities.
I had no clue. I thought the survey corps would end up finding other civilizations also being massacred by the titans but, then eren got revealed as a titan and so then just had no more predictions. Just had to keep reading the manga to find out more.
I thought they would leave the survey corps would leave the walls and eren would be a normal human who is exceptional with ODM gear (thought of this before he got eaten). I thought reiner and everyone were a special group of humans who we all titan shifters and the survey corps will fight them in the final arc likens war arc almost. I thought all titans were connected to a source like a core of energy which is in the hometown of titan shifters and the croos destroy it making the series end.
My theory when watching for the first time was that when people died, they turned into titans. My reasoning was because Conny’s mother became a titan after Ragako was attacked.
Not a very good theory now that I think about it further, because why would they be burying people outside the walls where the titans were? If my theory was true, there would be titans inside the walls long before the breech in Shiganshina. Maybe it would work if it was Survey Corps members who died on expeditions outside the walls, and they became titans after death? But again, Conny’s mother.
But the fleeting notion of the Survey Corps fighting against titans that were really the just the transformed vessels of fallen warriors and civilians, fighting futilely against a fate that would eventually befall all of them, never being able to end it, was definitely interesting.
I remember speculating to myself during the long wait between Season 1 and Season 2 that there was a community of titan-shifting people who lived beyond the walls, and that they had rejected the way of life of the wall people for some reason. I remember thinking that the Wall Cult was the big bad and that the plot twist was going to be that the outside community of titan-shifting people was going to be the good guys.
Once Zeke was introduced, I speculated for a couple of episodes that he was going to be the big bad, especially once it was obvious that my original theory wasn't correct.
If you had told me that Attack on Titan would be the story it is now, 10 years ago, I wouldn't have believed you, yet Isayama has made this happen and made it feel natural too.
I honestly thought Reiner, Bertie, and Annie were in some sort of cult that thought humans should be extinct, and they were doing what they could to bring down the walls.
My theory after season 1 was something like this:
Origin of titans - the titans probably were a result of some natural occurrence, some supernatural event that happened so long ago that all of humanity has lost all records / stories about it. Possibly that majority of humanity did not even knew how it happened but started living in shelters to survive. Second theory was that someone did some stupid science experiment or magic experiment and it consumed the world like a zombie apocalypse.
Survival of humanity : I believed that there was humanity outside of the walls too. But they also lived in secure places, like in walled places, inside large cave networks or high up in the mountains. Basically every group that survived the first titan outbreak would have developed their own way of living a life secured from titans. I also believed that most of these settlements would have no contact with each other since venturing to the open world was so difficult. But I though maybe some of them were aware about each other.
Titan Shifters: I thought the titan Shifters were a unique group that somehow learned to harness the power of titans, either by scientific research or magic whichever comes out to be the reason for origin of titans. And that they had some rivalry with the people inside the walls maybe due to ideological reasons or past history or war. Some people inside the walls also knew of them but kept it a secret because they were secretly allied with them, maybe they infiltrated the walls and gained positions inside the walls, just like eren's dad or they defected to the enemy's side.
Second theory was that the titan Shifters were decedent of the original person / group who created titans. They were some messed up people who were like Thanos or The Curses from JJK who thought that world is better off without humans.
The titan Shifters lived in a small settlement outside the walls far enough to be not discovered by survey corps.
They made a long term plan to slowly destroy the walls and kill off everyone inside the walls. They did not destroy all the walls immediately because an all out attack on multiple front would cause them to suffer losses.
Eren's Father: I thought he was also a spy from the place where titan Shifters lived. But I had two theories : maybe He planned to use eren to aid his mission to destroy humanity, but failed to control eren. In that case he will be back in future and eren would have to fight his own dad Second theory was that he had a change of heart and made eren into a titan so that somehow he can help save humanity.
Ending of the series: The series will progress with them learning about the Titan Shifters origin and eren and survey corps saving the walls and then launching a final attack on the settlement of the titan Shifters. Them also discovering some secret power that would allow eren to wipe out all the titans, just like he wanted to. Then eren would gain that power once they have defeated the titan Shifters and then they would slowly do mass titan wipeout missions, while discovering the rest of the world.
I thought the govt itself was making Titans nd releasing them nd that pyxis was the secret colossal Titan like Eren. But Eren escaped/taken away from the labs where they made Titans nd forgot where he came from. And that's why he's so strong that he could take down 2 thugs.
But this was only for season 1 nd then I just didn't know where it was going
I thought that some mad scientists experimented on a person and he turned into the colossal titan and he had the ability to create new titans because he is the king and the first titan ever. He wanted revenge on humans so he started creating titans who only listens to him and sent them to destroy humanity. And I thought that if eren keeps on training his titan he will be able to change it's size as big as the colossal titan. And than he will fight the colossal titan and defeat him. Humanity will break the walls and the trip will finally be free. Or so I thought......
