Small Details You Missed In Attack On Titan's Openings
Attack on Titan, a series that's killing it on Hulu as of early 2021, is more than just an anime about fighting 60-foot-tall cannibal monsters. It's a show about uncovering deep mysteries and forgotten memories. The world the characters inhabit is cold and brutal, and the direness of their situation is only equaled by their ignorance of it.
As far most Attack on Titan characters are concerned, the world has always been this way. They are the last remaining humans after most of the planet's population has been devoured by the titan threat. However, this changes as the series progresses. As the characters learn more and more about titans and their forgotten history, they also become more lost in a complicated web of mythologies and grand conspiracies.
Many of these shocking revelations are alluded to throughout the anime's six openings. Here are just a few of the many fine details revealed by the openings that fans may have missed.
The Walls in Opening 1 are a subtle clue regarding Wall Titans
In Attack on Titan's first opening, the first shot is of Wall Maria bursting outward towards the camera. This shot can be interpreted multiple ways, but the most obvious of them is that this is the Colossal Titan breaking through Wall Maria as it did during the beginning of the anime. However, there is another way to interpret these events.
Fast forward all the way to the end of the first season, and it is revealed that all three of the walls surrounding the districts contain titans within them. Notice that, in the opening sequence where Wall Maria breaks, the outside world is not shown. It's just more wall. This may be a subtle hint early on from the show's creators that there's secrets in the walls. The reveal of the wall titans sets off the mystery surrounding the origins of both titans and the country of Eldia.
Hange's glasses break along with the screen
Midway through the show's second opening, viewers are shown the skyline of Eldia during a titan invasion before the camera cuts to a forward-facing shot of the show's resident bespeckled girl, Hange. As she looks up, we can see that the right lens on her glasses is broken while the left reflects the ensuing carnage. However, if you pay attention you can see that the screen breaks in a similar way to Hangë's glasses right before her face is shown. In that shot, you are viewing the titan invasion from her perspective.
The symbolism of this detail is a little shaky. It could be that Hange's worldview is mismatched or broken. The first season ends with the revelation of the wall titans, leading to the Scout Regiment uncovering a deeply guarded mystery surrounding the titans themselves. As a titan researcher, Hange is caught between her established knowledge of titans, and the reality-shattering revelations uncovered as they solve the mystery.
Opening 3 hints at more Titan-shifters and new Titan powers
Attack on Titan's third opening is a double detail two-fer. First, during shots showing the characters Krista and Ymir, you can see projections of titans (most likely Titan-shifters) imposed on top of them. This is a direct connection between Krista and Ymir's close relationship and the fact that Ymir is actually Titan-shifter.
Likewise, the show's third opening shows a brief shot of titans attacking and devouring each other. At first, one might assume this is Erin in his titan form battling other titans. However, close inspection reveals that all the involved titans are of the average variety. In reality, this sequence is actually a reference to events in season 2, where certain characters gain the ability to control titans. Of course, this allows them to pit titan against titan, leading to them eating each other. This is an incredibly potent and important power only available to certain Titan-shifters, and it has everything to do with the mysterious origins of titans in general.
Opening 5 shows satanic rituals with heavy lore implications
For an extremely brief moment in Attack on Titan's fifth opening, you can see a piece of etched artwork. It depicts a young blond girl communicating with a horned creature similar in appearance to traditional depictions of the Devil. While the picture only appears for a fraction of a second, it has some of the heaviest lore implications of any detail because it directly concerns the origins of titans.
By this point, the origin of titans is merely a legend. It has not been confirmed if the origin tale people know of is entirely true, if it is merely symbolic, or if it an outright lie. As the tale goes, titans were created when a woman named Ymir Fritz (not to be confused with the modern day Ymir) made a deal with this Devil for her powers. These powers would eventually be split between her descendants, turning into the various Titan-Shifters seen throughout the series.