After over 10 years, the popular anime Attack on Titan concluded its epic storyline. The ending showed a bittersweet, complicated future for the world that had been shaped by years of conflict.
At the core was Eren Jaeger’s controversial attempt to eliminate threats beyond his home island of Paradis by wiping out large swathes of humanity.
However, in a pivotal reveal during the final episodes, it became clear that Eren’s deepest motivations went beyond just the immediate genocide. More than anything, he was focused on and concerned with what would happen in the aftermath of his drastic actions.
The climactic confrontations depicted in Attack on Titan’s closing chapter saw Eren’s former allies band together, risking their lives in order to stop the catastrophic event he had unleashed, referred to as the Rumbling.
Despite his goal being to end wars once and for all, Eren’s methods ended up breeding more violence and altering how both sides thought about the conflict, trapping the world in an endless cycle of fighting that he had hoped to disrupt.
One Piece and Attack on Titan Fans Clash in Rating Wars
An interesting event transpired between the fandoms of the popular anime series One Piece and Attack on Titan. A highly-rated episode of One Piece initially received a very positive 9.9 rating.
However, some fans of Attack on Titan downvoted the One Piece episode out of what seemed to be a rivalry between the two fanbases, leading to a lower rating.
In response, when Attack on Titan aired its grand finale episode, it likewise first received an impressive 9.8 rating from fans. But supporters of One Piece decided to retaliate.
To get back at the Attack on Titan fans who had downvoted their favored show, they went and began downvoting Attack on Titan’s finale, lowering its stellar initial rating.
This incident highlighted the sometimes extreme passion and tribalism that can occur between fandoms in the anime world, where fans of one show feel loyalty and honor culture towards their preferred series.
This event showed that ratings and reviews may not always reflect true quality but can sometimes be skewed by fans looking to boost up or bring down a rival show.
Retaliation Escalates as One Piece Fans Review Bomb Attack on Titan’s Finale
Tensions continued to escalate between the fanbases of the popular anime juggernauts One Piece and Attack on Titan. After Attack on Titan fans had downvoted a highly rated One Piece episode seemingly out of rivalry, the tables turned when Attack on Titan aired its own hotly anticipated finale.
The concluding episode of Attack on Titan initially drew excellent reviews, earning a 9.8-star rating on IMDb. However, supporters of One Piece decided it was time for retaliation. Angry about their own show being downvoted previously, One Piece fans initiated a campaign to review bomb the Attack on Titan finale.
This appeared to originate from a post by the social media handle @_goatbrandon, who encouraged fellow One Piece followers to flood the finale episode with negative 2-star reviews in order to tank its IMDb score.
And it worked – the coordinated effort successfully decreased Attack on Titan’s rating substantially, plunging it down to just 7.8 stars and diminishing the episode’s critical reception.
This incident demonstrated the intense tribal attitudes that can manifest between competing fandoms within anime culture, to the extent that ratings seem to reflect grudges rather than actual quality assessments.
The creative retaliation revealed how fans would go to great lengths to defend the honor of their preferred show.
Call for Moderation
However, not all One Piece fans supported or participated in the coordinated downvoting of the Attack on Titan finale. Many voiced opposition, arguing that review bombing another show’s crowning artistic achievement was unethical, regardless of any grievances between fandoms.
As the incidents gained attention, numerous animation enthusiasts began tagging IMDb across social media, urgently appealing to the platform to intervene.
They asked IMDb to thoroughly investigate the obvious review bombing and fraudulent 1-star ratings intended only to sabotage Attack on Titan’s reception.
These users contended that weaponizing ratings to settle scores lies outside the spirit and purpose of entertainment discussion forums. And so attention now turns to whether IMDb will take substantive action to moderate and mitigate the ratings war and hostilities still raging between sectors of the One Piece and Attack Titan online fanbases.
The saga has highlighted how tribalism can corrupt discussion, as well as the challenges sites like IMDb face in keeping the peace and preventing the deliberate distortions created by such review bombing campaigns between clashing fandoms.
