#isayama q & a

[lostcauses-noregrets]

Sorry for my bad English but I really want to write this down. After Bad Boy, I've always thinking about a fic where Kuchel is alive and moved to the surface with Levi when he joined the Survey Corps. Every time he lose his comrades, he would come home and his mother would make him tea and pat his head until he fell asleep. I like to imagine him being very tough and serious while talking to his subordinates and then Kuchel came to visit him unannounced, bringing him very good food and new clothes, he immediately acted like a harmless kitten and his voice and gesture became muchhh gentler. Everyone was extremely surprised, even Erwin. Oh and Kuchel will give Levi a lot of good advice when he conflicts with Erwin too. She's such a wonderful mother, I love her so much.

Ah that's so lovely Anon ♡ Please don't apologise for your English, it's perfect!

This reminds me of Isayama's Bessatsu Shonen Q&A from 2019, translated here by the wonderful @tsuki-no-ura

Levi is a mama’s boy True-ish depending on the definition? Bessatsu Q&A 2019 January issue: Q. クシェルさんが生きていたら、兵長は親孝行していましたか？ A. きっと楽をさせたかったでしょうね。 Q. If Kuchel-san were alive, would Heichou have been filial? A. I think (he) surely (would have) wanted to let (her) have an easy life. To be a filial child by dictionary definition is to be respectful of the duties and attitudes of a son or daughter toward their parents, so in terms of being mama’s good boy the answer is yes.

[ourmondobongo]

So this is one of the Q & A translations from last week's snk things:

Idk how accurate the translation is, but it both adds and changes perspective

(And oh - so Levi is kinda wary of the ocean...)

[troythecatfish]

[emilzke]

nobody asked but here’s my fav mangakas in no particular order bc I want to gush about them:

Sui Ishida, Hajime Isayama, Riyoko Ikeda, Naoki Urasawa, Ai Yazawa, Osamu Tezuka

I’m always blown away by Ishida whether it be with art or amazing storytelling & foreshadowing. I love my (nearly finished) tokyo ghoul manga collection and the art books so much, the art is so beautiful.

I think if I met Isayama I’d probably cry a little, he created something so dear to me. I spent a few years absolutely obsessed. His foreshadowing and characterization are top-tier, I still find reasons to love his work years after.

Shoujo wouldn’t be what it is without Riyoko Ikeda and her art is soso beautiful with the best details on the fashion. I love the way she writes complicated romances so much. So excited to read Rose of Versailles soon.

Naoki Urasawa made one of the most interesting villains and the best hero even though it’s so not black & white, every part of monster is so interesting from the philosophy to psychology. I have to read Pluto soon.

Aaa Ai Yazawa gets me on another level. She truly understands womanhood so deeply and every character she creates is so real and human and realistic. Nana is soso dear to me plus she draws fashion so well too.

Osamu Tezuka the og and father of them all. Astro Boy was one the first animes to brought to the west and it’s a childhood fav of mine, the one that started it all for me. Metropolis too, I love it so much.

[leviismybby]

One note for some people

If you have a problem with people writing "Levi x fem!reader" because "knowing damn well Levi isn't attracted to women, Isayama said so himself" please do the research. He never said that, NEVER. Levi's sexuality was never confirmed and I know this person is talking about that q and a in 2014 that has 300 different translations and never a valid source. In fact in every translation he doesn't even say that Levi doesn't like women, just that he likes taller people. It's the most unimportant thing about Levi and his character.

Sick and tired of people coming for anyone who writes any kind of Levi x reader, grow tf up. Even if his sexuality was confirmed, people can still write him how they want because he is a fictional character. I got a few anons too asking me to confirm some kind of interviews where Isayama apparently says this and let me tell you again, he never did it with Levi or any other character for that matter.

[nenithil]

In the Aot bessatsu magazine there is a Q&A with Isayama about Hange. He said that if they had lived, they would have traveled. Are you planning to translate these?

Q: Among main characters, only Hanji-san's family has not been described. Does Hanji-san have some brothers or sisters?

A: There is an impression that she is distant from her family

Q:If there is a world line that Hanji-san is alive, would she live with Levi/Falco/Gabi together?

