Most of you may not know what manga is. Manga are a Japanese genre of comics but they are much more than that. Take for example Attack On Titan by Hajime Isayama. This manga is on its 48th chapter with the next chapter to be released Saturday, Sept. 7.

The main character, Eren Jaeger, lives in a world where giants called Titans roam the earth killing humans. Humanity has been reduced drastically and pushed back behind giant walls that were built over a hundred years ago. Mystery surrounds the wall as no one knows how they were built. There are three main walls called Wall Maria, Wall Rose, and Wall Sina that enclose the last of the human population. The wall protects the humans from the Titans, but the walls also keep the humans enclosed.

The first book begins as we see a group of people on horses who seem to be soldiers. They prepare to fight as a giant looms into view. Dark and scary, your first impression is this thing is creepy. Its a Titan. The soldiers fly toward the the Titan with swords and strange things on their waist that seem to propel them. Then we move to Eren Jaeger who wakes up from a dream to see Mikasa. Mikasa is Erens friend and protector. They live together but they are not related by blood. Mikasa is interesting because she is the last known girl to be of Japanese descent. Mikasa and Eren have a friend named Armin. He is small and weak but he is mentally strong. They all dream of exploring outside the walls together.

Eren thinks joining the Survey Corps will fulfill this dream but the Survey Corps is looked down upon by many people because they travel outside the walls to defeat Titans. They usually come back defeated. Their goal is to learn information about the Titans so humanity can move forward. Eren wants to help with this goal, and his dream is made more powerful when a Titan called The Colossal Titan as tall as the 50 meter wall kicks open the door to the small town surrounding the main gate to Wall Maria. This is the town where Eren lives. He runs to his house only to see that it was crushed by a flying piece of the wall. His mother is trapped in the rubble of the house. A soldier that knows the Jaeger family takes the kids away and Eren watches as his mother is killed and eaten by a Titan. Then the gate to Wall Maria is broken and the humans have to escape into the inner wall while the Titans invade. Many are lost and precious territory and resources are gone. Then we see years later Eren graduating from the Trainee Corps and becoming a soldier, ranked fifth highest in his class. Eren strides toward his goal to defeat all the titans and free the humans for their bird cage, but most of all, find the truth.

This manga is very intense with a lot of gore included but I highly recommend it. There are so many moments that bring you to tears. There are also moments that will make you laugh. Overall this is a very intense story but the many different characters make it interesting. There are also several flashback moments that connect to each character and show us the life that character once had. This manga has many secrets that are slowly revealed always keeping it interesting for the reader. This is very well written and the drawings are absolutely amazing. This manga has also been made into an anime which means they animated the manga. Both are very intense and wonderful. I would say this is the best new manga and anime of the year.

5/5 Stars