Shiganshina District In Attack On Titan Is Based On A Real-Life City
The world of anime is totally fictional and everything comes from the creators sole perspective and imagination. Sometimes it’s an inspiration, and sometimes it’s just a spiced up thought which in the end turns into something new & interesting.
“Attack On Titan”, every anime fan is very well aware of the dramatic world of this series. However, the character & city names are pretty cool though still, the world of AOT is horrifying. But, have you ever wondered that the imaginary world of Attack On Titan actually exists in real life?
Probably never. Well, to an extent it’s true because there is a small town in Germany which is believed to be the inspiration behind the making of Eren’s hometown, “Shiganshina”. Yes, the name of the town is Nördlingen which is a real-life city located on the south side of Germany.
The architectural layout of the main locations of Nördlingen looks pretty similar to Shiganshina District as it resembles exactly the same life-saving city walls which are featured in the Attack On Titan series surrounding Shiganshina. And, surprisingly it is one of the rarest towns having completely intact walls.
Moreover, the structural design & pattern of arrangement of the houses in Nördlingen is very much like the fictional world of Shiganshina District. Even the streets are too compact as it was shown in the entire series of Attack On Titan.
Apart from it, Attack on Titan seems highly influenced by the Europe-like set-up strongly based on the German culture, history, and language. An obvious clue is the predominantly German-like character names, like Eren Jaeger, Levi Ackermann, Reiner Braun and Annie Leonhart.
The characters are also shown eating potatoes, bread, meat dishes, or drinking beer which is a very common & regular diet in many regions of Europe. Even, the opening song of AOT Season 1 titled ‘Guren no yumiya’ starts with a German phrase.
Given so many references to German culture, history, and language, it is no surprise
that many Attack on Titan fans recognises a certain connection to Germany. And, a small town like Nördlingen is just a part of it.
However, it’s just a belief as Hajime Isayama never mentioned anything about the town of Nördlingen and its influence on the Shiganshina District. In the beginning, it was just an internet theory that went viral after a journalist visited the town.
But, it was later confirmed by the producers of the TV channel that there was no actual connection between the anime and Nördlingen. Still, it led many fans to believe this theory to be true which resulted in a significant number of AOT fans from various parts of the world visiting Nördlingen over the past several years.
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