Tokyo: Earth Online Manga Artist

He let Eren choose for himself: whether to transform into a Titan and fight, or to continue to trust his comrades and Erwin's judgment.

However, Allen misunderstood.

He thought Levi was telling him to trust his Survey Corps comrades and Commander Erwin's judgment. He thought Levi saying "choose for yourself" was actually a euphemism for telling him not to transform.

Therefore, he did not choose to transform into a giant to fight.

Even readers like Taku Ueno were misled here.

He turned to the page where Eren chose to trust his comrades. The entire page was composed in a gentle color scheme, with the other members of Levi's squad surrounding Eren.

They felt that Levi's words were meant to tell Eren to trust his comrades and the Survey Corps, since this is a classic trope in shonen manga—trusting your comrades is always the right thing to do.

Ueno Takumi had a vague feeling that something was wrong.

He continued scrolling down, but there was no time to think further.

Later, as the Survey Corps guided the Female Titan into the depths of the forest, the trunks of those giant trees were so thick that they could completely block the Titan's view.

Commander Erwin finally began to give orders, and with ingenious design and planning, the Female Titan was successfully captured.

When Ueno Taku saw this, he thought the chapter was about to end and the Survey Corps had won a step.

But at that moment she suddenly let out a long howl, a cry completely different from before, neither angry nor in pain, but more like a purposeful signal.

This attracted a large number of giants, and the sounds of giants moving could be heard in the surrounding forest. The ground shook, and they surrounded her.

Then the giants bent down and devoured her completely.

Ueno Taku stared at that page, which was filled with images of the Female Titan's body being torn apart by a group of ordinary Titans, with blood and flesh flying everywhere, but her expression still showed no fear, only a calmness after the mission was completed.

That concludes this episode.

The last page shows Erwin on horseback, standing in a clearing deep in the forest, looking in the direction of the female giant's remains in the distance.

Chapter 76 Marketing Strategies for Beautiful Girls

After reading this chapter of the Attack on Titan manga, Ueno Taku thought for a moment and then turned back to the color page at the beginning of the chapter.

He flipped back a few pages of the magazine because the cover page contained news about the upcoming Attack on Titan manga, which usually included a written interview with the manga artist.

He had seen similar interviews when other popular comics were released as collected volumes. They were nothing more than the author answering a few routine questions, with a self-portrait or photo of the author next to them.

However, the plot of Attack on Titan has been quite intense these past two weeks, with the appearance of the Female Titan, the sacrifice of the Survey Corps, and the encirclement operation in the forest...

Taku Ueno prefers to read the manga first, rather than doing written interviews or anything like that.

He glanced at the notes in the table of contents, knew there was an interview involved, and then flipped directly to watch the main feature.

For magazine readers, it's naturally just a pastime after reading comics, since what they like is the comics drawn by the comic artists, not the comic artists themselves.

It's not like I'm idolizing a celebrity. As long as the comic is good, that's all that matters. Who the author is isn't that important.

Although there are also very enthusiastic fans who will write letters to the author, collect all the author's public information on forums, and memorize the author's interviews word for word.

But that's a very small minority; they're not many among manga fans and readers. Most readers only follow the works and don't follow the characters.

Takuya Ueno shared the same mindset. He flipped back to the color pages at the beginning of the book, intending to check on the pre-release hype surrounding the Attack on Titan manga and the written interview with the author, "I Don't Eat Pears."

But when he turned to that page, Ueno Taku was slightly taken aback after a fleeting glance.

On the color page, a close-up photo of a girl was particularly eye-catching.

The photo took up about a third of the page, showing a girl wearing a yellow denim jacket over a white shirt.

The girl, dressed extremely like a Survey Corps soldier from a manga, is posing as if offering her heart, her right fist clenched and placed against her left chest, the same pose as Eren on the cover.

Her fair skin, paired with her pure black shoulder-length short hair, which was cut in layers with the ends slightly curled inwards, and her delicate facial features, all made her quite eye-catching.

Taku Ueno stared at the photo for several seconds.

Then he blinked, and then blinked again.

"Could this be... not eating pears?"

He muttered to himself in surprise.

Is this beautiful girl actually... the author of Attack on Titan?

This is certainly surprising.

It might not be surprising to see female comic artists, but it is quite surprising that such a beautiful young woman is a comic artist.

The historical context of 07 destined comics to be associated with otaku, and just like in later generations, otaku are usually the opposite of normal people.

Even though this is Japan, the birthplace and popular place of ACG culture, it is no exception.

It's hard to associate someone with excellent modeling skills with comics, especially a girl as beautiful and outstanding as Eri Aragaki.

Shouldn't a girl like that become a model or actress?

How did you end up becoming a cartoonist?

But with Eri Aragaki's photo right in front of you, it seems impossible not to believe it.

