Shingeki no Kyojin
Attack on Titan

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*This review contains spoilers*

Ladies and Gentlemen, Hello. My name is Hajime Isayama and today I'll teach you how to write manga.

I must begin by saying that you should not be discouraged. At first glance, it can be difficult, but you only have to write 90 chapters perfectly tied together, with great characters and mystery to the world and titans, fantastic fights that actually serve a purpose with barely any talk no jutsu moments, and perhaps the single most important thing in all of this, Sasha being alive.

What you ought to do afterward is write a timeskip. This is meant for the end-series so we can ... have a "where are they now" segment but there is no need to worry about it because another timeskip will occur in the last chapter as we would have the pleasure of seeing in efficiency how terrible Eren's plan was. The first timeskip is primarily meant as a means of showing Eren becoming this evil incarnate that at no point in the series have we gotten hits about such alteration to his character. The second one is instead a quick reminder of how Yams got worse at writing a proper story without contrivance to its characters. Both are meant for Eren as he's convinced that all lives must be taken in order to obtain "freedom" and in doing so he ought to go against his friends causing an artificial conflict between him and the rest of Paradis as well countless third parties in which for entirely redundant reasons will join Paradis side and go against Eren. From this point onwards, you don't have to write anything decent since it will all depend on which character is to your liking the most and you'll always have to make him or her achieve whatever goal they are in need of. In this case, it's Armin. He's mastered the talk no Jutsu, I dare to say it's his strongest technique. Anyone he's talked to has been convinced to help him do whatever he's wanted to and its limits know no bounds.

With the power of friendship, Armin doesn't give up, not for one moment while he and co-venture towards Eren to stop him but first, we must go a bit before all that because you are clearly asking how all those characters have joined the Paradis side. Because of plot device, they ultimately were there because Eren too changed sides and there was no choice but to help their enemies. The two couldn't stay on one side only since that wouldn't make sense, just like it doesn't make any sense for Reiner, Pieck, and others to help Armin and Mikasa, meant solely as an excuse for "redemption" for some of the characters. Armin succeeds because of course, he did, Eren becomes dove because of course, he did, we never learn much about the titans and the few things we get to throw at us are pure nonsense in an asspull way upon the "paths" was introduced into the story which, for all intents and purposes is the main reason why the second arc of the timeskip is this bad. Historia getting sidelined from the story by getting pregnant off of some random farmer we never know anything about, which it's not the fact the child is not Eren's that pissed me off, but rather that she could've done so much that being someone's whore. To top it all, Eren Lelouch'd his ass out of and acts like he did something important or useful when all he did was fight for something he himself committed. I always knew he was going to do that the moment he becomes evil for the greater good but never wanted to believe it as I knew it wouldn't work with the story itself.

All the troubles Eren went through, all the people he killed, were just for his friends to live happily ever after. Instead of removing the titan course and finishing what he initially wanted to, he follows the most bullshit route and makes peace for a few generations... slightly for his friends to live their miserable life in complete serenity and with this in mind, the descendants to be inevitably killed. There is no point in taking so many lives when everything remains the same and what Eren has fought so far becomes useless because his goal was suddenly retconned when he confessed his "love" to Mikasa all of a sudden. Especially when you murdered 80% of the population and would've taken a mere couple of hours to exterminate the rest and finally be free of the burden. Even if Eren had somehow died because of that, it's still a better outcome of what we've got although it needs to once again be mentioned that what led to that would've been abominable regardless. It can't get out of character than this, and it makes no sense either given how Mikasa got to suck Horse's dick anyway. I wonder what Dove-Eren must've felt when he saw Mikasa getting fucked by the only person he didn't want to fuck her. I bet it's not sitting well with him.

"Thank you Eren for turning yourself into a mass-murder for our sake"

If you want more proof that Armin is the most hateful character, here you go. Eren is the worst character, but Armin is someone you would hate the moment he opens his mouth. When Armin mastered the talk-no-Jutsu it was as clear as day that he was going to succeed in convincing all of the previous enemies into joining his side to take down Eren, which he does, and that he had a plan into making Eren stop but think about it, why would Eren stop and how would Armin make that happen? Apparently, Armin never thought about the consequences, and the whole reason why he did all that in the first place was that it was against genocide, that there had to be a better option to put an end to this and in the last chapter he goes "Thank you for killing all them fuckers". What could have possibly happened between his determination to stop Eren and the last chapter that made him accept Eren's behavior and get along with everything he's done? Armin who is not only the brain of the trio, but was always been morally right, and looking back at everything he's always made the right and acceptable decision to put an end to something but in the last chapter he comes across as disingenuous and a piece of shit with virtually no fucking reason that let him to the settlement.

As for tradition, a good lead female in shonen is hard to come by and Mikasa is no exception. You won't certainly hate her as much as Eren and Armin but will sure get on your nerves with her stoic persona throughout. In the early series, she's got something to work with and her strength was admirable so for all the good reasons she was reliable in that department. I always liked her early on but looking back it's clear Yams either didn't care much about her or perhaps wasn't able to give her more stuff to do as the story went on, which I find extremely odd given how in the post timeskip she was suddenly given more importance than before but ended up being a leftover until the last two chapters gaining the determination to do the thing she should have done a long time ago. Mikasa is a bit awesome in her own way, but she has no ambitions of any kind and comes across as Eren's shadow. It is clear that she has had mental issues since she was a kid from the accident she and Eren had and her affection for Eren is due to this, but Yams does not look into this with the possibility that she may recover one day. Eren seemingly hating her was an excuse to make her grow and act on her own rather than following in his footsteps but she does nothing the entire time besides feeling sad at Eren's sentiments towards her because Yams never gave a shit about her.

I haven't talked about the rest of the characters but really, what there is to talk about? They all suck because the writing sucks and the story shifted from average (Marley) to the worst thing (War for Paradis) in a dozen or so chapters and it destroys everyone's solid characterization they once had. The transition from Eren becoming evil and after meeting Ymir was awful and the premise itself was bad, to begin with, because it didn't build up to characters that would eventually join the Paradis side to defeat a common enemy. It does this by assuming that everyone is fine in the first place, while that couldn't be feasible in any way. Yams wanted to give the characters more depth but clearly couldn't work with the way they were presented in the first place and also goes against their characters as previously they wanted to defeat Eren as quickly as possible without taking out everyone and yet waste time for trivial stuff. A "goal" of any of the characters who weren't on Eren's side, vanish because the final moments of the story is them trying to reach and take down Eren and in the midst of all the chaos down there, it's impossible to get any devolvement, and they don't, so Yams had to put Floch as a mini-boss before the final event as a means of showing the "cooperation" of the two sides of which couldn't work but the shitty writing proved me otherwise.

Which is better, the journey or the destination? The answer is both. But can everyone get that luxury? Unfortunately not. What one must do to get near to said luxury? Make the journey be worth the destination. If the AoT story had followed this thought of mine, it would've made sense. What was only needed is a linear thread to follow and find its end without splitting into different directions because you wanted to make it a more compelling approach to your story. You could, but why risk it when you had the answer right in the palm of your hand?

Eren died a virgin. That's all you need to know!

Attack of Titan is the prime example of how a story –no matter how good it is– can get completely and absolutely ruined in an amount of just a few chapters.

That is, if you try hard enough, of course.

Attack of Titan doesn’t need any introduction, ever since the anime debut in 2013 it has been one of the most popular and recognizable franchises out there, but in the end, it all boils down to one simple question: is it good? To avoid you all the trouble, the answer is simply no.

