Attack On Titan Vol. 5 by Isayama Hajime

The trial. Perhaps one of the more famous scenes of the anime is the trial in which Levi completely whips Eren's ass and puts the fear of Captain Levi into a crowd of self-righteous pricks. This is an important turning point in the series because it is essentially what allows Eren to join the Survey Corps by showing everyone that Eren and his bizarre titan power could be "handled" by Levi if need be. The same scene allowed Levi's popularity to skyrocket with audiences. If they thought he was cool and badass before then he was even cooler after this. 

It's good to see that that whole scene came directly from the manga. It was just too good to have been something changed during the adaptation process. 

I should stress that Levi isn't a main character. Eren, Armin, and Mikasa are the main characters with Eren taking center stage. Levi would probably get forth billing. However, future installments might feature more Levi because of his popularity. Levi's barely been in the series up to this point and that might disappoint some folks. Even this volume, which is the most Levi has been featured in so far, isn't about Levi so I want to get that point across. Very little is known about Levi so far other than the fact that he is short and can whip some titan ass. That's what sets him apart from the main characters because we know the main characters almost by heart by now. Of course, there's always things still to be found out. 

There's even less known about the Commander of the Survey Corps, Commander Erwin Smith. Other than just looking kind of cool and menacing he has yet to have a role in this story. He's just been a figure so far. That changes a bit at the trial and then later on when he gives his rather intimidating recruitment speech to all of the trainees. Boasting that the Survey Corps has had a 90% casualty rate over the last four years while trying to rebuild a supply route that has now been completely lost isn't exactly a confidence-builder for any of the trainees. Naturally, the Survey Corps receives the least amount of recruits while maintaining the highest percentage of personnel loss. 

Yet, perhaps unsurprisingly, all but a few of the commonly featured supporting characters as well as Mikasa and Armin have chosen to join the Survey Corps. Either they are all incredibly brave or just incredibly stupid. We'll see. 

The Corps embark on a test journey outside of the wall to get the trainees accustomed to life outside of the wall and to the formation, but even a test can go horribly wrong once the safety of the walls are left behind. This is titan country, where anything can happen if there is even one slip-up or careless mistake. 

And things do go horribly wrong as a new titan makes an appearance. This titan appears to be intelligent...and female. She also appears to be leading other titans as they attack the Survey Corps. 

And that's where volume five ends.