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Attack on Titan

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Attack on Titan
Attack on Titan logo
進撃の巨人
(Shingeki no Kyojin)
Genre
Manga
Written byHajime Isayama
Published byKodansha
English publisher
DemographicShōnen
ImprintShōnen Magazine Comics
MagazineBessatsu Shōnen Magazine
Original runSeptember 9, 2009 – April 9, 2021
Volumes34 (List of volumes)
Anime television series
Live-action
Manga

Attack on Titan (進撃の巨人, Shingeki no Kyojin) is a Japanese manga series written and drawn by Hajime Isayama. The story is set in a world where the last humans live inside three huge walls to hide from giant human-eating monsters called Titans. The main character is a boy named Eren Yeager. After Titans break the wall and destroy his home town, and his mother is eaten, Eren promises to kill every Titan. The manga was published every month in Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine from September 2009 to April 2021. It was collected in 34 books.

An anime television show was made. The anime was first made by Wit Studio (seasons 1–3) and then by MAPPA (season 4).

Attack on Titan is a successful manga by Hajime Isayama. By 2023 the manga had sold more than 140 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling manga series ever. It has won many awards, including the Kodansha Manga Award and the Harvey Award.

Story

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Setting

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Map of the three walls: green = Wall Maria (outer), orange = Wall Rose, red = Wall Sina (inner)

The story happens in a world where the last humans live inside three giant round walls. People are told that more than 100 years ago, huge human-eating giants called Titans appeared and almost killed all humans. The walls keep people safe from Titans. To fight Titans, soldiers use special gear. It has gas and hooks so they can fly and swing in the air. They use very sharp swords that can cut the weak spot on a Titan's neck.

There are different kinds of Titans, Pure Titans are normal ones that only want to eat people, Abnormal Titans act strange and are harder to kill, and, Nine special Titans (Titan Shifters) arw humans who can turn into very strong Titans and back again. The nine are Attack, Colossal, Armored, Female, Beast, Jaw, Cart, War Hammer, and Founding Titan.

Pure Titans are made by injecting people with Titan spinal fluid. If a Pure Titan eats one of the Nine Titans, it turns back into a human and gets that Titan's power, but only lives 13 more years. Later in the story, people learn the truth about Titans and that there are other countries outside the walls.

Plot

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Eren Yeager is a boy who lives in Shiganshina town on the outermost wall (Wall Maria). In year 845, two huge Titans (Colossal and Armored) break the wall. Titans come in and eat many people, including Eren's mother. Eren promises to kill every Titan. He joins the army with his friends Mikasa Ackerman and Armin Arlert.

Five years later, the Colossal Titan attacks again. Eren finds out he can turn into a strong Attack Titan. He starts to remember his father gave him this power and said the truth is hidden in their basement at home. Eren joins the Survey Corps (the soldiers who fight outside the walls). They discover that some soldiers are secretly Titan shifters (Annie, Reiner, Bertholt, Ymir). Big battles happen. Many people die.

The soldiers learn that people inside the walls are called Eldians. The land outside is ruled by a country called Marley that hates Eldians. The walls were made to hide Eldians on an island called Paradis.

Years later, Eren and others attack Marley. Eren starts the "Rumbling", he wakes up millions of giant Titans inside the walls and sends them to destroy the world outside the island. Eren's friends (Mikasa, Armin, Levi and others) work together with some Marley soldiers to stop Eren. Mikasa kills Eren. This ends the power of all Titans forever. All Titans turn back into normal humans. The surviving friends are seen as heroes for stopping the destruction.

Years later, the world starts to make peace, but the story ends by showing that war may come again one day.

Map of the whole world in Attack on Titan

Making

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Hajime Isayama, the creator of Attack on Titan

Hajime Isayama first made a 65-page test version of Attack on Titan in 2006.[3] He tried to sell it to Weekly Shōnen Jump (Shueisha), but they wanted big changes. Isayama said no. He then took it to Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine (Kodansha), and they accepted it.[4] The towns and walls in the story look like Isayama's home town in Ōita, Japan, which has mountains all around.[5] One night, when Isayama worked at an internet café, a drunk customer grabbed him. He could not talk to the man and felt real fear. That feeling became the idea for the Titans, something scary that humans cannot understand.[6]

Some Titan designs came from real people, Eren's Titan looks a bit like fighter Yushin Okami.[7]

He planned most of the story before it started, but changed some parts later because fans liked the characters so much. At first he wanted a very sad ending where everyone dies (like the movie The Mist). Because readers loved the characters, he made a different ending.[10] In 2013 he thought the manga would end around volume 20. In the end it finished in 2021 with 34 volumes.[11]

Media

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Manga

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Attack on Titan is drawn and written by Hajime Isayama. It started in Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine on 9 September 2009. The last chapter (139) came out on 9 April 2021. The chapters were collected in 34 books (volumes) from 2010 to 2021. In English, Kodansha USA published all 34 volumes from 2012 to 2021.

Spin-off manga

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  • Attack on Titan: Junior High – funny school version (2012–2016)
  • Attack on Titan: Before the Fall – story before the main series (2013–2019)
  • Attack on Titan: No Regrets – story about Levi's past (2013–2014)
  • Spoof on Titan – short comedy strips (2013–2014)
  • Attack on Titan: Lost Girls – stories about Mikasa and Annie (2015–2016)

All main spin-offs were also published in English by Kodansha USA.

