Will "Attack on Titan" go from manga phenomenon to cult work?

• Hajime Isayama, author of the manga

  Attack on Titan

  is at the Angoulême festival which is devoting an exhibition to his work.

• If the manga and the anime that is drawn from it are absolute successes, unanimously hailed for their qualities,

  Attack on Titan

  is not yet known beyond the very wide circle of manga readers.

• However, the depth of the work and its impact on many contemporary creators could elevate the manga to the rank of cult work and pop culture phenomenon.

Ten years after the start of its publication in France,

has the honor of an exhibition at the Angoulême comic book festival.

For the occasion, Hajime Isayama, author of the manga phenomenon, made the trip to the banks of the Charente.

“It's an event!” enthuses Fausto Fasulo, curator of the exhibition.

Mangakas travel little, especially those of this stature.

The arrival of Hajime Isayama gives a considerable echo to the exhibition.

»

A millionaire manga

If you're not one of the millions of

readers , you probably don't know that Hajime Isayama is a huge star.

The young author has pulled off a masterstroke with his first series.

which stages a confined humanity, struggling with cannibal giants beyond the walls of the city, in a medieval Europe of dark fantasy.

And the manga is a phenomenon.

If the term is sometimes overused, it applies here wonderfully.

The 34 volumes of the series, completed, have sold more than 110 million copies.

The anime adaptation is also successful.

However, the influence of Hajime Isayama, major in the world of manga where tributes and references are legion, is still timid in the field of pop culture.

There is indeed a meme that circulates on the evenings of football matches to make fun of passive teams.

A wink from Emmanuel Macron on Instagram to praise the Pass Culture.

Or a few quotes in rap songs.

Aside from that…

A work outside the codes

However,

is unanimously considered a major work by those who have read it... "It's a manga phenomenon because it was both commercially and critically successful," explains Mehdi Benrabah , editorial director at Pika Editions.

This unanimity is rare.

For many, it's the manga of the decade.

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“The main reason for this success is that the author shakes up the codes of manga where, often, creativity is codified, with archetypes of heroes and antagonists.

There, you never know what to expect.

And this story is served by a drawing that looks like nothing known.

»

Fausto Fasulo also believes that

has everything to seduce a large and demanding audience: “It is an extremely popular series and quite unifying in terms of audiences of all ages and genders.

There are young teenagers, adults, readers, female readers… It is both accessible and deep if you dig a little deeper into its surface.

»

Especially

provokes extreme reactions.

“We feel galvanized by the horrific terror of the Titans, the massive destruction… But there are also adult themes, reflections, mystery, analyzes Fausto Fasulo.

It's a series that has something abnormal, out of order, uncomfortable, even for seasoned manga readers.

And the drawing, a little rough, contributes to the discomfort of the story.

These cannibalistic humanoid giants are drawn in a curious way.

»

Thanks Gen Z

So how to explain that

has not yet, like

,

or GTA, crossed the boomer wall to set pop culture ablaze?

Recently, the

license has penetrated certain markets, in particular ready-to-wear.

Celio, boomer brand if ever there was one, made an Attack on Titans collection.

And at the start of 2023, the Don't Call Me Jennyfer brand is launching its second collection dedicated to shock manga.

“Our customers have asked us for it,” simply explains Chloé Ortiz, brand director.

We listen to our customers on social networks and this was a recurring request.

We often do manga and Gen Z pop culture collections." And the director wasn't afraid of

: “We are lucky to have designers who are fans of this manga so it was a joy for them.

And even if there are charters to respect, in particular the scale of the Titans compared to the other characters, we were able to work on the colors to counterbalance the imagery of the manga.

For example, we have a very beautiful green, beige… to get out of the red titan on a black background.

The success of this collection is such that Don't Call Me Jennyfer will have a stand at a "big Parisian manga event" in the coming months.

posterity for worship

In addition to manga and anime, Hajime Isayama's work sells a whole galaxy of objects.

Will that be enough to make

a pop culture staple for the decade to come?

In any case, by its interpretative richness, the work deserves it.

The arrival of Hajime Isayama in France thus arouses the hope, among people who have finished reading the manga, that the author gives keys.

“I don't really believe in it, explains Fausto Fasulo.

He does not wish to comment on the interpretation to be given to his work.

He does not want to defuse what he has aroused in millions of readers, to close his work by giving a single key to analysis.

At Pika, Mehdi Benrabah believes that the mystery surrounding

is its best chance to become absolutely cult, beyond the fans of the title: "A confined humanity facing a threat of which it does not know much ... Secrets and unspoken at the top of the state ... A mastered scenario with hints of the end scattered throughout the volumes... This work, we want to reread it.

There are a lot of underlying messages, references.

If the release of the volumes has given rise to passionate debates and contradictory analyses, it is not by chance.

Now that the manga is complete, and the anime soon too, there will be exciting posterity.

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