Source
Hello everyone, it’s me, Dreamer. I believe everyone who has watched Attack on Titan feels the same way - this work is different from other animations, reflecting many contradictions in our real life.
And Isayama-sensei is good at bringing these bloody emotions into the manga, depicting issues like social class, freedom, life and death so profoundly. Today, let’s review those realistic and shocking settings in Attack on Titan.
Monarchical Society
At the beginning of the story, Isayama created a world view of survival of the fittest. The people within the walls mainly operate in a monarchical society, which means the people in the Titan world have social classes.
They live in 3 walls respectively: Wall Sina, Wall Rose and Wall Maria. The closer to the inner district, the higher the class, because the outer areas are closer to the Titans.
Humans are selfish creatures. The king and nobles all live within Wall Sina, protected by the Military Police, living corrupted lives in the inner district.
The two outer walls are inhabited by ordinary civilians, with residents' economic status decreasing towards the outer areas. Our main trio lives in the outermost area, which is mainly the food production area for humans. Farmers are usually at the bottom of society.
Why?
As tools of the nation, there must be a large group of people to feed the upper class of society. At the bottom of the food chain, layer upon layer of exploitation, these farmers are precisely at the bottom. Big fish eat small fish, small fish eat shrimp - what can be done? In a world of survival of the fittest, being at the top of the pyramid is naturally advantageous.
You think our creator Isayama stopped there? Even being a commoner is better than those who can’t even be commoners - the underground poor thugs who can’t even afford three meals a day.
Our Captain Levi grew up in such a harsh environment. His mother was a prostitute who couldn’t even support herself, leaving Levi alone to survive. If it weren’t for Kenny, I think Levi would have starved to death. The underground city is not only full of criminals but also has terrible conditions where sunlight can’t even reach. In such a filthy living environment, living normally under the sun has become a luxury.
The world of Titans is always so bloody. Looking at our real world, it’s the same - in a seemingly peaceful society, how much wealth disparity exists, how much class inequality? While some feast behind vermillion gates, others freeze to death on the streets - this is class.
The upper class tries everything to maintain their advantages, while people at the bottom of society don’t even know where their path lies. Even if they want to escape poverty, the chances of turning things around are actually very small. Then the next generation continues to inherit their parents' poverty. When the gap between classes becomes too large to overcome, many social problems arise from desperate measures. How many are as lucky as Levi to successfully escape?
Military Corps Ideology
In the world of Titans, ideology is very obvious, and the distribution of the four military corps best reflects this phenomenon.
Let’s first talk about our Training Corps. Their emblem is the Sword of Subjugation. This is where new recruits are selected, also known as the preparatory department for the three main corps. Graduates are assigned to the other three corps based on their training results. This is where the three main corps get their talent input. Graduates here can choose to join the Survey Corps, Garrison, or Military Police, but only the Military Police has additional conditions - you must be in the top 10 graduates of the Training Corps to join. As for the reason, we’ll explain later.
The second to introduce is the Survey Corps. Their emblem is the Wings of Freedom. This is the corps that new recruits are least willing to join because the death rate is as high as 70%. Joining basically means having one foot in the grave. The Survey Corps' ideology is clearly leftist, pursuing truth, freedom, and universal values. Although the death rate is high, the Survey Corps are basically the heroes who drive human civilization forward.
Next, let’s talk about the Garrison. This should be the corps with the most members among the three. Their emblem is the Guardian Rose. Their main duty is to maintain the walls and defend towns. However, because there had been no Titan activity for over 1000 years, their attitude became lax, living in debauchery with very low combat effectiveness. When Titans broke through the gates, the Garrison should have been the main combat force, but they were truly pitiful. The new recruits who join the Garrison are mainly those who neither aim high nor low, in other words, the most ordinary group. The Military Police? They don’t have the ability. The Survey Corps? They’re unwilling to compromise. So seemingly choosing to join the Garrison, it’s actually fate choosing them.