A: I feel that the role she's going to take on will be busy and flying around, so I don't have the impression that she will settle down(定住).

[hanszoe]

Q: In a universe where Hansi was alive, would [they] live with Levi, Falco and Gabi? A: I feel like [they] would bear a role where [they] would be busy and going all over the place so I don't have an image of [them] settling in one place.

Q: Of the main characters Hansi is the only one whose family wasn't illustrated. Does Hansi have brothers or sisters? A: I have an image that [they] are estranged from [their] family.

Q: Hansi easily made a stew, so aren't [they] good at cooking? Or is that the degree of cooking that everyone in the regiment is capable of? A: It's one of the skills of a soldier, so everyone is capable of cooking.

Isayama's answers to questions about Hansi from the SnK 15th anniversary edition of Bessatsu Magazine

[cosmicjoke]

In a recent interview in new Bessatsu magazine, Isayama officially confirmed the disappearance of Ackerman's powers and said that Mikasa is now bad at the sport because of it. What do you think about this? I'm putting the link here in case you're interested in Q&A about Levi and other characters. https://x.com/conviviality104/status/1854060034722070831?t=Mr432wAsnzaQ6GiiPrFUjg&s=19

I did see that, yes. So I guess all my theories about the Ackermans still retaining their powers were wrong, lol. I just always wondered if it was a possibility, because other than the power of connecting to the knowledge of past Ackermans, the Ackerman powers themselves really didn't resemble that of the titans, and there was also the fact that Ymir had no control over the Ackermans, so I thought it made sense that their powers didn't actually come from her. But I suppose with the dissolution of the Paths, the Ackermans lost their powers with that.

Anyway, I'm totally cool with it. I think it's actually a really interesting idea to think about, what it must be like for Levi and Mikasa to have to adjust to life without their physical strength and power that separated them from everyone else. I mean, that was already something Levi was going to have to adjust to, given he ends up disabled and needing a wheelchair. But I imagine it must be really hard, in a way, losing those extraordinary abilities they had, no longer able to do the things they once did, etc... I would think it must leave both of them with a sense of vulnerability that's pretty alien to them, that they wouldn't have felt since they were both young children, even, and that would be scary, I imagine. For Levi in particular, I think on top of the loss of his powers, he's probably also dealing with chronic pain and a simple loss of mobility, which makes it exponentially worse as well. So I think the adjustment is probably tough.

But I spoke about this when the anime ended last year, and with Levi especially, when we see him handing out candy to the children in the refugee camp, I think what that highlights is that it was never his Ackerman power that made him an extraordinary person, or that made him a hero. It was always his exceptional compassion and kindness that really defined him as such. The fact he's lost his powers, lost his mobility, lost the full use of his body, lost his strength, and yet he's still out there, doing all he can to help others, doing all he can to improve the lives of people and bring them whatever joy he can in a ruined world, that's what really defines Levi as a hero, in my eyes. He continues to fight for others, even when he no longer has physical strength, and that shows that he was always going to fight for others, whether strong or not, because that's just in him. That heroism, that compassion and that empathy is just a part of who he is. He sees and cares about other people, and that's what compelled him to use his exceptional strength toward helping them in the first place, not the strength itself. He doesn't need to be "special" in order to be a hero.

And the same for Mikasa, too. Mikasa learned over the course of the story to let go of her own, selfish dream of being with Eren and giving up what was most important to her to help others, and like with Levi, it's that which made her a hero, not her Ackerman powers.

While their badass-ness is maybe what initially drew people to their characters, it was never that which made them stay. Levi and Mikasa both are much more than their Ackerman powers. It's who they are as people that matters. So them losing them in the end really isn't a big deal at all.

[lostcauses-noregrets]

Bad Boy

A few meta-type thoughts about Bad Boy, now the dust has started to settle.  There could hardly have been more hype in the run up to the release of Shingeki FLY, but Bad Boy certainly delivered.  It’s classic Isayama; for such a short chapter it really packs an emotional punch, blending real pathos and tragedy with shockingly graphic violence and body horror.  It doesn't really add anything to the over all plot, which is to be expected, but it does provide insight into Levi’s character and answers one question that fans have been speculating about for years.

