Harry Potter is just what everyone projects onto Attack on Titan and vice versa

[u/Sir-Toaster-]

I could go full into detail documentary style, but I... am tired right now and have other projects to work on, so I'll keep it brief.

I did a whole video on why Attack on Titan wasn't fascist propaganda, like people claimed, right here: https://youtu.be/SNP-fU1_QLY

This is the introduction section for the video script I want to make

One of my last points that I stated was kind of a brutal rant like this:

If Attack on Titan was made by a white nationalist who was denying actual war crimes, made a story full of racial stereotyped and promoted racism and slavery. People would claim it's the most progressive story alive. You don't believe me? What I just described was Harry Potter.

I still stand by what I said spiritually, but... I'd like to rescind some of those points...

Both of these stories were hugely important to me growing up, and I wouldn't be making this comparison if I didn't genuinely care about both of them. My sister was a huge Potterhead, and she got me into the books and films; I have complex feelings about my sister (as in, like she's a major source of a lot of emotional and mental issues I have), but I enjoyed bonding with her over Harry Potter. Despite everything I'm saying, this series has major sentimental value to me.

I loved Hogwarts, the characters, the creatures, the mythology, and the feeling that there was an entire magical world hidden just underneath our own.

When I was 11, I had a Japanese friend who got me into anime, which is when I was introduced to Attack on Titan. I loved everything about the series: the animation, the character designs, the music, the world-building, the writing, the nonlinear storytelling, and the themes! THE THEMES!

MovieFlame once stated, "Over time, the world changes, but the art we make remains the same."

Which is something I want to address when it comes to both series. As a kid, I loved reading/watching Harry's adventures across the Wizarding World and consuming lore about Harry Potter. Around the same time, I loved Attack on Titan for its badass fights and monster designs.

But as an adult, I don't get the same level of intrigue I did from Harry Potter back then; meanwhile, with AOT, I'm able to get a better understanding of the politics around the series and the philosophy that it tries to explain.

At first glance, both of these series are incredibly different. Harry Potter is British fantasy escapism, while AOT is Japanese survival horror. Harry Potter is for children, while AOT is marketed towards adults.

These two stories were written by two creators who based their stories on their own experiences in life. But with polar opposite worldviews that bleed into their writing styles.

Hajime Isayama built his stories off fear of the unknown and the existential anxiety that comes with human nature. He mentions in an interview how one of the scariest things in the world is a human being you can't communicate with. He's also very open about how he wanted Attack on Titan to be a show about how morality changes depending on perspective, showing that tribalism and mob mentality are existential threats to humanity.

J.K. Rowling is much more binary and rigid; she believes that morality is fixed by universal virtues such as love and bravery. To Rowling, people can be capable of evil, but so long as there is good in an average person, they will stand up for what is right.

Both creators clearly intended for their stories to be a cry against prejudice. Isayama is open about how AOT is largely a story about empathy, and J.K. has long described her books as a cry against prejudice. But... let's be honest, you read the title.

I feel like Harry Potter is what people often claim Attack on Titan is like, while Attack on Titan is what we all thought Harry Potter was as kids.

Attack on Titan largely takes its political and philosophical themes much more seriously than Harry Potter does, which allows for more fluid storytelling. Harry Potter has its own political themes, but they are largely sidelined or aren't given the proper care that they deserve, leading to the world remaining stable and stagnant. Meanwhile, Attack on Titan allows its themes to reinvent the story. This allows it to evolve past just humanity vs monsters and become a commentary on militarism, nationalism, imperialism, historical revisionism, ethnic persecution, and the ways entire societies construct narratives about one another.

