Story-wise, I thought this volume was a bit better than the first. Unfortunately, the story is still crippled by its terrible art. If I hadn't already seen the anime, I would likely have wasted a lot of time trying to figure out what was happening in certain panels and what had happened from one panel to the next. I really hate Isayama's overly dark, sketchy art style.

If you've seen the anime, there's almost nothing in this volume that will be new to you. The only potentially new thing I spotted was a moment during a flashback explaining Mikasa's backstory. Mikasa has a brand on her wrist that is passed down from generation to generation in her family (or at least on her mother's side). It's hard to tell whether it will end up being important, or if it was just Mikasa's mother's family's way of signifying “we are the last of the Asians.”

In the first half of the volume, the most interesting things were finding out Mikasa's backstory and seeing her in action. She's awesome and takes no crap from anyone (except possibly Eren). I found the ease with which Child Eren

murdered several grown men to be just as disturbing in the manga as in the anime. No hesitation, no doubt, just “they are animals and they must die.”

(spoiler show)

The second half of the volume has one of my favorite moments, the first appearance of

the Titan-killing Titan.

(spoiler show)

Unfortunately, again, it was crippled by the bad art. I'd honestly rather re-watch that portion of the anime than re-read it in the manga.

I will continue reading this series because I want to get to stuff that hasn't been shown in the anime. I hope it will eventually become more enjoyable.

Extras:

Several pages of Attack on Titan world-related information: an illustration of the extent of territory left to the human race; illustrations of the wall-mounted artillery and its ammo; and an illustration of the relative scale of the various types of Titans vs. a soldier and a building. Also included is a rejected cover proposal sketch.

 

(Original review, with read-alikes and watch-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

Here's the thing: I've seen both seasons of the anime, and I loved the show. I disliked Eren, the main character, but that didn't seem to matter. The action scenes were fabulous, and the plot twists were so gripping I couldn't stop watching. Unfortunately, season 2 ended with lots of questions still unanswered and, right now, the best way to get answers is to read the manga.

That's pretty much the only reason why I'm going to read more than this first volume. From what I've been able to find online, Attack on Titan is Isayama's first series – he's done maybe two or three one-shots prior to this. And, oh, it shows.

I've read several manga series where the story is written by one person and the art is done by someone else. I wish that Attack on Titan had been done that way. While Isayama's story ideas are pretty good, he wasn't ready to be drawing something like this. While some panels are okay, a few are so bad that it's hard to tell what was going on. Action scenes and small panels fare the worst, human characters are often sloppily drawn, and the Titans look terrible.

Okay, now that I have some of my gripes about the art out of the way, on to the story and characters. Like I said, I've seen the anime. I can't review this like someone who hasn't. I already know what's going to happen and that, while this volume is incredibly bleak (Isayama is not shy about killing people off), all hope is not lost. I'm guessing a newbie would think otherwise, considering that one of the series' biggest early plot twists happens right at the end of the volume.

There's not really much in this particular volume to interest someone who's seen the anime, and, as a result, it's kind of boring. It's basically the same events, except the anime presented things more chronologically. The manga shows some of the chaos right after Wall Maria was destroyed and then skips straight to Eren, Armin, and Mikasa's Training Corps graduation and the next great blow to humanity's existence. There's been only one training flashback, and it was limited to a classroom lecture on Titans and the way they can be killed.

So far, most of the characters have barely had a chance to make an impression. Eren is still annoying and still unaware that Mikasa is the primary reason he has survived as long as he has. I like Mikasa and Armin, but I think that may be due more to my memories of the anime than to anything in this volume, because neither character has done much yet.

All in all, I'll continue with the series because I want to make it to scenes that weren't in the anime and volumes that haven't been adapted yet. I'm not sure how long this will take. I'm crossing my fingers that Isayama's artwork gets better with each volume.

Extras:

One thing I did appreciate about this volume were the extra pages explaining a few details about the walls, the towns that jut outside the walls, and the three-dimensional maneuver gear.

