And I gotta admit I still don’t really know where people are getting the whole fascist thing from, the arguments put forth in the articles read like someone who has no idea about warfare looking really hard for a rightist angle and jumping upon the fact a character was based on an ZOMG IMPERIAL EVIL Russo-Japanese war general, which is to say someone who had nothing to do with Japan’s most heinous massacres (though admittedly I only skimmed his wiki page) What little I personally saw of SnK gave me the impression of the effect brutal violence of world (and military capability necessary to respond to that) can have on people and civilization as well as a meta-contrast with today’s peaceful Japan and their ever-present post-war complex regarding their imperial history.


Twitchfilm’s article makes some very good observations regarding the zeitgeist of Japan at the time of SnK publication and how aspects of the series and it’s settei tap into those sentiments, but I feel they kinda jump a few hoops when it comes to their conclusions… the whole thing of “individual vs. many” that they push as sneaky agenda read more as facets of military incompentence from inept and detached civilian leadership (or manifestation of hopelessness in face of insurmountable odds), and I simply have no idea where they get their whole “except the traitors, and moochers, and…” thing from. Quite frankly, the military doesn’t operate on a celebration of the individual and there’s a reason ranks are a thing and a pillar of any army.

This non-sequitur and straw grasping reaches it’s apex when the writer inexplicably compares Erwin’s speech of having to turn off his emotions to save humanity with Hirohito’s comments on his surrender speech! Of course, the justification he pulls for all these fascist comparisons fall on the character of Dot Pixis, committing the usual delusion of taking portrayal as embracement as well as taking an overly simplistic approach to history… and that’s leaving aside the MangaUK guy, who’s just talking about whatever.


Specifically, the inclusion of this Akiyama Yoshifuru general leads me to think the mangaka’s commentary on Japanese history might be a little more complicated than just gung-ho glorification of military, and on that front it’s also important to note Isayama pulls no punches in regards to how shitty and hopeless the soldier’s situation is or the complete abandonment of the central government. Come to think of it, a lot of that sounds like stuff Saburo Sakai (WW2 Japanese Ace) complained/talked about after the war. Actually, the more I read about this whole thing and thinking of it, the more I’m feeling this is another self-instrospective look at Japan and it’s relationship to his Imperial past.