Manga Review: The Humanity in Attack on Titan (Part III)-Literature
III. Literature
“Every villain is the hero of his own story.”
Compared to philosophy and history, literature is not the one I am familiar with. However, I do believe that there are good reasons to convince any person interested in literature that AOT is worth reading from the literature perspective.
(I) Symbol
To drag readers into a story, it is important to make them experience the same feeling as they do in the real lives. For example, romantic stories concern love and relationship which we all feel in reality. We can find humanity, experiences, love, and other feelings playing an important role in any story. However, it is in fact very difficult to get these together into a story because they are too abstract. We use friendship, love, freedom, or justice in daily lives, but a writer needs to come up with a different symbol to represent these ideas. This is not an easy job, after all.
I think Isayam succeeds in coming up with several symbols that represent what we feel in reality. It is a great example as Reiner’s guilt that causes his suicidal will, in From One Hand to Another(手から手へ), Ch.97 and Guilty Shadow (疾しき影), Ch. 99. Gabi’s depression and her hatred to the islanders after the surprise attack is also illustrated well, in Assassin’s Bullet (凶弾), Ch. 105. What’s more, she can be seen as a slave when she insists on wearing her armband, in A Sound Argument (正論), chapter 108, and is finally a free person as she takes off Falco’s armband, Sneak Attack(騙し討ち), Ch. 118. Another example is Kenny’s ambition and his friendship with Uri in Friend(友人), Ch. 69. My personal favorite, then, is what Eren’s mother says to Eren’s and Keith’s depression and self-doubt, in Bystander(傍観者), Ch. 71.
The only feeling this story seldom talks about is the love between lovers, but there are more and more in the Marley arc as we can see the one between Gabi and Falco, in Sneak Attack(騙し討ち), Ch. 118, the one between Armin and Annie, in Rumbling (地鳴らし), Ch. 131, and the one between Eren and Mikasa, in Island Devils (島の悪魔), Ch. 123. In my opinion, as there are only few chapters left, the relationship between Eren and Mikasa will play a significantly important role in the ending, and this might be the one and only way to end this long journey.
(II) Sequences of events
The idea here is mainly based on a review video of The Last of Us 2 (in Mandarin). A novel and other literatures such as a poetry or a prose differs in the causal relations between events. Since a novel essentially consists of a series of different events, the sequence of them becomes important to make sense of a complete story. It is quite easy to articulate events one by one, but it is boring, too. As a result, many authors try to show readers a result first to catch their eye and then unveil what happens.
Hajime Isayama, in my opinion, did a great job in exchanging the sequence of events in AOT. Holistically speaking, the story can be divided into two parts. The one before revealing the truth of the world until The Basement (地下室), Ch. 85, and the other one after it. Most things happening in the past, from the reader’s perspective, is not revealed until half of the plot.
We try to find the truth of the world together with Eren and the survey corpse. That is what makes it interesting. In fact, it is harder than a weekly serialization to keep popular and being discussed if it is updated monthly, but we can still see many theories about what this world could be in different forums. One of the most convincing theories is that Eren lives in Iceland, for the climate, geography, and even the food illustrated in the manga. Even if it is proven not true, it is still interesting to see people analyzing the possibility with what has been unveiled by the author.
Even after knowing the truth of the world, we get puzzled by why Eren becomes so ruthless and harsh. For example, we see Eren kill a lot of civilians on purpose after Willy’s speech in The War Hammer Titan (戦鎚の巨人), Ch. 101. He even insulted Mikasa and brutally beat Armin while his friends try to reason with him, in Ignorance (無知), Ch. 112. Of course we know Eren has his own reasons, but we cannot help but want to know what leaves him no choice. In fact, I still have no idea why he tries to insult Mikasa when I am writing this review, even I know that he may have suffered the most as illustrated in Rumbling (地鳴らし), Ch. 131. This is quite enjoyable as there is always something I want to know more about while reading every part of the story.
We can compare the manga and the anime. The anime spends three episodes (episode two to four) explaining how Eren, after his mother is eaten, decides to join the army for the revenge, gets trained and makes friends there, until the first battle where he also gets eaten. On the other hand, the manga intersperses the training part after Eren is “dead”. This is because the anime was made after the manga had gone rival, so it does not have to catch the viewers’ eye with the price that they might get confused. After all, it is ordinary to see events reversed in a novel (or a manga), but few people did it successfully without getting readers confused. I can say that AoT never fails to surprise/shock readers. Eren’s “death” reminds me of Bloodstained Euphie in Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, and the “Mamiru”(マミる) part in Puella Magi Madoka Magica. This is very impressive for Isayama.
(III) Perspective
In Special Operations Squad (特別作戦班), Ch 20, Hange explained why she is interested in the titan research. She found titans’ bodies unbelievably light, and then comes up with the idea that the true nature of titans might be totally different from what human expects. Things from a perspective can be totally different from another, like a coin with two sides.