I have to admit that I used to like Attack on Titan, and even ... for a while it was one of my favorite series, and it was for a good reason. What Hajime Isayama initially presented in Attack on Titan wasn’t a run-of-the-mill shounen, but a superb story accompanied with intricate mysteries and world-building, and while Attack on Titan has never been without its issues, those could be overlooked as the good had far outweighed the bad. But what are we seeing now, however, it’s nothing but a hollow, lame and plain uninspired imitation of what AoT used to be.

What happened in Attack on Titan couldn’t be described as anything other than a huge downgrade in writing, showing signs of this as early as chapter 124, but becoming much more apparent in the last 6 chapters, culminating in what in my opinion is one of the worst end of any story I've seen so far. It’s completely nonsensical and contrived without any thematic weight, throwing away any previous build-up or foreshadowing, which it’s not only bad for itself, but also retroactively makes a lot of previous scenes as basically worthless. And not to mention how almost every character in the cast has been replaced by watered-down version of themselves, Eren being one of the worst offenders. While initially not the most developed character (though this is up to debate), Eren had one of the best character arcs in the series, just to be absolutely ruined in the exact amount of two chapters (which also are the last two), making his entire character feel like a bad joke. It's actually quite an accomplishment how much of Eren's character has been destroyed in such a short amount of time. The worst thing about this is that it doesn't only happen to Eren, but to most of the cast.

Armin, for example, is another victim of bad writing. After RtS, he remains completely stagnant and even regresses as a character, as he’s shown without any of the determination or development that took place during that arc, but rather appears as a very passive character, reminiscent of earlier parts of the story. Despite that being bad writing, that wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t for how much the story loves his character, despite doing nothing to deserve that. He’s always shown as some kind of messiah that every character loves for no real reason and paradoxically has the most screen time (at the expense of other characters) but the least development. It's insane how much Isayama constantly tries to portray Armin as a genius and a hero just to fails so terribly at it.

Then there’s Mikasa, who doesn’t even has any development or remarkable trait other than "Ereh" (and acting cool I guess), and has been like that for pretty much the entirety of the series. Thankfully though, she finally gets some development... but it’s only in the final two chapters. Which of course means that said development is completely rushed and contrived.

As for the other characters, they are underdeveloped by the lack of screen time due to the sheer amount of characters in the story, so just a few characters get some significant development. Another problem is how the story (and thus its characters) loves Armin, even going as far as ruining characters that aren’t even alive to begin with for the sake of Armin. The only characters that are an exception to this are the character who dares to oppose Armin, who are pretty much next to none outside of Floch (best character) and some non-characters that no one actually bothers to remember.

Anyways, I could go on with the rest of the cast, like how Levi, despite being one of the few decent character remaining, gets very few development or any moment to shine in the final arc due barely having any screen time with his character reduced to muh promise (still like I said before he’s one of better ones), or how Gabi’s characters serves no thematic purpose other than to tell us the exact same thing that Reiner’s character already did just a few chapters ago.

Story-wise, things aren’t much better. Due to what happens in the final arc, a lot (if not all) of the themes that the story initially presented are rendered as worthless. While the earlier parts of the story had been of mostly respectable quality, with a clear foreshadowing of future events and a solid theming, there’s no a reason to care about that now as Isayama didn’t seem to care either when he wrote this ending. It was as if after chapter 123 he was replaced with another writer as there is a clear lack of foresight in the following chapters regarding the development of the plot, especially in comparison with the earlier chapters. However, the worst part of this is the number of possible directions the series could have gone, only to ultimately pick the laziest and most predictable story development that the story could have gone. Laziness in particular is a recurrence during the final arc. The characters face no real threat despite the situation they’re in due to how protected they are by the plot, resulting in a lot of situations devoid of any logic no matter how unlikely these situations are and any tension being basically non-existent. Not much can be said about the ending without getting into some major spoilers, but it did its job of ruining whatever foundation the story previously had.

It’s also worth noting how unsubtle the symbolism and the """"themes""" are during the final arc. I cannot count the number of times a character has said "I am free" or also whenever a bird appears for the gorillionth time representing freedom (such deep symbolism). Like, it’s ok, we get it, but don't shove it in my face for the tenth time in a row, it's exhausting.

As for the art, it’s a mixed bag. The art initially was very mediocre and inconsistent, but with the time it got better and there was a clear improvement, it wasn’t the best of the best, but it was decent. However after a certain point the art got much more inconsistent again with a lack of effort compared to the previous improvements. Said lack of effort coincidentally happens to be reflected in the story, as the best chapters are also those with the best art, while the poorest written chapters have a mediocre art.

To say that the final arc is bad would be an understatement. Other than two chapters, there is little good to see. Any share of consistency or logic is completely erased and the attempt of making something of actual substance is left as an afterthought. It makes any previous emotional investment I had with this manga purposeless and I just can't care about anything related to it now. I think it's obvious by now, but I don't recommend Attack on Titan. If you still plan on reading Attack on Titan, then I recommend to read it until 123, then drop it and make up your own ending, as it would be much more satisfying than the ending we got, otherwise don't bother.

I was unsure if I would ever find another manga good enough to deserve my reviewing. And after reading volume six of Shingeki no Kyojin I can safely say the wait is over. What a manga!

STORY: 9/10
Throughout the history of action manga there have been hordes of fantastically evil creatures ganging up on any shounen hero that dares get in their way. Whether it be demons, hollows, or demons again one thing was always certain: Even though the characters appeared scared you knew everything would be okay. A main character can't die to one random monster out of the horde. They deserve noble deaths via ... human vs human fights.

Shingeki no Kyojin abandons decades of stereotypes and does it in remarkable fashion. Never have I been so afraid, so physically frightened by "just another mob of pure evil monsters". In Shingeki the monster of choice happens to be giants. They don't have any special powers and in fact they aren't particularly massive considering they're giants. They walk, run, and even crawl around on the ground with blank, sometimes even silly faces and do nothing but eat and mangle every human in sight. This is something the mangaka has perfected despite the fact that this is the first manga he's ever written. Every single time a giant appears on the page your heart will start racing and your palms will become sweaty. Where do they come from and why do they devour humans despite having no anatomical need for it?

These are all questions the mangaka presents early and skillfully hasn't answered yet. He's also created an incredibly thought-out world with paragraphs at the end of most chapters explaining things that would bore readers if squeezed into speech bubbles. Including, but not limited to: three-dimensional flying gear, anatomy of a giant, construction of the cities three walls, battle formations, and a type of strange retractable sword. The world feels rich and thought-out and will almost certainly suck in anyone who gives Shingeki no Kyojin a chance.

ART: 8/10
I'm going to be perfectly honest and say that the artwork in the first two volumes is as close to shit as it gets. Actions aren't drawn very well, details aren't drawn very well, and its clear the mangaka had trouble drawing body proportions. But when volume three started it was almost like a switch was flipped and the art wasn't nearly as bad anymore. In fact, after having just finished the sixth volume, its among some of the better art I've seen in a manga. Characters are drawn very different from one another and have a crisp yet visibly sketchy feel to them. And the Giants! They slide around with their giant heads, oddly proportioned bodies, and silly facial expressions just creeping the shit out of me. The mangaka is very talented at drawing characters experiencing the scariest moment of their entire lives. What a bonus the art became in volume three, adding fear on top of fear to make one of the most chilling manga experiences even more so.

CHARACTER: 9/10
Everybody is somebody. "What's the point of writing about a character with no personality or back story?" - Is what I imagine the mangaka asks himself before deciding to throw a new character into the mix. You'll find no blank-faced bad asses in this manga. You also won't find too many people with happy child-hoods either. Even though this is listed as a shounen it deals with very dark themes more suited for a seinen. Characters are often showed rattled and sometimes mentally scared from seeing their comrades get their heads bitten off in front of them. Either way, there is plenty of page time devoted to understanding characters and their roots.

