Attack on Titan is already regarded as one of the best manga of all time packed with a compelling story, strong character development, and profound themes about life and human nature. Hajime Isayama, mangaka of Attack on Titan, also does an incredible feat of stitching it all together in a way that is both believable and realistic to fans, which is difficult.
In the case of Attack on Titan, it is more accurate to call out some plot inconsistencies as areas that needed a bit more explanation rather than “plot holes.” And frankly, when the main character has the ability to influence the past, present, and future, it gives the story a lot of leeway. But no story is complete without at least some contentious moments.
Eldian and Marleyan Languages
The inhabitants of Paradis and the inhabitants of Marley have lived apart for 100 years since king Karl Fritz used the founding titan power to enact the war renouncement vow, erased the memories of Eldians on Paradis, and erected the three titan walls – Maria, Sina, and Rose.
It is hard to conceive that there would be no perceivable difference between the language and/or accents of Marleyans such as Reiner, Annie, Ymir, and Bertholdt when they enter Paradis and the Survey Corps. Especially given the series distinguishes Sasha’s countryside accent even though she is from Paradis, the Marleyan intruders must have sounded foreign.
And at Utgard Castle when Ymir reads the Marleyan writing on the canned herring, it is clear that those in Marley at least speak, read, and write in a language other than the original Eldian.
Mikasa Saves Eren As Children
As children, Eren saves Mikasa from three kidnappers who plan to sell her off. While Eren murders two of the kidnappers, the third nearly strangles Eren to death before he is saved by Mikasa who activates her Ackerman strength.
The Ackerman family was formed to protect the king of Eldia and possess superhuman abilities, which explains how Mikasa protects Eren throughout most of the series. But before Eren inherited the founding titan, Mikasa should neither have been able to activate her bloodline instincts nor feel compelled to protect him.
While Eren possesses the ability to influence other Eldians across time as is shown with Grisha Yeager and Eren Kruger, this power shouldn’t have impacted Mikasa.
Colossal Titan Disappearances
In Attack on Titan, it is understood that when a titan shifter leaves his or her titan body that it will slowly decompose as it is disconnected from the host. This is seen numerous times across the Attack, Warhammer, Beast, and more intelligent titans.
However, this doesn’t happen with the Colossal Titan. In its first appearance, the Colossal Titan destroys Wall Maria in the Fall of Shiganshina arc, and then the body vanishes. Similarly, in the second encounter in the Battle of Trost District, the Colossal Titan vanishes suddenly before Eren slashes its nape.
What’s the explanation for Bertholdt’s ability to disappear? This isn’t even seen when Armin leaves the colossal titan body after destroying the Marleyan naval fleet.
Marley Warrior Mission
At the beginning of the series, Marley sends four of its six titan shifters to infiltrate Paradis Island and recover the founding titan. Given the history of Paradis’s separation from Marley and the overwhelming threat of the titan rumbling, the decision to send four children may not have been the most strategic given the level of difficulty.
It is reasonable for Marley to have sent a small mission given the risk of potentially losing more titan powers to Paradis after Grisha took the Attack Titan. But Zeke was the titan war chief and Pieck was a key strategist so it would have been more conceivable if one or both of them were sent instead of just the youngest warriors.
Eren’s First Attack Titan Transformation
In the Battle of Trost District arc, Eren is swallowed by a pure titan and while it doesn’t kill Eren immediately, it does bite off his entire arm, which is a near-fatal injury. In the belly of the titan, Eren is surrounded by the dead bodies of his fellow Corps members.
Shortly after, Eren subconsciously activates his titan power. However, the profound blood loss and the shock at the sight of the mangled corpses should have caused Eren to pass out and ultimately be eaten.
Titan Transformation Effect
One of the most captivating visuals of the series is the titan transformation where seemingly lightning strikes down and lights surround the host’s body in the flash creating near shockwaves. Typically, when this happens all surrounding inhabitants are blown back as a result of the impact. Given the force this transformation creates, it is difficult to imagine the host retains all of their material possessions during a transformation.
This is key as in numerous parts of the story a titan shifter’s ability to keep materials in their possession e.g. Eren and the key to Grisha’s basement or Annie/Bertholdt/Reiner and the Omni-directional mobility gear is critical to the success of their mission.
Rod Reiss and Historia Reiss
Rod Reiss’ sole mission was to recapture the founding titan and return it to the royal family. He only seeks out Historia because Grisha killed all of the royal children leaving Rod with no other option so Historia is only a means to an end for him.
In the titan cavern underneath Reiss chapel, Rod has captured and bound Eren and is waiting for Historia to inject herself with the titan serum to eat Eren. When Historia refuses (or even before then), Rod could have easily force injected Historia as Marleyan soldiers did to Eldians. It is shown with Dina Fritz that even royal blood Eldians will become pure mindless titans if injected with titan serum.
Why didn’t Rod just inject Historia? He displayed no doting fatherly qualities so it is hard to believe he cared about Historia’s best interests.
Attack Titan Prowess
Eren is undoubtedly a unique character even among the other titan shifters. Driven by his profound hate toward titans (and also himself), he unlocks ability after ability.
In Eren’s fight against the Warhammer Titan in Marley, the other titan shifters are shocked to see Eren transform three times such that it seems undoable. Also, Eren is pierced by the Warhammer multiple times and still manages to ward off the fatal blows. Finally, after Reiner, Annie, and Bertholdt infiltrate Paradis, they took turns wielding their titan powers to make it safely to the walls whereas Grisha achieved this long journey alone.
Quite possibly, this could be explained as a unique ability of the Attack Titan or another explanation is that Eren’s strong will enabled the Attack Titan to surpass its limits.
Eren’s Erasure of Titans
At the end of the Return to Shiganshina arc, Eren and the survey corps survivors are honored as heroes by Queen Historia. When Eren touches Historia’s hand, he learns the truth about how to access the full founding titans’ powers and sees the future.
There were multiple opportunities for Eren to rid the world of titans before and even during the rumbling so why didn’t he just do so? He continued on to invade Marley and wait four years before initiating the rumbling with Zeke. Even after the rumbling ends, Eren continues to fight until he is defeated by Mikasa.
With Eren’s foresight and two royal blood Eldians at his disposal for several years, he had the know-how to eliminate the titan ability from Eldians for a long time.
Why Wait 2,000 Years?
Perhaps even more daunting than Eren’s perceivably long wait is Ymir waiting 2,000 years for someone to end the cycle of the titans. As the originator of the titan path, Ymir is able to influence any and all titans across time, even Eren. Furthermore, she is not bound by the war-renouncing vow that impacts royal blood Eldians such as Zeke.
It is believed that Ymir fell in love with the original king Fritz and out of this devotion, she gave her life and legacy for the king. However, it isn’t clear what changed this. Ymir decides to side with Eren who presumably carries out her plan to end Eldian suffering.
But with Ymir’s abilities, why didn’t she influence an “Eren-like” character centuries earlier?
