tdkr-cs91939:

New illustration and S3(mentioned Part 2-RTS arc as well) interview with the directors (Araki Tetsuro x Koizuka Masashi)

Edit: Forgot to mention, this is from the December issue of Animedia

Translation of Animedia December 2018 (Scans Above)

Interview with Chief Director Araki Tetsuro & Director Koizuka Masashi

All translations by @suniuz & @fuku-shuu of @snknews

(Please credit if used)

Introduction page highlight:

The Structure of Season 3 Part 2 will change from “Humans vs. Humans” to “Humans vs. Titans”

- Season 3 Part 1 has concluded smoothly. As the two of you said prior to its broadcast, the action sequences of combating fellow humans were quite exciting.

Araki: Thank you very much! The Action Animation Director of the Levi 3DMG sequence, Imai Arifumi, has become a hero in fans’ eyes. Some have dubbed his work as “Insanity-Level Animation” (Laughs). Of course, that’s actually a compliment.

Koizuka: This “Insanity-Level” moniker has already become an inside joke at work (Laughs).

Araki: People would say, “Please create another ‘Insanity-Level’ scene” or “Is the 'Insanity-Level’ work currently in progress?” (Laughs)

Koizuka: All in all, the audience reactions to what our staff produced have been quite impassioned - that never happened before, but we’re also very pleased by this. There were even committed fans who voluntarily gathered fan letters/messages over social media and brought them directly to our offices, even though we already received them online.

Araki: Yep yep. Even though we’ve had fans bring gifts to our offices before, we’ve never received this much cup ramen and snacks. For everyone who organized these things on their own, I want to take this opportunity to show our gratitude. Thank you all!

Koizuka: Truly thankful to everyone.

- That alone must’ve touched so many people. Did any portion of Season 3 Part 1 leave strong impressions on you?

Araki: I would have to say episode 46 - when Rod Reiss transformed into a Titan and the battle to defend Orvud District took place.

Koizuka: For us, that part took about a whole year to prepare.

Araki: We completely separated the work for this episode from all the other episodes. The work itself already commenced last year, because Higuchi Shinji-san (SnK Japanese live action films’ director) did the storyboarding for us…

Koizuka: Before we even had a screenplay and only confirmed the episode structure, Araki-san randomly suggested “for Higuchi-san to storyboard all the scenes in Orvud.” He asked, “What do you think?” to all the producers, and we just went from there. WIT Studio’s George Wada [T/N: President of WIT and Producer of SnK] made efforts to reach out to Higuchi-san and corresponded with him. After that, the two of us also went to visit Higuchi-san in person to discuss the prospect. He happily committed.

- Why made you think of asking Higuchi-san to work on episode 46?

Araki: Because that episode was clearly a battle against a “giant unknown creature,” we thought that there must be others who have more expertise with this type of content (Laughs). We also thought that Higuchi-san was at least a fellow “Shingeki Comrade” whom we had met before, so the possibility of him accepting was there. Even though many people already worked diligently to make his contribution a reality, once he agreed to it and gave us the best storyboards imaginable, the rest of the staff showed even more diligence. We gathered our best animators together, which also helped a lot. By the grace of everyone, the episode meant to be Season 3’s climax and biggest challenge was presented to our audience with the utmost quality.

- Episode 46 seems to have taken several times the length of other episodes to produce. If you could name someone as Part 1’s MVP, which character would that be?

Koizuka: I was going to say that my favorite is Historia (Laughs), but if restricted to S3 Part 1, then the MVP is Kenny.

Araki: Kenny is really phenomenal. His seiyuu Yamaji Kazuhiro’s performance was extraordinary.

Koizuka: Even I was shocked by his capabilities. Every time I would think, “He’ll probably perform the scene this way,” but the results always trump my imagination.

- So who is Chief Director Araki’s MVP?

Araki: If Koizuka-san is not picking her, then I’ll choose Historia (Laughs), because I feel like she is the character who grows the most in Part 1. In my heart, I sometimes still call her “Christa.” But because everyone around me has already shifted to “Historia,” I’ve recently begun to correct myself (Laughs). But during our production meetings I sometimes still inadvertently call her “Christa.”

