Pieck’s Cart

In 2011, Isayama wrote this on his blog:

http://blog.livedoor.jp/isayamahazime/archives/5193783.html

人が本当にやりたいことっていうのは、お金を稼ぐことだったり

将来役に立つ事だったりといった、生きるのに必要な蓄えを増やす事じゃない

（たぶんそれらは「やらなきゃいけないこと」だから）

人が本当にやりたいことには、意味がないことだったり何の役にもたたないこと、

儲からないし何の見返りもないけど、でもやるんだよと言って飲まず食わず寝ず

誰からも褒められずにやってしまうこと、それが本当にやりたい事だ」と

ただ、生きるのに必要以上にお金を稼ごうとする行為は「やらなきゃいけないこと」ではないので

それは「やりたいこと」かもしれませんね、

必要ないことをやるという行為には、反生物的な美意識を感じます、

それは生命維持や種の繁殖といった全生物に組み込まれた命令に背く行為だからです、

これに逆らうことで自分が有機物で作られた機械ではないことを証明し、

自分の中にある魂というものの存在が確認できるのだと思います、

What humans truly want to do is not increasing one’s savings, things that are essential for life or useful for one’s future (the reason we don’t want to do these things is precisely because they are things we have to do).

What humans truly want to do are meaningless things that aren’t useful at all. Things that aren’t profitable with no reward, but we do them anyway. Not drinking or eating or sleeping. Things we truly want to do, we do without being praised.

However making more money than is necessary to live is not essential for life either, so in a way, it’s also something humans want to do.

When humans do these meaningless things, I feel like it’s a beautiful act of going against our biology. Because it violates our genetic code - the commands built into all living things that order us to survive and propagate. When we fight against it, we’re proving that we’re not just machines built from organic matter. It allows us to see within us the existence of our soul.

—end of translation

This was essentially the meaning of Zeke and Armin’s conversation in 137. Armin agreed with Zeke that life is meaningless and humans are constantly struggling to survive and propagate for no reason. But he reminded him that meaningless moments like running to a tree or playing catch allows us to see the human soul within us - that we’re not just machines mindlessly reproducing.

Remember at the festival in Liberio, Pieck was complimenting Yelena’s goatee? I was reading through the manga in Japanese and found something interesting.

In Japanese there are a few different ways to describe facial hair. These words are not interchangeable

“髭” describes a full beard, like Zackley or Zeke or Erwin’s dad for example. Levi calls Zeke by this word: ‘beardy’

“髯” describes a moustache, like Nile or Pixis for example

“鬚” describes a goatee, like Jean or Yelena in disguise, for example

So when Pieck showed interest in Yelena’s goatee, she was using the same word to describe Jean’s facial hair.

Now that the series is over, I’ve started reading through Isayama’s blog from the very beginning (2009) just to see what his mindset is like throughout the years.

I found out that the person who inspired Isayama to leave his hometown and become a mangaka is the movie critic, Machiyama Tomohiro. Isayama has listened to Machiyama’s podcasts religiously; he's listened to each one at least 2-3 times. He ended up meeting and working together with him on the live-action movies in 2015 (Machiyama was hired as the screenwriter).

The really interesting and funny thing is just how much Isayama loves this guy. At an event, some mangaka were asked to draw their 'first love'. Isayama drew Machiyama Tomohiro:

The Japanese fandom noticed at the time that he looks suspiciously similar to Xavier...

It turns out that Isayama loves him so much that he based Xavier, Hange and Zeke's characters off him. This is from Machiyama's twitter:

1st tweet: The last chapter of Shingeki no Kyojin was like the ending of Terrence Malick's Tree of Life. Thank you for your work, Isayama-sensei.

2nd tweet: Come to think of it, I made an appearance, too.

From Gekkan Shingeki no Kyojin Official Figure Collection 10:

ハンジには、｢アメリカ在住の映画評論家、町山智浩さんみたいな人だ｣という明確なイメージがあります”

“町山さんを知っている人なら、きっと｢ああ、なるほど｣と言ってくれるはず”

2016年01月 月刊進撃の巨人 公式フィギュアコレクションVol.10

"Hange is like the movie critic Machiyama Tomohiro currently living in America. If someone is familiar with Machiyama, I'm sure they will understand what I mean."

Also from Machiyama's twitter:

1st tweet: When I met Director Araki of the anime the other day, he told me, "Isayama said he based Zeke off you." I think I answered kind of flippantly, like, "Ok, that's cool." But is it Hange that's based off me, or is it Zeke? Come to think of it, isn't Hange a woman?

2nd tweet: It seems I've been split into many different characters.

So I decided to go looking for what exactly is it about this guy that Isayama took inspiration from. There is not much information about him in English. Despite the fact that he lives in California, he tweets in Japanese and is very famous in Japan. He is known for being very intelligent, well-read and eccentric. He's also known for being gay, single and childless at the age of 58. He is vocal about LGBT issues in both America and Japan. He is left-leaning politically - he went around interviewing trump supporters in a kind of tongue-in-cheek mocking way.

I listened to some of his podcasts in Japanese that Isayama posted and noticed Machiyama speaks quite quickly and excitedly and can be hard to understand at times lol. He has read a lot of books - he reviews films in his podcasts but he always references classic literature and is very smart and knowledgeable about many subjects. When hearing him talk, I can definitely understand how eccentric characters like Hange and Zeke are based off him!