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[momtaku]

why do you think that some people can't accept that levi used the titan serum on armin instead of erwin because he was being considerate towards erwin (letting him rest, setting him "free")?🤔 like why is serum bowl even a thing?🤔🤔 what's there to argue about?😭🖐 levi made the decision not to use the serum on erwin cuz he didn't wanna "drag erwin back into hell". like levi looks at armin in the face and tells him that he can't replace erwin. i feel the reasoning behind levi's choice was portrayed very clearly in the story... there is no debate brought up about morality or whose dream has more "worth" or is more "pure" (unless im remembering the story wrong).

is it the fact that a choice had to be made? and that people are trying to justify levi's choice and spin it into something noble and righteous? levi seems to have that kind of upstanding-hero reputation in the aot world (cuz eren was kinda taken back after interacting w levi the first time 🤣). does levi have to be this faultless, virtuous hero to even us, the readers?😭

Same, friend, same :) I'm also very much here because I thought yes, it made sense and the reasoning was quite clearly laid out, I don't understand why it's so not comprehensible, and started trying to unwind what could be the factors and stumbling blocks to it.

I think you hit the nail on the head for the reasons in recent times, but in the earlier days, I do think that the reasoning was mostly because Levi chose Armin and therefore Armin must be better, because dying was for the losing party, and then outlining the reasons why Armin must have been the better choice and why Erwin wasn't because of that. I really think that it really boils down to making Levi's choice out to be something logical, or like you say, noble and righteous. As the currently popular argument I believe is that Levi would always put humanity first, it does seem to be the fear that Levi could actually be a flawed and imperfect individual with weaknesses, and the fact that he might have put Erwin first a thought too horrible to consider XDD

Thank you for your ask! :)

[momtaku]

Is it possible that Levi felt like he was made a fool/clown by Erwin? Especially because, upon reflection, Zack didn't even need to be killed by Levi, as he surrendered. Thinking of Levi as a jester hurts me, but it seems real.

Not possible. For one, Zeke did in fact need to be killed since his life was powering Eren's Attack Titan. Zeke surrendered to Levi, but that didn't negate that Levi needed to kill him nor his satisfaction in doing so.

The idea of Levi being made to feel foolish by Erwin is so completely at odds with everything I know about the story, and Levi and Erwin's relationship. I think his moment of peace at the end, speaks volumes. He finished the mission. He made their sacrifices worth it. He made them proud. In fact, he only character I recall who ever made Levi feel foolish was Eren. In chapter 112 he reflected on the number of times he saved Eren, only to be betrayed by him. He called believing in Eren a joke and farce.

Thanks for the ask! I hope this answers your question.

[momtaku]

Hi mom, it's been a while!!! I hope you've had a very merry Christmas~ <3

~ Hangs head in shame ~ Thank you dear anon. I hope you did as well <333 My holiday was relaxing and lovely for the most part. Because I am a perfectly normal reasonable grown up adult person I spent nearly the entire time building one of those miniature kits so my shingeki kitties would have a cute place to stay.

There's nothing like getting to the end of 46 pages of instruction and still having dozens of mystery parts remaining, but I think it came out super cute and my home office feels happier for it. Thanks for the message, and sorry for the delay in answering <3 I hope the cute kitty pics make up for it.

[momtaku]

Hi mom!

It's really surreal that SnK has come to an end, both manga and anime. I just came here to tell you that it was a joy to follow all of it through your posts, analysis, podcasts and various memes. (Voice meme was my favourite).

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this series. Now, I only have seen little about that little booklet releasing next year, but will you share your thoughts on the chapter as well like the "old times"?