The story of why Levi holds his tea cup in such a peculiar way isn’t new. Isayama mentioned this in a magazine interview (I think?) way back in 2014

Q: …why he has such way of holding cup? Isayama: About that, I was thinking of drawing this one day. When he was a kid, Levi was living in slums and poverty. He was yearning for a life in clean & neat environment (not rich life). When he finally obtained the tea and tea set those he has been desperately wanted, he was rejoicing that finally he can drink it. But when he started to grip on the handle and lift up the cup, the handle came off and his cup was shattered. He was so traumatised by this experience and that’s why he changed his way of holding cups to not using the handle.

However we now know that the cup belonged to his mother and the extraordinary lengths Levi went to recover it. What is new is that we finally have confirmation of when Levi’s Ackerpowers were awakened.  Fans have been arguing about this for years; some thought it was when he killed the man with the knife immediately before Kenny left, others suggested it was when Farlan and Isabel were killed. Now we finally have an answer.  It’s not exactly clear how much time has lapsed between Kenny taking Levi in, his powers awakening, and Kenny leaving, however the fact that Kuchel’s tea set hadn’t yet made its way to the surface suggests that not much time had passed at all. 

Levi’s description of his powers awakening is fascinating;  

“Strangely enough I didn’t doubt what was happening to me at that moment. The pain had vanished, my head was calm, as if it had been immersed in water. Clear instructions on what to do came to my mind. I simply followed them one by one.”

This is the most information we’ve ever had about the famous Ackerpowers and goes some way to explaining Levi and Mikasa’s preternatural calm and focus when they're fighting.   They really only succumb to panic and despair when their loved ones are threatened.  Think of Mikasa in Shiganshina and at Fort Salta, and Levi when Farlan and Isabel die and when he allows Zeke to escape after Erwin rode out to his death. 

The panel illustrating Levi’s powers awakening is also interesting as it looks very like a Titan transformation. This suggests there is more than a grain of truth in what the Yeagers said about Ackermans being a by-product of Titan science, who were able to access the power of the Titans without becoming Titans themselves.   

It’s not difficult to draw a direct line between the abuse and persecution Levi suffered as a child, with his determination to use his power to protect those in need.  Initially he used his strength to protect the vulnerable people of the Underground, such as Isabel, however once he met Erwin he was able to exert his power to serve an even higher goal - saving humanity. Isayama discussed this in the Answers Guidebook way back in 2006 and I think his comments are worth repeating here. 

Isayama With the heroes of American comics, conflicts dealing with the situation “with great power, comes great responsibility” have been depicted. In Levi’s case, if he had no power, he would probably have been an ordinary person with no responsibilities but, as a consequence of having power, that he became a person excessively burdened with responsibility. Kenny talked about “everyone… was a slave to something…”, when he put the question to Levi “what is yours!?”, Levi himself too perceived it. That he himself too was a slave in regard to his own strength. The sense of duty that “I must become a hero”. …the same thing can be said of Mikasa too but…, for the Ackerman family, in the service of their master, there are many people who are able to manifest their power to its maximum.

[Translation by @tsuki-no-ura]

I think it's also very in keeping with Levi's character that he remained devoted to saving humanity after the Rumbling; providing succour to the children in the refugee camp, and working to renew the environment destroyed by Eren's genocide, despite his injuries and regardless of whether he retained his Ackerpowers.

The title of the chapter, Bad Boy, is also interesting. No one actually calls Levi a “bad boy” in the chapter (though he is called worse) which suggests that this is how Levi sees himself.  It makes me wonder how much he internalised the thug’s insinuation that his mother would have been disappointed in him, and it also recalls Levi’s speech to Historia and the 104th, where he says he’s fine playing the role of the violent lunatic.  Poor baby.

Another point the chapter clarifies is the origin of Levi’s belief that Kenny was his father.  To be honest, it’s hardly surprising that Levi assumed this considering Kenny clearly had some kind of relationship with his mother and took him in without question. Still, knowing that the seed of that belief was planted by a thug who was willing to torture and kill a child, or sell him into sexual slavery, really twists the knife. 

