Attack on Titan, Vol. 5

Trost has been retaken, and the reason is Eren Yeager: he turned into a Titan and fought for humanity. That earns him no rest. After three days in a coma he comes round in shackles, made to answer for a power that neither he nor the military can explain.

The question now is what the leadership will do with him. The Survey Corps commander, Erwin Smith, holds that the research Eren's father left behind explains how the Titans came to exist. In his view, that answer lies in the basement of the house where Eren grew up, out in Titan territory beyond the walls.

Eren is placed under Captain Levi and his Special Operations Squad. The gate is then opened for a long-range scouting formation, which takes the Corps into open country for the first time in the series.

This is volume five of a post-apocalyptic dark fantasy manga, collecting chapters 19 through 22. The story moves from defending a besieged city to mounting an expedition, and the mystery of what the Titans are and why they appeared becomes the stated goal of the mission. The tone stays bleak and claustrophobic even outdoors, and much of the unease comes from what the characters have yet to learn.