As the Bam Smack Pow team noted in our previous coverage of the 2025 Anime Awards, this year saw Crunchyroll present its first ever Global Impact Award. This historic first win went to the iconic post-apocalyptic action series Attack on Titan. The series's win of the Global Impact Award caps off the run of the immensely acclaimed and popular series, which culminated in the theatrical finale Attack on Titan: The Last Attack that debuted in theaters in November 2024 in Japan and February 2025 in North America.
Crunchyroll itself has laid out the purpose of its Global Impact Award:
"The Global Impact Award celebrates 'visionary creators and groundbreaking works that have left an indelible mark on culture, history and the hearts of audiences around the world.' The adaptation of Hajime Isayama’s epic Attack on Titan saga that kicked off in 2014 and ran until 2023—concluding with big-screen compilation film Attack on Titan: The Last Attack in 2024—certainly fits the bill."
Attack on Titan has become an instant classic with fans and a critical success, with both the anime adaptation and the original manga receiving numerous awards and nominations over the course of its run, including several Best Anime or Best Manga awards in multiple years. As of this writing, the Attack on Titan anime is the 116th highest-ranked and number one most popular anime series on fan ranking site MyAnimeList.
A quick intro to Attack on Titan and where to watch it
Originally known in Japan under the title Shingeki no Kyojin — which translates to something along the lines of "Advance of the Giant" — the acclaimed Attack on Titan anime series adapts the original manga by award-winning author Hajime Isayama which ran from 2009-2021. The anime debuted in 2013 and, as stated above, the series itself finished in 2023, with the finale of the anime getting a special theatrical release in 2024 in the form of Attack on Titan.
In a lot of ways, Attack on Titan is actually pretty reminiscent of the Terminator franchise: an inhuman enemy has forced humanity into a desperate and seemingly futile struggle for survival in a dark, post-apocalyptic world. The enemy in question is the Titans, a species of hideous giants that suddenly emerged and nearly destroyed humanity. The bulk of the human cast are members of the military of Eldia, the walled city that is the last known human settlement in the world.
Crunchyroll's official summary of the series offers a bit more information:
"[M]any years ago, the last remnants of humanity were forced to retreat behind the towering walls of a fortified city to escape the massive, man-eating Titans that roamed the land outside their fortress. Only the heroic members of the Scouting Legion dared to stray beyond the safety of the walls – but even those brave warriors seldom returned alive. Those within the city clung to the illusion of a peaceful existence until the day that dream was shattered, and their slim chance at survival was reduced to one horrifying choice: kill – or be devoured!"
While not as dark or as grim as something like Berserk, Attack on Titan is nevertheless the dark and grim series that takes place against the backdrop of a seemingly hopeless battle in a bleak world. Character deaths aren't uncommon and there's a general sense that nothing never changes for the better. Still, the action is intense, the characters are compelling and several of the revelations throughout the series turn the entire world on its head.
Thanks to Crunchyroll, fans can discover the legacy and impact of Attack on Titan for themselves. The entire Attack on Titan anime series is streaming on Crunchyroll, along with the OAD side stories and the Last Attack feature-length movie. Fans who are interested in reading original manga series by Hajime Isayama can find every volume through the English-language publisher Kodansha USA.