Firstly, this is just my opinion. Secondly, I’d like to say that I haven’t been watching the anime although I did read the manga some time ago (so watching it is no fun– i’ll marathon the manga once it’s completed)! Pardon me if i’m being obvious but I just needed to rant about something.
Especially during the first two episodes (including a scene where Mikasa punched Eren), people started hating on Mikasa. Here’s some reasons why.
Eren is our male protagonist, the impassioned boy who vehemently speaks of defeating the titans, righteously driven by anger. He is the main character that everyone looks forth to; so seeing someone physically and mentally stronger than him, especially his older sister who treats him as someone to babysit, is frustrating. In addition, Mikasa is generally emotionless and her tolerant nature in contrast to Eren’s hotblooded and frequent outbursts make her seem reluctant to help out– her only purpose is to protect Eren, not to defeat the titans.
That makes people angry. We feel the same way as him. We want to see Eren stand up on his own, channelling his rage into strength. Yet the fact that Mikasa can so easily control Eren, the fact that she’s always looking after him and the fact that she punched sense into him, makes us vexed because we see Eren’s weakness but also because we realize that she does make a good point. From another perspective, Mikasa is brilliant– she is levelheaded, intelligent, and cares deeply for Eren– yet it is Eren that we want to see succeed, and thus watching Mikasa being superior is unacceptable. We have accepted Eren Jaeger as the main character and his personality is naturally more likeable than Mikasa’s with his raw emotions and strength constantly burning bright, so justifiably right.
If you win, you live. If you lose, you die. If you don’t fight, you can’t win!
If you think reality is just living comfortably and following your own whims, can you seriously dare to call yourself a soldier?
Yeah, Mikasa is a great heroine in every right too though her cold nature makes her harder to warm up to. Eren is easily humanized and appreciated because of his tenacious core. Right now though Eren has toughened up and Mikasa also has some backstory that makes her more individualized so I guess people are able to understand and value her rightfully. I don’t know, I don’t follow the anime but I think that she’s great (wait great is an understatement) plus she wants to be the Eren’s shadow, always backing him up.
For me I guess I was annoyed with Mikasa selfishly; it’s fairly easy to put yourself in Eren’s shoes and to feel like he did, so being put down and controlled by Mikasa could make one feel indignant. Mikasa makes perfect sense when she harshly tells Eren not to get ahead of himself and get killed. Criticism is really hard to swallow. Plus having a protector, though fortunate, can make one feel pathetic. I guess you really have to understand someone to love them.
:(
Nest Of The Passing Otaku 
Mikasa obsession to protect Eren is unhealthy. But I think she’s an interesting character. She wanted to become strong so she can protect Eren. her family.
I liked Mikasa at first. I was happy there was someone who was there to ‘guide’ Eren, so to speak.
However this became annoying pretty fast for me.
In my opinion she doesn’t ‘control’ him at all more like suffocates him. She tries to hose down his passions for her own selfish needs of wanting him near her at all times.
I re-watched the part where he has trouble with his ODM gear in training and she just tells him to give up on his dream.
If that was someone I loved, I’d support them no matter what.
Although I still like her, it annoys me how clingy she is on him, damn it woman you’re a strong Independent anime character who don’t need no protagonist!
I also read the Manga and how she sometimes jumps the gun to help in, putting other people in danger and ignoring the mission objectives.
Yes, we all love Eren and want him to be Okay, but let him stand on his own two feet :)
EXACTLY!!! I also hate that after the fact(when they realize that it was his gear and not him that was messing up) she thought that the reason he was happy was the fact that they wouldn’t be separated. that KILLED any affection I had for her right then and there. Although I can almost tolerate her towards the end of season one, (yes, I know I have to read the manga, but I wanted to watch the anime first) I honestly wouldn’t miss her as much as I’d miss other almost emotionless characters. i.e. Levi
I don’t HATE Mikasa I dislike her because she bullies Eren and doesn’t let stand up on his own like if he couldn’t use the bathroom on his own. Eren taught her how to fight, so seeing her stronger than her “teacher” is really annoying (I love Eren and Levi and krista,EREKURI!!!)
AngryErenJaeger – You do realize that just because Eren taught Mikasa how to have the willpower to fight doesn’t mean he’s a more skilled fighter than her? One of the main points of their friendship/relationship/whatever is that Mikasa is basically a prodigy, and she trains hard as hell. But skill alone isn’t enough; as they pointed out in the first couple of episodes, Eren’s greatest strength is his tenacious spirit and that is what Mikasa lacks. It makes perfect sense for Mikasa to be physically stronger and smarter than Eren, because he is better when it comes to willpower and determination. They both have their pros and cons.
Y’all literally put exactly what I thought into words. I love Mikasa’s character and while reading the manga it becomes so annoying to see her all over Eren. Yeah I get that he’s your only family and you care about him very much but c’mon girl you’re way better than that. I just hate the whole, “strong woman is obsessed over okay protagonist dude.” Hopefully it dials down a bit (I’m only half-way through the manga and have yet started the anime) and Mikasa will finally realize she can still care/love Eren but at a health distance.
literally this!! started watching the anime (ik i’m like years late) but its so annoying how mikasa always wants to follow eren around under the guise of keeping him from dying. he is NOT the child she thinks he is and he can absolutely take care of himself.
Also after reading the comments, I imagined if she was a guy and I still found her suffocating and selfish.
I find mikasa to be a failed remade version of yuno gasai
She was neutered by the writers. You can’t have a woman that is smarter, wiser and a much better fighter than every male character within her same age bracket, while at the same time be emotionally independent. All the anime fanboys can’t have that. They need their women subservient or at least weaker, and therefore totally dependent on the big bad menz.
I don’t understand the problem people have with this. Mikasa is a mary sue as so many “supporting” characters that come out of recent anime are. So what? Nearly every single aspect of the show has gaping holes in it. ODM gear is completely pointless, unnecessarily dangerous and physically impossible. The time period is unclear but given the buildings it’s at least 1500s meaning China and the Ottoman Empire are the big dogs and should have the walls not some random German city. Navies are completely non existent for some reason. They only thing in the shows favor is that biologically women might be better suited for high G maneuvers for longer periods of time given we’re shorter on average making blood pooling less of a problem. We generally have weaker bones, less dense muscles and less efficient adrenaline response which may prove problematic; but at least we won’t pass out as much, right? The fanboys gotta keep their insecurities in their masculinity in check. It’s not like people actually believe females are on par with males in terms of physicality………wait.
Anywho, I think people should just enjoy the show for what it is; an anime, which are almost always void of logic. I liked Mikasa she was a complete BAMF and a total retard all at once….it was charming.
Ya girl, SV
Its kinda sad the amount of hate she gets.
I started on the manga not because of its popularity, but rather some mikasaxrivaille fansqueal of my friend, so maybe I’m just that little bit partial to her.
But she was the character that enamoured me the most and kept me to the manga throughout the whole ‘omg eren got bitten and died’ and ‘omg eren is some hugeass titan’ phase. wait no, what am i saying.
she’s my favorite character throughout the whole manga, hands down.
and my classmates looked at me weird when i ranted about a female character. it took me quite some time to convince them that i was, indeed, straight.
she’s just that quiet person at the back, stoic and cold but really she helps a lot. and she balances eren out a fair bit the way she doesn’t let her emotions take control of her
eren’s ‘i’m angry and macho and imma fight some titan’ does get rather… emotionally exhausting sometimes.
the things she does, she has reason to do them. it’s not like she just does them for the heck of it. not really.
and did i mention she’s pretty?
NO I ASSURE YOU I’M STRAIGHT.
HAHA ENTHUSIASTIC KID! Yes you are as straight as a
brokenarrow! I started on the manga when I found it by chance (the plot sounded so damn cool how could I just ignore it) and it never disappointed me– brilliant characters and such an interesting plot. Eren didn’t seem so diminished by Mikasa so I liked her too! But really in the anime she just seemed more irritating in the start BUT YES SHE’S SUPERB. Such a cool girl. But Eren is a really endearing MC :)I like mikasa, she is one of my favorites and so is eren, actually I like eren a little more than her so far because of his personality and honestly sometimes I can’t stand mikasa, yes even though I like her. But I can 100% understand why so many people hate her, besides her bland personality she is one of those type of characters that many authors love to make especially these days which is annoying, they are mostly there to attract more people into the show which means more sales and $$, because many people these days love characters like her, little personality but can kill the bad guys in a cool way + she’s a female, a badass female, that alone will increase the sales and popularity by a large margin.
