I was unsure if I would ever find another manga good enough to deserve my reviewing. And after reading volume six of Shingeki no Kyojin I can safely say the wait is over. What a manga!

STORY: 9/10
Throughout the history of action manga there have been hordes of fantastically evil creatures ganging up on any shounen hero that dares get in their way. Whether it be demons, hollows, or demons again one thing was always certain: Even though the characters appeared scared you knew everything would be okay. A main character can't die to one random monster out of the horde. They deserve noble deaths via human vs human fights.

Shingeki no Kyojin abandons decades of stereotypes and does it in remarkable fashion. Never have I been so afraid, so physically frightened by "just another mob of pure evil monsters". In Shingeki the monster of choice happens to be giants. They don't have any special powers and in fact they aren't particularly massive considering they're giants. They walk, run, and even crawl around on the ground with blank, sometimes even silly faces and do nothing but eat and mangle every human in sight. This is something the mangaka has perfected despite the fact that this is the first manga he's ever written. Every single time a giant appears on the page your heart will start racing and your palms will become sweaty. Where do they come from and why do they devour humans despite having no anatomical need for it?

These are all questions the mangaka presents early and skillfully hasn't answered yet. He's also created an incredibly thought-out world with paragraphs at the end of most chapters explaining things that would bore readers if squeezed into speech bubbles. Including, but not limited to: three-dimensional flying gear, anatomy of a giant, construction of the cities three walls, battle formations, and a type of strange retractable sword. The world feels rich and thought-out and will almost certainly suck in anyone who gives Shingeki no Kyojin a chance.

ART: 8/10
I'm going to be perfectly honest and say that the artwork in the first two volumes is as close to shit as it gets. Actions aren't drawn very well, details aren't drawn very well, and its clear the mangaka had trouble drawing body proportions. But when volume three started it was almost like a switch was flipped and the art wasn't nearly as bad anymore. In fact, after having just finished the sixth volume, its among some of the better art I've seen in a manga. Characters are drawn very different from one another and have a crisp yet visibly sketchy feel to them. And the Giants! They slide around with their giant heads, oddly proportioned bodies, and silly facial expressions just creeping the shit out of me. The mangaka is very talented at drawing characters experiencing the scariest moment of their entire lives. What a bonus the art became in volume three, adding fear on top of fear to make one of the most chilling manga experiences even more so.

CHARACTER: 9/10
Everybody is somebody. "What's the point of writing about a character with no personality or back story?" - Is what I imagine the mangaka asks himself before deciding to throw a new character into the mix. You'll find no blank-faced bad asses in this manga. You also won't find too many people with happy child-hoods either. Even though this is listed as a shounen it deals with very dark themes more suited for a seinen. Characters are often showed rattled and sometimes mentally scared from seeing their comrades get their heads bitten off in front of them. Either way, there is plenty of page time devoted to understanding characters and their roots.

ENJOYMENT: 10/10
The depth of the world is immense.
The art is very good (eventually).
Characters are deep.
The suspense is great.
The giants are TERRIFYING!
It's rare to find a manga that does so many different things so well. Whenever a new volume comes out I always know I'm in for another great experience I can't get anywhere else.

OVERALL: 9/10
I can't give a perfect score to a manga with so few chapters so early in it's life span. But trust me; if the same amount of enjoyment I've experience in the first six volumes continues throughout the rest of the series it would be a 10 no doubt.

You've gotta give this manga a shot. It's doing things that haven't really been done before, or at least not to this level. I'm setting the standard right now: You can't call yourself a fan of manga without reading Shingeki no Kyojin. Now get reading!

*This review made possible by AironicallyHuman, who recommended this manga to me