And that wasn't in the manga?

The sheer ferocity this show comes after you with is nothing short of astonishing, and with part 2 of the final season being aired right now, the hype is incredible.

But to get to that hype level, it had to build from somewhere.

So that brings us to the question, how did Attack on Titan become the greatest anime of our generation?

Well this is how.

I think one of the most frustrating parts about Attack on Titan is trying to convince someone to watch it without giving anything up.

You tell them the basic premise of the story and they think, okay, this seems cool.

People just trying to defeat these giant monsters to survive.

Sounds like it could be decent.

But little do they know, they're walking into an intricately woven world and story that you think initially is pretty simple, but it's so much more.

The build ups, payoffs, the foreshadowing, the heart wrenching plot twist, psychological and political warfare, trauma, identity crisis, extreme prejudice and racism, complex themes, time manipulation, all while listening to this banger ass soundtrack man.

Like god damn man, I'm feeling so many emotions when I'm seeing this and listening to this music.

I just want to be like Why are you comfortable with me?

So to find the answer to this question, we need to go all the way back.

Back to the very beginning.

In 2006, a young Hajime Isayama wrote a one shot called Attack on Titan.

This one shot was the very beginning.

The beginning of the journey that would take us to where Attack on Titan is as we know it today.

A young man with an idea and a passion became the author of one of the most insane and complicated stories I've ever experienced.

Like my god.

I truly wonder what the inner workings of this man's mind is like.

I really just can't comprehend how he came up with this complicated shit because I can hardly come up with the words to say for this freaking video.

Isayama brought us a completely fresh and never before seen experience with Attack on Titan.

And I want to bring up a point my guy Thoughts from Shivam mentioned in his latest YouTube video.

And it's that almost every new generation manga or anime seems to be heavily inspired by one of its predecessors.

While this is totally valid and completely okay, Attack on Titan completely breaks this mold.

And because he had such an innovative story and didn't follow most of the stereotypical shounen tropes, Isayama failed to get the attention of Shounen Jump.

In 2009, he officially started publishing Attack on Titan as we know it today in Kodansha Monthly Magazine.

It gained insane popularity and eventually received an anime adaptation and that brings us to the very beginning of the anime in 2013.

Before we get any further into the video, it would be super cool if you guys would smash that like button and subscribe if you're new.

Wit Studio and director Tetsuo Araki brought us season 1 of Attack on Titan anime.

And when I say they took the world by storm, I mean they took the world by storm.

Wit Studio was a relatively new and unknown commodity until they legitimately smashed it out of the park with season 1 of Attack on Titan.

From the moment you start watching, whether you realize it or not, you are being fed insane foreshadowing.

And along with that, on EPISODE FUCKING 1, there is already a crazy mind breaking twist.

I think having a strong and impactful episode 1 was one of the biggest things that helped catapult Attack on Titan to stardom.

These days, if you can't capture people's attention early, they won't really continue to be invested.

And honestly, I really don't understand how it got that way.

Throughout season 1, we get introduced to every main character and every not-so-main character.

As we learn the characters, we learn their motivations, mannerisms, and abilities.

Another impressive feat is being able to seamlessly introduce and integrate all these complex characters without it feeling oversaturated or without some being left by the wayside.

As the story progresses, we are constantly presented with questions we want answers to.

How did Eren get his titan form?

Who's the main traitor?

What's in the basement?

Who's outside the walls?

Why are there titans in the walls?

Why are titans trying to eat people when they don't actually need to?

For me especially, having plot points I want to discover keeps me interested and captivated throughout the entire series.

It's amazing because even in the beginning stages of this story, you can see the immense detail and care injected into this narrative.

Part of the beauty of Attack on Titan is that we DO have all these questions, but we also aren't spoon-fed all the answers.

Everything is naturally discovered through the progression of the story or heavily foreshadowed enough for us to put the pieces together ourselves.

And while that is some of the most enjoyable parts, it's also pretty cool when they just shove the crazy fucking plot twist straight into our face.

