Mikasa Week ended about a week ago, but I couldn’t contribute anything original because I don’t really do art or write fic. So in commemoration of all the Mikasa love, here’s a long due appreciation post for the wonderful Ms Ackerman. Every day is character appreciation day! =)

Mikasa is one of my faves, and without her I would not be a part of this fandom. She is literally the reason why I chose to watch the show in the first place. Before SNK, I was pretty much an on/off anime viewer and recent popular anime series just didn’t appeal to me much. Then last year, while I was watching Legend of Korra and browsing around the Korra tag on tumblr, I came across some fanart of Mikasa and Mako and their Red Scarves of Family Backstory.

So out of curiosity, I looked her up and came across this screencap:

…and I was instantly enraptured. Like, WHOA. Hold on a sec. What a cool outfit! Is she some sort of futuristic cowgirl? This anime beauty is wearing pants, omg, and her modestly sized titties are safely tucked away? How sensible! Is she flying through the air? What are those interesting metal contraptions? What a badass pose! Look at that quiet ferocity in her eyes! Beautiful black hair fluttering in the wind!

Her name intrigued me, as did her character design and presence. So I decided to give Attack on Titan a try, and I slowly got sucked into the entire universe. I’ve grown to love many things about the show and the other characters, but my adoration for this amazing girl has not waned one bit.

These are some reasons why I love Mikasa, on top of her obvious grace, beauty, strength, badassery, awesomely chilling one-liners and that gloriously stone cold deathglare:

Reason Number 1: Beneath the awakened beast, Mikasa is a beautiful cinnamon roll, too good for this world, too pure.

I cannot gush enough about what an absolute angel little Mikasa is. And little bits of that angel still shine through in the hardened teenage Mikasa that we see today.

Little Mikasa has some of my favorite ‘kid’ moments of any character we’ve seen so far. (Yes, that includes the hair-chomping little dumpling baby Eren, Jeanbo the cherubic omelette connoisseur, the earnest nerdchild Kidwin, precious tiny bundle of feels Kid!Levi, and Armin Arlert, who is still, at 15 years of age, infinitely cuter than 99% of all cute things in the universe)

Mikasa was such a lively, curious, helpful, gentle and polite little child before the traumatic events of her parents’ murder. In the manga, she sat still while her mother basically carved the clan symbol onto her little hand. Such a badass in the making, yet she would turn away when she saw something dying before her eyes.

She initially couldn’t even bring herself to hurt someone who had killed her parents. Such a pure soul, so oblivious to the cruel world that she would eventually be thrust into. I feel that this makes her ‘transformation’ all the more interesting. She went from the most idyllic and blissfully unscathed vegetable farmer life to the cruellest of fates within a matter of minutes. I think out of all the soldiers we know, Mikasa has had to endure the most shocking, devastating turn of events in her life.

Reason Number 2: Her love grows slowly, but truly.

It is no secret that Mikasa loves Eren, understandably so. But he’s not the only one she cares about. And it’s so awesome to see that many fans have worked hard to dispel the myth that Mikasa only cares about Eren and no one else. I too believe that while she is slow and perhaps reluctant to express emotion, she develops a strong kinship with the people she spends time with, whether she admits it or not. She’s not grabby and friendly like Connie and Sasha, or emotional like Eren and Jean, but the little bits of feeling that trickle through her steely facade are just too precious for words.

Pictured below: Mikasa smiles serenely as her heart explodes with a deluge of unspoken affection for her non-Eren comrades. Friends who are not Eren. Lifeforms without the name of Eren Yeager. Mikasa smiles a genuine smile, allowing herself to bask in her squad’s elation, while Eren Yeager’s life is in mortal danger. Tell us again that she doesn’t give a hoot about anyone else but Eren.

She is especially kind to Armin. OK, well, let’s face it…anyone who is kind to Armin is automatically my fave above all faves (JEAN). But what Armin and Mikasa have is such a pure, simple, no-strings-attached friendship.

Armin came as a packaged deal with Eren. Mikasa didn’t owe Armin anything at first. It was probably an awkward first meeting as a trio. Armin wasn’t the coolest or bravest kid, or the most compatible with her, personality-wise. Armin is inquisitive, has a sense of adventure and wonder about him, but Mikasa was detached and cautious after her parents’ demise. So the two of them probably didn’t have much to talk about to each other. She might’ve even resented Armin at first for planting idealistic thoughts of freedom in Eren’s head (assuming she knew about their secret wish to see the ocean).

