#I'm not sure if its from the same interview but Isayama created them because he wanted a mad scientist character

[ohimjustagay]

I miss Hange so fucking much so I went digging for the most complete version of their oldddd interview I could find. (Credits for the translation go to an anonymous 4chan user)

Q: So, is this not like they’ve already given up on you?

Hange: Probably! Mike and Erwin say nothing about it. Ah, but Levi…

Q: Did he say anything about it?

Hange: Uhh… from time to time I black out from getting hit, then when I become conscious again I would get splashed at and somehow… it’s like having a bath.

Q: It is… done by force, isn’t it?

Hange: That, perhaps, is more like cleaning than having a bath! I think he planned it all out with my subordinates, but because I lost consciousness I can’t be sure.

Q: Everybody’s names have been mentioned, so we would like to hear about your interpersonal relationships. We’ve got a question that asks, "What impression do you have” of firstly Commander Erwin, then Captain Levi, Squad Leader Mike and Deputy Leader Moblit.

Hange: Right… I’ve known Erwin and Levi for a long time. Erwin actively supports my research, so he’s helped me a lot. According to what he has said, I think he also holds some kind of doubt towards the structure of this world.

Q: What about Captain Levi and Squad Leader Mike?

Hange: Levi you see, is bad at talking and a clean freak so everyone gets disillusioned, but he’s a good guy who thinks about his comrades. He has a rough attitude, but he listens to my research results and has the composure to only think about it.

Q: Isn’t he’s a good superior officer?

Hange: (cut off) …Yeah, it’s a strange attitude to people he meets for the first time, but the position of Squad Leader is justified.

Q: What impression do you have of Deputy Leader Moblit, who is also an adjutant?

Hange: Moblit? He’s an outstanding adjutant! His sketches used for research are good too. But, the fly in the ointment is that he always comes to stop me when I’m getting to the good part.

Q: Doesn’t he do that because he is worried for you? Among the questions we got, some of them such as, “Aren’t you worrying him too much?” and “Please let him rest once in a while” showed concern for him.

Hange: (omitted)

Q: We have received many questions about your interpersonal relationships, such as, “Do you have any friends and acquaintances?” and “Who do you get along with?”

Hange: Friends and acquaintances huh… Like I’ve said before, I adjust my daily life cycle to the Corps’ movements.

Q: Your schedule is filled with research and duties, I see. In between all that, is there anyone you often talk to?

Hange: Ah, it depends on the plan or formation but… I’m often stationed close to Levi’s squad, so I think we do talk a lot.

Q: You have mentioned that you’ve known each other for a long time.

Hange: Levi’s rough with his words, so it sounds like he’s angry, right? But he doesn’t truly feel that way, so there are times I help to explain that to everyone in his squad. Interpretation, people have called it.

Q: Other than Levi, who else do you get along with?

Hange: When I see the veteran soldiers who enlisted around the same time as me… if they’re still alive, that is… I would talk to them a lot. Also my subordinates.

Q: I see. There are also many questions like, “Can you see with goggles?” and “How good is your eyesight without glasses?” about your glasses or goggles.

Hange: Without glasses I can still see the face of the person in front of me, but it’s inconvenient during battles or research, I guess. Glasses can easily fall off, so I don’t use them on missions. There are skillful soldiers who can operate 3DMG with glasses, you know, but I’m not very good at it.

Q: We also have a question about your glasses and goggles that goes, “They seem expensive, how many spares do you have?”

Hange: I keep one or two pairs on hand, if they’re both broken I claim them with the Survey Corps’ expenses.

Q: You put them down to expenses!

Hange: But they’re necessities, so it’s a required expense! I don’t do things like Levi who claims expenses for the black tea he favors, you know?

Q: That black tea… is paid for with expenses.

Hange: Yes, glasses and black tea, they’re all supplies for the whole Survey Corps. It’s because our lifestyle is guaranteed like this that there’s no shortage of youngsters who aspire to be soldiers.

Q: You’re certainly right about that. Another question we have is, “Do you do housework?”

Hange: Like cooking, or cleaning? Hmm, I’ve done it before, on duty.

Q: Trainee soldiers cook their own meals, and on expeditions cooking for yourself is also a must.

Hange: Well, for me right now, as a Squad Leader, I leave most of it to my subordinates I guess.

Q: We also have the question “What’s your type?” Excluding titans, that is.

Hange: Ahh… everyone sure likes that kind of topic. I don’t think about it much, but let’s see, someone who is fine even if I can’t pay attention to them, I guess.

Q: You respect freedom.