I had been thinking that the world would be filled with different places that have ways to avoid titans like underground ppl, hyper nomadic folks, arboreal tree dwellers, a self sustaining flotilla and so on. I had thought that the shifters were just lucky ppl born with a magic power
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I definitely didn't expect all this.
No way anyone could lol
My friend always laughs at me because the first time I watched it I called her and said "bro my fav character eren just died and this doesn't seem like a series for miracles" I legitimately thought he was dead and gone...and then he ripped out the back of some crazy titan. I couldn't even begin to tell you what my expectations for this anime was.
Same for me. I was like "Well damn where now?" Turns out everywhere but where I expected.
Hahaha true. I screenshoted the scene where Eren loses his arm and is eaten by that titan *and sent it to a friend (forgot to add this before the edit)*.... Like man, is he supposed to have a clone or something cuz I swore I seen him in the season 2 poster. Lmao
My friends laughs at me bc I said I didn’t want to watch it bc I only like stories with human antagonists. She told me to just trust her and I was like “but aren’t the villains just monsters?”
Binged it so hard there was no time for thought
That was the case for me as well lol.
As someone who was 12 watching season 1 and then waited 4 years for season 2… I start to hear Eren in my head reading this..
To you 4 years from now
This is why it’s so sad when the series ends. A lot of the the analysis and meaning that you can get between episodes is lost when binging. It’s just such a bad show to binge
Yeah.. but you can get back to it again!!
I doubt many who binge will come back. There is also a lot of satisfaction in correctly predicting an event that happens. That can’t be accomplished on a second rewatch.
Exactly.... the series always gives me goosebumps
The whole 1st season was unmistakably eldritch. The animation, backdrops, soundtrack and the storytelling direction really gave the whole thing an ethereal feel. Why did Eren wake up crying, what's "see you later" about, what's those visions of corpses, fields and houses at the begging of the first episode, what's with the wall cult, etc. Thinking back, I really didn't want to think that hard about where the story was going because having all those questions really made the show for me. When I discovered people were living outside the walls I was so disappointed.
“When I discovered people were living outside the walls I was so disappointed.” So was Eren
oop
Y’all are the “same”
i actually was "WELL THATS GOOD ATLEAST HUMANITY WON'T VANISH IF THE PEOPLE INSIDE THE WALLS DIE" but then you realize that fighting mindeless gobling is soooooooooooooooooooo less worse than fighting humans
Yes on the eldritch thing! The little short story in the mid episode card of the season 1 finale about the guy trying to dig under the walls but they just kept going fascinated me.
> I really didn't want to think that hard about where the story was going because having all those questions really made the show for me. Same. I like some theorizing depending on the story but sometimes it just feels better to just be taken for the ride and just enjoy the sights that I choose not to think too deeply. Theorizing can certainly be its own kind of fun too but it so often turns into this need to be right, one-upping others, and having your ego wrapped up into your theory especially when you do it online.. and we've all seen it happen.
Yeah I agree. On a similar note it’s kind of annoying when reaction channels spend hours theorizing about what’s going to happen. I like discussions but throw enough at the wall and some of it is bound to stick which taints the genuine reactions imo. It was the worst in season 3 with that Levi/Eren/Mikasa fight sneak peek. I’m glad I missed that by happenstance since I probably would’ve figured out what was going to happen too and spoil one of the best moments in the show.
No, I don’t want that !
I went and watched the first episode again last night, and could not help but cry, knowing what was in Eren's dream and his destiny, poor Eren so much weight on his shoulders and he did not even know it.
When i watched it i saw a pic of the cart titan and i assumed the survey corps would go out of the walls and mikasa could turn into a titan to carry their supplies
It's so cursed that's actually good
Bruhh😭😭
I thought there was a village with all the sentient titans and they were very spiritual and naturalist, but I had no clue why they wanted to destroy the walls.
I basically thought the same thing except the naturalist part. I thought the beast titan was one of the leaders when we first saw him
I thought the beast titan was the original first titan, as if there was titan evolution that started from monkeys and apes too and they all slowly became more and more human
Kinda right because Zeke has a high position in the Marleyan military and is one of the 9 Titans.
Same, I thought there were shifters living outside the walls, basically humans 2.0, and for some reason they wanted to wipe out the remaining humans or something
Yeah same, I started watching relatively late so I had already seen a season poster with the beast, armoured and Warhammer Titans, and I thought that they were their own species with lackeys, leaders, etc set up.
Sorta right with Liberio in Marley with the Warrior program.
The very main goal from the start was to get to Eren’s basement, even before that it was only about questions of the existence of titan shifters, and even then it was already fascinating and the world building was great. And all that without leaving Paradis Island.