Koizuka: Speaking of Historia, in Part 1 we created a theme song specifically for her. Araki-san made the request, because he hoped for a track specific to when she defeats her father’s Titan form.

Araki: That song was quite impressive, so we kept it under wraps until that very scene. All in all, that Historia scene had this level of importance for me.

- Historia’s moment was definitely memorable. On that note, how did you resolve Eren and Levi’s activeness in part 1?

Araki: Eren was constantly sullen in Part 1. First he was kidnapped, then kind of disappeared in the middle. When he finally showed up his mouth was gagged, and after he was rescued he was hesitant about a lot…but in the end, I think in some ways he conquered everything he confronted. All of this sets great foundation for the audience to anticipate some explosive actions from him in Part 2.

- In the last episode of Part 1, 49 - it seemed that his goofier self had returned.

Koizuka: Yes. In the end he understood his own past, so Part 1 concluded with his resolve to “return to Shiganshina next.” Everything he had rebuilt up to this point will be critical to the second half.

Araki: For Levi, things were influenced by him and Kenny’s intertwining fates, so the depth of his character progressed to another level. Also, in the Levi Squad he is everyone’s instructor - a “coach” type of character - so we demonstrated a more heartened version of him.

Koizuka: In truth, even though everyone found out that Kenny was Levi’s uncle at the end, the reveal of his bloodline was also important. This has connected to everything shown in the OAD/OVA (A Choice with No Regrets), and it dives deep into why he was so strong, as well as how he attained his current position.

Araki: Then in Episode 47, Levi smiled in front of his subordinates for the first time.

Koizuka: I really like how Kenny never told Levi that he was also an “Ackerman” the first time they met, he said, “Just Kenny”…

Araki: Koizuka loves Episode 47, and especially that specific moment.

Koizuka: Indeed. Whether we were in pre-production meetings or with the animators, I kept muttering, “Don’t mess with that scene!” (Laughs)

- So Season 3 Part 2 will premiere in April 2019…a preview for it was inserted into the final moments of Part 1. That was incredible! Levi hit Eren, and Mikasa confronts Levi with weaponry?!

Araki: We all thought, “What the hell is going on?” (Laughs)

- Why did you select such an impactful scene as the preview?

Araki: Part 1 concluded with the Survey Corps beginning their march towards Wall Maria, but we thought that was a bit too gentle. As soon as we mentioned that we wanted to “spice things up,” Isayama Hajime-sensei suggested, “Why don’t you animate that scene?” If Isayama-sensei didn’t say that to us, we might not have produced that preview (Laughs).

- What roles will be striking in Part 2?

Araki: I think Erwin, because things like his true nature, which had been bubbling just beneath the surface, are about to come to light. Through such things we can also experience his humanity and sadness, so I hope everyone anticipates this.

Koizuka: I feel like it’s Armin. In episode 49, when him and Eren were talking with Mikasa, there was a moment when he randomly remembered something. That was Armin recognizing that Eren’s reasons for entering the Survey Corps were slightly different from his. That sudden discovery, that minor knot in his heart - how will that affect their relationship from there on out? How the storyline progresses from that knot will be a significant reason to keep following the series.

Araki: Even though there is that minor fork in the road for them, on the surface the two of them are still talking about the same goals. That’s the genius of Isayama-sensei’s script. Then, something so minor will expand into a huge conflict…(Laughs)

Koizuka: For youth, even the smallest discrepancies will evolve as the characters themselves mature. It’s quite a deep development.

- Since we’re on this topic, do tell us some key points to watch for in Part 2.

Araki: Part 2 starts at “top speed.” It will go straight into everyone’s much-anticipated combat with Titans. After that it’s battle after battle after battle - we’ll finally have a sudden death confrontation with the Titans.

Koizuka: Speaking of combat, there are new weapons in play. That weapon will become the responsibility of someone from Episode 49…

Araki: I think the animation back then gave it away a bit (Laughs). We will make a deep impression with the debut of that secret weapon. Hope everyone anticipates that.

Koizuka: All in all, there will be a lot of combat. We are preparing the scenes steadily in order to showcase them in the best ways.

Araki: In terms of staffing - because we organized a good structure, we feel quite at ease. Please anticipate our upcoming work with excitement.

Related News: Anime Staff || Interviews || Season 3 || Translations: Interviews

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