ENJOYMENT: 10/10
The depth of the world is immense.
The art is very good (eventually).
Characters are deep.
The suspense is great.
The giants are TERRIFYING!
It's rare to find a manga that does so many different things so well. Whenever a new volume comes out I always know I'm in for another great experience I can't get anywhere else.

OVERALL: 9/10
I can't give a perfect score to a manga with so few chapters so early in it's life span. But trust me; if the same amount of enjoyment I've experience in the first six volumes continues throughout the rest of the series it would be a 10 no doubt.

You've gotta give this manga a shot. It's doing things that haven't really been done before, or at least not to this level. I'm setting the standard right now: You can't call yourself a fan of manga without reading Shingeki no Kyojin. Now get reading!

*This review made possible by AironicallyHuman, who recommended this manga to me

---The review contains plot spoilers---

"Bruh"
- Everyone that read the final chapter of AOT.


Despite the underwhelming (or I could even say horrible) ending, Attack on Titan has been one of the best manga I have ever read. The manga has amazing well-written characters with the ability to generate some of the best character interactions I have ever seen in any story. The underground scene after the timeskip and the ability to dive deep into the psychology of each character is way too good. The ending is horrible I agree and it kinda breaks a lot of what has been built upon it so far but ... imo, the whole build up to ch.123 and some of the chapters in between are why I give it an 7/10.

The characters themselves are what makes the manga special. I loved how unique the cast was, from the 2 best characters in the manga Reiner and Erwin (Eren was 1st before final chapter) to all the other side characters like Riko. They were so different and their ideologies were presented in a way that made you relate to them. A scene like Marco's death reveal is something I watch a lot simply because of how different it was and the nature of everything surrounding it. The cast was great which is why I understand how anyone could hate the manga for the way it ended.

The plot was great as well, the manga's development from titan fights to deep human psychological battles and politics was brilliant. It felt natural and with time, the plot evolved and the characters evolved with it which is why it felt both natural and rewarding when seeing a certain fight or reaching a decisive point.

Those were the reason I gave it a 9 or even a 10/10 at some point. On the other hand, the manga had way too many bad plot armor moments, some that even broke logic of the titans and their powers. There were way too many plot holes that didn't even get covered after the final chapter. You could have easily taken out like 10 out of the last 20 chapters and very little would have changed.
All that combined with the ending tho, it falls down to an 7 tho I could easily give it less. The final chapter was that bad!

Overall, I would give Shingeki no Kyojin an 7/10. Could have been a masterpiece but Isayama had other ideas.
IDK if I would recommend it based on how bad the ending was.

--The review contains spoilers--


I had to completely redo my review, and went from the score of 1 to 10. I've actually reread the entire manga in a single night, and came to a different conclusion. This review is 100% spoilers and an attempt at explaining the divisive ending, so don't read it if you're just starting. If it helps, know that I've spent 11 years reading it, and reread it many times so I could form this opinion, meaning that my rating holds weight, and you won't be making a mistake if you choose to read this manga.

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While I do understand the anger of the ... fandom, there's one really big problem with the arguments you guys put out. It seems that literally none of you understand who and what Eren Yeager is.

Now, I'll be honest with you. I was also an "Erenchad", I also rooted for genocide. 139 hit me like a truck, I was pissed for hours. Why would he end it like this? He effectively backtracks on all his beliefs. A complete 180. Then I calmed down, and started thinking.

Did Isayama mess up the ending, or did I not understand Eren at all?


Let's start at the beginning. Eren Yeager was born as the most unfortunate piece of shit on the planet. There's a reason he says "I'm not really sure why I did it". Look at his baby eyes in 139. The moment Ymir made contact with that parasite, Eren Yeager was destined for doom. It's quite silly when you think about it - the man who represented freedom - was the one farthest away from it. Him saving Mikasa in the cabin, getting her to follow him, and everything after it - wasn't Erens doing. The poor guy was acting on reflexes of a long dead demigod, who needed Mikasa for some reason to be free.

Now we come to 2 Erens that make this story - pre future memories, and post future memories Eren. Pre future, as you can probably guess, is Eren before getting his memories when he kissed Historias hand. Ymirs grasp over him wasn't that strong at the time. However, contact with royal blood allowed Ymir to wake up inside him. At that precise moment, Eren Yeager died, and was no more. He was nothing more than a complete vessel for Ymir. And that perfectly explains every action of his from now on then. Imagine if you knew you were going to die in 4 years, while killing 80% of the population. You also find out that it was YOU who killed your own mother. Erens entire persona was based on avenging his mom. IMAGINE what all those revelations do to the psyche of a then 15 - now 19 year old boy. A kid.

1) You are solely responsible for the deaths of your closest friends
2) You killed your own father and mother
3) You will force your own friends to kill you later on
4) No matter what happens, you leave the world blind, and you won't know if Eldians will actually survive

>Hur dur explain his sudden love for Mikasa

Well, it was always there. Back then, the world was surrounded with human eating monsters, his mother has died, and he just found out he's one of the monsters - do you think he can afford a relationship with Mikasa? He swept all his personal feelings under the carpet. Despite not showing it well, he was extremely glad he had Armin and Mikasa in his life. You could also make an argument that his love and attachment to Mikasa was all Ymirs doing - we will never know.

You simply have to understand Eren Yeager after he got future memories. He died, then and there. What took over was a persona that knew of his doom, and the suffering he would cause to everyone around him, the fact he killed his own mother, as well. And on top of that, he had to play pretend as a sinister lunatic, force Yeagerists into a plan that will kill them all, for essentially nothing, break his bonds with Mikasa and Armin - and this is especially important, as the last 2 people on the planet that trusted him back then - were those 2. He knew there was no way out. He had to go to Liberio and kill innocent people. A big hint of all of this is his talk with Ramzi - that turkish boy. That's where real Eren peeked out for a second. Literally, what's the point in saving the kid? I'm forced into killing him later, anyway. For a resolution I'm not sure of. To "free" a creature I know nothing of. Eren Yeager, who represented freedom, knew he was the biggest slave in all of existence - from the moment he was born. A slave to some primordial power he did not understand.

What can one 19 year old kid do against such odds? He can only break down, and suffer, as he did, until the end.

Eren Yeager isn't "based", "genocidal" or "evil", he's an extremely tragic character that wanted one thing he could never have - freedom.

Shingeki no kyojin otherwise known as Attack on Titan. This series before the anime wasn't popular in the west, but it was fairly popular in Japan being in the top 15/10 best selling manga in 2011/2012. After the airing of the anime it became a mega hit series.

Now before you give this review a not helpful vote because of the 10/10 score. At least read what I have to say before doing your deed. I'm more interested that you guys read my review than anything else. Now let's begin!

"Spoiler free review!"

