Andor season 2 was one of the biggest television events in recent history, and that’s especially true when it comes to critical reception. Every episode was met with near-unanimous praise from critics, and the last five episodes were so good that they were all rated 9.5 or higher on IMDb.

Andor’s streak of near-perfect scores on IMDb is a major milestone, but it might not be as big as people are making it out to be. Many people, including Andor’s official X , are hailing Andor’s big streak on IMDb as the first TV show to have five consecutive episodes rated 9.5 or higher, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. As it turns out, one of the greatest anime of all time beat Andor’s IMDb record over five years ago, and that deserves just as much praise, if not more.

Attack On Titan Already Beat Andor’s Record Years Ago, And Here’s How

Attack On Titan's Best String Of Episodes Explained

As great as the IMDb record for Andor season 2 is, it’s not the first TV show to cross it, despite what even the official X would have people believe. As most people will know, Attack on Titan is one of the biggest anime of the past decade, with even people who don’t normally watch anime at least being aware of how big it was, and sure enough, Attack on Titan season 3 had six episodes in a row with at least a 9.5 on IMDb, six years before Andor accomplished the same feat.

As for how Attack on Titan accomplished such a feat, that’s easy to see why. The series has always had an incredibly engaging story with gorgeous animation to match, and season 3, in particular, brought that to its peak with the Return to Shiganshina arc, where every episode was filled with some of the biggest visual and narrative highs of the series. Attack on Titan season 3 was arguably the best season of the anime, so it makes sense that it would be received so positively, and arguably even more so than Andor season 2 was.

Attack On Titan’s IMDb Snub Highlights The Biggest Animation Problem

Why Animation Deserves More Respect

Attack on Titan’s IMDb scores are nothing but praiseworthy, and unfortunately, it makes sense that it would be ignored. Even with the significant growth of animation over the years, it still has a reputation in the mainstream for being primarily for kids, which in turn gives it a reputation for not being taken seriously. It might be that the people running the social media s were simply unaware of Attack on Titan’s specific success, but even so, Andor getting credit for a record Attack on Titan broke years ago continues the trend of animation being snubbed by critics.

This also highlights an issue with live-action media, in general. Going along with how often animation is treated as childish, a large subset of fans and critics act like only live-action media can be serious and should be treated as such, and while Andor more than earns its high praise for its great storytelling and overall direction, the false notion that only Andor has earned its specific IMDb record emphasizes the idea that only live-action media deserves to be treated seriously.

In recent years, plenty of people have spoken up in defense of animation needing to be taken seriously, with legendary director Guillermo del Toro famously deriding the notion that animation was only for kids as his Pinocchio movie was met with unbridled praise and success a few years ago, but it’s not enough. People still need to understand that a show or movie is worth watching, even if it’s animated, and if a show like Attack on Titan will be ignored in favor of something like Andor just because it’s animated, it’s unfortunately hard to imagine that happening anytime soon.

Source: @Blacklight_21 on X.