Review by Frank Plowright

There’s no easing us into Attack on Titan 12, as Hajime Isayama leaps straight in with Reiner and Bertolt leaping from their tree perch with Eder and Ymir tied to the backs as they swing through the forest. As seen in Attack on Titan 11, it’s a perilous place during the day, a refuge for wandering Titans, but at night they sleep and passage is possible.

Isayama surprises by generating what seems be turning into a chase and fight sequence before taking a wild swerve into a deep and painful journey into the heart of a soul. It’s confession and possible death note asking the question of how anyone can keep killing without it affecting them.

There seems to be some awareness on Isayama’s part that he’s not good at distinguishing between the cast in the heat of the action. He often compensates by ensuring people are named, as a close-up of the face could be any one of a number of people. As in most volumes, there’s a total stramash at some point, and the one here is a little different for featuring heavy Titan on Titan action, yet is also incredibly moving for being to all intents and purposes a Charge of the Light Brigade.

By the end, any chance of redemption has vanished as Reider has his own agenda, and his own methods of combat. No-one else has yet used throwing Titans at fleeing troops as a technique, but it’s terrifyingly effective.

In general Attack on Titan maintains better than average quality without managing to push that little bit higher. The strong emotional content here breaches that wall as if it’s been battered down by a Titan and sets high hopes for Attack on Titan 13.

This volume is also available combined with the previous two as Attack on Titan Omnibus 4.