- Léa Salamé: Welcome, Hajime Isayama. Thank you for accepting our invitation, your words are rare. You give very few interviews and you can't imagine the torrent, the deluge of reactions that we received here, at Inter, when we announced your coming, especially among your many young fans. It's really amazing. It must be said that you are the Japanese author of one of the most outstanding works of the last ten years, the multi award-winning phenomenon series, "Attack of the Titans", of which the 34 volumes have been sold in more than 100,000 copies worldwide, including 6 million in France. And you are in Paris today, just passing through. I specify that it is the first time of your life that you come in Europe. You have just arrived in France for the 50th edition of the International Comics Festival of Angoulême, which is organizing a monumental exhibition on your series. The tickets for the exhibition sold out in a few minutes, the switchboard almost exploded. It must be said that France is the 2nd country of manga after Japan. Do you understand this French passion for manga, or are you surprised?
- Hajime Isayama: I understand that in France, it's a very important thing, the manga. But on the other hand, I don't know the reason.
- L.Salamé: This excitement of your French fans, the fact that you are expected like a rock star in Angoulême, does it amuse you, does it make you smile, or does it make you a little anxious?
- H.Isayama: It's an honor. But however, I am not a rock star, that must be said.
- L.Salamé: You don't feel like a rock star.
- H.Isayama: Not really.
- L.Salamé: What rock star are you a fan of, by the way?
- H.Isayama: Queen, for example, it's a band I was listening to.
- L.Salamé: How do you explain that manga, this art so Japanese, so symbolic of your local culture, there is nothing more Japanese than manga, touches so many people in the world? That it has become such a phenomenon? In France, but also everywhere in the world. In Italy, in the USA, everywhere, young people are rushing to the bookstores to buy manga. Did you understand why?
- H.Isayama: Again, I don't really have an explanation for the enthusiasm. But I'm really honored to see that people are so interested in this art.
- L.Salamé: Let's talk about "Attack on Titans", your great piece of work/magnum opus/masterpiece that you started to draw when you were 20 years old, 16 years ago. Did you imagine at the time that the story of this community of humans entrenched behind the huge walls of their city(ies) to protect themselves from terrible titans, who only think of devouring them, would have such a repercussion? That it would last 12 years? That you would make 34 volumes and that its adaptation in animated movies would be one of the biggest successes of Netflix?
- H.Isayama: Not at all. When I started writing, I expected for 80% that it would be stopped in the middle. So I didn't imagine that I would make a living writing manga. I think this fact alone is a success in my eyes.
- L.Salamé: Where did you get the idea for this very dark, very violent story about these humans who resist against the threat of titans? Was this your vision of the world when you were 20 years old, when you started? You were very young.
- H.Isayama: How I saw the world, that's not really the subject. Anyway, that's not where I got my inspiration, but just that I thought it was an interesting subject. And I thought it would be a subject that would be engaging for the readers.
- L.Salamé: It must be said that you were born in a small town in the Japanese countryside surrounded by mountains. You grew up in this confined environment wondering, as a child, if monsters from the mountains would attack you. This confined childhood, it oppressed you, it suffocated you.
- H.Isayama: Yes, I certainly think there is an influence from that side. My hometown was really surrounded by mountains and it was really like an island on earth in a way. We didn't have any contact with other people. And growing up in an environment like that had a big impact on me.
- L.Salamé: And in your work, what we can read, indeed, in your work. You also say that you felt different when you were a child. How different? And did it make you suffer or, on the contrary, was it a driving force for you, this difference?
- H.Isayama: I'm speaking on a personal basis. We have these Japanese ideograms that we use and I was very bad at learning them. And even now, as an adult, I am still not very good at this writing. Other people are able to learn it very easily. Me, every time I have to write, I look at my smartphone, actually, to remember all these kanji. I felt like I was actually a bit of a dunce, and I've felt that since my entire childhood/and I felt that throughout my childhood.
- L.Salamé: And today, do you still think so?
- H.Isayama: Yes, there are things that I know how to do and things that I don't know how to do, and it's quite extreme the gap between these two things.
- L.Salamé: The idea of creating these titans, these terrible, frightening monsters, would have come to you, I read, would have come to you one evening when you were a waiter in a cybercafé. You had been assaulted by a customer who was totally drunk and you said; "Human beings can be the most familiar, but also the most frightening animals in the world." Do you think, in fact, like the philosopher Hobbes, that man is a wolf to man? This is really at the heart of your work when we read it, until the end, which is incredible.
- H.Isayama: Yes, in this cybercafe, I had this very striking experience for me. It was in the district of Ikebukuro. It's really a popular area and there are a lot of people. It was really late and there were a lot of drunken customers. They were people I couldn't communicate with and it was something that was very tiring. Sometimes I could hardly go to work just thinking about it.
- L.Salamé: And it is also an inspiration of what we see...
- H.Isayama: Yes, because there were customers who could be very angry, and and I thought; "What's going to happen when they come back?" For example, if there's, let's say, a tiger in the city, if we run into the house and lock the door, the tiger can't follow us. But, in fact, a human being can open the door, can also have a knife in his hands. And it is there, in fact, that I say to myself the human being is more frightening than an animal, than a tiger.
