Highlights
- Mikasa’s popularity in Attack on Titan is due to her unique design and strong personality, inspired by old battleships and Casca from Berserk.
- Mikasa’s beauty and femininity do not diminish her strength, as she shows motherly traits and plays a significant role in the manga.
- The symbolism of butterflies and mantises in Mikasa’s story hints at deeper themes of death, rebirth, and her complex relationship with Eren.
Since her anime debut in 2013, Mikasa has been nothing short of iconic. A simple, yet unique design, she was ranked the 3rd most popular character according to Attack on Titan: INSIDE Kou, released in 2013. Her name, “Mikasa” was based on an old Japanese navy battleship, according to an interview with Hajime Isayama in Gekkan Shingeki no Kyojin.
The legend goes that if one names their lead female character after a battleship, their work will become famous – which it did. Aside from her battle prowess, her strong personality and exceptional abilities were based off Casca from Berserk, who served as the main character’s love interest.
Canonically Beautiful
In the same interview, Isayama states that Mikasa’s design was also based on a woman he saw frequently, whom he found attractive. In Attack on Titan, she’s noted to have beautiful hair and later on in season 4, we discover that she’s the last descendant of a Shogun who settled on Paradis, effectively making her a princess. Though on a darker note, Mikasa was also a target of human traffickers due to her unique appearance. However, thanks to Eren’s intervention, her Ackerman instincts took over, and she was able to overcome them.
But it’s not just her looks, either. Mikasa in the manga plays a much larger role than she does in the anime. For example, she’s the one who discovers that Titans are in the walls, and is observant in both her actions and those around her.
Feminine Does Not Mean Weak
Outside of battle, Mikasa is shown to be quite girly. In official art and her skins in Attack on Titan 2, many of her outfits are compromised of pinks and skirts. Moreover, in the Lost Girls OVA, we see that she enjoys making plush dolls and flower crowns, which she adorns Eren with. This trait of hers is also seen in official art by WIT Studio.
In the manga, Mikasa exhibits motherly traits towards both Eren and Armin, which is rather fitting given how reckless the former is, while at the same time staying true to her promise that she made to Carla, to look after Eren. In School Castes, Mikasa is Goth, which could be seen as unfeminine, though Gothic fashion is very well “girly” in its own right – so much so that Lolita fashion has both a Sweet (pink and frilly) and Gothic option for girls who like dressing up.
For Hinamatsuri (also known as “Girl’s Day”) in 2017, official Attack on Titan keychains were released. The full set was laid out like a Heian period wedding, with the Emperor and Empress at the top, and their loyal servants on each platform in order of importance. Depending on the version of the tradition, the Empress’s name is Hina, but the Emperor always remains unnamed. In some stores, dolls will be sold, and the Empress can be bought independently, while the Emperor can’t. Because the holiday is a celebration of womanhood and feminity, Hina is the center of attention. When Attack on Titan‘s Hinamatsuri collaboration came out, Eren served as the role of the Emperor, while Mikasa was the Empress/Hina. She’s just that special!
Speaking of those two, notice how throughout the anime there are frequent appearances of bell flowers? Bell flowers represent affection and everlasting love. Sometimes they indicate mourning over the loss of a loved one. Each scene they appear in is a vital moment in Attack on Titan, implying that these instances have a correlation with Eren and Mikasa’s relationship. Some fans theorize that scenes with bell flowers in them have already happened. In episode 9 of season 1, Armin notices a batch of bell flowers that weren’t there before.
The Mantis and The Butterfly
In a side story for Mikasa titled, Lost Girls, there are references to the popular “time loop” theory that Mikasa can reset time whenever Eren dies. Throughout Attack on Titan, there is frequent symbolism of death and rebirth through depictions of a butterfly and a mantis. In the Lost Girls universe, Mikasa witnesses a praying mantis letting go of a butterfly. In the original series, she witnesses it eating the butterfly. In the second ED of Attack on Titan‘s first season, a praying mantis sits in her shadow. Female mantis are known for beheading their mates – which foreshadows how Mikasa would eventually kill Eren.
Towards the end of Lost Girls, Mikasa comes face-to-face with a mysterious figure dubbed, “Mirror Man”, who stops her from meeting up with Eren and informs her (in Mikasa’s own voice) that she may have control, but no matter what she does or wishes for, Eren will inevitably die. Fans conclude that this implies that while Eren will always die, the “final timeline” (main series), requires Mikasa to want to kill him, in order for the resets to stop.
In other words, she subconsciously resets the timeline whenever he dies because she doesn’t want him to. Only when her desire is to put Eren out of his misery, is she able to move on. Mirror Man informs her that she needs to “return”, implying that “main timeline” Mikasa is peering into an alternate reality, similarly to how she did in Paths, when her other self eloped with Eren. In a way, “Mirror Man” Mikasa is warning her from the future to not make the same mistakes. This may also explain her protectiveness over Eren.
In Japanese legend, butterflies represent “rebirth”, but can also represent a departed spirit. Given that Eren is constantly “reborn”, he is the butterfly. In other anime, such as Erased, a butterfly appears whenever Satoru is about to time travel. To put further emphasis on this theory, at the end of Attack on Titan‘s 7th ED, a dead butterfly is crushed underneath one of the Wall Titans, insinuating that this timeline will not involve a (physical) rebirth. But come the final ED, we are shown that a more optimistic rebirth is in order, when Eren and Mikasa reunite in the afterlife. In this case, the butterfly represents a departed spirit and reunion.
Girl Power
One of Attack on Titan‘s strengths is how well the female characters are portrayed, and given their own arcs and agencies. What’s more, their interactions with each other never consist of fighting over petty things, let alone a boy, for that matter. Sisterhood at its finest, and Mikasa is no exception.
Leave a Reply