8 Years Later: A Glimpse into the Debut Issue of Bessatsu Shonen and the First-Ever Chapter of Shingeki no Kyojin

(October 2009 issue, published on September 9th, 2009)

As some fellow fans may know, Isayama Hajime debuted Shingeki no Kyojin/Attack on Titan in the first-ever issue of Bessatsu Shonen, where it has been serialized ever since. I was able to find and purchase this rare issue recently, and I photographed some side-to-side comparisons of key pages between the magazine and my SnK Japanese tankobon volume 1!

In the images above, the larger, slightly discolored pages are of Bessatsu’s chapter, while the smaller are from the tankobon.

Some interesting things to note:

Though SnK would eventually become Bessatsu Shonen’s flagship series of sorts, there is barely any mention of the title on the cover, which highlights Raiku Makoto ’s fantasy/comedy series, Doubutsu no Kuni ( Animal Land ; Ended serialization on February 2014). On the left sidebar of green/blue text indicating the titles/authors within the issue, SnK is merely 7th on the long list and easily overlooked . It also starts on page 343 out of over 550 pages, which is a fairly average position for a series within a magazine. In the table of contents (Last image) however, it does get a larger illustrated feature than most of the other series.



flagship series of sorts, there is barely any mention of the title on the cover, which highlights ’s fantasy/comedy series, ( ; Ended serialization on February 2014). On the left sidebar of green/blue text indicating the titles/authors within the issue, . It also starts on page 343 out of over 550 pages, which is a fairly average position for a series within a magazine. In the table of contents (Last image) however, it does get a larger illustrated feature than most of the other series. The first three pages of the Bessatsu chapter are in full-color, with enormous extra text on the 2nd & 3rd pages (3rd image) to denote the title/author as well as to add extra impact. Chapter 1′s title (3rd image bottom left) is of course, “二千年後の君へ” (“To You, 2000 Years from Now”) .

chapter are in full-color, with enormous extra text on the 2nd & 3rd pages (3rd image) to denote the title/author as well as to add extra impact. Chapter 1′s title (3rd image bottom left) is of course, . The 5th and 6th images indicate some slight changes in the dialogue - though the only ones, from what I could see. The first one is from Armin (事態 -> 自体) and the second is from Hannes (オレ -> 俺). The meanings of their words actually did not change, because it seems that the tankobon edits were merely to correct typos that appeared in Bessatsu .

(事態 -> 自体) and the second is from (オレ -> 俺). The meanings of their words actually did not change, because it seems that the tankobon edits were merely to correct typos that appeared in . in Bessatsu, the last page of the chapter adds the chilling text “世界が…人類が… コワレテシマウ!!!” (“The world…humanity…has been destroyed!!!”).

Thanks as always to @suniuz for providing valuable insight as to the Japanese text!

ETA: For additional context, SnK got its first Bessatsu cover on the March 2010 issue (Published in February 2010).

Lastly, it’s worthy to note that -

Shingeki no Kyojin is the only series from the debut issue of Bessatsu Shonen that’s still ongoing as of this post (October 1st, 2017), almost exactly 8 years later!

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