Manga for the Month of June: Attack on Titan / Shingeki no Kyojin

MONTH OF JUNE: Attack on Titan

[MANGA]

Synopsis: Several hundred years ago, humans were nearly exterminated by titans. Titans are typically several stories tall, seem to have no intelligence, devour human beings and, worst of all, seem to do it for the pleasure rather than as a food source. A small percentage of humanity survived by walling themselves in a city protected by extremely high walls, even taller than the biggest of titans.

Flash forward to the present and the city has not seen a titan in over 100 years. Teenage boy Eren and his foster sister Mikasa witness something horrific as the city walls are destroyed by a colossal titan that appears out of thin air. As the smaller titans flood the city, the two kids watch in horror as their mother is eaten alive. Eren vows that he will murder every single titan and take revenge for all of mankind.

Volumes: 10

Status:  Ongoing

Genres: Action, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Shounen, Supernatural, Tragedy

Author: Isayama Hajime

Commentary:  I came upon Titan through tumblr actually, since the internet can't stop raving about it.  A bit skeptical and more or less miffed that I had a few very important scenes spoiled through animted gifs and unthinking bloggers, I ventured into this anime knowing only that it was about giant people who ate little people.

Let's go on that premise.

If you're only interested in the anime, you're a bit out of luck.  It's currently updating, and the manga isn't finished either.  However, there's far less of the anime out than of the manga.  *nudge nudge wink wink*  After catching up to episode ten, I couldn't leave the story hanging there, so I dove right into the manga which proceeds in an extremely similar fashion: death, eating, much tears spent due to tragic deaths.  Much like Berserk, only read this manga if you are okay with gore, high levels of death, and tragedy.  But, I must also say, it's a fantastic story with more than just combat.  It explores the motivations for almost every character existing in this world, and will wrench your heart, and your mind with its friggin' plot twists, more than once a chapter.