How to watch Attack on Titan in order

Protagonist Eren Yeager is now regarded as one of the best anime characters of all time, starring in a bleak yet thrilling adventure story as one of Attack on Titan's Survey Corps.

While the rest of humanity remains inside a gigantic walled city, these warriors risk their lives to venture outside, where the titans roam the wilderness.

Based on a best-selling manga series by Hajime Isayama, Attack on Titan is famous for its gore, its plot twists, and its unique dystopian world-building.

At this point, it's become an impressively extensive multimedia franchise, spanning live-action movies and video games alongside the manga and anime releases.

Considering the sheer volume of Attack on Titan media, this franchise may seem a little intimidating. Fortunately, though, it's not particularly complicated to watch. The anime timeline is pretty straightforward, and while there are a few OVAs (Original Video Animations) and spin-offs, you can largely watch the series in the order it was released.

With that in mind, please enjoy our viewing guide for how to watch Attack on Titan in order!

Be warned: this article includes spoilers for the end of Attack on Titan.

How to watch Attack on Titan in order

When embarking on a lengthy anime series, many viewers begin by asking which episodes they can skip. Basically, does Attack on Titan include a lot of filler episodes like Naruto?

The simple answer is no. Attack on Titan is a dense, plot-heavy series with plenty of character development, and virtually every scene is important to the overall story - sometimes paying off years after the fact.

The OVAs aren't quite as crucial, but they're interesting nonetheless, and always add something new to the overarching narrative.

With that in mind, here's our recommended watch order for Attack on Titan, incorporating the OVAs at the points where they tie into the main story:

• Attack on Titan season 1
• Attack on Titan: Ilse's Notebook (OVA)
• Attack on Titan: The Sudden Visitor – The Torturous Curse of Youth (OVA)
• Attack on Titan: Distress (OVA)
• Attack on Titan season 2
• Attack on Titan: Lost Girls – episodes 1 and 2 (OVA)
• Attack on Titan season 3: episodes 1-12
• Attack on Titan: No Regrets – episodes 1 and 2 (OVA)
• Attack on Titan: Lost Girls – episode 3 (OVA)
• Attack on Titan: Junior High (OVA)
• Attack on Titan season 3 – episodes 13 to end
• Attack on Titan season 4 part 1
• Attack on Titan season 4 part 2
• Attack on Titan season 4 part 3
• Attack on Titan: The Last Attack

Given the number of twists and revelations that take place in this show, we recommend following this order to avoid being spoiled for major events in the story.

The Attack on Titan movie, The Last Attack, is just a re-edited combination of the last two episodes of Attack on Titan's final season. As such, you don't really need to watch it if you've already watched those episodes separately.

The final part of Attack on Titan arrived on 5th November 2023 at midnight in Japan.

Fans had previously wondered if the anime would receive a different ending to the manga. When Isayama ended the manga back in 2021, it was an incredibly divisive finale, so much so that Isayama even had to post a public statement in response to the fans' passionate reactions.

"I am aware that the ending of Attack on Titan was quite controversial. I am open to receiving people's honest opinions. However, I would appreciate it if you'd be kind to me," he wrote.

Ultimately, Isayama and Studio MAPPA continued as they have done since the show started: following the ending of the manga with some additional anime-specific scenes and improving the dialogue a little to enhance the original ending even further.

It gave Isayama a chance to tweak some of the things he implied he wasn't happy with the first time around, including the omission of Armin labelling Eren a mass murderer and giving a lot more emotional depth to their conversation about Mikasa.

Somehow, despite it being the same ending we've had in the manga, it's even more devastating to see the tragic love story of Mikasa and Eren finally come to the conclusion it was always destined to – one would end the other, and Mikasa made the impossible choice to kill Eren for the greater good.

Our viewing guide includes the OVA Attack on Titan: Junior High, but new viewers should note that this spin-off is quite divisive due to its parody tone, which doesn't entirely gel with the atmosphere of the main series. You can easily skip this spin-off if you prefer.

We've also chosen to omit the anime movies that came out between seasons of the TV series, because they're basically just recaps of material you've already seen.

As for the live-action movie adaptation from director Shinji Higuchi, that's really up to you. It wasn't well-received - in part because it took liberties with the original Attack on Titan canon - and since it isn't part of the anime series continuity, it's non-essential viewing.

How to watch the English dub of Attack on Titan

You can watch the English dub of Attack on Titan on Crunchyroll.

On Crunchyroll, dubs from season 1 episode 4 onwards are only available on their premium service.

How to watch Attack on Titan in the UK

All episodes of Attack on Titan are available to stream on Crunchyroll.

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