When the anime of Attack on Titan, otherwise known as Shingeki no Kyojin, first aired back in 2013, it took the entire world by storm. The prior year, the manga was known in some circles, but wasn’t all that popular overall. But when the first episode of its anime came out, the series’ popularity exploded, with millions of people (even non-anime fans) hooked, wanting more and going to the manga to get their cravings satisfied. The first season of the anime was 25 episodes, and while it was a great 25 episodes, people who were expecting more from the series based on its incredible popularity were left disappointed, with some thinking that it was overrated. Well, I can officially say that those disappointed viewers would definitely not be disappointed if they stuck with the series after the first season. The past two seasons of Attack on Titan have elevated the manga and anime to absolutely legendary status. And today, I want to talk about what turned this story into such a masterpiece.

Context

Attack on Titan was first published starting in late 2009 in Bessatsu Shonen Magazine, a monthly magazine published by Kodansha Comics. The manga has been authored and illustrated by Hajime Isayama. The story started out as a unique spin on the zombie apocalypse genre, with giant, mindless humanoids trying to eat the last of humanity, but the story slowly became something much more. WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!

The Reveal

Attack on Titan continues to get better and better, in part because of the amazing reveals that it builds up to and executes. An example of this is the reveal of who the characters Reiner and Bertholdt really are. There are many details that were set up early on in the series that, while subtle, helped make the reveal feel a lot more like it had actually been set up by Isayama. A few of those details are as follows: -When Reiner is caught in the Female Titan’s grasp, he somehow manages to escape, despite the fact that most people die easily from normal titans when they are caught in their hands. Reiner being the Armored Titan makes it clear that Annie wasn’t trying to kill Reiner. -How did Annie know where to find Eren in the battlefield? Reiner wrote a message in the palm of her hand using his blades when Annie grabbed him. -Reiner’s hair… -When Bertholdt was in danger of being attacked from a lot of titans, for a split-second frame, Bertholdt looked like he was about to bite into his hand, something that only a Titan Shifter would know to do.

The Basement Reveal

After several years, Isayama finally revealed what is in the basement, and boy did it exceed all expectations. For one, the information in the basement revealed that the people in the walls weren’t truly the last of humanity as they had been led to believe all of their lives. Beyond that, the episodes “That Day” and “Shingeki no Kyojin” are truly masterpiece level episodes, not only with their reveals, but just about everything about them. But for this article, I will be focusing on examples of reveals in these episodes, which will be as follows:

-The episodes finally explain where the Titan Shifters come from with the story of Ymir Fritz.

-The country of Marley hates the people known as Eldians, and the people in the walls are a group of Eldians.

-The people in the walls live on a small island called Paradis by the Marleyans when the world is much, much bigger.

-How does the Beast Titan (Warchief Zeke) know Grisha, Eren’s father? Because he is Grisha’s first son, and Eren’s half-brother.

-The English translation of the manga’s name has been a lie this entire time. The title was not referring to humanity attacking titans. Rather, it was referring to the Attack Titan, one of the nine special Titans, whom Eren, our main protagonist, currently carries.

-How did Eren activate the power of the Founding Titan despite not having royal blood? Because he had briefly touched the hand of the Smiling Titan, the one who ate Eren’s mother, who in actuality was Dina Fritz, Grisha’s first wife and a person who has royal blood.

These are just a few of the amazing reveals that the series slowly built up to and executed extremely well. These reveals are also a few of the aspects of the story that helped change it from one of a zombie apocalypse to a genius-level story about overcoming racism and slavery.