Machiyama reveals why Levi is absent from the films

If you ever plan to catch the sequel to the live-action film adaptation of, don't expect to know everything going into the film.

Screenwriter Tomohiro Machiyama recently stated the films in the series are expected to feature drastic changes to plot points and characters readily established and even beloved by fans, with popular characters not even appearing in the film.

"I think fans of the anime will get rather heated over [the changes]," Machiyama stated.

The first film, for example, portrays severe deviations for main protagonists Eren and Mikasa. Whereas Eren vows to destroy every titan in the original story, the movie has Eren as a regular boy who denies the existence of titans and becomes crippled with terror when seeing them. Mikasa, on the other hand, becomes more of a love interest who serves as fuel for Eren to rise and fight.

Some of these alterations, however, were even made at the behest of the original author Hajime Isayama.

"Please change Eren's character," Isayama pleaded of the writers. "He's not that sympathetic as a shōnen manga hero. ...I want him to be an ordinary youngster who gets paralyzed with fear when he sees a titan."

"It was important for us to reach out to the orginal author about changing his characters," Machiyama remarked on working with Isayama.

Even the setting was changed to be in a more Japanese area and have a more Japanese tone, citing concerns over Japanese actors playing essentially-German characters.

"This is already a fundamentally different world," Machiyama explained. "So we'd have to put in in Japan."

While some names remained the same, this change in setting led to the rather shocking exclusion of Levi in this and future installments in the film series, despite being a popular and crucial character to the original story. This decision was made to the dismay of even some of the production staff. According to Machiyama, the Japanese setting made the inclusion of the katakana "vu" in one's name stick out too much, as no Japanese name would normally include that character.

Despite the many changes, Machiyama still believes that the movie will be well-received, stating that moviegoers can sympathize with Eren and his desire to escape.

"Everyone wants to live happily within the walls, but that's not enough for Eren. He wants to overcome them."

The first film opens in Japan on August 1. Attack on Titan: End of the World will open in Japan on September 19.

[Via Livedoor News, Yahoo! News Japan]