Eren Crying, also known as Eren's Confession, is a meme format built on a panel from chapter 139 of Attack on Titan where protagonist Eren Yeager cries while confessing he doesn't want Mikasa to find another man after his death.

Where did Eren Crying come from?

The scene came from chapter 139 of the Attack on Titan manga, published April 8, 2021. Fans turned it into memes within a day, starting with a Virgin vs. Chad edit by @Yuki_BLC on April 9, 2021.

What does Eren Crying mean?

The joke plays on Eren's uncharacteristic emotional breakdown feeling out of place in a chapter dealing with world-ending stakes, and fans mock the contrast between his genocidal arc and his jealous romantic admission.

How do you use Eren Crying?

People overlay captions on the manga panel or the 2023 anime still to make Eren's confession look pathetic or absurd, often through formats like Virgin vs. Chad or Tommy Shelby holding a gun.

Is Eren Crying still popular?

The meme got a major revival around the Attack on Titan anime finale on November 5, 2023, with new animated versions circulating on Twitter and Reddit. It's still a /r/titanfolk staple.

Eren Crying

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Published October 17, 2026

In chapter 139 of Attack on Titan, published April 8, 2021, protagonist Eren Yeager breaks down in tears over the thought of Mikasa Ackerman finding another man after his death, and fans found the moment so out of character they instantly turned it into a running joke. Known as Eren Crying or Eren's Confession, the panel got recycled through Virgin vs. Chad edits, Tommy Shelby reaction videos, and I Don't Like Sand mashups, with fresh memes arriving when the anime adaptation animated the scene in November 2023.

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Overview

Eren Crying posts typically combine the manga panel (or its 2023 anime still) with a punchline that casts Eren's tearful confession as uncharacteristically pathetic for a character known as a genocidal titan-wielder4. Virgin vs. Chad edits set a crying Eren against a stoic chad version of himself2, while Tommy Shelby holding a gun captions turn Eren's hypothetical replacement into the man threatened by Eren's spite1. The joke lives on the contrast between the gravity of the final chapter and Eren's small, jealous admission.

Some fans considered the sequence ill-fitting for the manga's grander ending, which is partly why Eren Crying became frequent meme fodder on /r/titanfolk3. Reaction edits leaned on the moment as a punchline instead of a tearjerker.

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Origin & Background

Platform

Attack on Titan manga (source) / Twitter and Reddit (viral spread)

Date

2021

Chapter 139 of the Attack on Titan manga, titled "Toward the Tree on That Hill," was published April 8, 20214. In it, Armin Arlert recalls erased memories of his conversations with Eren, including one where Armin asks how Eren feels about Mikasa finding somebody else after his death. After getting punched by Armin, Eren breaks down crying and admits he wants Mikasa to be hung up on him for a long time, before saying he really wants her to be happy.

The panel got meme'd within a day. On April 9, 2021, Twitter user @Yuki_BLC posted a Virgin vs. Chad edit setting a crying Eren against a chad version of himself, which gathered over 260 reposts and 1,700 likes in two years2.

How It Spread

Also on April 9, 2021, Redditor lethalmc posted an I Don't Like Sand edit to /r/titanfolk referencing the Prequels line, which earned over 7,000 upvotes3. Over the next two years, /r/titanfolk recirculated the Eren Crying panel in dozens of edits, with the man-bun version of Eren getting compared to every stray anime hairstyle.

The scene came back around in early November 2023, right before the anime finale aired on November 54. On November 4, user @arminkills posted a Tommy Shelby Holding a Gun caption video using the panel, which earned more than 4,600 reposts and 22,000 likes in two days1. After the finale aired, animated stills of Eren crying flooded Twitter and Reddit with new variations drawn from the anime's higher-fidelity rendering of the moment.

Timeline

2021-04-08

Chapter 139 of Attack on Titan, 'Toward the Tree on That Hill,' is published, containing the sequence of Eren crying over Mikasa.

2021-04-09

Twitter user @Yuki_BLC posts a Virgin vs. Chad edit using the panel, earning over 260 reposts and 1,700 likes.

2021-04-09

Redditor lethalmc posts an I Don't Like Sand edit of the panel to /r/titanfolk, earning over 7,000 upvotes.

2023-11-04

User @arminkills posts a Tommy Shelby Holding a Gun caption video referencing the scene, earning more than 4,600 reposts and 22,000 likes in two days.

2023-11-05

The Attack on Titan anime finale airs, animating the Eren Crying scene and fueling a second surge of memes.

How to Use This Meme

People overlay captions on either the manga panel or the 2023 anime still, typically framing Eren's confession as absurdly out of proportion with the chapter's apocalyptic stakes. Common conventions include Virgin vs. Chad side-by-sides2, Tommy Shelby holding a gun captions aimed at the imagined replacement1, and I Don't Like Sand text swaps that treat Eren's man-bun as a tell3.