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Shingeki no Kyojin
Attack on Titan
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Shingeki no Kyojin

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Alternative Titles

Japanese: 進撃の巨人

Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 34

Chapters: 141

Status: Finished

Published: Sep 9, 2009 to Apr 9, 2021

Genres: Action, Award Winning, Drama

Themes: Gore, Military, Survival

Demographic: Shounen

Serialization: Bessatsu Shounen Magazine

Authors: Isayama, Hajime (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 8.55¹ (scored by 407,331 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #126²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #2

Members: 655,010

Favorites: 69,167

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Reviews

Filtered Results: 253 / 445

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Aug 15, 2011

Tumerking

Recommended

Preliminary (22/141 chp)

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 ...

Apr 6, 2021

awesome5

Recommended

Preliminary (139/141 chp)

--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.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

Mar 17, 2015

keragamming

Recommended

Preliminary (67/141 chp)

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.

Jul 1, 2011

froody1911

Recommended

Preliminary (12/141 chp)

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 ...

Apr 19, 2013

Stark700

Recommended

Preliminary (44/141 chp)

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 ...

Jun 3, 2013

nicetush

Recommended

Preliminary (45/141 chp)

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 ...

May 26, 2013

LadyGeorgie

Recommended

Preliminary (Unknown/141 chp)

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.

Jun 13, 2012

bakahaido

Recommended

Preliminary (34/141 chp)

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 ...

Jul 1, 2011

rustylili

Recommended

Preliminary (18/141 chp)

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.

Feb 6, 2011

destroyar0

Recommended

Preliminary (4/141 chp)

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 ...

Mar 7, 2011

Jazze

Recommended

Preliminary (Unknown/141 chp)

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!

May 5, 2013

Asfaria

Recommended

Preliminary (44/141 chp)

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.

Aug 17, 2013

DragonCactus

Recommended

Preliminary (48/141 chp)

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 ...

Jul 9, 2013

NuclearNecro-42

Recommended

Preliminary (47/141 chp)

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 ...

Jun 19, 2012

cloud8100

Recommended

Preliminary (34/141 chp)

Attack on Titan is about humanity's survival after 100 years when a majority of humans are wiped out by titans. They live surrounded by walls up to 50 metres high to keep the titans out. The story focuses on the characters Eren Jaeger and Mikasa Ackerman.

Attack on Titan is an original manga that I highly recommend to anyone who likes drama, action, fantasy or horror. The emotions and atmosphere are portrayed amazingly and the story is really awesome. A must read.

I quite like the art and the titans are very bizzare and freaky. The art varies in preference to different people.

Apr 26, 2012

rokkugoh

Recommended

Preliminary (32/141 chp)

Fascinating horror manga about humans vs. Titans (these giants that vary from 4m to 50m tall who eat humans -- although not really for nourishment, they just like to kill/attack).

Manga follows a group of kids who witness the slaughter of their families and who vow to train to become soldiers to reclaim their territory and wipe out the giants. It sounds pretty lolwhatever but it's actually really scary, I couldn't stop thinking about it. Part of it has to do with the way the giants are drawn imo -- they look like deformed humans with big stupid faces (although some of ...

Apr 7, 2021

SeanN30

Recommended

Preliminary (131/141 chp)

SPOILERS

wow! What an incredible story. Isayama made a very bold decision ending it in what seems to be the middle of an arc but 131 was one of the best chapters I've ever read so its excusable. Eren is one of the greatest characters in alI of anime and manga and I'm sure if the story continued he wouldnt become a walking contradiction reduced to a simp, going against his ideals established since the very first chapter, being stripped of everything that made him a phenomenal and complex character! Great story so glad I spent 8 years of my life reading this monthly.

Edit: Admittedly the ... earlier review was a kneejerk reaction to bad translations but I still hate the ending and the direction eren's character took.

He was previously characterized as someone with absurd resolve who, despite being mentally anguished by what hes doing, fought for the freedom of himself and the people he loved against the destiny laid out for them being born as eldians, but then he obtains the founder and he just becomes a complete bitch to fate? for what the sake of irony? Mentally falling apart after gaining near omnipotence isnt OOC for eren, anyone knowing the past present and future would break down because theres nothing you can do just accept the future laid out for you and I hate that it happened to eren because he was characterized so well before and all of that just broke down immediately and took away everything that made his character special because pretty much anyone would have the same reaction. The worst thing is that it happened off screen at least show us eren experiencing this, show us eren trying to change the immediate future only for it to be futile and his reaction to that, this idea of determinism is not something you formally introduce and resolve in one chapter.

