Attack on Titan

Attack on Titan—is it a real, earnest anime or a super-efficient meme factory? Yesterday’s episode, and the reactions it inspired, brings us one stop closer to the answer.




In the latest AoT episode, titan-fighting trainees are hiding from the naked giants in a castle when—spoiler—the titans breach it. Reiner, one of the trainees, discovers the first titan like so:

Attack on Titan


What could it be behind the door? Surprise.



Attack on Titan

Yes, it was humanity’s worst fear: the flesh-eating titan. After encountering this very predictable twist, Attack on Titan fans diligently got to work, replacing the titan with, uh, less expected terrors. They are all “humanity’s worst fear.”

We’ve got our scary Minecraft teen....

The science YouTuber Vsauce:

Jeb Bush:

Johnny:

Over-eager ogres:

A Bugs Bunny furry:

Here’s my favorite....

And here’s one from Gizmodo’s resident memelord, Bryan Menegus:

Man, Attack on Titan would be so scary if it wasn’t a meme goldmine... Probably.