Wk 11 — Artist OTW — Student Choice

1 About the Artist

Hajime Isayama was born in Ōyama, Ōita Prefecture, Japan on August 29, 1986. During his high school years, he began submitting manga to contests and after high school, he enrolled in a manga design program. He then later applied for the Magazine Grand Prix known as MGP promoted by Kodansha Ltd, a Japanese production company. His most well-known work is a manga/anime called Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan). It has sold over 100 million copies around the world and is one of the most popular anime series around.

2 — Formal Analysis

The particular art style of the manga isn’t my favorite but it is very good in my opinion, the lines are sinuous and the art is black and white. The anime’s art style is some of my favorite art in anime and the colors are vivid.

3 — Content Analysis

I don’t want to go into spoiler territory so I’ll just say the art is about the mistakes that humanity continues to make and the endless cycles of hate that feeds into those mistakes. It’s not only about how children lose their innocence but how adults take that innocence away from them by projecting their ideologies and beliefs on blank canvases. It also speaks about how gaining one’s freedom means taking away the freedom of others.

4 — Synthesis / My Experience

I wasn’t a fan of anime when my friends first recommended the show to me, and I didn’t think I would like it at all. Even when watching it I had many doubts, but as it kept going on I really admired the story-telling and story in general, and by the end of the third season the message I got from it resonated with me so much that I was hooked. I just like how the world is portrayed and I see so many parallels to our own, except the world isn’t cake in Attack on Titan.