Was "Attack on Titan" influenced by Goya's painting and mythology?

Was "Attack on Titan" influenced by Goya's painting and mythology? - Graffiti on  a White Background

I just started watching the series "Attack on Titan" and in the first episode I couldn't help but see the resemblance in one of the scenes to a famous painting by Francisco Goya called "Saturn Devouring his Son".

The resemblance seems uncanny and intentional, but it got me wondering about how deep the influence goes. Is this simply an artistic callback or is there more to the influence of actual mythology in the story of this show? I've started reading some things online but most of it seems to be opinion. Is there any official acknowledgement of the inspiration for this series having mythological ties?

From the first episode - enter image description here

Goya's "Saturn Devouring his Son" - enter image description here



Best Answer

Yes, It was.

"But the Titans actually stem from a specific source of terror—and surprisingly, it’s not Kaiju, the giant monsters like Godzilla and Ghidorah who terrorized mid-century Japan..."

"To understand where Attack on Titan’s monsters originate, we need to look to 19th-century Spain, where the artist Francisco Goya painted symbolic representations of the atrocities of war in the form of gory and eerie images of mythological giants. Goya’s series of Titan paintings inspired both the art and the animation behind Attack on Titan, as well as its English name. The literal translation of Shingeki no Kyojin is “Advancing Giants.” The use of “titan” instead makes the homage to Goya explicit—as does the art itself:

Blockquote Shingeki no Kyojin vs. Goya’s Saturn Devouring His Son

enter image description here Shingeki no Kyojin vs. Goya’s The Colossus"

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Is Attack on Titan based on Greek mythology?

The Attack on Titan manga draws a lot of inspiration from Norse mythology, with the Titan god Ymir a direct reference to the very first Norse giant.

Was Goya inspired by AOT?

While the rest of the world might think \u201cAttack on Titan\u201d is based on the Japanese monster genre, kaiju, the series was actually inspired by the works of 19th Century Spanish painter Francisco Goya. Goya's series of paintings used eerie images of mythological giants as symbolic representations of the atrocities of war.

What is the significance that Goya ascribes to his painting of Saturn?

Saturn Devouring His Son is a painting by Spanish artist Francisco Goya. It depicts the Greek myth of the Titan Cronus (known as Saturn in Roman mythology), eating one of his offspring, after Gaea foretold a prophecy fearing that he would be overthrown by one of his children, ate each one upon their birth.

What inspired Francisco Goya?

Francisco Goya studied in Zaragoza, Spain, with Jos\xe9 Luz\xe1n y Mart\xednez and in Madrid with the court painter Francisco Bayeu. He was influenced by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, by Anton Raphael Mengs, and by Diego Vel\xe1zquez. He acknowledged three masters: Vel\xe1zquez, Rembrandt van Rijn, and nature.



Manga artist Hajime Isayama reveals his inspiration - BBC News




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Images: Markus Spiske, Craig Adderley, Nothing Ahead, Sy Donny