Story: 10/10. The plot/story IMO is snk strongest point. "Titans" these monstrous looking creatures that ... comes in different shapes and size. Their main and only goal is to eat "humans" 100 years ago humans where forced to live Inside the walls which are over 50 meters tall, to stop the titans from getting in. This series is full of mysteries for eg. who or what created the walls? Are titans natural creatures? Who created titan shifters? Why were they created? This is just a small dose of the amount of mysteries in snk. Snk is a mystery series with horror elements in it. The plot/story is snk strongest point, but it can be a disadvantage to the series itself. Why? Because the story is setup in a way where it doesn't spoon feed you answers right away, and if the readers don't pay attention to the story. They will forget things that were earlier "foreshadowed" also the series being a monthly manga doesn't help. A lot of complaint I've heard about the series is that it feels like the author is making up things as it goes or pulling things out of his ass. Now this isn't the case. Snk is one of those series that gets better when you reread it. When you reread the series you will see the amount of foreshadowing/hints the author puts in the early chapters of the series. Things that has been foreshadowed in the very first volume is now being answered currently in the latest chapters of the manga. What does this tells you? It tells you that the author has planned out everything already, and he already knows how the story will conclude. The world building in snk is impressive! The amount of details the author puts in his world building is just great. Thd mysteries of the series and the overall plot is just so engaging. You just want to know the answers. This is one of the reasons snk has a lot of theory threads around the net. You know the TV series called "lost" that's the vibes I get from snk story. Except snk will answer our question and not give us any bullshit....I'm not going to go there. Anyways read over this series at least once. You will have a better understanding of the overall plot. And you will be less likely to ask stupid questions. Sadly not everyone is willing or have the time to read over the series. Sigh.

Art: 8/10. You guys must be saying in your mind. "what!? O.O 8/10 for snk art? fanboy alert!" lol, let me explain why I gave it a 8/10. At first I didn't like the art. But I slowly started to like the art. The main reason is because the roughness in the art fits the horror theme very well In this series, I don't think the series would successfully have the "horror" feel to it if it had something like, the Levi spin off manga. I do have to say I don't think the art is as bad as people are making it out to be. I think the scan is mostly at fault for this, if you buy the actual volume you will notice it looks much better than the online scans. Compare crunchy roll scans with manga panda and mangastream scans you will see a difference in quality.

Characters: 8/10. A lot of people say snk characters are flat/one dimensional. You will also notice that most of the peeps that said it are anime only viewers. Now, the first 30+ chapters which is basically the 1st season of the anime are mostly use to introduce us to the big cast of characters. The author flesh out the 3 main characters which are Eren, Mikasa and Armin. The secondary characters are not shown too often so obviously the readers won't be too interested in them. And I'm not talking about redshirts characters I'm talking about the characters that we will get to grow with during the series. IMO. Armin and jean got the most development in the first 30 chapters, although they are both my least favorite characters. Now around chapter 35 is when the author starts to give focus on the secondary characters. And start to flesh them out more as in making us know their motives and also how they fit in the story/plot overall. There is a few more characters that needs some fleshing out/character development. But overall Isayama is doing a solid job with his character especially in a story driven series. About the female characters, I like how he balance it out as in making both the male and female cast both having important roles in the story.


Enjoyment: 10/10. This series is very enjoyable. Not only it has a great story but also it has plenty of action in it that gives me goosebumps. I also like how strategic the fights are in attack on titan especially when it comes to titan vs titan fight. There is no get angry enough and you will win type of fights. Female titan vs eren is a good eg. And I'm not talking about the anime filler with fire titan eren. Or power of friendship defeat the bad guys. If you don't stay calm and think logically you are going to lose. Finding weaknesses and exploiting them is what attack on titan fights are about. Eren vs armored titan is another good eg to that. overall I enjoy the living hell out of this series. The conspiracy, the mystery, the action/horror it all makes this series a series to remember.

Overall: 10/10. As I said before, if you want full enjoyment for this series. Re read it. If you are caught up and you're lost on the plot or you just feel you're forgetting things. Just reread it, pay attention and analyze everything. When you reread this series you will notice a lot of things you didn't notice the first time. Its also funny when you're rereading the manga and you know all the traitors in the series. You will also see how suspicious they were. Anyways time to wrap things up. Don't breeze through the chapters when reading it, take your time and enjoy the series for what it's. Whoever that has made it this far, thnx for reading! And I hope you have a wonderful day.

I will be concise. This review is based on the manga till the end of volume 3.

Shingeki no Kyojin is a unique manga, in that it is bears more of a resemblance to Western fiction than to Japanese fiction. In some ways, it is similar to Gantz, but overall it borrows heavily from western steampunk and fantasy novels.

STORY: 9/10
Even though I'm only 3 volumes in, it is apparent that the story has immense potential.
The immense world around the small area in which the story is set is shrouded in mystery. Absolutely nothing can be guessed about it at this point. In the future, the ... manga will most probably involve revelations and discoveries about this world.
Incidents in the protagonists' past are being gradually revealed. The main character seems to have some form of memory loss. While this may seem cliché, so far it has being handled well.
The author appears to have an extensive understanding of the world he has created, in the vein of JRR Tolkien's Middle Earth.
In addition, the steampunk technology used is fairly believable, and even explained at the end of chapters.
I must confess the revelation of the main character's power took me completely by surprise. This leads me to believe that the author will handle plot twists very well.

ART: 7.5/10
The art, while not bad by any means, has a tendency to be slightly rough. It is completely hand drawn. The illustrations of the giants are quite impressive, and character design is unique. Backgrounds are some times less detailed, while distant shots of characters tend to be "derpy". None of this takes away from enjoyment.
Note that the art has steadily improved through the chapters.

CHARACTERS: 8.5/10
There is a multitude of characters besides the protagonists that may be important later on.
Character emotions are handled quite well and are very believable.
The main characters all have rather engaging, if somewhat cliché personalities.
So far, there hasn't been too much character development, but this far in, that is only to be expected.

ENJOYMENT: 10/10
Action scenes well done and never seem drawn-out. There is a fairly large amount of blood and gore. Story pacing is excellent. Never a boring moment.

OVERALL: 9/10
This is definitely one for the long run.

What is the most valuable thing in life?

Is it money, love, property, or something else? Well, everyone has his or her own ideas but for there's one thing we all have in common and that's the fact that we are all living beings that breathes in and out. We live by and enjoy life as best as we can. But what if that right is certainly put into jeopardy? What if a day comes when the place we live in no longer remains safe? Well, those are probably questions not many of us think about too often but for Mankind in this manga, those ... questions are people's heads every single day of their lives.

Unfortunately, one day, some of those questions finally came with answers..in the worst way possible.

Shingeki no Kyojin (or by its more commonly known English title "Attack on Titan") is a Japanese manga written by Hajime Isayama. The series takes place in an alternative setting of the middle ages, a dark times when mankind is threatened by the appearances of giants. The human population is in jeopardy and often times, fear fuels both hatred and determination to live and eradicates the titans that threatens their very lives every day.

Well for starters, I am pleased to say that Shingeki no Kyojin is a great manga to have in almost anyone's collection. I am not very familiar with the author. However, what I am familiar with is the way he presents his piece of work. By the name of the title "Attack on Titan", one may assume that the manga is related to a fantasy/adventure type genre series. Of course, you would be right if that was your assumption. However, this series marks more of a dark fantasy tale of horror and tragedy as from the very first chapters, we learn of the consequences Mankind starts dealing with.

The main character of the story is a young boy named Eren. Throughout his childhood, he has lived with his foster sister Mikasa Ackerman, his best friend Armin Arlart, and his mother. On the surface, readers may find his character to be impulsive, violent, and often or not acts without thinking. In other words, he is the type of guy that resorts to action rather than strategy. Unfortunately for him and his family, violence and action comes no less than from the giants. We are quickly introduced to a colossal titan from the very beginning as it makes history that levers the walls which stood between Mankind and the giants. Although not seemingly realistic, we can can imagine the people going through as the giants makes their way through and shattering the peace that Mankind has built for nearly a century. It is staggering and more so after these tragic events that would change Eren and his life forever.