- L.Salamé: And what also amazes in this "Attack on Titans", it's the complexity of your characters. They are sometimes victims, sometimes traitors, sometimes defenders, sometimes persecutors, sometimes on the side of good, sometimes on the side of evil. They escape, in fact, any Manicheism. Why? Because for you, deep down, fundamentally, the world is tragic? You are a pessimist, a great pessimist, H.Isayama?
- H.Isayama: Personally, I'm more of an optimist. And I think that human beings, actually, we are formed by making mistakes. In "Attack on Titans", there is this story, of course. Every time, my motivation is, I think, that it will be more interesting, that the story will be more convincing, if I write it that way. We talk about Manichaeism, and so I thought that a hero who would be completely perfect, who would be completely good, would not be interesting.
- L.Salamé: A word about Eren, your hero, the most important hero of this series. What did you have in mind when you wrote this character? What did you want to say behind him? What is he for you if you had to summarize him?
- H.Isayama: Well, that's a question I'm asked and I've been thinking about it for a long time. But I think he's a character that reflects the bad side of me. So the whole story goes to the fact that I have to get rid of, to kill these bad parts of me.
- L.Salamé: The last chapter of the series was published in 2021. Was it a relief to end a project that occupied you for more than ten years? Did it depress you? Can you live without your heroes, without Eren, without your titans? Or do you miss them sometimes?
- H.Isayama: Right after the end, it's true that I felt how I couldn't really get out all my strength and that's why I felt a bit bad, let's say. But after that, I also think I did my best and I am satisfied.
- L.Salamé: Yet you said before a panel of readers a few days ago in New York; "I still have doubts about myself. Did I succeed? I'm not even sure." Really? You still have doubts despite the huge success you had?
- H.Isayama: Yes, but well, I was able to go to New York, I am now in Paris, I believe that we can still speak about a success.
- L.Salamé: Well, yes!
- H.Isayama: laughs
- L.Salamé: But you also say; "I always have the impression that my work is not deepened enough, especially when I compare it to the science fiction universe of my artist friends." We know the humility of the Japanese, but, with you, it's still... You go very, very far in this form of humility?!
- H.Isayama: Well, I see the people who are ten years older than me, 20 years older than me, who have opened, in fact, the field of science fiction and who have a very deep thought about this universe. And so, when I see all these people who are on another level* and who have an incredible rating, let's say that, for me, I don't compare myself in the same standard as them. And that's why I say that for me I'm not at the same level as them.
*on another level (d'un autre niveau): in the interview, we hear "de notre niveau" (of our level) and it is transcribed that way, but it's also likely that the translator's tongue slipped, as the two groups of words are pronounced the same with one syllable difference, and given the context, "on another level" ("d'un autre niveau") seems more likely.
- L.Salamé: H.Isayama, could you one day do a sequel to "Attack on Titans", or is it over, over, over?
- H.Isayama: A sequel is impossible. It's a work that is completely finished/over.
- L.Salamé: Is it true that you look at the comments on your books, on the social networks, that you communicate with your fans, that you answer them?
- H.Isayama: There is no exchange with my fans. But it's true that on my side, in anonymity, I look at the reviews and, after, sometimes I'm happy, sometimes I'm sad.
- L.Salamé: But you still manage to take some distance?
- H.Isayama: Yes, it's true that, at first, I was sometimes very shocked by what I read. And then, as I was confronted with these criticisms, I ended up getting stronger.
- L.Salamé: What advice would you give today to a young person who would like to make mangas, who would like to start in comics or in mangas? Would you say to him; "You have to be Japanese first to make mangas, otherwise you won't succeed"?
- H.Isayama: No, manga, it's not something that is reserved for Japanese people. But, on the other hand, in Japan, there is really, in fact, an incredible competition concerning this field. There is a big population*. And it is because of this competition that we can have incredible works in manga. But I think it's not really the Japanese cultural origin that will do everything for manga.
*"population": I think that also here the translator's tongue has slipped again. More likely it is the word "competition" and not "population". The two words are the same in French and in English, except for one accent: "compétition" and "population". But I could be wrong.
- L.Salamé: Last question. Do you still have dreams today? You are 36 years old, you made this worldwide success, "Attack on Titans", 100.000 copies sold. Are there still dreams you have to accomplish? Things you have to do?
- H.Isayama: My dream, concerning all that is manga, for the moment, I don't have any. After that, for example, I would like to make a sauna with my own hands.
- L.Salamé: A sauna?!
- H.Isayama: Yes, a sauna (laughs). In Japan, there are many saunas. We have hot springs and saunas. And after, also, always the cold water pool. And that's it. So, I want to recreate this environment, quite simply.
- L.Salamé: Do you have a message for your French fans? What is France for you?
- H.Isayama: For me, it's really the other side of the world, from my Japanese point of view. And there is a whole history that is completely different from Japan. And in spite of everything, it is a people who like Japanese manga a lot and it is an honor.
- L.Salamé: Are you happy to be in France, for the first time in your life?
- H.Isayama: Yes, I am very happy. I am very happy to have been invited and it is an honor to be in France.
- L.Salamé: We'll see you at the Angoulême International Comics Festival. Thank you very much, H.Isayama. Thank you for being our guest this morning on France Inter.
- H.Isayama: Thank you very much. It was an honor to answer this interview. And it will also be an honor to be able to meet with my French fans at the festival.
END OF THE INTERVIEW.