Attack on Titan, vol. 26 review

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Attack on Titan, vol. 26, Hajime Isayama. Grade: B
The latest volume just came out, and the first half is pretty much just combat between the titans, with the humans on both sides getting slaughtered (Paradisians and Marle alike). As the battle progresses, we get more support fighters from Paradis coming into the city, in part to eliminate soldiers from the surrounding buildings, but also to put down landing lights for a dirigible to come in to pick up everyone and take them back out of the city at the end. Jeek (the gigantic simian titan), Piik (the cargo carrying titan), Tybur (Warhammer) and Porco (Jaw titan) keep trying to reach and destroy Elen (Toothy). Armin has the power of the Colossus titan now, but he mostly stays back and assists the airship in getting from the port into the city. Rainer has been suffering severe depression for months, and when Elen tricks him and turns into Toothy at the beginning of the fight, Rainer just barely manages to turn into Armored titan to protect Falco from the carnage. Eventually, Elen realizes that he can't break through the crystal shell protecting the Tybur woman, but that Jaws' teeth and claws are a better choice. When Jaws comes in for another attack, he gets hobbled by Mikasa, and Elen then jams the Tyber crystal into his mouth and smashes Jaws' head down on her. Tybur dies and Toothy drinks her blood (it's not clear that Elen has received the Warhammer titan powers, though). Elen attempts to kill Porco, but Falco and Gabi (the two Eldian kids being groomed to take over the Armored titan powers) start shouting out Rainer's name. Rainer gets pulled out from his self-induced coma long enough to fend off Elen. Finally, Elen, Mikasa, and the surviving Paradisian fighters retreat to the airship, along with Jeek's amputated body (Levi had managed to cut the simian down to size).

Gabi has been watching the destruction of her town and the deaths of her friends and leaders, and she snaps. She grabs a rifle and kills one of the Paradisian fighters before using his cable harness to zip up to the airship, with Falco tagging along. On the ship, Gabi gets off one clean shot, killing Sasha (her last words are, "meat"). The rest of the fighters quickly subdue the two kids. Levi kicks Elen in the teeth for not following the plan properly, and has Elen tied up to a bench in one of the rooms. Gabi and Falco start screaming to be let out, and the group allows them to be brought into the main cabin. Gabi is partly stunned to see her hated enemy tied up like a prisoner, but also that Jeek is there, propped up against the wall, his arms and legs gone, slowly regenerating. Back at the city, Piik is also slowly recovering, but we're not shown what states Porco or Rainer are in. Piik regains consciousness, and tells one of the soldiers that she's remembered where she'd seen one of the enemy before. The Marle soldier that had tricked her into falling in the pit at the beginning of the battle was a (very tall) woman that had shipped out to Paradis on a mission to explore the island three years earlier.

We now get another flashback, this one to the island 3 years earlier. Hange, one of the current military leaders, had captured one of the invading Marle, and was trying to use him as a bargaining chip against the crew of one of the Marle ships. The captain was about to order a full attack on the enemy when one of his own soldiers shot him in the head. The traitor is a very tall woman named Ielena. Along with her darker-skinned partner, Onyanpokon, she manages to get the rest of the Marle soldiers to surrender to Hange. The group proceeds to trick the crews of the two remaining ships into jumping into the water, and thus being captured. Ielena actually sees the titans as kind of "living gods," and she's offended that some of these "gods" are being used as weapons by the Marle military government. She and Onyanpokon (to me, his name looks like Onion Pokky) train the Paradisi in Marle weaponry and industrial technology for the next 3 years. The purpose is to capture Jeek and bring him to the island. Armin is convinced that fighting is a bad option and that they should try diplomacy first to show that they're not scary people. Unfortunately, that would take time, and that's not a commodity they have much of. Especially since Jeek is getting to the end of his expected lifespan. Ielena also spends a lot of her free time sitting and talking to Ani, the womanoid titan holder, who is still trapped in her crystal shell.

The flashback ends, and a few of the heroes wonder if things would have turned out differently if they'd tried more peaceful means. Maybe Sasha would still be alive. Doesn't really matter anymore, though. Both Mikasa and Elen repeat the same manta - If you don't win, you die. If you win, you live. If you don't fight, you can't win. If you fight, you fight.

Summary: Well, another volume down. It's a fast read, but there's still way too much dialog in places. The artwork is improving, although it's still hard to tell some of the characters apart - they're very "cookie cutter." Not one of my favorite manga, but it's not that bad. Recommended if you like the series.

A couple side notes: Elen asks Armin if he's seen any of Bertolt's memories yet, as the new wielder of the Colossus titan. Armin says "no," but he's looking a bit hesitant while doing it (he may be lying.)

Also, Elen reveals to the rest of the military that the one time he was able to command the other titans was when he was touching his father's first wife (the big smiling titan long ago). The command power worked only because she had royal blood from King Fritz's bloodline. Right now, the only other titan that could do that is Jeek.