Attack on Titan Final Season Part 2 director Yuichiro Hayashi and CGI producer and layout designer Yuusuke Tannawa talked about the production of anime, Hajime Isayama’s involvement, fans, and more. The interview was shared on Pony Canyon’s official YouTube channel and is available to watch with English subtitles.
The animators touched upon the pressure of working on Attack on Titan. To Hayashi, time goes by much slower when Attack on Titan is airing, as every day is important. Constant retakes make the three months of broadcasting seem much longer and every hour is important. Tannawa agrees with this assessment, stating that they do more in a much shorter time period.
As far as the biggest challenge in MAPPA’s Attack on Titan so far goes, they both agree that it was The Rumbling. The central event of the final season was one of the main topics of discussion ever since the production of Part 2 started. Tannawa states that when they started working on the anime the event still wasn’t drawn in the manga but that the event was one of the main themes they were thinking about. “How to portray it, how to stage it, and how to show it”, he says and adds that they are still trying to figure it out and that he is still a little bit worried about how it will turn out. Hayashi adds that Eren’s Founding Titan form was also quite challenging since we never see it in motion in the manga. The work required a look of preparation and Hayashi states that they didn’t want to do a “rush job”. They jokingly mention Yelena’s iconic face scene, with Hayashi stating that his Kakegurui experience helped him become good at things like these.
Hajime Isayama’s involvement in Attack on Titan anime production
According to director Hayashi, the Attack on Titan mangaka Hajime Isayama checks every storyboard and gives feedback. While the first part was airing, Isayama was in the middle of writing the finale so his feedback was quick, but now that he has more time it doubled in size and it seems like checks everything closely. The feedback varies from “I’d like this to be fixed” to “This is great”. The sauna cut in the Paths flashback from episode 78 was one of the things that received great comments and Hayashi says it made him very happy.
Working with Yuki Kaji
Hayashi also commented on working with the voice cast, mainly Yuki Kaji who plays Eren. The director’s impression of Kaji’s Eren is that he is someone who knows the future and someone who is very perceptive. He portrays Eren as someone with suppressed emotions. Hayashi also mentions episode 80, in which Eren’s speech to all Eldians was shown, and says that they did quite a few takes, “so many that Kaji’s voice became hoarse”. The voice actor preciously tweeted that this was one of the hardest episodes for him to do.
Attack on Titan fans
Yuichiro Hayashi says that he is always surprised by the reactions from all over the world. Although there was a one-year break between Part 1 and 2, he is somewhat surprised by how excited the fans are. He says that whenever they release information on the official Twitter or website, the first comments they get are actually from overseas fans. Tannawa adds that he worked on other projects after the first part, but whenever he sees the flood of comments by the fans he is reminded that Attack on Titan is back on the air. To him, the reactions from fans are an encouragement that keeps him going, even when he is tired. Both agree that reactions are the best motivation.
As a final message to the fans, Hayashi states that The Rumbling is a halfway point but that more is coming later on. He can’t go into details but promises fans that there are many things to look forward to and that there will be more Sundays during which they’ll stay up to wait for a new episode. Yusuke Tannawa adds that they are all working hard and that the fans can expect many great things.
Attack on Titan Director Yuichiro Hayashi and CGI producer Yuusuke Tannawa – Full Interview
The full interview is available on PonyCanyon’s official channel and offers more interesting responses from the duo. They touched upon the opening and ending themes, iconic Yelena scene, battle scenes, flashbacks, Ymir’s story, and more.
Source: Pony Canyon YouTube Channel
©Hajime Isayama, Kodansha/”ATTACK ON TITAN” The Final Season Production Committee
