Levi, Furlan, and Isabel are secretly planning to steal some documents from Erwin, so that they can live a good life in the capital. However, Levi and Isabel find themselves getting caught up in the Survey Corps members' passion for their work and their goals. They can't steal the documents and kill Erwin outside the wall without seriously risking everyone's lives, something they're no longer willing to do, so they opt to put their work on hold for a bit, at least until the latest outing is over. That decision lasts until it starts raining heavily. The rain makes everyone's flares useless and cuts all the squads off from each other – it's too perfect an opportunity to pass up.

Meh. I was right, Isabel and Furlan were nothing more than cannon fodder. However, I was not right about the way things would work out between Erwin and Levi. Erwin did almost nothing to try to win Levi over – it felt like Levi started following him primarily because he had no other options left, rather than out of a sense of loyalty. Not at all what I was expecting, and it left me feeling disappointed.

The artwork was nice, certainly better than the artwork in the original series, but the story was a bit of a letdown.

There were two shorts after the main story, both of them set prior to Levi, Furlan, and Isobel joining the Survey Corps. In the first one, Levi wins an arm wrestling contest and is allowed to pick any prize he wishes. On the one hand, I liked that Levi's choice was so very practical. On the other hand, I disliked that the story seemed designed to set a middle-aged woman character up to be the butt of a joke. In the second short, Isabel hears a ghost story and gets scared. I think this was meant to be funny, but it just seemed pointless.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

I might have enjoyed this volume more than any of the original AOT manga series, despite a lack of my favorite character, Mikasa. Reading and watching AOT, I never really got Levi, or particularly cared for him. (Probably mostly because I never got far enough into the story to really grow attached to him?) He simply was the character with the dead eyes that my Goddaughter got me to impersonate, with photographic evidence that should be burnt. Regardless, this volume contained actual character development and backstory, which I am all about. There was a minimal of crazy action where no one can tell what's going on, and also far less disturbing Titans running amok, though that one Abnormal running around like a drunk bloodthirsty fashion diva perhaps fulfilled the quota? In any case, I find myself actually looking forward to reading Vol. 2.

As I understood it, Hikaru Suruga should be commended for getting the art to look nearly exactly like the art of the original AOT manga. However, he should also be berated for making it look nearly exactly like the truly awful original art. Any opportunity to change how that art looks should be taken immediately. Although I thought some of it was maybe ever so slightly better? Or maybe I was just getting used to it D:

Oh, and one more thing....

This takes place prior to the original Attack on Titan series. Survey Corps squad leader Erwin recruits Levi, Isabel, and Furlan from the underground slums because he believes they have great potential. They trained themselves to use the 3D maneuvering gear that they stole, something that's difficult for many Survey Corps members to believe. Erwin also

I'll probably continue on with this series just because of Levi, but so far this is kind of dull, and Levi and friends are a bit too amazing right from the get-go. Keep in mind, they

Isabel and Furlan practically have “cannon fodder” written on their foreheads – one of the drawbacks of setting a spinoff prior to the original series is that you know which characters don't carry over. It's possible that they just decide to quit the Survey Corps at some point, but, considering the Survey Corps' high mortality rate, it seems more likely that they'll die tragically. I'm going to guess that a good portion of this series will be devoted to showing how Erwin manages to thaw Levi and earn his undying loyalty, so staying interested in Isabel and Furlan is probably going to be a bit of a struggle for me.

This has much nicer (prettier?) looking artwork than the original series, while at the same time keeping the same character design style (other than big-eyed Isabel, who looks like a refugee from another series). The linework is cleaner and doesn't look constantly heavy and dark. So far, I like it.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)