Series · Action, Fantasy, Drama, Animated · 2013 · TV-MA

Attack on Titan: parents' guide

Name: Attack on Titan
Released: 2013

16+our pick

Best for ages 16 and up. Rated TV-MA.

An epic, brutal and emotionally devastating dark-fantasy war story for older teens. Humanity hides behind walls from giant man-eating Titans, and the boy hero watches his mother eaten in the first episode. Gore is constant: people bitten in half, limbs and heads lost, blood everywhere. Later seasons become a war story about persecution, revenge and genocide, with child soldiers, an ethnic group confined to ghettos, torture, and death on a massive scale. There are suicides and occasional f-words in the subtitles. Sexual content is limited to nonsexual Titan nudity and a backstory implying forced childbearing. Best for 16 and up.

What's in it

Violence

Strong

Extremely graphic: Titans bite people in half and eat them, heads and limbs are torn off, and blood sprays. Humans also torture, murder and execute each other, children included, a boy is trampled to death, and the finale involves killing on a global scale.

Language

Moderate

Mostly 'damn,' 'hell,' 'crap,' 'bastard' and 'ass,' with s-words and 'g--damn' in places. The subtitles also include occasional f-words, though not frequent ones.

Sex and nudity

Mild

Titans are naked but have no genitals, and bare rears are shown. Romance is minimal, with a few kisses and embraces. The final season reveals that a king made an enslaved girl bear his children; this is implied, and nothing sexual is shown.

Drinking, drugs and smoking

Moderate

Guards drink on duty and are visibly buzzed, soldiers drink, and wine secretly laced with a dangerous substance becomes a plot point in the final season.

Scary or intense scenes

Strong

Grinning giant monsters eating people alive are nightmare material, and the threat never lets up. Main characters die suddenly, traffickers murder a young girl's parents and abduct her to sell, a flashback shows a dead mother fed to her daughters, and grief is constant.

Sensitive topics

Death of a parent
Death of a child
Child abuse
Suicide
Racism
Sexual assault

Worth talking about

The story shows hatred and revenge passing between generations and peoples. Ask your teen whether anyone in the story is purely a hero or a villain, and why.

Where to stream →

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Checked October 13th, 2026 against Common Sense Media, Plugged In, ageratingjuju.com, Wikipedia. The age is our judgment, not an official rating, and every family draws its lines differently: read the notes, not just the number. Spotted something we missed? Tell us. How we rate.