Hange: Mm-hmm, for me right now, I’m interested in… mainly titans, and also the structure of the world and so on… way too many things. So, even if I had someone like that, I probably can’t spend much time together with them.

Q: So someone who can accept your behavior and let you be free is ideal, isn’t it.

Hange: That’s how it turns out. I don’t think such a convenient person exists though.

Q: Do you chat with people like Deputy Leader Moblit?

Hange: Moblit says things a mother would say. Like, did you eat properly? Or, did you sleep well? And his every word is really funny.

Q: For example?

Hange: Once, during an experiment I think, he said to me, Do you really want to live!? Pretty much the only one who says such interesting things to me is Moblit!

Q: I see. Then, I’m going to change the topic a bit and introduce an unconventional question. “Please tell us about the time you recently got angry.”

Hange: Angry? Me? What a strange question.

Q: I’ve been told you’re the scariest when you get angry.

Hange: That’s not true! Erwin and Levi have way scarier faces! Well… now that I think about it…

Q: Did something come to mind?

Hange: It’s not recent, but. Long ago, I got into an argument with a Military Police officer who made fun of the Survey Corps… He said such terrible things, I couldn’t take it anymore, and grabbed the scruff of his neck and threw him on the floor… almost.

Q: That’s scary!

Hange: Haha… It’s the folly of youth. Since Erwin and the others quickly intervened, it didn’t become an issue. Other than that… when I get mad, I kick and wreck tables and chairs… but doesn’t everyone do that?

Q: Uh, I wonder about that… You give a calm impression, but there is something on fire hidden inside you.

Hange: I’m always on fire! It’s for the sake of unraveling the mysteries of this world!

Q: If mankind were finally liberated from the titans, what would they do?

Hange: Mankind would rule. But I would like to research vegetation outside the walls, or study about humanity’s past.

[myonepiece]

can I ask what are your thoughts about people on tiktok cancelling oda for being "misogynistic"??? I'm a woman and misogyny is a huge word so I got shocked and see what they were talking about and its about this interview where female fans are complaining about the girls characters design and fanservice and he said he cares more about his male audience thats why. One piece is shounen and is male dominated, and you know how they like the non realistic big boobies and hips though I agree that there's too much fanservice and nami and robin's old design were better. But the fanservice criticism is understandable as a woman I would also like a diverse body image for women like how Isayama creates his fem characters which is chefs kiss. Oda draws them poorly (in my opinion) but I like how THEY ARE WELL WRITTEN. I love their mommy milkers but I agree the new fans or anime watchers who's gonna start watching it might feel uncomfy but setting aside their design THEIR BACKSTORIES ARE GOOD. And he writes Zoro as someone who sees women snd men equal so I don't see how he's misogynistic 😅 Misogynist hates women, Oda doesn't hate women he just said that his target audience are men bc op is shonen after all.

I literally love female characters in op they're well written comparing to other shonen that's the same age as one piece that has the same fan service but the girl is just quirky, submissive and has no personality at all. Like Naruto the women are so poorly written and could've had more potential.

Maybe its because I'm already used with the way he drew them but I really love their timeskip faces, they got more drip before I still love them especially Robin

ooo yes interesting, I hope I covered everything in this <3

TW- body image

I’m going to start by saying this is a touchy subject because my body/self-image issues are pretty bad and I don’t like talking about bodies, but I have a lot to say about this specific topic. I do not think Oda is a misogynist, as you said he does write Zoro as someone who views men and women as equal, and a mysoginst wouldn’t do that. he hasn’t done anything in the show that says he hates women, it’s simply his portrayal of them- and more specifically their bodies. that being said, I have a problem with the way he has his female characters look- of course the details and overall animation are amazing, and yes their bodies (especially boobs) are drool worthy, but he could definitely... tone it down a bit. in japan typically are skinny and have low body fat, but the more curvaceous aspect of Oda’s characters are pretty far-fetched. I get why he does it for the men watching, and while that does sound slightly misogynistic, mostly like a stereotypical misogynist, it isn’t- at most it’s sexist. I think that the way the characters look will cause a lot more body image issues in young girls (or just people in general) and that definitely isn’t his plan. it’s giving an unhealthy and unrealistic expectation of women, and maybe more specifically asian women. if he could simply make their boobs a little smaller and overall make their body shapes a little less “perfect” because seriously ALL of them have hourglass bodies except for a few of the villains. and honestly Oda, stop making the glow up so drastically!! Alvida, the large round women who Cody was sailing with when he met Luffy (the very first episodes for reference), was punched by Luffy and flew away, only to show up later and team up with Buggy but she had “glown up” because of Luffy’s punch- she lost all body fat and was left with an hourglass body shape and was then called one of the most beautiful woman in the sea. I mean COME ONE- a fucking punch, Oda?! more statistically speaking, Oda is making his characters follow the beauty standard, I realized this was accurate when Robin’s skin tone changed so drastically as well as Usopp’s, and really all of theirs did- we could have done without that. 

