Hajime Isayama, best known for Attack on Titan, has released a new, unrelated manga project after a decade.
The manga, titled The Theory of an Ill-Natured Man and AI, marks a significant departure from his iconic series.
This new work, launched in the February 2025 issue of Bessatsu Shonen Magazine, is a sci-fi spin-off created in collaboration with Yuki Kaji, the Japanese voice actor for Eren Jaeger.
The manga is part of the Soyogi Fractal project, celebrating Kaji’s 20th anniversary in the anime industry.
The story, which is storyboarded by Isayama and illustrated by Kai Noshigami, follows an AI program that gains self-awareness in a toxic corporate environment.
The AI creates a viral VTuber persona, leading to a chain of events that threatens humanity’s survival.
Kaji, deeply invested in the project, claims Soyogi Fractal has the potential to change history, emphasizing its groundbreaking nature.
He entrusted Isayama with the first original work, praising his creative freedom in the process. Isayama, enjoying the flexibility of not handling the illustrations, expressed his excitement about the project’s complex compositions.
This release is a milestone for Isayama, marking his first non-AOT-related manga since The Killing Pawn in 2014.
The Theory of an Ill-Natured Man and AI is available exclusively in the February 2025 issue of Bessatsu Shonen Magazine.