To this day, I can watch this clip over and over and still get goosebumps.

Being able to have such an impactful and timeless moment like this is another reason why Attack on Titan is CEMENTED into my top anime forever.

The amount of times I've seen a recorded reaction to this specific moment just goes to show how amazing it truly is, but the craziest part was this was just a baby plot twist in comparison to what comes later.

I'm not going to go into detail about every single one of these twists, but instead, I'm going to quickly list them out for you so you can remember and truly understand how densely packed this narrative is with immaculate storytelling.

Starting from the beginning, we have Eren being a titan, Annie being the female titan, Titans being inside the walls, Zeke exists, Ymir was a titan too, Reiner and Bertholdt were also titans, Historia was secretly a royal family, Mikasa and Levi were secretly part of a clan of super soldiers, Eren also has the founding titan, Zeke is actually Eren's brother, the founding titan can manipulate memories, there's an entire advanced civilization outside the walls and they created the roaming titans, all of the titans came from one titan, Eren was secretly hiding in Marley waiting to attack, Eren's titan can see future memories and he can manipulate certain events through these fucking memories.

So, not only does this show have S-tier quality writing, it's also one of the most well-produced pieces of animation I've ever experienced.

Wit Studio came into this shit with the animation flexing on maximum overdrive, there was never any moments from season 1 to season 3 where I wasn't getting aroused from the beauty of the sakuga that was being put on the screen, and on top of that amazing fucking animation, we have the best anime score of all time.

I'm telling you right now, this man Hiroyuki Sawano crafted and concocted the purest form of audio drugs because I am fully addicted.

My name is Gloria, I am 28 years old, and my addiction is Hiroyuki Sawano.

I can literally gush for days on how the OST is absolute perfection, and when I say this, I mean it wholeheartedly.

Hiroyuki Sawano is the Hans Zimmer of anime.

His epic and sinister style is the perfect compliment to the unhinged atmosphere of Attack on Titan, but that's not all he can do.

When the story gets more positive and motivational, he hits you yet again with another banger-ass rock song that could get you more hyped than C-Dog VA when he talks about monkeys or bidets.

Let's go!

Start!

Now, while on the topic of the soundtrack, when the final season was passed from Wit Hiroyuki Sawano's protege, Koto Yamamoto, took over most of the OST composition.

And while I still do prefer Sawano's tracks, I cannot deny that this man Yamamoto made one of the most intense and iconic themes in all of the anime.

And on the topic of themes, the beginning of the final season had a drastic change in themes, tone, setting, and characters.

Entering the endgame of the story, why would Isayama change everything up?

It definitely took a second to get used to, but getting to see the perspective of the quote-unquote enemies really makes you feel like there is no true right or wrong in this story.

And everyone has equally done horrible things.

This season emphasizes the true meaning and downfalls of war.

We get to see, if presented in a different perspective, how characters like Gabi, who are direct parallels to Eren, can be vehemently hated, just because we followed the perspective of one character in the entire story instead of the other.

Still fuck Gabi though.

Now, while I do still prefer Wit Studio's adaptation, MAPPA is absolutely killing it.

These last few episodes of this season have been absolute 10 out of 10 banger episodes.

This is the type of quality that I've always known Attack on Titan for and MAPPA is definitely delivering.

Now, all this being said, is Attack on Titan really the greatest anime of our generation?

Well, to be honest, that's up to your opinion, but in my opinion, it 100% is.

If you watched this entire video all the way to this point, you're the GOAT.

Due to the nature of the way I make videos, I have to write them, script them, edit them, film them, all this stuff, so it takes me a while to put them together.

So, I'm going to ask you, if you enjoyed this video, please share it with a friend, put it on Reddit, tweet it out, do something, because I just want to keep growing my channel and it's really hard to when I only post once every couple of weeks.

And if you want more juicy, sweet content like this video right here, maybe check out my, uh, you know, 2021 YouTube video, or even the Mushoku Tensei one.

Anyway, guys, it's been K Corbanime, thank you so much for watching, we'll see you in the next one.