By Wesley Wang
Plot twists are a big part of the success of anime. Some do it well, while others try too hard to create a shock factor, making the twist unreasonable and not plausible. Popular Japanese manga and anime series Attack on Titan (AOT) has some of the most brilliant plot twists out there, each one carefully planned out from the beginning. There are many components to a well executed plot twist. These include foreshadowing, character building, and execution. In AOT, there are three major plot twists that almost nobody saw coming.
(spoilers follow)
Plot Twist #1 Reiner & Bertholdt
The first major plot twist is the revelation of Reiner and Bertholdt as the Armored and Colossal Titans. By going through our checklist of what makes a good plot twist, we can see that this plot twist was used perfectly. In the anime, it’s been foreshadowed that the two of them are the Armored and Colossal Titan, whether it’s panning the shot to Reiner when the trainees were talking about the Armored Titan in season 1, Reiner breaking out of Annie’s hand even after getting completely crushed, or when Reiner and Bertholdt were looking shocked when the Beast Titan showed up.
Next, the character building, specifically Reiner’s, contributed to the effectiveness of this plot twist. He came from Marley, but has been living in Paradis for so long that he now sincerely considers himself a soldier of the Survey Corps. This leads to him assuming that he can just tell Eren to come with him to Marley, which portrays his dual personality, one in which he is a warrior from Marley, and another in which is a Survey Corps member.
Lastly is the execution of the reveal itself. Just a few moments before the twist, it was revealed that Ymir, one of the Paradis soldiers, was a titan shifter, a human that could turn into a titan and back. Normally, this would be a big moment, requiring the audience to process the story and events for a few moments, but the anime doesn’t let us rest, instantly revealing Reiner and Bertholdt to be the two titans that attacked the city at the beginning of the story. By putting a big reveal only moments after another big reveal, the viewers are left shocked and thinking about everything that just happened. Suddenly, a titan shifter from hundreds or even thousands of years ago was revealed, then the identities of the two main villains who have attacked the people of Paradis since the beginning of the story were revealed as well. These two twists also set up the rest of the story, staging the reveal of how the previous Jaw Titan died later in the story and Reiner’s depression even later on.
Plot Twist # 2 Titans in the walls and the rumbling.
The next insane twist is that the walls are not only made of the same material as the titan hardening, but also have countless colossal titans in them. This is insane not only for the twist, but for how it set up the entire part of the story outside of the walls. In season one, when they first revealed that there were titans in the walls, there were many ways to think about it. It could mean that there was a group of humans that controlled titans and trapped them in there, or maybe there were docile titans. It was too vague to make a clear picture of what was happening, especially because at this point of the show, it was still Eren trying to kill all the titans.
The story of AOT starts as a basic, dark anime about an angry guy fighting for good because of losing his parents. Then, everything suddenly opens up into a much larger context. The wall titans engenders questions on the origins of these titans, and who or what they were. By the time season 3 came, there were tons of questions on the world of AOT, but we could only speculate with what we were given so far. Then, the basement where Eren’s father did his research was opened. At the same time, the door to the world outside the walls was also opened. We learn about all the powers of the Founding Titan, the life outside of the walls, and the secret of the walls. It was here that everything fell into place. The wall titans are there for not only protection, but for destruction. This leads to the concept of the Rumbling, a mass destruction attack, being introduced to the story. The build up, from the wall titans in season one, to the basement door being opened, to the discovery of the Founding Titan’s powers, to the vow of pacifism that prevents users of the Founding Titan from starting the Rumbling, all just sets up a perfect situation for last half of the story.
Plot Twist # 3 Attack Titan Sees Future
Another well written and unexpected twist is the revelation that the user of the Attack Titan can see into not only its past user’s memories, but also its future user’s memories. This is a shocking reveal, but written in a way that doesn’t seem implausible. All 9 titan shifters have some sort of unique power, whether it’s the armor on the Armored Titan, the size of the Colossal Titan, the hardening on the Female Titan, the weapons on the Warhammer Titan, or the mobility and speed of the Cart Titan. With this in mind, we never really understand the Attack Titan’s special ability. It can fight and it can harden, but there isn’t really anything that makes it stand apart from just a regular titan with a human inside of it. The story diverts our attention every time the Attack Titan is talked about, always giving Eren a goal to think about. Whether it’s escaping the walls, going into the basement, or starting the Rumbling by coming into contact with royal blood, there is always something else for viewers or readers to have their mind on. When it’s revealed that the Attack Titan is capable of seeing its future bearer’s memories, it is a surprise, but not insane to think that the Attack Titan has this type of skill. It is a plot twist that has been foreshadowed multiple times. This includes the title of the first episode, “To you, in 2000 years” and the dream that Eren had where the wall is broken down and his mom gets eaten. This inclusion of these two parts are examples of great foreshadowing, as viewers/readers know that these two parts are probably pivotal to the story, but can’t make a real prediction as to what direction the story is headed.
Sum Up
Most great stories are planned from the very beginning. Authors generally have the idea planned out, and it becomes increasingly obvious to viewers if authors come up with ideas as new episodes or chapters come out. The expertly executed plot twists in AOT show how much thought Hajime Isayama put into constructing this unforgettable story of a boy and his best friends trying to survive a cruel world. Every small detail written into the story even from the first chapter had some sort of significance in the long run. Every single plot twist was planned and thought out before the first episode/chapter was even released. Each reveal ends up setting up the next reveal and the reveals after that. Every small detail and every bit of foreshadowing makes Attack on Titan a nearly perfectly crafted story.
