Caution: Spoilers ahead for Attack On Titan
Attack On Titan dropped a creepy reference to Breaking Bad’s Saul Goodman in its latest chapter. While the Attack On Titan anime is currently gearing up for its fourth and final season, the original manga series by Hajime Isayama is very much in its endgame. Eren Yeager has turned on the entire world, intent on destroying everyone and everything outside of the walls after making an unspoken alliance with Ymir and obtaining the power of the Founding Titan. As chaos breaks out within the walls, the battlefield remains littered with bog-standard Titans after Zeke triggered a spinal fluid trap that turned most of the Survey Corps into mindless naked monsters.
A million miles away from the world of Japanese manga, Bob Odenkirk and the gang are almost set to return in Better Call Saul season 5, due to release on Netflix in February 2020. Odenkirk’s Saul Goodman (otherwise known as Jimmy McGill) was introduced in Breaking Bad’s first season and intended as a short-term supporting character, but through a mix of outstanding on-screen chemistry, a performance that perfectly balanced drama with comedy, and sheer fan popularity, Saul Goodman became a key figure in Vince Gilligan’s world and went on to have his own spinoff series, which many would suggest is entirely on par with its predecessor.
While the fictional alternate world of Attack on Titan would usually have very little in common with Walter White’s evolution into Albuquerque’s chief meth kingpin, the latest chapter of the manga features a Saul Goodman Easter egg. In chapter 124, Mikasa, Armin, Jean and Connie are attempting to figure out their next move and whether or not Eren is friend or foe, when they’re interrupted by a passing Titan who attempts to squish them with its head. The Titan looks unerringly like Bob Odenkirk’s Saul Goodman and the strong likeness has not gone unnoticed by fans on social media.
As strange as the resemblance may seem initially, a Titan design based on Breaking Bad’s Saul perhaps isn’t completely out of left field. Attack On Titan has already revealed that all Titans were once humans, converted into monsters at the hands of Marley. As such, every Titan has to look like someone, whether that be a fictional character or a real-life figure. In terms of the latter, Hajime Isayama has already spoken publicly about his love of western T.V., including Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones, and the mangaka also confirmed that his design for Attack on Titan’s Falco Grice is based directly on Jesse Pinkman, famously played by Aaron Paul.
Additionally, Isayama has also stated that he based the design of Reiner’s Armored Titan on WWE wrestler and UFC fighter, Brock Lesnar, and Eren’s Titan is modeled on fellow MMA competitor Yushin Okami. With Isayama already having confessed to his admiration of Breaking Bad and admitted previous character inspirations from the iconic series, the close resemblance between Saul Goodman and Attack On Titan chapter 124’s headbutting Titan simply cannot be a coincidence, with their facial features, hairstyles and expressions all virtually identical.
More: Attack On Titan Is Making The Same Mistake As Game Of Thrones
