Manga Review: Attack on Titan, Volume 2, by Hajime Isayama

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Publisher: Kodansha Comics

Publish Date: September, 2012

Volumes: 12+

Spoilers?: No.

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Volume 1. Next Volume.

Goodreads Synopsis:

BIRTH OF A MONSTER

The Colossal Titan has breached humanity’s first line of defense, Wall Maria. Mikasa, the 104th Training Corps’ ace and Eren’s best friend, may be the only one capable of defeating them, but beneath her calm exterior lurks a dark past. When all looks lost, a new Titan appears and begins to slaughter its fellow Titans. Could this new monster be a blessing in disguise, or is the truth something much more sinister?

This volume of Attack on Titan includes special extras after the story!

Review:

I am really glad that I picked this series up now. It’s so different from what I usually read, and it’s a little refreshing to read all this violence. The art is different from what I’m used to, but I like it. I am just really enjoying this right now.

In this volume, we got to learn more about Mikasa, who I think is my favorite character. She keeps a straight face most of the time, but she obviously feels strongly about Eren. And she’s so kickass. She’s the best fighter, I totally believe that she could take down anything she needs to. Her back story made me understand and feel for her even more.

Then there’s Eren, who was understandably absent in this volume, but will probably be around more in the next one. Armin, their friend, I’m interested in. I’m mainly looking forward to seeing him mature, grow, build more confidence, because he’s so weak right now, and I have faith that that’ll change. We actually meet a lot of other characters as well, who all get names and minor personalities, but I haven’t grown attached to any of them. I’m mostly just waiting to see who gets more important roles and who gets killed. Because violence and death is something definitely not held back in this series.

Which I really like. There are a lot of horrifying scenes and deaths in this series, and this is just the beginning. I’m still really intrigued by the titans, and really looking forward to seeing how they work, seeing the humans figure them out more. Plus there was this big plot with Eren in this one, which  I totally knew from the beginning, and that opens up even more questions.

I’m also really impressed with the diversity in this series. It doesn’t seem to play any favorites or liberties between male and female. Given how you can’t really tell between nationality in manga I wasn’t sure about that, but there was something mentioned about it in this book that cleared up that some are fewer than others, which I’m intrigued by. Because all humans are now confined in one area, some places got attacked worse than others. I don’t know, I like the diversity, and the whole world is just intriguing to me.

This series is just so exciting, and gruesome, and no-holds-barred. And I’m really looking forward to starting the next volume.