Mikasa Ackermann - Attack on Titan
Mikasa Ackermann is the adopted sister of Eren Jaeger. She has short black hair and is often depicted as a strong woman that is very skilled in combat, often takes the initiative, and has a strong love for her family and friends. No matter the situation, Mikasa always acts calm and collected, even through the stressful and intense times of Titan attacks. She is often seen saving Eren and Armin, a mutual childhood friend, in times of danger against bullies (and later Titans).
“Only the victorious are allowed to live. A cruel world. But in this cruel world, I have a place to go home. Eren” - Mikasa Ackermann.
Later in the series, having suffered an unfortunate past, it is revealed that her cold disposition and limited emotions are due to trauma involving Mikasa witnessing her parents being murdered by human traffickers. From a young age, she is distrustful of the world around her, as her loved ones were killed. This distrustful nature changes slightly after she is saved by Eren.
However, Mikasa is still human and is still capable of showing emotion when it comes to her friends. She still holds a strong sense of judgement and will do anything to protect the two people closest to her, Eren and Armin.
Mikasa sought to spend her days peacefully collecting wood while living with her adoptive family, the Jaegers. However, that all comes to a halt on the fateful day when the Colossal Titan attacked the outer walls.
She joins the 104th Training Corps and enlists in the Survey Corps with Eren in hopes of protecting and watching over him. Mikasa provides to be the perfect counterpart to Eren, as he always finds himself in danger and making reckless decisions [Episode 6, Volume 2].
Profile
- Name: Mikasa Ackermann
- Date of Birth: February 10
- Height: 170 cm
- Weight: 68 kg
- Birthplace: Shiganshina District Outskirts
- Voice Actress: Yui Ishikawa
- Appearance: Mikasa is usually seen wearing a white blouse and a red scarf that Eren had given her in the past.
Personality
With her parents being murdered in front of her eyes, Mikasa grew up with strong beliefs that the weak cannot survive in a world ruled by the rules of Survival of the Fittest. Only those who fight stand a chance of winning.
As Mikasa does not experience human emotions quite like her other peers, she has somewhat of an advantage over then in combat, in a practical sense. Not feeling emotions through stressful situations allows Mikasa to effectively judge a situation and understand what needs to be done to accomplish the mission.
With this in mind, Mikasa graduated at the top of the 104th Training Corps as a highly skilled and prized warrior. Her combat skills and judgement allowed her to rise through the ranks and perform outstandingly compared to others. She plays an important role in preventing the Female Titan (Annie Leonhart) from escaping [Chapter 30, Volume 7].
According to the Attack on Titan Guidebook: INSIDE & OUTSIDE (p. 38), she is “unmistakably bound to lead the Corps in the future”. However, whenever Eren is in imminent danger, she goes into a rage to fight and protect him.
Traumatic Past
In Season 1, Episode 6, Mikasa’s story unfolds as she was kidnapped by those wanting to sell her for her Asian blood. Her mother was one of the last Asians living during that time.
Pretending to be guests, the three kidnappers knock on their door and kill Mikasa’s father as he answered the door. While the captors’ main goal was to only kill Mikasa’s father, they accidentally killed her mother in defense as well.
They took Mikasa and took her to an empty cabin, where they discussed selling her to “old perverts in the capital [who] really go for that sort of thing”. The kidnappers were solely after money and planned to sell the Asians in underground markets.
Eren comes in, having witnessed the crime scene with his father. Eren is told to wait as he reports the murder to the authorities. Eren, with his stubborn attitude, makes it to the cabin with a knife in hand. Posing as a lost child, Eren catches the kidnappers off-guard and kills two of them. However, Eren is taken by surprise by the last one who holds Eren in the air while choking him. Here, Eren says to Mikasa: “Fight...You must fight. If you win, you live.”
This gives Mikasa the courage to grab the knife and kill the man. From here on, Eren and Mikasa become an inseparable duo. Wherever Eren went, Mikasa followed.
Mikasa’s Asian Blood
Mikasa was one of the last Asian children within the walls. When she was a child, her mother gave her a brand on her right arm, though its meaning would go relatively unknown (Chapter 5, Volume 2) for a while. It is later revealed that this mark is the seal of the Azumabito family, a group that descends from a Shogunate from an area in Asia named Hizuru. This family originally settled on Paradis Island, the same island that Eldia was founded on.