Review by Frank Plowright

Many Japanese series run a long time, but if the progression from first volume to last is assessed, there’s not a great deal of movement between. That’s not Hasime Isamaya’s way of producing comics. Between the opening pages of any individual Attack on Titan Omnibus and the closing pages so much will be different, and that’s again the case here.

Relative optimism was the mood ending Omnibus 6. The Survey Corps had devised new weapons, and with Eren Yeager’s newly discovered talents there was a feeling a hole breached in protective walls five years previously could be repaired, preventing further access from the Titans. With that achieved it would be possible to enter the basement of Eren’s family home where his father is suspected to have concealed crucial information not otherwise known.

Two-thirds of this volume, what in smaller format was Attack on Titan 19 and Attack on Titan 20, is concerned with the ongoing battle. Isayama’s very good at laying out feasible plans, and then having them collapse into desperate circumstances, and follows that technique here. Another frequent storytelling device is the relatively recent flashback featuring events not spotlighted at the time, one here showing how the Survey Corps now have new weapons effective against the Titans. How far the series has come is indicated by the smaller Titans, such a threat early in the series, now being more or less just cannon fodder.

Isayama’s battle scenes lose no clarity for being dynamically laid out. It’s always possible to figure out what’s going on, and how one character moves from one place to another. He’s not as strong when it comes to defining people, though. He has a stock face used for most characters, and it’s uniform, hairstyle or mention of their names that distinguishes them. With Eren in human form resembling others, who’s doing what isn’t always immediately apparent. Designs for the Titans are better once you’re used to their goofy appearance, which should be the case so far into the series.

The battle ebbs and flows, surprising all the time, and for what was Attack on Titan 21 Isayama throws the curveball of setting the troops against each other when a decision needs to be made. However, after waiting so long, we do learn the secret of the Yeager family basement, and it’s a stunner, redefining the series. The volume ends with Grisha Yeager’s recollections of his youth, which will carry into Omnibus 8.

Inventive storytelling is again the order of the day, and how Isayama ends one long-running quest by starting another is astonishing. This continues to be a great action series.