Apparently this author originally took this work to Shounen Jump at Shueisha for publishing, but the folks at Shueisha rejected him saying, "This is "manga," bring us back "Jump."" So he then went to Kodansha and was able to get in this monthly serialization magazine Bessatsu Shounen Magazine.

The author's a no-name newbie but the first book apparently sold over 500,000 copies through word of mouth and he's now the one of the most highly anticipated "shinjin mangaka (new author)" in Japan.

That was a bit of background story on this series and the author. I've read about two books' worth of this manga and it really is great at setting a grim & hopeless tone but with a LOT of anxiety and action and anticipation thrown in...It really keeps you on the edge of your seat! It's still a very new series but I'm looking forward to this already-hot series will shape up in the future.

I have only heard of this series through various reviews, and all my friends were ranting at me about how good this manga was. I thought they were exaggerating, until curiosity got better of me and I peeked into the first chapter. I realized then how wrong I was.

To be completely honest, the artwork itself is below average when compared to today's typical shonen-manga standards. Body proportions are awkward at many different places, and background is simplistic at best. What kept me intrigued, however, was the setting of the story and mind-bending plot twists that will literary make you go 'WTF' at every end of chapter. Not only that, each main character is filled with personality, which is only made better by the author's writing. Character development is incredible as such.

Just like cocolo mentioned, Jump rejected this manga, stating that they wanted 'Jump,' not 'manga'. This makes the clear difference between commercial formulaic manga meant for profit (not including OP, Naruto, Bleach) and manga to which the author is given a creative control.

This time, I think Jump made a huge mistake by rejecting Shingeki no Kyojin. It has already started to sell very well despite being serialized in a non-mainstream magazine. In the future, this manga will only get much better.

There is a good reason why this isn't published in Jump. It is so gory and the graphic details horrifying. You have been warned by the mature tag. It will also, if ever published like this, make readers lose interest in most of their series.

Despite this, and I usually hesitate at stuff that has gore, this is what every mangaka should be aiming to write. Reading his work is like reading something that has no censorship (a lot of what you read is restrained, to a certain extent for various reasons), faulty plot, nothing. Everything is practically perfect: it is rich, realistic, intuitive. The concept is brilliantly captivating. Art wise, he sure has his anatomy down. His style is very fitting for the 3D maneuvers and swinging blades, and I feel that gore does not require very fine detail. Sometimes it will feel like the development pace is slow, or the author is deliberately hiding something, but keep reading. On the positive note, each chapter has plenty of content. The next volume will always top the previous fabulously. Guaranteed.

I do not see this ending anytime soon.

... Last updated on November 10th, 2011, 11:55am

I watched the anime and then read the manga.....and god I cried so many times...(just me? ok)

1) Anime Experience
Watching the anime, I cried in the very first episode, and then again in 2nd episode,... and again in 3rd. I was a sobbing mess because of how raw the atmosphere of Attack on Titan was. Eren's desire for revenge made me cry even harder because, honestly, I just did not think he stood a chance against those giant muscular monsters. Mikasa was my saving grace.

2) Manga Experience
I didn't get quite as emotional reading the manga due to the black/white images and off-beat art style. However, the story is definitely there--so I was drawn to the manga nonetheless. Everything unraveled more quickly in the manga, which made everything a bit more confusing and harder to digest. But the UNFILTERED violence and raging emotions bridges the gap and kept my adrenaline pumped up while I read the chapters.

This manga definitely makes an impact, and now I'm so emotionally invested in so many different characters that I can pretty much guess how much more water I'll need before this manga finishes. Frankly speaking, nobody in this manga is safe. A couple of my favorite characters have already died off in horrifying manners, and I'm just praying for the rest of the cast to live a lil bit longer!

... Last updated on November 30th, 2014, 2:17pm

I just want to say that you gotta take this slow...it has little hints all over allowing you to know what's going on if you put your mind to it.

I especially love how other than the existence of giants, everything else is perfectly realistic. The exploration of how the impossibility could be overcome is an intriguing read. The development of weapons(more or less detail design! no fantastical blackbox) and realistic tactics to fight against them in the open.

Contrary to what some feel, I do not think the flashbacks are fillers. They serve to understand how can a soldier be trained to battle against giants and to use the specially designed weapons effectively. They also add depth to characters mental makeup and how their perceptions change(or remain unchanged).

This is dark like berserk but unlike it, you can actually ask "why are giants eating humans?". This is non-sensical question in the frame of berserk world. Not so here. You can question and your answers will probably be given: just like in the real world. I hope it can maintain it's realism without resorting to hocus pocus plot elements.

The plot twists throughout the whole series, the characters, the story, everything is simply a masterpiece, but a certain Hajime Isayama decided one day that he wanted to do the last arc the way he did, and tell the final chapter the way we told it.

The last arc and the last chapter are simply absurd,

I did my best to like the ending but it contradicts pretty much 9/10 things that ever happened throughout the story. It's not a bad ending, but that is if it were to be the ending of a 6/10 manga and not a masterpiece like SNK was (until that last arc).

