Attack on Titan Creator Shares How Real-World History Impacted the Series

Attack on Titan’s final episodes are slated to arrive in halves, with the first special episode arriving this March and the second set to land on the small screen at a date that has yet to be revealed. Luckily for our world, Colossal Titans and any of the rampaging behemoths have yet to appear in real life, though creator Hajime Isayama recently took the opportunity, following his visit to North America, to discuss whether real-world events had a role in the creation of the story that introduced us to the Scout Regiment.

With the conclusion of Attack on Titan’s anime on the horizon, the mangaka who created the dark franchise recently talked the controversial ending in the manga when he visited North America as a part of the event Anime NYC. While the latest trailer for the final installments from Studio MAPPA seems to be taken directly from the manga, many fans wonder if the anime might decide to go a different route or if it will stick to the letter when it comes to the manga’s story. With Isayama originally releasing a “director’s cut” for the final chapter, it will be worth seeing whether the anime adaptation also incorporates those events to boot.

Attack on Real Life

In chatting with Crunchyroll as a part of his U.S. visit, Isayama stated that his design for the world featuring the island of Paradis and the nation of Marley was based on the geography of the real world while also creating parallels to the relationship between two nations: 

“I think where there’s a hint of truth, it makes a story very believable. So when I came up with the design of the world view—for example, the world view map, I kind of flipped it from the real-life world map to something similar, but different. People would be able to understand the context without explaining everything. For example, the Eldian and Marleyans. They’re really kind of similar to what the Germanic people and Romans went through 2,000 years ago. That’s kind of the unsaid rules that I keep in my stories.”  

Are you ready to say goodbye to the Survey Corps on the small screen later this year? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of the Titans. 

Via Crunchyroll