Mikasa Ackerman | |
---|---|
Kanji | ミカサ・アッカーマン |
Rōmaji | Mikasa Akkāman |
Characteristics | |
Race | Human |
Birthday | February 10th |
Height | 170 cm |
Weight | 68 kg |
Eye Color | Brown |
Hair Color | Black |
Status | |
Occupations | 104th Trainees Squad (Former) Survey Corps |
Relatives | Mr. Ackerman (Father) Mrs. Ackerman (Mother) Dr. Grisha Yeager (Foster Father) Carla Yeager (Foster Mother) Eren Yeager (Foster Brother) |
Debut | |
Manga | Attack on Titan Volume 1 Chapter 1 |
Anime | Attack on Titan Episode 1 |
Portrayal | |
Japanese | Yui Ishikawa |
English | Trina Nishimura |
Mikasa Ackerman is the main female protagonist of Attack on Titan.
Origin[]
One day, her home was invaded. Mikasa’s father was killed with the intention of taking her and her mother as prisoners. Her mother attempted to protect Mikasa from them, urging her to run, but she was too scared and in shock to react. Mrs. Ackerman was ultimately killed right in front of her, and Mikasa was kidnapped. Before Eren showed up, Mikasa listened to the men discuss selling her to perverts. Catching the men by surprise, Eren managed to kill two of them, but was jumped and strangled by the third. Eren urged Mikasa to fight, helping her come to the conclusion that “this world is cruel” – words that have stuck with her and greatly influenced the rest of her life. Ever since then, Mikasa has had perfect control over her body and emotions, making her one of the best fighters in the history of mankind. She easily killed the third man, and in the aftermath, Eren gave her the red scarf. It is very precious to her, and when she’s depressed or worried, she’s often seen bringing the scarf up around her mouth. To Mikasa, it symbolizes the hope that Eren “wrapped around her” and, in the manga, she even goes so far as to tell him that he brought her back from the dead.
Mikasa was adopted by Eren’s family in the aftermath of being orphaned, and she lived with them up until the Titan attack on Wall Maria in Year 845. After the death of her foster mother, Mikasa lived with Armin and Eren in a refugee camp, until Eren prompted her to join the military. Since then, she has excelled as a soldier.
The numbers "844" that her mother had embroidered on Mikasa's arm represents the year of the setting.
Creation[]
Mikasa Ackerman is a character created by Hajime Isayama.
Evolution[]
"A master of all subjects, and widely considered one of the best in our history."
— Keith Shadis (Episode 4)
Appearance[]
Mikasa is of average height (while still being the second tallest female character), and weights slightly more than Eren, despite them being the same height, though, in her case, it’s all muscle. Mikasa is extremely built and in the manga, she’s depicted as having six-pack abs. She is half-Asian and follows the “look” Asians often have in anime: black hair, black eyes, and exceptionally pale white skin. At the beginning of the series, Mikasa wore her hair long, well past her shoulders, but after Eren suggested it might be a hindrance during training, she cut it. Also, after Eren unintentionally attacked her, Mikasa gained a deep scar on the left side of her face, just under her eye. Typically, she’s seen wearing the Survey Corps uniform: a brown jacket with the Survey Corps emblem on both shoulders, brown boots, a white shirt and pants, and a green cloak with the emblem on her back. A unique part of her wardrobe is a red scarf that she’s almost always seen wearing.
Personality[]
"We don't have a choice. The World is cruel."
She is a happy and carefree girl until some slave traders killed her parents. After Eren had told her to fight and to survive, Mikasa loses her innocence and kills the man who was choking Eren. Mikasa adopts Eren's survival dogma and when Eren refuses to eat the bread, Mikasa knocks out Eren and reminds him to survive. She has matured into a serious and intelligent person.
Mikasa is always calm, always level-headed, and rarely shows powerful emotions. However, when she does get emotional, it is almost impossible for her to contain it. It is not uncommon for Mikasa’s personal feelings to overpower her judgement. There have been several cases of this, which leads me to the conclusion I reached in my review: she’s got a god-tier poker face, but is, in reality, emotionally unstable. Just a few cases of her instability:
When she thought Eren was dead, in order to suppress her grief, she riled all her hopeless fellow trainees into action (being probably one of the only people capable of standing a chance in their situation), then took off ahead, carelessly using up her already-low supply of gas. This rendered her gear useless, she found herself trapped in a alley with a Titan approching her. This is where she succumbed to her pain and she almost allowed herself to get eaten.
Relationships[]
Eren Yeager[]
"I'm saying, you should give up on becoming a soldier. Throwing your life away is not the only way to fight."
After losing Carla Jeager, she watches and takes care of Eren. Her relationship with Eren is complex. Before Eren takes off to protect Trost District, Mikasa tells him to be careful and come back to her if things get dangerous. She remarks that she does not want to lose anymore of her family.
A core part of Mikasa’s entire character is her devotion to protecting Eren from harm in any way, even if it costs her her own life. Her entire point of existing, at first, is to be his bodyguard. However, she has proven that she could manage to cope if anything were to happen to him, when she is snapped out of a suicidal state of mind by her memories of Eren. She never hesitates to stand between Eren and danger of any kind, be it a Titan or the military.
During the Battle of Trost, when Mikasa and Eren were assigned to different groups, one of her superiors tells her that she can “go and protect her boyfriend”, referring to Eren, and Mikasa blushed.
In chapter 50, Eren, who was still waiting for his hands to regenerate, and Mikasa, who was too badly injured to pose any threat against a Titan, found themselves surrounded by Titans, and, more specifically, the one that ate their mother. Mikasa, realizing that death was upon them both, thanked Eren for teaching her how to live her life and for giving her his scarf.
Armin Arlert[]
Mikasa has a fairly close bond with Armin, mainly because he’s Eren’s best friend. As children, Mikasa helped Eren save Armin from bullies numerous times, and there was even one case where she punched Eren for insulting Armin. She has proven that she values and respects Armin, as she has put her faith in Armin’s plans frequently, and when Armin told her that he had led to Eren’s death, Mikasa, rather than get angry with Armin, tried to comfort him.
Annie Leonhardt[]
Mikasa’s relationship with Annie is half rivalry, and half violent hatred. As trainees, Annie expressed a strong dislike for Mikasa, simply because Mikasa was a better fighter than her, even going so far as to call her a beast in the manga. However, Mikasa wasn’t really bothered by this; it wasn’t until Annie attempted to kidnap Eren as the Female Titan that Mikasa developed hatred for Annie. Mikasa aggressively tried to take Annie on by herself, but it wasn’t until she teamed up with Levi that they were able to rescue Eren.