Attack on Titan is and always has been imperialist propaganda written by a Nazi supporter. The idea of the walls and their fragility is meant to criticize Japan’s antiwar policy, and the Titans coming back after 100 years is meant to imply that if Japan doesn’t start having wars and breaking down their “walls” and conquering the East again, other countries will come to terrorize the region. What bothers me most having watched the first season of it is the line about “Living like livestock”. It asserts the notion that to live without imperialism is a form of complacency, like somehow the country isn’t living life to its fullest if it isn’t out pillaging and raping the peoples of Korea, Manchuria, Indonesia, the Pacific Islands, etc. I will say that it’s actually really poorly written, so the ideas the writer has don’t come across super strongly, but it’s still seriously dangerous stuff.
Add to that the fact that so many characters have German names and that the setting seems to have a lot of european and specifically German vegetation and architecture becomes obvious that the writer wants viewers to feel nostalgic for the Axis Powers. It’s really infuriating to me as a Jewish person because it’s supporting a political climate under which the genocide of my people could resume even when we just now have the same Jewish population worldwide as we did pre-Holocaust. It’s fucked up and now that people are talking about it coming back for a second season after so long I want to urge you all to please boycott it.
-Stephen
Lol yes! Unfortunately it’s all true! For instance, the character called Dot Pixis is based on general Yoshifuru Akiyama, a famous war criminal during the occupation of Korea who Attack on Titan’s writer, Hajime Isayama, called “frugal and respectable” on his twitter account. Popular character Mikasa Ackerman is named after a warship in the Russo-Japanese war, a war over which power would violently occupy Korea, according to the show’s own damn official guidebook (Which I cannot link to because it’s a book) and wikia page.
In a separate reply to this post, a friend of mine has also noted that the character called Erwin Smith is named after a Nazi called Erwin Rommel who, despite occasionally defying orders he deemed “unjust”, was still a fucking Nazi and still took part in the Holocaust. I did find a source for this albeit not the best one. But it should also be in the official handbook as Outside Kou apparently claims that the origins of characters’ names are in that book.
And if you don’t find it bad enough that these characters are designed to be nods to imperialist/nazi history, then what ought to convince you the show should be boycotted is that it isn’t for shits and giggles. Hajime Isayama actually does support Imperialism. He named and designed those characters as homages to nazis and war criminals for a reason. Not because he thought the names were cool. He actually worships those military institutions. So I’ll say it again. Boycott Attack on Titan.
-Stephen
EDIT: Tumblr is a fucked website, so the reply that was made by user ramen-catholicism saying “Lol no” that prompted me to make this addition is not showing up on my computer as part of this post. Also some links aren’t showing up underlined in the second paragraph so if you want them you have to hover over my words with your cursor to find them… sorry
koutetsujou no kabaneri is a good substitute with less nationalism and much prettier character design overall
While this is sort of a valid interpretation in a purely theoretical (???) sense, and the author seems to be apologetic or denialist of war crimes, which is not acceptable, it’s a pretty heavy accusation to say he advocates going back to imperialism, especially considering Japanese culture. Hayao Miyazaki also got flak for saying Japanese WWII plane engineers were awesome (not a quote), even if he isn’t pro-war. Some Japanese people have a habit of honoring people that did awful shit but had traits that would be virtues in another context, and this seems to be a cultural thing, which may seem baffling, but is not objectively wrong (like war crime denial). The references to historical figures in the manga may not be as apologist as the post makes them out to be when taking this into account.
you know i truly try not to get angry on this hell site but could you honest to god shut your mouth the fuck up because as someone whose country was colonized by japan, those are valid as shit criticisms. the japanese government has refused to compensate the colonized countries, ESPECIALLY the women they kidnapped and sexually enslaved (many of these women are still alive btw), there is still heavy anti-korean, anti-chinese, anti-vietnamese racism present—actually, the whole country is pretty discriminatory towards any non-japanese east/southeast asian people
japanese culture of course presents itself as “nice” and “polite” and rich because the country of japan literally got to where it is by colonizing and exploiting other countries and ravaging them and landing many people into poverty. your insistence that it’s just “a cultural thing” and that japanese people just HAPPEN to be ignorant and MEAN WELL and is fucking infuriating because THAT IS LITERALLY WHAT THEIR PROPAGANDA IS INTENDED TO MAKE YOU THINK. a lot of anime is FULL of propaganda that wouldn’t be apparent to non e/se asians.
also “the wind rises” totally gives off propaganda vibes—the planes were made off the slave labor of chinese and koreans and subsequently used to bomb them but do you ever hear those people mentioned in the film AT ALL lmao horikoshi was not just a nice guy that made a silly mistake
just bringing this back because season 3 will be out in July 🙂 fuck this show
Wanted to bring this back lmao. Japan should never not be reminded of their war crimes just because they make nice things. I don’t make that concession for the USA and I certainly won’t make it for the country of thousands upon thousands of rapists who refuse to pay reparations to their victims.
The youngest living comfort women were 14-17 years old during the war. Raped by a line of Japanese soldiers all day. Just because the word “Japanese soldiers” doesn’t invoke the same hateful reaction as “Nazis” doesn’t mean they weren’t just as bad, and in many different ways, worse.
This is the election that counts. Start educating yourself now on who will be campaigning to be your congresspeople/governor/etc.
Register to vote NOW. Don’t wait. You can do it any time.
This is the fight we need to win. VOTE
VOTE
VOTE
Also…reminder to pay attention to all local elections and VOTE. These elected officials are the people most likely to directly impact your life in the short term.