Now let me start with what I think of her and why many people hate her, she is overpowered and overglorified, like come on I can totally understand if she is very talented and respected but when ONE single soldier in her FIRST mission can kill so many titans so easily without trouble while I have seen groups of 5 soldiers + more experienced not being able to handle ONE TITAN then we have a problem, I can’t remember in what chapter they mentioned this but they said that if she was killed then it was going to be a huge problem for humanity’s forces and that was honestly stupid, at least the way the author presented it and it was another attempt at making her look more badass by the author, because really, if they lose that single soldier things will get that much worse? those are a few of the problems I have with her besides her personality but I still like her, I just don’t go crazy over her though, like many of her fans, and again I like her but I know she’s far from being an AMAZING character like some people claim she is, she is average to be honest and that’s being nice.
I agree! But I guess there’s a little sexism in play here because seeing Mikasa stealing the thunder from Eren sucks, and she’s fussing around him too much, making Eren look so much weaker in contrast (especially when she’s recognized as a great fighter and he not yet– idk, haven’t been following haha). If she were a badass alpha male then people would just be worshipping her as some cool, overprotective brother, just like how they are loving Rivaille way too much. Sometimes the pieces of sexism indoctrinated within us make us feel unfairly biased towards believing that the male must always triumph over the female, or else he is not strong enough. Plus Eren is the great protagonist after all, so he needs to be the best!
But Revy of Black Lagoon is one of the rare females that manages her kickassery well enough while managing to be one of the most loveable characters ever. Must be her entire character, and of course it helps that Rock wasn’t that important after all.
Mikasa may be over-glorified, but she is an unconventional and mighty woman. But such a stoic character will be cast at the sidelines since it’s the hotblooded, unwavering, pertinacious Eren that we seek inspiration and strength from. He has the essence of the true shounen hero ✿ (sort of…)
I don’t mind eren being weaker, I like the fact that the MC isn’t the strongest but he isn’t weaker in a bad way, he has shown to be normally skillful so far actually and stronger than many of his teammates, unlike most shounen MC’s that are weaker than 99.9% of the cast, but the problem is that mikasa seems to be way too strong in a terrible way, making her teammates that should at least be close to her strength look worthless, the author could have done that part A LOT better, I can’t believe that in the first mission alone she was the only one that killed some titans, alone… Are you f-king kidding me!!? :O I’m still early in the manga but I do hope the author makes her a side character if he will have her be like this the entire story, some people that have read every chapter have told me that she is still just the same way she was in early chapters personality-wise and that is a big disappointment for me.
Is not like this manga is great because of the characters though, is the plot that makes it great, if it was focused too much on the characters especially mikasa then oh boy I would have quit already, depending on how it was done of course and she was developed if that was the case. I don’t think we’ll see much development from her tbh but if we will then I hope the author changes her a bit.
Well revy from Black lagoon is awesome though! a great character indeed, she is strong but in a likeable and understandable way, the people around her weren’t that great when compared to her but she was still not a mary sue, like there were still more characters that could give her a fair fight, unlike mikasa who had the same training as eren and the others but looks like a professional soldier when compared to most of them, I still can’t get over that because it doesn’t make sense and is only purpose is to attract more fans, and the only explanation the author gave was “she is a genius” BS and overused these days but I’m not buying that one, this is the real reason, once male otakus see her kill a titan and her bland personality + her being a hot female then those sales will increase like hell! I bet you that it already happened…
Why do you think so many authors make so many badass female characters these days? is the Ca$h man, the Ca$h, it attracts more otakus, I’m sorry but whoever likes mikasa because they think that she is an amazing character like many of her fans must be new to anime, at least in old series authors didn’t have to rely on characters like her to get more money. Ohh and by the way I have no problem with badass female characters so please don’t get me wrong, I actually like them, I mean who doesn’t? but only when they are done right and in a fair way that people can understand, like revy, she is awesome. You know what I mean, when they are not overpowered and over glorified but can still kick some ass and the fans favorite, now that I think of it, you know who actually is a great example as well, from this manga? Annie, I loved her personality in chapter 17 I think, her and eren looks like a more interesting duo than mikasa and eren, like they get along better with each other.
And I said earlier that I like mikasa, you may wonder what my reason for liking her is after all I said about her? well I like the fact that she doesn’t seem to be a tsundere so far at least, and doesn’t think too high of herself and seemed to have some respect for eren, at least she doesn’t look down on him and armin and the rest, that’s a good thing. I heard that she is kinda yandere and would do anything from eren in future chapters so I’m looking forward to that XD.
I’m sorry if I said too much but this seemed like the perfect place to talk about mikasa, youtube sucks and is full of trolls while most forums are full of her fanboys so you know how that would end up there XD
Sure man, rant all you want here xD What I usually love about shounen MCs are how they start off weak, yet they brim with god-like talent so the whole story is about their climb to the top, about how they never give up even when they’re half-dead because of one single goal (I could just gush about their manly friendship and tenacious drive all day). This is kinda digressing, but it made me realize one thing I lack in life: ambition.
Anyway, you’re totally right– Mikasa is actually pretty nice (THANK GOD SHE AIN’T A TSUNDERE that would ruin everything). She’s sensible, mature, strong and yes, grossly overpowered to the extent of disbelief. I think she’s moderated some time later though? Yeah she probably can generate lots of cash from her merchandise since she’s such a cool character in a cool story… but really for me I think I dislike her more for reasons that wouldn’t stand against her actual good intentions– i’m just biased towards her blasé attitude and her holding Eren back like an omnipresent mother who believes she knows what’s best for him. It’s frustrating, from his standpoint. And she’s so seemingly perfect, damn.
Revy is fine cos she’s fun! It’s such a thrill watching her while she just goes berserk on everyone. And she wears her emotions on her sleeve. Oh yes Annie is awesome but isn’t she… I hope it’s not a spoiler (idk if you’ve reached it) but doesn’t she become… an antagonist?! I remember something like that I swear after my exams i’m gonna re-read the whole of SnK. The premise of this story is just so interesting.
Well the reason that she is so strong, in short form, is because she is an Ackerman. (Many people don’t acknowledge this I don’t think, but Levi is also an Ackerman. Which is the reason he is known as Humanity’s Strongest Soldier. If Mikasa is overglorified, then so is Levi, because they say she is worth a thousand soldiers, and they call him Humanity’s Strongest. In that way, he is even more glorified that her; in fact, I’m pretty sure he was ranked the number one most popular character on AoT-which totally makes sense, he is pretty badass. But, anyways, back to the point.) It is said in the anime, and the Manga too I believe, that the Ackermans have the ability to know what do do, and exactly when to do it. Or something like that. Which explains why Levi and Mikasa are so powerful. Not to mention, it is also said on the AoT website that the Ackermans were bodyguards for the First King, but are nearly extinct now due to some reason I can’t remember. Mikasa’s ability was awakened when Eren was telling her to fight and all that emotional stuff, and she killed the man with a single strike to the heart. If she was a sheltered child like she says she was, then there was no way she could have known exactly where to pierce his heart. But the thing was, she had awakened her ability that told her what to do, how to do it, and when. Also, this is probably a major spoiler to some people, but I’m going to say it anyway; the Ackermans also have this power to block out the compulsion of the Royal family or something. Which is the reason the First King made them his bodyguards-because they were the only ones who could block out his power. And, I also believe that someone killed them all off for that reason, but again, I’m not sure. So, yeah, there’s a really good reason why they are worth a thousand soldiers and known as Humanity’s Strongest. Because they are bad.ass.
