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

This thread is for the experienced Attack on Titan viewer (i.e. those of you who are familiar with potentially all the light novels / manga), its purpose is to allow free discussion of theories and speculation over the Attack on Titan anime series, it therefore will contain unmarked spoilers. If you are a light novel / manga virgin of Attack on Titan, then do not read this thread unless you want to be spoiled (use the Attack on Titan - Speculation & Theories (for first time anime viewers) thread).

Since posters are expected to be familiar with the light novel / manga, there is no real need for spoiler tags, but feel free to include them if you so wish.

Adding a Spoiler tag:
Finally, please remain on-topic and do not use this thread if it's just discussion about the current or previous anime episodes. Also remember that this isn't a light novel / manga discussion thread, if you do want to discuss the light novel then please use the existing thread.

Woohoo! Finally! Now I can post my expectation for the pacing in the first 12-13 episodes of the series! Wrote this on another forum before ep3 aired, which is why it starts with ep3. :D

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Here's my guess for how the anime adaptation is going to go for the first 12 episodes:

Ep3 = Ch15-16 (Eren's training until they discover the defective equipment and he realizes he doesn't suck)

Ep4 = Ch17-18 (More training in the open areas, learning to move as a group and fight against cardboard targets, etc. Plus Rivail cameo.)

Ep5 = Ch3-4 (This is probably going to be the first big action episode, ending with Eren getting eaten. Non-readers are going to go nuts. Lol)

Ep6 = Ch5-6 (Mikasa episode, including her flashback with Eren.)

Ep7 = Ch7-8 (This one will probably end with the Eren-Titan fight mid-ch8.)

Ep8 = Ch8-9 (This will be the rest of the rescue operation using Eren-Titan ending with him transforming back.)

Ep9 = Ch10-11 + 9.5? (I can see them using the Rivail chapter as a pre-OP sequence for an episode around this point. The rest of the episode will be about them "testing" Eren after surrounding him.)

Ep10 = Ch11-12 (They'll probably have more expanded material here to show the aftermath of the discovery of a human-Titan. Plus the planning for the operation to close the wall with the rock, etc.)

Ep11 = Ch12-13 (The operation itself until Eren collapses and they all lose hope as he just stays immobile. Cliffhanger.)

Ep12 = Ch13-14 (Getting Eren back up all the way until he plugs the hole with the rock.)

Ep13 = Ch18 (I'm less sure about this, but it would make sense to have an epilogue sort of episode like ep2, where they remember and honor the fallen, and have expanded scenes on the cleaning up of the city and so on, with the characters reflecting on their first major battle.)

This will mean they'll cover about 18 chapters with 12-13 episodes. The second half of the series will start with Eren in the cell, and the new OP sequence will probably feature tons of Titan on Titan action. :D

What do you guys think?

All I know is I'm looking forward to Yuki Kaji getting eaten even if it doesn't last.

I think they should definitely do an episode that ends with Eren being eaten, followed by at least an episode where he remains "dead".

People might even start to believe that he is the Kamina or the Mami of the series, but most will probably not buy that.

That flashback with Eren's father and his syringe is really a give away, I wouldn't have minded if they moved it to some later episode.

There is a good change this is going to happen for at least an episode with how long it took before it was revealed in the manga what happened to him. It will be fun to see the reactions of the anime-only viewers.

But sadly it won't take long before they figure out what's going on. When I saw the titan with black hair that was fighting against the other titans for the first time, I quickly put two and two together. The only difference with my theory was that Eren needed another titan to turn in to a titan himself. I thought he could take over their bodies rather than constructing his own out of thin air.

Seems pretty accurate to me. Which chapter do you think they're going to end the show on? We already discussed it a bit in the general thread. My money is still on chapter 34 minus the cliffhanger ending. This way they could end the show on a major revelation about Annie and more importantly, the wall. They could even leave the cliffhanger in if they're sadistic, or simply want to urge people to read the manga.

