Stranger Things Season 5 sequence where Millie Bobby Brown’s Eleven tears into Mind Flayer’s body to find Vecna inside may have been inspired by the climactic scene of popular anime Attack on Titan, claim Reddit communities.

Following the premiere of the final episode of the long-running Netflix show on 1 January, eagle-eyed fans spotted an uncanny resemblance between the emotionally-charged climax of Attack on Titan and the fight sequence in Stranger Things finale.

In Attack on Titan, which reached its conclusion in 2023, Mikasa flies into the body of Eren's colossal Founding Titan through a gaping maw created by Levi to decapitate his vulnerable human head inside.

In Stranger Things finale, Eleven leaps through the air and creates a gaping hole on the Mind Flayer’s body to enter it and launch a full-blown assault which would eventually kill Vecna residing inside.

Redditors have found frame-by-frame similarities between the two sequences.

“Anyone who has seen Attack on Titan, did you notice these parallels to ST finale?” asked a fan in a subreddit for Stranger Things, sharing a collage showing similar frames in both the series.

Some Attack on Titan fans not only drew parallels between the climactic sequences but also the characters.

A Redditor found similarities between Vecna and Eren. “[Vecna and Eren] were given a shot at redemption but both chose to double down and proceed with their plans of ending the world,” they wrote.

“Eren though is definitely more of an anti-villain though because his plan was to sacrifice himself during the Rumbling so that his friends and Paradis as a whole would be viewed as heroes of the world and not the villains. Vecna wanted to serve the Mind Flayer and even though he was given a chance to switch sides, he was just too far gone,” the fan added.

Another fan shared that the epilogue of both the shows were similar. “Like everyone else still had a happyish ending but Mike/Mikasa were too broken to get over it,” they commented.

Not only Vecna and Eren, an internet user pointed out that there are similarities between Eren and Eleven, Vecna and Zeke, the Mindflayer and the parasite, Marley and the military — with the most important one being the open-to-interpretation endings.

One key difference, however, is Mike accepting Eleven’s decision while Mikasa rejecting Eren’s. “Although, maybe Mike rejected El's too,” the Redditor said almost in unison with all Stranger Things fans who were left baffled by the open-ended conclusion to Mike and El’s story.

The uncanny similarity between the two sequences has also sparked conversations on Instagram and Twitter. “Every masterpiece has its cheap copy,” wrote a fan on Instagram. “Stranger Things can never be compared to AoT’s storyline,” another commented. “Stranger Things lowkenuinely tried to rip-off AoT's ending and failed miserably,” shared an X user.

When the anime adaptation of Hajime Isayama’s manga Attack on Titan released in 2013, it changed the anime scene forever. Besides popularising brutal and gory scenes in anime, it made anime a part of popular culture on a global scale, building an engaging fandom and sparking conversations online.