Going Beyond the Walls: What to Read After Attack on Titan

Attack on Titan is the bestselling manga in North America, and deservedly so. It’s an action story that offers a lot more than just battles: mysterious creatures, rules that keep changing, a solid ensemble, and an intriguing world filled with interesting technology. But it’s only 15 volumes long at the moment (volume 16 will be out in August), and once you’ve burned through all the spinoffs, what’s next?
Fortunately, a lot. Attack on Titan may seem uniquely addictive, but there are plenty of other manga that pack in the fast-paced fighting, surprise twists, world-building, and characters that evolve as we get to know them. To get you started, here are six manga to check out while you’re waiting for your next fix of Titan goodness.

Claymore, by Norihiro Yagi
Shape-shifting monsters called Yoma haunt the vaguely medieval land where Claymore is set. They can take human form and live as ordinary people, but in their monster form they devour human guts. A special group of silver-eyed witches, whom humans call Claymores, have been developed to fight them. Claymores are part human, part Yoma, and while their monster part gives them great skill and strength, it can overpower their human side. Clare, the lead character, is a cool, almost emotionless Claymore who acquires a traveling companion when she rescues a young boy, Raki, who has lost his whole family to Yoma. This series has plenty of battles, and Yagi is a master of drawing fights, conveying the action cleanly without burying it in speedlines. Beyond the fighting, though, there’s a great human story of people fighting for survival—and literally fighting their inner demons, too. The story is complete in 27 volumes, with the final volume due out in December.

Seraph of the End, by Takaya Kagami and Yamato Yamamoto
The trio at the center of Seraph of the End may seem a bit familiar to Attack on Titan fans: Yuichiro is determined to slay the monsters who killed his family (in this case, his fellow orphans in the orphanage), Yoichi is kind of a wimpy guy, and Shinoa, their female superior officer, is a cool-headed, experienced fighter. The difference is that the monsters are vampires—but don’t worry, they’re not the sparkly kind. The adults in this world have all been killed off by a virus, and vampires have enslaved the children, using them as their food supply. With help from a friend, Yuichiro escapes from the vampire realm to the outside world, where the Moon Demon Company, slightly older teenagers in cool uniforms, are at war with the vampires and other monsters. Like Attack on Titan, Seraph of the End has a fully developed world, and the creators take some time to set it up and explain how it works. That makes for a smoother read once the action gets going and the twists start coming. The series is still ongoing in Japan, and volume 5 just came out earlier this month.

Sword Art Online: Aincrad, by Reki Kawahara and Tamako Nakamura
There’s a cinematic quality to the battles in Attack on Titan: Creator Hajime Isayama has a real sense of strategy and his characters move convincingly through space, often describing the action as it happens. If you like that aspect, Sword Art Online is the book for you. The story takes place inside an MMORPG (massive multiplayer online role-playing game) that uses sophisticated equipment to provide a full immersion experience for the player. In fact, the immersion is so complete that the game designer has trapped the players inside the game, threatening to scramble their brains and shut down their bodies if they try to escape. The only way out is to make it through all the levels, which are floors in a giant castle called Aincrad, and the stakes are high: if you die in the game, you die in real life. Kirito is one of the better fighters, in part because he was a beta tester for the game; he starts out as a loner but eventually teams up with a girl named Asuna, another skilled fighter. The players in Sword Art Online use a lot of special moves and features, and Kirito explains them as the story goes along, which makes the action—and this manga is almost all action—easier to follow. In between the battles, the creators introduce some interesting aspects to the world of the game, including how the different characters react to being trapped in an imaginary world for two years. Sword Art Online: Aincrad is complete in one volume, but it’s part of a larger franchise of other manga and light novels, so there are more stories and angles of this world to explore.

Deadman Wonderland, by Jinsei Kataoka and Kazuma Kondou
Both the weirdness and the violence are cranked up to 11 in this tale of a teenager trapped in a bizarre prison that’s also a theme park. Ganta Igarashi sees a strange red man, and then all his schoolmates are massacred. Framed for their murder, he is sent to a brutal prison, Deadman Wonderland, that operates under a strange set of rules. Ganta wears a collar that slowly injects poison into his body, and if he doesn’t eat a piece of “candy” every three days, he will die. To earn candy, food, and other necessities, prisoners take part in deadly tournaments for the entertainment of the masses. That by itself makes for a good story, especially with the surrealistic look of this manga, but there’s also an underlying mystery that’s unraveled a piece at a time, as Ganta discovers he has a strange power, and shadowy figures try to manipulate him. Like every manga hero, Ganta makes friends, but it’s not clear who can be trusted, and it’s fascinating to watch the different characters deal with the extreme conditions inside Deadman Wonderland.

Ajin: Demi Human, by Gamon Sakurai
At the beginning of Ajin: Demi Human, a teacher explains to his class what demi-humans are: immortal beings about whom little is known. They are thought to be rare and to have voices with strange powers. They are despised by some and regarded as valuable bounty by others. Kei, one of the students, walks out of class and is immediately hit by a truck. When he survives, he realizes he may be a demi-human—and his fellow students get the same idea, triggering a wide-scale chase. He escapes, with help from a friend, and meets up with some of the other demi-humans, about whom he still knows very little. As with the Titans, the demi-humans seem to be evolving, often in unpredictable ways. Kei is smarter and more level-headed than Eren Yeager, but he has some flaws of his own, and being forced out on his own into a strange new world brings out some unexpected facets of his personality. This is a fairly new series, and volume 5 just came out this month.

Neon Genesis Evangelion, by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
In the world of Neon Genesis Evangelion, alien beings called Angels are attacking the earth, and teenagers in bio-mechanical robot suits called Evas do battle against them. Shinji Ikari is called into action by his father, but Shinji is no Eren Yeager. He’s kind of a wimp, and when called upon to pilot an Eva, he initially tries to walk away. Even when he turns out to be a superior giant robot fighter, his attitude wavers between indifferent and insecure. Still, this is a great read, especially if you like the action sequences of Attack on Titan as well as the way the bonds form between the characters over time—and the sense that there is a deeper meaning behind the story. The series is complete in 14 volumes.
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