Using concrete examples from the hit manga and anime Attack on Titan, I’m going to teach you where worldbuilding comes from creatively.

If you’ve never watched or read Attack on Titan, that’s okay. The concepts will still apply to worldbuilding in general. Worldbuilding (sometimes seen as “world-building” or world building) means what it sounds like: the act of creating a fictional universe for a story to inhabit which plays by its own set of rules and contains creatures, lifeforms, technology, and languages which do not exist in the real world. This includes every world from a high-tech universe Star Wars to a medieval world seen in The Witcher.

While “worldbuilding” is often relegated to referring only high fantasy novelists creating systems of magic and dragons, it’s essential for any well-told story. Many game designers, storytellers, and artists have a passion for worldbuilding, but few dare to ask where any particular world comes from. Using Attack on Titan as a paradigm for world creation and iteration, let’s explore (in Part I of II) where created worlds come from.

What is Attack on Titan About?

Welcome to the hellish world of Attack on Titan. Citizens of the turn-of-the-century, European-esque civilization defend their tri-walled city from twenty-foot-tall, naked giants who devour humans whole. Soldiers swing from building to building Spidey-style with mechanical grappling systems to slice the man-eating giants — called Titans — down to size. It’s a dark, gripping world, and fans can’t get enough. Die-hard cosplayers can buy life-size pillows or watch in-depth breakdowns of the fictional swords by Shadversity.

Before the debut of the popular manga — and subsequent international hit anime — no one had conceived of such a bizarre concept. If you’re still reeling from the thought, Tina Amini of Kotaku wrote an excellent piece breaking down the story for the as-yet uninitiated. Spoilers to come, y’all.

This unique action-adventure/horror story lives and dies by its character-driven plot and rich worldbuilding. Where does worldbuilding end and the storytelling begin? Attack on Titan shows that the creation of a story’s world is part and parcel of the story itself — they ain’t separate entities. Upon closer examination of the life and creative journey of Attack on Titan creator Hajime Isayama, there are both conscious and unconscious elements that he drew from to bring his story to life.

External Sources of Worldbuilding

External worldbuilding refers here to the distinct ideas Isayama is aware of when examining Shingeki no Kyojin — the Japanese title for the story. Artist and author Isayama explains:

“There are some factors which influenced me to make Shingeki no Kyojin:

One would be Jurassic Park: being eaten by a huge thing.

In the manga Jigoku-Sensei Nube, this man-eater eats with human teeth, not sharp animal teeth and it looks super harsh, I found.

There is a game in which many aliens arrive in Japan and fight against humans. This isn’t an exceptional story here, but I thought that if they were not aliens but “Titans” who eat humans it could be interesting. Still, [within the story world] I want to get out from here. …To survive, I need to fight those Titans.”

Combining various ideas into a cohesive world wasn’t the only thing that sets his idea apart. It’s also quite personal, as Isayama grew up in an isolated area of Japan surrounded by mountains called Oyama, near the city of Hita. Growing up on a farm, he recounts being fascinated by the circle of life and how one organism’s death leads to life in the organism that consumed it. His desire to escape the suffocating rural area motivated his artistry as well as his story:

“I lived in Oyama until I was 18 years old. At that time, I always wanted to get out of there because my own self-assessment was low. I wasn’t good at studying or sports, frankly speaking, I was at the bottom. Then I thought I may be able to change myself if I go far away from this place.”

Without Isayama’s experiences feeling trapped, he ostensibly wouldn’t have been able to create such a tangible extension of that emotion in his worldbuilding. Still, his past wasn’t the only contributor to Attack on Titan’s milieu. His national identity as a Japanese man also influenced his magnum opus. The producer for the anime George Wada reiterates how the concept of an isolated, walled city is congruent with the insular nature of Japanese identity, culture, and experience:

“The idea of being isolated within the wall originated with manga creator Hajime Isayama, who was inspired by Japanese culture. The Japanese people can become very isolated and enclosed, so it’s more of a Japanese cultural idea.”

All of these disparate conscious inspirations are considered “external” because they originated outside himself. He internalized concepts and emotions from the world around him and channeled them into his creation. What about the aspects of his world which are from the unplumbed depths of his being?

Internal Sources for Worldbuilding

Worldbuilding, just like all other types of artistic creation, comes from the artist’s imagination. Before he ever shared his created world with the “real” world, he inhabited it alone in his mind’s eye. When describing his isolated creation process to the BBC, Isayama said:

“In my tiny room [creating my story], I felt I was connected to the universe, bypassing the ordinary world.”

The imagination’s link to the subconscious is elucidated by renowned author Kurt Vonnegut:

“Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money or fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow.”

Cellestial Studiosunpacks this concept of the immaterial becoming material for us:

“Vonnegut says to practice art in order to ‘experience becoming.’ What that means, to me, is that it is a way to peer into our inner lives — our subconscious, memories, and the invisible things that cannot necessarily be verbalized or rationalized. In the midst of practicing your chosen art form, you’ll find those things externalizing themselves. The externalizing is a process of discovery and you’ll find yourself becoming more real, more authentic through the process.”

This authenticity is fuel for every artist’s creativity, and the creator of Attack on Titan is no different. Speaking of his early drawings, Isayama’s chief editor professed:

I could feel him pouring his soul on his work from this image.

Without personal connections to his art, and being vulnerable enough to share it, how would Isayama have succeeded? (Hint: He wouldn’t have.)

Pulling from one’s subconscious can produce a range of reactions in others, from the troubling to intriguing. For example, some have alleged that Isayama’s nationalistic ideals are too overt in the narrative, with Tom Speelman of Polygon calling the story’s subtext “fascist.” 

Others, such as Anna Lindwasser writing for Ranker, points out the unique symbolism in the story. She delves into a plethora of possible meanings, from how the story portrays trauma, to Eren’s link to tarot imagery, to a potential social commentary on the meat industry.

Personally, Attack on Titan is the hellish combination of Gundam and Godzilla. It’s a dystopian, industrial-era fantasy in which David doesn’t just fight the giant Goliath — he is Goliath. Regardless of the meaning you exegete (pull out) or eisegete (put in) of the narrative, all the evidence points to the fact that worldbuilding — regardless of who does it, and why — is being not merely a conscience exercise in creativity but also a subconscious act of discovery and personally-subjective truth-telling.

Summary

The manga and anime Attack on Titan reveals that worldbuilding and storytelling are two sides of the same coin. Artist and creator Isayama drew consciously on his upbringing and experiences as the “external” sources for his world. He utilized his subconscious via imagination and self-discovery as his “internal” inspiration. 

While the external influences are discernable, interpreting the internal sources are problematic at best. Isayama built the grotesque story world of Attack on Titan from the building blocks of personal experience and imagination to craft a character-centered story equal parts horrific and stirring.

In Part II, we’ll see how Shingeki no Kyojin’s worldbuilding influences itself!

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