Attack on Titan has caused world-spanning controversy with its infamous ending chapter – but how does it affect the voice actors playing the part? Apparently, the decisions that Attack on Titan creator Hajime Isayama made about ending the series have been as deeply felt by the actors who voice the characters in the anime as they have the fans who experienced it in the manga. Case in point: Eren Yeager voice actor Yuki Kaji recently gave an interview, where he related the experience of having to act out the final story arc for Eren – and just how much it affected him, emotionally.
In the interview, Kaji was asked what some of the most memorable moments of performance had been in his career, and the final arc of Eren Yeager’s story clearly ranked at the top. However, in the case of Attack on Titan, the term “memorable” doesn’t necessarily mean “good.”
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“Eren’s words of regret when he is going to kill someone in the final part,” Kaji offered as his most memorable vocal performance. “Conflicts divide us into ‘friends and the other people’, but the other people also have their own lives. I realized that again when he said “I’m sorry,” with tears in his eyes. It was really hard for me to understand his feelings so painfully.
For the voice actors, crying scenes are fine as long as they sound like they are crying. But this time, I really couldn’t stop crying. I was so with his feelings that I had to interrupt the recording. It was a shocking experience for me, both as a performer and as an experience in my life as a voice actor. I had never done anything like that before. I will forget the joy of becoming one with the role and the pain of knowing he did that.”
(WARNING: ATTACK ON TITAN SPOILERS FOLLOW!)
The penultimate episode of Attack on Titan’s anime series, “The Final Chapters (Part One)” revealed the horrible moment when Eren Yeager’s apocalyptic attack on the world, The Rumbling, finally reaches the overseas shores of human civilizations, and wipes them out entirely.
It was previously revealed that due to the powers of the Future and Attack Titans within him, Eren has been able to see both past and future events of his lifetime all at once. Well, as The Rumbling unfolded it becomes clear that Eren foresaw all the horrible death and destruction he would unleash – down to a full-circle story vignette about the young boy Ramzi. When the Survey Corps previously infiltrated Marley, the intervened in a mob trying to hurt Ramzi, when he was pick-pocketing people at the harbor. Even though Eren saves Ramzi from being beaten by a mob, his clairvoyant powers let him know even back then what Ramzi’s ultimate fate would be: being horrifically crushed by a Colossal Titan’s foot, during the Rumbling. Eren broke down and cried to Ramzi at the moment he saw the future, begging the boy’s forgiveness.
The weight of what Eren has done has (for better or worse) cemented Attack on Titan‘s legacy as one of the most shocking and debated finales of any series, in any medium.
Attack on Titan “The Final Chapters (Part Two)” will arrive this year.