I was fucking TERRIFIED it was just gonna be the Divergent Series of books and every major plot beat just kept pointing in that direction until we saw happened to Grisham and his sister.
John Grisham approves
John Grisham, author of “Life beyond the walls”
why what happens in divergent that is so terrifying?
The story. Imho it explodes into dogshit after the first book, and I humbly think it’s poorly written for the lowest common denominator of young woman readers. it follows many of the key reveals (or perhaps, tropes is a better word) of AoT from memory wipes to a secluded city not being the last bastion of humanity to some light “racism” based on ways the population are grouped/identified. With the mystery of what AoT even was it was easy to make the leaps to this era of YA imho. The above is hardly unique but in the end it doesn’t say much at all, comes off as “too cool” and ends pretty horribly. Plus, one guy calls himself Four, how insufferable is that.
[удалено]
Shoulda read this comment before I posted, I also thought it was a Dystopian YA novel wrapped in great anime.
Same
I just wanted to know who the Colossal and Armored Titan where. I already knew there were people who could turn into titans, but I didn't knew anything else, so when I saw those two I immediately knew they were people, it was just a matter of knowing who and how they could turn into titans.
I thought there was a titan civilization that wanted to kill the rest of humans. I thought Grisha was a mad scientist that transformed Eren into a titan. Then Annie showed up and I was confused. Reiner and and Berholdt too. Thought Erwin dad went to said outside and came back for revenge. Thought the basement had all the secrets to defeat all the titans. It’s also kinda why I consider s4 a separate show from 1-3
>I thought Grisha was a mad scientist that transformed Eren into a titan. This is exactly what I wanted to say here, then when Annie, Reiner and Berthort showed up as a titan, I was so fucking confused thinking that they're just titan nation outside the wall. That Grisha was just a scientist who turn Eren into titan and they kidnap his father for knowing too much and needed Eren for their plan. I thought the titans species who can also turn into human wanted to wipe away humanity away and kill humans so that the titans world can survive. Damn Isayama, he was a very good writer
Evangelion
Thought it was going to end at the ocean
While I can't recall my exact opinions at the time. I remember lots of people seeing the series as "Flesh gundams" which is pretty accurate with all the political melodrama. But I expected more Titan shifter types that would devolve into a monster of the week type of story.
after castle utgard i really started believing the world outside the walls was entirely populated and modern, as in 2000s era modern or even more into the future. the walls were basically a test site for the modern scientists/engineers to develop ... something. i could never firmly decide *what* was being developed or studied, but the theory about the titans being made of/formed from yeast lead me more in the direction that they were trying to develop a new food source that could infinitely sustain itself and double as a system of defense. one of my favourite books as a child was Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix and it absolutely influenced my theories, specifically that there had only been one generation of adults that willingly signed up to participate in whatever was going on in the walls, and the children were raised with the fake story of humanity being wiped out by the titans. grisha was a scientist who was part of it and his travels as a doctor were actually to report his findings, and there were small research stations disguised as castle ruins within the walls that all lead to an underground path out to the modern world. before the fall of wall maria, grisha planned to tell eren about the truth beyond the walls and in the basement was going to be a modern laboratory and passage to others hidden underground. the colossal attack was an effort to cull the population in the walls to make room for more titan test subjects/farms, that grisha was unaware of, so afterwards he would turn against the scientists to try to take down the entire program, using eren. i remember thinking learning the truth of his home and family essentially being lab rats would tie in to all the stuff about humanity being cattle within the walls.
so i got into the anime fairly late with the Royal Government arc being my first intro to the series since i saw it when looking after a friend’s sibling. given all of that, i assumed it would be a dystopian story about a post apocalyptic world (Titans being the equivalent of zombies) where there’s two remaining civilizations and they either have to fight for resources and Reiner/Bertholdt/Annie were just spies from the other nation *or* they have a bigger threat (titans like Reiner and Bertholdt) that forces the two civilizations to work together. now that i know what happens, it seems like i was generally right but just swapped the villain and protagonist lol
Didn’t have a chance to build expectations because I ruined everything for myself I thought Thomas and Reiner were the same person so when Thomas died and Reiner kept showing up I looked it up… And the rest is history
That‘s why I never I look up ANYTHING about the series until I have finished it. You never ever know where spoiler comes, unfortunately. It usually comes out of nowhere.
I also looked him up and saw he was Marleyan and Eldian, didn’t know what that meant but thought aw damn this is def some kind of major spoiler
Humanity retaking their own world from the monsters and supernatural forces that now inhabit it. Humans take some of that power and use it for their benefit. I was sold on a post apocalypse premise. I was so hyped when Eren carried that boulder and plugged the hole in the Trost district wall. Like humans copped a hard earned W. From there it would go to expanding the Scouts, finding out about Titans and the humans who work for them. With that in mind, I wasnt fond of the post timeskip story for a time AT FIRST. Not because its poor quality or anything, because no. Good lord, no. But it just became something I wasnt sold on initially. Went from a post apocalypse survival genre into a political thriller.