OVERPOWERED? Yes she is strong but she trained. Maybe you should rewatch the anime more carefully and read manga too. Before deciding what to pick whether a soldier wants to join the scouts, garrison, or military police, ALL soldier first need to join the training corps. It’s been stated in manga that you need to be in the training corps for a few years, eren and the others in the 104th training corps spent years learning about the titans and training before deciding their specialty. Mikasa is just a prodigy and a fast learner. If you hate her I guess you hate Levi too cuz when Levi first joined, in his FIRST mission, he killed 5-6 titans ALONE. His friends and his captain were all eaten. This was in the The Birth Of Levi manga chapters. Mikasa only killed like 2-3 titans in her first mission. So saying she is OP, well I guess that makes Levi even more OP. People like you only hate Mikasa for being “overpowered” because of sexism. Cuz ya’ll never complained about Levi who was even stronger than Mikasa when he was her age AND he never joined the training corps, he was SO strong that commander Erwin allowed him to joined the scouts w/o any training
Well the reason that she is so strong, in short form, is because she is an Ackerman. (Many people don’t acknowledge this I don’t think, but Levi is also an Ackerman. Which is the reason he is known as Humanity’s Strongest Soldier. If Mikasa is overglorified, then so is Levi, because they say she is worth a thousand soldiers, and they call him Humanity’s Strongest. In that way, he is even more glorified that her; in fact, I’m pretty sure he was ranked the number one most popular character on AoT-which totally makes sense, he is pretty badass. But, anyways, back to the point.) It is said in the anime, and the Manga too I believe, that the Ackermans have the ability to know what do do, and exactly when to do it. Or something like that. Which explains why Levi and Mikasa are so powerful. Not to mention, it is also said on the AoT website that the Ackermans were bodyguards for the First King, but are nearly extinct now due to some reason I can’t remember. Mikasa’s ability was awakened when Eren was telling her to fight and all that emotional stuff, and she killed the man with a single strike to the heart. If she was a sheltered child like she says she was, then there was no way she could have known exactly where to pierce his heart. But the thing was, she had awakened her ability that told her what to do, how to do it, and when. Also, this is probably a major spoiler to some people, but I’m going to say it anyway; the Ackermans also have this power to block out the compulsion of the Royal family or something. Which is the reason the First King made them his bodyguards-because they were the only ones who could block out his power. And, I also believe that someone killed them all off for that reason, but again, I’m not sure. So, yeah, there’s a really good reason why they are worth a thousand soldiers and known as Humanity’s Strongest. Because they are bad.ass. So, why complain about Mikasa being OP but not levi?????? Have you read the manga The Birth Of Levi, in his first mission of fighting titans he killed 5-6 by himself and was stronger than almost all the captains. He didn’t even entered the training corps and he learned how to use the 3Dmg just by watching others. Mikasa actually trained and was part of the training corps. Just be honest dude, Your just sexist
To put it simply:
If Mikasa was male, her traumatic past, distant personality, and her devotion to Eren would probably make her the most popular character in the fandom. And pairing her with Eren would be touted as nearly canon. But Mikasa isn’t male and instead she’s treated as Eren’s stalker and I don’t know, that really bothers me. But, Mikasa is a woman, so she’s a horrible human being.
Also people calling her mary sue because she’s very strong because *gasp* they don’t accept woman that stronger than man. They forget Levi who’s also stoic and stronger than Mikasa. Badass, stoic, protective, such trait only cool at man but not to a woman *sigh* Misogyny is hella thing.
Bonus:
“So, there’s this girl. She’s tragically orphaned and richer than anyone on the planet. Every guy she meets falls in love with her, but in between torrid romances she rejects them all because she dedicated to what is Pure and Good. She has genius level intellect, Olympic-athelete level athletic ability and incredible good looks. She is consumed by terrible angst, but this only makes guys want her more. She has no superhuman abilities, yet she is more competent than her superhuman friends and defeats superhumans with ease. She has unshakably loyal friends and allies, despite the fact she treats them pretty badly. They fear and respect her, and defer to her orders. Everyone is obsessed with her, even her enemies are attracted to her. She can plan ahead for anything and she’s generally right with any conclusion she makes. People who defy her are inevitably wrong.
God, what a Mary Sue.
I just described Batman.”
HAHAHA YES. Seriously, overexposure to blatant sexism has made us all skewed and screwed in the mind. Such misrepresentation of gender roles comes in all genres ESPECIALLY shoujo omg– I was pretty ashamed of myself after mentally berating a female lead for daring to display her arrogance (more like courage) just because she was stronger than most guys. And I was waiting for the moment where the perfect love interest would overshadow her, impress her and save her in a helpless situation.
Cos haughty girls ain’t cute right? Even though practically every handsome prince out there is so damn proud and disrespectful. Physical over-powering AKA planting a forced kiss has become something sexy, but that’s just because the heroine somehow loves such a terrible guy based on his looks/richness/smartness/loneliness/hidden kindness due to sad past. Being a victim of circumstance is one thing; being a self-pitying asshole is another.
Sorry. I kinda digressed– see, point is, everyone totally loves a badass guy regardless of his personality. It just gets passed off as pride or a symbol of strength. But we do a double take when it comes to girls and I admittedly am biased towards my own gender :( The ugly pseudo-fact that the ultimate happy ending is when the alpha male gets to protect the gushing (pleasured) female has been indoctrinated in me.
Sorry to Mikasa but because i’m so conscious of her role, she does get annoying with her ease in this dire situation when Eren is trying so damn hard to fight for a larger cause, humanity, while she’s just leashing him (for a good reason). She is good though. Really.
And your bonus is awesome! So many Gary Stus are loved when they have an endearing and redeemable flaw. Bonus: I cringed so badly when my literature teacher said that her secret love was Darcy from Pride and Prejudice. Debonair bachelor that I thought was cool until he became a flaccid character by giving up his pride and unique individuality after a highly improbably love (and rejection). Okay i’ll definitely learn not to judge others so quickly next time since my perceptions are so artificially painful. O filthy internet, what thou done to me through conditioning. Reinforcement of chauvinism everyday.
Haha I really need to get a life and experience the world…
LOL aleris your the first to reply my comments, i’m only replying you about the comment you post about my comment XD first of all, i wasnt really pissed, but i was true about everything i said, mikasa’s strive to protect eren is unhealthy, second your right bout the not first overpowerd character i’ve seen in a anime, to be honest i only know attack on titan, bleach, and naruto XD HAHAHA third, dude admit my perspective about her are my own personal reasons but some part of them are true, and i never said she was a mary sue, that judgement was only directed at sakura who i said had developments at shippuden and ya all kinda admit she did, forth, i barely understand the rest of your statements at all, they kinda sound like a poem, and fifth, your obviously a mikasa fan XD
Yes! Finally someone who understands! If Mikasa was male she would be pretty popular, but since shes female, shes not(sadly). Thankyou for this fabulous comment!
I’m sure if Mikasa and Eren gender were reversed, Mikasa will get more love as “strong protective man”, while Eren get hated as “whiny damsel in distress that need to be protected everytime”. If Levi were woman, he will be labelled as clean freak ass that dare to kick Eren at face.
“The ugly pseudo-fact that the ultimate happy ending is when the alpha male gets to protect the gushing (pleasured) female has been indoctrinated in me.”
Me too. When I’m younger, I used to dislike female character because she isn’t strong enough, too strong, arrogant, fanservice character, etc.
But I realized I want to be those “woman” what they called mary sue. Pretty, smart, have little flaw and have many people like me. Who don’t want that? In fact, if I were to make self-insert fanfic, I will be the heroine that slap every mangaka that draw woman as fanservice object, telling men to stop being asshole, forced every country to legalizing same-sex couple, forced Japan to make more LGBT anime (whooops).
.
I don’t read Pride and Prejudice, but I heard that Darcy is arrogant(?) Correct me if i’m wrong.
Quoting from : http://adventuresofcomicbookgirl.tumblr.com/post/13913540194
(Why the concept Mary Sue is sexist. Just read the rest of essay)
The idea that woman has to “earn” any power, praise, love, or plot prominence is central to Mary Sue. Men do not have to do this, they are naturally assumed to be powerful, central and loveable. That’s why it’s the first thing thrown at a female character- what has she done to be given the same consideration as a male character?
