Hajime Isayama

This is Hajime Isayama, creator of “Attack On Titan”https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hajime_Isayama.pngImagine a world without real life heroes. There would be no one to look up to, no one to be inspired by, and no one to illustrate and show the qualities, values, and traits a heroic person should have. However, our world is different. Here, we have people to look up to. We have role models and heroes who show how a good person should be, and what qualities they should possess. We also have people who inspire us. Their actions drive us to be more like them and the people who we admire. There are many definitions of a hero. I, however, define a hero as someone who takes risks and makes big sacrifices to achieve their goals. They also need to be passionate about what they do. Heroes should also have good values, because the content of their character is what truly defines them. A hero can have many character traits and values. Examples of such are courage, passion, compassion, strength, independence, and so on. However, I believe that two main heroic traits, a hero should have are courage and passion, along with the power to inspire others to also value those such traits.

When people get discouraged, they often give up; Hajime Isayama, however, turns his discouragement into passion which helped him go further and pursue his dreams. An example of his strong passion comes from his youth, where Isayama enjoyed drawing ugly monsters. His passion for his unique art style was incorporated into Attack On Titan. When he first drafted his hit series Attack On Titan, he needed to find a publisher, but finding a publisher was no easy task. There were many artists looking for a publisher, and it was a huge success to simply find a publisher. He first asked Shueisha, but they rejected him because of his strange art style, resulting in a time of self-doubt for Isayama. He, however kept trying, and didn’t give up: “Doubts started tearing him apart and, fully aware of how incompatible his work is with expectations of publishers, and damaged by the never-ending stream of rejections, he came very close to quitting. Fortune smiled at him in the end though and he found work at Kodansha - an owner of Magazine Grand Prix, where he had been awarded for his manga two years earlier.” (Chris 2017). Isayama’s struggle to continue with his unique drawing style is demonstrated; from the rejections of many publishers, he felt that his unique art style was not great at all, and almost quit on pursuing his dreams. “Doubts started tearing him apart” shows that Isayama was doubting himself a lot after rejection. “he found work at Kodansha” demonstrates that even after this rejection, he found work at another company. Through his actions in these difficult times, we can see how Isayama worked up his passion and drive to keep going, and luckily, his art work was finally accepted at Kodansha, another publisher. By never giving up and demonstrating such passion, Isayama is a hero to be acknowledged and recognized. In addition to continuing his work through his many hardships, Isayama also shows his heroic value of passion through his characters in his series Attack On Titan. In this world, there are many characters who possess courage to join the Scouts and face the cannibalistic giants. Of all these characters, however, the protagonist Eren Jaeger truly stands out as a memorable character with courage. After seeing his beloved mother being violently devoured by the titans, Eren is heartbroken. He becomes even more crushed and lost on the way to his dreams when he learns that he is a Titan himself. He, however, doesn’t let that stop him, and reminds himself of his goals: "We're born free. All of us. Free. Some don't believe it, some try to take it away. To hell with them! Water like fire, mountains of ice, the whole bit. Lay your eyes on that, and you'll know what freedom is, that it's worth fighting for! Fight to live, risk it all for even a glimmer of real freedom! It doesn't matter what's waiting outside the gate, or what comes in! It doesn't matter how cruel the world can be, or how unjust! Fight. Fight. Fight. FIGHT! FIGHT!!!" (Isayama 2013). ‘Fight to live, risk it all for even a glimmer of real freedom!’ demonstrates Eren spreading the message that people must fight so they can get a little bit of freedom. He moves on to talking about the possibilities beyond the walls when he mentions ‘Water like fire, mountains of ice, the whole bit.’, where he discusses finding true freedom, but to do this, he says that he has to fight and continue to go further ahead. His strong desire for freedom is converted into passion, which helps Eren get through difficult times where he comes close to giving up on his goals and pursuing his dreams. His passion drives himself fight harder and continue further. By demonstrating immense passion and dedication towards his art style and illustrating his heroic values through his characters, Hajime Isayama turns discouragement and negativity into passion for his work and expresses this passion through his characters.

