5 Anime Series Like Attack on Titan to Watch While You Wait for The Final Season: Part 3

Attack on Titan wrapped up the second part of its final season on Sunday, but the story isn't over yet for Eren Yeager, Mikasa Ackerman, and Armin Arlert. The cliffhanger finale, titled "The Dawn of Humanity," was immediately followed by the announcement of yet another installment: The Final Season: Part 3 will arrive sometime in 2023.

The anime has been a remarkably faithful adaptation of Hajime Isayama's Attack on Titan manga, which contains nine more chapters after "The Dawn of Humanity." However, the manga's ending was controversial among fans, and it remains to be seen whether the show takes the story in a different direction.

While we wait for The Final Season: Part 3, it's a great time to start a series rewatch on Crunchyroll and Hulu. Plus, we've rounded up five more terrific anime series that won't quite sate your hunger for more Attack on Titan, but will certainly help.

Attack on Titan Watch on Hulu

Looking for more recommendations for what to watch next? We have a ton of them! And if you're looking for more hand-picked recommendations based on TV shows you love, we have those too, as well as recommendations for Netflix (movies/shows), Amazon Prime Video (movies/shows), Hulu (movies/shows), Disney+ (movies/shows), HBO Max (movies/shows), Apple TV+, and Peacock.

Jujutsu Kaisen

Jujutsu Kaisen comes from MAPPA, the animation studio responsible for the current season of Attack on Titan. Like Titan, Jujutsu Kaisen is at once wildly imaginative and disturbingly gruesome. Based on the manga by Gege Akutami, the show is set in a world where people are attacked by Curses, demonic spirits that come into being when humans release their negative emotions. The show centers on high school student Yuji Itadori, who swallows the finger of a powerful Curse and becomes its host. Yuji sets off on a mission to find and consume all 10 fingers so that he can exorcise the Curse. The series recently was renewed for a second season, airing in 2023, and a prequel movie that has been breaking box office records in Japan is currently playing in North American theaters.

Death Note

One of the most critically acclaimed anime series out there, Death Note is both an exploration of morality and a suspenseful game of cat and mouse. The story is based on a manga of the same name and follows brilliant but bored high schooler Light Yagami. A shinigami — death god — gives Light a notebook that allows him to kill people simply by writing their names on its pages. At first, Light uses the notebook to kill murderers and other criminals, but when a detective starts closing in on him, Light resorts to using the notebook to cover his tracks. At just 37 episodes, each 22 minutes long, the addictive series unfolds at a breakneck pace, full of the kinds of cliffhangers and plot twists Attack on Titan is also known for. That's not surprising given that Death Note was directed by Tetsurō Araki, who also directed the first three seasons of Attack on Titan.

Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress

Also directed by Tetsurō Araki is Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress, an Industrial Revolution-set zombie story that feels like a mix between Attack on Titan and Snowpiercer. People live in shelters called stations and travel between them on fortified steam trains. Our hero is a young engineer working on a weapon to defeat the Kabane — the monstrous horde of undead who threaten humanity. The show was produced by Wit Studio, the same animation house behind the first three seasons of Attack on Titan. And with only a dozen 22-minute episodes (plus a sequel movie released as three episodes on Netflix), Kabaneri is a quick watch that's well worth your time.

Vinland Saga

Another series produced by Wit Studio is Vinland Saga, a Viking story loosely based on the real-life historical figure Thorfinn Karlsefni. Like Eren in Attack on Titan, young Thorfinn seems small and powerless at the outset, but is relentless in his quest for vengeance. In Thorfinn's case, we meet him as a little boy who witnesses his father's murder at the hands of a Viking mercenary. Thorfinn stows away on their ship, and over the years is raised and exploited by the crew, even as he is open about his intentions to kill them. His tale is a sweeping epic, set against the backdrop of the 11th-century Danish invasion and occupation of England and, like Attack on Titan, is filled with tense political intrigue and intense violence. Plus the show's heavy metal soundtrack is sure to rock your boat. A second season has been announced.

Gurren Lagann

Like Attack on Titan, Gurren Lagann begins its story with a few young people who chafe at their confined existence (underground villages in the case of Gurren Lagann) and long to fight their oppressors. But in contrast to the often bleak world of Attack on Titan, this 27-episode mecha story is an absolute romp, full of spirit and humor as a gang of hopeful teens commandeer giant robots to take back the surface from an evil tyrant.