If eren’s and mikasa’s gender were reversed it would be complicated, imagine a female who has the vengeance instinks and was a dang titan!!!!! plus it would really mess up a lot of episodes for both of them, like the girl who knew the world would be the boy who knew the world, anyways, i think this sexist thing is hurting the topic :)
A good discussion, and then you came along and made zero sense
I was really confused reading the title of this, not knowing how anyone could hate her, but after reading I can see why it could be irritating to fans of Eren.
As a feminist, I have always loved the calm but strong and unsexualized female characters in anime, so I really loved Mikasa for her character.
That does not mean I dislike guys. I love boys in anime, ~99% of the time more-so than females. It’s rare for me to like women in anime, but probably every female in this anime is an exception due to the gender equality and lack of (sexual)fanservice. I think this anime is really friendly towards both genders of anime fans.
Though seeing this post, I can see that she actually does have that flaw that can make viewers frustrated with her. I still think she may be my favorite character so far, but it’s also good to know that even the strongest characters have their flaw, which in this case would be that she can be controlling and overprotective, among others.
Haha you’d be surprised– I’ve actually read many comments of people expressing their hate for Mikasa! Personally, I wrote this post because I was also feeling irritated by her, then on further thought realized that she was pretty awesome… so I knew that I had to reflect on my unfairness. Oh man yes, I hate ecchi and fanservice too and yeah SnK is a brilliant show without biased gender roles. There are too little praiseworthy female anime characters around indeed! I’d like to say that i’m a feminist too, but I know that intrinsically i’ve internalized some double standards so… sad.
I really liked mikasa at first because she is so cool and strong, calm, knows what to do in whatever situations. I dont hate her for punching Eren, I think it is necessary. She’s somewhat similar to Gasai Yuno in her strength and will in protecting the loved one, but she’s has different personality from Yuno. I liked Armin too.
But I started to think that, maybe the protagonists in this anime/manga are actually the bad ones… They are too obsessed with their goal to protect the mankind whatever.. As for Mikasa, she would kill anybody to make Eren not going far from her. She refused to listen and how dared she suddenly attack Reiner and Bertholdt like that! And I started to think that Armin and Captain Erwin are actually somewhat cruel.. They seems to understand the enemy’s strategy, but they don’t listen, they don’t try to understand why their enemy did that.. and they actually threat their enemy like cruel people do.. Maybe actually Erwin knows better and want to achieve something.. why he is so obsessed in getting Eren, saying that without Eren blah blah when Reiner kidnapped Eren? Something fishy. Whatever. Erwin is cool too, ok. But Armin is cruel to doubt his comrades without waver. Mikasa also!
I liked the protagonists, but I hate it when they dont even try to ask/listen to their enemy’s wish/hope/motives. I hate it when people thinks that they are always right. Btw that’s why I like Levi, because he knows that he’s not always right. I also begin to like the diplomatic antagonists like Ymir and Reiner. And I hope Bertholdt can reveal more of his guilt to his former comrades, so they can start to understand each other. Eren is silly when he had the chance to get info when Reiner confessed that he is the Armored Titan, but Eren just make silly laughs and changed the topic. He is so silly. Ok, I am silly too.
Oh Ann(ie), you’re not silly! HAHA. Yes our perspective of what is heroic and right is always heavily influenced by the protagonists, and it’s inevitable that they are intrinsically imperfect. Listening to the enemy and understanding their desires is definitely a desirable situation, but when anger clouds your mind and logic is thrown to the wind, I guess humans retract to their basic instinct and choose to distrust everyone and decide to fight for themselves and their goals only. The characters of SnK are constantly under tremendous stress and their reactions are always extreme– so thank god for calm and focused Levi to pull the team together.
Similarly calm Mikasa is gathering all of her strength to protect Eren, and while that is really obsession and it would be wrong to blindly protect him even if it means killing others, he’s the last bit of hope that she is clinging onto. Everyone is selfish and they can’t all have selfless motives like ‘protecting humanity’ as their fundamental driving force; it has to be personal vengeance or just an empowering desire to protect loved ones sometimes. I can’t judge man, I’d be dead the first time the titans breached the walls!
But I agree that doubt is essential– I read a manga that stated how only by doubting and questioning a person can we truly trust them after understanding their true character. Everyone in SnK needs to pull themselves together and learn to listen (but in their chaotic state of mind, who is truly sane?)… I guess such a continually tense setting where people just die does impact one’s actions where self-preservation is priority, and one just needs to have a goal to work towards to prevent a breakdown from all that stress, even when that goal does not follow the conventional route of what is right. And all these are what make SnK so damn compelling, when human extremities in an extreme reality are depicted.
mikasa-skilled fighter
eren- titan blood/has spirit/lovable personality
love them both but i just don’t see how people think mikasa is the superior one i mean yeah she is a skilled fighter but what would she be if she wasn’t plus eren defeated the female titan even tho his titan blood helped him it still made him more superior than mikasa also eren was the reason mikasa became a fighter
she DOESN’T have her own personality! she’s only Eren’s bodyguard/stalker and that’s enough to dislike her.
Whelp It’s anyone’s opinion, but imagine if she was a guy. Everyone would like her because of those same traits. Well not everyone, but a lot more people in general. Cause of the whole entire traumatic past, strength, standoffishness (Is that even a word? XD I don’t know.), and devotion to Eren.
Though I can definitely see why people don’t like her, it’s just taking those things into consideration, there are way more characters that are way worst than Mikasa.
Exactly! seriously what is this character besides a bodyguard and stalker, she’s only skilled fighter for eren, he’s her only strive, which is quite awful for a character, fights for only one person, while hummanity is suffering with titans and she would not even be a soldier in the first place if it wasnt for eren.
Dude, you really have a problem with Mikasa. For someone who’s lost everyone dear to her, two times, it only makes sense that she would want to protect the only thing that’s keeping her alive. But yeah, if she was a guy and Eren was a girl, no one would mind this “unhealthy obsession”, because menninist can’t handle girls being strong.
I don’t hate Misaka but I don’t like her either. I find her really boring and annoying. My issue with her has nothing to do with Eren (don’t care about him :P) or her being strong. At first, I thought its cool to have a badass female mc but then there was nothing interesting about her. I think her dull personality and obssession with Eren is what makes some people hate her. And I don’t even have any problem with cold personalities (I like Levi and Annie). If Mikasa wasn’t such a flat character and actually had some development or had some mystery around her then I would have liked her. So, I think she is quite overrated because she is badass and pretty/hot for some people. For me her badassness does not make up for her psychopathic behavior (I wonder how many people she would have killed if someone hadn’t been there to stop her each time).
That’s a good point! Well there’s always people who will adore Mikasa as a kickass female, empathizing with her tragic past and strong desire to protect Eren. And the rest will just view her as a crazy lady with an unhealthy obsession, always being in the way. At least she isn’t a nondescript, totally bland character– attractive and powerful characters never get ignored :D
I don’t hate mikasa but i don’t like her too, if she had some damn development, she would be a #1 protagists , she’s strong, smart, badass, but adding that with obssession with your own step brother, doesn’t make any since, who does that!
I take that back, mikasa isn’t really that smart, honestly did any body ever really see mikasa actually using her brain instead of throwing swords back and forth, and i’m not against the idea of her being really strong, but people gotta admit she is WAY to strong and i think it’s really unfair to the side character fans who want them to be really strong too, i’m not saying the author should make her less strong with all she could do, i’m just speaking a fact here, and yes the author should really make her less protective for eren, it’s not wrong to protect someone that’s dearly to you, but what the heck! she would KILL!!!!!!!!! anyone who just so try to punch him in the face, like episode 9 she said she’ll take on the entire regemant if they tried to get to eren, that was her being stupid and too protective again cause she could get herself killed and i regret even more calling her smart cause obviously she’s not just really strong making it seem she’s a genius, and she would really make a good protagist if she were not these things :p
Oh god…. I don’t know what’s wrong with people.
To be honest, this is the first time I hear such thing, how can a human being HATE on MIKASA?? But I think that you have a really good point here *sigh*
Where to begin?
