I saw this on twitter, anyone willing to translate? I don’t know why they’ve underlined the last sentence.
“The person Levi admires the most” there you go!
Text beside Erwin:
What did you grasp (see/understand from this situation)? Who is the enemy in your opinion?
Translation:
Erwin Smith, the commander of Survey Legion. He excel in reading the true nature of whole situation (affair and everything). He is not someone to be easily agitated by the situation right in front of his eyes. He is also very popular, a person who is really suitable to be on the top of organization. He is the person Levi has most faith in
Note: Last sentence also can mean Levi’s most trusted person or Levi trust him more than anybody else
the
fuck am i supposed to take away from this. “oh by the way this game,
where a girl has to make a choice between sacrificing a girl she loves
or sacrificing everyone else, is a great influence in this chapter where
levi basically chose to sacrifice humanity’s chances in order to give
erwin peace. also i really fucking love the romance in this game by the
way!! also i like BL. just saying.”
people in this chapter chose
their chloe over their arcadia bay. levi never stopped prioritizing
erwin, the only difference is that the definition of “saving erwin”
changed at the last minute and he was able to “accept” saying goodbye.
but he still chose erwin over the good of humanity.
in the game saving chloe means the whole town of arcadia bay gets fucked. i wonder how it’ll go in snk
There are bonus pages inside that I drew, and I want to talk about how fun that was. It is a fantasy of ‘What if the SnK world was an American high school?” It was a lot of fun to think about.
Why an American high school? There are two things that influenced me.
The adventure game, ‘Life is Strange’. It was so good! A masterpiece! It’s a well-made video game as well as a film And above all, it is one-of-a-kind Yuri!
[TN: Yup, yuri as in girlxgirl, as in ymir/historia, that kind of yuri]
The setting is an American school in the coutryside The student’s outfits are wonderful. I used them as reference in my own illustrations.
To begin with, the whole ‘school caste’ prejudice. Categorizing people and forcing them to fit in. It’s not a nice way of thinking. Not at all.
But it’s entertaining.
A phenomenon where without consent, people are classified into groups depending on how you look; your attributes, your clothes and your body.
Of course, if you get to know the person, you would know that they are one of a kind. But there are an unlimited number of people in this world that you would never get to know on that deep level.
And during the time you don’t know them, you can’t help but categorize them. And tend to hold on to prejudices more or less.
In this game, the main character transfers to a new school, and without becoming very familiar with others, she tends to have prejudices against the people around her. But as the story continues, she grows and learns that people aren’t that simple.
In the process of understanding people on a deeper level, to a certain degree, prejudice is needed. Taking that stance, I drew the bonus pages while forcibly affirming the school caste system.
In ‘Life is Strange’, the main character finds out that every time she rewinds time, her every choice affects her life in a butterfly effect.
The unbearable losses and partings in our lives. The story is about whether or not we can accept them. Frankly, this month’s chapter is greatly influenced by it.
And more than anything, it’s Yuri! Yuri is the best! Life Is Yuri!
The other influence is ‘21 Jump Street’.
This one involves the ‘school caste’ theme as well, but it’s not the typical school caste system. This one has a high level of awarenesss, a bit like ‘glee’… that’s the kind of film it is.
If the previous one was Yuri, then this one is a chrysanthemum.
[TN: chrysanthemum basically means BL. Yaois. Gays.]
Namely, a bromance!
Channing Tatum is jealous of Jonah Hill’s girlfriend!
[TN: wtf Isayama you fucking fujoshi]
The sequel ’22 Jump Street’ has an even richer bromance… So rich that it is heavy on the stomach. It’s insanely funny! I wasn’t particularly influenced by it.
But I wonder how long the series will continue…”
—-end—
To summarize, on the same day as the release of ch84 and ANSWERS, Isayama decided to rant about Yuri and BL on his personal blog.
*I will translate only the lower part of the article.*
“The trustful relationship with Erwin seems to be special to Levi. Although he doesn’t appear to give Erwin any respect, he always follows his decision. Even when it ends up with failure, Levi never shows any displeasure or doubt against Erwin. On the other hand, he tells Erwin not to worry and encourages him. A strong bond that got over win-or-lose and any benefit.“
So, Isayama was asked this question and three different people heard and recorded his answer. Since it’s three separate people hearing something by ear and recording it down afterwards, the wording is slightly different for each of them. But all three definitely heard the same nuance, and also the implication that he specifically likes TALL people and not just people taller than him.
Here are the three different accounts of the ‘tall’ part.
The first person recorded his answer as: 小さい人って背の高い人を好き (Small people like people who are tall) (x)
The second person recorded his answer as: 背の低い人って高い人が好き (Short people like people who are tall) (x)
The third person recorded his answer as: 背の低い人って大きな人が好き (Short people like people who are big) (x)
What he was trying to say was that since Levi is particularly small, he would probably be attracted to someone the opposite of him. Someone particularly tall.
Isayama used the word 背の高い人 (se no takai hito) to describe Levi’s type. This literally means ‘someone who is noticeably tall’. For example, it is often used as a compliment, since tallness is associated with models and attractiveness.
If I wanted to point out a very tall friend of mine to someone else, I would use this word to describe him. ‘That tall guy over there’. Because his tallness is a noticeable feature that is recognizable. Even if someone has no idea what my tall friend looks like, using this word would tell them to look out for the guy who is ‘noticeably tall’.
If Isayama wanted to say that Levi likes people who are simply taller than him, he would have said 自分より背の高い人が好き (jibun yori se no takai hito ga suki). This literally means ‘he likes someone who is taller than himself’.
But instead Isayama was trying to put emphasis on the fact that Levi is noticeably short. Because he is noticeably short, he probably likes people who are noticeably tall. Because they are his opposite and it would even him out. That was what Isayama was trying to communicate with his answer.
The average height in Japan is about 170-175 cm. I have noticed over there that this word is not used to describe someone unless they are above average height. Only a person who is approaching 180cm or over would be described as a 背の高い人 or ‘person who is particularly tall’.
Q. Please tell us the type of women Levi-heichou likes
A. Does he like women, though? …Short people usually like tall people, so…it might be that tall people are his type.
Yeah. He just went there.
As you can imagine, his…unexpected answer has caused a lot of debate on Japanese forums and such…it’s rather debatable whether he actually meant what it sounds like he meant.
We all know Isayama is definitely not afraid to put LGBT characters in his manga. And honestly…Levi being gay doesn’t…surprise me that much. Like, it doesn’t clash with the image I have of him at all.
EDIT: It also seems he was asked this question at least twice, and answered the same way. With a sort of hesitant, “…does he like women, though?” then going on to say he likes tall ‘people’ and not ‘women’
Fandom drama is exhausting to watch take place and must be much worse to take part in. Do what I do and wait thirty years after publication to engage with a piece of media. No one will know what you’re talking about, and those that do will generally accept that you have the capacity to like some things about it and dislike others.