Attack on Titan creator Hajime Isayama gushes over Vinland Saga manga in joint interview

Makoto Yukimura (Vinland Saga mangaka) and Hajime Isayama (Attack on Titan mangaka) had their first ever joint interview. It was conducted by Natalie, one of Japan's most popular media companies. This interview was published on their official website on August 22, 2022. The two mangakas deeply appreciated each other's works and discussed a few things about their respective series.

This was an exciting interview that revealed their opinions on each others' works, their approach to the manga, and the thought process behind certain decisions. The details of the interview have been mentioned below.

Disclaimer: Sportskeeda claims no ownership of the media used in this article unless otherwise stated.

---

Joint interview reveals Attack on Titan mangaka's interest in Vinland Saga and the main character

The interview began with the mangakas introducing themselves. Hajime Isayama revealed that he came across Makoto Yukimura's work when he was in high school. He read a sci-fi story named Planetes, which sparked an interest in Yukimura's works, leading to him reading Vinland Saga eventually. Yukimura was quite happy to hear that Hajime Isayama liked his work.

Yukimura mentioned that the starting point of Vinland Saga was understanding whether or not humanity can abandon a concept like violence when it wasn't a crime to kill back in the day. This was his reason for choosing the Vikings as well. He intended to explore violence from the lens of a pre-Christian culture wherein violence was nothing out of the ordinary.

The Attack on Titan mangaka spoke about his series and mentioned how it was sometimes hard for him to control Eren. Yukimura agreed with Isayama and stated that sometimes the characters have a will of their own. Moments like these force the mangakas to almost fight against the very characters to tell their story.

Isayama also gave his opinions on his favorite character in Vinland Saga. The Attack on Titan mangaka said that he likes Thorfinn and added that he usually doesn't like a main character much. Thorfinn progressed in the series while constantly being divided between creation and destruction. Thorfinn's humane aspect makes this character fascinating, according to Isayama.

Yukimura's take on the manga was interesting as he believed the Vinland Saga anime was better than the manga. He urged the anime community to watch the anime before reading the manga.

According to the mangaka, the director and screenwriter had a better understanding of the series than the creator himself, and this helped in a few areas where the pace was a bit of an issue. The two mangakas went on to reveal some of the works that they liked. Yukimura was a big fan of My Dress-Up Darling, while Isayama liked Stranger Things. Isayama also stated his interest in watching videos where fans react to popular clips from Attack on Titan.