I find it absolutely hilarious that there are people who could read Attack on Titan and think that it's got some kind of xenophobic or nationalistic/isolationist political message in it. Because seriously--did those people even READ the story? Are they so unable to read the (not even that subtextual) subtext that they don't realize that AoT is a huge CRITICISM of any kind of overly isolationist, dictatorial government? If the main characters' passionate, curious attitudes toward freedom and going out to see what's beyond the walls of the tiny world they were born into in volume 1 wasn't hint enough, just keep on reading and the story will spell it out for you--why it's so important to face one's fears head-on and push outside your little "safety bubble" of complacency and LIVE (and it'll do it while being thrilling, entertaining, gut-wrenchingly moving, and surprisingly humorous at times, and will remind you about both how awful and how amazing human beings can be in the worst of times).
As for the feeble and completely inaccurate claims of xenophobia, etc, our handful of slower-witted readers have suggested, I'd actually say Attack on Titan is one of the MOST inclusive, non-xenophobic (and NON-MISOGYNISTIC, while we're at it!) manga to come out of Japan in the past two decades, especially in the popular shounen manga category. While most shounen manga like to stick to a heavily (or entirely) Japanese setting with mostly Japanese heroes (which is totally fine, since these stories were written by Japanese people for the Japanese market), AoT goes out of its way to a) set the story in an identifiably western land with identifiably western-looking characters with western-sounding names (German, in fact, for the majority: Jaeger, Franz, Thomas, Annie, Reiner, Bertholdt, Erwin, Armin, Levi). Though interestingly, the author Isayama Hajime goes a step further by making the population ethnically DIVERSE on top of that--we have Mikasa Ackerman, whose Asian heritage and Japanese name are discussed frankly to be what they are (Asian/Japanese). Then we have characters like Franz, Ymir and Hanji Zoe who have clearly darker coloring and facial features that make them identifiably black, middle-eastern, and either middle-eastern or Indian/South Asian, respectively.
In fact, in general, Isayama breaks so many molds of the "conventional look" of comics characters to make his characters visually diverse and inclusive--Mikasa Ackerman, the main heroine, is shown to be visually more muscular and thus, logically, *heavier* (yet still feminine and beautiful) than the main boy character (and her love interest) because she is blatantly shown to be physically stronger than him. There are very tall girls like Ymir and Nanaba, as well as very short ones who still kick butt (like Annie) or not (like Krista), girls with larger/not-cutely-Disney-Princess-like noses like Annie, boys who are petite and effeminate/delicate-looking like Armin, and boys who are super-tall (Bertholdt) or super-buff (Reiner) as well. The biggest badass in the entire series is a petite, muscular 30-something-year-old man who is SHORTER than almost all the kids and has the kind of baby face petite guys do in real life--but you would never see any of these types of people in any other manga (or western graphic novel, come to think of it. Especially the diversity among the women--western graphic novels require all major female characters to have the same slim, buxom body type and flawless, pretty faces with cute/petite noses, etc).
But even aside from all the awesome inclusiveness in the looks and personalities of the characters, what makes AoT so special to me is that Isayama also has a very wide, inclusive view of all types of people in his heart and that inclusiveness and ability to see all people, regardless of race, looks, attitudes, etc, as PEOPLE who are worthwhile and worth having compassion for, is what makes his cast and their relationships so striking, unique, memorable, and imbued with the power to touch the audience.
As for the whole premise of the story--of these humans, hiding (or more appropriately, TRAPPED) behind walls to hide from these giant, insensible, inhuman terrors--the POINT of the story is that the heroes and the handful of brave, perhaps foolish, people who join the Survey Corps are not content to live trapped inside the boundaries they were born into, even in the face of the deadly, terrifying hell that awaits them outside those boundaries. It's a story not just about the Japanese or any particular ethnic group--it's about humanity as a whole, and how magnificent the indomitable human spirit is that would choose freedom in the face of death-defying odds and fear over a life of safe complacency. It's the same struggle human beings the world over have faced since civilization began (Henry David Thoreau's "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation" essay, and "Just Around the Riverbend" from Pocahontas are just two of many, many examples)--do you stay in a safe, mind-numbing existence, or have the courage to push outside your safe zone and LIVE?
THAT is what Attack on Titan is about.
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SNEAK PREVIEW of Attack On Titan Vol. 1!!
Marcel The Loser
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I’ve been looking for volume 1 everywhere and finally found it! So excited to read it. I’ve watched the anime up to season 3 but I want to read some of the manga before finishing it.
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Nicholas
Watched the anime, time for the manga
Reviewed in Canada on August 30, 2021
