Favorites What do you like about Shingeki no Kyoujin, and what convinced you that it's worth reading?

[Avid]

I had caught wind of this series when its first chapter found its way online, and I read the first two. I decided then that I would pick it back up after it had gotten a ways in, and I just want to say it has turned out very rewarding. The series has progressed wonderfully. The characters are interesting and memorable. It's thoughtful and thematically strong. It's legitimately horrific and brutal. I love the combat. I love the art. It's been a long time since I've come across such an exceptional series. It's surprises just keep hitting and hitting.

It's premise was intriguing enough to give it a look. The start up felt like it took about as long as Gantz did to get into itself, but it was rolling once it did.

However, I will admit... It annoys me that it keeps doing flashbacks to pieces of a part that we didn't see. We saw the part, but there's always this one piece of conversation that is just plain left out until it becomes pertinent. It might be part of how the series keeps the action coming at us so fast, but it's like here's this surprise but we had a clue about it in hindsight so here's that for you to understand what's up. It's a weird narrative structure. I'm not sure if I would be happy with it being normal or not though, so I'm not going to really complain.

 

[Yumpo]

I first saw this when I was looking for spring anime previews back in January. I saw this listed then watched the trailer.

But what totally convinced me to read this was when I heard Sawano Hiroyuki(I love his work on Gundam) was doing the music for the anime. And also, when I researched and read that the gender equality of the manga is at least on par with Fullmetal Alchemist. Plus seeing that cover of Mikasa wearing MMA clothes with extremely muscular build while beside her was that ecchi fanservice girl(I don't know what manga) just totally convinced me that I should read this.

Besides, I was looking for anime/manga that doesn't have much ecchi/moe and less sexist than the standard. These kind of anime/manga are so common that it's hard to find a gem like Shingeki no Kyojin.

I also really liked Isayama Hajime's art style. Even though at first I couldn't tell which was who with some characters. His art style also totally reminded me of mine.

 

[HaiSuShi]

Even though at first I couldn't tell which was who with some characters.

Pretty much my only problem with the manga, but I'll just read it again to get it right.

Edit: To answer the topic, it's definitely the characters and the sheer horror the series provides.

 

[Nast.J]

I think that most of us enjoy watching how humans react when confronted to desperate and dangerous situations. Just like how people will betray each other or how the real cowards are going to get exposed. It's always intriguing to see who's gonna man up in those situations and i find it enjoyable that Isayama doesn't hesitate to kill important characters. You basically never know who might die..

And the other reason is the Giants, they're just so huge and scary and they keep smiling while they're eating people. We can actually feel the tension while reading the pages and even get scared some other times.

Sometimes it actually makes me wonder how i would react if i was in a post-apocalyptic world, would i be a coward, the arrogant guy that gets killed first, the leader, the one who's hiding in the shadows of the strongest people? It's because of mangas like that, that we get to actually think in realistic way and i guess that's what i like.

But last but not least, i love when people run away because they see that they're no match for the enemy.

 

[shinsengumi]

just about everything . it sometimes bothers me though how some characters may look exactly the same i cant tell them apart

 

[Zeltrax]

The endless desperate situation and their struggle for survival....is interesting to watch.

 

[DassJennir]

I like when shounens take a more mature theme like some seinens

 

[Utsune]

Conspiracy stuff. The limited-level-in-technology setting also attracts me. And then there are awesome leads, especially the female lead Mikasa.
From these three aspects, it's exactly the same as Claymore, another manga I read and love.
I wish there were more manga like these, do tell me if anyone should know any more :P

 

[tonyyao82]

Just the whole angst/feeling of it. I mostly heard buzz from Kinokuniya and read the MH article about which manga titles Japanese bookstores found popular and here we are.

In some ways, it feels like Claymore and Berserk.

I have never seen a mainstream shonen title that was pretty freaking dark overall, so this caught my eye.

 

[Omiem]

I'm very attracted by females that are able to fight in wars. So I like the fact that the female soldiers in Attack on Titan are portrayed in a realistic fashion.

I also enjoy the designs of the Titans. The expressions from the Titans are truly terrifying since they have a lot of human features that are disproportional in an unsettling way.

And of course, the general atmosphere of the brutality of war.

 

[YEEKUZA]

realistic character development (jean), mystery behind world of titans in general since all we were given is that mankind now lives in walls due to 107 years ago blah blah blah, possible political internal agenda regarding titans, and just a sense of mystery, doom, and wtfs everywhere.

 

[ForMotherRussia]

It reminded me of the standard zombie-horror scenarios.
The thing is, we got used to zombies due to lots of references in the media. Now, the human (or inhuman) giants acting like zombies is FAR more scary.
The whole idea of a strange creature eating humans is not new, but the fact that these creatures are not the dead corpses, but human-like beings that resemble a person is damn scary. Eating humans just for the sake of it, have a HUGE difference in brute strenght compared to humans, having a weak point that is incredibly hard to reach, overwhelming humans in numbers, this places this story on a whole different level.

 

[teioh]

That's the point.
SnK story is simply ORIGINAL.
You can find other sci-fi horror/gore/zombie/monsters story but in SnK case you can say: "SAME PLANET BUT A DIFFERENT WORLD" if you can get it ;D

Obv SnK can't miss some shonen stereotypes but they are quite a few and a lot less than in any other shonen I read.
Also this is the reason cuz I HOPE that success (by Anime and merchandising) will never change the author mind about how to develop SnK story...

 

[jimtors]

I enjoy looking at humans being eaten...

 

[Georgie]

Obv SnK can't miss some shonen stereotypes but they are quite a few and a lot less than in any other shonen I read.
Also this is the reason cuz I HOPE that success (by Anime and merchandising) will never change the author mind about how to develop SnK story...

I hope so too. Those few fanservice-y art already out make me rage. So I hope that the story doesn't go to crap.

 

[YipYip]

Well, I watched the Anime first and the desperate atmosphere and mystery caught me.
I dont think the story will be very original in the end, I guess it willl be somethink like: Some(one) tried to become god, or are/is still trying.
But it is fun thinking what else it could be and I hope it will be mind blowing.

Oh and I really loved the scene where Erens guards, who all were extreme pros at surviving and fighting titans, just got killed off in an epic fight. no resurrection.
Just like in Game Of Thrones u get attached to some characters and then they die.