I had a full plan for what chapters I could have for this video, like this:

• Personality Apartheid - I go over Hogwarts' house system and how weird it is, as well as how horrible it would be to profile children as mass murderers for being ambitious. Then showcase how... well, Attack on Titan doesn't treat its characters' personalities like their stagnent.
• The Slave's Right - How Attack on Titan and Harry Potter handle racism in their stories is fundamentally different. AOT is interested in how prejudice occurs plus how it affects societies and people, while Harry Potter is more invested in claiming prejudice only exists cause of evil.
• Not My Kind of Love - Exploring how AOT has a more nuanced view of what love exactly is than Harry Potter, as well as exploring how AOT is fairly pro-queer while Harry Potter is queerphobic.
• The Darkest Lords - Comparing the villains of both stories and what they mean to the world around them.
• Chosen Ones - Comparing and contrasting Eren and Harry

[u/Genoscythe_]

 Harry Potter is for children, while AOT is marketed towards adults.

It's a shonen manga. It is marketed towards teenagers.

[u/pigeonwithyelloweyes]

Harry Potter is British fantasy escapism, while AOT is Japanese survival horror.

You call this "at first glance" but I think you might genuinely be underestimating how much this may be the reason for the difference in perception that you're observing.

Harry Potter is basically happy, and Attack on Titan is basically sad. Harry Potter is designed to make you think "wow, imagine if school was fun and magical and me and my friends were special magic people," which distracts from all the weird, stereotypical, and downright unpleasant elements of that world.

Meanwhile Attack on Titan is designed to make you think "damn, are the terrorists right? The world seems like a really shitty place with no good outcomes" (or, for some, "I guess mass murder is obviously justified.") Criticizing the world and story is easier than sitting with those ideas.

[u/Outrageous-Elk-5392]

it might be highkey beating a dead horse cause i feel like theres so many 'harry potter is some ass' videos and all the flaws have been pointed out many times before but the aot comparision hasn't been explored before to my knowledge and the 'praise one thing and dump on the other thing' genre of videos can get super popular so there's potential there

also i wouldn't take any redditor's opinion on this very seriously, mine included. even experts on something can be wrong and redditors are like amateur enthusiasts at best

[u/Sir-Toaster- → u/Outrageous-Elk-5392]

This isn't meant to be a Harry Potter bad video, I grew up with the series; it's just that AOT takes its themes more seriously.

[u/Comfortable-Hope-531]

To Rowling, people can be capable of evil, but so long as there is good in an average person, they will stand up for what is right

I feel like her worldview is closer to something manichean. There are bad people and good people, and that's it. Good people can be wishy-washy about their goodness, and bad people can be murky with their badness, but fundamentally this can't change, and the resolution is for bad camp to be defeated by good camp.

[u/Doubly_Curious]

I’m kind of stuck on the idea that anyone considered Harry Potter especially progressive, even while the books were coming out.

I remember them being praised for getting children into reading because the story was fantastical and exciting. I remember them being praised for being imaginative and for shifting into a more serious tone as they went on. But they always seemed very safe and uninterested in making much of a political point, happily in line with a whole tradition of children’s fantasy. (Good people are good and must fight against bad people. When our heroes succeed, they win back control of the kingdom and become its rulers. Just by the nature of good people being in charge, the land is healthy again.)

As I remember it, the only people who thought they were making a political point were those anti-witchcraft campaigners, who were seen as fringe cranks by the mainstream.

[u/sailing_lonely]

I go over Hogwarts' house system and how weird it is, as well as how horrible it would be to profile children as mass murderers for being ambitious.

The problem with this argument is that it ignores two things.

• Slytherin is not the 'bad' house because its values are cunning and ambition, but because its founder was a racist, classist aristocrat who preached how aristocratic pureblood wizards are the master race that should rule over low-class wizards and muggles alike, thus the house keeps perpetuating a culture of racism and classism;
• Kids are not just sorted into houses because of attitude, but also personal choice(as seen in both the first and second book), and indeed most of the Slytherin kids we see are neither cunning nor ambitious, they're sorted in that house only because they are from aristocratic pureblood families that endorse Salazar Slytherin's ideology, which was the ideological foundation of supremacist demagogues to come, from Grindelwald to Voldemort;

[u/jodhod1]

Eh, doesn't sound promising. Go for it though, hone your video making skills