For me, Mikasa is my favorite female character… ever. And my second favorite in SNK (after Levi) She’s cold, cutthroat and knows how to handle dangerous and crucial situations. She has outstanding capability, and her skills can be described as legendary… and she’s only 15…
And of course she’s not a Mary Sue.. for god’s sakes I’m an author and I know when a character is called a Mary Sue… She’s loved by almost every guy she meets, she’s unconditionally strong. the Mary Sue character is almost always beautiful, smart, etc… In short, she is the “perfect” girl. She winds up upstaging all of the other characters in the book/series/universe. and she’ll upstage all of the Canonical characters with her mad Sueish powerz.. -_- they only people who would call her that are mere sexist and closed minded people, who only wish to have the likes of Sakura Haruna as a heroine, and of course they just like female characters for fanservice.
Every character has haters, and an annoying side. , and for Mikasa we’re talking about how protective she is when it comes to Eren. She can overdo it sometimes, but you can’t blame her cuz Eren almost always gets in deep trouble when he’s away from her…
And as if for Eren, who you guys forgot to mention his flaws.. I.Don’t.Like.Him.At.All. I gotta say that he’s the most annoying main character of all time (and I’m not even exaggerating)
I mean.. The guy has the ability to turn into a freakin titan, but still he’s never made an outstanding accomplishment that makes me say “wow” all he does is rant and rant about killing all the titans bla.bla.bla – and then gets involved in some serious trouble – the struggling begins- first try = total fail – and then he magically gets motivated – and finally manage to do acomplish something useful – but of course with some help from others.
Eren vs Annie… Levi and Mikasa saved his butt at first, and then Mikasa helped again when they brought her down… Eren vs. Reiner… Mikasa helped him… Eren vs. a Rock… Armin helped him. Just I haven’t seen any WOW factor yet from him ._.
And his personality is too “changeable” I mean someone like JEAN was talking down at him a few chapters ago. And on the other hand he always tends to have an outburst on Mikasa when she’s being over protective on him.
Genuinely… the main reason why I’m watching the show is because of Mikasa and Levi, those two are monstrous especially in battle, when Mikasa and Levi fought Annie I was literally jumping from my seat in excitement. Mikasa was the first character seen on the show that actually managed to defeat a titan, which made me fall in love with her immediately. She went as far as cutting Annie’s fingers (and totally looking badass while doing so) and slicing the hell out of reiner and bertholdt, and the only reason she didn’t kill them immediately was because they were friends and comrades, and trust was built between them.
I usually never hate on the main character.. but that’s my opinion. Eren needs to step it up. And as if for Mikasa.. haters gonna hate, they have their own opinion too, there’s nothing we can do… ne…
Haha, seems like you really have a crush on Mikasa! First things first– I haven’t caught up with SnK in quite awhile, and so i’ll be quoting some people to lend reliability to my points.
Milady-Allucar says this: “It’s totally okay to love and devote yourself to someone… but what else does she do? Who else does she interact with? What are her personal conflicts? What are her other passions and thoughts and emotions behind her place in the world and the war against humanity?… Eren is her only focus and reason for everything. Protect Eren, live for Eren, fight for and with Eren, dislike threats to Eren and Eren’s safety, oh Eren died so I’m going to accept death as well- oh Eren is actually alive I’m good now. She is infantalizing him- and I feel there is a line between being protective, over-protective, and undermining/infantalizing.”
Like Kate (the commenter above), we feel that Mikasa is way too single-minded, and she basically acts as a shadow to Eren. While she undeniably has god-tier skill and battle sense, she has no complexity, and little development as a character. Who is she as an individual, without her abilities and tags like ‘hot, badass female killer’ to characterize her? Here’s the difference between her and Levi:
I definitely don’t find any fault in her wanting to protect Eren so desperately. There’s also no doubt that Eren would have died in the first place without Mikasa beating sense into him. Heck, I don’t even hate her! And about Eren, I guess it’s his unfaltering determination, strong spirit and justified anger that we empathize and agree with. It’s why we like him. He may not be as strong as others, but we can actually feel what he feels. Mikasa is the cold, indestructible prodigy who seems above it all in comparison? Actually I really don’t feel qualified to comment because I can’t substantiate anything. I went crazy reading this thread! It will probably give you a broader insight into the opinion of more people, and a lot of actual scenes are quoted too.
On a lighter note, commenters above discussed about the indoctrination of gender roles we underwent that probably accounted for part of the hate that Mikasa is receiving. See, if she were a hot guy and Eren a pretty little imouto, no one would be complaining!
Actually I just needed an excuse to post that awesome gender-bended Mikasa looool. In the end, I guess you’re right– haters gonna hate. You will only like a character when you deem it’s traits worthy, or hate a character based on your own criterion… which is subjective. Mikasa is certainly a formidable and admirable character; I guess it’s just sad that she’s just backing up Eren, choosing the shadows over the spotlight. As one of the main characters, she should not only have a strong and developed personality, but also an endearing factor, which she is missing out on (I guess most people don’t find her overprotectiveness sweet…). But well, in their world, strength practically equals to survival, and Mikasa is crucially needed. Whether we like it or not, she’ll be sticking throughout the story and she certainly is a useful character.
Don’t really care about the fans in a way i’m gonna convince them to dislike mikasa, because that’s just a waste of time, but i should let you know that i don’t hate mikasa just don’t like her either, the reasons i have of not liking her such as she’s obsessed with eren’s protection and that’s all she really wants to do soldier or not, and she’s way too strong it’s making the side characters that some of them i’m a fan of look really worthless and pathetic, those reasons the fans take it and make it not a big deal when it’s those reasons that make people hate or dislike her a lot, which you just said it’s not her to blame, which confused me, because she could get herself killed or worse being this protective to eren, and like i said not a problem to protect someone you love in my earlier comments, but she’s really reckless and would kill someone who even tries to slap eren, in conclusion … lovers gonna love which is fine, but don’t critisize the haters or the dislikers cause of those reasons it’s not cool cause they really are good ones :P
God I gate you…EREN IS THE BEST CHARACTER DUMBASS MIKASS IS A COMEPLETE JACKASS
hahahahahaha
So im pretty late on ranting regarding the clingy-egotistical-naive-overpowered character that in my opinion is Mikasa. Aleris, u have well brought up the points that are frustrating regarding Mikasa, but i feel like even after everything you’ve said, I cant justify her behaviour. She needs to learn to stand on her own fucking feet. The insane obsession with eren is unhealthy, and it reflects to people in real life. geh, i started looking at some other stuff on the web…now i lost track. What i was trying to say, is Attack on Titan..is a incredibly overrated anime, it has good points, the art style…alot of mystique, very well animated..but the characters and how they behave is so far below human, you would almost think its the mind of a yr.450 B.C priest.
I will reluctantly watch the next season though, cause i need to see *SPOILER ALERT* Annie get fcking destroyed and hopefully see Eren tell Mikasa off so that she understands that her behaviour is not ok, even though her child trauma. This might be an impossible wish, but wth.
Exactly, i don’t think ounce this character thought about fighting for herself, she can fight for others too which is extremely fine! but, there’s an insane unhealthy, obsession behavior in the way so intense i think she needs help, but i’m not gonna get that deep into it cause she’s a fictional character, but just saying, she needs BIG development!!!!!! and just so yaw know, i *hate* eren, who doesn’t, know a lot of mikasa fans who hate the main character, one he’s extremely weak in general even though everyone says he has lots of spirit yet he can’t kill one titan with a damn sword, know one really expected him to make good titan killing progress on episode 5, but guess what, the dude gets EATEN, and later on finds himself being a titan to back his worthless ass up with out being able to kill a single titan ounce with a sword.
First of all..Mikasa isn’t his sister..so I think, though she is pretty much adopted seeing the fact that the Jaeger family gives her needs and such. And I think people hate her because she..as you said, is overlyprotective of Eren. But in my opinion, that what makes her a great character..not to mention she is cool. ^_^..probably the second best character in AoT..behind Levi though :)
I enjoy Eren’s character but the main reasons that Mikasa is always protecting him is because he picks fights he can’t win. He’s hotheaded to the point that it’s no longer simply reckless but downright stupid. Even when they were children he’d pick fights with groups of bullies who would obviously kick his ass if it weren’t for Mikasa. Yes his goal of protecting Armin and justice is noble but his inability to think about how to address a situation without diving in head first is unsettling. This is especially important to Mikasa’s overprotective character, she really does believe that Eren would die without her there, and yes, he probably would (unless he’s being saved by someone else).
