The popularity of Attack on Titan: the Importance of National Identity
Being one of the most well-known anime in recent years, the Japanese anime series Attack on Titan (2013–2022) attracts countless fans from Japan and across the border. The anime series has been continuously airing since its release in 2013, rising to its fame in the United States immediately after entering the United States market. The United States’ anime market has been flourishing with the establishment of prior anime like Naruto (1999–2014), One-Piece (1999-present), and many other anime that contained brilliantly illustrated fight scenes and intricate storylines. So, how does Attack on Titan, out of countless released WP31230S22, shine its light over the United States’ highly competitive anime market? The main reason behind the massive success of Attack on Titan in the US market is the alignment of cultural values between the US and Japan, which boost a new height for the anime. Indeed, the bloody, vigorous fight scene and the intricate storylines that sparks great excitement and anticipation in Attack on Titan partially contributed to its massive popularity in the United States. The anime’s emphasis on the unison in the cultural value of strong national identity shared in the United States and Japan’s audiences through the plotline of protagonists fighting for their country despite knowing tragic endings like their own inevitable death or the wiping of the world’s entire population is the primary reason behind the rapid and drastic elevation of the anime’s popularity in the US since its release.
Originally a manga illustrated by Hajime Isayama from 2009 to 2021, Attack on Titan was produced as an anime that is much more available for oversea viewers in 2013. The story revolves around the growth of a young boy, Eren, who lives in a country named Paradis that is entirely surrounded by walls to defend the raging titans, “giant humanoid creatures” (Evans), from intruding the cities, eating people alive, and tearing people apart. The story begins as, one day, the seemly peaceful life is shattered as two titans break through the walls that allow countless titans to flush into the city. Eren, along with every citizen in Paradis, was then forced to explore the outside world that is believed to be destroyed and filled with mindless titans. Through this journey to find the other world beyond the walls, there are several climaxes of the protagonists’ decision to save Paradis from the titans. These scenes represent the strong national identity through the protagonists’ internal struggle to fight against the titans while knowing they are approaching death. Near the end of the anime, the wall’s secret is revealed as the world is filled with different countries that hate upon the Paradis as the Paradis citizens are the titans before the transformation. The wall is a barrier rather than a protection for the Paradis citizens. The secret causes Eren to become the main antagonist as he wants to protect his country’s citizens by wiping out every other life in the world. His action further reveals the embedded Japanese and United States’ cultural value of national identity, “an awareness of difference…a feeling and recognition of ‘we’ and ‘they’” (Lee, p. 29), within the anime that contributes to Eren’s insane action of sacrificing the greater for one’s country that may be the lesser.
To comprehend the presence and relevance of national identity in Attack on Titan’s popularity in Japan and the United States, one needs to understand the Japanese citizens’ view of their relationship to their birthplace, Japan, as the relationship is the primary motivation behind Japan’s strong national identity. As Bruce Stokes states in the article, Japan has a high rate of 50 percent,”about half the public considers birthplace to be very important” (Stokes). In other words, many Japanese citizens see their birthplace as a critical identity in their lives that contributes to their strong national identity and belongingness to the motherland. Thus, in the Japanese consumption market, a substantial infusion of a promising national identity within objects, including Attack on Titan or anime in general, will mostly have a high chance of winning favor from the Japanese audiences.
Similarly, the strong national identity captured within the protagonists’ actions builds Attack on Titan’s massive success in the United States, as the US audiences are also in favor of the presented national identity within the anime. However, the US’s way of achieving a strong national identity is through a slightly different approach from Japan. Some people may argue that the United States’ high rate of immigration may not favor the US citizens’ relationship with their birth country as many citizens are not born in the United States territory. However, the cultural value of national identity presented in Attack on Titan can be achieved in many ways. According to Laura Silver and others, in the US, “about seven-in-ten think sharing their country’s customs and traditions is an important part of being one of them” (Silver). In other words, US citizens, including immigrants, achieve national identity by emphasizing the adaptation of a country’s tradition and cultural significance rather than focusing on one’s connection with birthplace. With different approaches, Japan and the United States both obtained the cultural value of a significant national identity within borders that allowed the blooming triumph of Attack on Titan in both countries. So how do anime’s protagonists’ actions signify the shared cultural value of national identity in Japan and the United States?
