Started as a Japanese manga series in 2009, Attack on Titan soon was transformed into an anime series, a novel, and even a big-budget movie. The events of this story happen in a post-apocalyptic world. Almost all human beings have been destroyed. Giant mindless human-like creatures, known as Titans, kill and feed on human flesh. They appeared thousands of years ago out of the blue, and no one knows why they are so passionate about killing humans. They remind big curved nude humans with big mouths, advanced muscles, and very long limbs. In fact, they don’t need food to exist. They don’t even possess a digesting system. These creatures can be from 15 to 40 meters high – the height of a typical several storied building. And it’s practically impossible to kill such a creature because their skin is too thick to be cut or pierced.
Being nearly exterminated, the remaining people united and built a city protected by enormous defensive Walls. These three concentric Walls are supposed not to let any monster enter the protected territory. Not to be devoured by these monsters, the Wall system was elaborated in such a way that if one Wall is breached, people can hide inside the inner one. These Walls have women’s name – Maria, the outer one, Rose in the middle, and the inner one, Sheena. Inside each Wall, four towns or districts are located. People learnt to conduct their routine life inside these Walls. For more than a hundred years, people have been released from the horror of Titans’ aggression.
One sunny afternoon humanity’s last stronghold was partially destroyed. An enormous Titan suddenly appeared after a strike of lightning. That was the biggest one people have ever seen – being higher than the Wall Maria, they called him a Colossal. He managed to breach the Wall with his supernatural power giving smaller Titans the opportunity to enter inside and eat all the residents of Shiganshina District. They invaded the District and wiped out its population within several hours leaving devastations and massive slaughter. Only a small number of people managed to escape to the Wall Rose. That territory became abandoned for a long period of time.
One boy from that District who survived the attack, Eren Jaeger, witnessed his mother being eaten by the Titan. He swore that one he would destroy all monsters and pay for his mother’s death. Two of his friends also remained alive – his adoptive sister, Mikasa Ackerman, and his childhood friend Armin Arlett. There was one way for them to take their revenge – to join the military force whose task was to study and combat Titans. They enlisted to the Garrison Regimen that has to protect the Walls form attacks and inform if Titans are approaching their area. They were taught how to fight with these monsters and kill them. Their main weapon was a special type of maneuvering equipment that allowed them to jump very high and attack Titans’ most vulnerable parts – their necks. During one of his first missions, Eren sacrificed his life to save his friend from being eaten and was swallowed instead.
But then something strange happened – the members of the Garrison saw a very unusual thing, a Titan fighting with other monsters and not giving them a chance to eat more humans. After the fight was over, they saw that this creature started to lessen to human measurements and in fact, that was Eren. But how is that possible that a human can transform into the Titan and back? What other secrets they still need to learn about these monsters and their origins?
The rain soaked ground felt cool beneath him but he could hardly notice anymore. His entire body felt numb by now. How much more blood could he lose before he lost all consciousness? He had been wounded only several moments before, and already his mind felt fuzzy.
Why was he even in this mess in the first place? Continue reading “An Honor” »