WARNING: The following contains minor spoilers for Attack on Titan's manga.
Attack on Titan is easily one of the most popular and well-known anime and manga franchises in recent history, with the massively successful series reaching mainstream audiences that might not usually care for these mediums. This somewhat surprising widespread success has drawn comparisons to another quite similar fantasy series: Game of Thrones.
Both of these popular titles feature dark fantasy worlds far different from our own, along with a host of gruesome deaths, betrayals and controversies. This has led to increasing comparisons among fans, who point out how uncanny the mutual highs and lows are. Here's a closer look at how two of the biggest media franchises in the last decade are so close in terms of their content.
Attack on Titan and Game of Thrones are Dark Fantasies
Both Game of Thrones and Attack on Titan are fantasies of the darkest caliber, eschewing whimsical wizardry and the like for gritty, harrowing tales of morality, danger and sorrow. This has helped both titles achieve success in ways that their contemporaries had not, especially in the case of the HBO series. Fantasy stories had been considered niche or even "kid's stuff" by many, particularly in light of the success of Harry Potter, with some audiences being unwilling to invest in another fantasy series.
However, by focusing on political and interpersonal struggles and holding off on things like magic and dragons, Game of Thrones told a harrowing medieval tale that even the most staunchly anti-fantasy crowd could enjoy. Attack on Titan did much the same, with the fate of its human characters being central to the plot, making their battle against gigantic Titans all the more relatable.
Attack on Titan and Game of Thrones Have Tons of Blood and Guts
These darker and more realistic methods of storytelling lend themselves to equally dark and violent fates and situations. The Titans are monstrous naked creatures that casually attack and even eat humans, making deaths fairly commonplace in Attack on Titan. Needless to say, growing close to certain characters makes their deaths all the more tragic whenever they're suddenly and violently taken out of the picture.
Game of Thrones likewise kills off major characters in increasingly callous ways, with figures who seem as if they'll continue to be recurring elements of the story often killed off with reckless abandon. This was solidified in the show's earliest episodes and continued to be a factor throughout, with the often undramatic nature of these deaths highlighting the realism of the series.
Games of Thrones and Attack on Titan Are Controversial
Of course, part of the reason that both shows are now notorious is their several controversies. Game of Thrones began to decline in quality in many people's eyes in the later seasons. This was mostly due to now having to tell an original story, given that all the books by George R. Martin had already been adapted. The final season and its ending were particularly hated, with the deaths and character developments going from shockingly jarring to simply poorly written. The series finale is considered one of the worst ever, with many fans actively petitioning to have it redone to provide a more satisfactory ending.
The heavily criticized ending of the Attack on Titan manga has both similar and opposite problems, given that it's the source material and ended before its ongoing adaptation. Several characters had fates that fans disliked, and the final revelations and developments of the series were a sore point with many as well. This speaks to another similarity in the franchises' endings, in which minorities or minority stand-ins were treated in an especially harsh manner. Many of the deaths in the Game of Thrones ending were women and minorities, which some saw as egregious.
Likewise, the truth behind the Titans and their history was itself a controversy, but so were the implications behind it. The Titans were transformed members of a race that had been hated across the world, and whose machinations in global affairs further fueled this resentment. This was viewed by some readers as being rather crude stand-ins for Jewish people, reminiscent of real-world anti-Semitic conspiracies concerning Zionist world domination.
Thankfully for both franchises, there's still a chance to provide more satisfactory endings. Martin will hopefully one day finally finish his book series, delivering where the finale of the HBO adaptation failed. Attack on Titan could do the same with its adaptation, providing fans with a conclusion truly worthy of one of the biggest anime names of the past several years.