My main hope is that Eren learns that sometimes it’s better to pull back and observe a situation than to dive in. Mikasa needs to learn that 1. Eren will only learn self-preservation is if she lets him fall and stand on his own 2. she needs to find something to live for that is completely her own, she needs to be selfish for herself.
I was going to add “Seriously Mikasa, the world seriously does not revolve around Eren” but Erwin kinda tells the troops that it does :/
Outstanding reasons, of all the main characters why does the one in this anime has to be plain stupid and reckless and sh*t plus i really think mikasa should have a self center part a little, not to bring up the fans but why would a character so protective she could barely care less about her own life be cool and confident, that’s just cold and unhealthy, and sometimes i think mikasa thinks it’s just eren and her that’s suffering from tragic situations and everyone else are unskilled cowards, just saying!!!! no need to have bunch of fanboys and fangirls holding me a gun point in my sleep XD
Well, it’s already obvious that the storyline shows how the characters start growing and become more mature or start taking better choices, -Spoiler Alert- in the manga it even shows that eren starts realizing that many people are dying because of his choices that usually get him caught or almost killed. Now about Mikasa finding her reason to live for..well, it’s already obvious that she cares just for Eren, and would do anthing to protect him and keep him away from any harm, now, she does that because in the begining she promises his mother, their mother to keep him safe, because he is hotheaded, wich bassicly means he gets in big troubles. As well Eren finds her annoying because his mother told him to protect Mikasa, but he is weaker then her in the combat skills, so she is always better then him at anything, wich make his chances of protecting her small, a thing that always annoys him. On the other hand i would find the possibility that Mikasa will find a reason to live for besides Eren pretty smal, because she already develops feelings for him, deeper then brotherly (Spoiler Alert, again) in chapter 50 we can obviously see that,and probably your wish of her having another reason to live for won’t come to life.now her reason for the over protecting Eren isn’t just the promis that she made to their mother, but rather the affection and feelings that she shares for him, and the fear of loosing her family once again. Now, yea, the ideea of living just to remember one person and/or to protect one person is not healthy, but after all she respects and cares a lot her family, wich makes her fight to death to keep her family alive
There is no need for the hate on Mikasa. You have to think about how she met Eren. He saved her then gave her a home. A year later that home is torn away from her. Eren in her mind is either the last family that she has or she could possibly have feelings for him. My personal theory however is both of these reasons. So if you have a heart at all then stop hating on Mikasa. Also if you don’t know what I’m talking about look up crunchyroll and watch the show al least till “the world the girl saw” or read the mangas till that chapter.
That’s a good reason, but why would we like her either? btw, not a hater just a disliker who thinks their character is a little out of place no matter how tragic their lives are, they would be great characters if they had good developments that we would all like, and your ignoring the reasons their being hated a lot by brain storming their tragic times and everything which is uncalled for because there are billions of people going through the same exact things and none of them turned out like them, they even have a problem of people being weak and being afraid to fight, they could care less about fear in general cause they know what it takes to survive, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah!!!
: On the surface, Mikasa Ackerman is just another typical, repressed, quiet badass that makes everybody else look bad and possesses skills that outshine everyone else around her by a mile. However, when you stop and take a look at the simply amazing character development she has received, Mikasa becomes one of the most admirable, and by far the most tragic, characters in the series. With Mikasa, we have someone whose entire character is built around loss, which, to be frank, is very depressing, but part of the reason I love her so much.
Look at it this way: How did Mikasa come to meet Eren? The loss of her parents. How did Mikasa become such a complete badass? The loss of her parents. How did she come to join the army? The loss of her foster parents, and not wanting to lose her brother. What kind of events spark a strong emotion in her? The possibility of losing Eren. What makes her cry? Losing Eren. What almost made her commit suicide? The loss of Eren. Loss, loss, loss, loss loss. Everything that motivates Mikasa, is partially to prevent even more loss in her life, and partially because she genuinely cares about Eren. To be honest, Mikasa is possibly one of the most tragic anime characters of all time.
While, for some reason I will never understand, many people seem to dislike Mikasa, to me, she is the most fascinating character by far in Shingeki no Kyojin.(copas)
Read it in character anylisis mikasa ackerman
But you’re missing the point. The fact that her life revolves around loss and the fear of loss is what makes people dislike her. That is her tragic flaw! Because she tries so hard not to loose anymore family and friends, She ends up being over protective and loosing them in the end. She is pushing Eren away by overprotecting. The thing I would like to see happen for Mikasa is that she would stop focusing on the loss in her life and begin focusing on the gain. As long as she keeps focusing on the loss, she will continue to see the things being taken away from her. She has so much potential to become happy. I wish she would realize that there is more to life than Eren, I wish she would seek happiness for herself.
Has nothing to do with gender, I hate her because she seems superhuman, and their is no explanation at all. Almost like she was born like that, born with natural combat skills that can far exceed those who are older and more experience.. Shes unrealistically overpowered, She and the mc has done the same training, and yet for some reason, she can smite dozens of titans with ease. She’s faster stronger, and even stabbed a knife through a mans heart from behind, at like 6yo, that takes eminence strength.. I mean what is she wonder women, maybe if the show gave a explanation to her talents it would be less annoying.. I mean what dose she train in secret or something.. She’s a better hand to hand fighter then annie, and she has been trained by her father her hole life. She has unexplained natural talent. It’s why I hate her, I find male chars with her treats to be annoying too. But her char is also very common in a lot of anime. Makes the show more intrusting in my opinion.
You took the words out of my mouth, in my opinion she is the worst character in the series. Before I continue on, I do have to say the first time I watched the series and read the manga, I was fairly neutral towards her presence, but I came up with this conclusion after re-watching the show and going character by character and evaluating them. Jean is probably the best character as I feel a lot of people can relate to him and his struggles, besides the fact that he’s had the most character development of any character in the series.
Now, on to the first flaw of Mikasa’s character; she’s supposed to be 5’5″ and weigh 149 pounds all muscle, yet she still retains a relatively normal feminine build which would mean she’s bigger than the males of her height or taller Eren, Jean, Connie, etc. (someone who’s 5’5″ and 149 all muscle would look A LOT bigger than she does, I should know, I wrestled in high school, if she was that height and weight, she would have a man body.) You can just tell how much the creators wanted to emphasize how amazingly powerful and mighty she is, but I can overlook this extremely minor yet irritating flaw as most anime character stats never make sense anyways. Moving on past her erroneous physique, she is nearly as skilled and powerful as Levi, who is a battle hardened veteran with years of experience, yet she’s only a teenager who’s had 3 years of training. This is what bugs me the most about her. She just godmodes through everything ever. No reason, no explanation. She was able to kill a full grown man at 5 years old just because she realized that the world was a cruel place. I know this is an anime and all, but this show is one of those shows that sets the realistic ability standards for most characters, her being a total exception. It’s like she just instantly gained years of experience and skill without any real effort. Now on top of all of this, the ONLY reason she exists is to be plot armor for Eren. She doesn’t even have a purpose to exist. The show would be better if she just didn’t exist at all and that’s just how I feel about her. There’s nothing to her besides being Eren’s guardian and shadow. The creators really fucked up by writing her in.
To avoid feeling like a misogynist, I would feel the same way regardless of gender. I’ve never liked unreasonably powerful characters to begin with.
I’ve so far explain my dislike for mikasa cause she’s obsess with eren, but i also dislike her for her abilities too, seriously seeing a character this strong is not to sit around and call it cool, captain levi would not be that strong with 3 years training like she took, the skill she possess should be experienced for at least 10 years, yet she was that skilled by being in a 3 years training, does that seem right? not like i’d expect the fans to care, the perfect word to describe her is superhuman, saying she had a tragic life is an excuse instead of an answer for her skills, i never thought chars in that anime were anything like actual non-fiction humans anyway, author failed in my opinion :P
Can you read minds or something, that’s exactly what i thought about her, is she on steroids or something, i’m not joking, it’s almost like she’s better than EVERY character in the WHOLE ANIME and it’s so annoying , there’s really no reason to have problems with people being really strong but this is ridicules!!!!!!!! she has so much super human talents it’s almost like captain levi should be taking orders from her and he’s
my favorite character so it’s bothering me a lot, so what she had a tragic loss, so what eren makes her strong, a character this lager than light and dares to call herself human, has got to be the worst character in anime history and all time!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anthony Williams – But Mikasa isn’t some perfect creature. The fact that her entire reason to live revolves around Eren – that’s a huge flaw and what makes her human. If she was completely self-motivated, then yeah she would be a completely overpowered character. But she has a glaring weakness – lack of personal drive and spirit – not to mention her horrible leadership skills (even Jean points this out).
