Fans have gushed overAttack on Titanto no end over the course of its long run. Boththe anime and the mangaare widely regarded as shonen landmarks and have been hotly discussed and dissected by readers and viewers alike. The anime’s actions sequences are unforgettable and its haunting soundtrack is bursting at the seams with energy.
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The popularity ofAttack on Titanhas brought countless fans to the world of anime and has even spawned live-action films,multiple video games, crossovers withMarvel’s Avengerscomics, and a Universal Studios theme park in Japan.While people are somewhat aware of the manga’s creator Hajime Isayama, few fans are familiar with the young mangaka’s inspirations for his beloved series.With the manga having already ended and the concluding episodes of the anime set to release in early 2022, it’s perhaps the best time to revisit Isayama’s inspirations forAttack on Titan.
Updated on February 19th, 2022 by Ritwik Mitra:Attack on Titan has quickly transformed into one of the biggest phenomenons in the anime landscape, and for good reason. The spine-tingling nature of the show, coupled with its amazing plot, has turned it into an absolute masterpiece that fans seemingly can’t get enough of. With the final few episodes of this historic anime yet to arrive, more and more fans are intrigued by the brains behind this operation, Hajime Isayama. Here are all the sources that inspired this artist to create this phenomenal manga.
10Project ARMS: The Manga That Got Isayama Hooked
Every aspiring mangaka has that one particular manga that got them hooked onto the medium and inspired them to create manga of their own. For Isayama, this manga wasProject ARMS, a great series with a rather nightmarish premise of its own — a boy who assumed he got into an accident that led to the loss of his right arm soon found out that he was actually a test experiment to mess around with genetics and a nanomachine impact called ARMS.
The story keeps on taking wild turns all the way to the very end, and it makes sense that this manga served as a major source of inspiration for Isayama. After all,Attack on Titandoesn’t shy away fromrather grotesque imageryand mind-bending plots that will keep the viewer guessing all the way till the very end.
9Dragon Quest: A Compromise To Cover Up For Isayama’s Drawing Skills
Isayama is quite self-aware, so harping on his drawing skills (or lack thereof) doesn’t feel great. After all, even this master of storytelling knows his own limitations and was acutely aware of the weaknesses in his artistic capabilities. This is ultimately what forced him away from the realistic art style he wanted to feature inAttack on Titan.
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However, Isayama didn’t let this deter him and used the art style ofDragon Questas an inspiration, which was pretty simple in its own right yet conveyed a ton of detail. This is ultimately what led the mangaka toutilize facets of realism and fantastical art design inAttack on Titan— a combination that has been replicated brilliantly in the anime.
8Isayama’s Own Early Days: Mountains And Restlessness
The iconic Walls surrounding humanity in the story are inspired by Isayama’s hometown of Oyama, Oita in Japan, as he states in hisinterview with NHK Japan(which wastranslated on SNKNEWS’s website).The mountainous landscape he grew up in gave rise to his idea of colossal Walls keeping the survivors of humanity safe from the threat of the Titans.
Even the fundamental motivation of theseries' protagonist, Eren,mirrors the writer’s own urge to explore the unknown world. He felt a stifling frustration growing up, and wanted to leave his hometown and “break free.” The story can easily be interpreted as his way of expressing these emotions.
7Jigoku Sensei Nube: Art Imitates Art
Isayama first got the idea for his mankind-devouring Titans from the comedy-horror mangaJigoku Sensei Nube.The fascinating manga –which isn’t as popular as some, perhaps– featured a cannibalistic Mona Lisa who used to come out of her painting and eat people whole. The writer toldNorma Editorial on YouTubethat he was horrified when he saw it in elementary school and drew from his experience while writing his own story. The protagonist ofJigoku Sensei Nube,not unlike Eren, discovered a secret - that he had a powerful monster hand!
Isayama’s childhood days, living on a farm and observing wildlife, also influenced the man-eating nature of the Titans.
6Titans Modeled After Real People: Looks Possibly Can Kill, In A Way
In an interview in Illustrate Note magazine translated byTumblr’s ‘fuku-shuu’ and ‘suniuz’,Isayama recounts leaving home to work part-time at an Internet cafe and observing emotions like bewilderment and aimlessness in the patrons. These personalities then became the prototypes for his Titans.As for the uncomfortable and unchanging expressions plastered on their faces, Isayama looked at random people in magazines and tried to find unpleasant expressions that he could use.
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He fully intended the Titans to evoke a sense of contorted, scary humor, and to that end, wanted their expressions to be"the nastier, the better."
5UFC And Mixed Martial Arts: That Explains The Titans' Fighting Prowess
When it comes tounforgettable combat scenes and super-powerful fighters, there are very few anime that can surpassAttack on Titan. The visceral, hand-to-hand combat of the series is a huge part of its appeal. Well, not many would know that Isayama is a fan of mixed martial arts and UFC.In aTumblr translation of his interviewwith Gong Kakutogi, he has actively credited UFC as part of his inspiration for the Titan fight sequences.
Fans can clearly see this influence in Eren’s battles with the Armored and the Female Titans.Even Eren’s Titan and the Armored Titan are seemingly modeled on the former UFC fighter Yushin ‘Thunder’ Okami and Brock Lesnar respectively.
4Japanese Horror and Kaijus: Isayama’s Childhood Fascination
While Isayama has been a manga reader since his early days, he considers most of his influences to stem from other media like movies and video games.The Japanese horror film industry, in particular, had a huge impact on him in his youth, as seen in his Norma Editorial interview,translated by Reddit user abyssblade.
Home-bredtitans like Godzilla, Gamera and Mothra were the monsters of his childhood. He began drawing at a very early age, around his kindergarten days, and he almost always drew monsters.Who knew he would grow up to draw some of the most bone-chilling monsters ever in the form of his Kyojins!
3Jurassic Park: Monstrous Themes
While discussing theconclusionof the manga (one of its best aspects)in a recentinterview reported on comicbook.com,the writer described the final chapter’s inspiration.Jurassic Park,the other global phenomenon where giant, human-made ‘monsters’ are let loose and terrorize people, left a real impression.Fans who have read the final chapter ofAttack on Titan, and the series in general, would agree on the similarities the Titans shard with the dinosaurs.
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Though not animalistic in their appearance, the Titans more than made up for it with their craving for all things human!
2Muv Luv Alternative: Timeline Wizardry
Isayama loved to playbrilliant fantasy visual novelMuv Luv Alternative,a video game chronicling a love story, with the backdrop of aliens colonizing Earth and driving humanity to near extinction. The ‘aliens’ element would be enough to see the influence, but it doesn’t end there. In hiscomicbook.com interview, he mentions that he was also inspired from the game’s use of alternate timelines as a plot device.
This can be seen in the manga’s introduction of the ‘Paths’ and the Titan shifters' connection to Ymir Fritz, the original Titan.Manyfan theories aboutAttack on Titanrevolve around alternate timelines as well.
1Paradise Lost And The Dark Knight: Freedom or Sanctuary
It might come as a surprise, but Isayama’s central theme of breaking one’s shackles and attaining freedom (which also drives the series' central protagonist) originate from the poemParadise Lost,John Milton’s masterpiece.
Additionally, Isayama recently talked about the Colossal Titan in an interview in theGekkan Shingeki no Kyojin,translated by Tumblr user ‘yusenki’.He mentioned that he was influenced by a movie critic’s review ofThe Dark Knight,where the critic claimed the character of The Jokerwas inspired byParadise Lost.That influence later evolved into his story’s theme of abandoning sanctuary and safety in the search for freedom.