A word of warning to Attack on Titan newbies: You may want to avoid reading the 3-page interview with Isayama at the end of the volume. One of his answers includes a spoiler.

 

(Original review, with read-alikes and watch-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

I added some children's books here on goodreads and then get flooded with recommendations / discussions notifications and had to de-rate most of them. with this in mind, hopefully rating this comic book won't result in dramatically different book recs from the GR algorithm. Shirow's work stands more on pictures than stories, to be sure, and his specialty, lithe females in bodysuits and combat robots, is inspiredly chosen, but in any case, i guess it's fair to call this the best of Japanese cyberpunk, although it's comics and text, so to speak.

aside from the fairly standard trope of 'mysterious government groups battling each other' (section VII vs. section 12, with or without support from agency Z), and some amount of 80s-ish influence in the form of Soviets still being a major global player and many of the haircuts straight out of 80s glam rock, this book might be worth it to the non-genre reader simple for the imagination involved in the visuals, the sensuous vehicle designs (all aerocopters flowing, liquid), the predicted near-future fashions of chicks sporting lingerie beneath biker jackets, all combine to create a cultural vision that resonates with people across the world. much of the problem, the east asian specialist faces--it is said--is resolving the greater chinese economic / social force versus the sheer stylishness of the japanese; who do you favour?



^^since a picture says a thousand words, I guess this is the summary of the work. in bio-neuro Neo Tokyo, after World War IV (!), human-machine interfaces are commonplace, and the titantic struggle being fought is between a shadowy resistance and the internal security troops of Public Safety 9, featuring a cop duo, big, cyborg, firepower Bateaux and the lithe sleek optical camo Motoko ; features: subtle sexual tension between big moosy Bateaux and sleek clever M, lots of firepower, city-scapes, cop-on-terrorist action, interdepartmental scheming where mysterious mainland interests may be in collusion with elements of the J gov't, but who is corrupt and who is clean? the book features elements not found in the movie (available free on youku.com, search 'ghost in the shell'), incl. exploitation of child labour, soviets, 'perverted' scenes (but movie has 'deserted city', eerie soundtrack of folk chanters, some better aesthetic choices (!) actually)

oh no, I can't resist:



anyway, i guess the larger question is the importance of cyberpunk today in 2013 (a date which once upon a time was cyberpunk itself)-- we are all connected to the machine, but not through HMInterfaces, but rather chat boards and i phones. who woulda thunk. in contrast to night cityscapes and neon blue, the modern world is still pretty recognizable in the form of 20th century architecture, but if we have less hacker violence and biomechanical implants (the book is set in 2029), on the other hand, a lot of tokyo seems cleaner and more well run than the chaotic neo city protrayed in GotS

this is considered the best of japanese cyberpunk comic books, so definitely worth a look by any cyberpunk fan, but of course most cyberpunk fans are already familiar with j aesthetics. potsdamer platz

Two dragonslayers going at it full-force and displays of magic types we'd yet to see? I love it. :)

Having been defeated and scattered at the end of the fourth volume, the Fairy Tail wizards regroup and try to plan their next step. Unfortunately, another variable enters the situation that might change everything - especially for the fairy tail members.We start with some one-on-one fights. The minions here are kind of useless. there's a guy who can use magic-cancelling magic, a guy with poison claws and a woman who can control any non-human thing. Of the three, the latter is possibly the strongest due to the versatility of her powers, but all three are taken out gratifyingly fast. Natsu takes out the two gents while Lucy uses a bit of creativity (and then a straight-arm to the throat :) )to defeat the woman. However, as Lucy's mopping up, Erza shows up to drag them back.I love Erza. Can I just say that again? In this instance she is ready to drag them all back and not listen to a word of excuse. But once she sees how important it is to Gray, she relents and assists them, putting off their punishment until later. this volume includes Gray's backstory, which is very cute and sad, and explains a whole lot about who he is and why he acts the way he does. I thought it was very well done, if a little typical of a shonen character.