Review by Frank Plowright

A grim future awaits humanity in the world of Attack on Titan, sheltering in cities with high walls protecting them from the threat of giant beings known as Titans. Eren’s home city hasn’t seen an attack for a century, and this has led to complacency within, although survey teams sent outside the protective walls rarely return unscathed.

Hajime Isayama employs an extremely exaggerated form of storytelling, where extra large lettering and strained facial expressions suggest no-one uses their indoor voice. However, there’s a reason to shout when a Titan batters its way into the city, and Isayama doesn’t shy away from the gruesome results, showing Eren watching helplessly as the Titan crunches his mother in half. It’s life changing in more than one sense, and when Eren and his friend Mikasa are seen again it’s five years later and they’re among the top five graduates of their military training. They’re conflicted about which branch of the military to join, but Eren possesses a determination that the Titans can be beaten. If the five year gap seems to have missed out a lot, don’t worry. Isayama loves a flashback, and he returns to the training in later volumes.

Isayama launches epic possibilities in a series that runs to 34 volumes, so nothing’s going to be resolved quickly. His storytelling method is quirky, matters frequently reaching a crisis point requiring an inserted flashback as an explanation. This especially applies to the other eight people among the top ten graduates, who would appear to be around for the long term, so their personalities need establishing. Eren has a constant wide-eyed stare, but it can sometimes be difficult to distinguish other characters if they’re not named. It’s likely you’ll frequently be referring to the spread where the ten main characters are identified.

It’s the fourth chapter of five before Isayama begins to answer some questions readers will have accumulated about the Titans, and why humanity’s weapons can’t deal with them. Like Achilles, they have a single weak spot, except it’s located on the back of their necks. They’ll just regenerate from any other injury.

Everything moves forward extremely rapidly, and by the end of this first volume the status quo has considerably shifted. It’s been a poised set-up, and most readers will be dragged straight to Attack on Titan 2. Alternatively the first three volumes are combined in the first Attack on Titan Omnibus.