Attack on Titan creator receives 1,000 death threats 

 

By Michael Logarta

 

 

Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) is one of the most popular anime of 2013. Its success has turned Hajime Isayama, the creator of the manga on which the anime is based, into a star. It has also made him the target of a number of death threats – around a thousand of them, in fact, according to Kotaku and SGCafe.

 

On Friday, June 28, Attack on Titan fans were startled to find a frightening comment in Isayama’s official blog. “On June 29, I’m going to beat Hajime Isayama to death with a blunt instrument!” said the comment. “I'm totally going to kill him!”

 

^{via SGCafe.net}
 

The mysterious commenter did not stop there. “I won’t get caught,” he – or she – said, “because the Japanese police are incompetent!” The threats were then repeated over and over again in the same comment.

 

More disturbing was how other threats were similarly copied and pasted over a thousand times throughout Isayama’s blog. One asked whether it was better to pummel Isayama to death with a blunt object or set fire to his house. “Go to hell! Dirty Isayama! Die! You idiot!” railed another. Yet another stated that Isayama is a “dirty piece of trash” who should just commit suicide.

 

The Japanese site Yokoku, however, observed that some words used in the threats were wrong. This has led them to surmise that these gruesome declarations were unlikely to have been written by a native Japanese speaker, and went on to suggest that a translation software was most probably used in writing them. In addition, the commenter’s use of the term “Japanese police” does make it seem that the threats were made by a foreigner.

 

It is also possible that only one individual was responsible for all the threats.

 

 

Opening old wounds: A World War 2 connection?

 

The death threats have given rise to a tidal wave of online speculation as to why someone would be angry enough with Isayama to want to murder him. Some believe it is because Isayama based one of Attack on Titan’s characters – a high-ranking soldier named Dot Pixis – on Yoshifuru Akiyama, a notorious general in the Imperial Japanese Army.

^{via Kotaku/Gawkerassets}
 

Fans are quite divided over this issue. Though many have expressed their displeasure with Isayama’s decision to model Dot Pixis on Akiyama, there were those who came to the defense of both manga creator and military general. Whatever the case, the death threat controversy seems to be acting as a reminder to some Asian nations, including South Korea, of the war crimes perpetuated by Japan in World War II.

 

“I just feel so angry, when I see the words from the author,” wrote one commenter in mangled English. “Undoubtly, (Akiyama) is a war criminal, a intruder who has deeply hurted chinese and korean, killed thousands of innocent people in the invasion of China and Korea!!! For me, these words are unforgivable.”

 

“Yoshifuru Akiyama died in 1930,” explained another. “He has died before World War II, there is no relation at all with World War II. Akiyama is not a war criminal. Pointed out that the Korean people’s misunderstanding.”

 

“If you don’t know anything about ‘the Port Arthur Massacre’, please read the Japanese wiki. In your own language, written by your own people,” a commenter pointed out. “For more than four days, innocent civilians were cold-blooded killed. Akiyama Yoshifuru was there when the massacre happened. He may not be a war criminal, and he may not be involved in the massacre. However, when his colleague committed this crime, he just stood there and did nothing. Which, makes him, a accomplice. Do you still think he is your hero?”

 

“There was no concept of ‘prisoners of war’ in China soldiers of the Sino-Japanese War at the time,” argued another commenter. “They were exterminated the Japanese soldier was caught, and if they were caught by the Japanese military, they were thought to be killed and in the same way. From such an idea, they take off the uniform, was continued resistance desperately under cover to the public. Look at the Japanese army to wipe out the straggler of the Qing army of the guerrilla, foreign media were reported as Port Arthur massacre. Chinese soldiers were often of guerrilla in World War II. For charges and the name of the war criminals, see the record of the Tokyo trial.”

 

The arguments rage on in Isayama’s blog. The identity, or identities, of those responsible for the deaths threats remains a mystery. — TJD, GMA News