Anime: ‘Attack On Titan’ – The Saddest Deaths
Attack on Titan is known for its crisp art, mysterious backstory, and the many, many tragic and gruesome deaths anime fans will have to endure.
With the series finale of Attack on Titan quickly approaching, we’re taking a look back at season one through three and thinking about what a completely emotionally devastating ride it has been. This show has been a cornucopia of loss since the beginning, but which pre-season-four character deaths got us the hardest?
Carla Yeager
Carla is a relatively minor character, appearing mainly in the first episode and then in flashbacks. As Eren and Mikasa’s mother, her role was mainly supportive and her very tragic episode one death acted as a catalyst for many of the choices the main character made later on, but it is also the first point in the series where they view things, “Oh no. My friends didn’t warn me about this show at all.” Or was that just me?
Mike Zacharias
A squad leader and one of the strongest members of the cast after Levi, Mike was probably best known for his weirdly accurate sense of smell. He was also a kind and brave character who wholeheartedly cared about his mission and the future for humanity, so it was especially heartbreaking when his last minutes were spent frozen in shock and fear when an articulate Titan tried to question him before he was ultimately eaten.
Petra Ral
The loss of every member of Levi’s squad was pretty brutal, but Petra was the one we all seemed to get universally attached to. She was a uniquely good person with a big heart and noted for being somewhat young compared to some of the other “old” characters, making her death and the eventual run-in with her father even more poignant. But at least we were all able to work through the pain together with memes.
Isabel Magnolia & Furlan Church
Speaking of Levi’s tragic friends, Isabel and Furlan show up for a flashback OVA to explain a little better why the Captain is the way he is. They fit into the childhood friend archetype and are relentlessly positive, friendly, and supportive… and then they gruesomely die on their first mission in Titan territory. We all knew it was coming because they don’t exist in the show’s present-day, but it was no less soul-crushing.
Erwin Smith
Erwin was the sort of character who you suspect is doomed from the beginning. He’s a little too good at what he does, a little too invincible. But after two seasons and a thousand or so chapters, it’s hard not to get comfortable with him being around or get attached. In the end, he dies so that Armin can keep going and Hange takes over his job as Commander of the Survey Corps.
Which long-lost Attack on Titan character was our favorite? Did you find one particularly sad that we didn’t highlight? Who will you be most upset to see not make it to the series finale? Let us know in the comments!
Ja Ne, Adventurers!
