Just gonna list out the main points for now:
- Original material is the idea of the director and screenwrtiers
- He has many thoughts about this episode
- He resists the idea of throwing away the bodies (could be because of his strong attachment to his characters) but at the same time he considers whether "Production/presentation" or "Story setting" should be prioritised
- After watching the broadcast, he is glad about this original episode
- Some of his ideas from the meeting are also included (eg. Levi giving his emblem away)
- The feeling of being at the lowest point is portrayed at the direction of the director, and Sensei thinks it is also very good idea/composition with regards to future development
- In fact, this has been proposed to be the last episode, and then they say they can put in 3 more episodes, of course he is happy about that, but a crushing defeat as the last episode would really bite, it's his bad habit (T/N: Isayama is referring to his like for hopelessness in stories... I think his preference is really obvious anyway.)
- Having been a part* of this, he wonders what kind of "story-making" work he would go for after finishing SnK, as he really enjoys "making stories."
*The scale of this "part" when he says "being a part of this" is not clear.
@Beatrice
Thanks for finding this, it really gives a (slightly) better insight into Isayama's involvement in the anime production (in the light of recent discussion about Original Material in the Anime.)
---------- Post added at 09:05 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:44 AM ----------
My opinion on this is, I don't think the retrieval of bodies is possible in the first place. But then again, 3DMG doesn't really work in real life and even Isayama admits that somewhere in his blog in the past. Judging from what Sensei says about this, it seems this Original wouldn't affect too much, if at all, the course of later development. As Isayama also says, it's just a matter of (1) engraving onto history the act of throwing away Petra's body (i.e. going against his ideal story setting) and (2) presenting the message behind this act (interpretation/production of story events.) At the cost of the author's intended canon, this paves way to an atmosphere in which he also finds great support to future plot.
Sorry Petra and all those who got dumped... I doubt they were ever picked up to begin with, but in the course of the anime story line, they have been dumped once... which is what gets at people: the deviation from the original (manga) path. But I wouldn't exactly call this a continuity issue, because the end result is the same, the canon in the message is also the same.