Attack on Titan - Spoilers & Speculation (for experienced Titan Attackers only)

[chaos_alfa]

I was wondering. Did people know before the flashback in the manga which revealed Mikasa's race. That she was half Japanese? It was deducible from her first name and last name at least.

[Jan-Poo]

IIRC there is no mention whatsoever of Mikasa's ethnicity before the flashback oh how her family was killed.

I guess you could say it was deducible but yet not for certain. We are not even sure if this is our Earth and one could say she is named Mikasa because of a simple bizarre choice of names. Her name is written in Katakana after all.

Anyway you say that Mikasa is half-japanese but we don't actually know if there is or ever was a Japan to begin with. All that was said is that she is half-oriental.

[Terrestrial Dream]

Originally Posted by Jan-Poo

I guess you could say it was deducible but yet not for certain. We are not even sure if this is our Earth and one could say she is named Mikasa because of a simple bizarre choice of names. Her name is written in Katakana after all.

For example you say that Mikasa is half-japanese but we don't actually know if there is or ever was a Japan to begin with. All that was said is that she is half-oriental.

You know does anyone believe that the world of Titan is set in the future?
The first chapter and the episode is called "To You, In 2000 Years". I am sure this has came up before, but I think the signs point towards the future.

[Jan-Poo]

If it's the future it's a very strange one indeed.

There aren't many places on Earth where something as huge as that walled country can exist without being very near to the sea.

And what kind of place on Earth has that many german sounding names with a few English ones but not a single black guy or anyone that isn't Caucasian?

If this is the future there must have been a 4th Reich before the Titans came. Or perhaps it's an alternate reality where the Nazi won the second great war.
You still need to explain all that lost technology though.

[Terrestrial Dream]

America? Large land, and decent German population. But this being anime accuracy might not be its strongest point.

The lost technology portion is going to be tough to explain.
But we shall see, at this point only clues are Mikasa and the first title.

[Randrak42]

It is complicated if it really was the real world. The territory within the walls is about the size of Texas...which would not fit in Europe due to the lack of sea in the manga. But then it doesn't correlate well with both the German theme and the environment.........so it's likely just another world altogether.

[CJ_Walker]

Originally Posted by Terrestrial Dream

You know does anyone believe that the world of Titan is set in the future?
The first chapter and the episode is called "To You, In 2000 Years". I am sure this has came up before, but I think the signs point towards the future.

Yes the setting is in the future. Referenced by the can of tuna that Ymir was trying to eat when she revealed that she was able to read the katakana on it(or was it English, I forgot.)

Originally Posted by Jan-Poo

If it's the future it's a very strange one indeed.

There aren't many places on Earth where something as huge as that walled country can exist without being very near to the sea.

And what kind of place on Earth has that many german sounding names with a few English ones but not a single black guy or anyone that isn't Caucasian?

If this is the future there must have been a 4th Reich before the Titans came. Or perhaps it's an alternate reality where the Nazi won the second great war.
You still need to explain all that lost technology though.

My speculation is the whole Final Fantasy X "SIN" in which the Titans/walled cities are a prison for the losers of the last great war. The Big titans are probably set to awaken every 100 years to provide energy in the form of the humans that lost the war to the other humans or whatever. The humans that run the titans are probably decendants of the ones that betrayed the humans that lost the war (scrapped princess) and live as second/3rd class citizens but don't get to share the same fate as the humans "herded in the walls like Cattle" (said somewhere in the first few chapters as a hint most likely), same as the high priests in the cities and the "king" of the whole settlement.

These titans are obviously weapons created to kill humans(it was hinted that they can detect human emotions) and it seems like they are farming and harvesting them every 100 years.

Hell its even possible that there are other settlements in this same situation.

Thats pretty much the only thing I can gather from what the author has shown already, a lot of other speculations don't make much sense tbh. Or else there wouldn't be the need for so much secrecy among certain members of the cast.

[Randrak42]

Originally Posted by CJ_Walker

Yes the setting is in the future. Referenced by the can of tuna that Ymir was trying to eat when she revealed that she was able to read the katakana on it(or was it English, I forgot.)

Actually we don't know in what language the can is, all we could see was a Z and then two faded letters that look nothing like those of of the latin alphabet, nor do they look like any Kanji or other Chinese/Japanese/Korean symbols.

[Terrestrial Dream]

I think we can say that it wouldn't be far fetched if the author says the this is the future. There are decent amount of clues. But if this is alternate world that would be fine as well. Either way eventually I would like to see arc where they get out of the wall.

[Zaresh]

Originally Posted by Terrestrial Dream

The lost technology portion is going to be tough to explain.

Not really. Once you kill all the people with knowledge and lose or ban all the books with said knowledge, it's easy to lost technology. Think on Rome and how much was lost or almost unkown for most of the people until the 16th or 17th.

That aside, I bet we have an alternative reality setting running here.

[Jan-Poo]

Originally Posted by Zaresh

Not really. Once you kill all the people with knowledge and lose or ban all the books with said knowledge, it's easy to lost technology. Think on Rome and how much was lost or almost unkown for most of the people until the 16th or 17th.

What kind of technology was lost? Certainly nothing related to architecture, art, navigation or warfare.

[Zaresh]

Originally Posted by Jan-Poo

What kind of technology was lost? Certainly nothing related to architecture, art, navigation or warfare.

For most parts of Europe, it was. Not for arabs, I can give you that. And I think I can give you too that we get back most of the classical texts by the 15th.

