Speaking of Isayama, I believe that it has reached the point where everyone knows about it. His first serialized work, Attack on Titan, has now sold 40 million copies, and in addition to the TV anime, the live-action theatrical version and collaborations with major companies are also in full swing. No one can predict how long this "giant fever" will last. Recently, a Japanese media interviewed him, let's take a look at what Isayama will confide!

Q: When you went to a vocational school, you first majored in design. However, it seems that the major was quickly changed to the manga department. Did you decide to become a manga artist at that time?

A: Actually, I don't think it's possible. When I went to vocational school, I realized that there were many people who had a better talent for manga than I did. At that time, I thought that this was indeed a world where only the "chosen ones" could live. A fashion magazine that my sister bought serialized a work called "Regan Candy" (author: Yumeyoko Anno). Although the protagonist is a character who aims to become a fashion designer, there is an idea of "I can't do it myself" in the plot. At that time, the portrayal roughly meant that there were as many rocks as there were rocky beaches in this field, and I was only one of them, and it was impossible to develop further. I think it's very convincing for this work.

Q: That said, you're still drawing manga.

A: Rather than regretting not drawing anything, I think it's better to draw something. But I didn't think I could really get anything out of drawing things, it was like buying a lottery ticket. I'm always anxious to think: everyone else is studying hard and going to college. But what am I doing here?

Q: When you are between the ages of 15~20, you will always be troubled by the future.

A: Although you can gnaw at the old, if you continue like this, it will make people feel that they are going to be scrapped...... Anyway, I have mixed feelings. If I didn't have the support of my parents, would I still have the ability to live on my own? I'm upset about that. I think this kind of trouble may have arisen since human beings were primitive societies. It is also a "review ceremony" to test whether a person can become an adult.

Q: Even so, I'm still a manga artist as I wanted to.

A: I don't think the decision to "aim for manga artists" is not the right one. If one of my relatives wants to be a cartoonist, I'll probably ask him to think about it. The image of the manga artist is even harsher than the rocky beach drawn by Yumeyoko Anno. Because it's a gambling-like behavior, I'm discouraged by my parents.

Q: So do your parents know what you want to do to become a cartoonist?

A: I may have noticed it when I switched majors to manga, but they kept it silent. I didn't say anything to them before I won the award, and only after I won the award did I tell my parents: I want to be a cartoonist.

Q: On the one hand, you don't feel confident about becoming a manga artist, but deep down, you must still have a confident side, right?

A: I think the only thing I can do is creativity. When I was 19 years old, I was scribbling on the Internet in a small room. And then there is the framework of Attack on Titan. Isn't it interesting that "because of the man-eating giants, humanity has come to the brink of extinction"? I'm still very confident in this framework. But the most difficult thing is that after all, the content is what I came up with, and I can't figure it out if it's objective enough. I had this concern, but I was convinced that it was fun, so I tried it even though I didn't think it was feasible.

Follow-up: In order to better integrate students into the industry, the school will organize a visit to a publishing house in Tokyo. At that time, Isayama tried his luck by getting his works to the editorial departments of three publishing houses. And one of the editors who received him was Shintaro Kawakura, who is now the editor-in-charge of Isayama Sou and the editorial department of "Weekly Shonen Magazine". For the first time in his life, 19-year-old Soya Isayama received a call from the publishing house.

"Now Attack on Titan has developed into a behemoth, but I haven't received any good reviews at all. When the giant suddenly became popular, I felt that it was the most incredible thing in my life. So for the first time, I felt that I could also become a cartoonist. ”