Attack on Titan: Before the Fall
Attack on Titan: Before the Fall | |
The cover of the first light novel volume.
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進撃の巨人 Before the fall (Shingeki no Kyojin Before the fall) |
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Light novel | |
Written by | Ryō Suzukaze |
Illustrated by | THORES Shibamoto |
Published by | Kodansha |
English publisher | |
Original run | December 2, 2011 – June 29, 2012 |
Volumes | 3 |
Manga | |
Written by | Ryō Suzukaze |
Illustrated by | Satoshi Shiki |
Published by | Kodansha |
English publisher | |
Demographic | Shōnen |
Magazine | Monthly Shōnen Sirius |
Original run | August 26, 2013 – present |
Volumes | 8 |
Attack on Titan: Before the Fall (進撃の巨人 Before the fall Shingeki no Kyojin: Before the Fall?) is a series of Japanese light novels written by Ryō Suzukaze and illustrated by THORES Shibamoto. The novels began publication in 2011. The series is a prequel to Hajime Isayama's Attack on Titan manga.
A manga adaptation by Satoshi Shiki began serialization in 2013.
Contents
Plot
The series is set 70 years before the events of Attack on Titan,[1] and is divided into two parts: the first focuses on Angel Aaltonen,[2] the developer of the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment;[3] the second part follows the life of Kuklo, a boy who was found as a baby in a pile of Titan vomit, having been birthed by one of the Titan's victims after they were eaten. He is labelled the "Titan's son" and imprisoned for many of his younger years, before being freed by his owner's daughter, Sharle, and eventually joining the Survey Corps.[4]
Media
Light novel
The series of light novels is written by Ryō Suzukaze, with illustrations by THORES Shibamoto. Three volumes were released between 2011 and 2012. It serves as a prequel to the Attack on Titan manga, written and illustrated by Hajime Isayama.[1]
The series was licensed in North America by Vertical,[1] who published the first volume in summer 2014,[5] followed by the second and third volumes in a 2-in-1 omnibus format in summer 2015.[6][7]
Volume list
No. | Japanese release date | Japanese ISBN | English release date | English ISBN |
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1 | December 2, 2011[8] | ISBN 978-4-06-375202-1 | September 16, 2014[9] | ISBN 978-1-939130-86-0 |
2 | March 30, 2012[10] | ISBN 978-4-06-375228-1 | May 26, 2015[11] | ISBN 978-1-939130-87-7 |
3 | June 29, 2012[12] | ISBN 978-4-06-375243-4 | May 26, 2015[11] | ISBN 978-1-939130-87-7 |
Manga
A manga adaptation, written by Suzukaze and illustrated by Satoshi Shiki, began publication in Kodansha's Monthly Shōnen Sirius magazine on August 26, 2013.[3][13][14] The series received a special chapter in the May issue of Monthly Shōnen Sirius on March 25, 2014.[15]
Kodansha Comics USA announced in October 2013 that it had licensed the series, and began releasing it in North America in spring 2014.[14]
Volume list
The series has been collected into eight volumes as of April 2016[update], seven of which have been republished in English.
No. | Japanese release date | Japanese ISBN | English release date | English ISBN | |
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1 | December 9, 2013[16] | ISBN 978-4-06-376439-0 | March 11, 2014[17] | ISBN 978-1-61262-910-0 | |
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2 | April 9, 2014[18] | ISBN 978-4-06-376460-4 | August 19, 2014[19] | ISBN 978-1-61262-912-4 | |
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3 | August 8, 2014[20] | ISBN 978-4-06-376486-4 | December 9, 2014[21] | ISBN 978-1-61262-914-8 | |
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4 | December 9, 2014[22] | ISBN 978-4-06-376515-1 | March 31, 2015[23] | ISBN 978-1-61262-981-0 | |
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5 | April 9, 2015[24] | ISBN 978-4-06-376537-3 | August 25, 2015[25] | ISBN 978-1-61262-982-7 | |
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6 | August 7, 2015[26] | ISBN 978-4-06-376564-9 | December 29, 2015[27] | ISBN 978-1-63236-224-7 | |
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7 | December 9, 2015[28] | ISBN 978-4-06-376590-8 | April 12, 2016[29] | ISBN 978-1-63236-225-4 | |
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8 | April 8, 2016[30] | ISBN 978-4-06-390619-6 | August 9, 2016[31] | ISBN 978-1-63236-260-5 | |
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Chapters not yet in tankōbon format
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This incomplete list is frequently updated to include new information.
Reception
The manga had 1.4 million copies in print in August 2015.[32]
A number of volumes of the manga have made it onto The New York Times manga best-sellers list:
- Volume one was on the list for five non-consecutive weeks: for the first two weeks it ranked at number one.[33]
- Volume two was on the list for one week at fifth place.[34]
- Volume three was on the list for one week at fourth place.[35]
- Volume four was on the list for two weeks, ranking at fourth and eighth place, respectively.[36]
- Volume seven was on the list for one week, ranking at fourth place.[37]
Reviewing the first novel for Anime News Network, Rebecca Silverman called it "well-written, engrossing, and with the feel of historical fiction rather than fantasy". She wrote that "Suzukaze's writing style is very visual ... the prose can make your stomach churn and hair stand on end, not so much in a straight horror way, but more in the sense of a nightmare coming true when you had convinced yourself that it was just a dream." She concluded by saying "If you aren't tired of Attack on Titan or perhaps just want a boost to flagging interest, Before the Fall is absolutely worth reading", and gave the book a grade of A-.[2] Reviewing the second, omnibus volume, she also gave it a grade of A-, calling the book "an exciting read that requires little prior knowledge of the AoT world." She was critical of the fact that "Sharle, who begins as a promising character, is woefully underdeveloped and underutilized", but concluded her review by saying that the story "gives us what the original manga does in novel form, and there really isn't much higher praise that an adaptation can get than that."[4]
References
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External links
- Attack on Titan: Before the Fall (manga) at Kodansha Comics USA
- Attack on Titan: Before the Fall (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
- Use mdy dates from April 2016
- Articles containing Japanese-language text
- Manga series
- 2013 manga
- Articles containing potentially dated statements from April 2016
- Incomplete lists from April 2016
- Official website not in Wikidata
- Pages with broken file links
- 2011 novels
- Attack on Titan
- Kodansha books
- Light novels
- Vertical (company) titles
- Kodansha manga
- Shōnen manga
- Prequel novels