Manga Review: The Humanity in Attack on Titan (Part I)-Philosophy
A grand epic will last forever.
Spoiler alert until Chapter 132.
Introduction
Attack on titan (AoT), or Shingeki No Kyojin (SnK) (進撃の巨人), is one of the most popular mangas in Japan. It is also one of my favorite manga works, and I am afraid there will be no other work able to surpass it in the future. At least by far it is simply the best for me. Objectively speaking, different kinds of works attract different kinds of people, and AoT is no exception. There are three aspects, from my point of view, why this manga is so attracting, which concern philosophy, history, and literature. Anyone who is interested in one of them will certainly enjoy this wonderful titan-fighting epic. In fact, I am interested in all of them.
I. Philosophy
How to avoid being a slave? By knowing how to love.
I will begin with the aspect of philosophy. The main topic in AoT, in my opinion, is how a person is supposed live freely, as opposed to live like a slave.
(I) To go outside the wall
In the beginning of the plot, Eren defines living freely as being able to go outside the wall without the threat from titans. There are many people, considered some livestocks by Eren, satisfied with living inside the wall. More accurately, they have got used to this kind of life and don’t understand why people have to risk their lives fighting against titans.
The freedom in this context could be regarded as being able to go anywhere physically you want. Similar ideas come from Levi’s friend Isabel in No Regret (悔いなき選択) and Shadis in Bystander(傍観者), Ch. 71. In No Regret, Isabel told Levi and Farran, who is also another friend of Levi, that she began to understand, after getting more familiar with people in Survey Corpse the eager to go outside the wall is actually similar with the one they have to leave the underground.
“I…I think I kinda get why they journey outside. Going beyond the walls is a lot like…how we used to dream of leaving the underground someday. We have got so many friends down there who just die as they dream of the surface. I’d always look at ’em and think, “I’m getting the hell ouuta here for sure.” (By Isabel Magnolia in Living Creatures(生き物), Ch. 6 of No Regret.)
Shadis’s idea is like Eren’s. In fact, their life paths are similar, both willing to go outside the wall with the same reason, being defeated by severe blows one by one, and coming up with a conclusion that they are just normal people.
“The Survey Corpse is proof of mankind’s imagination and its free spirit. It is the very pride of humanity.” (By Grisha Yeager in Bystander(傍観者), Ch.71.)
(II) To live as a person
A new definition comes into existence when the survey corpse finally reached the sea and the truth of the world was unveiled. Because of the identity of Eldians, the whole world is the enemy, and it becomes much harder to define freedom. There is, however, an agreement between Eren and Zeke that Eldians will never be free for being hated, suppressed, and considered demons by the world.
Although feelings like this can be manipulated by historical interpretation, which I will discuss later, it seems impossible to be solved in the story, and thus Zeke agrees the euthanasia plan proposed by the former holder of the beast titan, Tom Ksaver in Support (支え), Ch. 115, and Eren simply decided to destroy the world in Dawn for Humanity(人類の夜明け), Ch. 130, with rumbling.
“If the Eldians weren’t to be born…there would be no dying, no suffering. They wouldn’t die. To not be born into this world. There is no better salvation.” (By Eren Jaeger in Support(支え), Ch. 115)
The freedom in this context is defined not as being able to go anywhere physically you want, but as possible to psychologically self-identify as a real person. In real world, on the other hand, the black was enslaved and traded as commodities. Women are subordinate to men and sometimes considered baby containers or sex toys. We Taiwanese were massacred, colonized, and then forced to view ourselves as the upright Chinese (堂堂正正的中國人).
It is all these which made people objects. People like them will then begin to forget who they are, where they come from, and finally lose their identities and subjectivities. Why is Jean Valjean called 24601 in the cell? Because prisoners there are not considered people, and thus they don’t need any name. This is also why Historia are asked by Ymir in Ymir(ユミル), Ch. 40, to live with her real name.
“You have to promise me something. When I reveal this secret of mine, you will claim your real name back and live under it.”
“Christa, I have no right to tell you how to live your life. So consider it my wish. Live your life with your head held high.”
“Christa, I used to be like that, too, thinking that it’d have been better if I had never been born. I was hated for the simple fact of my existence in this world. And I died, for the happiness of a great many people. But, there was one thing I wished for with all my heart. If I’m ever given a second chance in life, I want to be able to live only for myself. This was my sincere wish.” (By Ymir in Ymir(ユミル), Ch. 40)
Eldians are not people as well from the perspective of the outside world. They are, instead, demons who must pay for what their ancestors did, so there is no freedom as a result. By reconstructing Eldians’ own history, as illustrated in That Day(あの日), Ch. 86, the Eldians are able to live as people. That is also why Eren will point at the other side of the see, asking if they will finally be free if they kill the enemy there.