Luckily, Eren seemingly follows a path of valor and plays the role of a protagonist rather than as a vengeful anti-hero. Although he displays his thoughts of vengeance at many times, Eren keeps his mind in check that what he's doing is for sake of Mankind and its existence. Speaking of which, Mikasa also plays her roles well. For a female character, she is very intelligent, resourceful, and independent enough to land some kills against the giants themselves. We can see easily that Mikasa plays the anti-thesis of the gender role from the middle ages as she displays superhuman like behavior throughout the manga.

The other characters throughout the manga also gets their own development, spotlights, and in more mysterious ways; some that holds secrets where we may never have imagined them to be. Among these secrets involves the giants and Eren's identity. Speaking of which, at many occasions, the manga explores the theme of identity and what people sees themselves as. For example, Armin Arlart is often confused about his place as a member of the military. He often seems to blame himself as being useless despite his ability to help out others at crucial times that have saved the lives of his dear friends. Mankind itself also begins to mount resistance and making its race a name for the giants to fear. Every drop of blood is a loss for humanity and with population staggering, everyone tries to contribute their efforts against their ultimate enemy – the Giants.

Well, that of course brings us to the very horror that started it all. The Giants.

The manga captures the horror of what Giants truly are. On the surface, they have humanoid-like structure such as their facial features and similarly shaped body resemblance with the same amount. However, what they lack is empathy and seemingly exist for the purposes to kill. Rather than feeding, these Giants are the true adversaries and destroyers of Mankind. However at the same time, the series inspires mystery as to their origins and how they came to exist in such a world. Nevertheless, their behavior spells out more words than action as they live to devour humans and make Mankind a living nightmare. Among other factors, the titans are classified differently for variant types. There are the normal titans, armored titan, muscular titan, ape-like titan, hairy titan, and of course the Colossal titan that started the conflict all over again. They are true horrors and the executioners of Mankind.

The manga series adapts the medieval-like feeling well. At many times, we can see that Mankind really did put effort into creating the peace they desired. The outer later of Wall Maria stands tall and proud as it has outlasted over a century. Among other factors are the inner walls, cannons, and guns. Most curiously though is the usage of a device known as the Three Dimensional Maneuver Gear. The device functions as both a tool and weapon used against the giants for those who have enough skills. Those who truly wishes to protect Mankind and challenge against the giants enlists in the military for crude training against what they both fear and hate.

Among other things, there seems to be some symbolism throughout the manga. The walls stands for both a physical feature but also seems to symbolize the way Mankind seems to isolate themselves as an united race. Mankind knows that without cooperation, death will likely resurface and blood will be spilled. Then, there's the idea of survival of the fittest. If we look carefully, those who have the skills, intellect, and determination will have the potential to make it through. Those that are weak, reliant, and doubting themselves are the first to die. It is a cruel world and the giants themselves makes that world into reality.

While the realism of the the series is a bit weak, I do find that horrors portrayed in this manga is well executed. The giants seems to lack motive to killing people but when they do, it always ends brutal that leaves behind both physical and mental scars. Some of these may never be healed. In more than one way, the giants plays the role of the super power as they strives to dominate against humanity. More curiously enough, not all of them are as mindless as we may think. But nonetheless, the giants are the horrors that mankind must deal with. The gore and violence presented gives readers a visually sense of just how serious the situation is. It's a cruel, cruel world out there.

There are many questions that needs answers still with this manga. However, by the way of Mankind's expressions, they are not very patient. This manga published by Kodansha is ultimately a piece of work that I enjoyed reading so far. There are some distractions occasionally with the gore and may frustrate readers with the mystery aspect of the work, especially in regards to Mankind's ultimate enemy. However, it has collected enough interests with the origins of its presentation, delivery, artwork, and for me is an enjoyable read. It's a horrific tale that questions how fragile lives can be in a world that rains of blood, terror, and destruction.

[Note: This is my first manga review. Feedback is welcome]

Want to learn on how to make an amazing main character, an amazing manga and just absolutely shit on it all right at the end?

Read Attack on Titan, then!

It's absolutely amazing how the author managed to talk about complex topics, such as racism, imperialism and war, throwing giant naked people in the middle, and make it not only enjoyable, but really well written.

That's, of course, till we get on the last arc where he, for whatever reason, just throws it out in the trash. Characters who had clear motivations, have a complete 180º. The fear of losing characters gets more and more diminished ... due to how predictable things get, and so on, so on...

It's honeslty up there with Game of Throne's last two seasons in terms of bad writing. It's baffling.

This review is up to chapter 45.


First of all, if you haven't read Shingeki no Kyojin yet, go do it. I'm not usually this enthusiastic about shounen manga, but SNK has managed to become the exception, simply because it's so damn good. Why? What makes it better than other works in similar genres? Well, my little ones, SNK is so well thought out. Meticulously so. From the plot to the characters, everything has just that extra layer that pushes SNK to become an outstanding piece of writing. There are plot twists often, and boy, can they catch you off guard. All ... of the characters contribute to the development of the story and each other. I'm picky when meeting characters, and even though this manga has about 1,000,000 of them, it is easy to differentiate and love even the most minor. This is definitely a story that I would buy and read over and over until the pages are worn.

And, well, as for the art.... There are some 'inconsistencies' that kind of annoy me - mainly that they way jaws are drawn from profile makes their faces look like tomato cans - but aside from minor things, it is a refreshing style. Isayama's art doesn't have "copy/paste face" - meaning that the only thing that physically changes from character to character is the eye size -- rather each character has their own specific features. It doesn't sound like that much to ask for, but this is regrettably rare for anime/manga. It's actually quite daring, and I can appreciate a good oasis in the desert of generalized faces.

Overall, this is the kind of manga that makes you think. I've been reading for a long time, but never have I spent so much time going over possibilities and predictions in my head. Not only that, but you genuinely care about what's happening. It's the kind of story that your jaw drops, your eyes widen, and your heart beat wildly with anticipation. And as for the fandom, it has an amazing range of artists, writers, thinkers, and crackifiers, and I enjoy every second of being apart of it.

Simply put, Shingeki no Kyojin is fantastic; a regular 10/10 would bang. I'd recommend it to anyone, even people who don't read manga. Go. Go read it now. Then friend me so we can talk about it into the wee hours of the morning.

Attack on Titan is a frequent target of derision from those who would dismiss it due to its popularity, but is it really all that bad? Well, the short answer is yes. The long answer is yes, but I do really enjoy vore, which earns it points. God, I wish I lived in the Attack on Titan universe. I would join the survey corps 100%. I’d keep straying from the formation a bit just hoping some hulking female titan would take a hunk out of me.

Speaking of female titans, isn’t it weird that of the original 9 titans there’s shit like the beast titan, the ... warhammer titan, the armored titan, or the colossal titan, and then there’s the “female” titan. This is explained by the fact that the female titan has no unique abilities, and instead mimics the abilities of the other titans, but what would happen if a male ate the female titan? Does it turn you female? Armin probably wishes he could eat the female titan. I digress.

Let’s start with what Attack on Titan does well. Okay, so next I want to talk about the art. It’s quite bad in the beginning, but it eventually becomes serviceable. It is never good. Isayama often neglects to draw backgrounds, even during pivotal conversations, and I sometimes found it difficult to distinguish characters. Despite this, it manages to have pretty fluid and good-looking combat scenes for the most part. And isn’t that what Attack on Titan is all about? Fighting titans, turning into titans, eating titans. Well, not exactly.

