College Students Obsessed With "Attack On Titan"

By Rawan AbuShaban on September 30, 2014

Is it sex? Drugs? Nope, it’s a cartoon.

The question immediately jumps to mind: what are college students doing watching cartoons? Cartoons are for kids.

All jokes aside, Attack on Titan is a show that’s for anyone but the kids.

The Attack on Titan Japanese poster. (Image source: crunchyroll.com)

Attack on Titan is a hyper-grotesque Japanese anime released in 2013, based on Hajime Isayama’s hit manga Shingeki no Kyojin, which explores some heavy themes, such as life and death, hope and futilism, adventure and mystery, and friendship and betrayal. This seems typical considering the Japanese standard of animated series, but Attack on Titan takes it to the next level – and it is intense.

Just hearing the term “anime” causes fans to briefly reminisce the good old days of Pokémon, Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon –but Attack on Titan is in a league of its own. Unparalleled in its unique plot, striking animation, awesome soundtrack, and rapidly expanding fan-base, this show has everything.

A plot everyone can agree on:

It’s called “three-dimensional maneuver gear.” How badly do you want one? (Image source: giphy.com)

Man-eating giants, known as Titans, threaten humanity’s existence. What do the humans do? They fight back! The result: the audience is thrown back with waves of inspirational victories and heart-crushing defeats that make fans love to hate and hate to love this show.

A new yet familiar setting:

Throwback to gym class. (Image source: giphy.com)

The city which holds the last of the human race is something of a German-steampunk aristocracy. The filthy-rich one-percenters hold all the power, and the fate of humanity lies in the hands of the corrupt, imposing and largely inefficient military. Sound familiar?

It isn’t hard to sympathize with young characters who join the military, whose hopes of saving the human race are dashed when they see their friends mutilated and eaten by invading Titans going on rampant murder-sprees. These fiendish Titans will stomp on your favorite characters – and your emotions.

Staple characters we can actually root for:

There are also, like, 80 other characters, but you don’t need to think about that right now. (Image source: entravity.com)

Eren, the protagonist, is an angsty yet ambitious youth who joins the military to seek revenge and unlock the secrets to the Titans’ existence.

His right-hand woman, Mikasa, is the strong female character who breaks every stereotype about girls in anime by overcoming obstacles with her unmatched fighting skills instead of her sexuality (which is refreshingly absent throughout the show).

Lastly, there’s Armin, the emotionally weak, physically incapable, yet adorable sidekick who doesn’t have much going for him except his ties to friends (and bowl-haircut).

… Undeniably, the most prominent aspect of the series is that it’s borne out of pure terror.

GO AWAY. (Image source: giphy.com)

Needless to say, the Titans make this show.

Full disclosure: I thought these huge fleshy monster-things were lame during my first encounter with Attack on Titan. (I say “encounter” as I had only seen the last four minutes of the first episode in my friend’s living room.)

In this short exposure, I observed the giant, pudgy Titans wobbling around the city with these dumb expressions on their faces, completely naked, and lacking any real cognitive abilities, possessing only the lust to tear apart and eat humans. It comes across as comical, but once you become invested in the show, it’s absolutely petrifying. These Titans will terrorize you as much as they do the remnants of humanity.

BUT THERE’S A GUY ON THAT CHAIN. (Image source: giphy.com)

Attack on Titan is an emotional roller-coaster.

This show has zero limits in its graphic depiction of blood, death and destruction. You will become attached to characters only to find them brutally ripped apart. Some scenes will surprise you simply because you thought that this magnitude of gore and emotional trauma would have been too intense to animate.

On the contrary, the grotesque horror of this show will give you nightmares. Check your preconceptions of Japanese cartoons at the door, because Attack on Titan will destroy them.

And you thought Jurassic Park gave you nightmares. (Image source: entravity.com)

It’s disturbing, it’s thrilling and it’s on Netflix.

Jaded college students looking for a new show to get into can’t get enough of Attack on Titan, and anxiously await the release of the second season in July 2015.

If you want a broader glimpse of the craze that’s sweeping the campus community, take a look at Buzzfeed’s compilation of “13 Best ‘Attack on Titan’ Opening Parodies.”

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