Review by Frank Plowright

Human settlers have been beset by giant mindless creatures of assorted sizes known as Titans, and since the attacks have begun they’ve learned several surprising things, not least that bodies of Titans are embedded in their fortification walls. It’s also been discovered that some humans can become Titans. Or perhaps it’s the other way round. No-one knows for sure. The more pressing matter is the revelation that there is no unknown breach in the wall structure, so how is it that the Titans are encroaching on the city?

Attack on Titan 10 ended with Eren in his Titan form battling an enormous specimen who turns out to have been hiding among the humans all along. Before that happened, Reiner and his companion Bertolt tried to persuade Eren to accompany them, and when that failed, they resorted to other methods.

So much action manga seems to rely on the creator working out his scenario and then drip-feeding revelations over multiple volumes, and Hajime Isayama is a master of the form. The Titans are a constant source of new disclosures, with another hint as to their abilities here, meaning for every discovery the humans make, the Titans seem a step ahead. Artistically, Isayama continues to resort to sketchiness when drawing Titans in action, which could be seen as a metaphorical statement on how little we know about them.

Most of the book still takes place near the recently fallen tower, but the final chapter concentrates on a cast of four, and Isayama surprises again. Is one of them genuinely unhinged or are they just tired and processing recent stresses? It’s very disturbing. Isayama follows up by going over some old ground now recontextualised by recent events to produce an emotional shredder.

Until that final chapter the action is maintained, but the more desperate battles we see in Attack on Titan the more they merge into one, which is something Isayama needs to address going forward. For the time being there are enough hints at what’s going on behind the scenes to take us into Attack on Titan 12. Both volumes are combined in larger format in the fourth Attack on Titan Omnibus.