[Translation by krtk.]

I am a little sad that we didn’t see more of Kenny in the chapter, but his presence certainly looms large.

I had expected to see more of Kuchel but at the same time I’m almost glad we didn’t.  Her life was brutal beyond measure and we’ve already seen her tragic death. Several fans have suggested that the reason we only see Kuchel in partial profile is because Levi’s memories of her are so hazy, all he really recalls is her grace 😢

It’s remarkable that Kuchel was able to retain such poise and grace despite living in such desperate squalor.  @momtaku has made the point that Kuchel appears to have been born into at least modest comfort, judging from Grandpa Ackermans’ home, which would explain where her elegance and also her fancy china came from.  It’s heartbreaking that both she and Levi clung on to this small memento of a better life. 

Levi’s devotion to his mother, his desire to emulate her grace and cling on to her belongings is devastating, is very much in keeping with everything we know about his character.  Levi has boundless compassion, is deeply loyal, and never forgets those he loves, whether it’s Farlan and Isabel, Erwin, or his squad.  He’s also very sentimental; saving his mother’s tea set, and drinking tea evokes a direct connection to Kuchel and the only good thing he remembers from the squalor and cruelty of his childhood. This makes Erwin’s willingness to indulge his sentimentality and bend the rules to procure a steady supply of high quality tea for Levi all the more poignant. 

There's been some debate about Gabi's reaction to Levi's story in the final panel...

Some people have interpreted her expression as holding back tears, while others have suggested she's trying not to laugh. I'm definitely in the stifled laughter camp. It just seems so very typical of Gabi and her relationship with Levi...

Gabi: - winds Levi up - Levi: - trauma dumps - Gabi: - stifled laughter / more wind up - Falco: - actually upset - "Would you guys stop??" Onyankopon: - shade -

It's also very typical of Isayama to poke fun at his characters like this, and it stops the story from tipping over into bathos.

There is one burning question that Bad Boy doesn’t answer and it’s this - what tf was kid Levi doing in Mr Smith’s classroom?? 

Despite hoping against hope, I never really expected Isayama to answer this, because he does love to troll his readers.  Is it too much to hope that sometime down the line he’ll reappear with another chapter called School Boy?? 

[ourmondobongo]

Isym is so observant.

It's incredible how such an innocent reaction from a stranger middle school boy could affect him so positively.

[rorynni]

Hi! do you have some resources for canon facts about eren? Ive been trying to collect some, like the alcohol one, him not succeeding with odm, etc etc but theyre hard to find. Im not on twitter so im at loss. Thankyou

Hi!

Canon facts can be tricky these days! A fair amount of the facts that are often compiled in TikToks or Instagram posts are actually originally headcanons that have been passed around so much that people are no longer aware of where they came from (not that there’s anything wrong with headcanons, but many people get them confused with canon material).

Eren’s page on the Attack on Titan Wiki is a good place to find canon information. All of the material on there has sources cited from various guidebooks, interviews with Isayama, and of course the source material — the manga. You can find it here:

I also have the Attack on Titan guidebooks! They’re super fun to read and have lots of fun facts and interesting information, not just about Eren, but all of the characters and also the world they live in.

Interviews by Isayama are often translated either officially or by fans and can be found in excess here on Tumblr if you know where to look. Normally just searching “Attack on Titan interview/Q&A” will get you some good results.

Thank you for the ask! I hope this was helpful! :)

[sunflowersunite]

My delulu ass: The Ackerpowers aren’t connected to the Founding Titan. Mikasa will be fine!

Narrator voice: She was, in fact, not fine.

Isayama 😠

@mathismykryptonite Isayama said a lot of weird stuff in that Q n A that didn't make any sense and I agree with you wholeheartedly. I'm personally offended by the fact that Mikasa lost her powers and is supposedly "bad in sports" now.

How did she lose them? Are the Ackermans not detached from the power of the titans in order to resist it in the first place? The Founding Titan can't control them whatsoever. Therefore shouldn't they be separate from the titans and keep existing as they were even without them? Or is it that because the Ackermans were carrying titan power in them, which was a piece of that world's magic system, that it disappeared along with the rest of the magic system?