so back to the misogynistic aspect, Oda writes all of his character’s backstories the same, and they’re all awesome. also they typically all show power and fight, if he was a misogynist then I’m willing to bet we owuld get a lot more sorrow and weakness from the females, lots more battles fought exaggeratingly horrible and lost, or always being saved by the men (when in fact some of the men have been saved by the women). while we could do without so much “princess/female needs help saving kingdom/town/something” it’s not too bad. the fanservice is a bit extreme, I hate how they have to show so many bath scenes for the girls and how Nami usually has sideboob/boob in general showing, I find it kind of insulting myself but that’s only my self esteem issues- which I’m sure other people have and feel the same way, so you’re not alone if you do feel that way about it. and when Nami’s boobs tend to pop up from her top, I’m thinking of those scenes in the outfit she wore during the episodes she met Sanji’s brothers. and the fact that when she hugs people their faces go directly into her cleavage doesn’t need to be so drastically pointed out, we don’t need a close up or anything Oda but... thanks? 

one big thing that proves he’s not a misogynist is that a lot of high ranking characters are female; Portgas D. Rouge, Charlotte LinLin (Big Mom), Boa Hancock, Tashigi, Tsuru, Catarina Devon, Alvida, Jewelry Bonney, ect.

he also has a lot of powerful female characters that had large impacts on characters (ex. their mothers) such as: Kuina, Olvia Robin, Bell-mere, Nojiko, Toki, etc.

he also has a number of male characters that are extremely anti-misogynist like Sanji and Zoro as well as Luffy. while Sanji is slightly sexist, he shows no hate towards women, he literally worships them. Zoro and Luffy are much better example because they’re neither sexist or misogynist, neither have any problem fighting a woman. in fact Zoro hates that women are seen as weaker and his whole childhood ass well as life was impacted by Kuina who was trying to prove herself because she was a female and eveyone underestimated her and thought she couldn’t be/wasn’t a swordsman- Zoro expressed his anger at that because he doesn’t see why anyone would think that. and Luffy simply just couldn’t care less about what gender someone is.

so all in all, Oda is not a misogynist, his portrayal of female characters is sexist at most but he is no woman-hater.

[aspoonofsugar]

Hi! :) What are your thoughts about the latest chapter of SNK and Eren specifically? Do you think he's out for more bloodshed and the full power rumbling? I'm still really shocked!

Hello anon!

I have talked about Eren here and in the post tagged in the one I linked. The last chapter has not changed my impression of him, but simply strengthened it.

In short, I still think what I wrote here:

However, Eren might be willing to use the power of the Coordinate in an offensive manner instead of in a defensive one like Armin suggests.

Or he might be willing to use it more than what Armin thinks (he states he thinks it would be sufficient to free the Titans in Shiganshina and Eren might be willing to free more). Given the power of the Rumbling it is possible that Eren choosing to do one of these two things might leave a huge impression on the characters and on Armin especially.

I will now admit that I am partial to this theory simply because I really think that a major conflict between Armin and Eren should happen.

I think so for different reasons and I will say that some of them are rooted in me reading some interviews made by Isayama (which I usually don’t use as evidence) which coupled with what happened at the beginning of the arc made me develop specific expectations. Now, I don’t really wanna use the interviews as evidence, but simply to convey the fact that I may be biased also because of things not related to the text, so I might be completely misdirected here, but I can’t really force myself to let go of these expectations I developed.

The reason why I can’t is that I really think that by this point a major conflict among EMA is really one of the best writing choices possible for several reasons.

First of all, as I stated in the metas I linked Armin and Eren taking different paths is something which seems to have been foreshadowed in the story itself:

These panels suggest that Armin is starting not to understand Eren anymore, but so far this difference in perspectives has neither been explored nor has it been resolved. It is simply something which is mentioned and stays in the background. On one hand Eren doesn’t care about others’ pov. On the other hand Armin has not done anything constructive to make his ideals concrete and has tried to compromise with Eren’s actions. In other words nothing interesting has been done so far with these two points of view and I think it should be done instead.