I like to think that, considering the shift in her personality after the trauma of losing her parents, she was at first distant towards Armin, but grew to respect and love him as a friend (just like she has grown to care for the rest of the 104th). She protects him, she stands up for him, even after she thought she had no one else to live for. I love these ‘friend of a friend’ friendships that grow to become something really special.

The original Eren Yeager Protection Squad, seen here aggressively consuming bars of rations.

Mikasa is able to love. She loves slowly, discreetly, but easily. After her parents’ death, she grew close to the Yeagers. She was devoted to them: dutiful, protective and truly heartbroken when Carla died, after only getting to know them for one year. She has tried to steel her heart time and time again, but her genuine love and care for the people around her seeps through. Well, actually, her concern for others does get pretty damn obvious at times:

Reason Number 3: She learns

Mikasa has her shortcomings. I too was screaming at her when she disobeyed Levi’s instructions during the fight with the Female Titan (moreso for their safety than a lack of understanding of why she acted that way…because I mean, come on, you have to try and kill it while it’s down, right?? Makes total sense. But y’know. Plot.)

She is young, she is inexperienced, she is distrustful of others before she learns to follow them. She is a teenager, like all her peers. So she does act rashly at times.

What makes her so admirable though, is that she explicitly and quickly acknowledges her mistakes.

Which is something I really like about Erwin as well. His plans don’t always work out because of unexpected circumstances, but he never puts the blame on anyone else but himself.

But Erwin is an experienced adult in a position of power. The fact that Mikasa can tell herself the same things is impressive. She quietly tries to manage her own emotions. She doesn’t dwell on those feelings; instead, she uses these lessons to push herself forward. Same could be said for Jean. Though Mikasa is emotionally vulnerable at times, she is such a contemplative, mature and independent young woman.

I identify to some extent with Mikasa’s rather reticent character in real life… it really really takes a lot of thumb-twiddling anxiety to express concern, or ask simple personal questions to someone you’re not close to. You WANT to, you feel the need to, but you’re just a silly overthinking mess.

Which is why I LOVE this Awkerman moment - Mikasa’s stealth apology to Levi:

So deliciously awkward. Mikasa doesn’t ever break a sweat while everyone else is panicking, but here she’s for real nervous sweating. These awkward cousins are not even making eye contact, lmaooo. Mikasa’s like, “hmmm… what is the best way to express my regret to someone I indirectly injured, without sounding like I care… OH I KNOW, I’ll just choose a random moment when we’re busy doing dangerous surveillance work, avoid looking at him in the eye, and then I’ll ask him something that could vaguely pass off as aloof concern about his viability in combat.” haha… But this moment was actually really sweet =D

Reason Number 4: She does what needs to be done

So what if Eren’s a godsent boy angel who saved her from a horrifying fate? Mikasa will punch him for being mean to Armin. She’ll call him out for being problematic. She’ll tattle on him to his worried mom. No double standards. She may be in love with Eren, but she doesn’t care what he might think about her. Now, that is a selfless love.

Mikasa also knows when it’s time to get down and dirty. She has a good read on people, and knows when to start a fight. So while Eren and Armin were desperately trying to talk their way out of a corner with Annie, and also during the Reiner and Bertl reveal, Mikasa knows what’s up.

Thank you Isayama for these moments, two of my top 5 most spine-tinglingly badass SNK moments of all time!



Mikasa is deserving of every bit of respect and trust that she gets from her peers and her senior officers, and also this sweet little girl here:



This girl probably grew up worshipping older male heroes like her own dad in the Garrison, and Humanity’s Strongest, Captain Levi. And then one day, this little girl sees Mikasa, a young female warrior angel, swooping in to save everyone from being trampled by a rampaging titan. This was such a big hero moment, and Mikasa choosing that moment to salute was just so perfect. That little girl was not just grateful towards Mikasa. She was inspired as hell.

Mikasa may not be the most entertaining or game-changing character, but her heart is big and quietly generous. I’m pretty confident that Isayama has a grand plan for her, what with the huge Ackerman storyline. For now, I will wait patiently.

So there you go. This is why I love Mikasa Ackerman, and why she is one of my favorite characters. My other faves: Jean and Armin are the sons I have unofficially adopted in my head. Erwin, Levi, Ymir, Hange are my future life partners the coolest.

So what about Mikasa? Well, she is a character that I feel I can really relate to. A character I wish I had known about when I was still a teenager. She is a someone who could never truly resign herself to be an unfeeling person. Because the world may be cruel, but it is also very beautiful <3