Life is beautiful, simply because we’re blessed enough to exist in the same timeline as Attack on Titan. The pages of the manga offer a vivid experience that evokes a wild range of emotions. From existential dread to pulse-pounding thrill, the storytelling ensures that the intensity is understood by the readers.
Now, imagine a world where Attack on Titan doesn’t exist. Before you pick up arms, it’s important to tell you that this was a very real possibility. Hajime Isayama nearly forgot about Attack on Titan and had many different story ideas. It was the editor of the manga, aka our savior, Shintaro Kawakubo, who redirected Isayama to his initial plans. Here’s how these events unfolded.
Hajime Isayama completely forgot about Attack on Titan for a while
Attack on Titan began its run in 2009, but before that, Hajime Isayama won the Magazine Grand Prix with the one-shot version of the manga in 2006. For a decent amount of time, winning awards was a priority for the mangaka, as his editor, Shintaro Kawakubo, shared in an interview with Febri.
Kawakubo knew that the winner of the Rookie award gets the chance to get serialized in the manga and he encouraged Isayama for the same. Isayama worked on his other works, namely Heartbreak One and Orz during that time. Kawakubo shared how he was extremely confident about Orz, he said:
When Orz was completed, I was so sure that it would win an award that I suggested we start thinking about plans to serialize even before the results were announced.
-Shintaro Kawakubo
When Isayama was about the “plans” that Kawakubo mentioned, he shared how he had three different ideas. He was so focused on them that he nearly forgot about Attack on Titan.
No, I had initially made around three plots for completely separate works. You could say I had totally forgotten about that.
-Hajime Isayama
Seemingly, Isayama planned to serialize one of these three ideas. While he didn’t discuss the specifics of this idea, Kawakubo thought they were quite interesting and not bad at all. However, there was something about Attack on Titan that made him redirect Isayama in that direction. And, god bless him for that.
Plenty of ideas, but when does the wait end?
Hearing Isayama speak about these ideas makes it clear that he has no dearth of ideas. And, all of them were thought of with the intention of serialization. It makes one wonder when will his next work be released or even be announced.
But, it’ll be exciting to see how a new story unfolds in the same style we have all grown to love and appreciate endlessly. Would it be an exploration of another set of complex ideas or something more light-hearted? For now, all we can do is wait for Isayama to pick the perfect idea from his treasury and work his magic again.
Attack on Titan is available to read on the K Manga app and website.
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