Finally, I think that for the ending of the story both Mikasa and Armin should have more of a role than the one they have had so far in this arc. They have been framed since the beginning as important characters, so they should play a role in the resolution of the story. The problem is that in order to do so they need a conflict which lets them shine. I think that the one between Marley and Paradis is not really the one since if Eren manages to use the Coordinate Paradis has basically won. As far as the conflict with Zeke goes, I think that the conflict between the two brothers will be almost completely settled in the current chapters. After all they are fighting over the control of the coordinate and whoever wins manages to do what he wants. It is true that Zeke might temporally win and Eren might ask the others for help, but this is not the feeling I am receiving from current Eren and we have already been told that Eren’s wish is the one which will come true:

In other words, even if potentially other conflicts could give Armin and Mikasa the room they deserve, I think that a conflict among EMA is by far the most interesting option.

This is true also considering the current conflict between Eren and his friends. Don’t get me wrong, I am a fan of characters growing distant because of miscommunication and then overcoming the misunderstanding and growing in this way. However, I don’t really see the 104th’s current situation being built to be settled in this way. After all:

We have already seen Eren’s friends accepting to trust Eren despite everything, but we have yet to properly understand Eren’s goals and reasons. As you can see, the “reconciliation” of chapter 118 is not really the result of a climax where all the characters involved grow and manage to understand each other, but it is a one-sided effort where one side is doing its best to understand and justify the behaviour of the other without being given any explanation and after having been treated poorly for no apparent reason. In short, Armin, Mikasa and the 104th’s growth can’t lie in them understanding and trusting Eren simply because they have clearly shown to be able to do it already and they have done so without being given any guarantee in return. If chapter 118 is the apex of the 104th’s growth as a group, then I think it is underwhelming and not really meaningful considering that all they did was to do what they have been doing since early on aka trusting in their bonds as comrades. At the same time, so far Eren has more or less managed to obtain what he wants without much psychological struggle that we can see. What I mean is that we have been shown him struggling physically, but we have not been given any access to his head, so we know he is struggling and suffering, but for some reason we are not experiencing it with him. However, we need to see this struggle and not just to know that it is probably there. In short, Eren is in the middle of a series of conflicts among which the one with his friends is one and before he can solve all of these conflicts we should be shown more of his internal world. This is why I think the conflict between him and the others is still not solved and that it would be more interesting for it to escalate before it can be solved.

I tried to explain why I like this hypothesis, but all in all there could be different ways to approach the whole matter I am not considering, so I am open to be happily surprised. However, as it stands, I favour this idea and so I will theoryze that something among the lines of a major EMA conflict is going to happen. This is my starting point.

Now, it is obvious that if such a conflict must happen Eren can’t be thinking of simply using the Rumbling like Armin suggests here:

This is simply because this action won’t make the conflict escalate, but will simply settle it and prove that Armin was right. At the same time, it is really not enough to explain why Eren was so cold with Mikasa and Armin.

In short, Eren’s actions will most likely create a major conflict and different reactions in different characters and I can see each character taking a different choice in reaction to Eren’s.

We have already been told that what Eren wants to do is terrible:

What is more, Grisha asks him if in this way Eldia will be saved:

So, from this chapter we know that Eren’s objective is to save Eldia and probably to protect his loved ones, but that in order to do so he will do something terrible.

Now, we must discover what this something terrible is and how the others will react to this.

I can see two main options that can be declined in different ways.

1) Eren will do something terrible knowing what he is doing and choosing to do it anyway. In this case he might have pushed his friends away because of some complicated inner feelings he has towards both them and himself and so the reason of his behaviour towards them is mostly psychological.

2) Eren will do something horrible knowing that he will be stopped and this might explain why he acted the way he did towards Armin and Mikasa in order to push them away.

Let’s highlight that these two options are generic and can be combined in different ways.

For example, Eren might be missing some major pieces of the future:

After all, it has been said that the Attack Titan’s power has its limits and stories of a person who misread or misinterpreted the future are very common.

This leads us to what is the real new revelation of the chapter aka Eren’s power to see the future and how it is clearly linked to some time-paradoxes the fandom has been wondering about since forever. One of the most interesting things about this chapter is that it did not solve the most famous ones:

So, they might become important later on.

That said, I really like the Titan’s power for different reasons.

First of all it is interesting to me because it is used to create time paradoxes of the kind I talked about here:

I would like to propose an alternative (definately crack) theory: the time paradox may actually be a “virtuous” loop i.e. the events we assisted, despite their violence and sadness, are actually necessary to arrive to a positive ending and Eren’s final decision will be to actually accept everything that happened to him and to “send his will back in time” to influence the past events and to be sure that everything goes as it is supposed to go (i.e. as we have seen in the series). Basically I am proposing a time paradox like the one we get in the third book of Harry Potter where the characters going back in time and interfering with the past don’t actually change it, but are used to explain details the protagonists saw the first time and couldn’t understand (like the person saving Harry from the Dementors who turned out to be Harry himself).