Moreover, Ueno Taku vaguely felt that if this were the real Mikasa who didn't eat pears, she would look a bit like... Mikasa from the manga.

He continued reading, and sure enough, this headshot appeared as the portrait of the cartoonist "Don't Eat Pears" in the following text interview.

The photo was accompanied by a small caption that read "A recent photo of Teacher Bu Chi Li Zi," and the format was exactly the same as other cartoonist interviews. It wasn't a special marketing gimmick; it was just a regular photo with a Q&A.

Ueno Taku then continued reading the text interview.

At the top is a bolded title that reads, "Special Interview with the Author of Attack on Titan Volume 1 to Commemorate its Release."

Below are individual question and answer entries. The questions are in bold black font, while the answers are in regular font.

His gaze swept down from the first question.

[Congratulations! The first volume of Attack on Titan is about to be released! Please, Mr. Unpalatable, share your feelings about this.]

[Not Eating Pears: I'm still very happy. It's been serialized for almost three months, and I was very excited to hear that it would be published as a standalone volume.]

[First of all, everyone is probably surprised that the teacher is a beautiful young woman, really very pretty.]

[I don't eat pears: Actually, I don't think I'm a beautiful girl, and I believe that people don't like Attack on Titan because of my appearance, but because the story of Attack on Titan is really wonderful, which is why they have continued to support it until now.]

I'd like to express my sincere gratitude to my readers and fans for their support. Thank you all!

What prompted the author to create "Attack on Titan"?

[Not Eating Pears: It's probably because when I was in school, I always liked to stare out the window during class and I saw the school walls. That's when I thought about creating a story about "humans trapped inside high walls." Plus, the Greek and Norse mythology I read outside of class featured races like Titans and Giants, who were much larger than humans. That's how the idea for this story came about.]

……

The following interview content was also quite typical, including the inspiration for creating the manga, the highlights of the first volume of the collected edition, and the manga artist's own hobbies.

Eri Aragaki answered all the questions in detail, except for the creative inspiration, since she couldn't possibly admit that she plagiarized, so she fabricated a fake creative inspiration.

Finally, here's what the author, Eri Aragaki, wants to say to her readers.

[I don't eat pears: First of all, I would like to thank everyone for their support. Then, regarding the work "Attack on Titan", I initially drew this manga with the intention of "promoting peace". Love and peace are what manga artists want to convey.]

I will continue to work hard to draw each chapter well, so please continue to support Attack on Titan!

"Love and peace...?"

He repeated the word.

The word seems out of place in a manga filled with images of giants eating people, soldiers dying in battle, and walls being breached.

Furthermore, he didn't even understand why there was a need to specifically promote peace; was there something else related to peace in the later parts of this comic?

But when he read the passage written by "Not Eating Pears," he could sense that the author genuinely thought this way; it wasn't just a perfunctory remark or empty talk.

It had been a long time since Ueno Takuya had read these written interviews so carefully.

He usually just glances at these interviews and flips through them, sometimes skipping them altogether.

The reason he was so serious was because she was a beautiful girl who didn't eat pears!

He felt that this reason was a bit superficial, but he did not deny that he did start watching the interview seriously because of the photos.

After all, everyone loves beauty!

After reading all the written interviews, he started thinking about buying the first volume of Attack on Titan to support the series.

He flipped the magazine to the single-volume release announcement section next to the table of contents.

The label lists the release date of Attack on Titan Volume 1, priced at 480 yen, and includes chapters 1 through 8, plus the Tezuka Award-winning short story chapter 0.

The release date is the Monday after next, the same day as the new issue of JUMP.

He mentally calculated the days, then opened his desk drawer and took out his allowance box.

"I still have enough pocket money left this month."

He counted the coins and bills in the box, and with the remaining allowance for the month, it was more than enough to buy a single volume, except for the next few weeks' worth of JUMP.

……

Meanwhile, Eri Aragaki's real photos were published as part of a written interview in the latest issue of Weekly Shonen Jump.

The fact that "the author of Attack on Titan, I Don't Eat Pears, is a beautiful girl manga artist" has also successfully attracted attention.

After reading the full-color interview about Attack on Titan in the latest issue of the magazine, many people posted comments online.

Several new posts on this topic have appeared in the post list, and the number of replies continues to rise.

"The author of Attack on Titan is so beautiful! By the way, is this really the person who doesn't eat pears in this photo?"

"So cute! It's such a surprise that such a cute girl is a cartoonist."

"And the giants are drawn really well, they're so beautiful, I couldn't stop looking at them."

"A beautiful manga artist is real, and she's so cute! She's beyond average!"

"I hereby declare... from today onwards, I will never eat pears... no, I mean, I'm a die-hard fan of Attack on Titan!"