Furthermore, the idea of determinism is just shit and excuses bad writing. "Why did eren let the alliance kill him despite his previous unbreaking conviction to rumble the world?" Valid question but the answer Isayama expects you to accept is that its because "it was alway's gonna be this way no one ever had a choice in anything.", because this lelouch bullshit definitely doesn't achieve his "primary goal" of allowing his friends to live long lives as Paradis is about to go to war with the 350 million people left alive with their measly population of 1 mil. I put primary goal in quotes as he had other goals he valued equally except he just forgot about them which leads to my next point.

There are also OOC moments for eren, notably his seemingly flimsy desire for the rumbling. Say what you want about his "head being messed up", but he previously had clear convictions as to why hes doing the rumbling and the buildup to those revelations climaxing with his apology to ramzi and the freedom panel was incredible but now he forgot and it means nothing apparently. EM was also not built up well at all and the "I dont want her to find another man" scene was utter cringe regardless of ships.

The worst part of Eren and Armin's final conversation is that it should have been the climax of their "ideological battle" (I put this in quotes because there hasn't really been a battle just armin wank for the past 5 chapters). Part of what made 121-123 so phenomenal is the ideological battle between Eren and Zeke. They had 2 rational ideologies(from their respective perspectives) that were founded and built up incredibly well and we're actually shown why erens ideology won. To put it simply: despite all the bullshit they go through humans have an innate desire to want to live and fight to be free. This is reflected in Ymir and we understand why she chose eren's ideology and it works phenomenally on every front; it lines up with and enhances the previously established story, themes, and characters. Now compare it to the Eren Armin conflict, Armin's ideology won because ???. I don't fucking know, the best explanation is "Eren bad Armin good".

Next I want to talk about how terribly Eren's time on screen was managed in the chapter which will also build on the previous point. Eren has 20 pages in the chapter where he's speaking. Of those 20, 8 are spent explaining his dogshit plan to armin and how ymir loves fritz, 3 are spent on the useless shock value eren accidentally killed his mom plot twist, 5 are about mikasa and how sad he is that jean's gonna hit that gorilla grip coochie, 2 are his goodbye to armin, and only fucking 2 pages are about his ideology and motives. Compare that to 131: the audience is in the dark surrounding eren's inner thoughts from 95-123 and 131 masterfully displays his ideology, motives, and everything in between, dedicating almost the entire chapter to solely eren. Similarly, by 139 the audience has been in the dark about eren's inner thoughts from 123-138, except this time less than half the chapter is dedicated to eren and even then, most of the time spent on eren is useless garbage that doesn't get to the meat and potatoes of his character like 131 does.

The irony of Eren never being able to achieve freedom after the irredeemable acts hes done is good but not like this, him dying to put an end to the curse to allow Armin to live for a long time + not burden any future children w 13 year lifespan, after he thinks he's secured paradis' safety would have been much better for example, and would also line up with him being a dick to Armin and Mikasa to distance them.

Finally, the symbolism of Eren and the bird at the end implying he's free is downright insulting. For 138 chapters death has always equalled the loss of freedom especially so for Eren who fought so hard to stay alive, so suddenly implying that he's found freedom in accepting his circumstances and dying is garbage. Furthermore what implications does that have on the audience? If your problems seem impossible to face just accept that and die so you'll be free of them!

Also these are only my problems regarding erens character (even tho these aren't all my problems with his character), there's so much more regarding Ymir being in love with king fritz + forced Mikasa Ymir parallels, Reiner, Zeke, and Historia's unsatisfying conclusion, "thank you for becoming a mass murderer for our sake" LMAO, seemingly forgotten themes (surpassing the father, keeping children out of the forest, ending the cycle of hatred, etc), and much more I could write a goddamn essay on why the ending sucked ass.

I'll still rate it as a 10 and pretend it ended at 131 because this series means a lot to me and I grew up with it so I'm coping super hard lol.

Apr 8, 2021

Huangi

Recommended

Attack on Titan is not perfect, nothing is. That being said it truly deserves to be considered a modern classic and will go down as one of the most influential series to come out of this medium.