Way to ruin a manga. Just read until chapter 124 and then pretend the rest was just a dream. Anyways, thank you Isayama sensei, you made a great manga, and it was a pleasure to read it (Until just before that last arc ugghhhhhhhhhhhh)

You know manga is good when the plot is so good you don't care about crappy art. I have much to say about this manga and anime I don't even know where to begin. The first time I read this my thought were "Could it be... that this is better than Berserk? Better than Dragon head?" Even though I knew this can't be compared with any manga simply because it's so original. So far I've fallen in love with every character and the story. Like I said I have so much to say and so little time so I'm just going to bomb you with pluses and minuses.

+ Definitely the plot, story teling and its logic
+ Character growth
+ Moral lessons and life lessons;
How to be strong and idependent (making choises and trusting others) etc.
- The art, seriously sometimes I can't tell them characters apart

I give this 9/10 right now. I can't really rate an ongoing manga but I can always update it.

Sasha and why she was nicknamed the potato girl... nearly fell out my seat laughing. Yea, overall it's got gore because soldiers are constantly being eaten. I don't like gore and horror and avoid mangas with either. Why did I pick this one then? The plot seemed interesting and I didn't notice the Horror category (fortunately). Although I don't like survival types usually, I like this one because it's more realistic. Yes, you can be put on an island by the government, yes a meteor can fall down to earth, and yes, your car may run off a cliff, but that's all amongst people and it deals with people fighting people. You don't often get a survival story that does not involve zombies (yuck) and icky radioactive creatures. Giants was a nice change and it felt very real. Why should humans not have a predator that feasts on them? What I also liked, was that humanity was trying to survive together, and it's not every man for him/herself with group activity only for survival. This is so much more real than that.

Yea, the art wasn't top notch, but I'm not bashing it. Maybe a 8/10? It goes well with the subplot. Granted, that when the hidden ability (I'm not spoiling the story because it's a category) is revealed, the humanity trial was too much for me... got quite bored and it dragged on...................... but then again that's exactly how humans are: self-serving and self-righteous with no regard for the greater picture other than themselves. Now that the story is about giants again, I'm very much looking forward to a continuation of what's been so far.

Back on the reality of it for one more moment, it makes fear real too. If you're a soldier, you can die as soon as you get on the battlefield before you see any action. No fame, no glory, no anything. The fear made the whole story much more realistic, yet allowed me to get into the soldiers' heads to understand how they think. Everything was initially presented as how worthwhile it is to fight the giants that the aspect is able to engulf the reader, because let's face it: how many of us would sign up for such a suicidal mission?

Overall, I found it an enjoyable passing of time and await its completion. This is the type of story you want to read in one or two seatings. It would be much too confusing to keep up with it chapter by chapter.

... Last updated on August 14th, 2011, 3:05pm

I haven't read Claymore or Gantz or any of those other manga, so I will give an unbiased opinion: this one is great. Maybe even epic in the sense that the titans are scary sh*t. I have read many gory manga or manga claiming to be horror, but none of them phased me a bit. The titans in this manga creep me out. You can almost feel the terror with the people in this manga and that is due to a very talented author.

I enjoy the characters in this manga. Eren is complex enough to draw you in and there is a good amount of mystery about him, and I'm not just talking about the obvious things.

Mikasa is great. She's not one of the cliche pansies that make me cringe.

As for Armin, he is a bit cliche, but necessary and he compliments the other two nicely.

As a bonus this manga has focus (Thank god). No panties, no huge boobs, no romance, no guys trying to act tough etc. The author portrays people realistically. A guy isn't going to play it cool and give 5 hour speeches or internal monologues when people are getting ripped apart 10 feet away.

Thank you Isayama-sensei for not being a douche.

... Last updated on July 15th, 2011, 2:04am

When I picked up this series, I expected nothing from it. I mean, the story is about humans living in a city surrounded by a 50m wall to defend them against giants that eat them. O_o That's what I thought. The art wasn't exactly pretty but I wanted to see what it was like and within the first few pages, you are presented with the concept of the whole manga. Giants. Gigantic giants. That eat humans. The story immediately flashes to a fight scene that looks simplistic but that has never been seen before. As I progressed through the manga, I came to realise that the art was really good for this theme: it's dark and edgy, giving it this rough look that goes really well with the scenes. Don't expect flowers and sunshine: there's is gore everywhere and you are spared no details. Human nature at it's best (worst?) is also portrayed, for example when the guards assigned to help the civilians flee instead of fighting the giants. I felt that volume 1 was kind of slow but it was necessary for you to understand the whole story. Volume 2 onwards is unbelievable. In a good way. I am extremely curious about . The characters are great. Eren is the strong-willed youth who has vowed revenge, Mikasa is the uber-powerful female lead that will not allow anything to hurt those she loves and Amin is the coward strategist that delivers when push comes to shove. I am eagerly awaiting more of this manga.