Attack on Titan Vol. 5: Attack on Titan 5
- ISBN
- 9781612622545
- Publisher
- Kodansha
- English release
- Pages
- 192
- Chapters
- 19–22
- Anime
- Season 1 ep. 1–25
The machinery the next three books run on is assembled in chapters 19 to 22, alongside the side story Ilse's Notebook. Eren is tried, assigned to Levi's Special Operations Squad, and sent outside the walls in the long-distance scouting formation, which is the tactical idea the Female Titan arc exists to break. Nobody dies here and no question is answered; the book is setup, competently done. Season 1 covers chapters 1 to 34, so the anime has been through it. This is the first volume in Box Set 2 rather than Box Set 1, which splits at Vol. 4 and Vol. 5 even though the arc does not.
Spoilers — why this volume matters. Tap to reveal.
Ilse's Notebook is a side story, not one of the 139 numbered chapters, and it is the first time the series shows a Titan speaking. It was later animated as an OAD, which is why a viewer may remember it without remembering where it sits in the books. The scouting formation is the other thing worth noticing: it is an intelligence system, drawn in diagrams, and Isayama spends pages on how it works so that its failure in Vol. 6 reads as a betrayal rather than bad luck. The Japanese volume shipped on 9 August 2011. Kodansha sells Box Set 2 at $43.96, which is four volumes at the $10.99 list price and no discount at all.
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