(this review will be spoiler free and very vague for those who have not read it)

STORY: 9/10

The story of Attack on Titan is unique, one of a kind, and undeniably brilliant. It has its clichés here and there but the overall thought put into writing such an intricate and compelling story is unbelievably impressive. The concept of the series is simple and nothing all that profound; titans ... invade humanity, and humanity fights to survive. However, it is soon discovered that this simple premise was not just a one dimensional action packed roller-coaster that it was originally portrayed to be. It was a well thought out, well calculated, and multilayered masterpiece that would be explored to the likes we could've never imagined. Isayama took this simple concept of titans vs humans and effortlessly molded it into a story of politics, racial discrimination, oppression, and many more powerful themes to create a story for the ages. Attack on Titan is able to bring out so much emotion in the reader whether it be through shocking deaths, unexpected plot twists, passionate speeches, and all around incredible storytelling. There is so much more to talk about yet I feel like my words would never do the articulate and beautiful story of Attack on Titan any justice.

ART: 8/10

The art in Attack on Titan is great, and fairly underrated in my opinion. Obviously series like Berserk, Vagabond, and Slam Dunk are miles ahead but that doesn't mean AOT is any bad. In fact, some panels in Attack on Titan are surprisingly beautiful especially when it comes to later chapters. I will say the art in the beginning of the series is very mediocre however as the series progresses so does the intricacy of the art. Additionally, the character designs especially of the titans is incredible. Their unique anatomy and uneasy facial expressions make them truly stand out from anything this medium has ever produced. However, the fight scenes are where Attack on Titans art is at its best, and truly is able to immerse the reader in the brilliance of the action. There is so much detail to every aspect of the panels, including movement, expression, highlighting, shading, that all come together to create a brilliant flowing scene. Attack on Titan has some amazing art in it that perfectly fits the tone and atmosphere of the series. Combine this with the unique and realistic character designs and you have the recipe for a beautifully drawn and instantly recognizable series.

CHARACTERS: 9/10

Where do I even begin? The characters in Attack on Titan are special, and are able to captivate what a lot of other series fail to do. Each of the characters introduced throughout the series serve a purpose in the narrative which makes it easy for the readers to become attached and drawn to their journey. Love him or hate him Eren Yeager is a fantastic protagonist when it comes to writing and character development. The amount of evolution he gets as a character is a rarity to find in this medium and is truly a sight to behold. In fact, every character in the series has amazing development and all evolve in a way from when they were first introduced. It is truly beautiful to see all these characters grow up together and become more and more unique as time goes on. The characters in Attack on Titan age like fine wine, becoming more intricate and detailed as the narrative increases its complexity. I also find it fascinating how the series doesn’t really have a definitive antagonist, as it could really be anyone depending on your point of view. Yes, there are some obvious choices but this dilemma makes the story that much more interesting to read. Not too many series out there can have a lot of characters in their narrative that contrast brilliantly with each other whilst having unique personality traits to make them stand out. The thought put into developing and constructing the characters in Attack on Titan is marvelous and stands out as one of the best.

ENJOYMENT: 10/10

Reading this manga and watching the show has been one of the most enjoyable things I’ve ever done in my life. As soon as I was hooked to the series I couldn’t keep my eyes off of the screen and literally shouted on multiple occasions out of pure enjoyment. Attack on Titan isn’t the most thought provoking series out there (which is usually my cup of tea) however if we’re talking from a pure enjoyment stand point, there really isn’t anything that can compete with the sheer brilliance of AoT.

OVERALL: 9/10

Attack on Titan is not by any means a perfect series, however it is a god damn good one. If you haven’t taken the time to watch/read AoT please do yourself a favour and immerse yourself in this fantastic series. I was originally skeptical of the AoT as I usually despise “normie” shows and thus assumed it was just another hype piece of trash. However, after seeing Gigguks “Attack on Titan is incredible now” I sat down and easily binged through season 1-3 and fell in love with everything it had to offer. After completing The Final Season I read the entire manga from start to finish and now consider myself a fan of the series. I can’t believe it has now ended after over a decade but I truly believe AoT will go down as a modern classic and be remembered forever. Thank you Hajime Isayama and everyone else involved in bringing us this amazing and surreal piece of fiction that I will never forget.

This is my first ever review on MAL. I don’t expect anyone to read it but I just wanted to give it a go and see what happens. So if you have taken the time to read my review thank you and I truly appreciate it!

