Which Editions Include Attack On Titan Colored Pages In Print?

Manga color work is kind of a backstage tapestry — lively, collaborative, and not always credited in a big way. For 'Attack on Titan', the colored pages you saw in magazines were sometimes colored by Hajime Isayama himself (he’s done a number of colored illustrations and covers over the years), but a lot of the time the actual magazine spreads were handled by the publisher’s coloring staff or Isayama’s studio/assistants. Japanese magazines often have an in-house team that takes the black-and-white line art and prepares a print-ready color version, especially for tight weekly or monthly schedules. I used to keep stacks of old issues and one pattern popped up: special feature pages or commemorative pieces were more likely to carry the creator’s personal coloring, while regular chapter color pages tended to list a small credit like ‘coloring: editorial’ or didn’t credit an individual at all. If you dig into collected artbooks and author collabs, you’ll see more pieces explicitly labeled as Isayama’s colored work. So if you loved the mood of a specific spread, it might be Isayama’s personal palette—or the magazine’s colorist interpreting his lines. Either way, those magazine colors added so much atmosphere; they felt cinematic, which is part of why I kept them.

I've hunted down prints of 'Attack on Titan' for years, so I'll break this down the way I wish someone had for me back when I was building my wall of posters. Yes — you can buy colored pages and high-quality prints related to 'Attack on Titan', but how easily you find them depends on whether you want officially licensed art or fan-made pieces. Official routes are your safest bet: publishers and licensed retailers sometimes release artbooks, poster sets, or limited-edition prints that collect colored pages, promotional illustrations, and cover art. Look for releases from the publisher or the official store tied to the franchise — those are the ones that won't leave you feeling guilty about copyrights. There are also event-exclusive prints sold at conventions or collaboration shops. If you're after original magazine color pages (the actual physical pages that ran in a magazine), those are rare and occasionally show up on auction sites or through specialized collectors. They can be expensive and often need a proxy buyer if the seller is in Japan. For most fans, buying a high-quality licensed print or an artbook reproduction is the practical route. Personally, I snagged a lithograph of one of the color spreads and framed it — it makes the room feel like a tiny gallery and every time I walk by I think about how much power a single illustration can hold.

I'm still a little giddy thinking about how manga publishing works, so here's the long, nerdy take: when 'Attack on Titan' chapters ran in the magazine they often had color pages, but those magazine color pages haven't been treated uniformly across every collected edition. In general publishing practice, serialized color pages sometimes get converted to grayscale for the first tankobon run to save costs, or they're reproduced as separate color inserts on glossy paper. For 'Attack on Titan' specifically, a bunch of the original magazine color pages were reproduced in collected volumes and special releases, but there was never one single guaranteed policy that every reprint would restore every color page. What that means in practice is: standard printings of the Japanese tankobon sometimes include color pages (especially early pressings), sometimes not; later reprints may or may not restore them depending on the edition. Deluxe or “complete” editions, artbooks, and certain omnibus formats are the most likely places to find restored color pages and extra color art. Kodansha also collected many color illustrations into artbooks and special guides, which is a safer bet if you want full-color material. Personally, I hunt down the special editions and artbooks when I want the prettiest spreads — they feel like tiny treasures compared to plain B/W volumes.

Hunting for colored pages of 'Attack on Titan' online can feel like treasure hunting, and I’ve definitely spent more evenings than I’d like to admit chasing down the nicest scans and official prints. If you want the safest, highest-quality route, start with official outlets: Kodansha’s own digital storefronts and major ebook shops (Comixology, Kindle, BookWalker) often carry digital volumes or special editions that include color pages exactly as they appeared in magazines. Some color pages were originally printed in magazines like Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine and later collected in deluxe volumes or artbooks, so checking for deluxe/collector editions is worth it. Libraries or local comic shops sometimes stock these special editions too, and flipping a physical copy gives you the genuine color fidelity that scans can’t replicate. If you’re specifically after single-page color spreads rather than whole volumes, official artbooks and illustration collections are gold. These gather the author’s colored pieces, poster art, and special illustrations in one place. Also watch official social channels; Kodansha and the manga’s social accounts occasionally re-share colored illustrations or promotional art. I try to prioritize official releases because the artists and the team behind 'Attack on Titan' deserve support, and the print quality is simply nicer — it’s worth paying for the real thing when you can, especially if you want archival-quality colors and proper credits. It’s been a treat building a small shelf of the nicer editions, and those color pages still make me grin every time I open them.