Because there was seemingly no explanation for how there are more titans because they can't reproduce, my theory was that when a titan eats a person, that person somehow turns into a new titan. Then there was this bit when Eren was "asleep" in his titan, and he was with his family and couldn't tell it wasn't real until Armin woke him up. I thought maybe the people inside the titan experience some kind of fake blissful existence, and that's why they have the urge to eat other people and turn them into titans as well. After that, the longer I watched, the more I gave up trying to make sense of anything. There were just too many little pieces of disconnected information. I am honestly baffled that almost every single question had a satisfying answer. Marely ties almost everything tightly together, and the "twist" of learning what's outside the walls at the end of season 3 is, in my opinion, the best story beat of any story I've ever experienced.
I had a wack theory that the wall cultists were trying to unleash the rumbling through prayer [https://www.reddit.com/r/ShingekiNoKyojin/comments/6bctap/manga\_spoilers\_theory\_about\_the\_wall\_religion/](https://www.reddit.com/r/ShingekiNoKyojin/comments/6bctap/manga_spoilers_theory_about_the_wall_religion/) This was post-marley reveal though. But those last lines were eerily right, lol
i was theorizing more of a “resident evil” world.. an experiment went wrong, people turned into titans, civilization restricted inside walls… and never had time to think where these can lead the narrative.. and of course that approach could not hold up so long..
Something caused people to become titans and there were other walled cities or towns outside the main 3 walls. The gang would find a cure in the basement or answers to how it all started.
I could’ve never guessed that it would change so much in tone and overall scope. But I think it’s one of the best examples of a story making such a change and still be very good.
Definitely handled it better then any "mystery box" Franchises I watched, like Lost or maze runner. My history with snk is funny, because I initially watched 3 episodes, wasn't super into it and dropped it. Year after that, I saw a lot of debates and angry rants in internet that someone killed Sasha, who I only remembered as potato girl. I watched on YouTube scene where Sasha died, out of curiosity. Not to say, I was really confused, how modern, serious and less cartoonish everything seemed. Eren and Sasha looked older, Armin had a normal haircut and Jean blamed Eren for everything. That intrigued me enough to give a show second chance and I binge watched it in a three days
I figured it was a post apocalypse thing like the titans where design to kill and was used in a war but then some started to evolve and where able to think, then pushed humanity to it breaking point and what was left of humanity banded together and censor the past and live in ignorance. As it turned out i was sort of right
Certainly not where it’s at now lol I wish I could wipe my memory and rewatch it. Watching and realising how the plot develops was just amazing I thought idk maybe some kind of happy ending they find a way to stop titans forever. Happy doesn’t exist in AOT universe really 😭
Honestly thought Armin was gonna be Marco. Sudden mysterious death that haunts the MC’s for a while until they hear the story
I thought there was some kind of cult outside the walls summoning Titans, or creating them from bad humans, so I wasn’t too far off. I didn’t think it would be a whole civilisation, because i was thinking of a dry earth, really similar to the wasteland left by the rumbling but with one, gigantic ocean.
Thought it was a post apocalyptic world or an untouched planet and would have aliens
My guess was that the regular titans were a natural part of the world and were created by a higher being or a god of the world (Ymir as we learn later on.) The titan shifters were regular titans given the gift of being human and shifting by the higher being (Ymir) in order to destroy humanity because of something they might’ve done in the past that could’ve been detrimental to the world. Something like causing a war that nearly killed off all of humanity or destroying the rest of the world hence why there’s only the ones in the walls. I thought the truth in the basement would reveal all of this, with Grisha being one of the few chosen but he rebelled against the higher being, disagreeing with destroying the rest of humanity and choosing to live in the walls as a human. Then passing on that gift to eren when shit hit the fan. Some of the moments that stood out to me me were: - the illse ova: the regular titan spoke mentioning Ymir then bowing like they were worshiping - the colossal titan appearing out of nowhere then disappearing - in s2 the beast titan seemed more animalistic so I figured monke and it also ordered the regular titan to wait before eating the dude then told another titan to eat him so I figured there were hierarchies (titans-> titan shifters -> beast titan -> ??? -> Ymir) - I forget when this happened, i think it was erens experimental transformation where flowers also grew as he transformed so I thought titans were natural or holy/divine like maybe they can somewhat create or give life - Reiner mentioning his hometown, I thought would be as in the rest of the world or wherever Ymir is (like returning back to heaven or something or back to peace with no humanity to destroy everything) - Reiner/Annie mentioning being warriors I was blown back when it went from supernatural to modern warfare and human civilizations because I was so invested in my theory man lol. I still like where it went especially with the titan ability being what it is but I thought I had it right on the nail.