Yeah, I doubt many people are going to buy it. The flashback with the syringe is too much of a give away. I figured he was going to turn into a titan before I started reading the manga. It was easier to buy in the manga since there was never any foreshadowing Eren was "special".

The syringe scene was also in the manga, in chapter 3. Or are you talking about a different foreshadowing?

I totally forgot about that. I was confusing it with the flashback from chapter 10. Then the only difference is that the anime showed the key earlier.

Holy, word per word what I thought when I read that part.

Yeah perfect.

I think both chapter 30 and chapter 34 are prime candidates. It depends on how much other material they'll be adding to the series in general. If they end the series on chapter 34, that's a pretty big cliffhanger of sorts in terms of "wtf is going on???", but if they end it on chapter 30, it'll feel like they just survived a dangerous encounter to fight another day. There's a one month time skip after chapter 30 too, which might fit well into the start of another season if that's their intention.

Man, just watching episode 3 and seeing those two traitors, makes my blood boil. I kinda don't look forward to the upcoming episodes involving the second attack just because they're so depressing.

I can't stop laughing every time I see those two, knowing what they really are but acting the way they do. It's also funny to see how many things just fit in perfectly...like for example how those two and Annie were placed in 2nd, 3rd and 4th place only behind Mikasa (1st) and just ahead of Eren (5th) at the end of the training.

I hope we'll get into the wider politics soon. I kinda hope for some Historia guile action.

Makes you think that Mikasa will eventually become a Titan too eh. But lol, humanity doesn't have a chance anymore if Mikasa becomes a Titan that isn't on their side.

Concerning the two though, I'm pretty sure they have a bigger background than them just lying. Same with Annie.

Even if Mikasa turned out to be a titan working with another faction, as long as Eren sided with humanity she would do the same..........in other words, if Mikasa ever became a titan then the titans would be in deep shit.

Mikasa isn't a titan (the cut on her cheek left a scar) and it better stay that way. It would be annoying if you had to be a titan to be relevant in this manga. Don't turn this into the new super saiyan. Besides, I find humans vs titans battles a lot more exciting than titans vs titans.

I don't think Mikasa is a titan, but the cut on her cheek isn't a good example to disprove that theory. If Eren already had regeneration before he turned in to a titan for the first time he would have noticed it when he hurt himself in the past.

That doesn't mean anything, even Reiner remained wounded for a while without becoming a Titan. Moreover Eren got wounded badly on his head during training and he supposedly had already the Titan powers by then, but he didn't suddenly heal like he did after Rivaille kicked him on his face.

In other words an awakening event is probably necessary before the Titan powers fully manifest.

But that being said I don't think that Mikasa will become a Titan, however... I think it's certain at this point that Doctor Jaeger knows a lot about Titans and he developed a method to turn people into them without causing them to lose their minds.
But he couldn't have done that without making several experiments first, right? He wouldn't have subjected his own son to that "cure" if he didn't know it could work.

Well, we know that he visited frequently Mikasa and I fear he made experiments on several of his patients, including her. There is the possibility that Mikasa is a "failed" experiment. Meaning that she won't become a Titan, but that might be where she got her inhuman strength from.

That's what I'm saying. She isn't a titan right now. Eren's abilities only awakened after he turned into a titan for the first time. She could have the potential to become one like Eren did but she's still human at the moment, meaning she didn't rank first because she's a titan. So the argument that Mikasa must be special because she managed to rank above the titans doesn't hold any water for me.

I don't get why people always say this. When did she display inhuman strength? She's just incredibly skilled. And she's still weaker than Rivaille who is a manlet, yet nobody thinks he's a titan. It's perfectly possible for her to simply be a badass girl.

That said, I'm not dismissing your theory. It sounds perfectly reasonable that the Dr Jaeger could have experimented on her. I wouldn't like it though. I want her to remain a representative of humanity's potential.