Attack on Titan, The Movie: Part 1/Movie and Manga Differences

The movie was based upon the manga series from the beginning up to around the middle of the Battle of Trost District arc, although it included many original concepts, far too many to include in one page.

Differences

 * Mikasa and Eren are a couple as opposed to adopted siblings. Eren mentions in the movie that he barely remembers his parents, who died when he was young.
 * The leader of the Scout Regiment is Hans, Hange Zoë, as opposed to Erwin Smith. Erwin is absent in this movie, as is Nile Dok, the head of the Military Police Brigade, although he is replaced by Kubal.
 * Several of the recruits appeared to have been forced by their parents to join the Survey Corps due to the money their families would receive, among them Sasha Blouse. In the manga, Sasha joined the Survey Corps due to a dispute with her father. She was going to join the Military Police, but because all of her friends joined the Survey Corps, she followed them, despite having an extreme fear of the Titans.
 * Two years pass between the time the Colossal Titan first appears and the main cast joining the Survey Corps, whereas in the manga, five years had passed; three years for training, and the other two years were spent waiting for Eren, Mikasa, and Armin to be old enough to apply to the military.
 * Jean's father appears in this continuity, whereas in the manga, only his mother appears and it is unknown what has happened to his father.
 * Sasha's mother appears in the movie, whereas only her father has appeared thus far.
 * There is a fence several feet from the Walls that the Garrison uses as a sentry. This doesn't appear to exist in the manga.
 * The outer districts have gates that allow the Survey Corps to travel out of the Walls, which was how the Colossal Titan was able to kick a hole in the wall. However, due to the Survey Corps only being formed after the Colossal Titan's attack, the gate doesn't exist.
 * The Garrison in this continuity appears to only use rifles as a defense, whereas this usually belongs to the Military Police, who's job is to protect the inner wall. Since they never encounter Titans, they use rifles instead.
 * The Scout Regiment is formed two years after the attack by the Colossal Titan. In the manga, it has existed for quite some time.
 * The Colossal Titan is the only Titan to destroy the Wall. In the manga, it was both the Colossal Titan, who destroyed the outer gate and the Armored Titan, who doesn't exist in the movie, who destroyed the inner gate.
 * 3DMG gear is presented as a new invention in the movie, created after the breach. Where as in the manga, 3DMG gear has existed since the year 775.
 * The Wall is simply three walls, built in varying designs. The manga has them as concentric with outlier districts, so as to draw the Titans away from the three Walls. The Walls are named in the manga; Maria, Rose, and Sina; whereas in the movie, only the districts are named. They are referred to by which position they occupy in the movie, with Wall Maria being called the Outer Wall.
 * Mikasa was a quiet, sullen girl since the death of her parents in the manga. In the movie, this only happens after the breach, due to her failure to protect a baby from the Titans and getting a large scar on her side due to a bite from apparently the same Titan.
 * Mikasa never had a bite mark from the Titans in the manga. The only extreme injury she has so far ever received from them was several cracked ribs due to being grabbed and aggravated by horseback.
 * The Titan that tried to eat Armin and succeeded in eating Eren was the Bloated Titan, an original character. While the Bearded Titan appears in the movie, it isn't responsible for this.
 * It takes the Colossal Titan multiple kicks to break a hole in the Wall. In the manga, it takes one concentrated, precise kick.
 * Mikasa is referred to by the nickname as the Goddess, whereas the nickname belongs to Historia in the manga, who received it for her cute looks and kindness as opposed to fighting Titans.
 * Mikasa was the first of the trio to join the Survey Corps, whereas Eren was first in the manga due to special circumstances.
 * It takes two years for Eren and Armin to join the Military, whereas it takes 3 years in the manga. They also appeared to have to only joined the Survey Corps, whereas in the manga, one is required to join the Cadet Corps and then choose a branch to join.
 * Armin and Eren were both separated after the Titan invasion, whereas in the manga they stayed together in the coming years as they both lost family. Mikasa was also not believed to have been eaten in the manga.
 * The Smiling Titan is only responsible for the death of Carla Yeager in the manga, although it tried to eat Mikasa in the Clash of the Titans arc. It's only known victims are Carla and Hannes, who's film replacement is Souda.
 * The Titans communicate solely via only roars in the manga, whereas in the movie, they communicate via laughs, moans, etc. In one scene, there is a Titan with the physiology of a baby that communicates via cries, laughs, etc. However, several Titans, mostly Titan Shifters and Abnormals can communicate this way.
 * Due to there being an entire cast of Japanese actors, several characters were removed and others were added, although they retain their roles. Most characters removed were due to their Westernized appearances, which would have been harder to cast. For instance, Hannah and Franz are absent, but two new characters, Lil and Fukushi, take their places and assume similar roles. Hannes is absent in this movie, but the character Souda takes his place and assumes a similar role.
 * This also applies to the Titans. Since a majority are played by actual people, with the exception of the Colossal Titan and possibly the Rogue Titan, they all have similar appearances, with added deformities. The one straight appearance is that all of them have pale skin, black hair, black eyes, and some sort of deformity. For instance, while the Smiling Titan appears similar to the manga counterpart in terms of having a large fixed smile and a skinny appearance, it still conforms to having black hair, black eyes, pale skin and an added deformity that being it's smile.
 * Humanity is depicted as being heavily advanced in this continuity, having working vehicles and explosives. While things such as explosives exist in the manga, they don't to the extent they do in the movie. The most advanced technologies at this point in the manga are 3DMG, which runs on pressurized gas and the Titan Guillotine.
 * Jean is depicted in this continuity as having basic skill when wielding his 3DMG in the movie, whereas in the manga, he is exceptionally skilled.
 * Vehicles don't exist in the manga. The most advanced modes of transportation in the manga are carts and horseback.
 * Shiganshina doesn't exist in the movie, although it could have been renamed.
 * Mikasa is shown to heavily respect Shikishima (Levi's replacement) as a commander in this movie, even possibly having romantic feelings, whereas in the manga, she despises him at first, but grows to respect him over time.
 * When Eren is pulled from the Rogue Titan, he is covered in the flesh and guts of his Titan form, whereas in the manga, this doesn't exist as when a Shifter leaves their Titan body, only the area around their eyes are burned, due to the flesh merging with the eyes for full optical vision.
 * Nobody knew the identity of the Rogue Titan until Eren emerged from the nape in the manga. They also didn't think that Eren would fuse with the Rogue Titan, although he almost did in The Uprising arc.
 * Mikasa receives the scarf on the day the outer wall falls. She had worn the scarf for at least a year prior to this occurring in the manga. While in both versions Eren gave her the scarf she wore it in the manga after Eren rescued her from her kidnappers and Grisha invited her to live with them, the scarf being seen to her as a symbol of love and protection.
 * In the movie, the titans, after incurring significant losses from Eren's titan form, retreat which saves the rest of the present cast. This is in stark contrast to the anime and manga where titans seem to lack any apparent sense of self-preservation in a tactical or strategic sense.