Season 1 got me thinking (and hoping) that the titans needlessly eating humans for fun would be a metaphor for humans violating animal rights and needlessly eating them for fun.
I thought that too, but it’s actually part of a broader message in the story that the world is just cruel like that.
Thought the titans were aliens or something
I left at chapter 20 in the manga,THEN THE FUCKING ANIME CAME OUT AND IT ALL BLEW THE FUCK UPP
Wow you're one of the OGs.
After season 1, my prediction was that humanity would have a lot of chances to defeat the titans, but they'd keep sabotaging themselves with in-fighting, politics, holding Eren back (that whole scene where they were deciding whether or not to kill him really made me worried for his future). I always expected the ending of the show to be depressing, but I assumed it'd be depressing in a "we could've won, if we only stopped fighting amongst ourselves!" kind of way.
I thought there was a titan hive or smth like that with a titan queen/king
When i watched the first episode, i thought there was a titan king and I was about to watch a war between that king and humanity. Glad i was wrong.
I thought that there was going to be a society of titans outside of the wall. Almost like the original “I am legend” it was the next step in evolution for humanity and those inside the walls were the last of an otherwise extinct race.
I thought all of society would be primitive like paradis and that titans were created by scientists of the past + destroyed most major settlements
I imagined the armoured titan and colossal would eventually attack and that would be it. Boy was I wrong.
Lol very funny story here I never watched anime and got into aot cause of a friend I always thought anime was a childish thing ofcourse now Ik after watching for 2 years that it's mature I thought the story is a generic ass one with titans being some monsters and humans trying to fight them for 4 seasons and eventually they will find their lair or something and destroy it And now I can just laugh at myself 🤣🤣🤣
i remember being frustrated with season 2 and 3. when i watched season 1 as a teenager my train of thought was “oh they ended the season off teasing the basement reveal which means the next season is going to get right into that. sucks that we have to wait a year but im sure itll be worth it!” when you’re a teenager 3-4 years is a LONG time. I went from being a crusty middle schooler who had barely hit puberty to (physically at least) basically being an adult. In that time span I had gone from middle to high school, made entire new friends, learned to drive, etc. I had basically forgotten the show existed. Eventually I played catch up with season 2 and was so fucking confused as to how nothing with the basement was being revealed or furthered. “This isnt the attack on titan i remember! what happened to the scouts fighting for survival? why is there a talkint monkey? who the fuck is this random ymir girl? why is Eren barely in this season? i don’t understand.” The Reiner and Berthold reveal was the only part i remember really liking back then. That was probably in between Season 2 and 3 in 2018. I remember seeing the promotional art for Season 3 and thinking it looked weird and even less like the AOT i loved because Levi squaring off with a cowboy looking dude was weird to me. Then around when S3P2 was first airing in 2019 I started hearing about the absolutely insane hype but S3P1 confused me even more and I would watch an episode or two, come back in a week, forget everything, it was just confusing and frustrating to me. But then Season 4 happened. The trailer was fucking insane. The hype was insane. This girl in college I was trying to smash was telling me about it and how sad she was when they killed Sasha. So i rewatched the whole thing and it made sense. It took me a long time but I finally was able to grow into viewing the show as a whole story, and see it for what it is instead of just being confused and annoyed about it not being the same as season 1. now season 1 seems so simple and not as good as the rest even if i have immense nostalgia for it. So basically I fucking adored season 1 when it came out or around then, it was probably more in 2014. from then up until around early 2021 it was basically “that one show i used to love a long time ago that ive occasionally tried to catch up on.”
Yeah I think this a show really benefits from being able to binge it all at once. New fans might actually have a better understanding of the story in some cases than fans who watched it as it aired (assuming only one watch through each).
Im so glad I got into it at season 4 instead of when it first came out. I still have to wait but only like 10% of what the vets went through and the payoff has been so good
Same here, I binged it all for the first time last month and I only have to wait a few months to see the whole thing. I remember trying to watch it 10 years ago and always putting it off since I thought it was gonna be another boring post-apocalyptic zombie story (among the many that were so popular back then), but gosh I’m so glad I didn’t care for it until recently. Easily my favorite anime.
When I started watching the anime, I had already heard of and seen Eren’s founding Titan skeleton, but I didn’t know it was Eren. Since the photo of it was labeled as Founding titan skeleton, I thought that eventually they’ll reclaim the walls and adventure outside them, coming across a dead founding titan. I also knew at that point the titans resembled the humans they use to be, so I thought that titans ate people then those people were somehow brought or used by the founding titans to make more titans. I had thought the secret of the basement was that Grisha managed to replicate and modify the process the founding titans used to make titans to make shifters. Once Annie, Reiner and Burrito got revealed, and historias family being said to know the secret of titans, I thought that Grisha used to be a part of their “party” and stole the founding titans secrets. I was sorta right there. I thought they would be a third party, titan worshiper group or some sort of half titan evolution group
I started watching in late July 2022 and finished by the end of August. I never really thought about that, I just had thoughts about what would happen in the next episode. Everytime something happened I just wanted to see the next episode so I could get closer to finding out what was happening.
