Following a period of relative inactivity, Hajime Isayama has finally returned to the pages of Bessatsu Shonen Magazine with a new one-shot. Not only is this the first piece of work that Isayama has produced for the magazine since Attack on Titan ended in 2021, it’s also the first original project he’s been involved with for over fifteen years! Circumstances prevent it, however, from being a glorious return.
Titled Shouwaru Otoko to AI no Theory ~Jiga ni Mezameta no ni Black Kigyou ni Kokushi Sareteiru AI ga Tawamure ni VTuber Debut! Bazutte Mendokusee Koto ni Natte Jinrui Metsubou no Kiki?! Ttsu Ttemo Boku AI Nande Shirimaseeen, the story behind Hajime Isayama’s new one-shot is about as complicated as its title. Loosely translated as Theory of a Cynic and an AI: Bullied Into Becoming a VTuber by an AI That Gained Consciousness and Was Being Mistreated by a Black Company! I Ended Up Going Viral and Now Humanity Will Be Destroyed?! I’m Just an AI so Don’t Ask Me!, this self-contained story is actually part of a project to celebrate 20 years since Yuji Kaku debuted as a voice actor. Kaku voiced Eren Yeager in the Attack on Titan anime.
As to how the two projects are linked, Shouwaru Otoko to AI no Theory centers around the character of Soyogi Fractal, who is the face of Kaku’s voice bank software released in November 2024. News of Isayama’s return actually already broke last year, alongside the added caveat that Isayama wouldn’t be illustrating this time around: speaking to Comic Natalie, Isayama remarked that “I’ll only be writing the story, so I can think up as many annoying situations that I like. Getting other people to the dirty work is awesome!” The one who ended up doing said dirty work was Kai Noshijou, a rookie artist who drew the art based on Isayama’s storyboards.
In any case, Shouwaru Otoko to AI no Theory might seem like a bit of an unexpected turn for Isayama. While he’s most well known for high concept dark fantasy manga, the setting of this new one-shot is the modern day: it follows university student Kogoshi as he tries to become a VTuber on the advice of a Soyogi Fractal chatbot to overcome feelings of isolation and self-hatred. Nevertheless, it’s worth bearing in mind that the original idea for this story actually came from Yuji Kaku, so who knows how much of this can be attributed to Isayama himself.
Probably the best part of this one-shot is how Noshijou visualizes the world of AI, presumably based on the storyboards by Isayama. Rather than just showing how they work on a screen from a human’s perspective, Shouwaru Otoko to AI no Theory creates a physical space where many different kinds of AI interact and talk: the main relationship here is between Soyogi Fractal and Mai, an illustration bot along the lines of Stable Diffusion and DALL-E. This is partly because the AI in the story have gained consciousness unbeknownst to their maker, but it’s still a neat narrative device that takes full advantage of the manga medium.
That being said, no amount of clever visual tricks or crazy concepts can help Shouwaru Otoko to AI no Theory get away from the reality of its subject matter. AI has the real potential to put a large amount of creatives out of work if the powers that be choose to prioritize profits over quality, so to see Isayama glorifying it is pretty disappointing. Even if AI isn’t as heavily politicized in Japan as it is elsewhere, the fact that a VTuber could get popular by showing off AI-generated videos is laughable when you consider how weird and uncanny they look right now.
You can read Hajime Isayama’s new one-shot in this month’s issue of Bessatsu Shonen Magazine.
