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Attack on Titan Franchise Halts Sales of Eldian Armbands

The official website for the Attack on Titan The Final Season anime announced on Monday that the anime's production committee has decided not to offer the Eldian armband as commercial merchandise for the anime, after acknowledging that the armband evokes images of discrimination. The site initially announced the piece of merchandise for pre-order at an earlier date, and began accepting pre-orders on Sunday.

Within the story of the Attack on Titan anime and manga, the state of Marley has instituted a law, dictating that all members of an ethnic-cultural identity known as the Eldians must wear an armband identifying and discriminating them from the rest of the Marleyan population. Marleyans force Eldians to live in segregated ghettos, and Eldians are generally met with a mixture of disdain and fear, borne from a complex history of violence and oppression. The armband evokes many discriminatory clothing practices in real-life history, but closely evokes the "yellow badge" or "Jewish badge" that Jewish people were made to wear by the Axis powers in the 1930s and 1940s.

The second part of the Attack on Titan The Final Season anime will premiere on January 9.

Sources: Attack on Titan anime's website, Oricon via Yaraon!