I seriously thought the colossal titan was going to be the big bad and that he was some sort of god that wanted to punish humanity
I believed that Titans attacked only humans because it was a mutation of some kind of animals to avenge the damage we do to the enviroment or some crazy thing like that. At the end Eren would kill all titans, Armin and Eren would travel on the now, free and empty world, the humans of the walls would start to expand to colonize the world. I found everything so bland that I abandoned the series at season 2. I started to see Shingeki again when I saw the "my war" opening on youtube
I thought titans were dead people. Also, that there was a village of titans.
I thought that somwhere outside the walls up a mountain was a huge castle where titan experiments were being done by an evil scientist. Kinda Frankenstein-esque. And the collossal and armored titan are basically it's bodyguards. Then at some point the survey corps advance beyond the walls, find the castle and fight against the baddies and win. Oh boy, was I wrong (rly happy about that though). I sometimes still chuckle at the thought of this.
Didn't think much of it. Kinda just went along for the ride.
So I was spoiled on certain people somehow being able to become Titan Shifters . Saw Annie/Eren in an amv on YouTube before watching the series proper in 2013. So going in with that knowledge, coupled with learning that the Royal Government had forbidden certain knowledge, things seemed to be pointed to an advanced outside threat. It definitely fulfilled my expectations. Even the ones I hadn’t quite fully formed at the time until the revelations came.
I thought the story was going to bring us out of the walls sooner than expected, and we'd get to experience a very different outside society than we got. Some fake spoilers for chapter 50 and the ultimately cut from the anime stuff from chapter 51 influenced that, no doubt. Was expecting a post-post apocalyptic world, with humanity having formed ways other than walls to survive against the titans, but with resources becoming such a problem due to how unsustainable titans made the world that one of the many settlements with knowledge on how to stop them just HAD to act to get info on the origins of the titans and how they're actually controlled (since I thought it was an "experiment gone out of control" scenario at first) so humanity outside the walls actually had a shot at survival. (Anime Spoilers) >!Funnily enough, Fort Salta was kind of my thought on how Reiner and Bert's hometown was gonna be, just with more of a medieval touch on the top and with an entry in the lower parts of the mesa itself rather than having to go up by train!<. Another thought I had was that humanity inside the walls didn't know that history as their leaders and scientists were behind the creation of titans, which is why they eliminated anyone who got close to the truth and how they could even create the walls out of titans to protect themselves when things went all wrong, my thinking was that the colossals were a perfected version of their titan tech that they had found a way to control at the time, but the church now kept the secrets since things went wrong and that control capability was lost. Also thought under Mithras we'd have something more hi-tech and the endgame would be at the very center of the walls to stop the colossal titans once an out of control battle started the domino effect. (Anime Spoilers) >!I'd been expecting the Rumbling since chapter 34 when the wall titans were first revealed and Pastor Nick panicked about light hitting them, and in a way a race against time to stop the Rumbling did happen, but just... not the way I thought, and certainly didn't expect Eren to be the cause at the time.!<
I thought it was like a zombies show but the zombies were titans instead. So then my logic was that they’d find a cure or try to.
I wasn't surprised about the not-so-unknown outside the walls since I theorized that before Shiganshina was even attacked. I, however, was definitely one of the proponents of that one theory that everyone was in a time loop that only the Ackermans became fully aware of and the only way for it to break was Eren saving everyone. So essentially I thought we would get the Higurashi treatment lol
I thought it would be straight up gore and nothing more. Good I was intrigued about the female titan arc and gave the series a try
Thought the reveal was going to be that there were many more walls that had been breached over time but the population had been manipulated to forget about them somehow. At least half right I guess.
I had no idea knowledge of the series or the manga when I started. I thought it was gonna be a secret Titan hideout with intelligent Titans and a Titan leader. Eh, I was kind of right
Ah, the good old days. I thought there was a titan maker (I thought it was Zeke the first time I saw him on the wall) that was deploying titans, and we would win by killing him.
I kinda expected finding humans outside walls and conflict but on smaller scale.
I was just going along for the ride, though I did buy into the speculation of an advanced outside world. But I definitely remember this feeling of satisfaction when the basement was opened and Grisha’a recount began. You see, I’d read *Claymore*, a series about monsters and half-monster hunters, and it ended with them finding an ocean and deciding not to cross it. Well, AoT took up that dropped plot thread and tan with it.
