Rebellion without a clue.
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Hajime Isayama
Translation/Adaptation: Ko Ransom
What They Say
ERWIN’S GREATEST GAMBLE
Commander Erwin has finally come to a decision: Putting their own wealth and position ahead of the survival of humanity, the royal government is no longer fit to lead. To execute their leader’s most audacious plan yet, Eren and Krista will have to put themselves in peril yet again, and Armin, Mikasa, and the rest of the Survey Corps will have to turn from humanity’s guardians into traitors. If they fail this time, they’ll face not a Titan’s gaping mouth, but the gallows…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The covers of Attack on Titan often seem to only be tangentially related to the inside content. Case in point, we have Levi, Hange, and Erwin chilling in a bar on the cover plotting destruction. This doesn’t actually happen in the volume, which is a shame because Hange looks like she’s going to bite someone’s head off.
Not that Hange doesn’t get her deranged moments in this volume. She gets plenty.
Even Armin gets in on the mad scientist action, or at least mad strategist action. This whole opening is filled with that awkward hilarity that this series seems fond of. While studies have shown that torture doesn’t exactly work in practical application, Hange and Levi don’t know that. They also more importantly want revenge which fuels their carefully constructed torture session. A brilliantly executed tactic gets them a very key piece of information. They discover that Historia (aka Krista) is actually in the bloodline of the true nobility of the country.
There are answers aplenty in this volume. Especially in regards to motive regarding why people want Eren and the pile of coverups throughout the government and history. (A couple of people once tried to fly away over the walls in a hot air balloon and were caught and executed!) The problem is I can’t tell if any of it is accurate or if everyone is being played. Erwin tries to suss out help from Pixis, but the old soldier is being wisely careful. We discover what drives Erwin to seek the truth about history and it’s a surprisingly decent back story. The plan the Survey Corps finally develop is solid one, but this wouldn’t be Attack on Titan without everything going spectacularly sideways in the middle of the mission.
In this case it comes from a serial killer who trained Levi once, and who shares a last name with Mikasa. He’s also a cartoony lunatic gunslinger enlisted as a hitman in the military police. Somehow he gets tipped and thwarts the Corps plans, killing allies and causing a massive scene. The Corps are now wanted killers, Erwin is captured along wit Eren and Krista, and there seems to be very little the scattered group can do to find the truth. The mystery just keeps growing.
In Summary
I didn’t expect this volume of Attack on Titan to go full blown spaghetti western by the end, but there it is. It would be even more hilarious if it wasn’t all so tragic. The survey corps just can’t catch a break, and with every volume their numbers grow smaller. Even as ridiculous as this series can get it’s still far more entertaining than it should be. The biggest question in my mind right now though is what’s Lenny’s relationship to Mikasa, and who is the real mastermind behind the world within the walls?
Content Grade: B +
Art Grade: C +
Packaging Grade: B
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Kodansha Comics
Release Date: November 4th, 2014
MSRP: $10.99