Attack on Titan is like a hot girl with an annoying voice. Well, maybe not hot, but you know, you’re a lonely guy, you’ll take what you can get and all. In any case, there was altogether too much talking in this manga. The arcs that centered around politics were dull and nonsensical, at least until the end, when the political plotline still makes no sense but is pretty undeniably entertaining. (It doesn’t help that one of the major plot twists of the Royal Government arc is practically recycled in the Marley arc.) The climactic battles were enjoyable enough, although when the mangaka thinks “we can’t win if we don’t fight” is a line worth repeating a dozen times it does lesson my emotional investment a bit.

One of the ways Attack on Titan garnered attention early on was by catching its readers off guard. And there are quite a few unexpected events, some more logical than others. At some point, though, it begins to feel like the entire plot is structured around these “big reveals,” and the intention is that the readers will clap every time their expectations are subverted. However, this stops working when the reveals start to feel more like asspulls and the universe’s internal logic increasingly falls apart. At one point, a guy gets wings, and no one is really sure why. Then another guy may or may not turn into a bird. It’s all a lot to process.

Armin is annoying. I can say that right? I dislike him quite a lot. Hate him, really. At one point a character lists off a number of clever ideas that Armin has had, in an effort to prove his indispensable value. I was left in disbelief, because while it is true that Armin does 100% of the thinking in the manga and comes up with 100% of the solutions, I attributed this to laziness or carelessness; I never expected it to actually be acknowledged. Eren may be the “he’s just like me” guy everyone uses as an profile pic, but Armin is the one who feels like a self-insert.

I will say that Eren’s character development, if forced, was pretty fun. He starts off as a completely typical shounen protagonist, but is eventually mindbroken into becoming the guy from Taxi Driver. Did this make sense? Not entirely. Did I expect it to at that point? Not even a little. Zeke would have been a better protagonist, really, but if anything the series would have benefitted from more of Eren and less of Mikasa and Armin. Mikasa isn’t as bad as Armin, who I loathe, but she is pretty one dimensional. Even Levi (who I am convinced is only so popular because he makes short men feel better about themselves) is more interesting. By the way, why do Mikasa and Levi never talk about both being Ackermans? It’s discussed that this makes them both strong, fast, and cool, but wouldn’t there be at least one moment where they went “oh wait, we’re relatives?”

Honestly, Attack on Titan is at its best when it reads like Eren’s power fantasy. I don’t care about this universe. I don’t care about these people. A majority of their planet could be exterminated and I would feel nothing. I don’t care when the walls break. I just want Eren to talk to the mirror more. I wish there was a scene where he put on face paint like the joker or something.

All in all, it wasn’t the worst thing I’ve read. 4/10.

For this manga, the reader needs to be a super active reader. One has to pay attention to every page, panel, behavior of the characters, even random stuff in the background needs your attention in order to understand what's going on, and to make smart predictions/theories of the storyline.
One on the best pieces of literature that I have read in a long time.

After reading so many manga, it is hard to find one that will capture you at first read. Shingeki no Kyojin is one of the manga that caught me by surprise and I definitely love reading this.

Story 10/10
Compared to other manga dealing with the supernatural, giants as the main villain is already a very interesting choice. Maybe because giants, even as portrayed in this manga, dont really have special powers; they are just big, very very hard to kill and not picky at eating people. The great thing about this manga is that everything seems very realistic, apart from the existence of the giants. The ... story is set in a apocalyptic type situation where the last human colony faces giant attack threats constantly. After decades of unsuccessful threats on the giants, the characters in this manga are struggling with fear and hopelessness, they are neither heroic nor optimistic.

Art 8/10
I enjoyed the mangaka's style, it's gritty and at times, messy, but it sets the manga apart from the rest. The characters all have different features, so it's easy to identify them. However, the best part would have to be the way the mangaka drew the giants. They are so horrible and evil and ughhh... It makes you absolutely terrified whenever you see a giant in any page. And the deaths of all the people eaten by the giants were well drawn. ugh. And the expressions of fear and desperation in the characters' faces, makes you feel so bad for them.

Character 9/10
I love that the characters in this manga are portrayed realistically. None of the characters have the illusions of being heroic or optimistic. In fact, each of them are selfish in their own ways. After reading many shounen manga where the villains just wont die, it's hard to believe that the heroes can still remain confident and courageous (bleach's kurosaki, dgray's walker). And in this manga, you can see that the characters are just real people with no special powers or weapons, tired of fighting and seeing deaths around them.

Enjoyment 10/10
This manga caught me right from the start. Maybe I just really like the dark, desperate kind of mood that this manga brings (reminds me of early d.gray-man). The villains, the giants, and evil and crazy and horribly terrifying, The main characters are weak, terrified people just struggling to survive. Amazing read.

Overall 10/10
I would recommend this to everyone. It is really amazing.

I just finished reading the 4th volume in japanese and all i can say is that this manga is the best I have read. Now I know why it´s at the top of japanese popular manga charts.

The story y very hooking. The art is good but they could´ve elaborated the characters a little more. Enjoyment 100%. Overall I think this is a wonderful series that everyone would like (exept there are a few qweezy scenes).

I hope this manga artist has more to come.

This new manga is topping the sales charts in Japan and I think for a good reason.

I just started reading it (I am just into the second chapter) and I am already hooked.
First let me spend a few words on the drawings. The backgrounds are quite nice and polished, but the characters, although nice, could be less "noisy".
I think this kind of style is instead very appropriate with the giants (or titans). They are strange, distorted human forms with the skin of their faces revealing all their theeth in a wicked grin. Their body proportions are usually off enough to give them an even more ... monstrous appearence.
The faces of the characters are nevertheless pretty good at conveing emotions.

The characters' fear in the face of an impossibly stronger predator is well represented. Imagine if you were face to face with a monstrous 15 meters tall man with a wicked grin and the will to eat you...

This plays on our instinctive fears of predators. It's true that today humans are at the top of the food chain, but it hasn't always been like that.
Probably if lions would evolve an intelligence they wouldn't know this kind of fear as they have no natural predators (normally), but for us the fear of being preys, of being helpless in front of a strong predator is something we can understand well.

I don't remember another manga with such a strong emphasis on this aspect and this certainly is a good thing!

The only small complaint could be that the drawings quality is not always the best, but seeing how the series has just started I think the author has plenty of time to improve.

I definitely recommend this series!

it's almost midnight as i'm writing and currently procrastinating so there might be some typos but i just wanted to get this out of my way.

someone on the forums recommended this manga and i decided to check it out, initially believing that it would be another boring shounen manga. fortunately, i was proven wrong (that person has a good taste in manga) and became so wrapped up in this story. even the first volume leaves me wanting for /more/ since it ended with a huge plot twist!

STORY: very, very nicely done! leaves you with plenty of suspense and anticipating. it's like a thriller where you ... quickly flip a page (or in this case, press the next arrow key). the pace's not too bad; it's neither too fast or too slow, but just right. although, at times, there may be some concept pages thrown in for clarity such as how the walls are built and maintained -- a crucial component of the plot. it's quite clear that this new mangaka did some research on the practicalities of his inventions, which makes this manga well thought out.

ART: like the other reviewer said, art is very, very mediocre; just enough to make this manga readable. the characters are drawn out of proportions and if you're one of those people with a sense of OCD (or the general eye-twitching at bad art), then this manga may irritate you a lot. however, in this case, this evident weakness doesn't detract from the quality of the manga. i agree with the other reviewer about the mangaka's rendering of the titans: they were /absolutely/ terrifying and evoked the raw emotion of fear from me. the way the panels were structured made me feel the same fear as the characters in the story. i love, love, love the monsters' design and their lack of proportions does make for the terrifying moment.

