Dedicate your wardrobe to Attack on Titan!

Attack on Titan begins as the tale of an epic battle between humanity and man-eating Titans but unfolds in a direction no one could have anticipated. An instant success in Japan and overseas, the manga series earned its creator, Hajime Isayama, a special award at the 50th Angoulême International Comics Festival, one of the largest comics events in Europe. The latest UT collection features plenty of memorable scenes and images from Attack on Titan. Thibaud Desbief, a manga translator and bookstore owner from France, speaks about what makes this manga so popular.

”Attack on Titan"

walls, peace is shattered one day by the sudden appearance of intelligent giants including the Colossus Titan. The wall is breached, and humanity loses one-third of their territory. After witnessing a Titan devour his mother during the attack, the protagonist Eren Yeager and his childhood friends Mikasa Ackerman and Armin Arlert join the Survey Corps—the only branch of the military to launch expeditions beyond the walls to reclaim lost land—in an effort to fight the Titans. As the story progresses, the battle between humankind and Titan evolves into a more complex struggle between different human factions, and Eren and his friends are forced to confront the harsh reality of their world.

Thibaud Desbief stands between the shelves of Maison Petit Renard, his bookstore in Itabashi, Tokyo, which are lined with all kinds of comic books, from French translations of Japanese manga to the French-language comics known as bandes dessinées. He pulls out a deluxe omnibus edition of Attack on Titan, containing the manga’s first three volumes in French. “Deluxe editions in France are uncommon even for popular manga, so this proves how special Attack on Titan is in the country,” he says as he points out the occasional touches of color that make the tome a true work of art.

Desbief reflects on his initial impression of the series. “At the end of the first volume, the main character, Eren, is eaten by a Titan,” he says. “Then he reemerges at the end of the second volume. I have read many manga and have been translating since 1997, but that filled me with shock and excitement because it was a storyline I’d never encountered before. I was working as an editorial consultant at the time, introducing interesting manga to French publishers. By the time Volume 2 came out, I knew it would be a hit.”

The landscapes and buildings depicted in Attack on Titan are similar to those of medieval Europe, which Desbief believes makes the setting feel approachable to French readers. However, he notes other factors that allowed the manga to become popular in his home country. For one thing, bandes dessinées have a long history in French culture. Many Japanese manga also fill a market niche because they deal with themes that appeal to children and teenagers who fall outside of the target age range for bandes dessinées. Finally, there are the anime adapted from manga, which began to air in France in the late 1970s. The people who watched anime as children grew into manga-reading adults, who then helped propagate appreciation for the art form. All of these trends left French audiences primed to embrace Attack on Titan.

The French tend to treat works that contain lessons and insights into life as works of art. This definition certainly applies to Attack on Titan, a story that deals with interracial tensions and disagreements not unlike those of the world we inhabit. The hearts of readers are moved by the characters’ words, which strike at the heart of human nature. The release of this UT collection—a fitting tribute to an emotionally charged story with fans from around the world—is timed to coincide with the premiere of the final episodes of Attack on Titan: The Final Season, the anime adaptation that is finally reaching its long-awaited conclusion. If you have never read the manga, now is the time to start!

This design is based on a scene near the end of the story in which Levi Ackerman, a Survey Corps squad captain, weeps for all of his fallen comrades. This moving moment is that Levi performs the “dedicate your heart” salute of the Survey Corps.

The front of this T-shirt features Eren’s words and his crazed face as he lays out a bold plan to his comrades at the climax of the series. On the back is a dynamic image of the moment when he executes the plan.

Release dates and prices may vary. Some items might be limited to certain stores or countries of sale or may be sold out.

©Hajime Isayama / Kodansha Ltd.