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Are you reading Hajime Isayama’s Attack on Titan? Its popularity is mounting and not only in Japan - sales of the graphic novel in America have hit the No. 1 spot and there is similar acclaim for the work in countries all over the world. Japanese manga fans are really surprised by the way it’s taking off. Similarly, the rising North American sales of No Matter How I Look at It, It's You Guys' Fault I'm Not Popular! are also surprising.
Well, it’s not just Attack on Titan itself, spin-offs have also begun to be published. A parody manga which shifts the stage to middle school, and a story about the past of Captain Levi, humanity’s strongest soldier, among others have all been released. Among these, the most conspicuously read is the prequel to the main Attack on Titan story, Attack on Titan: Before the Fall. It was first published as a light novel, but now a manga version by Ryo Suzukaze, the writer of the anime and game novelization, and Satoshi Shiki, the artist of Riot and Xblade, is also being published.
Issue 1 of the comic was released on Dec. 9, and Hajime Isayama made the following comment on the cover band:
“The world of the Titans is drawn with overwhelming skill in this manga.”
Facing your own insecurity about your skills brings its own kind of masochism. Though you may originally take a masochistic stance towards your own artwork on blogs, it doesn’t completely shake your style. The enjoyability and popularity of the manga are key, but from the point of view of the reader, maybe the author’s slight darkness or comical spirit overflowing with character is more interesting thing.
This is a Tokyo Otaku Mode original article written by usaco and translated by Hayley S.