“On the other side of the wall is the ocean. And on the other side of the ocean is freedom. We believed that for so long.
But it’s not true. What’s waiting for us on the other side of the ocean is the enemy…So if we kill the enemy, the one waiting for us on the other side, will we finally be free?” (By Eren Jaeger in To the Other Side of the Wall(壁の向こう側へ), Ch. 90)
Besides, “livestock” appears in this context as well, when Eren refuses to let Historia inherit the beast titan from Zeke for the survival of Eldians, in Visitor (来客), Ch. 107. Not being able to go outside the wall, or being forced to become a titan and eat others, both are livestock lives.
(III) Everyone is a slave
The two main ideas of what freedom is in AoT have been mentioned. However, there are people with different ideas, such as Kenny Ackerman in Friend(友人), Ch. 69, that it is impossible to escape slavery. Everyone needs to be drunk on something to forward. Everyone is a slave to something. People without any purpose will die soon. This is what humans be like. From this point of view, people who are free are those who give up their dreams, and the first person I come up with, instead of Kenny himself while dying, is Erwin Smith.
In The Unknown Soldiers(名も無き兵士), Ch 80, Levi asks Erwin to give up his dream and leads the suicide attack, and Erwin smells. I got goosebumps while reading this. This is the moment when Erwin is free, since he is not a slave to his dream anymore. This is also the reason, in my opinion, why Levi does not inject Erwin in Midnight Sun(白夜), Ch. 84, because he does not want to force him back to where he will never be free.
“Please forgive him. He had no choice but to become a demon, and we were the ones that wished that upon him. And just when he was finally freed from this hell, we tried to drag him right back into it.” (By Levi Ackerman in Midnight Sun(白夜), Ch. 84)
(IV) Love
Following the discussion, then, Mikasa is certainly a slave to Eren as a by-product in the titan experiment who will always obey her host, depicted by Eren in Savagery(暴悪), Ch. 112. However, Eren lies to Mikasa about Ackerman’s survival instinct as we see in Dawn for Humanity(人類の夜明け), Ch. 130, that the information he got from Zeke has nothing to do with host protection, but love.
“Ingrained behavior? To protect a host? I am pretty sure that’s not the case. So…you want to know why it is that this Ackerman girl shows you so much kindness and affection?
Listen, Eren. What I think is that there’s no “true reason”, ingrained behavior, or compelling impulse. It’s love, that she’d snap a titan’s neck in two for you.” (By Zeke Jaeger in Dawn for Humanity(人類の夜明け), Ch. 130)
A slave knows nothing but to obey. Is Mikasa simply obeying Eren? Zeke thinks it is love. Since love is, from my point of view, something coming from the bottom of a person’s heart, Mikasa is actually free if it is the case. Only people know how to love. More accurately, only free people do. I began to realize how love in the story is so important from this case. Kruger (the Owl) asks Grisha to try to love someone else again, or the tragedy will repeat itself all over again, in Meeting (会議), chapter 89. Eren decides to destroy the world to save Historia (and Mikasa, Armin, and all the other Eldians on the island) illustrated in Dawn for Humanity(人類の夜明け), Ch. 130, because of love, the love for his friends, which is also why he does not want any comrade to inherit his titan, illustrated in A Sound Argument (正論), chapter 108.
On the other hand, a person will get lost if she is not able to love herself anymore, because she will not even know why she is even living, such as Eren and Shadis in Bystander(傍観者), Ch.71. There is no meaning in existence if no one including yourself loves you. Just when I am about to come up with this conclusion, Bystander(傍観者), Ch.71, also reminds me that this is not true. It is, as Carla says, it is already great enough to be born into this world.
“Do you have to be special? Do you have to be acknowledged by others? I don’t believe that. At the very least, it is alright if this boy doesn’t become a great man. Why does he need to be better than everyone else? Just look. He’s so cute. This child is already great. After all, he was born into this world.” (By Carla Yeager in Bystander(傍観者), Ch.71
This is the salvation for me.
The last question I want to ask, is that since the host of the attack titan is able to see the future, doesn’t it imply that the future has been determined? A determined future leaves no other choice for people at present. How can we say that there is freedom if there is actually no other possibility?
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