The enemy is inside, in more ways than one.
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Hajime Isayama
Translation/Adaptation: Sheldon Drzka
What They Say
TITAN ON THE HUNT
On the way to Eren’s home, deep in Titan territory, the Survey Corps ranks are broken by a charge led by a female Titan! But this Abnormal is different – she kills not to eat but to protect herself, and she seems to be looking for someone. Armin comes to a shocking conclusion: She’s a human in a Titan’s body, just like Eren!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
As if fighting normal titans wasn’t dangerous enough, Armin and the other rookies are attempting to take down a sentient warrior titan. It’s suicide, and they should all be dead. It appears as if dumb luck is the only thing that’s kept them all from being squished, at least until we dig a little deeper.
At first I couldn’t tell what Armin was doing with his yelling about the titan killing his best friend. I thought it was a shonen-esk moral booster, or a random try at some compassion from the enemy, but then realized that he was looking for a hint of recognition from the titan. The titan seemed to recognize Armin, and to also be looking for Eren. That would mean that not only is this female titan a sentient human, like Eren, but that she’s someone they know.
There’s only one blond female warrior we know of that isn’t currently with the group. Of course, that raises a huge number of questions about internal power struggles inside their civilization. Not to mention just how screwed up it is that someone they knew could be killing people so… senselessly. (Spinning someone around on the end of a wire till the force shreds them is about as monstrous as you can get.) What is certain is that Armin is an incredibly lucky bastard to have figured this out and not gotten himself killed in the process.
Of course, he’s not the only one who realizes what’s going on.
Deep inside a forest of impossibly large trees that may or may not be redwoods, Levi leads Eren and his survey corps veteran soldiers. At this point they know that they’re being pursued and he issues and order to split the ranks. The rest of the group implores an increasingly panicked Eren to trust Levi’s plan, even if they can’t give a legitimate reason for doing so. Eren struggles with watching fighter after fighter killed in horribly gruesome ways just so that he can survive, while fighting back the urge to turn and fight.
I don’t know what they couldn’t just tell Eren what was going on. Is it some sort of loyalty test to see if Eren would comply? Levi seems to think that Eren will always be a headstrong, and Eren sees relying on others as a pipe dream of an easy way out. The fact that all of this is going through Eren’s mind when in reality his only thought would probably be ‘we’re all going to die’ and ‘run’ is a bit laughable. So is the oddly placed flashback showing Eren attempting to gain control of his powers only to have the survey corps nearly kill him. This series has consistently had a hard time knowing when and where to place it’s flashbacks, as if most of them have been an afterthought.
Levi did have a plan to capture the female titan, and he already knows the same information that Armin does. It would make sense that someone in Levi’s position would have an inkling of what might be really going on, but it does make Armin’s eureka moment rather hollow. The volume ends with a classic ‘what’s in the box’ cliffhanger, except in this case it’s ‘who’s in the box.’
I’m going to point out a bit of interesting timing on Kodansha USA’s part with the release of this volume. The simulcast of the anime airing in Japan perfectly lines up with the release of this volume. The newly accelerated release of the manga will make sure that the manga stays current or just ahead of events in the anime, which is great for manga fans who don’t want to be spoiled.
In Summary
Attack on Titan continues to show that it’s leads are suicidal. It goes against all reason to try to fight a foe that is many hundreds times your size AND knows what you know. With a giant trap sprung there’s a real possibility that the next volume could uncover a vast conspiracy. Or maybe the female titan will escape and the team will have only death notices to show for this outing. Either way, it should make for even more absurdly violent action and horror in the near future.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: C
Package Rating: B
Text/Translation Rating: A
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Kodansha Comics
Release Date: August 27th, 2013
MSRP: $10.99