I mean shit I always kinda knew ao.t was like probably messed up and had heard some rumors about the author's bad views but now I just feel uncomfortable. Especially after learning some of Japan's occupation of Korea while studying at Uni JFC. I mean I was never the show's biggest fan but I was a fan. UGH.
Sorta related but there is a Korean film Sunny which deals with trauma from Japan’s occupation of their country it’s pretty good. I watched it for Asian Film unit I did at Uni. I dunno if it’s the best film on the subject but if nothing else I also enjoy the female friendships in the movie.
Sounds interesting! I’ll bookmark it for a possible watch.
Yeah, no I understand how you feel. I was upset when the news broke too. It’s hard when you fall in love with this author’s characters, only to learn there’s something rotten underneath it all. It almost feels like being tricked. And it’s hard to figure out where to go from there. It’s not like I could turn off my love for these characters. It was hard to reconcile that with Isayama’s views.
In a lot of situations it’s valid to go “death of the author” but unfortunately, AOT IS a manga about the military and how great it is, so I felt Isayama’s views started playing into it more and more as it went on. It was subtle enough for me to miss at first (though many more intimately familar with nationalism than i am noticed it from the beginning), but from what I know about where the plot goes...it pretty clear becomes a huge metaphor for how Japan will rise again to “take back what is theirs” aka all the lands they conquered and the other countries have just painted them as villains via propoganda and they must cross the ocean and fight again. (And there were people arguing the manga was proof Isayama WASN’T a nationalist haha. I just…)
so yeah, it’s hard to separate Isayama’s politics from aot as it continues. but people are sure trying their best to deny those them so. I guess you can do it if you stetch enough.
The point is, the story got so bad it killed off even my lingering love for the characters, so that’s a blessing in a way I guess. But I feel you. It sucks. And what sucks the most is Isayama is feeling no repercussions for this even as he gets more and more blatant.