Disclaimer (spoilers): I wrote this before the last few chapters were released where I felt like pacing and delivery fell off. My overall score is now a 7. It's truly disappointing that a masterpiece like Attack on Titan didn't end with the same quality it had been providing for its entire run.

Jan 8, 2019

SSJayso

Recommended

Preliminary (113/141 chp)

This is my first and probably only review I’ll write on this site, but I just had to say something about how fantastic this series is. Spoiler-free.

Attack on Titan is easily one of the best stories of modern times. It is filled with glorious action, brilliant plot twists, and delves into themes such as war, death, corruption and existentialism.

Character-wise, Attack on Titan has an incredible cast, each with their unique motives and ideals about the current situation. Isayama is a huge fan of creating morally grey characters; there are no true heroes or villains in this story. And this is why the characters are so ...

Oct 9, 2019

berial6

Recommended

Preliminary (122/141 chp)

[minor spoilers, none if you watched anime]
I'm not gonna lie- i used to hate Shingeki no Kyojin. When the anime first came out, i didn't really see anything exceptional in the anime- just another series about zombies with boring characters, ludicrous action, but this time with incredible soundtrack and animation. But outside of visuals, there really wasn't anything to it- you've seen first episode, you've seen all 25 of them.

But then, after 4 years 2nd season came out and.. i was intrigued, to say the least. One character revealed himself to be yet another humanity's enemy- the Titan. But instead of evil laugh and ... moustache-twirling (that you would expect from the level of story telling of the 1st season) he said something.. peculiar. That he's tired of being "soldier", that he had spent too much time with those idiots. And that he has to remember his duty of being a "warrior". What the hell does it all mean? i thought to myself. Is there something else to this manga than just giant zombies? Oh boy, how wrong was I.

Season 3 came around, more things were finally explained and pieces finally began to form a picture- first season of SnK was more of a lie, a prologue. We all were lured into thinking that Titans are this infinite danger, that all that matters is "glory to mankind".
But in reality the series started to develop a way deeper theme- the one fully explored only in the forth sea-- sorry, 3rd season, 2nd half.

And thus SnK changed from series about zombies into one about patriotism, xenophobia, racism, freedom at any cost. Characters i used to hate developed or the story developed to the point where you could finally see what Isayama intended them to be.

Take look at Eren- naive, loud, brave and bold shonen protagonist. Type of a character that would want to become king of pirates or a hokage. Incredibly dull and inadequate protagonist for a manga that tried o be a seinen.
But after the "basement" it became clear that Eren's naivety and childlishness was a trick designed by Isayama. Eren developed into this cold-hearted, cynic nihilist that wills to kill all his enemies, even if it may mean commiting war crimes.
But did anything really change about Eren? He's, in core, the very same character he was, since chapter 1. All that changed is the information about the world, which is amazingly depicted in the "shell" scene.
An ocean, that he thought to be a symbol of freedom, is yet another birdcage that keeps him safe from his real enemies. He thought titans were mindless monsters, but his "new" enemy isn't really that different from titans, they are maybe even more monstrous.

Other personality-lacking characters are also revealed to be actually brilliantly written. Reiner changes from your avarage bully into depressed paranoid, Berthold is clearly not doing anything he wants, Armin becomes more depressed... overall, this series changed from being edgy shounen into fully depressing experience.

What i think Isayama does the best is writing moments, not long-term stories. Any arc that doesn't rely of politics is just a blast to read, but the problems start when he wants to develop some "more real" intrigue- Uprising Arc is probably the worst in the series, since Isayama doesn't really know how politics work. He also likes using various shortcuts, where some of the more important plot beats are just there for the sake of simplifying the story. In short- some things "go too easy".
But, as i said, what Isayama does best are those *moments*. Full of emotions, surprising, sometimes even status quo changing. Till this day Reiner/Bertholt reveal scene is probably one of the best directed scenes i've seen in anime- kind of a one that you would watch 10 times, with your jaw dropping lower and lower.

The main reason i've written this review is the fact that majority of other reviews on MAL are from 5 years ago- where Snk was still about zombies, not philosophical conflict. And with series probably ending in half a year, i think it's the best time to maybe convince people who watched only 1st season to actually pick up.
Because trust me, it's totally worth it. I used to call SnK one of the most over-hyped series in existance, but now i'm fairly close to calling it a (flawed) masterpiece.