CHARACTER: at the beginning, when some men were in the woods, i didn't care for the characters much. however, by the end of the volume, i liked misaka even though she's usually very stoic. she does care for her friends. the human characters behaved realistically. if you were confronted by a giant who wants nothing more than eating you, what would you do? no one would dare defeat a titan on their own until they had a huge motivation.

the main driving force of this manga, though, is the human-eating monster. in the first volume, the titans provide a key point of conflict as they easily trample down the walls and invade the humans' remaining territory. not much is known about them other than the fact that they ignore animals and plants and have only one known weakness so far.

ENJOYMENT: because i read this manga late at night, shinegeki no kyojin provided me entertainment. i would definitely re-read it because it captured what no other popular manga did: it exposed my fear of being eaten and of the unknown. i did notice some points where the quality of art wasn't the best, but the storytelling ability spurred me on to read more. i know that three volumes have been released so far, so i'm definitely looking forward to the second scanlated volume!

OVERALL: great story, art could use work in defining humans, characters aren't thoroughly developed /yet/, high level of enjoyment. i heard a rumor that this manga was rejected by WSJ because it wasn't what they were looking for and i believe that it was a good thing that this manga was rejected because had it been accepted, the story would have to be dumbed down for the readers. this type of story is clearly for the seinen audience.

so, if you have time and like plot-based manga regardless of the art quality, shingeki no kyojin is definitely a great read!

Attack on Titan is like fast food. Enjoy it while it's hot. You shouldn't think about or doubt it while you're reading it; just keep reading and enjoy the actions, plot twists, and deaths. If you take too long to read it, the plot will become nonsense.

Attack on Titan is highly enjoyable. It doesn't have fan-service to distract you, no 30 chapter long fight scenes, nor does it drag on about the importance of friendship and other garbage that shounen mangas force you to worship. It's flat out action with "kill or be killed" perspective. The fights are thrilling, the deaths are emotional, the ... plot twists are surprising, and the setting is mysterious.

The manga tries to keep it real: humans are fragile, corrupted, greedy, and mostly selfish. I guess that's the selling point of this manga. Where you have characters shooting beams out of their mouth in most mangas, here is an action manga that actually shows that humans are not invisible. It doesn't matter if the character is major or minor, death is an inevitable fate, and the mangaka doesn't hesitate to kill his characters. Death isn't glorifying, it's not sweet, it's not fun, and for a soldier, it definitely isn't welcomed. This is where the enjoyment hits the peak, the idea that a death in battlefield is anything but important. The war goes on and lost ones are replaces. Some rue, some forget. But the courage to fight knowing dismal rates of survival is truly heroic and when the protagonists achieve victory, you can feel it. I guess this part of Attack on Titan is what I enjoy, it's keen details on death, human nature, and sacrifice.

Now, I told you to read it as quickly as you can. Why? The plot is a mess. It lacks originality and logic. The whole idea of monsters invading humans and fighting monsters with monsters is copied from Claymore. It's sad just how much it borrows from the older series. The concept of corruption, mysterious setting, and grand conspiracy all comes of Claymore. I can go on about every little thing Attack on Titan borrow (copies) from Claymore, but it would be a disappointing experience.

The other thing wrong with the plot is its inconsistent pacing and explanations. The author tried to put too many ideas into one story; it's just a big mess. It has come to the point where the author is contradicting himself and pulling out explanations out of the blue. And as each chapter moves on, the only thing interesting to happen is character deaths.

Characters, like the story itself, is also copies. Hot-headed young man with power trying to pursue goals with help of childhood friends under a prodigy lieutenant in an organization full of conspiracy that is somehow related to the character's father...yes, it's Fullmetal Alchemist all over again. There is just nothing to speak about them, no originality whatsoever.

I can't give it a 10, 9, or 8. It's not creative, not original, nor full of intelligence. It doesn't bring anything new to the table. It's a mix of Claymore and Fullmetal Alchemist set with an apocalypse setting. It's not qualified for a 7 either. But it's enjoyable. It's fun to read. I appreciate the author's effort to portray the dark themes, and he executes them well. And with a sketchy, unique, and not-moe art style, the author deserves a little praise.

As I said, read it quick, appreciate the intense setting and action. Appreciate the twists and turns. Be overwhelmed by the titans and their actions. Be anxious about the culprits, be thrilled by the conspiracy. Just don't think, don't compare, that's the best way to enjoy this manga.

Overall: 6.25

Shingeki No Kyojin has just recently started airing as an anime this season and is the most hyped up show that is currently running. I got into the manga about a month before the anime started to see what it was about. I haven’t read too many manga so far, but I can still feel like I want to write a review about how spectacular this manga is.

I’ll address the few downsides to this manga before explaining each of the parts individually. First, this manga starts off a little slow. It goes in a slightly different, less chronological order than the anime, with more jumping ... around to different times and some flashbacks. Once you get into it and get used to the huge character cast who keep dying and getting replaced by stronger, more important, and longer lasting characters, it gets easier to understand. The other problem this manga suffers from is that with the huge character cast, the character designs for some characters are fairly similar and sometimes cause you to forget which character is which. This problem ends eventually though when the manga starts to focus more on the important people and less on the massive amount of death fodder characters.

Plot – 10/10
The plot is amazing. As you probably already know, the plot of Shingeki No Kyojin is about humans who have been forced to retreat behind a set of three walls and several smaller settlements next to them for over a hundred years. Titans, beings whose shapes are similar to humans’ who range from 3 meters to even one that is 60 meters tall (really fucking tall if you don’t know metric like me). For hundreds of years, the humans have survived inside the walls without the titans ever breaking through, but that’s where the story begins. One day when, five years prior to where the main events of the story begin, the 60 meter titan appears outside of the wall of the settlement where the three main characters (Eren, Mikasa, and Armin) live and breaks through the wall letting smaller titans into the settlement and producing mass chaos and lots and lots of death. Some people manage to escape, but the titans have already taken over and forced the humans to retreat behind the next of the three main walls. From there, the story jumps ahead a few years to when the main characters are joining the military and then graduate. From there, the story really gets going, but I won’t spoil anything else. It only takes about five chapters to get really into the plot. Having just caught up to the manga at 44 chapters earlier today, I can tell you that after Chapter 30 readers are in for a huge plot twist ride especially after Chapter 40. These twists really catch you off guard but are not bad in the slightest.

Art – 9/10
As I mentioned, some of the characters designs are somewhat similar. So far, the anime, which adds color especially to hair to help differentiate between brown and black hair, seems to have fixed this problem. The other problem is that some fights, especially using the 3D maneuver gear which is the main weapon used to kill titans, is so intense that it is clearly not something still images can convey as well as the anime has so far. The art is still great, but the task of drawing these action scenes is just too much sometimes. Still it does succeed in capturing the emotions of the characters, especially when they are horrified, which happens a lot.

Characters – 10/10
Eventually this manga slows down the amount of death fodder characters and gets you more into the main ones who are great characters. Eren, the main protagonist, is a boy bent on killing all titans and getting revenge for the loss of his mother when the titans first broke through the wall several years ago. Mikasa is Eren’s friend and the strongest fighter in their graduating class from the military. She is always looking after Eren and doing everything to protect him, and he does get into a hell of a lot of trouble. Armin is Eren’s other childhood friend. Unlike Eren and Mikasa, he is not a good fighter though he excels in strategizing. Personally, I think Armin may be my favorite character, though I think a lot of people like Mikasa the best. Some other notable characters are Rivaille (or Levy) who is the strongest fighter in the whole military and can take down dozens of titans single-handedly, Sasha (aka “Potato girl”) who likes food and is also a great fighter, and Annie who excels in hand-to-hand combat, and Reiner who is very muscular and always wants to protect everyone he can. While some characters may not seem very important at first, many of them have things they are hiding and pasts that have not yet even been fully explained at 44 chapters. You emotional connection you get with these characters can hurt you sometimes if a character you like a lot dies, but others live on draw you into a strong connection with them instead and never cease to amaze you.