Wishing you and your family all the best, and some very nice holidays ♥

Hello old friend! Thank you for this lovely message and sorry for the delay in answering. It's been a joy sharing the series with you as well. Yours is a name that always makes me smile 💕💕💕 I do want to share my thoughts on the upcoming chapter! Maybe we can do a short podcast episode for old times sake. The thing is, my absence from tumblr and the series isn't a lack on interest, because even with the series concluded, it feels like there are still things going on that I'd love to talk about. I just can't seem to find the time. I'm still catching up on the Attack on Titan Anniversary Festival that just concluded in Yokohama, Japan, for instance. I'm so grateful to those who've stuck with the series and are translating and sharing and reporting. I know it's late, but I hope you also had a lovely holiday and a happy New Year! And thank you again for thinking of me.

[momtaku]

I saw the ask about No Regrets and it reminded me of this question I’ve tried to find an answer to for years but could never find. Sorry if the wording is weird, it’s hard to type out because asking and explaining my question is difficult

Did the author of No Regrets get permission to use characters from Isayama? Or was it just a fan made thing that wasn’t canon and just something created for fun?

What’s always been weird to me is it actually got ADAPTED. Like it wasn’t created by Isayama or even canon in the series yet, but Wit animated it. It was published in September 2013, animated in December 2014 and April 2015, and THEN chapter 69 came out in May.

Did Isayama even have a backstory for Levi? Did he see No Regrets and decide to give Levi a backstory and make it canon? I have no idea how far ahead Isayama even planned aot back then because I 1) had no idea of aot’s existence, and 2) wasn’t there when the manga was released back in 2013-2015.

For the new chapter we’re getting for Levi, do we know how many pages it’ll be? Will it have the same amount of pages as a normal chapter, or be shorter or longer?

Isayama authorized the No Regrets manga and visual story. You might find this post interesting as it contains an interview with Isayama and Hikaru Suruga (the No Regrets artist) as well as words by the author, Gun Snark (Gan Sunaaku). No Regrets was one of 6 visual novels/mangas that were release by various authors in the 2013-2015 times frame . All with Isayama's permission. There was a huge explosion of authorized material during those years, including the Smart Pass content, A Spoof on Titan, Attack on Titan Junior High, Before the Fall and so on. The list is really endless.

My opinion on the why of it all is that Isayama has talked about how he was convinced in those early years that each chapter would be his last. He was in constant fear of cancellation. He's also mentioned his long work days, the stress, and how little sleep he was getting. Writing and illustration 46 pages a month was a more-than-full-time job for Isayama and he was stretched entirely too thin. When the series exploded in popularity, there was a desire for more and tons of money to be made, but Isayama didn't have the time to produce anything beyond what he was doing. Thus the collaborations started. With No Regrets, Isayama provided guidelines as to what he envisioned for Levi's backstory. I can't find proof of that, but I do recall reading that he provided the general idea. It was a very limited scope, which is why he's able to produce Bad Boy now. He had a vision for Levi, but no time to develop it so he allowed No Regrets to cover a small period of time. I believe Bad Boy is only going to be 18 pages, but I'l very excited for it. I can't wait to see what Isayama can do when he isn't dealing with strict deadlines. Thanks for the ask! I hope this covered some of what you were interested in.

[momtaku]

Lostcauses Fic: Sealskin [Podfic]

Erwin's sketch book by @seitsen-sarvi.

Erwin is an environmental scientist, a driven man on a mission to save the world. His research does not normally involve fieldwork, and it certainly does not normally involve spending six months of the year at the university’s field station on a remote island in the North Atlantic, with only seals for company. But the solitude of the island and a chance encounter with a curious stranger bring a profound revelation.

A podfic written and read by LostCauses, loosely based on Maurice Lindsay's 1946 short story Sealskin Trousers.

Listen and download at eruri.org/sealskin.

With enormous thanks to @seitsen-sarvi for the beautiful art and @momtaku for whatever the audio equivalent of beta is ♡

[momtaku]

Hi mom, thank you for your answer! Now don't get me wrong, I know Levi is a fan favourite with an interestning arc, I just don't understand why Yams is digging his heels regarding showing a little attention to the other veterans. Like Erwin and Hange weren't extra character #35 and #45, thet are/were fan favourites aswell. It just seems odd. Moving on, I read the translation to the bonus pages and jesus...Levi's story just gets more tragic with every pen stroke.

