Hajime Isyama’s Attack on Titan is known for a lot of things, but romance wasn’t one of them. Although the series featured the emotions of love and care, it did not put a major focus on them. Still, Attack on Titan fans wished for some characters to develop a love interest in the story to make it a little more sensitive and emotional.
Fans wished for a love relationship between the series’ protagonist, Eren Yeager, and his childhood friend, Mikasa Ackerman. While Mikasa’s feelings towards Eren were pretty evident, Eren only confessed his love for Mikasa at the conclusion of the series, making it one of the most tragic love stories in the anime and manga world.
Isayama once revealed why he despised generating romance in his magnum opus and prevented Mikasa and Eren from developing a romantic relationship. The reason given by the mangaka makes the absence of romance and love interests in Attack on Titan a little less disappointing.
Hajime Isayama Reveals Why He Never Focused on Romance in Attack on Titan
Last year, Isayama was invited as a guest at the New York Anime Convention, where he met a lot of Attack on Titan fans. Crunchyroll got a chance to interview the legendary mangaka, and that’s when they asked him why he chose to leave the themes of romance and love interest out of Attack on Titan.
Isayama stated:
“Number one, it was embarrassing to me to write stories about love between characters. The other reason is that if I continued to go into those kinds of tangent stories, we might lose focus on the immediate main plot of the story. So I wasn’t really motivated to go in that direction.”
According to Hajime Isayama, Attack on Titan’s main focus was on the war-themed narrative that was the structure of the entire series. He was embarrassed to introduce love interests between the characters, as it would lead to fans losing focus and getting strayed from the central plot of Attack on Titan.
Potential Love Interests in Attack on Titan
Although Isayama wanted Attack on Titan to stay away from any kind of romantic theme, fans still shipped a few characters together and hoped for them to end up as a couple during the conclusion of Attack on Titan. The most obvious ones were Mikasa and Eren, as Mikasa never hid her feelings for the protagonist.
The second most-shipped characters from the series were Squad Captains Hange Zoe and Levi Ackerman. Although both characters had distinct interests in the narrative, their connection as friends and colleagues gave Attack on Titan fans optimism that they might start falling for one another before the end of the series.
Armin and Annie were another imaginary couple that fans wanted to end up together. While Annie is introduced as an antagonist at the beginning of the series, Armin develops feelings for her when she is captured and imprisoned in the crystal. Armin regularly visited her and shared his routine and feelings with Annie, which was quite sensitive for Attack on Titan.
You can watch Attack on Titan on Crunchyroll.
