All good things must come to an end and that was certainly the case with Attack on Titan. Following its earth-shattering run, the story of the Scout Regiment blew anime fans’ minds. While creator Hajime Isayama has been adamant that a sequel series was not in the works for the series, this hasn’t stopped the mangaka from revisiting his universe. Attack on Titan: Bad Boy was released as a part of a new art book in Japan, following Levi’s earlier years, in a story that Isayama made for the fans.
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In focusing on Levi, Isayama took the chance to tell new stories for one of the franchise’s most popular characters. When asked what it was like to draw the Survey Corps regiment, Hajime had this to say, “There was a moment when I wondered what Levi would have sounded like when he was about ten years old, but other than that, I was able to draw him fairly easily.”
The Bad Boy Returns
In a new interview, Hajime Isayama discussed how his meeting the fans of his series helped in creating the new short story focusing on Levi’s early days, “If with the American it was ‘Yay!’, with the French fans it was like ‘Hmmm, I see.’, as I was impressed by their close way of talking to me. By attending the Angouleme International Comics Festival, that’s when it came to my mind to draw a one-shot for this art book. However, when I saw the reactions still continued even after finishing the series, I was worried that my creation was not progressing as I had hoped. The turning point for me was the live interview at this event. There were so many French fans watching, I felt like I was a child sitting next to the senpais in the high school.”
Isayama continued, “I thought, ‘Will I be boring? Will they come to this place not known as Attack on Titan?’ So when I was speaking during this live interview, I noticed that some people were disillusioned because the manga already ended. So I rethought it and said: ‘Maybe I could draw manga again.’ and that’s when people’s faces lit up. This was the reason why I did “Bad Boy” for this art book.”
Want to see if more Attack on Titan stories arrive in the future? Follow along with Team Anime on ComicBook for all the latest news on the Scout Regiment.