It’s not being sexist, If levi was a woman he would be an even better character than what he is actually. The deal about Mikasa is not her devotion for Eren, is just that I find her relationship abusive with him, I mean If he was a man it would make her personality even more flat, but I think the whole idea of making her “manly” or a knight in shining armor towards Eren is sexist itself, I liked the fact that women in this show were badass, (I like Annie as an example) but Mikasa is an exception, it’s not the obsession, it is not the devotion, it hasn’t has to do anything with her being strong, she just makes a double standard he may look like a strong woman but emotionally she depends on Eren her personality has being constructed around him…And even though he may look as strong she ends up having the flaws of a “man” and the flaws of “woman” as a character ( Emotionally unestable, depending on her crush, as a good shoujo girl, yet forceful and stoic as a common “tall dark and handsome” boring character as Sasuke from Naruto. It’s really cute that she loves Eren so much yet I can’t stand the double standard the show made with her.
Besides I don’t find her asexualized at all, the characters always seem to find her beautiful ( because again double standard she is strong but oh! a strong woman is nothing without her looks so they gave her a rather Bishoujo look…) Again the mass gets fooled by the ilussion of a woman breaking standards when all she does is not only portrait them but add a new step in being quite forceful towards Eren, if she was a man in some scenes we see her slapping, punching, grabbing Eren we would inmediately see this as a case of gender violence…Yet we don’t because women gets positive discrimination…
It’s complex, sorry for my terrible english
As a conclusion I dislike the character, I have even more reasons as to do ir, but my post would be rather long and my redaction in english isn’t as good as I wish.
I freaking HATE her. I may appear as a an asshole right now, but seriously, her obsession with Eren annoys me to no end! And really, besides that, what are her other flaws? What is there that could separate her from a Mary Sue?? She’s stronger than everyone else, she became an expert at everything instantly, she’s beautiful, she’s brave, she has a tragic past…….. She’s a boring one-dimensional character with no personality!! Do people like her just because she kicks ass?? SnK has a great plot, great storyline and everything, but character development is really not the anime’s strong suit.
I totally agree with you. A on T doesn’t have complicated characters which would probably mean that if one of them dies, I will most likely not cry.
Its the perfect show for feminazis, im a feminist myself, but this kind of abusive relationships annoys me to death no matter is its female on male or male on female and people still thinks she is strong…she has this massive transference (Freudian def) borderline to psicosis and her whole personality is built around him…pretty sexist. Sorry people your equality paradise has been crushed. And yeah, she mary suish, some idiots says she BYRONIC HERO, could somebody be MORE WRONG? jeez, the fandoms sometimes reflects paradigm of the time…And we`ve gotten pretty crappy. xD LOL
Nocturne – You’re kidding, right? “What is there that could separate her from a Mary Sue?”
How about the fact that she has more than one glaring weakness? Her obsession with Eren IS her weakness, she has no personal drive or spirit. That’s what makes her human. And I’m sorry… but wouldn’t you love the person who taught you to stand up and fight and saved you from human traffickers right after you watched your parents be killed?
Furthermore, Mikasa is also a horrible leader (Jean even points this out) – again, if she was some perfect leader with perfect oratory skills along with self-motivation like most Mary Sues then yeah I would agree with you.
What I really dislike about her is how every affair-every whim, everywhere he goes, he’s always being followed by Mikasa-and she always has to chime in. Without valid reason at certain instances too. And she always rises up to be a hero before Eren; whatever Eren is capable of, Mikasa is already better at it, and I think that the developers and artists are a bit too pro-Mikasa. (ex. Mikasa gets into the top #1 of the 104th. When Eren charges at the bullies of Armin, they only become scared of the approach of Mikasa, not even Eren at some form of extent.) I understand that Mikasa is the big look-out, the true eyes and ears of Eren, but Eren as the main character deserves more glory in certain areas than her. ESPECIALLY WHEN HE’S IN TITAN FORM. She still trys to control him when he’s a Titan, and she knew that was coming when Eren attempted to slam his fist at her when he was about to carry the boulder to close the breach. Truly; not saying that Mikasa’s character is awful, but what they need to start doing is cutting back on her capabilities-it’s making Eren seem too much of a lax and weak character. But again this is Attack on Titan. Eberything is unpredictable, perhaps my wish might come true. Meh…
“Why’s there no one hating on Eren though, with his pathetic bravado coupled with his anger management issues and lack of skill and inability to survive– culminating in him getting eaten by a titan? Why do the majority of people focus on his good side, relating with the searing pain he felt and largely ignoring his actual helplessness? Why do we tend to forgive some, but to constantly be irked by and hate on others? It’s so hard to rationalize sometimes.”
Yeah, I agree with you a lot. To tell you the truth both characters- Eren and Mikasa- got on my nerves at one point in time. I read the manga and watch the anime. I agree with you about the gender roles. If Mikasa were a male, I do think she would have been accepted more and looked at as a cool older brother. But to be honest, she would still get on my nerves a little even if she were a guy. I just- like you said- hate the fact that she holds Eren back at times. I also don’t like the way she looses herself when something happens to Eren. I understand that she cares about him, but I feel that she shouldn’t attach herself to Eren too much. I really wish that she would become independent from Eren.
As for Eren, I admire his spirit. but at times he does get on my nerves too because he does things without thinking. He should be glad that he is the main character because otherwise he would have died a long, long time ago. He is so eager to fight even though he does not have the fighting skills and plans that he needs to be successful. I think the reason why I admire him is for his faults though, because he kind of represents the underdog. He lacks the skills he needs and he is weak yet he never gives up or stops fighting.
The thing I admire about Mikasa is the way she cares about people. Even though she shows the most affection towards Eren, she does care about others. She saved quite a few people’s lives. I also like the fact that she uses her head and not her physical strength all of the time. She also does not seek attention or glory. She is content with where she is and who she is. She never complains or thinks about herself. she is always thinking about others. In fact, I never really hear speaking about herself too much. However, that’s the thing that gets on my nerves the most, I hate the way she is so selfless. It seems somewhat unnatural for one not to think about him/herself once in a while. I also hate the fact that she is so willing to let herself die for Eren’s sake. That kind of ticks me off. I just want her to care about her own well being and to become independent. I wish she cared about herself as much as she cares about Eren. I also wish that Eren would think about others more and not be so selfish with accomplishing his goals.
lol it’s really weird… The things I love about the characters are the same things that makes me hate them.
I find her character bland. There’s nothing interesting about her other than her tragic past and also her skills doesn’t seem very realistic. Not saying a woman can’t be better than a man in a certain category but she’s doesn’t have a flaw or insecurity. This makes her boring and not at all complicated, in other words, not realistic or human like.
And seriously whats up with people? Are they so uncomfortable with their lifes theyve got to project all out in a “character” shes liked because girls want to be like her and men want woman to be like her cause she just lives to serve a man she is a living sexist fantasy and idiots still thinks this anime is the reivindication of feminism…Besides, why do the “best” character always has to be part Asian? I shall remind you that Japan was once alliated with Germany in Second World War and they sympathized with the idea of being a superior race? Hmm?
