Attack on Titan gender meta, in swimsuit form.

[nenena]

Top: Fantasy. Bottom: Reality. Fanart by Zen on Pixiv.

For those of you who don't follow the fandom, the top half of this image represents how the female characters are often depicted in fanart and doujinshi, but the bottom half represents how they're depicted within the actual manga. Also, Hajime Isayama himself once very famously gave the middle finger to Kodansha when he was asked to draw Mikasa wearing a bikini for a Bessatsu Shounen cover. Consequently, that particular illustration is still suspiciously absent from Kodansha's otherwise complete online gallery of Shingeki no Kyojin color pages.

Oh, Kodansha.

(BTW I also find it amazing how non-exploitative of its female characters this manga continues to be when the cast includes a canon lesbian and a 45-foot tall naked woman.)

Comments

[slakemoths]

All this, and some of the best military SF horror in comics history, too!

(I love this manga, so much.)

[(Anonymous)]

So has the official site confirmed freckles girl (she still doesn't have an official name, right?)is a lesbian or are you just basing it on her interactions with Christa?

[nenena]

The official site says that she's in love with Christa. 愛 as in, romantic love. Not friend-love.

So yes, the official site confirms that she's a lesbian. or at the very least, she's Christa-sexual.

[(Anonymous)]

I guess I can't be too surprised that the fandom can't come up with any exploitative illusions about Annie, Rank 4 of the trainees.

I personally blame (praise) volume 4 for that. :p

[(Anonymous)]

Speaking of Annie, there's one thing I wanted to rant about: I HATE when fanartists draw her with a typical anime style non existent nose in an attempt to make her "prettier". That's not Annie. I don't even understand why you would bother drawing her if you're not willing to respect her original design and what makes her stand out, which is that slightly scary, aquiline look she has. Especially as Isayama still manages to make her look pretty in the manga.

[(Anonymous)]

Ah I just finished reading the newest chapter. I started reading because I was curious of how the female characters were portrayed and oh my god they are amazing! I really wish freckles had a name though. I also wish I knew that they were saying in this fan art. xD