Color pages for 'Attack on Titan' do exist, but whether you can get the official ones where you live is a bit of a patchwork. When the manga was serialized in the Japanese magazine, a number of chapters ran with color pages and full-color spreads — that's how lots of manga roll. Those color pages were often preserved in special Japanese editions, tankoubon special prints, or artbooks, but standard collected volumes tend to be mostly greyscale. Over the years Kodansha and regional licensors have selectively restored or released those colored pages in different formats: some digital editions include the original magazine color pages, deluxe box sets or special prints sometimes include color inserts, and official artbooks compile high-quality color illustrations. From my hunting around online stores and my own shelf, the trick is that availability depends on the edition and the territory. If you buy Japanese special editions or official artbooks from Japan, you’ll almost certainly get the color work. For English readers, certain digital releases and deluxe volumes from Kodansha’s overseas branches have included colored pages, but not every print run worldwide gets them. So you might find official color pages in your country if the local publisher included them, or you might have to seek out an import or a digital version that specifically advertises restored colors. If you care about owning official color pages, check for words like ‘color pages restored’, ‘special edition’, or look at artbook releases from the publisher rather than assuming every tankobon will have them. Personally, tracking down a few of the colored spreads in legitimate artbooks made me appreciate Hajime Isayama’s palette choices even more — they’re gorgeous when you can see them in full color.

I dug through my shelf and my memory to give you a clear, practical tally: in the standard Japanese tankōbon run of 'Attack on Titan' there are 34 colored pages reproduced across the 34 volumes. Basically, the most common pattern is that each volume preserves at least one of the original magazine color pages (usually the chapter-opening pages or special illustrations) and prints it in color at the front or sprinkled between chapters. That’s the conservative, “what you’ll find in the normal paperbacks” count — one clear color plate per volume is the simplest way to explain it. Now, caveats that matter to collectors: Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine originally ran a few chapters with extra color spreads and special inserts that sometimes didn’t survive or were converted to grayscale in some printings. English and international releases generally mirror the Japanese tankōbon for those preserved color pages, so if you own the 34-standard-volume set, expect about 34 color pages total. Deluxe/collector’s editions and special artbooks can add many more full-color plates, but those are separate items. If you’re trying to collect every colored illustration tied to 'Attack on Titan', plan on hunting down the magazine originals, guidebooks and deluxe editions — that’s where the bulk of extra color lives. For a regular bookshelf display, though, thirty-four vibrant pops of color is what you’ll usually see, which still feels nice next to the mostly monochrome manga pages.

Flipping through my 'Attack on Titan' volumes on a rainy afternoon, I started noticing little differences in the colored pages and it turned into a mini obsession. The short version: yes, colored pages can and do differ by region and by edition, but the why and how are where it gets interesting. When chapters of 'Attack on Titan' first ran in the magazine, some pages were printed in color or had color frontispieces. Those original magazine color pages sometimes get reproduced as color in the Japanese tankobon, but not always — publishers might convert them to grayscale, move them into a small color section, or tweak hues. Overseas editions? Those depend on the licensing publisher. Some English or European releases preserve the magazine color pages, others reprint them in black-and-white to save costs, and a few deluxe or omnibus editions will restore or even remaster them. Digital editions add another layer: a digital copy might keep the magazine-original colors more faithfully or be recolored for screens. For collectors, the clues are in the edition notes and previews: look for terms like ‘‘color pages preserved,’’ check the ISBN and first-print run notes, and compare sample spreads on the publisher’s site. Also remember printing paper and process matter — the same art can look warmer or flatter depending on paper stock and CMYK conversion. I get a kick out of tracking down a version that matches the original magazine colors — it's like treasure hunting, and it makes rereading feel fresh again.

Back in my deep-dive days into manga publication trivia, I dug up the nitty-gritty on where the colored pages for 'Attack on Titan' first showed up. The series—Hajime Isayama's brutal, world-crushing epic—was serialized in 'Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine' (Kodansha). That magazine is where the one-shot and later the serialized chapters appeared, and it’s also the place that first carried the colored splash pages when the series ran in magazine form. Kodansha and 'Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine' have a habit of giving debut or special chapters color pages to help the series stand out, and 'Attack on Titan' benefited from that treatment early on. If you look at timelines, Isayama’s one-shot that preceded full serialization was also associated with 'Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine', and when the full serialization began in 2009 the chapters were published there with occasional color pages and front-spreads in special issues. Later, those colored illustrations were sometimes recopied into special tankoubon editions, artbooks, and promotional materials, but the very first magazine-run color pages appeared in 'Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine'. For collectors this matters because magazine first-printings can contain exclusive color work or slightly different art compared to the tankōbon. I still get a kick out of hunting down old magazine issues; flipping through a worn 'Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine' and finding the original color spreads for 'Attack on Titan' feels like uncovering a small piece of the series’ launch energy, a reminder of how sharply it cut onto the scene.