Iman Vellani shares her love for Attack on Titan and the anime fandom

Iman Vellani is one of those film stars whose enthusiasm, humor and openness radiate from the screen and whose personality seems almost glowing. The 21-year-old actress is best known for her role as Kamala Khan in 2022 Ms. Marvel and 2023 The wonders, is unabashedly open in sharing her love of all things MCU, from playfully debating the finer points of canon continuity with Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige to co-writing a Ms. Marvel limited series with Sabir Pirzada.

But Vellani has passions other than Marvel – most recently, anime. Earlier this year at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards, Vellani shared what convinced her to finally take the plunge into exploring Japanese animation.

“I was very intimidated by anime until recently,” Vellani said. “I started watching anime about a year ago, so it’s a new obsession for me, but now I’m really into it. There’s just so much content that I didn’t know where to start. I mean, I can barely keep up with all the Marvel content that’s out there.”

Image: Wit Studio/Crunchyroll

Vellani attributes her budding love of anime to this attack on Titan, which she met through family and friends and which she proudly describes as her current favorite anime. “They just talk about it all the time,” Vellani said, “and attack on Titan

Of the entire ensemble of characters that appear in attack on TitanVellani pointed to one person in particular whose story touched her most. “I love Mikasa Ackerman,” Vellani said. “The way she kept Eren’s scarf at the end of the show even though Eren told her to give it away and forget about it. She was the only one who could kill Eren in the end to stop the rumblings. This is a woman who – I don’t think I’ve seen many other female characters like her, who have that authority and willpower and determination to actually act on it. I recently cut my hair and when I looked in the mirror I thought: I know what my next cosplay is.”

Image: Wit Studio/Crunchyroll

In addition to Mikasa, Vellani also named one of the series’ other main characters that she particularly liked and even praised the voice actor responsible for her performance attack on Titanis the finale. “I like Armin because I always like the nerdy characters,” Vellani said. “I watched the last half of the series with the English dub and I don’t know who the actor playing Armin is, but they deserve a raise because their performance in the last episode blew me away. He made me cry, his whining and the flashback scene between him and Eren, it just hit me in the right way.”

After resisting anime for a while, attack on Titan quickly became a show that stuck in her mind. “The ending was such a slap in the face. I felt so terrible at the end, but it’s like one of those Succession

“I think they tied the knot so perfectly and I can’t think of anything I’ve seen recently that has impressed me so much. I cried in my bed watching it. My mom came up to me and said, ‘It’s just a cartoon!’ and I thought, ‘No, it’s real!’”

Image: MAPPA/Crunchyroll

Shortly after completion attack on Titan, she threw herself into exploring other popular series suggested by her friends. “I finally started Jujutsu Kaisen And One piecesaid Vellani. “One piece was an episode that I initially didn’t want to get into because there are now a thousand episodes and that felt like too much. Grey’s Anatomy was more than enough for me and I stopped around season 10. But after the Netflix show came out, I found myself so drawn to the characters and the heartbreak of attack on TitanI needed something lighter and fun and this made me feel good. The characters are likable and I want to root for them all, so this is a show I really enjoy.”

And Vellani’s love for anime doesn’t stop at television. “I observe Suzume right before I came to Japan, and I really liked it,” Vellani said. “That blew me away. Truly a masterpiece. I recently looked at it too The Boy and the Heron and as a 21-year-old, it really spoke to me and reassured me that my inner child still existed.”

Image: Studio Ghibli via GKIDS/YouTube

When asked why she feels her generation has embraced anime and what it is about the medium that particularly appeals to her, Vellani cited, among other things, the powerful roles and portrayals of women and children, as well as the craftsmanship of studios like Studio Ghibli One of the reasons why anime is so popular with Generation Z audiences. “I just feel like anime seems so progressive with the way it portrays women and children, especially in the Studio Ghibli films. All of these films are so good at portraying youth, childhood and imagination in a way that encourages children to keep that mindset.

“I feel like a lot of American cinema right now is just so depressing. It just wants to show the gritty real life of the world. I want to live in a world that excites me about the future, and I think anime does a wonderful job of showcasing all of life’s beauties. We were at the Ghibli Museum this morning and saw how every single detail of the houses is drawn – the bricks, the walls, the windows – and you can just see how much attention people paid to these details when they drew it. That’s how they see the world, and that’s how I want to see the world, as something full of life and joy.”