Still, I cannot see some architecture buildings like the pantheon being made in the middle ages.
(to be honest, I was thinking about medicine and hygiene)

[Jan-Poo]

They built an enormous amount of churches in medieval time as well as a lot of castles, rooks and towers. Some of them could have never been made if it wasn't for advanced architectural knowledge. They also developed better fortifications in general. Better weapons, better armors, the trebuchet was significantly better than any other siege weapon they used in classical times and they later acquired cannons by the 14th century.

Medieval certainly suffered from a certain cultural decay they didn't built anything grandiose as the Roman did, but it wasn't as bad as people depict it.

[jeroz]

Originally Posted by Randrak42

but for the anime I keep seeing anime-only viewers people referencing it.

Blame those loud mouth Manga readers who kept on complaining that the anime put the flashback in too early, drawing soooo much attention to that scene.

[Randrak42]

Originally Posted by jeroz

Blame those loud mouth Manga readers who kept on complaining that the anime put the flashback in too early, drawing soooo much attention to that scene.

The anime flashback was much more memorable than the simple one in the manga.

And it's funny because the manga used a flashback at around the same time as the anime, but it was so simple and forgettable that people...forgot about it.

[Zaresh]

Originally Posted by Jan-Poo

They built an enormous amount of churches in medieval time as well as a lot of castles, rooks and towers. Some of them could have never been made if it wasn't for advanced architectural knowledge. They also developed better fortifications in general. Better weapons, better armors, the trebuchet was significantly better than any other siege weapon they used in classical times and they later acquired cannons by the 14th century.

Medieval certainly suffered from a certain cultural decay they didn't built anything grandiose as the Roman did, but it wasn't as bad as people depict it.

It's not the same way of making buildings, not domes at least and neither the walls. I can not remember many buildings with lots of stories, nenither I remember of them to have a rotation system in their cultives so good for almost all the middle ages (actually, I'm not sure, but I thing they had usualy 2 harvest seasons whereas romans had usually 3, so I'm not going to bet aniting on that).

Sure, the medieval period wasn't a dark age, I know that, but it lost information from the ancient ages. Look at the hydraulics, look at the roads. And the top of the engineering in middles ages was far for common use. Information was lost, because progress isn't lineal nor constant: you can step back.

[Jan-Poo]

Originally Posted by Zaresh

It's not the same way of making buildings, not domes at least and neither the walls. I can not remember many buildings with lots of stories, nenither I remember of them to have a rotation system in their cultives so good for almost all the middle ages (actually, I'm not sure, but I thing they had usualy 2 harvest seasons whereas romans had usually 3, so I'm not going to bet aniting on that).

Sure, the medieval period wasn't a dark age, I know that, but it lost information from the ancient ages. Look at the hydraulics, look at the roads. And the top of the engineering in middles ages was far for common use. Information was lost, because progress isn't lineal nor constant: you can step back.

Let's even acknowledge that some technologies can go lost, (though I don't quite agree that the historical example of medieval can support something so radical as an information era reverting to pre-renaissance) but what about the physical evidences of those technologies.

You mentioned the pantheon, for example, but the pantheon was still there, and it's still there today.

The current world is so filled with proofs of our technology advancements that the idea that any traces of them would completely vanish in an area as big as Texas is practically unthinkable.

Even if you wanted to purposely remove those, it'll probably cost you several billions of dollars and take decades, and you still shouldn't be surprised if farmers would occasionally find fragments of plastic and concrete.

[RDF2050]

Originally Posted by Randrak42

I can't wait to see episode 5...Chapters 4, 6 and 7 are pretty much the chapters I most want to see animated so I can see the anime only viewer's reactions to everyone dying, Mikasa's flashback and the abnormal titan. I just hope they don't censor those episodes too much.

Next week can't come soon enough.

The episode is here! I am loving the reading in the thread of episode 5. These anime-only watcher are going to rage when they know what really happen.

[BoyTitan]

Theory one there is going to be a big real on why titans look like humans that have died, We already know the ape titan turned a village into titans but thomas looks like the first titan eren fights as a titan. And the titan that eats eren looks like Armins gramps.

2 There is Human titan vs Original titan war going on outside, The other titan faction the ones the ape titan belongs to are winning they have not took all the humans titans territory but the fact the ape titan a scout for information gathering found the walls the human titans were probably trying to hide means they have the human titans on their last leg of defense. This point is further by after seeing the ape titan they want to catch eren even further. And the fact they did not transform to fight the ape titan 2 to 1 he must be stronger.

3 Ape titan was clearly a assasin/scout killed/thought he killed everyone who seen him in a swift assassin like manner.

4 Eren has more than just the power to turn into a titan or is the key to something bigger like the basement pr what ever he was injected with this point is furthered by the fact that the armored and giant titan want him so badly why would they want a inexperienced rookie at the loss of Annie a skilled warrior this bad.

5 Again there just has to be a titan vs titan fight going because not only have 2 complete different factions of titans displayed intelligence they have war intelligence. Also I assume the human titans are loosing because annie knows defensive fighting for fighting stronger enemies what could be stronger than a 17 m titan, 2 The titan must be good at stealth to blend in with the humans, Also its clear the ape is from a far away land since he never seen 3d gear before and felt the need to take it to his superiors. Taking the 3d gear to be looked at proves he has superiors.

[slidingk1]

I speculate the old bald guy is actually the Monkey thing just you watch.