Not making an Attack on Titan sequel was Isayama's wisest decision

An Attack on Titan sequel became the talk of the town after the series entered its final chapters. The talk wasn't that prominent during the time of anime, but the manga fans were enthusiastic about the series going for a possible sequel.

Hajime Isayama, the author of the series, recently announced a new one-shot in collaboration with Yuki Kaji, the voice actor of Eren Yeager. But this one-shot was not an Attack on Titan sequel. The series' climax also left some unanswered questions, which caused fans to demand a sequel.

Making a sequel series comes with its risks as they don't enjoy the same popularity as the same one. Moreover, a fiction story doesn't have to answer all the questions to be a good story. A story becomes more refined once left on a mysterious climax and has some mysteries unexplored by the original author.

---

Why avoiding an Attack on Titan sequel was the wisest decision made by the author Hajime Isayama

Eren Yeager, as seen in the anime (Image via MAPPA)

Attack on Titan is an action-drama manga series written and illustrated by Hajime Isayama. It is the author's magnum opus, as Isayama spent more than a decade working on it. The manga series started its publication in September 2009.

The interesting thing about Isayama's Attack on Titan was that it could have been published in Weekly Shounen Jump (Japan's most popular magazine). However, the editors of this magazine demanded that he change the art style and storyline of his series so that it would be more suitable for the magazine's audience.

Fearing his series might lose its originality, Isayama opted for a different magazine and started working on his first original series, which would later become one of the most popular series in history.

After four years of publishing his story, Isayama's work received an anime adaptation by Wit Studio. The first season of Attack on Titan received a lukewarm reaction from the fandom, which was expected as it was the start of the journey of Eren Yeager, who aimed to take revenge against Titans for killing his mother.

Eren Yeager (left) and Zeke Yeager (right) as seen in the anime (Image via MAPPA)

Due to this, the production team waited until 2017 to make a sequel series. This was when Attack on Titan received the global recognition it deserved. The reveal of Reiner and Bertholt, two of Eren's closest companions, as Titans shook the fandom and fans started to wonder what other mysteries this series held inside it.

To no one's surprise, season 2 was a great success, which led to the studio adapting another sequel just one year after the previous one. Season 3 was divided into two parts and was appreciated globally. Unfortunately, the series had to undergo a studio change due to financial reasons, and animation studio MAPPA took over.

The new studio started adapting the series' final season, and its first part was released in December 2020. A month after the conclusion of the first part of the final season, the manga concluded, and fans started demanding an Attack on Titan sequel because Isayama didn't answer all of the mysteries in the series.

The final season also concluded after almost two years of the manga series, and much expected, fans wanted a sequel series. However, the author had already stated in multiple interviews that he would never pick up his pen to draw an Attack on Titan sequel as the series had concluded just the way he wanted.

Some of the unanswered mysteries of Attack on Titan include the origins of the tree that transformed Ymir into a Titan, whether or not the curse of Ymir ended, the bizarre apocalyptic ending of the series, and whether or not the same cycle would repeat because a child was seen standing in front of the mysterious tree.

Much like Attack on Titan, Naruto was also an anime phenomenon that enjoyed global recognition. But its sequel series, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, started after it ended. Unfortunately, the sequel was nowhere near the popularity of the original one.

Eren Yeager, as seen in the anime (Image via MAPPA)

So, starting a sequel to a popular series comes with its risks, as fans expect it to be as amazing as the original one. This leads to building expectations for the series and increased stress for the author. This could be why Isayama didn't risk creating a sequel for his prized work so that people could enjoy it to its full extent.

Lastly, Attack on Titan was a fiction series, and some of the best fiction series have left behind mysteries on purpose. The most popular example fans could consider would be Game of Thrones. The TV series left behind the life status of so many characters a mystery, but this was to make the series eternal so that fans could theorize and remember the series from time to time.

This could be the reason behind the lack of an Attack on Titan sequel after the finale, as it could have answered all the questions that were left for fans to speculate. Moreover, a sequel could have ruined the series' ending. So, all of this could have led to Hajime Isayama not drawing another part.

---