Revisiting the Fascist Subtext of Attack on Titan: Some Notes on a Modern Reactionary Anime

Abstract

ttack on Titan is an ongoing Japanese comic book series written and illustrated by Hajime Isayama, who, growing up in the countryside of Ōita Prefecture, Japan, landed upon a simple but disturbing truth: Because all living organisms must feed on other living organisms to survive, the world is an inherently cruel place. Life, by definition, undermines ethical considerations. Or so it might seem. Unlike so many of the powerful but problematic ideas that cement themselves into the minds of children, only to be abandoned upon the arrival of adulthood, this one stuck around for Isayama, at least as a problem to be addressed. His manga tells the story of a world in which people live under the constant threat of being eaten alive by naked, mindless, humanoid giants. The idea is not original. Humans have, in science fiction, often been flipped by circumstance into serving as dinner for an alien species (even as we actually are for any number of terrestrial species, from bacteria to bears and lions, if we’re unlucky). But Isayama has connected this evolutionary trope to a sociological concern toward the growing attraction in the world for autocratic—often sociopathic—forms of governance. Published in 2009, the manga, alongside its anime adaptation, quickly grew into a global pop-culture phenomenon. Part of Isayama’s success can be attributed to the