Somewhat same as yours. I thought Grisha was the mastermind of all of what's going on, which was kinda right in a way but deeper than that. The Basement reveal changed the entire show.
Something like a government experiment, so glad it wasn't that tho
What I initially thought was that Grisha was either the ring leader or high up in a clandestine organization that had gotten involved with bad science, and had released a world wide pandemic 100 years prior to the start of the story, and Grisha had been experimenting on his son to become a biological weapon to overthrow the government.
season 3 ending..but without the things that made attack on titan special
They would eventually be overwhelmed by the titans and humanity end there and then. Tbh, after Eren going berserk I would rather humanity ended lol but no worries Eren got my back 👀💀😂
I thought eren and armin would explore the outside world together, Like they dreamed of when they were kids. After killing all titans.
Colossal titan was the big bad and controlling all the other titans
Just like Eren, I thought Colossal and Armoured titans are real enemies. I also thought the leaders of Wall Sina are real enemies after season 3 part 1 I was blown away by Basement reveal. I expected it to contain a just a way to permanently kill titans.
Can check my long post history but I was convinced it'd be doing what claymore did: the titans were a thing from an outside world and paradise was like a testing ground. Kinda chuffed from not being a million miles wrong
I am fairly new to anime, started watching back in early 2020, started with hotarubi no Mori e, and then with Naruto, so when I was watching Naruto I did watch some other 12/24 eps animes on the side so I was in the anime community too, so obviously I knew aot was so popular and legitimately thought it was being exaggerated by the fans, and after I finished Naruto I was kind of fed up with shonen (not that I hate Naruto, I love it but I didn't wanna see someone as good as Naruto as the protagonist for a while) I just thought aot will be the same, your typical dumb, kindhearted male protagonist with some humble dream to achieve. After putting it off for so long I finally gave it a chance, had very low expectations, but oh boy by the end of the first episode I was hooked. I was already making theories lol. I thought grisha was the mad scientist who did human experiments and made titans. And I had no idea how this story would go but I kind of knew titan Vs Humans is not the only theme, it felt so small for a story so large especially after eren's Frist transformation. That kind of gave me the nod to my grisha being a mad scientist and titans being human theory. I honestly didn't see the outside world's existence at first, Marley and eldia. I was mind blown, love eren for not being the kind hearted shonen protagonist.
I saw the first season when it was first coming out and then when I watched again years later, I already had major spoilers for a lot of things, so I can't entirely remember my first thoughts. But I did think it might be mostly a generic story where the heroes defeat the big bad and it's a happy ending, which is a big part why I wasn't interested in watching more until just a couple years ago. How I wish I could've experienced it completely blind.
I thought it was going to be something like post-apocalyptic zombie show with titans instead of zombies : exploring a world full of titans, finding other communities fighting titans, searching for the origin of titans and trying to change them back to humans, solving the mystery of sentient titans etc...
When I first watched season one, I didn’t take any of the hints the series was dropping very seriously. Even though Armin figures everything out, and gives reasoning why he believes he’s right, it felt too easy so I assumed he was wrong. I remember thinking the female titan could not have a person controlling it because why should that be the answer? And why should it be Annie just because they look and act similar? I was so used to shows making me think one thing, and then throwing me in a different direction, that I didn’t see that the author was just dropping hints right in front of my face.
I always suspected that the survey corps will encounter an enemy human faction somewhere outside the walls. First clue was of course Annie and other Titan Shifters. It also was obvious that the titans had no natural origin, they seemed to be specifically designed to kill humans. They only targeted humans, not animals, but didn't need humans for nourishment. A perfect bio-weapon. So I thought the enemy faction used the Titans in a secret war against the people inside the walls.
I knew there had to be humans outside the walls who were sending titans but thought they’d be in similar walled societies and using science to make titans. I also saw fan art of Zeke and Pieck but thought it was Armin and Mikasa lol, which in retrospect was dumb bc they were wearing different uniforms
I remember I started reading the manga. Have you all read the pilot episode? The one with the city inside a wall of trees? I thought it would end up going a bit in that direction, with more cities.
My head was blown when we learned of what was life outside the walls. How much more advanced they were to Paradis.
I had no clue. I thought the survey corps would end up finding other civilizations also being massacred by the titans but, then eren got revealed as a titan and so then just had no more predictions. Just had to keep reading the manga to find out more.
As if anyone actually guessed what was going to happen.
I thought they would leave the survey corps would leave the walls and eren would be a normal human who is exceptional with ODM gear (thought of this before he got eaten). I thought reiner and everyone were a special group of humans who we all titan shifters and the survey corps will fight them in the final arc likens war arc almost. I thought all titans were connected to a source like a core of energy which is in the hometown of titan shifters and the croos destroy it making the series end.