We can find many events in AOT illustrated from different perspectives multiple times. For example, while the colossus titan breaks Wall Maria, it is a nightmare for Eren and the Paradis residents, in That Day (その日), Ch. 2. It seems these intelligent titans can easily annihilate human as they want. On the other hand, however, Reiner, Bertolt, and Annie just lost Marcel and thus had a serious fight. They don’t even know if they can really destroy the wall, in The Door of Hope (希望の扉), Ch. 96. From Eren’s view, he sees a huge titan. From Bertolt’s view, he sees three innocent kids. In Ruler of the Walls (壁の王), Ch. 68, Eren expects that the three innocent children will be confronted with a similar horrific event as they did, but as Armin replies, the important difference is that there are soldiers well-prepared for fight. Besides, they are the well-prepared soldiers themselves.
The succession of the commander of survey corpse is illustrated with the dead comrades watching the alive, in The Unknown Soldiers (名も無き兵士), Ch. 80, where Erwin is about to sacrifice himself, and in End’s Eve (終末の夜), Ch. 127, where Hange told Jean that s/he has to take the responsibility as the 14th commander. I think Isayama likes something like this. We can see another example in Victors (勝者), Ch. 104, and Sinners (罪人達), Ch. 133, where Onyankopon was counted on by the commander, Hange and Armin respectively.
Once illustrated from different viewpoints, the story becomes deeper as we know that things are not just such and such. Titians are huge, but can also be small. The wall protects people, but limits their freedom. The world could be big, but is actually small because of people’s mind. A person can be so badass but also a goody after we find out what lies in his mind. I mean, Reiner and Gabi. I know you probably will not agree with me. That’s what I want to explain in the next section.
(IV) Character concepting
It is said that every villain is the hero of his own story, although I am not sure who said that. A literature, in my opinion, comes from our lives, which means any impressive work always reflects what lies in our mind based on experience. Anyone can become a hero for someone but a badass for another, depending on different perspectives. It’s the truth of life. In a story, as a result, there is no bad guy, but a villain from the perspective of the main character. However, this villain could also be a hero in zis own story.
Is Reiner a bad guy for you? Well, at least I know many people dislike him. Like what Eren thinks in The Armored Titan (鎧の巨人), Ch. 43, “You seriously gross me out!”. Gabi, on the other hand, was even called “Garbage” in the AOT community right after the chapter, Assassin’s Bullet (凶弾), Ch. 105, was released and Sasha’s death is confirmed. These two seem to be the most-hated characters as I see from the community.
Well, this reminds me of House Lannister in A Song of Ice and Fire, especially Jaime Lannister. For those who don’t know this novel, Jaime appears to be a villain in the first volume from the perspective of House Stark and the readers. In the third volume, however, the author begins to depict the story from Jaime’s perspective and we readers begin to find out what lies in his mind (different perspectives again). It is also where I began to understand his situation and feels sorry for his derogatory nickname “Kingslayer”.
The same happens to Reiner and Gabi. Their motives are similar, which lead both of them into conflict and confusion. Isayama spends a great amount of chapters doing literally nothing but explaining Reiner’s mind, from The Boy Inside the Walls (壁の中の少年), Ch. 94 to Declaration of War (宣戦布告), Ch. 100. I have talked about this in the section of Historical Interpretation, though. Are Reiner’s behaviors justified then? Annie seems to disagree, but she finally reconciles with Reiner in Wings of Freedom (自由の翼), Ch. 132.
Reiner can be one of the most complicated characters I have ever seen, but Isayama does not ignore the depiction for any other character. One of my favorites is the character concepting of Jean. There are at least three stages for this character. He appears as a bad guy who always laughs at Eren’s idea of defeating titans, considering such dream unrealistic. In fact, he is just the guy who cares about nothing but himself. He grows mature as seeing the death of Marco, and decides to join the survey corpse, in What Should I Do Now (今、何をすべきか), Ch. 18, followed by his second stage. He, then, learns to escape his naivety after almost being shot, in Soul of a Heretic (外道の魂), Ch. 59. He enters his third stage, where he knows the enemy can be not only the titans but also other humans. However, although he tries to kill some people, it seems he never gets used to it, as he has always stressed and hesitated when it comes to killing others, as we can see, for example, in The Thunder Spears (雷槍), Ch. 76, Cleaver (大鉈), Ch. 83, and Victors (勝者), Ch. 104. Finally as we see him savagely beats Reiner after realizing how Marco dies, in End’s Eve (終末の夜), Ch. 127, we get to know that the fundamental idea lying in his deepest mind has never changed. This is why I love this character.
On the other hand, Armin’s lack of self-esteem is also illustrated well, in Response (応える), Ch. 11, Icon (偶像), Ch. 12, and Mission Objectives (作戦成功条件), Ch. 74. Levi seems to be a bad-mouthing guy but turns out to be attentive and values his subordinates. The character concepting makes this work worth reading a more few times.
Conclusion
In fact, there are too many things I want to say. Attack on Titan is about to end when I am writing down this review. I kind of feel emotional because I began to read it right before it went rival, and it was the first time that I feel like the ACG culture can be a mainstream culture instead of a subculture, at least in my country. You know. Its anime was such a big success abroad. And all of a sudden, it seems the whole world is talking about AoT.
This manga is special for me, too, as it accompanies me along the most important part of my school stage, from high school student to postgraduate, which is also the time I started to understand how complicated the world can be.
Certainly I don’t want it to end, but I know any work will end someday. I just want to express my sincere appreciation to Hajime Isayama, to Attack on Titan, to 進撃の巨人. It inspires me a lot. To be able to read this work, it makes me feel that, it’s so good to be born into this world.
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