Specifically, the cultural value is visually illustrated and dramatized through the protagonists’ actions of saving their countries despite the tragic ending, which prompted and enlarged the US audiences’ grip upon the belief of a strong national identity that allows Attack on Titan to achieve a tremendous hit in the US anime market. The strong national identity that resonates with both Japanese and US audiences is presented through the protagonists’ decisions to protect their countries that risk their lives and even mean death. For example, in one of the climaxes, the Paradis protagonists who graduated the military training chose to join the scout regiment despite having the choice to join the military police regiment. Out of all regiments, the Scout regime is the regiment that explores the outside world beyond the wall and physically faces titans. In the past years, the scout regime achieved no victories while the soldiers died in great numbers, and thus, joining the scout regiment basically means having one foot in the grave. On the other hand, the military police regiment protects the elites and therefore faces no danger from the titans as they live in the safest place within Paradis. So, the protagonist’s decision to join the scout regiment demonstrates and exaggerates the cultural value of national identity that resonates with audiences in both Japan and the United States. When the protagonists state they will join the scout regiment, the audience in both countries will share a similar feeling of great pride in their national identity, building up their love for the anime and thus achieving its popularity in both markets.
Along the same line, the great national identity is demonstrated as people decide to serve their country by doing destructive actions that the world blames upon. Eren’s insane action is an example as he tries to save Paradis by eliminating the entire population beyond the walls just because he believes it will best save Paradis from the past fate and continuation of trapping within the walls. The action, inhumane and dreadful, actually largely appeals to the Japanese and the United States audiences as it enlarges the audiences’ belief in the tight connection between the people and the country through a decision of fighting against the entire world to protect one’s motherland that will never happen in the real world. By choosing his own country over the whole world, Eren’s action of erasing the world’s population except for the Paradis citizens, an unacceptable action, is the definition of radicality that emphasizes and vividly presents the embedded cultural value of national identity. The presentation and emphasis of the cultural value in a dramatized way allowed the United States audiences to resonate significantly with the anime, which led to an agreement on the national identity between the two countries and successfully translated the anime from Japan to the US. Attack on Titan, thus, obtained enormous success in the United States audiences.
It is crucial to think about the successful translation of Attack on Titan from Japan to the United States through the mutual share of national identity within the two countries because it exemplifies the interconnection of different cultures from a global perspective. The transmission and acknowledgment of cultural values between different countries are so much more effortless nowadays with mediums like Attack on Titan, as they can be viewed, discussed, and analyzed by anyone who has access to anime from one country on the other side of the vast pacific ocean. The increasing globalization allowed people to connect and share cultural values that were once restricted and limited due to territorial restrictions. In many moments of viewing the anime Attack on Titan, the audiences from two countries that differ in language, time, and culture share a similar feeling of national identity of their own country. These moments are the actual presentation and illustration of the world’s increasing globalization.
In conclusion, the anime, Attack on Titan exhibits the globalization of culture in recent years as it obtained tremendous success in the US anime market through the emphasis on national identity shared by both countries. The dramatized actions by the protagonist allow the audience to share similar emotions and feelings that demonstrate the globalization of people. The successful translation of Attack on Titan further signifies the rapidly advancing globalization around the world through not only anime but all kinds of mediums and objects that carry their original countries’ cultural values.
Work Cited:
Evans, Quade. “An in-Depth Look at the Anime Series ‘Attack on Titan.’” Northern Star, 23 Dec. 2021, https://northernstar.info/91293/lifestyle/an-in-depth-look-at-the-anime-series-attack-on-titan/.
Lee, Yoonmi. Modern Education, Textbooks and the Image of the Nation: Politics of Modernization and Nationalism in Korean Education, 1880–1910. Routledge, 2012.
Silver, Laura, et al. “1. National Identity.” Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project, Pew Research Center, 5 May 2021, https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2021/05/05/1-national-identity/.
Stokes, Bruce. “What It Takes to Truly Be ‘One of Us’.” Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project, Pew Research Center, 30 May 2020, https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2017/02/01/what-it-takes-to-truly-be-one-of-us/.