Wow I never really thought about how her life revolves around a man. But, you’re right. I mean I always felt that her unhealthy obsession with Eren annoyed me, but I never really realized that her character supported the idea that women need a man in their life to complete them (which is stupid btw). Also, you’re kind of right about that whole Asian thing. I never thought about that either. Lol I mean how ironic is it that Mikasa (one of the last Asians on earth) is so talented, powerful, and strong? On the contrary, you could see the mangaka portraying Asians as weak because they’re one of the only races who were almost completely wiped out of existence in the story. (So I guess it could go both ways). But, putting that aside, I love all of the characters in aot (including Mikasa), sure they get on my nerves from time to time, but I always end up sympathizing with them for different reasons. Honestly, aot is one of the first series that I love all the characters in (which is very surprising) I can’t even choose a favorite lol
Wow Alley Cat, I never really thought about how her life revolves around a man. But, you’re right. I mean I always felt that her unhealthy obsession with Eren annoyed me, but I never really realized that her character supported the idea that women need a man in their life to complete them (which is stupid btw). Also, you’re kind of right about that whole Asian thing. I never thought about that either. Lol I mean how ironic is it that Mikasa (one of the last Asians on earth) is so talented, powerful, and strong? On the contrary, you could see the mangaka portraying Asians as weak because they’re one of the only races who were almost completely wiped out of existence in the story. (So I guess it could go both ways). But, putting that aside, I love all of the characters in aot (including Mikasa), sure they get on my nerves from time to time, but I always end up sympathizing with them for different reasons. Honestly, aot is one of the first series that I love all the characters in (which is very surprising) I can’t even choose a favorite lol
Mikasa is annoying because there is no explanation as yet for her kickassery. Its gratuitous and therefore irritating. Which is a shame. Her overprotectiveness is normal and real, not annoying.
Ehhhh, I can’t stand her. She’s obsessed with Eren and is protecting him WAY to much
Actually Mikasa in my opinion is an awesome character not just because she can kill the titans in a cool way but because of her personality. Many people hate Mikasa because people say that she does not let eren get to its full potential but honestly we all know that eren is stronger than Mikasa. As we all know Mikasa’s main reason for protecting Eren is because he SAVED HER and Eren’s family accepted her into his family. Having her first family die and you being a witness can cause severe damage on anyone and her second family died as well and now the only family she has is Eren. That is the main reason of why she wants to protect Eren even if it meant dying in the process. I actually don’t understand how people are biased on characters personality based on its gender. For example we have Sasuke Uchiha or L from Death Note who are characters that are cold and expressionles and they actually have a lot of fans but now they see a female character with an expressionles attitude and people don’t like it. She like any other character shows weaknesses such as worrying or crying her heart out when she discovered Eren was alive.This is just my opinion I am not trying to ofend anyone.
You dont realize that mikasa is not eren’s sister, do you? Spoiler alert! Mikasa’s parents were killed when she was kidnapped at the age of 9. Eren rescued her by killing the kidnappers, and ever since then mikasa simply lived with eren’s family. They arent related at all.
I do realize! But, so…?
Well you know when i read manga after defeating annie (female titan) i think mikasa was changed into a really cool character
I already like mikasa from begining in anything about her except the fact that she to oferprotective
But then mikasa become a really strong after defeating annie
(dont you realise that is weird that she could cut annie fingger but the other soldier cant (inculding levi) )
And she’s not to oferprotective anymore to eren even when levi said in manga that they sgould leave eren and christa frist (when eren get kidnap by human (i forgot who)
And i think she more friendly to levi since levi save her from annie
I like mikasa at frist but when she thows Eren against the wall that was when I started to dislike her and when she verbally wrecked Eren and told him to not follow his deans and then there was the part where she picked Eren in the face who does that to their little brother
Most of your points are just your counter opinions to her character set. To the same set, I have a more loving opinion of her. So don’t just go creating a post like “Why people hate Mikasa” where people refers to you yourself. Approve it if you are in for an opinion or just stick to your own imagination.
Hey there, sorry i’m replying a week late (I rarely check this blog now). I’m compelled to answer you because of how senseless your comment was. You are right – this is my personal site and therefore i’m clearly stating my perspective of Mikasa, and i’m giving my two cents as to why she might be disliked. If you took the time to read all the comments, you’d realize that this resentment towards her and its rationale does stem from a few core reasons that I have been trying to dissect and understand. Also, I don’t think it’s an issue that my title is “why PEOPLE hate Mikasa” because firstly, it’s an educated speculation and seriously for god’s sake have you never seen such titles in your life before, for you to be triggered like that? Secondly, it’s actually an accurate generalization.
Furthermore, this post has delved into deeper observations as to what makes us like or dislike a character (using Mikasa as a case study) and whether or not this is fair — I even admitted that it was unfair of me to be angry at her. Read the comment thread. Personally i’ve learnt so much from it, as well as understood the feelings on both camps. So yeah, I’ve approved your comment because I am in for an opinion. Please go ahead and give me your persuasive ‘loving opinion’ which honestly, I am interested to read about. I promise to read it seriously, but note that I no longer follow this series (and this goddamn post was posted in 2013, 4 years back jesus christ) so I probably can’t say anything of value. Nevertheless, i’m sure other people can add on to your contribution. Thanks for your time!
Honestly, Mikasa is hardly endearing. I do agree, she’s an intriguing character, but she’s obviously selfish and unhealthily infatuated with Eren (Granted, he was essentially her savior). But she practically suffocates him and controls him; and while she does make good points her intentions are mostly purely beneficial to herself. She takes in no account of what Eren wants, and is willing to ruin his dreams to be with him.
She’s, on a character level, Homura from Magica Madoka. She can’t see beyond her own obsession, and she’s willing to take down her significant other to ‘protect them’. She’s selfish selfless—good intentions that ultimately lose all meaning when executed. She has no self-control or awareness, and is stubborn to see Eren’s view. She makes valid points, but it only cancels out when she carelessly realizes it’s mostly because of herself that she constricts Eren.
This is a fascinating idea, in and of itself. I don’t enjoy her as a person; she lacks any conviction and only abided by anything for the sake of Eren. She’s irrefutably selfish for her affection, and consequentially is selfless in the process (Giving up every ideal and moral value for the sake of Eren, but deceiving herself when it’s truly for her). She has strength and intelligence, but a lack of motivation.
She’s cold and unwelcoming to anyone but Eren and Armin, and is pretty weak and emotional in personality. But it’s interesting.
I hate her (Not that it’s because I have a crush on Eren… okay, maybe a little, but that’s beside the point.), but can’t help feeling magnetically attracted to her 3-dimensional emotional attachment. I guess, in a way, I’m similarly clinging to a fictional character as she clings to Eren. It’s not entirely a good or bad thing, but it’s certainly toxic for Mikasa, and until she works through it I can’t accept them as a couple.
That’s why I like Mikasa because of her strong character. And why are you making up the plot by yourself, Mikasa is not her sister, she loves him more than anything. And I made a poll in the biggest Anime community available till now and 87% of the Otakus loved Mikasa.
Mikasa is really off-putting because she seems entirely defined by her relationship with Eren. She’s basically has the personality of a dog and this shallowness is jarring when compared to the character development of other characters.
Its not like I hated Mikasa to the core but, after chapter #138…
MY TRUST FROM HUMANITY HAS BEEN TAKEN OFF xo:::
Ok let me say- Though I am a Mikasa Stan I didn’t like her at the beginning though I didn’t hate her. But slowly I got affection for her especially since the struggle for Trost. Yes she is extremely affectionate to Eren but that doesn’t harm her character much. Actually the relationship made me like her more because I like strong and mature characters who can protect people by themselves. People would really love such characteristics in a male character but hate in a female one. She is dull but I don’t mind it because of course one would never expect too much emotion in AOT. I really don’t like characters who keep crying or are just Barl,No bite. Mikasa even fought a Businessman to save the people of Trost but many people just ignore it like “Nah she only cares for Eren”. On the other hand there is this thing of Character development- I don’t understand it,it is not true that she is the least developed,in AOT all characters have their own depth and character. I won’t like way too much development in Mikasa,on the other hand it suits Ackermans. Mikasa’s first strong development was when she met Eren but dude she Forever shielded all the characters but Ere is the only one who got kidnapped thrice so of course she will defend him more. Next she decided to die without him but the thing is she still decided to fight to live. Next is a dumb thing that she is bland and uninteresting-It is mainly just because she doesn’t talk too much . But it actually suits the AOT background as well as her background. While Jean,Sasha and Connie had a quite peaceful childhood and thus are cheerful. Mikasa’s entire life had been just distress and murder. Mikasa was still able to move on without crying all day about her parents. She is fine in herself. You should just think how it would be if her character was changed and if you would have liked it.