Ratings91
Average rating4.2
Story
I knew I'd enjoy the story coming into it, because I watched this anime already. I decided to check out the manga because the series ended in a terrible place and there is currently no plans for another series/second season.
There wasn't really anything I didn't know from this book. The first two stories or line up with the first few episodes of the show. The manga skips over most/all of the training however. I'm not sure if the people who did the show added all that in to give the characters more backstory, or if they pulled that stuff in from flashbacks in later volumes of the manga.
As someone who watched the show first, I might be filling in blanks and details in my head that someone who hasn't watched won't have. In a way it's almost like a re-read for me, even though I haven't done the manga before.
This volume ends in a terrible spot, and I'd be dying for the next book if I didn't already know what happens next.
Despite no real surprises I enjoyed the manga almost as much as I did the anime and plan to continue reading it as I can get copies from my library.
Artwork
I haven't read much manga, and what I did was back in college. It's hard for me to give a real good opinion on the art as someone who is better read in the stuff. I thought it was pretty good until the action sequences.
Those just appear to be a blur of lines that make it difficult to know what's going on. Coming from the anime which I think has absolutely fantastic animation, seeing the action in this way was hard to follow and not very impressive. You don't get a feel for how cool the 3d maneuvering gear really is from.
The titans themselves look good when captured in a pose, but again not so much when he's trying portray them in rapid motion.
I thought the artwork for the dialogue parts was fine though, making it rather uneven.