Enjoyment – 10/10
I’ve been reading this manga somewhat slowly for the past couple months, but just today I read from Chapter 31 to 44 almost all in one sitting. Once this manga really gets going, it draws you in and you better be prepared for this thrilling, gory, twisted ride that I highly recommend to everyone who enjoys survival horror or action manga.

This review is based up until chapter 48.

Shingeki no Kyojin has a comprehensive enough plotline--humans being chased around and eaten by grotesque giants called Titans, which do faintly resemble large, ugly humans.
However, the series actually has much more to do than just focusing on humans being eaten, which is probably its best asset. Shingeki has several mysteries that intertwine as one reads the series--how the Titans were made, exactly how they work, who is controlling them, what's that huge monkey, and a few other that are secret--and I think the fact that it isn't eleven volumes of pointless bloodshed that makes the series so ... popular.
Shingeki also has some good character development--hardly any live character stays the same, for better or for worse. Each character has their own story and personality, and te mangaka is good at revealing them.
The artwork isn't gorgeous, but I think it's a good fit for the series. If Isayama Hajime used a beautiful art style, I'd think it's be distracting.
For those who find the series too graphic, I'd say the anime toned it down a lot.

So, here's my second review. And since I didn't like much the way I wrote the Psycho-Pass review, I'll change it. I'll just comment through all the aspects of the manga without having a "separate category", where I rate every single one. So, let's get into the review of the almost perfect manga, Shingeki no Kyojin - attack on titan.
(Remembering this review goes only to the first 11 volumes from the manga. I will re-review Shingeki no Kyojin once the manga finished publishing)

Note: Sorry if it is a bit incomplete or short. I tried my best not to spoil also, so don't worry if ... you haven't read the manga.

Shingeki no Kyojin (or "attack on titan"), is a historical science fiction/fantasy seinen manga series with shounen aspects written and illustrated by Hajime Isayama. Let's first talk about the plot, which is definitely the best and strongest aspect of the manga.

It's a shame I can't give a plot summary here, because I would like to get a bit into the details, and also, I really don't enjoy going on talking about the plot without mentioning at least the basics. But what can I do? Well, the story at first to me looked cool and interesting, but as it develops more and more, mysteries appear and unimaginable things are revealed. This is what Shingeki no Kyojin did best: creating so many unresolved mysteries at the same time that we get a lot more interested on the story and keep reading. The narrative is constructed in a incredible way, and everything make us feel the despair and fear that the characters are going through while fighting the titans, also another strong point of the manga that we didn't see in the anime.
The characters are also very unique. Every character is different in personality, decisions and even the fear they feel. Also, it seems that every single one of them has a special role during the story, or everyone has a mystery behind their background story and such. Of course there are those one characters which have a bit more depth or carisma than others (of course other than the main Eren, Mikasa and Armin), like for example Corporal Rivaille and Sasha Braus, whom I believe a lot of people liked since the moment they appeared. Of course the background of some characters aren't developed a lot during the story, but that can't be a flaw, since the manga has not ended yet.

All the concept of the story is well made and can be explained. Every single thing. That is extremely good for every deep story that I read, and what lots of not only anime and manga, but movies, games, novels, etc; lacks sometimes. Things need an explanation at least. And those explanations and the current revelations that pointed me from the opinion of Shingeki no Kyojin was a supernatural/fantasy anime to my thoughts that the anime actually goes much more to a sic-fi genre. However, again, since the story isn't finished and lots of things haven't been resolved, I can't be sure of the genre yet. And that's only my opinion, there are people who still believe the manga to be supernatural.

One of the best things that I found about the story was also the deconstruction of typical shonen or even fighting-central seinen. There are few cliches during the manga, and when those appear, they are really well-used to increase the emphasis of something that happened or what someone is saying.
And also, something that Shingeki no Kyojin does – or better, the author of the story – is the fact that it kind of doesn't care about deaths of characters, and that is seen very rarely in anime, as well as the censure, that is almost absent throughout the chapters. The deaths does not seem dramatic, but they somehow make you feel at least a bit of emotion, it doesn't matter who they were. But of course I won't get into detail on this part.

And, as the story isn't finished yet, I cannot give my general opinions on the ending. But I can only tell that I'm always afraid of endings when I read ongoing mangas or watch ongoing anime. I always think: "What if the ending is completely terrible? What if it ruins the anime/manga?" But , I here can say that I have high expectations that this manga will have a great and well-thought ending. I hope the author doesn't mess up during the ending of the series.

Well, now we go on to the art. Well, this is where the manga fails. The art overall is not good, that being because the artist probably is beginning. There are huge anatomy flaws on lots of scenes, proportion mistakes and such things. Also, the shading done in the manga is not the best, and I didn't like much the way Isayama inked the black parts of the pages, those being normally a bunch of lines. However I know that it may be hard to do 50 pages a month, so he probably does that to make it in time to publish. That being, the fight scenes including humans using the DMT aren't really well drawn, however nothing that disturbs the eye of those who read the manga.
But the flaws on the art are only for the characters (humans). The titans are overall pretty good and odd – on a good way – drawn and they vary much in forms, sizes and even their faces are almost all different from each other (some titans with beard, others with chubby creepy faces, and some of them are made to look badass – you that already read through good part of the manga probably know what I'm talking about).
Also, the art out stands on the scenarios, that are without doubt one of the best out of all manga I've read. It is definitely the most obscure and dark one of today's good manga, with the whole titan story and the mysteries that the plot presents to us. However, I still am not sure if the artist had his assistants draw part of the scenario or not. Even if that's the case, the creativity he had to design everything – the walls for example – is just insane.

The fact that the manga presents lots of mysteries is the key to its full enjoyment. You will keep wanting to read more and more, because, well, you want to find out what the freak is happening, and as more unresolved things appear together, you keep wanting more to read. Until you reach the manga's last chapter, and have to wait one month for it to be posted around in some website.
The enjoyment, unlike lots of other series, isn't made by the comedy, which is practically absent on the entire manga, and when it happened, of course it was on the calmest moments, where the characters could kind of just relax. And normally when Sasha's around, since she is that typical character on a serious story that is used to relieve a bit of the stressful atmosphere around the other characters, but that as well have her serious moments. The comedy is even funny, probably because of the lack of it.

Overall Score: 9.3/10

Shingeki no Kyojin is the best manga being launched during this time without a doubt, and it probably holds one of the best stories I have seen on an anime or manga. The manga presents only one flaw: the art. Don't get me wrong, I don't really think art is super important, however, for mangos with epic stories and intense, fast-paced fights, it is almost mandatory. It doesn't ruin the manga, not even a bit, because of the awesome story that it presents. Its enjoyment is outstanding, characters very good and almost everyone that I know who read the manga say to be one of the best from today's time and, of course, recommend it to others.

So, as a final speech, I strongly recommend to all of you Shingeki no Kyojin, both for the ones who want a more serious thing instead of constant comedy, cliche romance and nonsense fighting, and also, I recommend for the boys/girls who only read shounen. I suggest you to go read the manga, because most people who read and watch shounen will like this.

So, this was my review of Shingeki no Kyojin. Until my next review,
NuclearNecro-42, signing off, and going back to Ishimura.