Now, by using this quote as reference I don’t mean to say that what Eren did in this chapter is a part of a virtuous loop, but simply that the kind of time-paradoxes which are happening are similar to the ones I talked about above. What I like is that this mechanism has been used in a completely different way than the one I proposed. I was imagining it used to highlight Eren’s free will to choose his own destiny and to accept every single horrible thing which happened to him as necessary to reach a positive ending. It would have been very powerful to show the boy whose Titan was imposed on him by his own father choose to make sure that this actually happens for everyone’s sake. This is something which can still very well happen and I think Eren might see his actions in this light. However, the chapter frames what Eren is doing in a different way. It is not about choosing one’s own fate, but about imposing one’s will on others:

This is paradoxical especially because of how Grisha describes the power:

Grisha links the ability to foresee the future to the ability of being free and of not being controlled. The ironic thing of course is that Grisha and the other shifters before him have actually been manipulated through Eren’s future memories:

This is not the future Grisha has chosen, but the one he has been shown by Eren and so the one he has come to accept.

All in all, the person who is supposed to embody freedom is also presented as an individual who manipulates others. One could also say that Eren is doing something very similar to the first King just on a smaller scale. The first King wanted peace, but his manipulation and brainwashing led to Marley becoming a nation built on war. Eren wants freedom, but he is imposing his own point of view on others. The first king wanted a peaceful heaven and to create it he imprisoned people and left the rest of the world to fight each other. Eren wants to be free and is ready to take others’ freedom to do so and also to move war to the world. The manga has kept presenting concepts like peace and freedom and has shown us that they can both be extreme. It is probable that they’ll need to balance each other out in the end.

Let’s now briefly consider the conflict between Frieda and Grisha. All in all the two of them are both being manipulated by family members and both are conveying an ideology which is not really theirs, but which they came to accept because of the influence of another shifter. For Frieda it is a previous one, while for Grisha it is a future one.

Let’s also highlight that both Frieda and Grisha eshitate. They are two people who are able to emphatize and would probably prefer not to kill each other, but they are both told to do so by their families (Frieda is told so by her father, while Grisha by his son).

All in all it is very interesting on multiple levels.

On one hand the father-children relationship is a very important one for the series and we have seen that so far children have kept paying for their parents’ mistakes. Eren is a character who is clearly trying to change the system and him embodying the future against the first King (and Rod Reiss) embodying the past is clearly symbolic of this.

However, at the same time, his idea of freedom is one which does not consider others:

If everyone were to apply this concept nobody could be really free because everyone would be too much busy fighting each other to actually be free to live as they want.

In other words there is no doubt that what Eren is doing will be fundamental to change the current corrupted system, but at the same time I think his pov needs to be integrated. I think Eren is missing a piece of the puzzle and that someone else should give it to him.

Let’s now consider this:

The ideas of “moving forward” and of “looking forward” which have been present since the beginning are now acquiring a different meaning when one considers the Attack Titan’s power.

These ideas have always been connected with freedom. The SC kept considering the future of their people and realized that if they did not act they would have been doomed someday.

So, a titan who sees the future given to a character who represents freedom is a pretty coherent choice.

However, the ability to foresee the future might very well become a binding ability under certain conditions.

1) For example, knowing the future will definately influence you and this will lead to your possibilities being reduced. We have seen so in the chapter itself where Grisha can’t oppose Eren’s plans because of the memories he has been seeing. He talks of future events as if they are the past and asks Zeke to stop Eren (and in this way the cycle of a father leaving his own burden on a child is repeated). This behaviour is ironic because if Grisha really thought of Eren’s scenery as terrible he would have been in a much better position to change it compared to his other son. However, he didn’t.

Now, we don’t know if Eren is being influenced by some future shifter and I honestly think he is not and that he will be the last Shifter of the Attack Titan. However, he too has seen the future and it is probable that he has been acting in a certain way because of what he saw. If Eren had not seen that scenery would he still be acting the way he is? Would he have attacked Liberio? In short, it is obvious that Eren himself has been changed by the future.

2) The ability to see far away is precious, but it can be dangerous if it is coupled with the inability to perceive what is close to you. What is more, it can lead to a disaster if it is coupled with narrowness. You might be able to see the future, but if your vision is narrow you might misread and misinterpret what is going on.

Eren has developed the ability to see what is coming, but he might need a broader vision if he really wants to succeed.

To summarize, I think that what Armin says here might become important:

1) Is freedom connected to hurting others?

2) Is Eren sure that he is not a slave?

I think the story needs to answet these two questions.

These are my major thoughts on the chapter so far. Thank you for the ask!