Hajime Isayama, the creator of “Attack on Titan” (Japanese: “Shingeki no Kyojin”), spoke in an interview with the New York Times a few days ago about how his situation as an author is similar to that of Eren Jäger. We summarize.
Attack on Titan: An era comes to an end
An era ended a few days ago, as “Attack on Titan: Final Season – The Final Chapters” finally brought the anime adaptation of the popular franchise to a close after four seasons, as a sequel of any kind is definitely out of the question.
This also lifts a huge burden from the shoulders of creator Hajime Isayama, who has been more intensively involved in the production in recent years than ever before and even apologized to the animators at Studio MAPPA in this context because the visually stunning scenes in the final chapters would have presented even him with great difficulties when drawing the manga.
At least Isayama will soon be able to take a well-deserved and long-awaited break. But until then, of course, there are still a number of interviews on the agenda. The renowned New York Times was the first to ask the mangaka about his emotional state.
Attack on Titan: Author compares himself to main character
During this interview, Isayama said that his situation as the mangaka of “Attack on Titan” overlapped with that of the main character Eren Jäger. He explains this as follows:
“The truth is that Eren’s situation overlaps in some ways with my own relationship with this manga. When I started the series, I was afraid it would be canceled. It was a new work that no one knew about. But I already had an ending in mind when I started.
And the story ended up being read and watched by an incredible number of people, which led to me being given a huge amount of power that I wasn’t entirely comfortable with. It would have been nice if I could have changed the ending. Writing manga is supposed to be liberating. But if I had been completely free, I would have changed the ending.
I could have said that I wanted to go in a different direction. But the fact is that I was bound by what I had originally envisioned. And so the manga limited me just as much as Eren’s enormous powers ultimately limited him.”
With this, Isayama alluded to his earlier statements that he had already started “Attack on Titan” with an ending in mind and would have wanted the manga to end in two volumes. Due to its great success, however, he added more and more details, which made him question the ending.
The second part of “Attack on Titan Final Season – The Final Chapters” was produced under the direction of Yuuichirou Hayashi (“Dorohedoro”) at Studio MAPPA and aired on Japanese television on November 4, 2023. Crunchyroll offers the TV special on demand.
Via New York Times