Heartbreak, heartache, and hurt; Hajime Isayama’s Attack on Titan has the ability of inducing all those emotions in one go. The story is by far one of the most gripping and captivating tales told by any anime or manga. Although it may have divided the audience into two with not just its ending but many decisions made in between, the overall story holds ground and value.
The series has long since ended, both with the manga and the anime. Despite that, Studio Eclypse is working wholeheartedly on Attack on Titan Requiem, a separate project focusing on an alternate ending for the series. This is only proof that the anime has left a lasting mark on its fans and it could never die no matter how distant its end may become from the present. What is ironic to learn, however, is that Isayam was under the impression the manga would never kick-off.
Hajime Isayama Had No Hope for Attack on Titan
During an interview with the New York Times, Hajime Isayama talked about many things that came to Attack on Titan and Eren Jaeger. One such case was the similarity he felt in his own story and that of the protagonist. He is a rather complicated character, one that is split between morality and integrity.
The truth is the situation with Eren actually overlaps in a certain sense with my own story with this manga. When I first started this series, I was worried that it would probably be canceled. It was a work that no one knew about.
When he first started writing the series, he had little to no hope about the serialization actually kicking off. It was something people weren’t used to and it tackled with themes that were much darker than many would find themselves indulging in.
Isayama was almost sure it would be canceled because of how unknown it was. Due to its unknown nature and new arrival, he was under the impression that it would gather avoidance instead of intrigue.
Too Late to Back Out
Hajime Isayama talked about how despite it all, the story did eventually gain popularity, one that he never saw coming. While he wanted Attack on Titan to have a name for itself, its worldwide fame wasn’t something he had expected. He had planned too much of the story to get himself to stop.
But I had already started the story with the ending in mind. And the story ended up being read and watched by an incredible number of people, and it led to me being given a huge power that I didn’t quite feel comfortable with.
When an ending and a beginning are already set in stone, it is only a matter of time before the rest of it also gets filled in between. What the writer instead was met with was the ability to impact people with every new chapter that came out and every episode that released.
This wasn’t something he found himself liking, calling is a huge power he did not know how to balance. What started as an idea he thought would die before it came to fruition turned into something much bigger with the ability to affect the world in its deepest core.
Attack on Titan is available to watch on Hulu and Crunchyroll.
