Twelve Days And Twelve Books Of Christmas - Day 3

Onto day three already of my Twelve Days And Twelve Books Of Christmas Feature and todays stand out choice from March is from a different format of book, a manga.

Day 3 - March Book - Attack On Titan: Vol. 1 by Hajime Isayama

In this post-apocalytpic sci-fi story, humanity has been devastated by the bizarre, giant humanoids known as the Titans. Little is known about where they came from or why they are bent on consuming mankind. Seemingly unintelligent, they have roamed the world for years, killing everyone they see. For the past century, what's left of man has hidden in a giant, three-walled city. People believe their 100-meter-high walls will protect them from the Titans, but the sudden appearance of an immense Titan is about to change everything.

My Thoughts

I only discovered manga and anime in 2014 when a good friend lent me the first volume of Black Butler and introduced us (me and the hubby) to the anime FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Since then we've watched a lot more anime and I have been trying out as many different mangas as I can. I've been intrigued by the hype surrounding Attack On Titan, but I didn't have the time to watch the anime so I asked my friend if I could borrow the first few volumes of Attack On Titan and he kindly agreed. 

This first book stood out so much to me as it really started off the series with a bang and you got almost straight into the action while getting to know the characters. I immediately fell in love with Mikasa, she is a really strong and badass female character. For me she really shone! The artwork was a lot more amateur than I had experienced with other mangas, but I actually feel that this added to the books charm and it has made it stand out in my memory (not in a bad way). The story was very different to anything I've read before and it was really exciting. I thought some of the ideas were so incredibly well thought out and actually sounded plausible like the harness the fighters wear to get around. 

I enjoyed this (and the second and third volumes) so much, I am now collecting my own copies of the manga as I want the whole collection in my library and I can't give a better recommendation than that. 

I will be back tomorrow with my April stand out book, I really hope you're enjoying this feature so far! Do you have any stand out books from the year? Have you read or seen Attack On Titan, if you have let me know what you thought. 

About The Author

Hajime Isayama (諫山 創 Isayama Hajime, born 1986) is a Japanese manga artist from Ōyama, Ōita. His first and currently ongoing serial, Attack on Titan, has sold over 22 million copies as of July 2013. He has mentioned Tsutomu Nihei, Ryōji Minagawa, Kentaro Miura, Hideki Arai and Tōru Mitsumine as artists he respects, but stated that the manga that had the biggest influence on him was ARMS.