Every arc in Attack on Titan has been great, but some are better than others. Two of the most popular arcs in the series are the Return to Shiganshina arc and the Marley arc, with each being amazing for very different reasons. In the Return to Shiganshina arc, the Survey Corps set out to reclaim Wall Maria against the titans and ended up in an epic battle that changed history forever.
However, there are two sides to every story, and though the winners are usually the ones who write history, the other side is just as important. The Marley arc shows the Survey Corps' enemies as protagonists, giving fans an insight to why the warriors on the other side of the sea did everything that happened from the first chapter. So which arc is better?
10 RETURN TO SHIGANSHINA: Eren, Mikasa, & Armin Finally Went Back Home
When the series began, Armin, Eren, and Mikasa were living in Shiganshina and witnessed the Colossal Titan break down the wall that protected them, with a part of it falling on Eren and Mikasa's house. Carla, Eren's mother and Mikasa's guardian, was inside the house and unable to get out, leading to her being eaten by a titan. This caused Eren to hate the titans even more than he did before, and he swore that he would get his revenge. After half a decade, the trio returned to see what became in the district they grew up in.
9 MARLEY: Other Parts Of The World Were Shown
Shiganshina is one of the most important settings in the story, but fans have already seen it before. The Marley arc takes place in the titular country, which wasn't shown much up until this point. Rather than seeing one district, the Marley arc shows multiple locations in a nation where so many things are different, such as the government, military, struggles that people are going through, technology, cultures, and so much more. For those that enjoy worldbuilding, Marley is much better than Shiganshina.
8 RETURN TO SHIGANSHINA: A Lot Of Characters Died
When the Return to Shiganshina arc began, the Survey Corps gained a lot of recruits. When it ended, there were only nine survivors. The battle between these soldiers vs the Colossal, Armored, and Beast Titans was one of the best in the entire franchise.
On the Survey Corps' side, Erwin sacrificed himself and many other lives in a failed attempt to kill the Beast Titan. As for the Warrior Unit, the Colossal Titan was finally defeated. The surviving characters almost died as well, leaving fans wondering if anyone would return, before they were saved.
7 MARLEY: New Characters Were Introduced
Since not a lot of characters were around after the Return to Shiganshina arc, the Marley arc had to introduce a lot of new people to continue having a large cast. Most of these new characters were members of the Warrior Unit, such as Falco, Gabi, and Porco. Though they couldn't replace the soldiers who fans were introduced to years ago, they were just as important and the story only improved with them being included. Some of the other characters that were added but weren't part of the Warrior Unit are the Tybur family, Kiyomi Azumabito, Onyankopon, and Yelena.
6 RETURN TO SHIGANSHINA: Armin Inherited The Colossal Titan
Ever since the series began, the Colossal Titan seemed to be the Survey Corps' biggest threat. Fans were shocked when they found out that Bertholdt was the Colossal Titan, but nobody expected Armin to take his place. Armin nearly died when he and Eren defeated Bertholdt. However, Levi injected Armin with titan serum and fed Bertholdt to him, causing Armin to become a titan shifter. This was, by far, one of the most epic moments in the series at this point.
5 MARLEY: The Warriors' Perspective Is Shown
As mentioned earlier, fans got to learn a lot more about the warriors. Through both Reiner's flashbacks and current events, the warriors' side is completely understandable. Reiner, Annie, Bertholdt, and Marcel, who was eaten by Ymir on the way, were trained by Marley to kill the people in Paradis. They were brainwashed to think that Eldians were devils and deserved to die.
Years after failing to take the Founding Titan, Marley continued training and brainwashing a new generation of warriors. The monsters that fans thought these characters were turned out to be children who a country controlled.
4 RETURN TO SHIGANSHINA: The Truth About Humanity Was Revealed
At the end of the Return to Shiganshina arc, Eren, Mikasa, Hange, and Levi finally went inside of the Yeagers' basement and learned the reality that Grisha left behind. Fans were shocked to find out that Paradis was a small island compared to the world that both feared and hated Eldians. Grisha came from Marley and, after his younger sister was murdered by a Marleyan officer, became the leader of the Eldian Restorationists. He met and fell in love with Dina Fritz, and the two had a son, Zeke, who became the Beast Titan. Zeke turned his parents in and they were sent to Paradis, where Dina and the rest of the Restorationists became titans while Grisha inherited the Attack Titan before beginning his new life.
3 MARLEY: Zeke Teamed Up With The Soldiers
From betraying his parents to kill most of the Survey Corps, fans never would have thought that Zeke would end up helping the Eldians. It turned out that everything he had done was in order to manipulate the Marleyan army so that he could gain the Founding Titan. However, after discovering that Eren was the inheritor of the Founding Titan, he secretly worked with his brother to achieve his goal. Though they still hated Zeke for everything he did to them, the other soldiers agreed to work with him as he proved to be very helpful.
2 RETURN TO SHIGANSHINA: Eren Started Changing
After finding out that he had a brother who was also one of his greatest enemies and that the titan who ate his mother was also his father's first wife, Eren's world turned upside down. He also started being able to see Grisha's memories, causing his personality to change. When he finally got to the ocean, like he and Armin had hoped to do since they were children, instead of being happy like his friends were, he was more concerned about killing their enemies in Marley and any other country that threatened them. Fans could tell that Eren was changing and couldn't wait to see what he would become.
1 MARLEY: Eren Became The Antagonist
Though fans knew that Eren was becoming a different person, they didn't expect to see the stereotypical shonen hero turn into one of the best antagonists ever made. Just like how the warriors broke into Paradis, Eren invaded Marley and killed a lot of people so he could inherit the War Hammer Titan and bring his brother home. As there was a big time jump between the Return to Shiganshina and Marley arcs, Eren's personality had now entirely altered from what it once was, redeeming the character who many didn't like.
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