Here’s the first and second page, thank you to @b00kcake for the easy-to-read scans! More coming soon.
—In the Uprising Arc, we start to see some subtle changes in Erwin and Levi’s relationship, don’t we?
Isayama: In American hero comics, they write about conflicts in relation to the phrase, ‘With great power comes great responsibility’. In Levi’s case, if he didn’t have any power, he would just be a normal person without any responsibilities. But because he has power, he has become a person who is burdened with too much responsibility.
Levi himself realized this when Kenny said, “Everyone is a slave to something,” and asked him, “What about you?”. He is a slave to his own power. He felt a sense of duty: “I have to become a hero.”
…This can be said about Mikasa as well… The Ackermans serve their liege, so there are many of them who are able to exert their power to the utmost maximum.
—Huh?? (surprise) That’s information that hasn’t even been revealed in the story! It’s true that for Mikasa there is Eren, and for Kenny there was Uri. They both have a ‘liege-like’ presence in their lives…
Isayama: For Levi, that person is Erwin. He has acknowledged Erwin as an existence who he looks up to. It’s part of the Ackerman bloodline, or an instinctive part of them, you could say.
—I-I see… (surprise). Levi maintaining his surroundings and distance, and the way he avoids facing those who wander in, it’s all because of the huge power he possesses?
Isayama: He may have been scared of building deep relationships. Since he is living in a world where he doesn’t know when he’ll be eaten by a titan, he avoided having people he considered his family.
—Being the only one left as everyone dies around him… the pain he would feel. But even this Levi was able to build a parent-like, close relationship with his new squad.
Isayama: There are a few causes for this change in Levi, and one of them was when he realized Erwin’s intentions. In vol 13, when it was revealed that Ragako Village’s inhabitants had been turned into titans, Erwin smiled. Erwin smiled because he was thinking, “I was right all along”. But to Levi, Erwin is the person who once said to him, “let’s save humanity together”. So in that moment, Levi thought, “Isn’t that different to what he said before?” (laughs)
—It was a great surprise to him (laughs). So I wonder if Levi can accept Erwin’s intentions, then.
Isayama: Around the time of vol 13, Levi wanted to say to Erwin something like, “You’ve been hiding this from me, haven’t you.” But he just gradually stopped… He wasn’t doubting Erwin. It was more like, he felt Erwin was mysterious. This person who he considers to be an existence that is above himself, that there is still so much that he doesn’t know about him. And he realized that same person has been acting all this time with a motive that is childlike. He was interested and reacted with, “Well, it can’t be helped, I’ll help you with it then.”
[TN: fuck fuck fuck I didn’t even know that, how can people fucking deny that they’re equals?! Levi thought of Erwin as someone higher than him and yet he realized in that moment that no, Erwin is actually a child at heart with childlike dreams. And Levi didn’t doubt him, instead he wanted to go along with him. Fuck fuck fuck]
Then in vol 18, when Levi tried to take over command of the mission and Erwin wouldn’t listen, Levi was a bit angry at Erwin’s behavior. Levi’s line, “I trust your judgement,” had a bit of an angry, “If something happens, this is your responsibility,” mixed with it. And right after, when he broke up Eren and Jean’s fight by using more violence than was necessary, it was actually Levi taking out that anger on them (laughs).
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