The One Who Actually Attacked On Titan – Hajime Isayama Know Your Artist
- Jatin Thukral
- Dec 23, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 22, 2021
Hajime Isayama is a well-known name in the anime and manga industry. Working since 2006, in a career spanning over 14 years, he has risen to fame for his numerous masterworks done over the years. Although, none of his work could match the supremacy of his first and currently ongoing manga series – ‘Attack On Titan’, which is one of the most successful manga in the circulation of all time selling over 100 million copies as of December 2019.
Biography –
Hajime Isayama was born on August 29, 1986, in Oyama Oita in Japan, which is a part of Hita in today’s Japan. He was driven to writing and penning manga works ever since he was introduced with this exquisite culture and started submitting his manga works in the local and national contests right from his High School days when he was studying in Hita Rinko Senior High School. Hajime graduated with a merit in the cartoon art design program and moved to Tokyo for his future adventures where he started drawing in manga projects full time.
Hajime was awarded the Fine Work award by MGP (Magazine Grand Prix) upon his submission of a short version of his blockbuster manga series Attack On Titan. Hajime couldn’t lift the heads of creators of Weekly Shonen Jump where he had applied after winning the Fine Work Award offered to him by Kodansha. Weekly Shonen advised him to change the style of writing his manga and put more efforts in making it more like a suitable fit to be featured in Weekly Shonen. But as they say, “Not every man bows down to the mighty”. Hajime stepped back from Weekly Shonen Jump and decided to take his work to Weekly Shonen Magazine department of Kodansha.
It was the year 2009 when Hajime serialized his blockbuster manga Attack on Titan starting in monthly Bessatsu Shonen Magazine and there was no looking back for the 23-year-old Isayama.
Kodansha USA released the hit manga series in English which was welcomed with both arms open by the readers of manga in English lands. Since its release, Attack on Titan has inspired five major spinoff manga series, a television anime adaptation, a two-part live-action movie directly based on the manga, three light novel series and several other visual novels and some handful video games along the way as well. With all the above-mentioned works that were inspired by just one hit manga series by a Japanese manga artist, you can evaluate the degree of impact Attack on Titan has had over the entertainment industry in both Japan and other parts of the world over the years.
Hajime was appointed as the official tourism ambassador by the city’s mayor of his hometown Hita following his touching speech that he delivered on November 1st in 2014 at the Patria Hita Cultural Hall. In the year 2018, Hajime wrote on his internet blog that he has gotten married and made it official that he was now stepping into his married life now. The name and identity of his wife is still not known to the world though.
Other than Fine Work Award by MGP in 2006 for his One Shot of Attack on Titan, Hajime has won numerous awards over the years including –
80th Weekly Shonen Magazine Special Encouragement Award for his manga Heart Break One in 2008, Weekly Shonen Magazine Special Work for his manga Orz in 2008, Michelluzi Awards with Best Foreign Series for his Attack On Titan in 2014 and Harvey Award with Best American Foreign Material for his Attack On Titan in 2014.
Trivia –
In late 2016, Isayama watched all 6 seasons of Game of Thrones available at the time and became an avid fan, posting fan art in his blog and recommending the series to his readers. He says the series will influence his own work
Isayama has named the manga JoJo's Bizarre Adventure as one of his favourite series when he was growing up.
Besides manga and anime, Hajime is a huge fan of Hollywood and Western movies. His love for movies and TV shows can be seen in his practice of posting the names of best movies that he watches every year.
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