5 Stars
I'm trash for this series so of course this was another 5*, but I was surprised by how different this was to the anime adaptation. The adaptation is more cohesive, and also obviously way more dramatic what with the music and the ODM gear action in motion (the Levi Erwin meet-cute is also superior), but here you get more time to breathe with the characters and their motivations. Furlan in particular is more drawn out as a character, and Isabel feels a bit more rounded, too. Levi's decision to commit to the scouts is far more believable; you see him fall for the cause more gradually, and Erwin's speech to him at the end is more convincing. At the same time the manga ends more suddenly than the anime, so I'm just going to add on the anime's final scene in my head to tie the story off nicely with a bow.
The manga definitely has more of a comedic edge, especially when you take the prologue shorts into account. I'd say the anime adaptation feels more true to the rest of the series, but there's something quite refreshing about the change of tone here. (Also, I love AoT when it's light-hearted, it's good for my soul.) (Not that this whole manga is light-hearted, of course, people still get violently eaten by titans.)
Basically if you really enjoyed the Levi backstory OVAs and wanted more, this is great, and if you really liked this but want more, watch the OVA adaptation. They both tell the same story but what's lacking from one, you'll find in the other, so they complement each other really well.