10 best Attack on Titan moments fans will never forget, ranked

Hajime Isayama’s manga and anime series Attack on Titan is chock-full of shocking moments from the very first episode til the grand finale. Throughout the seasons, the anime not only shifted genres but consistently topped itself in delivering complicated plot twists.

Thanks to WIT Studio and MAPPA, the animation kept up with the numerous wild turns the story took over the years. With the anime airing its last episode earlier this month, let’s take a look back at the best and biggest moments from all four seasons of Attack on Titan, ranked. Beware SPOILERS ahead!

10) Mikasa beheads Eren

Almost every Attack on Titan fan saw this moment coming, even if they weren’t spoiled by a manga-reading friend or TikTok edit. By the end of the story, after Eren was stomping the world clean of all life and his friends and former allies had allied to stop him, Eren had to die, and his longtime friend Mikasa had to be the one who killed him. Isayama himself admitted that the story was always driving towards this particular conclusion from the beginning, and he was powerless to change it into something happier. Nevertheless, it will go down in history as one of the most serenely heartbreaking endings of any anime.

Determined to “save” Eren from committing further violence, Mikasa tightens the red scarf around her neck and in one swift strike of her blade, cuts Eren’s head off to end the war. Eren opens his eyes to see Mikasa’s face before closing them forever. She plants a soft kiss on his lips — for the first and last time — and then lets him finally rest in peace.

Eren and Mikasa had a love story without many loving moments, save for this last, beautiful one.