This has to start now. Right now.
Get your birth certificates. There may be a fee or long wait times. Make sure you get a certified copy.
Make sure you have ID. Dig into your state’s laws and the whole Real ID thing, because (and sorry I can’t research this now, but pneumonia) I believe there are certain states whose driver’s licenses don’t qualify for Real ID.
Make sure you’re registered to vote. Google it. Follow the instructions for your state.
Know where your local polling place is or find out if you can vote by mail.
Vote in ALL your upcoming elections. Yes, that means the little ones for city council or dog catcher or whatever. Vote those racist, homophobic, bigots out at every level.
They’re like weeds. You can pull up every visible bit, but if you leave one tiny segment of root, they’ll just come back.
To quote Mira Grant, rise up while you can. Because the Republicans are way the hell worse than zombies.
Damn skippy! My mantra all year has been “Come on, 2018…”
This is Moonlite. She will be 11 in August. She also has dementia. Until recently, it’s been manageable just by me comforting her. But as of this week, I can’t comfort her, she’s sad constantly and I don’t know what to do. I stay home with her nearly 24/7 because she gets lost and disoriented so frequently. Today she has started getting aggressive and attacked my arm for the first time ever. I’m out of work and me and my husband live on a single income. I NEED to get her to a vet. I’ve heard there may be some medications or diet changes they can give her, but you have to go through the vet to get them. I didn’t want to have to post this but I’ve been sobbing all night because she has been my best friend in the entire world for almost 11 years. I bottle fed this baby. I just have to try and see if there is anything they can do to improve her quality of life. She is a good girl and deserves only good things. So I’m having a divination/witch sale.
Kitty Emergency Witch Sale
Prices are somewhat negotiable because literally anything helps.
5, 1 hour tarot readings, can schedule separately or together: $40
Hour long tarot reading: $10
Half hour tarot reading: $6
Half hour pendulum reading: $5
A spell written specifically for you (some exceptions apply: $15
Hour long rune reading: $15
15 custom sigils: $7
I TAKE REQUESTS! Literally, if you want something not on the list, just ask!
And if you can’t give with money, please share. Please. This little girl is my life and I can’t help her on my own anymore. If you want to donate paypal.me/dahliahstevens
What’s really wild is that the native people literally told the Europeans “they walked” when asked how the statues were moved. The Europeans were like “lol these backwards heathens and their fairy tales guess it’s gonna always be a mystery!”
Maori told Europeans that kiore were native rats and no one believed them until DNA tests proved it
Roopkund Lake AKA “Skeleton Lake” in the Himalayas in India is eerie because it was discovered with hundreds of skeletal remains and for the life of them researchers couldn’t figure out what it was that killed them. For decades the “mystery” went unsolved.
Until they finally payed closer attention to local songs and legend that all essentially said “Yah the Goddess Nanda Devi got mad and sent huge heave stones down to kill them”. That was consistent with huge contusions found all on their neck and shoulders and the weather patterns of the area, which are prone to huge & inevitably deadly goddamn hailstones. https://www.facebook.com/atlasobscura/videos/10154065247212728/
Literally these legends were past down for over a thousand years and it still took researched 50 to “figure out” the “mystery”. 🙄
Adding to this, the Inuit communities in Nunavut KNEW where both the wrecks of the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror were literally the entire time but Europeans/white people didn’t even bother consulting them about either ship until like…last year.
“Inuit traditional knowledge was critical to the discovery of both ships, she pointed out, offering the Canadian government a powerful demonstration of what can be achieved when Inuit voices are included in the process.
In contrast, the tragic fate of the 129 men on the Franklin expedition hints at the high cost of marginalising those who best know the area and its history.
“If Inuit had been consulted 200 years ago and asked for their traditional knowledge – this is our backyard – those two wrecks would have been found, lives would have been saved. I’m confident of that,” she said. “But they believed their civilization was superior and that was their undoing.”
“Oh yeah, I heard a lot of stories about Terror, the ships, but I guess Parks Canada don’t listen to people,” Kogvik said. “They just ignore Inuit stories about the Terror ship.”
Schimnowski said the crew had also heard stories about people on the land seeing the silhouette of a masted ship at sunset.
“The community knew about this for many, many years. It’s hard for people to stop and actually listen … especially people from the South.”
Indigenous Australians have had stories about giant kangaroos and wombats for thousands of years, and European settlers just kinda assumed they were myths. Cut to more recently when evidence of megafauna was discovered, giant versions of Australian animals that died out 41 000 years ago.
Similarly, scientists have been stumped about how native Palm trees got to a valley in the middle of Australia, and it wasn’t until a few years ago that someone did DNA testing and concluded that seeds had been carried there from the north around 30 000 years ago… aaand someone pointed out that Indigenous people have had stories about gods from the north carrying the seeds to a valley in the central desert.
it’s literally the oldest accurate oral history of the world.
Now consider this: most people consider the start of recorded history to be with the Sumerians and the Early Dynastic period of the Egyptians. So around 3500 BCE, or five and a half thousand years ago
These highly accurate Aboriginal oral histories originate from twenty thousand years ago at least
Ain’t it amazing what white people consider history and what they don’t?
I always said disservice is done to oral traditions and myth when you take them literally. Ancient people were not stupid.
Just adding cool stuff, Inuit oral tradition preserves the stories of their people back when they lived in Siberia and watched volcanoes explode and hunted mastodons and stuff. It’s super detailed and super awesome and seriously indigenous knowledge and oral tradition has so much information and white science and history are just like nahhh
Death By Catchphrase 