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A great testament to any fictional work’s popularity is how the audience interacts with it. Hajime Isayama’sAttack on Titanis highly regarded for its planning and the connection between the beginning and the end. Even though there are some aspects where Isayama fumbled, there’s no question about the popularity of the series. The fan interactions range from original art to alternate endings crafted by fans.
Not justAttack on Titan, fans of most popular series go above and beyond to fulfill their unmet expectations with their favorite shows or to fill the void they left behind. These expectations are also directed at the creators and spin-offs become a great way to extend or expand a story after its conclusion. However, Isayama seems to be strictly against the possibility of creating one as he shared during an interview.
Hajime Isayama’s thoughts on spin-offs
Attack on Titanmanga concluded in 2021, and it became a contentious topic in the anime-manga community. The ending wasn’t received well and even though the anime fixed some of the flaws, fans are coming up with their own scenarios to this day.
KnowingHajime Isayama’s skills in planning and execution, it’s safe to assume that the mangaka can easily fix the loose ends by fleshing out the context of the series. However, he doesn’t seem interested in doing so, and whatever he wants to fixhe has seemingly already done it with the anime.
“People got a kick out of it”: There Was Only One Way to Make Hajime Isayama Love Attack on Titan’s Art
Whilespeaking with Men’s Culture magazine Brutus, Isayama shared his disinterest in spin-offs and his lack of involvement with them, he said:
Because that would be a turn-off. I don’t like having characters go around acting with the knowledge that they’re inside a manga. Maybe the readers would enjoy it, but I personally don’t want to do that stuff.
With this statement, Isayama was probably hinting at the knowledge of how things turn out in the canon story. Not having a conclusive direction makes the scope of a story limitless, making its exploration exciting for both fans and creators. However, when the manga has already ended, there are a lot of limitations as to how much the story can be explored and if it aligns with the narrative that’s already set.
This can make a spin-off work feel redundant unless it’s truly riveting in every way possible. It’s almost like the conundrum Eren found himself in, there’s only one choice with respect to the direction of the spin-off and it’s likely to be terrible, although a lot less devastating than the Rumbling.
The stark contrast between Hajime Isayama’s ideas and the anime’s continuation
While Isayama seems repelled by the idea of extendingAttack on Titanthrough spin-offs, the team behind the anime has found the perfect way to do so. In the absence of new material about the anime, we have projects likeThe Last Attack.
Such projects regurgitate what we already knowwith minute additions that attract fans. At the crux of it all, there’s nothing but recycled content and fans’ endless love for the series. This makes one wonder if spin-offs would indeed be better contrary to what Isayama believes.
Attack on Titanis available to read on the K-Manga app and website.
Laveena Joshi
Anime Writer
Articles Published :925
Laveena is an anime content writer at FandomWire. Having written more than 800 articles, she’s an expert in mainstream shonen series, ranging from the bizarre world of JoJo’s to the expansive worldbuilding of One Piece.With her formal education in Journalism and Mass Communication, she explores entertainment journalism through the lens of anime and manga, from mainstream and classic titles to niche and obscure ones.