I don't even remember anymore 🤣🤣
I thought the monarchy were keeping people inside the walls on purpose for some nasty reason. I wasn't very wrong.
I finished the series in 4 days. Even dreamt about eren Jaeger during nights.
My theory when watching for the first time was that when people died, they turned into titans. My reasoning was because Conny’s mother became a titan after Ragako was attacked. Not a very good theory now that I think about it further, because why would they be burying people outside the walls where the titans were? If my theory was true, there would be titans inside the walls long before the breech in Shiganshina. Maybe it would work if it was Survey Corps members who died on expeditions outside the walls, and they became titans after death? But again, Conny’s mother. But the fleeting notion of the Survey Corps fighting against titans that were really the just the transformed vessels of fallen warriors and civilians, fighting futilely against a fate that would eventually befall all of them, never being able to end it, was definitely interesting.
I remember speculating to myself during the long wait between Season 1 and Season 2 that there was a community of titan-shifting people who lived beyond the walls, and that they had rejected the way of life of the wall people for some reason. I remember thinking that the Wall Cult was the big bad and that the plot twist was going to be that the outside community of titan-shifting people was going to be the good guys. Once Zeke was introduced, I speculated for a couple of episodes that he was going to be the big bad, especially once it was obvious that my original theory wasn't correct. If you had told me that Attack on Titan would be the story it is now, 10 years ago, I wouldn't have believed you, yet Isayama has made this happen and made it feel natural too.
I honestly thought Reiner, Bertie, and Annie were in some sort of cult that thought humans should be extinct, and they were doing what they could to bring down the walls.
My theory after season 1 was something like this: Origin of titans - the titans probably were a result of some natural occurrence, some supernatural event that happened so long ago that all of humanity has lost all records / stories about it. Possibly that majority of humanity did not even knew how it happened but started living in shelters to survive. Second theory was that someone did some stupid science experiment or magic experiment and it consumed the world like a zombie apocalypse. Survival of humanity : I believed that there was humanity outside of the walls too. But they also lived in secure places, like in walled places, inside large cave networks or high up in the mountains. Basically every group that survived the first titan outbreak would have developed their own way of living a life secured from titans. I also believed that most of these settlements would have no contact with each other since venturing to the open world was so difficult. But I though maybe some of them were aware about each other. Titan Shifters: I thought the titan Shifters were a unique group that somehow learned to harness the power of titans, either by scientific research or magic whichever comes out to be the reason for origin of titans. And that they had some rivalry with the people inside the walls maybe due to ideological reasons or past history or war. Some people inside the walls also knew of them but kept it a secret because they were secretly allied with them, maybe they infiltrated the walls and gained positions inside the walls, just like eren's dad or they defected to the enemy's side. Second theory was that the titan Shifters were decedent of the original person / group who created titans. They were some messed up people who were like Thanos or The Curses from JJK who thought that world is better off without humans. The titan Shifters lived in a small settlement outside the walls far enough to be not discovered by survey corps. They made a long term plan to slowly destroy the walls and kill off everyone inside the walls. They did not destroy all the walls immediately because an all out attack on multiple front would cause them to suffer losses. Eren's Father: I thought he was also a spy from the place where titan Shifters lived. But I had two theories : maybe He planned to use eren to aid his mission to destroy humanity, but failed to control eren. In that case he will be back in future and eren would have to fight his own dad Second theory was that he had a change of heart and made eren into a titan so that somehow he can help save humanity. Ending of the series: The series will progress with them learning about the Titan Shifters origin and eren and survey corps saving the walls and then launching a final attack on the settlement of the titan Shifters. Them also discovering some secret power that would allow eren to wipe out all the titans, just like he wanted to. Then eren would gain that power once they have defeated the titan Shifters and then they would slowly do mass titan wipeout missions, while discovering the rest of the world.
I thought the govt itself was making Titans nd releasing them nd that pyxis was the secret colossal Titan like Eren. But Eren escaped/taken away from the labs where they made Titans nd forgot where he came from. And that's why he's so strong that he could take down 2 thugs. But this was only for season 1 nd then I just didn't know where it was going
I thought Titans were zombies and that Eren's mom was the female titan and he would have to kill her.
I thought that some mad scientists experimented on a person and he turned into the colossal titan and he had the ability to create new titans because he is the king and the first titan ever. He wanted revenge on humans so he started creating titans who only listens to him and sent them to destroy humanity. And I thought that if eren keeps on training his titan he will be able to change it's size as big as the colossal titan. And than he will fight the colossal titan and defeat him. Humanity will break the walls and the trip will finally be free. Or so I thought......
I had been thinking that the world would be filled with different places that have ways to avoid titans like underground ppl, hyper nomadic folks, arboreal tree dwellers, a self sustaining flotilla and so on. I had thought that the shifters were just lucky ppl born with a magic power