Doesn't it though? I can't wait to be gutted. We got Kenny's version of Levi's childhood in chapter 69 so it will be interesting to see how Levi's version compares.

Thanks for the conversation. I'd almost forgotten how to post on this app so this was fun. Take care!

[momtaku]

What could Isayama possibly convey in this bonus chapter that wasn't already covered in "no regrets"? In my hunble opinion, if he wanted to writhe about someones childhood, I think the fandom would bankrupt themselves for a story about Hange or Erwin.

Oh for sure. He's had opportunities to expand about Hange and Erwin beyond what's already canon, but he so far hasn't budged.

At the signing event in Oita 5 years ago, someone asked about Erwin's mother. Isayama's reply was that he hadn't thought about her before that moment. Then I was at Anime NYC for Isayama's panel last year when the question was asked about Hange's backstory. Rather than give us a canon crumb, Isayama launched into a story he'd already told about how Hange was based on a weird childhood friend.

I don't know if Isayama truly has never thought about these things, but like I said in the earlier ask, I'm always hopeful we'll get more. Isayama is still young, he has a long career ahead of him, and as you mentioned, an established and highly motivated fanbase.

The only character he's consistently mentioned having more to talk about is Levi. No Regrets was written by Gun Snark and really only covers Levi's entry into the Survey Corps. I agree we already have a healthy amount of information about Levi, but I'm not one to complain about more. We've seen 4 of 18 pages which seem to be dealing with the aftermath of his mother's death, but who knows what else is covered. I'm sure we will get a little insight into Falco and Gabi post rumbling as well.

Thanks for the ask!

[momtaku]

I should've waited one day to answer this. There's a new video on Shingeki Fly's twitter that provides a look at the new manga volume, the artbook and the merch that comes with the package. It looks amazing. I'm so glad I ordered!!

I ordered from Rakuten using Buyee, but it looks like it's back in stock on Amazon Japan which makes ordering super simple.

You think its still worth buying eventhough its all in japanese? I guess I could just google translate everything lol ?

I debated this too. In the end I ordered Shingeki Fly because I wasn't convinced there would be an official english version of Volume 35 and I want it for my collection. I really don't care about the other items like the scarf, key, or colored final chapter. I've never been a huge fan of the official colored manga pages.

There's an artbook included as part of Shingeki Fly. I own earlier SnK artbooks, but those were released by the anime studios, not Isayama, so I have no idea what to expect from that. Since artbooks are mostly illustrations I guess it doesn't matter what language it's in.

I dunno anon. I felt like I'd regret not getting it. And with the series ending, it's nice to have something fun to look forward to in a few months. Like many Japanese things, Shingeki Fly is pre-order, so there's no deciding later.

Thanks for the ask!

[momtaku]

idk what exactly is gonna be in the new chapter, but one thing i know for sure is that im gonna cry

You and me both, friend ❤️

What most excites me about Volume 35 is that it might be an indication that Isayama has stories left to tell. In that interview with the New York Times he expressed how he was a slave to the ending despite at times wanting to go in other directions. Now with the anime complete, he's finally free. I really am optimistic that this won't be the last side story we get.

Thanks for the ask!

[momtaku]

You think its still worth buying eventhough its all in japanese? I guess I could just google translate everything lol ?

I debated this too. In the end I ordered Shingeki Fly because I wasn't convinced there would be an official english version of Volume 35 and I want it for my collection. I really don't care about the other items like the scarf, key, or colored final chapter. I've never been a huge fan of the official colored manga pages.

There's an artbook included as part of Shingeki Fly. I own earlier SnK artbooks, but those were released by the anime studios, not Isayama, so I have no idea what to expect from that. Since artbooks are mostly illustrations I guess it doesn't matter what language it's in.

