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

Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin), Volume 2 by Hajime Isayama

Genre: Dystopia, Horror

Publisher: Kodansha

Date of Publication: September 11, 2012

Author Information: Website | Twitter

In the previous volume, the walls that separated humanity from the titan were breached by a colossal titan standing more than 50 meters in height. Five years after that breach, Eren, Mikasa, and Armin have just graduated training to become full-fledged soldiers. During that time, Eren is even more resolved to join the scouting team, especially after the huge loss he suffered with the attack. Humans now live within two of the three walls after abandoning Wall Maria (Wall Rose and Wall Sina are the two remaining walls standing) to the titans. Humans lost 20% of their population and a massive amount of land in that attack, but they are still packed together behind the smaller walls.

Not even a full day past their graduation, Wall Rose is breached by the colossal titan. When faced with this threat again, Eren responds in kind, trying to stay true to his vow to kill all the titans. While his companions are taken aback by the reappearance of the colossal titan, Eren takes the helm and attacks, hoping to end the aberrant once and for all. However, things can’t go that easily, and just as Eren is about to make his fatal strike, the titan vanishes–just as it did five years earlier.

The fight isn’t over, though, as titans once again begin to terrorize the people within the walls. Here we witness an astounding transformation in Eren as the energy he’s fueled with all his anger and desperation come back to aid him and his comrades in an astonishing way. Even though these books and the anime pretty much mirror one another (with the anime adding just a bit more padding, naturally), I was just as caught up in the story and the plight of Eren and his comrades, even though I already knew the outcome of this particular battle.

Mikasa Ackerman, Queen of Everything

Eren may be at the center of it all, but a win won’t be possible without the people rallying around him and the strength and trust they’re placing in him. Part of me believes, and I could be wrong since this is on-going, that even once this is all said and done another character will probably have a bigger impact on the outcome. Even though this is largely Eren’s story, there seems to be another important story playing along beneath it in more subtle ways. More characters are coming into play who display characteristics that will be necessary for humans to win this fight.

Isayama seems to be setting up the story in a way that Eren will need the support of these characters to be successful.They’re not given these talents just for show. Their talents round them out for sure, but they also play an integral part in the story, as well. Eren will need Mikasa’s strength and faith in him. He’ll need Armin’s strategic intelligence. He’ll need Jean’s ability to command, even if Jean still isn’t sure of himself. This has already been proven. I know all these characters will not make it out of this alive, but they will still contribute in their own way.

Many of these characters are coming into their strengths during this battle. They’re learning things about themselves in the urgency of the moment that they might not have been aware of before the latest attack. Many of them joined the military to live a comfortable life, especially those who were refugees. They were tired of doing without and being treated like second class citizens because their arrival behind Wall Rose made things more difficult for everyone due to things like food shortages. However, they’re more capable and resourceful than they could’ve ever imagined despite their youth and inexperience.

They understand that they’re going to have to rely on unconventional methods to get through that hell. To quote Aristotle: “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” They group is beginning to understand this to be a fundamental truth for them as they begin to rely on one another and work together in Trost. I really like that brute strength and Eren screaming he’ll kill all the titans will not be the only thing to win this war. This volume stirred up all the proud feelings that I remember having the first time I watched the anime as these characters start to evolve.