"Same history, same mistakes": Attack on Titan and trauma

Akins, Garrett

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/132442 Copy

Description

Title

"Same history, same mistakes": Attack on Titan and trauma

Author(s)

Akins, Garrett

Issue Date

2025-12-16

Keyword(s)

• Attack On Titan
• Trauma
• Cathy Caruth
• Survival
• Collective Memory

Abstract

This study examines the narrative patterns of trauma in the anime adaptation of Hajime Isayama’s Attack on Titan. Drawing on leading trauma scholars such as Cathy Caruth and Jeffrey Alexander, I argue that Attack on Titan’s narrative represents a significant development on the theoretical genre of “trauma fiction” insofar as it complicates the relationship between collective memory and trauma through its use of fantasy elements. Through protagonist turned antagonist Eren Jaeger’s descent into fascism and ultimately genocide, Attack on Titan suggests that when a culture’s collective memory is so thoroughly battered by trauma that adherence itself becomes a form of traumatic repetition, the necessary steps toward survival may well be walking away.

Series/Report Name or Number

The Journal of Anime and Manga Studies, volume 6 issue 2

Type of Resource

text

Genre of Resource

Articles

Language

eng

DOI

https://doi.org/10.21900/j.jams.v6.1873

Copyright and License Information

• Copyright 2025 Garrett Akins
• This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0).

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