Attack on Titan, The Movie: Part 2/Movie and Manga Differences

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Movie and Manga Differences

The second of the Attack on Titan live action movies. The movie differs heavily from the manga, featuring many original plot points. As the generality of this movie is made up of original content, the number of differences have been slightly minimized for the sake of fitting details onto one page.

Differences

• Like its predecessor, the movie takes place in the future, whereas in the manga its placement in reality is unclear.
• Grisha's death is different from the manga. In the movie, he is murdered by the Military Police for his secret activities. In the manga, he found Eren after the breach and turned him into a Titan and allowed himself to be devoured to pass on his powers.
• In the film, Grisha's private lab is discovered years before the Colossal Titan attack, whereas in the manga, it was discovered five years after. In addition, Grisha never had a lab in his basement, as it was decorated as a regular room where Grisha conducted his studies in case of Military Police inspection, and it only contained the story of Grisha's life before coming to the Walls.
• Eren's method of turning into a Titan is to stab himself in the chest. In the manga, his most preferred method is to bite his hand, a trait subconsciously learned from Frieda Reiss due to his inheritance of the Founding Titan.
• The movie also takes place in Japan instead of Paradis Island, due to the movie being made for Japanese audiences.
• The Armored Titan exists in the movie, but it is appearance differs heavily from the manga. In the movie, it has longer, dirtier hair and black plated skin. In the manga, it has mostly skinless plated skin and short gray hair.
  • It is revealed that, in the place of Reiner Braun, Shikishima is the Armored/White Titan in the films. Shikishima, like Reiner, is a member of the Scout Regiment. Unlike Reiner, Shikishima is a captain in the Scouts.
• Mikasa stopped wearing her scarf after the Titan breach, and only just started wearing it again now. In the manga, she has only taken it off once at this point, due to being heavily injured.
• Shikishima, Levi's replacement, is shown to know information about how the Titans first appeared. However, only one person knows this in the manga, besides the three antagonistic humans with Titan abilities: the Founding Titan.
  • Shikishima also knows information about the Titans' true physiology, such as that they were once people. His manga counterpart Levi, however, has only just discovered this information and has shown considerable remorse towards the idea he was killing people, compared to the indifferent Shikishima.
• According to the movie, Titans were created by the US government. In the manga, all that is known about the Titans is that they resulted from an ancient bargain struck between Ymir Fritz and the Devil of All Earth, though the truth of this legend has yet to be seen.
• Eren is cornered by the Military Police Brigade in the movie, not the Garrison.
  • Eren is apprehended by the head of a regiment in the movie, whereas in the manga, it is Kitz Woerman and Rico Brzenska, two high ranking members of the Garrison.
• In the movie, Eren is heavily restrained when he awakens, being bound by chains and a straightjacket and gagged. In the manga, this was not necessary, as he did not have enough strength to stand on his own and therefore escape.
• The transformation is slightly different than in the manga, as in the film, the Titan body forms around the human, whereas in the movie, the Titan body forms out of the wound.
• The White Titan could be considered a condensed version of the Female Titan and the Armored Titan from the manga, because it shares many powers with the manga's Armored Titan and sports moves similar to the Female Titan, such as covering their nape. The scene of the White Titan grabbing Mikasa and protecting its nape from Jean are similar to scenes from the manga and anime, of the Female Titan attacking them.
• The White Titan communicates more in the movie than it does in the manga.
• The White Titan appears to be working to protect Eren, whereas in the manga, the Armored Titan is only attempting to capture him and does not care about his well-being, so long as it does not interfere with his powers.
  • Alternatively, Shikishima had no problem with killing Eren, compared to Reiner, who wanted Eren alive, due to the valuable power he held.
• In the manga, the most used method to acquire the power of the Titans is to inject yourself with a serum to become a normal Titan and then devour another Titan with that power. In the movie, the method to acquire the power of the Titans is to simply inject yourself with a Titan serum.
  • However, in the manga, Eren originally believed that it was only the serum that gave him his Titan shifting powers.
• When Eren is in his Titan's neck, he appears to be floating in liquid. This does not happen in the manga because the human will be merged with the hot muscle of their Titan forms only.
• Shikishima and Eren both appeared to be capable of speaking in the nape of their Titans' necks. In the manga, most humans with the power of the Titans are unable to communicate in Titan form with the exception of thoughts, due to reasons such as their irregular jaw shape, heavily unsuited for speech.
• In the movie, Eren is cornered by Kubal, the replacement for Nile Dawk. While Nile has shown some fear towards Eren, such as at his trial, he has not tried to kill him. He actually supported Eren several times, such as in his fight against the Female Titan.
• Kubal, the Head of the Military Police Brigade, is the Colossal Titan in the movie, whereas in the manga, it is Bertholdt Hoover. Bertholdt was a member of the Scout Regiment, unlike Kubal, although the military police did work hand in hand with the Scout Regiment in the movie.
• Kubal, the movie's variation of the Colossal Titan, is shown to be remorseless. In the manga, Bertholdt, the Colossal Titan in the manga, is shown to carry the heaviest degree of remorse for his actions.
• In the movie, Souda - the replacement for Hannes - was killed by a bullet fired by Kubal. In the manga, he was killed fighting the Titan that devoured Carla Jaeger.
• Eren is shown in the movie to be much younger when he received his Titan powers.
• Kubal has the power of the Titans and a member of the Military Police. The only known person with Titan ability in the manga who is also in the Military Police Brigade is Annie Leonhart, the infamous Female Titan, who is the only member of the three antagonistic warriors not to appear in the films.
• The transformation to become the White Titan differs significantly from the manga and anime.
• The movie implies that Shikishima, Kubal, and Eren are the only people with the power of the Titans. In the manga, there are at most nine.
• In the movie, the mission of the Armored Titan is to destroy the Walls, so that they can have the government kill the Titans, and then kill the government themselves and take over as rulers. In the manga, the goal of the warriors is to take the Founding Titan and use the Titans to wipe out humanity so that Paradis Island can be conquered without a direct declaration of war.
• In the movie, Shikishima is revealed to be Eren's older brother. At the time of the movie's release, Eren had no brother in the manga, though it was revealed some time later in Chapter 86 that Zeke is in fact Eren's half-brother, making Shikishima an unintentional replacement for Zeke Yeager as well.