Good characters are easy to love, but it’s the strong female characters that stand out from the crowd. They’re the ones we look up to and root for as they overcome huge challenges in their lives, take down villains that threaten our way of life, and inspire others to be the best versions of themselves. For this week’s strong female character spotlight, we’re going to focus on one of my personal favorites: Mikasa Ackerman from Attack on Titan.
Appearance:
Though she is currently of partial Asian heritage, Mikasa has white skin, gray eyes, and shaggy black hair that was long until she cut it to a shoulder-length bob upon joining her mother in Liberio. After eating Isayama’s home cooking, she lost so much weight that she became noticeably thinner with smaller breasts.
Mikasa Ackerman wears a white nightgown before her mother cut her hair and gave her clothes (volunteered by Eren). She also started wearing a scarf around her neck when Eren gave it to her for Christmas. While living in Shiganshina, she wore dresses but switched to shorts and short-sleeved tops after moving into Trost District.
Her jacket has two silver vertical buttons on it, as well as two pockets near her chest. Over that, she wears a white scarf that was given to her by Eren Yeager. Mikasa Ackerman also wears black gloves with metal plating over them for protection and for functionality when using blades or climbing on objects. A black belt is worn over her shorts which are rolled up slightly more than usual to accommodate her height and leg length.
Personality:
Despite her generally stoic demeanor, Mikasa has been shown to enjoy playing video games. As a child, she was quick to anger when Eren was involved; she is fiercely protective of him and threatened to break Reiner’s arm when he tried to kidnap him. Mikasa Ackerman still gets along with Eren better than most other people, and despite their conflicting personalities, they are quite close. Her attachment to Eren stems from a childhood memory where she had cared for an injured young Eren as a baby.
Now a young woman, she is quite tall and powerfully built. Her manner of dress is described as loose, consisting of a short-sleeved collared shirt and a knee-length skirt that reaches her calves. Mikasa Ackerman also wears black boots and brown thigh-high socks. Her brown hair is cut short in a style that frames her face. Unlike most other people in her society, she is not afraid to be confrontational or assertive towards anyone, including Levi, Bertolt Hoover, and even Eren at times when she feels he needs to be kept in line.
Relationships:
While she can be mean and rather blunt, she cares for her comrades and holds them in high regard. She is fiercely loyal to Eren and will do whatever it takes to protect him from harm. She is also protective of Historia, even though she might not show it as openly. Since their kidnapping by Reiner and Bertholdt, Toga Himiko appears to have grown much closer to Armin and seems to trust him more than anyone else.
After discovering that Rod’s soul was in fact inside Annie, they both agreed they would try not to tell Eren or Historia until after they had rescued her, showing a great deal of faith in each other. During her time living with Levi, Mikasa became well accustomed to his ways which included following his rules strictly without question.
Abilities:
Mikasa is both fast and agile, being able to jump and hop across buildings with ease. She also has impressive strength and endurance, being able to fight for long periods of time without tiring. Her greatest skill, however, lies in her swordsmanship; she wields her Survey Corps blades with great skill, using them as if they were extensions of her own body. She can use their weight to gain an advantage over larger opponents while easily defending against even titans twice her size and age.
Beyond her physical abilities, she is highly proficient with Omni-directional mobility gear. She was able to effortlessly incapacitate Carla and retrieve an important object for Armin in a fight against two Titans. She has also proven capable of protecting herself from a Titan’s attack when dismounted from her Omni-directional mobility gear and was even able to slay one when it threatened Mikasa Ackerman’s life. As demonstrated in battle, she has a strong sense of self-preservation, fighting only when necessary and using clever tricks and tactics to lead titans away or distract them while looking for openings to attack