Books

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There are light novels:

  • Attack on Titan: Before the Fall (3 books)
  • Attack on Titan: Harsh Mistress of the City (2 books)
  • Attack on Titan: Lost Girls (1 book)
  • Garrison Girl (1 book, written by American author Rachel Aaron)

Anime

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The anime was directed by Tetsurō Araki. It started broadcasting in Japan on July 8, 2013. It aired on MBS and ran from April 6, 2013 to September 28, 2013.[12] Funimation began releasing the series in North America on home video in 2014.[13]

The second season of the anime series aired between April 1, 2017 and June 17, 2017.

A trailer for the third season was released on April 27, 2018.[14] The third season started broadcasting in Japan in July 23, 2018.[15]

Video games

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Many games were made:

  • Attack on Titan: Humanity in Chains (Nintendo 3DS, 2013)
  • Attack on Titan (PlayStation 4/Vita/PC/Xbox, 2016)
  • Attack on Titan 2 (2018) and Attack on Titan 2: Final Battle (2019)
  • Mobile games: Attack on Titan: Assault, Brave Order, etc.
  • Characters and gear appear in other games like Fortnite, Call of Duty, and Dead or Alive.

Live-action movies

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Two Japanese live-action movies came out in 2015:

There was also a short web series Attack on Titan: Counter Rockets (2015).

A Hollywood live-action movie was planned, but nothing has come out yet.

Stage plays and musical

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  • A Japanese musical Attack on Titan: The Musical was performed in 2023 in Japan and 2024 in New York.

Other

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  • Guide books Inside and Outside
  • Art book Fly (2024) with a new short story "Bad Boy" about Levi
  • Crossover comics with Marvel (Spider-Man and Avengers fight Titans)
  • Big attractions at Universal Studios Japan (2015 and 2019)

Reception

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The series has been highly praised and has won multiple awards including the Kodansha Manga Award in the shōnen category in 2011[16] and best director, best script, best soundtrack, runner-up for commercial, best theme song, top female character, and title of the year in the 3rd Newtype Anime Awards.[17]

The series was nominated for both the 4th annual Manga Taishō award and the 16th annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize.[18][19]

The 2012 edition of Kono Manga ga Sugoi! named the series the 8th best manga series for male readers.[20] Six of the seven English volumes that were published in North America have charted on The New York Times Manga Best Seller list for the week of October 13, 2013, with volume one having been on the list for 19 weeks.[21] Volume one was #2 on Nielsen BookScan's list of top 20 graphic novels in American bookstores for August 2013, and for the month of September, the series had more volumes on the list than any other series.[22][23] The series was also named one of the Young Adult Library Services Association's "Great Graphic Novels for Teens"[24]

References

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  1. ↑ Thompson, Jason (November 14, 2013). "House of 1000 Manga: Crunchyroll Manga". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on March 30, 2014. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
  2. ↑ Kodansha USA Publishing (July 6, 2013). "Attack on Titan Now Monthly" (Press release). Archived from the original on September 5, 2014. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
  3. ↑ Loo, Egan (May 7, 2013). "1st Attack on Titan Blu-ray/DVD to Bundle Manga 'Prototype'". Anime News Network.
  4. ↑ Isayama, Hajime. "Transformation!!!!".
  5. ↑ Hodgkins, Crystalyn (November 4, 2014). "Attack on Titan Creator Named Tourism Ambassador of Hometown". Anime News Network.
  6. ↑ "'Attack on Titan' author expresses fears through popular boys' manga". Asahi Shimbun. July 20, 2013.
  7. ↑ Alversob (June 12, 2012). "Interview with Attack on Titan Creator Hajime Isayama". MTV. Archived from the original on July 30, 2013. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  8. ↑ Isayama, Hajime (April 17, 2013). アクセス数がすごい！ (in Japanese).
  9. ↑ Saitō, Tamaki (November 15, 2014). 諫山創 落書きと過去作品。. Brutus. Magazine World.
  10. ↑ 「進撃の巨人」の漫画家、諫山創インタビュー！ (in Japanese). White Screen. December 4, 2013.
  11. ↑ Hazra, Adriana (January 4, 2021). "Attack on Titan Manga Ends on April 9 After 11 Years". Anime News Network.
  12. ↑ "Yuuki Kaji, Yui Ishikawa, Marina Inoue Lead Attack on Titan Cast". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2013-10-31.
  13. ↑ "Funimation Plans Attack on Titan on Home Video in 2014". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2013-10-31.
  14. ↑ "Season 3 - Official Subtitled Trailer IT'S OFFICIALLY COMING TO FUNIMATION, JULY 2018!". Twitter. April 27, 2018. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
  15. ↑ Hodgkins, Crystalyn (April 27, 2018). "Attack on Titan 3rd Season's Promo Video Reveals July 22 Premiere (Updated)". Anime News Network. Retrieved June 20, 2018.
  16. ↑ "March comes in like a lion, Space Bros. Win Kodansha Manga Awards". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2013-10-31.
  17. ↑ "Attack on Titan Wins Top Prizes in Newtype Anime Awards". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2013-10-31.
  18. ↑ "13 Titles Nominated for 4th Manga Taisho Awards". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2013-10-31.
  19. ↑ "16th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Nominees Announced". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2013-10-31.
  20. ↑ "Top Manga Ranked by Kono Manga ga Sugoi 2012 Voters". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2013-10-31.
  21. ↑ "New York Times Manga Best Seller List, October 13-19". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2013-10-31.
  22. ↑ "Naruto, Attack on Titan Top Graphic Novels in U.S. Bookstores in August". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2013-10-31.
  23. ↑ "5 Attack on Titan Graphic Novels Land in U.S. Bookstores' Top 20 in September". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2013-10-31.
  24. ↑ "U.S. Librarians Rank Stargazing Dog in Teens' Top 10". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2013-10-31.

Other websites

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Retrieved from "https://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Attack_on_Titan&oldid=10718764"