Anime Series Season 1 - Attack on Titan
The first Season of the anime television series Attack on Titan was produced by Wit Studio, an animation studio which belongs to the Production I.G group. The season was directed by Tetsuro Araki, produced by Tetsuya Kinoshita and written by Yasuko Kobayashi. This season covers the first 4 Arcs from the original manga by Hajime Isayama.
Attack on Titan Anime Season 1 Arcs
Here are the 4 Arcs covered in Season 1 of the Attack on Titan anime series.
- Fall of Shiganshina (chapters 1 and 2).
- Battle of Trost District (chapters 3 and 4).
- 104th Training Corps (chapters 15 to 18).
- Female Titan (chapters 19 to 34).
The season was broadcasted on the Mainichi Broadcasting System from the 7th April until the 29th September 2013. Later it would also be aired on Tokyo MX, FBS, TOS, HTB, TV Aichi and BS11.
Attack on Titan Anime Season 1 Soundtrack
The opening theme song of the first 13 episodes of Season 1 is “Feuerroter Pfeil und Bogen” (紅蓮の弓矢, Guren no Yumiya, lit. "Crimson Bow and Arrow") by Linked Horizon. The ending theme is Utsukushiki Zankoku na Sekai" (美しき残酷な世界, lit. "A Beautiful Cruel World") by Yoko Hikasa.
From episode 14, the opening theme was changed to "Die Flügel der Freiheit" (自由の翼, Jiyū no Tsubasa, lit. "The Wings of Freedom"), also by Linked Horizon, and the ending theme was changed to “Great Escape” by Cinema Staff. The opening songs were collected on Linked Horizon’s single Jiyū e no Shingeki, which sold about 129,000 copies in its first week of sales.
Attack on Titan Anime Season 1 Summary
The story of Attack on Titan develops in a world where humans are an endangered species. For more than a hundred years, they have lived in fear of the Titans, a mysterious and violent race of human-like giants that wander outside the walls and that look for people to devour. At this point, there is not any information about what these creatures are or where they came from. So in order to protect the few human populations from the attacks of Titans, three layers of sky-high stone walls were constructed around the cities. Life inside the walls is peaceful and quiet enough, but the protagonist of the series, Eren Jaeger, wants to live adventures and to feel the freedom afforded to the Survey Corps, special warriors that fight against the Titans beyond the walls.
Eren Jaeger lives in Shiganshina, along with Armin Arlert, his best friend, and Mikasa Ackerman, his adopted sister that his family recently took in. Together, they live a relatively peaceful life until the day Titans burst into their city with the help of an enormous Titan that breaks the first wall of the city, Wall Maria. Among the violence and the confusion, Eren is the witness of how his mother is brutally eaten by a Titan during the attack. Full of anger and pain, the young boy swears revenge on the titans.
In despair, poverty and orphanhood, Eren, Armin and Mikasa decide to join the army and fight for the humans. During the five years training, Eren is the most passionate and aggressive soldier, while Armin becomes a great strategist, and Mikasa, the strongest and greatest cadet in the program. Along with other trainees, they enter the 104th Training Division, they graduate and start taking on several roles to prepare themselves for the future attack of another Titan.
However, shortly after their graduation, the Titans, led again by the Colossal Titan, come back to launch another offensive attack.
At the very start of the battle, and in a desperate attempt to save the life of Armin, Eren is dismembered and eaten by a Titan. But suddenly, when he is in his final moments, he realises that he can actually become a Titan himself by shedding his own blood in a moment of rage. Eren takes the chance to use his Titan powers to kill other Titans and help the other cadets to fight against them, before turning back into his human form. Although the great confusion that this event causes, he manages to survive the army’s interrogations and he offers his power as a tool for the human’s good.
Later in the story, the 104th Training Division members discover that Annie Leonhart, a young cadet of the team, can also turn into Titan and ended up trying to attack people using her power.
This first season ends with a big uncertainty. It became impossible to ignore the fact that humans can transform into Titans and that there are infiltrators in the army that are against humans. The final shot of the season shows a part of the wall that is crumbling away and reveals the face of a Titan inside the wall.
List of Episodes
Here is a list of episodes in Season 1 of the Attack on Titan anime series.
- Episode 1: To You, in 2,000 Years; The Fall of Shiganshina, Part 1 - April 7, 2013
- Episode 2: That Day: The Fall of Shiganshina, Part 2 - April 14, 2013
- Episode 3: A Dim Light Amid Despair: Humanity’s Comeback, Part 1 - April 21, 2013
- Episode 4: The Night of the Closing Ceremony: Humanity’s Comeback, Part 2 - April 28, 2013
- Episode 5: First Battle: The Struggle for Trost, Part 1 - May 5, 2013
- Episode 6: The World the Girl Saw: The Struggle for Trost, Part 2 - May 12, 2013
- Episode 7: Small Blade: The Struggle for Trost, Part 3 - May 19, 2013
- Episode 8: I Can Hear His Heartbeat: The Struggle for Trost, Part 4 - May 26, 2013
- Episode 9: Whereabouts of His Left Arm: The Struggle for Trost, Part 5 - June 2, 2013
- Episode 10: Response: The Struggle for Trost, Part 6 - June 9, 2013
- Episode 11: Idol: The Struggle for Trost, Part 7 - June 16, 2013
- Episode 12: Wound: The Struggle for Trost, Part 8 - June 23, 2013
- Episode 13: Primal Desire: The Struggle for Trost, Part 9 - June 30, 2013
- Episode 13.5: Since That Day - July 7, 2013
- Episode 14: Can’t Look into His Eyes Yet: Eve of the Counterattack, Part 1 - July 14, 2013
- Episode 15: Special Operation Squad: Eve of the Counterattack, Part 2 - July 21, 2013
- Episode 16: What Needs to be Done Now: Eve of the Counterattack, Part 3 - July 28, 2013
- Episode 17: Female Titan: The 57th Exterior Scouting Mission, Part 1 - August 4, 2013
- Episode 18: Forest of Giant Trees: The 57th Exterior Scouting Mission, Part 2 - August 11, 2013
- Episode 19: Bite: The 57th Exterior Scouting Mission, Part 3 - August 18, 2013
- Episode 20: Erwin Smith: The 57th Exterior Scouting Mission, Part 4 - August 25, 2013
- Episode 21: Crushing Blow: The 57th Exterior Scouting Mission, Part 5 - September 1, 2013
- Episode 22: The Defeated: The 57th Exterior Scouting Mission, Part 6 - September 8, 2013
- Episode 23: Smile: Assault on Stohess, Part 1 - September 15, 2013
- Episode 24: Mercy: Assault on Stohess, Part 2 - September 22, 2013
- Episode 25: Wall: Assault on Stohess, Part 3 - September 29, 2013