Ever want to imagine some of the most serious and intense human beings on television in cute little nugget-sized forms? Well, now you can!
Attack on Titan Junior High is a parody manga based on the vastly popular Attack on Titan manga series. If you're familiar enough with the story, you'll see quickly just how related the two are. The stories are the same basically have the same layout. Of course it's not nearly as serious and the Titans don't eat people at all, in fact you pretty much forget they're there until, well, they're there.
Obviously our main character is Eren, with Mikasa as a close back-up--drawn, fittingly, so the scarf she wears covers pretty much her whole disproportionate body)--and we don't seen Armin for quite a while. Jean, Connie. Sasha, Annie, and Krista are all featured prominently, as well as toward the end we get some good time with Hange and Levi.
The story is simple: Eren wants to get back at the Titans for committing some terrible crime that is so heavily built up to the point where you think it's the same thing that happens in the show. It's not, and I won't spoil it for you, but it's pretty funny and totally in character for Eren.
While this is a parody, that doesn't mean it's bad at all. In fact, it is amazing. The story might not be rich but the characters are so memorable and really it's just like the original series: Eren and Annie are the same, Mikasa can't do anything without Eren, Armin is a shy little kid, and Sasha asks if everything in sight is edible.
The story does take this to some extremes, such as Sasha being incapable of moving without food and Mikasa going the entire school day without blinking or saying anything without Eren, but it plays up the humor big time. No two characters are able to be mixed up and that's a good thing.
Even the ones that are alike are still funny. Eren and Annie are exactly the same, close to the original series, but it takes it even further with Annie developing a crush for Eren that may have been seen in spots in the original, at least to the point where she realizes how psychotic he is that she wants to be more like him, to be free to do...stuff. (Yay for smart words!)
Despite the book being called Junior High--which to me means 6th-8th grade--it reads more like them being in elementary school. This is a very small nitpick but I thought I'd point that out for any cynic that's like, "UM NO THAT IS WRONG." Cultural differences man, calm down.
Didn't you have giant monsters at your school?
Oh, speaking of the Titans, they're presence isn't felt that much, like I said, but the actions they do still affect the characters. Obviously there is the big event with Eren and the Titan that changed his life--the same one that killed Eren's mother but there are other instances too. Toward the end of the book, the club that the gang joins--the Survey Club (I think that's what they're called)--goes out on little missions to spy on the Titans, in a cute way like they do in the show.
When they are in limbo waiting for club availability to open up, they are forced to clean the walls after the Titans make a mess, kinda like how they have to go in and fight during the show. There's also ODM gear, so that's cool.
The art is nothing to really wow at, but it does portray and anunciate the character's reactions to everything in a very humorous way. The character's have oddly shaped bodies in their heads are large cirlces and they're bodies are small and somewhat pudgy, and they have great big eyes. Mikasa and Armin, in particular, have puppy-dog eyes, just to show how helpess they are without Eren. Sasha is almost was shown drooling for food. The Titan designs are the same as the original series and there are many famililar ones, such as the one that Sasha fails to kill in the Supply Depot, the God Titan. I don't think the Spider Titan is in though...oh well...
Also the huge plot points about the humans that can transform are completely out of this, but I suspect they will be in the next volume, as this one served as an introduction to all the characters and a way for them to get into the Survey Club. They also started to deviate away from the main story a little--mostly because they ran out of it--but hopefully with all that has been released since then they can get back to it.
Overall, this is a hilarious manga that is worth reading for sure for any Attack on Titan fans, and even for fans of just comedy in general. It helps to know the story but you can also easily see the original storyline. I highly recommend if you're just looking for a good time with a manga.
That was dirty.
So next week we'll get real dirty as we take a look at the original Hellsing anime because Halloween and spooky-ness and VAMPIRES. But, cool vampires. Because Crispin Freeman voices Alucard. And it's. So. Cool. Until next time, amigos.
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