Finally, let’s talk about the Military Police. Their emblem is the Unicorn of Law Enforcement. Their duty is to protect the royal family and maintain order. Their ideology, as everyone knows without me saying much, is more conservative right-wing thinking. In the world of Titans, only the royal family and nobles can live in the inner district, away from Titans. So do ordinary people have no chance? Not true - if you perform excellently in the Training Corps, you can join the Military Police and live in the inner district. But as Annie said, those with the best grades who are most capable of fighting Titans are the ones furthest from Titans.
Isn’t this very similar to our real life?
Usually, the most capable people are not in the right positions. The reason is simple - the units that need talent the most are the most thankless jobs. This system is clearly not the best, but I must say it’s also not the worst system, isn’t it?
History
Is history written by the victors?
It seems not entirely - survivors can also write their own history. Attack on Titan depicts this phenomenon perfectly. Ethnicity is not a fixed existence, it is a product imagined and constructed by a group of people, and the source of constructing this kind of thinking is “history”. It consolidates the imagination of homogeneous ethnic groups while also alienating the margins of ethnic groups.
This might sound vague, so let’s directly enter the world of Titans to understand. The Titan history we audiences know all comes from Marley’s narrative - Ymir made a contract with the Earth Devil, gained the power of the Titans, committed various atrocities, Helos united with the Tybur family in a conspiracy to overthrow Ymir’s Eldian Empire, and Marley became the victorious nation, possessing 7 of the Titan powers.
The scariest part is that after the Marley government’s victory, they portrayed Eldian descendants as devil’s offspring. This narrative indeed makes it difficult for Ymir’s people to identify with the Eldian Empire - their ancestors were devils, with no glorious history.
Gabi is the best product of this history. She wants to be a “good Eldian”. “Eldians are true devils” is like shackles, deeply planted in her values. That’s why she works tirelessly for the Marley government.
But in the mouths of Grisha’s restorationists, history is completely different. Ymir never made a contract with the Earth Devil, everything she did was good, and the Eldian Empire wasn’t as brutal to other civilizations as the Marley government claimed. They want to reclaim the Founding Titan’s power and give it to the true royal family. Their ancestors were good and just, the true devils are the Marley government who oppressed Eldian people and brainwashed them. Who was right and who was wrong in all this confused Grisha.
That’s why Grisha asked Owl: What exactly is the truth?
Owl’s answer was: There is no truth in this world, this is reality, anyone can become either a god or a devil
Race
There are also many different races in the world of Titans, like the hated Eldians who are called descendants of devils, the militaristic Marleyans, and many races with different skin colors.
Sasha once asked Onyankopon a question: Why is your skin black?
Onyankopon wisely answered, “Because the one who created us thought it would be interesting to have various types of people, and everyone exists because they are needed.”
Then he continued: “Just like you Subjects of Ymir, you were created because you were needed.”
Armin, this problem child, hearing this shocking answer, couldn’t help but ask: Who created us?
Obviously, Isayama-sensei is playing with the real-life discrimination against black people here. He expressed that discriminating against black people is wrong, just like discriminating against Eldians is wrong. We all know that Isayama’s Eldians represent Jews. He used this analogy to express his viewpoint: discriminating against any ethnic group is wrong.
Technology/War
The civilization within the walls was restricted by the royal government, so it couldn’t develop well. Although humans had invented several things many times, they were all stopped by the royal government.
Just like Armin’s parents who were killed by the Military Police after inventing hot air balloons. Paradis Island is also an island rich in resources, like iceburst stone used as raw material for ODM gear, and the black bamboo material for the Survey Corps' titan-slaying blades. Apart from these, other inventions were suppressed by the royal government, which also caused the island’s civilization to fall far behind other countries. Even with abundant resources, with such local policies, there couldn’t be much development.
As for other countries, I think they’re closer to our real world during World War I, mainly developing rapidly for war. When Titans appeared, they invented anti-Titan cannons. With the emergence of anti-Titan cannons, Marley also discovered that Titan power was slowly becoming unable to cope with current warfare. Marley’s military facilities were basically well-equipped, with communication equipment, airships, warships, etc. The country also had more advanced transportation, steam cars, and cameras that could record images. So development led to better civilization.