What we actually do know is that the Ackermans were a result of experiments about titans on humans. I wish I know what that meant. I wish Isayama himself knew what it meant. I doubt he expanded on it, which... why? The Ackerman clan is such a fascinating concept and they're so underdeveloped.

In my humble opinion, it would've been so fun to have the Ackermans be detached enough from the Founding Titan that the disappearance of titans wouldn't affect them. They'd be the final bearers of that sliver of titan power which would inevitably die with them, since both Levi and Mikasa died childless.

Alright, even if the whole "losing her powers" deal was true, how is Mikasa suddenly bad in sports now? Has she not bulked up and gained incredible grace in her movements during all those years of training? Even if that superhuman power disappeared, she has muscle memory. She can become the greatest again and she will.

In my humble opinion, again, Isayama is confused and Mikasa never lost her powers because that just doesn't make sense. She's humanity's strongest now, with Levi's full support.

thank you for the ask, it was fun to draw that little thing!

edit: I forgot the scarf. I forgot the damn scarf. Years of training gone to waste

[momtaku]

Mom, do we know anything about Erwin's personal relationships? Eruri aside, do we know whether he had a girlfriend or a partner? Or married?

In the Dec 2013 BSM Q&A, Isayama stated that Erwin chose to be unmarried because he didn’t know when he would die. (Many thanks to @tsuki-no-ura and @lostcauses-noregrets for helping me dig up the 12/2013 BSM Q&A and surrounding discussion which is the source of that statement.)

Although I must say that I struggling at bit with the "Eruri aside" part of your ask because I find it impossible to "Eruri aside" anything when talking about Erwin's personal relationships. Erwin and Levi’s relationship is central to both of their story arcs in the manga, and I can't think of a single official interview or supplemental publication where Erwin and Levi aren't mentioned together and treated as a connected story unit. 

Thanks for the ask!

[leviismybby]

I appreciate that when you talk about your headcanons for Levi that they are based off of canon manga not some third party interview that a random fan said happened

Hi anon!

I don't believe them that's why, I only believe ones that are actually at the end of the manga. I do not have a problem with people taking "interviews" as facts if they want to however I do believe that stating that they are facts comes from a deep bais they have for whatever reason since even if these interviews and q and a were real, not many people will ever hear about them. Shit, I see a "fact" in an interview that allleinges with my headcanons sometimes but I never take it as a fact because most of the time it isn't real or just falsely translated. Besides when looking for facts, canon manga and anime are the only metrial I use because, let's be honest, 90% of people who read or watched aot will only ever see the canon source metrial. Levi is to be seen as Isayama potryed him in his canon metrial, same with every other character. It's exactly why I don't take offical art seriously, it's just to promote a product most of the time and bringing them into arguments is ridiculous.

[kachuusha]

I was minding my own business but then someone pulls this clip of junho from 2pm saying let's live together on japanese national tv because he was asked how is gonna propose

see how the hosts reacted? "it's straightforward"

the point here is that let's live together is a common way to propose

and there's even that anime magazine q&a thing with eren proposing in a similar manner

sorry for bringing this up again, I'm just sick and tired of levihans constantly being told that we are delusional for thinking ifkk is a proposal and that is has romantic implications

and given the context was of the forest scene was right after levi almost died and hanji hauled him away from danger. I mean what else could isayama be trying to pull

and then there's also this?

hanji blushing upon learning that levi heard them? and no don't give me the whole it wasn't in the anime and or how it was only meant to be shadow lines? isayama doesn't draw shadow lines horizontally. slanted lines drawn under the eyes and right above the cheek? that is how he had always drawn blush lines.

[kahixxi]

My fav gore manga:

The Fable (Katsuhisa Minami) Yomotsuhegui: Fruit of the Underworld (Masasumi Kakizaki) Attack on Titan (Hajime Isayama) Chainsaw Man (Tatsuki Fujimoto) Fire Punch (Tatsuki Fujimoto) Hideout (Masasumi Kakizaki) Gantz (Hiroya Oku) Akame ga Kill! (Tetsuya Tashiro, Takahiro) Dorohedoro (Q Hayashida)