Beautiful Duckling

Interview Highlights with Isayama on Eren and Armin’s Bond

In Gekkan Shingeki no Kyojin Vol. 5, which features a spread on Armin, Isayama explains the development of Armin’s characterization and his friendship with Eren.

[translation: yusenki | editing: thirstylevi ]

[source: fuku-shuu]

To put it simply, Armin is someone who is full of very human characteristics. I think it’s important to have this kind of character in a story like SNK. Maybe it’s because the main character, Eren, is burdened with the role of fitting into the theme and story, and because of that Eren almost doesn’t seem like normal person [meaning real human in our world]. Even for me, there are times that I can’t understand or relate to Eren, especially in the beginning of the story. Maybe because of that I created a character like Armin who can be easily understood.

However, as the story progresses, Armin has been growing up along with it. At this point he has the role of guiding Eren [he grew to be more mature than Eren]. I [Isayama] have discussed Armin’s development a lot with the anime supervisor Araki, and I remember he said that he can picture Armin as a dictator in future. At that time, I never thought of what kind of person Armin will become, but one thing that I agree with Araki is that Armin and Eren’s bond won’t continue to be like that of close childhood friends.

We had the similar idea that Armin would’t always stay together with Eren all the time. In the beginning, Armin was designed as a character that could be understood emotionally and related to. But eventually, he grew up as a very capable individual. Therefore after reflecting on this, I found that this didn’t turn out how I had planned. It’s more difficult to relate to him now…

【Mother】

he’s already great because he was born into this world. ──Shingeki no kyojin Ch 71

After an unreasonably long wait, here are my thoughts on the ending in more detail. I’ve always tried my best to decipher the author’s reasons behind their narrative decisions instead of dismissing them off the bat if they rub me the wrong way. But, in the case of this final chapter, I can’t help but find it unworthy of all that came before it.

This critique is divided into four subsections: ‘An Irresponsible Plan’, ‘Underwhelming Heroes’, ‘Wasted Characters’, and ‘A Gimmicky Solution’. The ending launched so much new information at us that I can’t cover everything, but I have addressed those errors in plot, themes, tone, and characterisation that disappointed me most.

Looking over the 2017 Bessatsu Shonen interview with Isayama again, it came as a slap to the face. While we always knew Isayama was considering changing his original, darker ending to a happier one, it was unclear until now what the original ending entailed. 

But given the way Isayama describes it, it’s abundantly clear that the original ending was exactly what we had been made to expect since the moment the Rumbling began. The plan Eren told Floch was the real deal.

your condom breaks

you feel a lump on your breast

your friends are ignoring you

you’re stranded on an island 

you got rejected by a crush

you get into a car accident

you got stung by a bee/wasp

you got fired from your job

you’re in an earthquake

your tattoo gets infected

your house is on fire

you’re lost in the woods

you get arrested abroad

you get robbed

your partner cheated on you

you’re on a ship that’s sinking

you fall into ice

you’re stuck in an elevator

you hit a deer with your car

you have food poisoning

your pet passed away

you fall off of a horse

you or your friend has alcohol poisoning

you have toxic shock syndrome

Before you go, would you like to know how Wangji got those discipline whip scars and branding on him?

“…It was because of me?”

do they actually move toward what they desire? how far are they willing to go for it? do they pursue their desires directly or indirectly? do they acquire what they desire through force, trickery, or negotiation? do they tell themselves they aren't supposed to feel desire and suppress it? does the suppressed desire wither away and die, or does it mutate and grow even stronger? is the initially expressed desire actually an inadequate and poorly translated different desire that they lack language for? does the desire change once the language has been updated, or when new experiences outline the desire more clearly? do they want something else once they have better words for it, or once they know that they definitely don't want something they thought they wanted before?

how does the world accommodate those desires? what does the world present to your character and in what order to update and clarify their desires? how does your magic system or sci-fi device correspond to those desires and the pursuit of them?

The enemy is there.