I dunno anon. I felt like I'd regret not getting it. And with the series ending, it's nice to have something fun to look forward to in a few months. Like many Japanese things, Shingeki Fly is pre-order, so there's no deciding later.

Thanks for the ask!

[momtaku]

Mom I'm a bit confused. What is volume 35 going to be about?

It will be a new mini volume of 18 pages that comes bundled with the Shingeki Fly artbook. . Four pages and the cover have been shared.

Going by what's been seen, it seems to pick up right where the anime left off. Levi is together with Gabi and Falco. The leaked pages indicate he's telling the story of his childhood.

Thanks for the ask!

[momtaku]

By Rafael Motamayor, New York Times, Nov. 5, 2023

On Saturday, the final episode of the anime adaptation of Hajime Isayama’s “Attack on Titan” premiered on Crunchyroll and Hulu, ending an epic tale that started back in 2013.

Like the manga, which ran from 2009 to 2021, the anime was an instant hit, becoming one of the defining shows of the modern anime era, with spinoffs, live-action and video game adaptations, and even a comic book crossover with Marvel’s “Spider-Man” and “Avengers” titles.

Since the fourth and final season started airing in 2020, “Attack on Titan” has been one of the most popular shows on the internet — episodes have routinely trended on social media, streaming servers have occasionally crashed, the opening theme song became a rare anime song to hit the U.S. Billboard charts. Parrot Analytics said it was the most “in-demand” show in the world in 2021, a metric based on analysis of streaming, social media, search and other online behaviors. The manga has continued to be popular as well, selling over 120 million copies worldwide, and several of the published volumes have charted on the New York Times graphic novels and manga best-seller list.

What started as a thrilling yet relatively simple tale of a young boy seeking revenge against the giant humanoid monsters that ate his mother quickly evolved into a thought-provoking war epic. The tonal shift in “Attack on Titan” also came with one of the biggest heel-turns in modern anime, with the protagonist, Eren Jaeger, devolving into a radicalized monster threatening worldwide genocide.

Since the manga ended in 2021, there has been plenty of speculation and debate over Eren’s antagonistic turn and what the story’s ending means. Ahead of the release of the final episode, the manga creator Hajime Isayama, speaking through an interpreter, David Higbee, talks about the restrictive nature of writing and the story’s dark ending. These are edited excerpts from the interview.

The manga ended a couple of years ago, and the anime is just finishing now. How do you feel about the story coming to an end?

For this anime to be made and for that to go beyond the borders of Japan and to reach a worldwide audience is something that’s been a very happy occurrence for me. In a sense, “Attack on Titan” has connected me to the world, and that’s something that I’m very glad happened.

How much of the ending from the manga did you have in mind when you first began writing “Attack on Titan”? And how much did it change along the way?

That was pretty much there from the beginning, the story that starts with the victim who then goes through this story and becomes the aggressor. That is something I had in mind right from the get-go. Along the way, certain aspects of the story didn’t go as expected, and I adapted and fleshed out certain aspects. But I would say the ending of the story didn’t change much

There’s a much-talked-about scene where Armin, who is struggling with Eren’s turn into a mass murderer, seems to thank him for his actions. Can you talk about the meaning behind that conversation?

My thinking there wasn’t really that Armin was trying to push Eren away for the sake of justice or whatnot. It was more that he wanted to, in a sense, take joint responsibility. He wanted to become an accomplice. In order to become an accomplice, Armin had to make sure that he used very strong wording so that he could take those sins upon himself. And so that was the intent behind it.

You have a scene where Eren apologizes to a kid for the carnage he’s going to commit and says he was disappointed in the world he saw beyond the walls. What does that say about his motivation?