But behind development is resources. So the Marley Kingdom kept getting more resources by invading other countries. Of course, no superpower can last forever, other countries will slowly catch up. Marley, long dependent on Titan power, was slowly realizing things weren’t right, so Marley turned their attention to Paradis Island again, hoping to get Paradis’s resources while reclaiming the Founding Titan’s power, because technology is closely related to war.
Zeke knew this point well, so besides the euthanasia plan, Zeke brought more technological aid to those within the walls, hoping that within 50 years, the technology within the walls could catch up to Marley. Only when technological strength is equal can there be a chance for equal negotiation.
Doesn’t this look like our real world situation, where technological powers control the world’s resources?
Success is Not Easy
Success has never been easy, and we can see this in the world of Titans. Like in the Battle to Retake Maria, when due to the appearance of the Colossal Titan, the Survey Corps was almost completely wiped out. When everyone fell into despair,
Armin said that classic line “Those who cannot sacrifice anything, cannot change anything”
Then he decided to sacrifice himself. After enduring the Colossal Titan’s high-temperature steam, he successfully helped Eren deal with the Colossal Titan. In the end, Armin was charred and barely breathing.
At the same time Armin and Eren defeated the Colossal Titan, there was another battle on the other side of the wall - Erwin, Levi, and a group of new recruits faced the Beast Titan’s relentless rock throws, feeling utterly desperate. When everyone thought there was no way to defeat the Beast Titan, Erwin stood up. He gave up his chance to go to the basement. He planned to sacrifice himself, leading a group of new recruits to their deaths to create an opportunity to defeat the Beast Titan. After Erwin’s motivational speech, the new recruits also became resolved to sacrifice themselves, determined to dedicate their hearts.
In the end, this seemingly foolish charge made the Beast Titan lower his guard, thinking they were just a bunch of idiots who didn’t know their limits. Little did he know this was a diversion tactic, drawing the Beast Titan’s attention so Levi could get close to this monster. As a result, Erwin’s plan succeeded, and Levi successfully approached the Beast Titan, leading to the iconic scene of Levi slicing up the Beast Titan.
However, Levi never expected that the Cart Titan would come from behind to rescue Zeke. This battle took a heavy toll on both sides - Zeke’s side lost the Colossal Titan, while the Survey Corps lost most of their new recruits and Erwin. But with loss comes gain - Zeke and Eren met for the first time, and the Survey Corps learned more unknown history in the basement.
So we return to Armin’s words:
“Those who cannot sacrifice anything, cannot change anything”
From the Battle to Retake Maria, we can see that success is not easy, only those willing to pay the price can change the status quo.
Life is Fragile
Why is Attack on Titan called a masterpiece? Because its ideas carry deep philosophical meaning. Take life and death for example, Attack on Titan’s story describes the fear of Titans. The main characters live in fear every day, never knowing what accidents might happen on each mission.
The most striking thing is that Isayama-sensei never holds back, portraying death so profoundly. For humans, all fears come from death.
And most people often ignore such a serious topic as
"all humans must die eventually"
But Attack on Titan repeatedly pushes the main characters toward death, making us wonder: is freedom really that important? Isn’t it better to just live peacefully?
Life itself has no meaning; meaning is what we believe we give it. So Attack on Titan’s exploration of life and death reflects people’s inner voices, which is the tension between our fears and needs.
It turns out that in the face of all wars, our lives are so fragile; it turns out that freedom, dreams, and power can be so easily shaken in the face of death.
Choices
Every choice leads to different results. There are many choices to make in life. We must choose our own path, choose whether to take risks, or choose to live a peaceful life.
In Attack on Titan, the person who best interprets “choice” is Captain Levi. In “No Regrets”, Levi’s choices led to the sacrifice of his two companions. Then Erwin told him:
“Don’t regret. Don’t let experiences of regret affect your next judgment. No one knows what the result will be."
