Isayama was born in Ōyama, Ōita Prefecture, Japan, which is now part of Hita. He was attending Hita Rinko Senior High School when he began submitting manga works to contests.[6] After graduating, he matriculated in the manga design program of the arts department at Kyushu Designer Gakuen. In 2006, he applied for the Magazine Grand Prix known as MGP promoted by Kodansha Ltd. and a short version of Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) was given the "Fine Work" award.[7] This one-shot would later be included with the first Blu-ray of the anime adaptation.[8] At age twenty, he moved to Tokyo and worked at an Internet café in order to pursue a career in writing manga.[9]
Originally, he offered his work to the Weekly Shōnen Jump department at Shueisha, where he was advised to modify his style and story to be more suitable for Weekly Shōnen Jump. He declined and decided instead to take it to the Weekly Shōnen Magazine department at Kodansha Ltd.[10]
In 2008, he applied for the 80th Weekly Shōnen Magazine Freshman Manga Award, where his work Heart Break One was given the Special Encouragement Award. His other work, Orz, was chosen as a selected work in the same contest the following year.
In 2009, his first serial work, Attack on Titan, started in the monthly Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine. It won the Shōnen category of the 35th Kodansha Manga Award in 2011,[11] and was nominated for both the 4th annual Manga Taishō award and the 16th annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize.[12][13]Attack on Titan is released in English by Kodansha USA and has inspired five spin-off manga series, three light novel series, a televised anime adaptation, several visual novels and video games, and a two part live-action film. The resort Bungo Oyama Hibiki no Sato in his hometown of Ōyama, ran a free exhibit displaying copies of Isayama's manuscripts for the manga in 2013.[9] A special Attack on Titan event was held in Hita on November 1, 2014, with Isayama and approximately 2,500 spectators attending. The following day, Isayama gave a speech at the Patria Hita cultural hall and was named the Tourism Ambassador of Hita by the city's mayor Keisuke Harada.[14]
In December 2018, he announced in his blog that he had gotten married earlier that year.[1]
In November 2022, Isayama made his first-ever appearance in the United States at Anime NYC, an anime convention in New York City.[15]
^Isayama, Hajime (December 19, 2009). 変身！！！！ [Transformation!!!!] (in Japanese). Archived from the original on November 10, 2020. Retrieved May 22, 2013.
^ ab"第80回新人漫画賞" [The 80th Annual Newcomer Awards]. Shonen Magazine (in Japanese). Archived from the original(Select 第80回 on the drop-down menu) on September 30, 2018. Retrieved October 12, 2018.
^ ab"第81回新人漫画賞" [The 81st Annual Newcomer Awards]. Shonen Magazine (in Japanese). Archived from the original(Select 第81回 on the drop-down menu) on September 30, 2018. Retrieved October 12, 2018.
^"諫山創×皆川亮二がタッグ！進撃以外の初作品" [Hajime Isayama × Ryoji Minagawa collaboration! First work besides 'Attack on Titan']. Natalie (in Japanese). July 29, 2014. Retrieved October 12, 2018.
^"転送者 皆川亮二短編集". 小学館 (in Japanese). April 12, 2021. Retrieved April 12, 2021.
