Unfortunately I think Isayama severely overestimated the media literacy of his intended audience

Clicked for AoT, stayed for the beautiful analysis of historical revisionism in modern Japan. Always love when the discussion of fascism involve Tosaka Jun! The comparison with Saka no uke no kumo is so compelling I literally cannot unsee it now. Haven't finished the whole video but had to make a comment to show my appreciation! . . . I find reading AoT kinda like reading Mishima (who's in the chat ahahaha), it's so hard to ignore the clearly fascistic ideas embedded in the text and yet something about their works just draw me in (ik i really shouldn't compare them, im just comparing my experiences reading them); like they're almost too honest in their work and expose so much of themselves in their work including the very problematic parts as well as the painful parts which I resonate strongly with, even if I don't empathize with them. It's so hard for me to look away, yet the longer I read the more problematic stuff jump out to me... Apologies for this irrelevant rant. Thank you for your work.

Let the algorithm gods push this video far and wide. I wish it wasn't necessary for you to make it.

I can't help but notice you didn't talk at all about the protagonists's actions in AoT and what messages their actions sends but just focused on the setting in super a detailled way. Just ask a simple question : is the eldian empire (parrallel of the imperial Japan as you demonstated) portrayed in a positive light ? Because I would argue it isn't at all. Pro-eldians are portrayed as a radical movment of resistance that uses it's own children to further their goals and later become a radical terrorist group that takes control of the island through bombing and manipulation to assert their dominance and superiority over the rest of the world. They are even portrayed as worst than Marley at times. The main message of AoT is that there is no devils in any nations. The only solution to leave the cycle of hate and violence is to accept that fact and view other nations as equals and trying to go forward together instead of against one another. The main group of characters we follow is relentlessly trying to fight the inherent violent nature of the relationship with the rest of the world. Armin is the real protagonist of the story as he is also it's narrator. He embodies pacifism and empathy in this cruel world. Despite all that he lives through, he always wants to talk things through before engaging in violent acts. This message goes against the fascist ideology you show to correspond to the "the world is cruel" moto. Need I remember that the full quote in the last arcs is "this world is cruel, but also very beautiful". Despite having gone exceptionnally deep in your research about the setting and worldbuilding of attack on titan, you just missed the core message of it all. You basically spent 2 hours developping and demonstrating a first premise that goes like this "AoT's world mirrors our own in many aspects and Eldia represents imperial Japan", then you jump to the conclusion "AoT is inherently fascist". Your reasonning lacks a second premise that shows how the world building drives the themes and messages AoT tries to portrays and how it could lead to a pro-fascist ideology media. Except that it doesn't. The message goes against the imperialist agenda of Eldia. For crying out loud, the coup d'etat overthrows a government that lies to it's people and hides the horrors that the eldians inflicted upon the world. Isn't that representing japanese people waking up against the revisionist agenda and facing the reality of Japan's war crimes ? How someone can watch AoT and conclude that it is pro-war and pro-imperialism is beyond me...

Nice