These words awakened Levi, later allowing him to let Eren choose between trusting his companions or trusting himself. During the Battle to Retake Maria, when the Beast Titan’s rock throws devastated their forces, Levi faced another difficult choice - whether to stay put or execute Erwin’s plan. After Erwin expressed his lifelong wish to reach the basement, Levi made his choice, telling Erwin, “Give up on your dream and die. I will take down the Beast Titan.” Erwin was surprised by Levi’s response, but everyone seemed to find resolve - in this war, they would either succeed or die trying!
Then the Commander led the new recruits forward to draw the Beast Titan’s attention, allowing Levi to attack the Beast Titan. Although he almost killed Zeke in the end, unexpectedly the Cart Titan rescued him. If Levi hadn’t let Erwin charge forward, the new recruits wouldn’t have found their resolve, and Levi wouldn’t have had the chance to attack the Beast.
Don’t think this was Levi’s final choice regarding Erwin. More difficult problems remained ahead. Unexpectedly, both Armin and the Commander were still barely alive, with only one dose of Titan spinal fluid remaining. When Levi was about to inject Armin with the spinal fluid, he hesitated. At this moment, Levi sensed Erwin’s soul, and the next second Floch brought the Commander. Levi changed his mind and decided to give it to the Commander.
But just as he was about to inject it, the Commander suddenly raised his hand. At this moment, Levi suddenly felt - the Commander had already carried so many burdens, should he let him live on to suffer more?
Finally, Levi made his decision to give Armin the spinal fluid injection. This choice also made Levi carry many burdens, after all, there was still a gap between Armin and the Commander’s importance. Fortunately, Armin didn’t disappoint Levi too much in the following plot.
Human Nature Changes
Is your life 100% chosen by yourself?
Obviously not. We are all constantly influenced by our environment. Nothing in the world goes against its environment, and humans are the same. Living in different environments necessarily produces different personalities.
Just like our Reiner, his passionate enthusiasm was extinguished, and even more shocking, he discovered that the people of Paradis Island were not the devils that the Marley government described. He felt their kindness and friendliness, and they posed no threat to the world at all. This was very different from Marley’s education, which made Reiner waver, and even developed a split personality. With two completely different worldviews, it’s hard not to wonder which one is right?
Besides Reiner, the protagonist Eren is the same. From an impulsive kid who rushed into everything to a cold-blooded killer, it was all because the environment changed, and his thoughts changed with it. When the gap between reality and ideals is so large, ideals are slowly worn down by reality.
After coming to Marley, Eren disagreed with his companions and went his separate way. On the surface, Eren became extremely cold-blooded, but actually it was all sacrifice made for everyone. Although Eren’s personality changed, his original intention remained unchanged. When he was young, he said he would drive all Titans from this world without leaving a single one, and in the end, he really did it.
Beautiful People and Things
Attack on Titan seems to tell a great tragedy, but if you change your perspective, you might also find some beautiful things. Like Eren, Mikasa, and Armin, they’ve known each other since childhood. Although they went separate ways in between, they reconciled at the last moment and became good friends again. They met many people after joining the 104th Training Corps, and everyone had their own story. After experiencing various things, their relationships became more precious despite their different backgrounds.
Once when discussing who would inherit Eren’s Titan power, Eren didn’t want them to inherit it, and said:
“You are more important than anyone else, I hope you all can live long lives”
The air suddenly became quiet, everyone looked awkward. That sunset glow fell on everyone’s faces - who knows if their faces were red from the sunset, or if everyone was blushing from being moved by their friendship and love that had been tempered through hardships, making others envious.
Of course, the world of Titans also has many beautiful landscapes, like mountains, forests, and the sea. And finally, of course, there’s the food we love - meat was the best food inside the walls, and later the arrival of the Warriors also brought delicious seafood. Aren’t these happy memories beautiful?
Conclusion
Attack on Titan’s realistic style has indeed attracted many people’s attention. When Attack on Titan first aired, it seemed like an exciting action show, but actually hidden behind it were many issues we dare not face. Have you been shocked by Attack on Titan time and time again?