Most people also go down the most used roads in order to get their success; however, Hajime Isayama goes on a different and unique path to achieve his dreams with his courage, a heroic trait which set him apart from others and inspires people. An example of Isayama demonstrating passion is when he strayed off the normal path of a manga, or comic, artist. Usually, people who plan to become manga artists often start by illustrating and publishing doujinshi, a self published work which often uses characters and story ideas from another existing manga or anime. This helps prepare them for success, and gets their name out into the world, which helps readers know who they are. Instead of going that route, Isayama jumped straight into illustrating his story: “Isayama was well-aware of it, but decided not to go this way because of its one limitation that he did not want to accept: fanfiction is by definition based on an existing franchise, but he wanted to have his own world and build his own characters from the ground up. In one interview, Hajime admitted that he was tempted into breaking that rule once, tempted by an unspecified shooter with great characters, but awful graphics. In the end, he decided against it.” (Chris 2017). ‘Because of its one limitation that he did not want to accept’ shows that Isayama went a different way than normal, due to a big limitation which would be an obstacle for his passion for his story and art. ‘In the end, he decided against it’ demonstrates that he set his mind straight, and continued with beginning his manga career by starting with his own work. It can be deduced that Isayama went on this path using his courage. Isayama was able to face his fears and take a risky path to achieve his goals and reach his dreams by possessing courage and bravery. As a result of being courageous, Isayama was able to pursue his goal. Furthermore, he was able to inspire others to be courageous as well. In addition to showing courage through his actions in life, Isayama Hajime also shows his heroic value of courage through his characters in his series Attack On Titan. There are many characters who show courage, especially when fighting against the Titans, but a character who truly shows this courage and resilience is Levi Ackerman, the captain of Eren’s squad. Before Levi joined the Scouts, he lived in an underground city, and was chosen to go on a mission on the surface, along with his two best friends, Isabel and Farlan. During this mission, the trio is forced to go outside the walls, and defeat some Titans: “During the expedition outside the walls, Levi gets separated from his squad,  and trusts the power of his comrades to defeat the Titans. When Levi returns, however, he is distraught, angry, and upset at returning to see only their dead bodies. With these strong emotions, Levi violently kills the Titan, and tears begin to flow down his face. As he contemplates his future, he decides to follow the commander of the Scouts, and moves on, deciding that even though his best friends died, he won’t regret this decision.” (Isayama, Attack on Titan 2017). Levi is seen to be visibly distraught after seeing his trusted friends motionless. Afterwards, he runs and kills the titan. “With these strong emotions, Levi violently kills the Titan” shows his overwhelming emotions allow him to slice and dice every part of the titan until the giant falls to the ground. He cries, and thinks about what’s happened, and how he can move on from the tragic event. “He decides to follow the commander of the Scouts, and moves on” illustrates that Levi soon decides that he’ll join the Scouts, and chooses to not regret the decisions he has made. It can be deduced that Levi is broken. His two best friends are gone and he’s now alone. Even so, he gets up and destroys the titan, turning his strong feelings of pain and hurt into courage to kill the feared titan and get home. This courage remains with him as he embarks on more expeditions outside the walls and begins his new life without the ones he cared about most. Therefore, because Hajime Isayama demonstrated the heroic value of courage through his art work and took a riskier path to reach his dreams, Isayama deserves to be called a true hero who inspires others to be courageous.

Hajime Isayama should be called a true hero because by demonstrating the heroic traits of courage and passion, he inspires others to be heroic as well. For example, Isayama showed immense courage by taking the path not often taken. By doing that, he took a big risk in trying to reach and pursue his dreams of becoming a manga artist. In addition, he also showed, and continues to show, this courage through his characters in Attack On Titan. Furthermore, Isayama not only demonstrates courage; he also demonstrates inspirational passion for his art work, by not giving up on his unique art style, and continuing with it. Plus, he also expresses his passion through his characters in the manga. By showing and illustrating the heroic traits and values of courage and passion, Isayama is a hero who inspires others to be like him and possess those significant values. He’s inspired me as well, to not give up and to develop strong passion for what I do. For example, when I first got into anime, I wanted to draw anime characters for my own story and be able to create a world where I could indulge. However, the problem of drawing the stunning characters quickly got to me, and I struggled to copy the illustrations of the beautiful and stunning characters on screen. After surfing around Youtube for some videos, I came across a video about the creator of one of my favorite anime series, which piqued my interest enough for me to search for more about him online. When I heard about his hardships and how Isayama was courageous and passionate to get through them, I was immediately inspired, and began drawing - this time, using my own drawing style. Now, I enjoy drawing even more, and have a strong passion for it. I’m looking forward to becoming a part time artist in the future too! Isayama inspires others to also be courageous and passionate about their work, but he’s not the only real life hero out there who does that. We are all grateful to have real life everyday heroes, who show us the values and traits inspirational heroes should have. These heroes are also someone we can look up to and be inspired by. If I imagined a world without these heroes, specifically Isayama, I wouldn’t be the courageous and passionate person I am today.