I think that refers to the fact that Eren was dreaming of going to this world outside of the walls where there was nobody and there was nothing. There was an excitement about this world that was just empty, a clean slate. I don’t really know whether that’s a good or a bad thing, and I don’t really know why that was the ideal that I set up for Eren as a part of this story. But what I can say is that, when he does get across the wall at that point, he says he sees that the world is really not that different from what’s within the walls in the world that he already knows. I believe that’s probably the disappointment that I’m referring to in that specific scene.

Eren says in the final episode of the anime that he had no choice but to follow the future that he saw, that he was powerless against the powers of the Founding Titan. Armin even asks if he’s really free. Was he telling the truth or do you see this as him telling an excuse?

So the truth is the situation with Eren actually overlaps in a certain sense with my own story with this manga. When I first started this series, I was worried that it would probably be canceled. It was a work that no one knew about. But I had already started the story with the ending in mind. And the story ended up being read and watched by an incredible number of people, and it led to me being given a huge power that I didn’t quite feel comfortable with.

It would have been nice if I could have changed the ending. Writing manga is supposed to be freeing. But if I was completely free, then I should have been able to change the ending. I could have changed it and said I wanted to go in a different direction. But the fact is that I was tied down to what I had originally envisioned when I was young. And so, manga became a very restrictive art form for me, similar to how the massive powers that Eren acquired ended up restricting him.

You have been involved in the anime production for a little while, supervising the adaptation’s storyboards, and have been known for asking for changes to the story in the adaptation. Did you personally ask for anything for the final episode?

Yes. Absolutely. I checked the script, but the main thing was the storyboards. There were different things I suggested. When it comes down to it, it’s really the role of the production to make those decisions. But I wanted to at least give my input so that they could take those into account when they were making the final decisions.

The manga ends with you showing the future of Paradis and sort of the cycle of war continuing. Is there no end to the conflict and the cycle you present in the story?

I guess there could have been an ending where it was a happy ending and the war ended and everything was fine and dandy. I guess that could have been possible. At the same time, the end of fighting and the end of contention itself kind of seems hokey. It kind of seems like it’s not even believable. It’s just not plausible in the world we’re living in right now. And so, sadly, I had to give up on that kind of happy ending.

[New York Times, 5 November 2023]

[momtaku]

Levi

[momtaku]

Hey Prismo make marcy a big sis in another universe pls and thanks

ALSO guys this is for an INSTAGRAM likes contest to win a stand at an art fair, so any like and share THERE is appreciated very much, thank you! 💜💙

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by 🎨Ale M/Aleman/Al 🌈 DTIYS ongoing (@ale.man.art)

[momtaku]

Wanted to know your thoughts on the ending changes! I re-listened to your 139 discussion and it would be interesting to see your thoughts on it!

I asked Luna yesterday if we might be able to record a final episode but I don't think she's feeling it. I'll keep working on her.

The anime fixed a lot for me. I suspect in Eren and Armin's final conversation Isayama was able to clarify what he'd originally meant to convey in the manga. Armin offering to share responsibility for the rumbling rather than thanking Eren was far more palatable and made more sense for his character. I thought the anime did a better job of balancing Armin's confusion over Eren's action with his overwhelming love for him. And maybe that was the best change for me. I've never been a fan of Eren Jaeger, I'm still not, but I was entirely moved by both Armin and Mikasa's feelings for him. I can't believe I actually cried over Eren fucking Jaeger.

The changes to Levi's epilogue were perfect. I didn't mind the vagueness of the manga page of him and the kids with Onyankopon because it opened up so many possibilities, but him being active in the refugee camps was the improvement I didn't know I needed. I can't wait for Bad Boy to continue that in just a few short months.

And the treatment of the final pages.... my god that hit hard.

I watched the ending with my daughter who's been with the series since the beginning. When we started this journey she was 8. Back then I heavily redacted what she was allowed to watch, preferring to tell her the story since it was so grim. Now she's in college which makes my head spin to think about. But we watched together and laughed and cried and commented and screamed and I count that as yet another gift this series has given me.

Thanks for the ask!

[momtaku]