AI Reveals What Attack On Titan Characters Look Like In Real Life - And It's Spooky

It's been a full decade since "Attack on Titan" fans got to see their favorite characters in live action: The first of Shinji Higuchi's two-part feature film adaptation dropped in Japan in 2014, with the second installment coming out the following year. When the project was first announced, people were split on the idea of turning Hajime Isayama's hit manga of the same name into a movie. The same thing happened when the cast was announced: "Koizora" star Haruma Miura (who sadly passed away aged just 30 in 2020) was handed the lead part of Survey Corps member Eren Yeager, leading to discussions about how much he looked like the original character.

For some, Miura resembled Special Operations Squad captain Levi Ackerman more than he did Eren, but the majority of fans were ready to get behind him in the role. Despite the films being critical and commercial failures, Miura was praised for doing his own stunts and for giving everything to the part. It may be a while before we see another actor portraying Eren Yeager in live action, but casting directors will have an easier job searching for a lookalike next time thanks to artificial intelligence. AI has revealed what all the main characters from "Attack on Titan" would look like in real life, and it's spooky how much they resemble the originals.

YouTuber @RoniYuliyanto used online AI platform Artbreeder to turn dozens of characters from "Attack on Titan" into "real" people, feeding the website images from both the manga and the anime. Several different images of Eren Yeager were given the AI treatment, and the renders all came out looking very similar, capturing the character's facial structure. The website also managed to recreate Annie Leonhart's famously large nose, for which the manga and anime have been praised. "Annie's character has helped me a lot in embracing the beauty of my own nose," one Redditor said.

Interestingly, some of the AI images actually resemble real life actors. Reiner Braun brings Jaime Lannister actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau to mind, and is it just us, or does Thomas Wagner look like a blond Will Arnett? Perhaps the most striking AI lookalikes are Sasha Braus, who looks like Kristen Stewart, and Mikasa Ackerman, who resembles Japanese actor and model Rena Nounen, someone who has been fan-cast in the role in the past. YouTube users have been sharing their own takes in the comments, with one person pointing out that Erwin Smith is a dead ringer for Chris Evans.

We may actually get to see some Hollywood actors take on Hajime Isayama's story, because a live-action "Attack on Titan" film is in the works at Warner Bros., though there's no director currently attached. Andy Muschietti was on board at one stage, but he left the project in 2023. Names like Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro have been proposed as replacements by fans.